Mowe
by Present Perfect
Apple Split peeked below the table, on the off chance that somepony was playing a cruel joke and had hidden all the fritters there. What he found nearly made him whack his head on the underside: a chubby orange filly, young enough to still need a diaper, sitting amidst the ruin of over a dozen fritters, sugar syrup smeared incriminatingly over her mouth.
He smiled, the fritters forgotten. "What's your name, little one?"
"I'm Appajack!" the tot exclaimed. "Mowe appew fwittew?"
"Well, you must be Red Delicious's filly!" His heart light, he extracted himself from beneath the table and shouted, "Hey, sis! C'mon over here and see what yer li'l girl's gotten herself into!"
A moment later, he was joined by his mother and younger sister. She took one look under the table and had to turn away, biting into her fetlock to keep laughter in check. Their mother just shook her head.
"Land's sakes, girl, the littl'un's got the appetite of a full-grown stallion! You'll have to keep a close eye on this'n!"
Blinking away tears, Red Delicious reached down and scooped her daughter up. "She'll end up as big as a full grown stallion too, if'n she keeps eatin' like this. C'mon, AJ, let's go getcha cleaned up."
On the way back to the barn, she ran into her husband, Cortland, filling him in on the details of what their child had gotten herself into. He shared in her laughter, shaking his head and commenting on what a strong mare Applejack was going to turn into with an appetite like that.
They got her settled in a wash basin and Cortland went off to fetch some towels while daughter and mother splashed in the water.
"Mowe appew fwittew?" Applejack asked, tiny eyes blinking expectantly.
"No, no, sugarcube," her mother said, chuckling. "I think you've had enough for one day."
"Mowe," Applejack said. She leaned forward and bit her mother square on the hoof.
"Ouch! Land's sakes, if'n you ain't got the teeth of a fully grown-- Ow! Cortland! Cortland!"
The filly had not only bitten, but latched on, and began chewing on her mother's leg. It squelched in her mouth. All Red Delicious could do was scream.
By the time Cortland returned to the barn, his wife was absent, their daughter still in her diaper and filling the wash basin a little more fully than she had previously. Redness covered her lips.
"Sakes alive, what's that silly mare gone 'n let you eat now?" He set the towels down and sighed. "Where's your momma at, AJ?"
"Mowe." Applejack belched, and a curl of pink ribbon emerged from her mouth, dangling down her front. Cortland squinted at her, raising an eyebrow.
"That looks just like Red's mane ribbon." Removing his Stetson, he set it aside and moved over in front of his daughter. "C'mon, now, open up. I don't need you chokin' on anythin'..."
Applejack opened her mouth. Her father placed his nose right up next to it.
His screams were only heard by a gangly red colt with a shock of orange hair, who was too petrified to move or speak.
"We never saw ma or pa again," Applejack said, removing her hat and placing it over her heart. "Way I heard it, there was a big search party, but the family reunion that year ended on a sour note." She put her hat back on and sighed.
Apple Bloom frowned. "You mean to tell me they just done walked off the farm in the middle of the reunion?" She looked to Big Macintosh for some sign that her older sister was fibbing or just completely bonkers, but he shrugged, not meeting her gaze.
"Eeyup."
"I'm mighty sorry, Apple Bloom," Applejack said, resting a hoof atop her sister's mane bow, "but you asked, and that's all I know of the story."
"Now hang on a sec." Apple Bloom's face compressed as she counted something out on her hooves. "AJ, you're like, ten years older'n me--"
"Seven years."
"Whatever. Point is, if ma and pa passed afore I was born, then how'd I get born? I ain't got too much knowledge on the subject, but don'tcha need a mare and a stallion to make a filly somehow?"
Applejack and Big Macintosh shared a glance, then looked pointedly away from one another.
"That's, err, a story for another time, sugarcube." Applejack coughed. Yes, the Breezies would have to wait.