//------------------------------//
// Concerning Apples (and Princesses) 
// Story: The Long Twilight 
// by ultiville 
//------------------------------//

Above Sweet Apple Acres, and specifically above the hill Applejack sat on, the sky was on fire.

They'd saved Equestria again, of course.  This time from a scourge that hit everypony close to home.  While some ponies had managed to evade Tirek until they finally brought him down, they all at least knew from friends and family the pain of losing their magic, their marks, some of the spark that made Equestria what it was.  And so now it felt like everypony was celebrating.  From Canterlot, professional fireworks rained over what felt like the whole country, but certainly enough of it to dazzle Ponyville.  Undeterred by the quality of Canterlot's effort, amateur pyrotechnicians throughout the town and the surrounding hills added their own tributes to the victory.  And above it all, Luna put special effort into her night sky, stars wheeling and falling and blooming overhead.  All in all, it was a multi-layered light show that, Applejack had to admit, was objectively dazzling.  She imagined how much ponies' hearts would swell at the sight, and smiled a little to think of them feeling better after the most recent crisis.

As for her?  Mostly, she felt like her rump was wet.  To be fair, the grass on the hilltop was quite damp.  Her eyes were too, a little.  She leaned down and took a sip of the cider sitting in front of her.  Her lips might as well join the club.

"Hey sis," Big McIntosh settled his bulky form down beside her.  "Not out with your friends?"

"Not tonight, Mac, you know that.  I can't be in the mood tonight.  I know it's silly, after so long--"

"Eeenope."

She shook her head.  "It ain't usually this bad, y'know."

"Eeeup."

She took another sip of cider.  It was, she believed, her third mug, and her head buzzed a little.

"It's just not right, y'know?  Not right of me.  They don't know, and they shouldn't.  This is important.  Mom and dad, they--"

"Eeeenope."

"Don't you do that to me, Mac.  Don't pull that...that...terse horseapples with me."  He glanced at her, expression showing just what he thought of her word of the day.  "Yeah, you like that one?  That's a Princess Twilight special."

"Sis, don't do this.  You know they were important.  You know nopony'd say they weren't."

She sighed, and took another sip of cider.  Mac moved towards the bottle, but she darted her hooves between it and him.

"I know, Mac.  You're right, of course.  I guess I just feel like they didn't know 'em, y'know?  They think they're important 'cause of us.  Not 'cause of them.  It's how it always is, right?  Everypony needs food, all the heroes and wizards and even the Princesses.  But all them books Twi has, the Grand History of Equestria and all that.  Ain't none of 'em that talks about an Apple.  I'll be in..." she had to choke back a sob, "I'll be in all of 'em, and Ma and Pa won't be in any.  You reckon that's right, Mac?"

Mac shrugged.  Applejack felt his heavy yoke shift against her side with his movement, then a moment later, he wrapped a hoof around her and leaned against her.

"It ain't your fault you're special, sis.  They don't mind, wherever they are.  They're so proud."

She couldn't hold back the sobs, at that.  Mac just stayed quiet, until she ran herself out.  He knew when to play to his talents.

"Celestia I'm a mess," she managed.  "I wish I could make 'em understand."

Mac was silent for a while.

"Maybe you can.  Maybe they don't know 'bout the Apples 'cause nopony ever told 'em."

"What'd'ya mean by that?"

"Well, seems like you reckon they ain't in Miss Twilight's books 'cause no one cares..."

"Mhm."

"Maybe it's the other way 'round.  Maybe they don't care 'cause they ain't in the books.  Maybe they don't know 'cause nopony ever told 'em."

Applejack looked up at the sky again, all those layers of fireworks: the small Ponyville rockets barely visible against Canterlot's massive display, Luna's subtle tricks serving as backdrop, barely noticed.  Finally, she smiled a little.

"Mac, did anypony ever tell you you're a genius?"

"Eeeenope."

"Well...well, maybe that's fair.  But that's a darn good idea you've got there."

Mac headbutted her, but she could tell he didn't really mean it.





After everything died down, all the celebration and ceremonies and formalities, Princess Twilight Sparkle found herself at risk of being overwhelmed by her new home and duties.  They brought forth that all-too-familiar feeling of an upcoming final: too many big things to really tackle.

So, she confronted them in the same way she confronted all such tasks: she prepared to beat them into small things, and then imprison those small things safely in checklists, schedules, and organizational schema.

"Spike!"  Her call echoed in the vast hallways of her castle, and she winced.  Before she could do much more than start breathing heavily, though, Spike appeared, scroll in hand.

"Planning checklist?"

She breathed out, normally, and felt herself calming again.  "Planning checklist.  Item one..."

By the time she'd finished the planning checklist, it was lunch time.  She got ready to order out, only to find a guardpony at her side, bearing take-out hayburgers.  Twilight thanked him, then added seventeen staff-related items to her checklist, then ate her lunch.

"Okay, Spike, now, I think first we should--" a knock on the study door cut her off.  She shook her head.  "Come in," she sighed, ready for some order of business that she was not ready for at all.

Instead, Applejack walked in, and Twilight smiled at her, at least as happy at seeing her friend as she was at avoiding the risk to her checklist.  Well, probably at least as happy.

"Applejack!  What are you doing here?"

"Hey Twi.  Uh, do you have a minute?"

"For you?  Of course!  I was just making my planning checklist for the next few weeks.  I have a lot of settling in to do, you know."

"Oh, uh, I wouldn't want to interrupt.  I can come back,"

"Nonsense, AJ.  I know you're busy, I don't want you to make the trip for nothing.  The checklist will keep."

"Err, okay then, thanks.  It's sorta official, though.  Kind of."

"How can something be 'kind of' official?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd use your princess powers for me," Applejack looked at her hooves.

"Well, I can't promise anything, of course, but I know you wouldn't ask me to abuse it," Twilight tried not to let her curiosity show too much.  "What do you need?"

"Well, I was thinking, that is, Mac'n I were talking, about how we never have regular folks showing up in your fancy history books.  Like take the Apples.  We've got ponies all over Equestria, doing important things.  Making food, cutting wood, building farms and houses.  We founded Ponyville, near enough!  But I never see a book about those folks, just Starswirl, and Hurricane, and the the Princesses.  At this rate, I'll be the only Apple in any of 'em!"

Twilight blinked.  "Applejack, I had no idea you cared about this sort of thing."

"I mean, I never did before, but well, like I said, we were talking.  I know you love all those books, and I'm sure Starswirl did real important things, but it ain't right."  Applejack stared at her as if daring her to disagree.

"No I agree, I just...I admit it never occurred to me.  All right, what do you want me to do?"

"Well, you're a Princess, I'm sure you can get somepony to write a book about the common folk.  Call it 'A Pony's History of Equestria' or something.  Fancy professor types are always looking for grants, right?  I mean, they need to eat too."

Twilight laughed.  "That's right, I suppose they are.  But like you said, there are a lot of working ponies in Equestria, far more than there are Princesses or Starswirls.  If you made a history like the one you're talking about, I think it wouldn't really be able to tell the stories of many individual ponies.  You'd have to cover, say, what it was like to be a farmer in the pre-classical era, rather than tell a farmer's whole story.  I'm not sure that's what you want."

"No, maybe not," Applejack sighed.  "So...you don't think it's a good idea?"

Twilight held back a smile, feeling a plan come to her.  It was one of her favorite feelings.

"I didn't say that.  I just think it needs a bit of refinement.  What if you just picked a few working ponies and told their stories?  Some linked group that were all, or mostly all, farmers and pioneers and all those things you wanted to tell ponies about.  Maybe a family, for example?"

"You don't mean..."

"What about a history of the Apple Family?  I do!"

"Twi, can you really get somepony to do that?  Do you know somepony who'd be able to?"

Twilight finally couldn't hold back her smile, and a little giggle.  "I have a pretty good idea."

"Who?  I don't reckon any fancy educated types care much about us.  Well except you, of course, but you can't do it, with all this."

"I don't know any others that do either.  But I do know a pony that just convinced me it's an important story, and who has extensive connections to primary sources inside the Apple family."

"Really...wait.  Twi, you want me to write it?"

"Yes!  Think about it AJ, you have the reunions at the farm, you already know a lot of the old stories.  I bet if you asked, your family would bring scrapbooks, old letters, journals...it'd take an outsider years, decades to assemble all that research.  And you know why it's important.  You're right, I never thought about it.  I love all the books about Starswirl and the Princesses and the heroes and villains and I always will, but you're right, and you made the case for it."

"I ain't a writer, Twi."

"I read your journal entries.  You can write.  You won't write like an academic, sure, but that's only fitting.  You'll write like the ponies you'll be writing about, and the ponies you'll be writing to.  You'll be clear, and simple, and make everypony understand how important the Apples are, and how important they are, even the ones that didn't study in Canterlot for years.  If I got some professor to write this, it might change a few minds in academia.  When you write it, it might change how ponies think about history all throughout Equestria."

"I dunno, Twi, I'm awful busy on the farm..."

"Like you said, I can give grants.  I'm afraid, Applejack, you've convinced me of the importance of this project, and I don't think anypony can do it justice except you.  Besides," Twilight looked at her sidelong, "if you want ponies, if you want everypony to read it and realize how important the simple ponies are, well, you can use the ways you aren't simple to do that.  I know they'll all be happy they read about your granny and your aunts and your uncles, but they won't know that until they do.  What they will know is that they want to read about you."

Applejack slumped a little, and let her hat slide down over her face.

"You ain't gonna give up on this until you see the foalish mess I turn out, are you?"

"I'm not going to give up on this until I see your book on the required reading list for Canterlot University's introductory history course.  Now, let's talk about this grant."