Applebloom walked up to her sister as she sat alone in the kitchen that night, and she was drinking more and more cider than ever. Applejack looked to her little sister and then back to her mug. "Applejack, you keep drinking that cider, every night you're back to that mug," Applebloom said to her. "Drink, sleep, swim, drink, sleep, swim... I'm gettin' worried sis'. Cain't we talk about this?"
Applejack took another swig and slammed the mug down. The cider had become alcoholic due to the amount of time that she let it sit as she drank her unfermented cider. This was her jewel, which she had waited for. Her sweet release from reality. "Look Applebloom," she began, "I'm finer than a perfectly executed buck on an apple tree... there's nothing to worry about, lil' sis'... now go ta sleep, we gotta long day before us tomorrow."
Applebloom sighed, "Okay...G'night, I guess..." She turned to go to her room, but she heard Applejack take yet another gulp or two from her mug and set it back down. Her eyes quickly became full of tears, and her heart was singed with unspeakable rage. She turned to face her sister and ran to her, kicking the mug of cider right out of her hooves. "Tell me, Applejack! Tell me! Why don't you spend no time with nopony no more?"
"Stay outta mah business, Applebloom!" Applejack shouted, as she lapped at the cider spilled upon the ground. "I'm just cravin' some alone time for now... but tomorrow will be different. We gonna spend all day workin' tomorrow, me and you. No cidar, no pills, no secrecy! 'Kay?"
"Pills?" Applebloom asked, tilting her head and closing her eyes as they teared up even more. "But... you never told us anythang 'bout no pills! What for?!"
Applejack realized what she had said, and she quickly ran to the door leading outside. She escaped and outran her little sister despite the fact she was drunk and tore up from the floor up. She felt about ready to vomit, and fell down onto the muddy ground of the orchard, under a dying tree which had been poisoned by old age and torn roots. This was the tree which Applebloom needed help with one day to take down, but Applejack declined helping her. How so this tree symbolized many things going on in Applejack's life. Lifetimes, you could say. She ran away from her problems once again, and knew she surely could not help herself from doing so.
"Applejack, I know you're here! Just come on out so we can talk!"
Applejack could not bring herself to face her sister, and she crawled her way to the trunk of the tree and climbed up the tree successfully to hide from Applebloom. The younger pony looked around for her sister, but soon gave up upon not finding anything. Sighing in relief, Applejack prepared to descend, but surely the drunkenness limited her judgment, as she was bucked out of the tree by Applebloom and fell flat of her back, with the younger pony holding her down with her four legs.
"Please Applejack," the younger said, sniffling back tears and wincing from the wind that blew in her eyes. Her mane was blowing back, as it was free in the flow of the wind, and it was draped over her body and face, almost covering her tear-stricken eyes. "I want to help you, and we cain't wait till tomorrow, we gotta do this today... if you spend one more night like this doing whatever you're doin', you may kill yourself!"
A bottle killed her the first time, and Applebloom's comment made her remember. The ocean, the crashing waves, and the monsoon of the wind which followed her death. The crying and the wind, the mourning, the black void she could not breathe in. Born into another world as a foal, and from birth her memory remained. The new life which she craved, but never again would she meet Megan. Twilight, yes, but Megan, no. But, she could not shake the feeling that if she could reincarnate as a pony, then maybe Megan did as Applebloom, which was why she felt so close to her. Or was it the cider speaking? She laughed, not knowing what to believe in anymore, and now, the painkillers were dying off, and she felt the pain again quadrupled by Applebloom standing on top of her. Unable to scream, Applejack laughed and managed to headbutt Applebloom, who rolled off of her sister and screamed in pain, with her hooves on her face in pain.
"What the hay?!" Applebloom cried out, standing up and looking at her sister, who stood there, motionless and still. She was illuminated by the moonlight and her eyes began to go red, with blood lightly pooled at the side of her eyes. Applebloom covered her mouth, staring at her sister's crazed smile and listening to her scarily rhythmic giggles, nearly about to vomit. "Sis? Are-are you okay?"
"You scared? Then fight me!" Applejack shouted in lunacy. She ran to Applebloom and punched her in the face once, then twice. She did not let up, even after she fell down. "You wanna talk?! Then tell me, Megan! Why did you leave me and the others like that? After all we've been through? Ya just gon' leave us like that?! How'd ya think I felt? How'd ya think anypony felt? Then I spent all them years lookin' for a way... just looking for a way!" She punched Applebloom again, but the younger did not cry out in pain through screaming, she steadily whimpered and yelped whenever she was struck, but did not fight back. "What do you know? What do you know, Megan?!"
Applebloom was crying softly, her face bruised and bloody, she covered her face with her hooves in fear from being hit again. Not as if Applejack lost her madness enough to stop, but she did see that she was not talking to Megan anymore. She looked up at the moon and sighed, then back down to her sister. "Please sis'... stop it..."
Applejack pryed her sister's hooves from in front of her face and punched her in the face again. "Sorry Applebloom, but you pissed me off... just stay out of my business from now on."
Applebloom coughed up blood and looked up to her sister. She truly did not know what to think anymore. She was questioning who Megan was, what the pills and excessive cider was for, and even who Applejack was anymore. "Sis... I-I don't...care anymore..." Applebloom rolled over on her stomach, covering her face and crying loudly. She tried to hold back her sobs in the hopes she would not provoke for her sister to wail on her again. She began to crawl away, and Applejack was nearly going to let her. "I don't know why you're doin' this, but... if I cain't get no answers from ya... what's the point of trying?"
Applejack put her hoof on her sister's tail to stop her. She looked up to the moon and felt rather out of place. The moon could not sustain the life of an apple tree alone. The night was far too cold and too dark. The night was for sleeping, and a tree should not depend upon it. The night was almost like her enemy. Luna was the night, and if a dream followed this experience, then Applejack could not escape the night with the day. Celestia would be alerted, and maybe Applejack would lose her place as part of the Mane Six.
Maybe Applejack would not be Applejack any longer. But she did not want to run away anymore, she had to, and she knew she had to, face her fears and mare up. Stand up to the pain and the ails of her immortal life. She could not escape by running, nor by death, nor by rebirth. Whether or not she could erase her memories, she knew they would stay, and her actions were painful to her being enough. But this life was now, and this problem with Applebloom was real. The memory would forever bother her, but she felt if she ended it with a good note, then it would make the situation less problematic to herself and to Applebloom, to the Apple Family, and to Equinopolis as a whole.
She was at a loss for words, just like Applebloom was. She knew what she had to say, but there was a huge difference between that and what she could say without sounding like a crazy jackass. She picked up Applebloom but fell with the young mare atop of her. Her eyes now crying blood, staring at the bruised mess which was her younger sister's face. Applebloom's tears fell onto Applejack's eyes, seemingly cleansing her bloodshot eyes from the blood and chaos.
The pain was still ungodly and unbelievably unbearable, now magnified by Applebloom's weight. Like lightning striking rods sticking out from every part of her body, burning her flesh and ripping it further apart all the more while shocking her and holding her down to endure every agonizing moment of it that seemed like an eternity.
Applejack too began crying softly, merely apologizing again and again ceaselessly and off like a machine gun, all the more while sobbing with her sister, who told her she would forgive her. As long as she got some help that was. Applejack shook violently as she wrapped her front legs around Applebloom in an embrace, now coughing up blood, which lightly sprayed onto Applebloom's face. The younger cared not, and nuzzled her sister's head with her own.
The stars twinkled as the wind blew softly, and the crescent moon shone brightly. The dead tree still stood, but not alone, as the other tree's branches seemingly connected with its branches, as if to share its pain. Its life was over, but that did not mean the others would forget. And they would continue to hold on until the Apples themselves took it down and gave it a proper burial.