//------------------------------//
// Sweetheart  and the Apples 
// Story: What Comes After 
// by dracone 
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	Lovestruck and Sweetheart Tale, along with Twilight and her family, came up on the little two story building that was just a short trot away from the park Cadance had decided to prepare for them. The building itself was in the aesthetic of the rest of the town, the only notable difference being the bright pink front door and dark pink heart shaped mailbox out front. “Care to explain this?” Said Lovestruck with an arched brow as she stopped in front of the house.
“Pinkie's idea,” said Twilight as she motioned for he unicorns to follow her, Lovestruck gave an exasperated sigh before following the purple alicorn into the house. The light's were out, that was no surprise since nopony was living there, what concerned Lovestruck was that she could hear shuffling in the dark.
Suddenly the lights came on and a mass of ponies, including Twilight and her family cried, “Surprise!”
Sweetheart gave a scared yelp and dove behind her mother. Lovestruck gave an annoyed look towards the ponies in the room, Twilight included. She saw Pinkie Pie, Pokey Pierce, a bluish gray earth pony filly with a mane colored in waves of pink and white, Fluttershy was next a pink unicorn filly with a light green mane and tail, Rarity, Spike (he had gotten pretty big), what looked like a young purple twin horned cross between a dragon and pony, what looked like a young green cross between a dragon and pony with no horns and a pair of wings that looked more like those found on a dragon or bat than a pegasus.
“You do realize you just scared my daughter, right?” Lovestruck deadpanned, the sound of a set of small hooves dashing out the still open door caused her look where Sweetheart Tale should have have been, “and now she's scared, alone and probably lost in a community she's never encountered before. Seriously, Twilight I sent you a letter seven months ago explaining how Story is scared of new ponies and spooks easily, did you fail to mention it to your friends?”
“Um, actually I did tell them, this whole party was set up by Cotton Candy.”
The bluish gray filly gave a dejected look and started sniffling as she said, “this was my first surprise party, and I ruined it before it even began!”
“No, Candy,” said Pinkie Pie with a gentle reassurance, “you just got so wrapped up in making everything set perfectly you forgot to take the ponies into account, I tried to tell you about the two, but you were so focused on the set pieces you wouldn't let me tell you about the ponies.”
“Oh,” said Candy, “why didn't you tell me that when we were getting ready to surprise them?”
“You kept shushing us,” said Pokey Pierce, “honestly speaking the best way to learn these sorts of things is firsthoof, I just wish it hadn't been this potentially traumatic.”
“Especially with the family curse Story inherited,” said Twilight, “it's why her father can't remember all the good times with her mother or her.”
“Oh no,” said Fluttershy, “will she be okay?”
“As far as we could tell it involves ponies in love, some kind of twisted sense of humor from King Sombra, so Story should be fine for a few years.”
“And you'll be seeing if you can free her from that curse,” said Flash, “that is, once she gets used to being around you.”
“So, her name is Story? That's an interesting name,” said Starburst.
Lovestruck gave sigh and said, “No, her name is Sweetheart Tale, Lance started calling her Story after she warmed up to him as her foalsitter, it's a bit of an in joke for us.”
“How so?” Inquired Starburst.
“Because story is a synonym for the word tale,” said Twilight to her confused daughter.
“And she really likes listening to ponies she trusts read her stories,” said Lovestruck, “now if you'll excuse me I need to go find my daughter.”
“Just stay here,” said Twilight, “the town's changed more than you realize since you were last here, let my friends and I handle this one.”
“But, she'll be scared of you,” said Lovestruck, “she needs to be found by somepony she feels safe around, and as it stands the only pony that meets that criteria is me!”


***************************************

Sweetheart Tale didn't know where she was going, she just had to get away from that crowd. All those new ponies, all those possible expectations of her, all those ideas about her, all those things they would ask of her; it all scared her so much. This fear stemmed from her believing that other ponies had thought the same things as her, just in different ways, growing up in close proximity to the royal family in the Crystal Empire didn't help her either. Before she knew it she was at the entrance to a barn on a farm with more trees in one place than she had ever seen before. Looking around frightendly she ducked into the barn and curled up in a corner and started crying, she wanted her mommy, but mommy hadn't followed her.
She didn't know how long she had been crying in that corner, a gentle tap on her head caused the green filly to look up and see a young purple earth pony mare that looked like she was around twelve or thirteen years old with a red bandanna on her head and a pair of apple shaped cherries on her flank, “Are ya alright sweetheart,” said the mare, Sweetheart shook her head slowly and tried to back further into the corner, “scared uh new ponies, huh? Ah'm not gonna hurt ya, what's yer name? Care ta tell me where yer home is?” Sweetheart looked at the mare for moment before she realized the word sweetheart was used as an expression and not the new pony magically knowing her name. Sweetheart uncurled from her ball and just sat staring at the pony.
After what felt like hours she finally said, “Sweetheart,” pointing to herself before scooting a bit further back and sitting down to observe the new pony. She usually wasn't this social, but something about this young reminded her of her mother.
“Yer name is Sweetheart,” said the mare with a sudden realization, “no wonder ya gave me that confused look when Ah asked ya if ya were alright. Ah'm Red June, and yer currently in one uh tha barns on Sweet Apple Acres, home uh tha Apple clan in these here parts.”
Sweetheart pointed to herself again and said, “Sweetheart Tale,” then went silent again, she had very much done the same thing to Lance when the two had first met. Although to be honest, the second time she said anything to him was a full day after the first time, she was a bit more talkative around this “June” pony and didn't know why.
“Is tha' yer full name?” Sweetheart gave a firm set of three nods.
“Et's uh nice name, ya should know all tha ponies around these parts are real friendly like. Ya jus' move ta town?” Sweetheart gave a nod, “the surprise party for new ponies scare ya?” Another nod, “ya hungry?” A rumble from the filly's stomach answered that, June gave a light chuckle before saying, “ya came ta the righ' place fer that, we supply produce ta tha whole town, and mah cousin and Ah just finished 'r chores, come on, Ah'll intraduce ya ta tha family. Then ya can git sumthin' ta eat. We should always show proper manners an' hospitality.”
Sweetheart got up and followed the mare out, right into the old farmhouse that the family shared. Granted it had gotten a few renovations since the whole marrying and having foals deal by the three Apple Siblings.
When they trotted in they heard Apple Bloom saying, “All Ah'm sayin' is we should et least have one uh us go, Ah can't on account uh the younins.”
“Ah'm not disagreein',” said Applejack, “but this is one uh our busiest times uh tha year, we need ta git ready fer Cider makin' a few days early this year so we dun't run out as fast.”
“Which is why Ah keep tellin' ya an automated system would be best, Ah know ya got uh bad taste in yer mouth fer that sorta thing on account uh those no good huckster brothers, but at tha very least we should be considerin' et.”
“Sounds like the cider dispute again,” whispered June to the filly, “it's been this way wid aunt Bloom fer abou' six years now, every time cider season is on the brink uh happenin' she and aunt AJ have this little debate. As I like to call it the 'tradition versus progress debate', but honestly Ah don't think tha family would really care either way, aunt Applejack is just really stubborn, and she's been our clan matron fer about seven years now.”
Sweetheart just looked at the mare confused and the sound of her rumbling tummy actually caused all the ponies involved in the argument, who were in the kitchen for some reason during their debate, to turn their attention just quick enough to see the unicorn filly duck behind June.
“Sumthin' ya wanna tell us June,” said Applejack with concern, Apple Bloom came over to get a closer look, she saw a green and pink blur dive behind the couch.
“Did Annie somehow make et here on 'er own?” Said Apple Bloom with confusion.
“No,” said June moving over to the couch and silently coercing Sweetheart out, “although her colors are similar to Annie's, you can come out Sweetheart. Nopony's goin' ta 'urt ya.”
“Still callin' foals those cute pet names Ah see,” said Applejack with a chuckle.
“Actually that is her name,” said June, “she's new ta Ponyville and she also just so happens ta 'ave gotten so scared uh the surprise party she ran all the way ta tha farm an' hid in tha barn until Ah found her a little while ago, she's also a bit hungry.”
“Ah'll whip up sumthin' fer 'er,” said Applejack as she headed for the kitchen, “was gettin' ready ta make lunch when Bloom ambushed me with the cider proposal this year, an' since Del wuh near 'er at tha time some of mah choice words fer 'er actions weren't sumthin' Ah could say.”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and said, “she's a little cutie.”

**********************

A few minutes later Del came down the stairs from his after work nap, he looked to be about a few years older than Sweetheart. When Sweetheart saw him arriving she tried to hide behind June again. June just chuckled and said, “Del's one uh the most safe colts ya'll could ever meet, he's a perfectly safe foal, just like you.”
Del gave the unicorn filly a confused look before his mom, Applejack, said, “she just looks lahk uhn Annie wid her mane an' coat colors switched, she's new en town an' Ah expect ya ta treat her with the respect she deserves.”
Del just nodded and made a motion to be friendly, Sweetheart shied away from the colt, “Did Ah do sumthin' wrong?” Asked Del looking at the filly with confusion.
Sweetheart shook her head before pointing to June, June quickly picked up on what the filly was motioning for and said, “she feels scared aroun' new ponies, in fact she was so scared by tha surprise party she ran all tha way here in blind terror,” Sweetheart nodded.
“Where is yer new 'ome? Maybe we can help ya get thar,” said Del.
Sweetheart stared at the colt for a moment before saying in timid little voice, “Park,” and moving to hide behind June again.
Applejack stopped stirring the stew she as making and set it to simmer and turning to look at the filly before saying, “Were ya outa breath when ya got 'ere?” Sweetheart shook her head, all four earth ponies had their eyes shoot up in surprise.”
“Sweetheart,” said Apple Bloom from the table, “that's 'alf way across town from 'ere, an' the farm is a good seventeen minute trot from tha edge of town. Are ya sayin' ya ran all that way 'ere an' ya weren't tired et all?” Sweetheart nodded again.
“Well bless mah Orchards,” said Applejack, “a unicorn wid stamina ta spare, yer a rare breed little filly.”
Sweetheart stared at the orange mare before quietly going over to the table.

****************************************

It was while Sweetheart was on her third bowl of Applejack's spiced carrot and broccoli stew that Pinkie showed up at the door and knocked in her distinctive manner. “Pinkie's at tha door, Del could ya get et fer us, the rest of us are tryin' ta see just how much she's lahk yer uncle.” Del nodded and headed to the door.
When Del opened the door he was face to muzzle with Pinkie's party cannon, “Mrs. Pinkie,” said Del in a surprisingly level voice, “Ah only 'ave two things ta say. Please move yer party cannon from mah face, and if yer lookin' fer Sweetheart Tale she's in tha kitchen wid mom, mah cousin an' mah aunt.”
“Oh good,” came Candy's voice from inside the cannon before she rolled out, “mom got a feeling that she might be here. Learn anything about her?”
“Otter than 'er name, the general location uh 'er abode, and the fact she's probly as quiet as mah uncle Mac not much.”
“She doesn't talk much, huh?” Said Pinkie as she seemed to tuck the cannon into some strange pocket of reality.
“All she's said since June found 'er in tha barn other than where 'er abode is was and 'er name,” said Del as he lead the two inside, Pinkie gently closed the door behind them.
Sweetheart seemed relaxed around the Apples, but soon as she noticed Pinkie and Candy she made a go at ducking behind June. In mid stride she was snatched up by Pinkie at a speed that was intense nopony had even seen her move.”
Pinkie looked over to see the unicorn filly peering out from behind June. “I see Junie's good with foals!”
“Actually June was just the first pony she met 'ere,” said Applejack.
Candy tried to get close, but the green filly kept trying to keep her distance from the grayish blue filly. Candy stopped and stared before saying, “Do you want to make friends?” Sweetheart stared at the other filly for a moment before nodding, “do you want to be friends with us?” Said Candy gesturing to Del and herself. Sweetheart stared at the two for a moment before nodding.
“Why ya so skittish then? Ya should be tryin' ta intraduce yerself,” said Del.
Sweetheart sighed and started looking around for something to write with, Applejack recognized the actions and stepped out of the kitchen for a minute before returning with a notepad and a pencil, something she learned was useful over the years of knowing Twilight.
Sweetheart started scrawling with her hoof holding the pencil as wrote on the pad while holding it close to herself with the other hoof. When she was finished she slid it across the floor to the filly and colt. Pinkie looked at it as well and said, “Oh, that is pretty bad!”
“What's et say?” Asked Applejack.
“She's afraid of meeting new ponies because the first time she remembers meeting anypony new she was kept from her mom,” said Pinkie, “I'm guessing a bunch of stallions trying to put the moves on her mother while ignoring the filly. She also says to not to take it personally, she was the same way with some pony she calls 'Vlance', who the the hay is Vlance?”
The sound of a mare's laughter erupted from the front door and they all turned to see Twilight and Lovestruck, Twilight was giving the pink mare a confused look, after calming her giggle fit down a bit Lovestruck said, “That's what she calls Valiant Heart, since half the time she hears me call him Valiant and the other half she hears me call him Lance she sort of merged the two into one word, and that word is 'Vlance'.”
Sweetheart rushed over to her mother and did her best hide herself from the other ponies.
How much ya hear uh Pinkie's readin' tha note?” Inquired Apple Bloom
“Enough to get the gist of her experience,” said Lovestruck, “to be fair it was only three drunk stallions, the kind that get hammered in the middle of the day, but the thing is two of them focused on me while the third kept trying to shoo Sweetheart away so he and his buddies could 'put the moves' on me. It was her first time walking outside our home, we were going to see Cadance after I had helped her memorize the city.”
“And that one experience is what makes her so scared of meeting other ponies, not just stallions?” Inquired Twilight.
“It didn't help that the more friendly ponies at all the places we went that day kept trying play pinchie with her face,” said Lovestruck.
“That would make any foal nervous,” said Apple Bloom, “Ah would hate fer et ta happen ta mah foal once Ah 'ad 'er.”
“What makes ya so sure yer first foal is gonna be a filly?” Said Applejack, “ya could end up wid a colt lahk Ah did.”
“Ah want ta believe Ah'll 'ave uh filly befer Ah 'ave any colts,” said Apple Bloom, “because Ah think et's nicer ta think uh et that way.”
June facehoofed before saying, “Fillies an' gentlecolts please disregard the family debate at this time.”
Twilight and Lovestruck started snickering, Sweetheart just stared at her mother in confusion.
“So who's Sweetheart's father?” Said June, mostly out of an effort to divert conversation topics away from family matters.
“His name is Sky Emerald, he's crystal pegasus in Cadance's royal guard. I married him seven years ago, but when I was seven months along he suffered a tragedy that...” she started crying and hugging her daughter close.
“Sombra's influence is still present in the Crystal Empire,” said Twilight, “Sweetheart's father is under curse that was activated before she was born, Sky Emerald will continually have his memory reset to before he got to the point of marrying Lovestruck and waiting with anticipation for his new foal alongside her, every time either of them say or do something that constitutes as family love it causes his memory to undergo the reset,” everypony, including Sweetheart while excluding Lovestruck, gasped, “I looked into it while I was carrying Star, it's pretty complex, but I think since Sweetheart is still young I can remove the curse her and relocate its essence for study in a secure environment.”
Lovestruck said nothing, she just hugged the purple alicorn crying tears of joy.
“So 'er dad will always ferget 'er ef she ever tries to get affectionate wid him? That aint right,” said Applejack.
Sweetheart was crying against her mother's leg, this was the first time she had heard of anything like this. Candy trotted over try and comfort the younger filly, but unlike before Sweetheart was completely unresponsive to the other filly. In her choked up sullen voice Sweetheart said, “mom, why?”
Lovestruck stared at her daughter for few seconds in awkward silence before saying in a sad tone, “Because of how much it hurts me inside to see your father return how he was a year before he truly got to know me every time, it only happened to you once Sweetheart, it happened to me dozens of times.”
“And every time it broke another piece of your heart out,” said Twilight, “the only thing keeping it together right now is Sweetheart.” Lovestruck just nodded.
“Ya were happy wid everything up until tha accident,” said Applejack, “Ah can't imagine wut et would be like ta 'ave something like that 'appen ta Caramel.”
“Well I could if it happened to Pokey, but I really don't want to think about that sort of thing,” said Pinkie.
Twilight looked over and Sweetheart curled up in a ball next to Lovestruck, “Girls, I think this really upsetting the foals.”
Pinkie looked over at her daughter and noticed the not so happy face on Candy. Applejack saw a similar look on Del, “Ah think et's time fer a topic change,” said Applejack.
“So,” said Pinkie, “what's her favorite thing to eat? Candy seems to really like parfaits and salads.”
“Del likes apple dishes best,” said Applejack.
The mares, and June, rolled their eyes and Twilight said, “Everypony in your family has that distinction, Star seems to really like watermelons.”
“Sweetheart really doesn't say what she likes most,” said Lovestruck, “she just gives nods or head shakes when you ask if likes what she's eating.”
Candy bounced over to Sweetheart, who was now out of her little ball and looked like she'd just pulled her face out of a full sink and looked all around the other filly, she even sniffed around the filly's face before saying, “I think I know,” and bounced back to her mother. During the whole thing the only action Sweetheart performed was a flinch when the other filly drew near.
“So,” said Lovestruck, “what do you think she likes most?”
“Nuh uh,” said Candy, “it's a surprise. Besides, you're her mommy, you should know what she likes more than any other pony, ever.”
“Sweetheart is a little different than most other ponies,” said Lovestruck, “she's never said outright to me what she likes, never made any reactions towards anything to indicate she might like something. It's almost as if...”
“She's trying wall herself from the outside,” said Twilight.
“I probably shouldn't have tried taking her around the town as soon as she could walk, but I wanted her to know what the Crystal Empire really looked like very early on. She hadn't reached the point where she could say anything before then, and I think her bad experience may have stunted that development.”
“A fair assessment,” said Twilight, “but she seems like a smart filly and...” suddenly Sweetheart had a magic surge and everypony was standing on the ceiling, with their manes as they normally would be. “And she just reversed gravity in the house, or rather I would think that if the furniture had joined us.”
“This ever happen ta ya Twi? 'Cause Ah would rally like ta know how get back ta tha floor withou' a whole lota pain, or hurtin' tha foals when et coulda been avoided,” said Applejack.
“I kind of had another magic surge shortly after I got my cutie mark, I ended up putting all our furniture and breakfast on the ceiling in the dining area of the house. Fortunately it had been a few days since Princess Celestia had taken me on as her personal student, she was actually coming by that day to have breakfast with us.”
“And she undid the spell in a way that didn't damage anything,” said Lovestruck finishing the explanation, “please tell me you learned how to do the same in years since then.”
Twilight just smiled and her horn glowed before they all appeared on the floor unharmed.
“Nice ta see tha' knowin' uh princess has benefits,” said June, “Ah hope tha' we don't 'ave ta deal wid tha' sorta thang again.”
Sweetheart just stayed clinging to her mother's leg. “We need ta find uh way ta 'elp 'er git used ta everypony,” said Applejack as she started moving Del over to the couch.
“To be honest, this is the most social she's been since the incident,” said Lovestruck, “she usually won't respond to anypony she hasn't known for a few months, Ponyville is just where she needs to grow and learn,” she looked down to see Sweetheart had fallen asleep, “the adrenaline flood she got from her fear probably dropped enough to get her to a point where here body just needs a little rest,” she placed the filly on the couch and smiled as the little bundle of green and pink curled up into the sleeping position that most foals found comfortable.
“Wait, are ya sayin' she ran all tha way 'ere on adrenaline, an' most of her interactions wid us were because et hadn't thinned out enough in her system?” Said June, “Miss Lovestruck, she ran all tha way 'ere from yer house near tha park, an' 'ad three bowls uh aunt AJ's stew befer we knew any uh this. Ah found 'ere curled up and shiverin' en fear en a corner uh tha barn. She wuh usin' me like some kinda barrier from tha res' uh tha family.”
Twilight and Lovestruck looked at each other before Twilight said, “it's surprising she was so trusting of you so fast.”
“Ah think et had ta do wid a combination uh mah kindly demeanor an' a timely question jus' befer 'er stomach growled. She started treatin' me like a wall when she met tha res' uh tha family, she started warming up ta when we showed 'er we were safe and she had some good food in 'er.”
“That's good,” said Lovestruck with smile as she turned her green eyes to her daughter who was now trying to hide behind her mother and motioning, in her sleep, looking at the other ponies with a mix of confusion, curiosity and fear.
“She really does live up ta tha first part uh 'er name,” said Applejack, “she really is a sweetheart, when she gets passed the whole bein' scared uh ya.”
“That she does,” said Lovestruck.
“I want to make up to her, what kind of party is best for that? I want to get it right next time,” said Candy.
“Maybe parties aren't quite your thing,” said Lovestruck, “maybe you should try something that's a bit less hooves on next time, like a fair.”
“Ooh, an I'm sorry carnival would be great,” said Candy with excitement, “although it might take a bit of time to organize and get everything just so.”
“Well by the time that happens she'll probably have already warmed up to you,” said Lovestruck. With that the mare carried her  filly in her magic out the door and towards home.