Finding the apartment unit of Mr. and Mrs. Orange was not hard. Applejack knew exactly where it was; having spent two months living there. It was located on the third floor, two doors down from the elevator on the right-hoof side. As they approached the familiar door that lead to her Aunt and Uncle's loft apartment, Applejack felt a bit of tension in her stomach. She hadn't exactly sent word before hoof that she would be visiting and she hadn't visited with them in a long while. Plus, she hadn't replied to one of her aunts letters in a long time; not out of hatred or disain but mostly due to the her hectic life of running the family farm and being a Saviour of Equestria. Applejack really wanted to visit her aunt and uncle but at the same time she was unsure on whether or not they would be welcome. And she was worried what HE would do.
Applejack glanced back at Discord who looked at her with boredom and a bit of agitation; he was clearly perplexed why they were just standing in the hallway. Fluttershy seemed to not care; she appeared to be somewhere else mentally, glancing over her shoulder occasionally. The orange mare sighed and then straightened her back and then gave a final look towards Discord which said: Behave or else. After all the only reason he was here was because of Fluttershy. Stepping forward, she elegantly knocked on the door to the apartment. Applejack waited for several moments for a sign of life but none came. Applejack frowned and knocked again.
“Aunt Valencia? Uncle Mosley?” asked the earth pony mare, starting to get nervous. Were they asleep? Fluttershy stepped forward a bit.
“Maybe they're out?” she suggested, glancing down the hallway towards the guards who were standing by, looking for some sort of threat. Applejack considered it but then again, wouldn't the apartment's security have told her? Then again, they didn't seem like the type who paid much to details. Maybe they should come back; it didn't seem as though her family was home. Before she could walk away, the door opened slightly and from the crack, a heavy scent of what smelled like a mixture of urine and rotting trash hit Applejack in the nose, causing her and the others to gag.
“Yes?” A soft, strained voice came from behind the door and from the small crack from where the smell was coming from, Applejack saw a blue iris staring back at her.
“Aunt Valencia?” it didn't sound like her aunt but the voice was clearly female and who else would be here? The door opened the rest of way and in the doorway, stood the remains of the mare Applejack knew. She was no longer wearing fancy jewelry or accessories; she only wore a faded, torn bathrobe that was stained with as series of odd stains and clearly hadn't been washed in a while. Her hair, usually done up in an elaborate hairdo with her favorite golden hair clip was now limp, tangled and greasy. Her fur which was a lovely light orange-yellow was now starting to look a bit gray and bags upon bags were under her eyes. Applejack's eyes moved beyond Valencia to look at her apartment. She couldn't see much with her aunt in the way but she caught the sight of a pile of dirty dishes and what appeared to be garbage strewn upon the floor.
“Jacquelin....what are you doing here?....who are these people?” asked the mare, who was confused and sounded tired. Her light blue eyes swept over the group, frowning at the weird gray stallion who seemed to be....juggling glasses of chocolate milk? The disguised draconequus grinned but quickly stopped his act when Applejack turned around to see why her aunt had suddenly turned alarmed. Discord pouted but complied. Applejack turned back to her aunt and looked at her with concern.
“Aunt Valencia.....are you okay?” asked the younger mare. The older mare just ignored her question and repeated her own.
“What are you doing here Jacqueline?” this time more firmly and aggressive. Applejack stuttered for a moment before answering; her voice returning to her true, country accent.
“I'm here visitin' with my friends. My friend here, Fluttershy is getting' married to her fiancée, and we're 'err to check out some caterers and meet with some dress designers...I thought I'd visit you and 'ncle Mosley while I was in town.” answered Applejack, pointing to Fluttershy and Discord when she brought them up in conversation.
At the mention of “Uncle” Mosley, Valencia began tearing up. “I'm sorry, did I say somethin' 'rong? What's going on Auntie? You look like a 'train wreck and you smell like Big Joe the Pig when he got caught out in the rainstorm last summer and we found him the next day stuck in a sewage pipe....wait, where's Uncle Mosley?”
Valencia had now entered in a full mode crying session. She tried to say something but with her crying it wasn't possible to decipher. Something about a theft? Or left? She rubbed her snotty nose on her bathrobe which earned a few looks from a few neighbors passing by her door. Valencia paid them no heed though Applejack did feel a little self conscious standing there in the hallway.
“W...Can we come in Auntie? I feel right silly standin' here.” Valencia seemed conflicted but after a moment, she allowed the group to come inside. Once they were, Applejack could really see how bad the dishes and garbage were. As Applejack passed by the kitchen she saw piles upon piles of dishes covered in dirt and larva sat all over them. The garbage was all over the floor and looked and smelled that maybe her aunt had decided to let her precious Siamese cat, Cleopawtra to use the floors as a bathroom. Which come to think about it, that cat was no where to be seen. Usually she was near her mistress yet she seemed to be gone. The smell and sight made the mares stomach roll and bile began to rise. Something was wrong, very wrong.
“What. Happened? Where is Uncle Mosley and what in Tarnation happened to your apartment?” Applejack asked once they had reached the sitting room which was surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the place. The place was still how Applejack remembered it; a thick old worn carpet covered the floor, large, old styled couches were pushed against the wall and in the corner of a room was a worn oak desk and in the other there was a painting easel with half finished painting of a waterfront. Valencia opened her mouth to reply but quickly looked passed Applejack and at her “friends” and gave her niece a look that read: Family matter.
“We'll just.. um...be out in the...um hallway....” said Fluttershy, picking up the vibe that this was a private matter and ushering Discord and the guards out into the hallway. Once they were alone, the orange mare gave her aunt a glare that meant business. Valencia sobbed quietly for a few minutes before speaking, though she did not stop crying.
“Mosley....He...He...he left m-me” admitted Valencia, her tears beginning to fall harder. Applejack was shocked. Left? But Mosley and Valencia were the perfect couple, they never fought and were a couple that gave off the vibe of being newlyweds despite the fact that they had been married for a little over a decade.
“When...Why?” asked the souther pony. Valencia sobbed for a moment before continuing on.
“H-He found a yo-younger m-mare, some little slut from C-Canterlot. I g-guess younger and prettier are better.....he left over f-four months ago” Her sobs were now completely out of control, the older mare slid to the floor and onto the faded plush rug that covered the floor of the sitting room.
“What happened to your apartment?” Valencia didn't respond, instead her sobs decreased to light sniffles and she seemed to enter a state of absent mindedness, not paying her niece any attention.
“I just couldn't...I couldn't be bothered to do house work or chores, not after he left. I just....I can't bring myself. I know it's pitiful and disgusting but I just can't.” she said after a while, looking around the sitting room.
“Except this room, I don't know why but I feel safe and happy here. Maybe because it's the one part of the apartment I had free rein to design the way I liked. No need for expensive foreign rugs or uncomfortable sofas like the ones that Mosley had in the living room. You know the ones he would get so in a rage about if Cleopawtra or anypony with a smudge of dirt on them got anywhere near them. He choose pretty much everything in this place you know? From the colors to the furniture, and I never liked any of it but he refused to budge. But here....here was mine. “ Valencia paused to look around the room, taking in the smell of paint and the light aqua walls that surrounded him.
“He met her at some Coffee Shop, some university student who was trying to pay her way through college; a wannabe actress. At first I ignored it; denial because I couldn't take the truth, I passed it off as being paranoid but then one day, I woke up and found him and her in the living room, waiting for me. He tried to throw me out. Me. She, the little slut who had slept with my husband, even had the audacity to blame me by claiming that I hadn't done my wifely duties.
I've never hit somepony so hard. The...the guards came and then they tried to pin me as some crazy mare. The guards got them to leave but Mosley promised to get everything in the divorce. I didn't believe him, until the mare that I thought was my best friend, the lawyer friend you met a few times when you lived here, decided to represent him in court. Can you believe it? I know he will win, she's only had a few handfuls of failure in her career.”
“Oh don't you see Jacqueline, I'm going to lose everything so why bother to even take care of the apartment?” The older mare was beginning to tear up again, sobbing into her hooves. Applejack's gut filled with disbelief and anger. While her aunt was her biological relative, being her mother's sister and Granny Smith's daughter, Mosley still felt like family. He was family. Or at least he had been; she had no idea how to feel about the situation. Angry? Sad? Confused? All? What she did know is that as she held her crying at, that she was going to need her.