Applejack stared at the two stallions in silence. After a brief pause, she turned around and started back down into the cellar. Mac glanced at Stone, then to his sister, and back to the farmhoof. Wordlessly, he shrugged and turned to leave.
"Wait," Stone called, starting to follow the massive red pony. "Uh, what do I do?"
"Ya follow me, dummy," Applejack snapped from the cellar stair. "Didn't ya hear him say I was in charge of ya? That means you're working with me."
Stone winced and hovered at the top of the stairwell. He hadn't seen much of Jackie's bad side at the ranch, but he knew it wasn't somewhere he wanted to be. "Uh... O--Okay." With a gulp, Stone trotted after his unhappy companion.
Applejack pointed to the unsorted bushels of apples. "I'll give ya a tour when we finish this. Grab a bushel and start putting 'em in those barrels. Right to left we've got selling apples, baking apples, cider apples, eating apples, roasting apples, and apples for makin' caramel apples for the Harvest Fair in a few weeks. Those'll be the especially round ones, with kinda flat bottoms. Baking apples are really big and a little drier than the others, ciders are the ones bruised all to heck, and roasters are usually smaller than bakers, but three times as juicy. Selling apples are the all-around best of the lot, and everything else falls into the 'snack' category."
Stone nodded, glancing into the barrels for a better idea of the specifics. "Okay. Thanks, Jackie."
Applejack, forehooves hock-deep in her bushel, froze and turned to glower at Stone. "Don't ever call me that again, understand?"
Stone paused, his own batch of apples half-out of the cart. "Why? You didn't mind at all last summer."
The mare turned back to the apples, her eyes distant. "That was then. Things are different now."
Stone felt icy claws wrap around his heart and lungs. I should tell her. Why didn't I tell her before? Stone, you're an idiot. An idiot with oatmeal for brains. Heavily, he sat down beside Applejack and set into the apples himself. "So... Different how?"
"Just different, that's all."
Turned back-to-back like they were--the only way they'd both fit on the bench--Stone had an easier time hiding his frustration. Why won't she talk to me? Is there someone else? Was there someone before we met? Is that why she left? He scowled at the empty air in front of him. It's probably that 'Caramel' kid. Little punk probably only gave me the directions to get here 'cause he knew I wasn't gonna have a shot. I'll show him; I'll fight for her. I'll-- A hoof jabbed him in the side.
Applejack, still twisted around, watched him questioningly. "You alright there, Stone? You've been real quiet, and tensing up worse than an overwound clock."
Stone laughed awkwardly and went back to apple-sorting. "Haha. Uh, sorry. Guess I was letting my mind wander. Better get back to work."
Applejack nodded briskly and stood up. "Yep. I'm gettin' another bushel. We've got a lot more to deal with before lunchtime."
Unseen, Stone grinned at the apples. Ha! She wants to make sure I'm okay. Take that, Caramel!
~*~
Applejack shrugged. "So that's basically it. That's Sweet Apple Acres."
Stone pointed up at the gentle slope behind the farmhouse. "What about up there?"
Jackie's face turned unreadable again. "The North Orchard is around on the other side of the house, but it's nothin' special, just a smaller version of what's on the Northwest Corner. It butts up against the Carrot Family's land, and there's a couple family-only places in there."
"Like what?"
Applejack frowned. "Mac's hill. The first grove my family planted. Stuff like that."
Stone nodded patiently. At least she's not resorting to monosyllables again. Progress!
Suddenly, a terrified scream burst through the warm noontime air. "AAAPLEJAAAAACK!
Applejack snapped her head around, moving towards the sound. "Bloom?!"
A shape burst out of the trees and slammed into Applejack's chest, bowling her over. The two tumbled backwards, striking the thick, unyielding trunk of an old apple tree.
Stone rushed forward and helped pull Applejack to her hooves. "You okay, Jackie?"
"I'm fine," she growled, snatching her hoof away.
"Jackie?" The yellow shape resolved into a filly with a mane-bow almost as big as she was. "Ooooh, AJ, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend. Does Mac know? Prob'ly not, since he's got all his limbs and stuff." She blinked, realizing Stone was not, in fact, someone she recognized from the area. The filly's brow furrowed, and she stamped up to the strange stallion. "Who are ya, anyways? An' just what are yer intentions towards mah sister?"
Stone backed up a step, making the filly advance. "Uh..."
Applejack sighed and turned her sister around. "Applebloom! Ain't you supposed to be crusading today? And what was all that screaming for?"
Applebloom's eyes shrank as whatever had terrified her rushed back to mind. She threw herself, shaking, against Applejack's chest, startling the older pony. "No! Sweetie was sick, so... Oh, AJ, it's terrible! It-- It--"
"What? What happened to Sweetie? Is she alright?"
"No! They're all-- They're all white!"
Applejack stared down at her sister, who was on the verge of tears. "Uh, Bloom? I hate to be the one to tell ya this, but... Sweetie and Rares are white. It's just the color of their fur, nothing else. No reason to be upset."
"NO!" Applebloom pulled away, glowering at her sister and punctuating her shouts with hooves thrown violently into the dirt. "No, no, no! I know Sweetie's fur is white. I ain't dumb! It's the apples! In the North Orchard. I cut home through the Carrots' fields, and--" her spirit drained, Bloom slumped to the ground. "It's all white, AJ. The fruits, the leaves, everything. No tree was safe."
Applejack put a hoof to her mouth. The whites of her own eyes were clearly defined, making her irises look more like emerald specks. "No... It can't be. No! Not even--"
"Them too, I figure." Applebloom looked completely morose. "No green so far as I could see. Not even grass. Just white, like a blank colorin' page."
"No! Oh, sweet Celestia, NO!" Her face the picture of panic, Applejack reared and bolted off in a streak of orange and gold. Stone, flustered and lost, looked back and forth between the two sisters before taking off after Applejack.
Hooves thudding over the well-packed dirt, they soon whipped past the house and up into the North Orchard. Stone tried to call to Applejack, to get her to slow down, or explain what was wrong, but he could hardly hear himself over the hoofbeats and the wind in his ears. The trees around them started to change, the leaves and fruit specked with white that grew to spots, then blotches, and then consumed the tree. The trunks, even, turned a stark grayish color.
Finally, they skidded to a stop at the top of a hill, hooves digging into the dirt as they cut momentum. "Applejack!" Stone was fighting for breath. "What... What's happened?" Uncertainly, Stone trotted over to a tree and tapped a low-hanging apple. The fruit fell of the branch and splattered on the ground in a nasty-smelling mess, marring the white grass with gray-black pulp. Just like the cherries... How does it spread so fast? Our orchards only went up a couple weeks ago.
After staring at the remains for a moment, Stone picked his head up and scanned the area. "The whole orchard! Applebloom wasn't kidding." He glanced at Applejack, who stared straight ahead in silent horror. "...Ja-- Er, AJ? Hey, AJ? Is there anything I can do?" He followed her line of sight into a fenced-off expanse of the Orchard, only partially filled with tall, stately trees. It looked like... "AJ, is that your family's graveyard?"
It was an old Earth-pony tradition to bury the fallen directly into the ground, wrapped in a quilt they had spent their winters making, so that they could return to the land unhindered. A tree or bush, usually fruit-bearing or flowering, was planted on the grave to mark it. The Cherry Family's graveyard was a place Stone had been many times, looking for advice or a listening ear from his ancestors. Seeing the Apple graves damaged in such a way turned his stomach to ice. "Oh, Jackie..." So this is what you meant by 'family-only.' I'm so sorry.
Applejack whinnied sharply and stormed down the hill, leaping the wooden fence with ease. Stone followed, slowing to go by the gate. He was a guest, and he should enter this sacred place respectfully.
He found Applejack sprawled between two apple trees, no more than a few years old, their buds still green. Her beloved hat had fallen off her head, but Applejack seemed too lost in her relief to notice. "Oh. thank Omnia. Thank Omnia they're okay..."
Stone, standing on the path behind her, allowed himself a small cough to draw her attention away. "AJ? If I may, who are these?"
Applejack turned to face him with a tearstained smile and firmly set her hat back on her head. "These are my parents, Stone. Applejack, my ma, and my pa, Bismark."
Stone eased himself down onto the path, hoping to distract Jackie long enough for her to be able to come to grips with the situation again. "Your mother's name was Applejack, too?"
AJ nodded. "Yep. See, Ma was a second-generation Equestrian, who married into the Apples; her family traces back to Dream Valley. And it's a Dream Valley tradition to name the firstborn daughter after the mother, so..." She shrugged.
Stone nodded slowly, archiving that. "Dream Valley, huh? Wow. I thought the place was just a legend."
Jackie managed a small chuckle. "So did Pa, 'til Ma moved to town." She patted the soil above her father, eyes distant. "Both these trees were grown from seeds that Ma brought back from Dream Valley. Ma insisted we use one for Pa's grave, but Gran wanted to use a seed from Grandpa Sprout's tree, like tradition states. They would've argued about it 'til the end of time, if Ma hadn't snuck out and planted it while Gran was asleep. It was only fitting that we use another for Ma's resting place, I s'pose"
"So, do you think that's why these two are still green? Why the blight didn't hit them?"
Applejack frowned and rubbed the last of the tears from her eyes. "... Maybe. I can't say for sure, but I think I know who can." She sprung to her hooves and ran over to her grandfather's tree. "Sorry, Grandpa," she muttered as she gently plucked a fruit from a branch and guided it safely into her overturned hat, nestled into the crook of her foreleg. "C'mon. We're headed into town."
~*~
The castle was something Stone had seen from a distance as he entered Ponyville, but it was far more impressive up close. Tall, crystalline spires stretched up to pierce the clouds, hundreds of windows and dozens of balconies glittered in the sun, and the whole thing was topped off by a glowing purple star. Stone was aware of Applejack's status and that of her influential companions, but this palace was positively jaw-dropping.
Applejack pounded a hoof on the heavy oaken door. "Twah! Twah, opemph uff!"
Stone leaned around and reached for the hat still clenched in the mare's teeth. "Maybe it would be easier if you let me hold that...?"
Applejack us turned to glare at him, then resumed loudly beating at the door. "TWAH!"
The door creaked open, and a sleepy-eyed, juvenile dragon leaned around the side. "What?"
Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. Carefully, she set the hat down between her hooves. "Spike! I need to talk to Twi right away. It's urgent."
Spike's eyes lost all trace of tiredness. "What's going on, AJ? Twi's out on a Royal Mission, something about a 'horrible disaster' down south in Hayseed Swamp. She sent a letter back saying she doesn't know when she'll be back. I'm holding the fort 'til she comes home." He stepped out and shut the door behind him. "What's wrong? Is there anything I can do?" He peered up at Stone. "Who's this guy?"
Applejack just shook her head and growled. "Spike, meet Stone. Stone, this is Spike. Now!" She jabbed a frustrated hoof at the snow-white apple. "I don't s'pose you can tell me what did this to my orchards and how I can fix it."
The dragon leaned in close. A low, appraising hiss slid out of Spike's throat. "Well, I can tell you that... I have absolutely no idea how this happened." He shook his head and let his arms fall limply to his sides. Then a burst of energy bolted through him as a new idea hit. "But! I can also tell you that Zecora knows a lot more about plants than Twilight does. Maybe you should ask her if she can help!"
"I'll try anything to get my orchards back. Thanks Spike!" No sooner than that, Applejack has the hat in her teeth again and was halfway down the stairs.
Stone half-turned, hesitated, and then tipped his hat to the little dragon. "Er, Black Stone Cherry. Pleased to meet you, mister, uh... Dragon."
Spike stood on the porch for a few moments, watching the two earth-ponies go rushing off into the Everfree. As they dissolved into a cloud of dust, he shook his head and turned to go back inside. "I sure hope Zecora can help. If that spreads from Sweet Apple Acres... All of Ponyville's food supply is in danger."