//------------------------------//
// Prompt #13: Cry Because It Happened 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
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She hadn’t cried at Big Macintosh’s. She’d wished only the best for her brother and his new wife, and grinned and said she was looking forward to being Auntie Applejack to a few more Apples in a few years. She’d laughed out loud when she finally managed to make the stoic wall of a brother blush hard enough to be seen against his coat. Nopony really noticed during the following party, Applejack more or less planted herself by the drinks table and got quiet for the rest of the day.

She hadn’t cried at Rarity’s wedding, either. Despite the fact that Rarity and her beau were both from Canterlot, and they’d be living there together, Rarity had insisted on holding the ceremony in Ponyville. And Applejack would renounce apples if Pinkie Pie didn’t take that as a challenge to throw the best party she ever had. And darn it, the girl had delivered. Applejack couldn’t remember the last party that Pinkie had thrown that had been this extravagant.

But deep down, Applejack knew why Pinkie had pulled out all the stops on her party cannon. It felt like a goodbye. Rarity was moving to Canterlot, and that was a definite sign that they were all moving on. Applejack wasn’t stupid-they’d still see each other. It would just involve more train rides, but it was the beginning of the end.

She definitely hadn’t cried at Rainbow’s ‘Congratulations on Joining The Wonderbolts!’ party, either. It was only partly because Rainbow most definitely hadn’t cried, either, and Applejack was not letting one of her friends, least of all Rainbow Dash, win the last challenge in their ongoing contest.

When Fluttershy, of all ponies, proclaimed that she was getting married, Applejack had to fight back a sniffle. But she didn’t cry. Nor did she cry when the pegasus was offered, and accepted, a job in Vanhoover, as chief caretaker on an animal sanctuary. She only smiled, and wished her all the best.

When Pinkie Pie crowed out from the rooftops of Ponyville that she was getting married, Applejack insisted that the sun was getting in her eyes, and then went to offer her catering services and condolences to the poor stallion who was marrying Pinkie. She smiled the whole day of the ceremony.

It was only when Twilight Sparkle, Princess Twilight Sparkle, announced that she was going to be in Zebrica with Zecora for the next five years that Applejack cried. She sat in Granny Smith’s old rocking chair in the family’s living room, and quietly sobbed.

All of her friends were moving on, to bigger and better things. They were off, fulfilling their dreams, and yet year after year, with each departure, Applejack remained. Still bucking apples. She knew it would happen eventually-Applejack was a realist-they couldn’t have remained together forever, no matter how much she would have liked them to.

But that didn’t make it hurt any less, so she cried, because she knew they would never have another night in Twilight’s castle, convincing Rainbow Dash that flying in category Five Wild Storms was a terrible idea. They’d never spend another day ‘sampling’ Pinkie Pie’s newest creation of sugar and flour, or pretending to hate going to the spa with Rarity. Nor would they ever spend hours wheedling and pleading Fluttershy out of her cottage because she hadn’t done anything wrong and Rainbow Dash just had no filter between her brain and her mouth ninety percent of the time.

She cried because she could remember that these things had happened, and they never would again.