Applejack opened her eyes and sighed happily as she saw that her best friend was still asleep in her hooves. She stared at the sleeping girl and wondered at the time. The sun had long since reached the horizon and she knew the two should head back soon.
“Rose,” she said, gently shaking the other filly. “Wake up… Rose.”
The pegasus eyes slowly fluttered open and she smiled before nestling her head deeper into Applejack’s mane. “Five more minutes.” she mumbled sleepily.
Applejack chuckled. “Ya done slept all day.”
Rose opened one eye blearily. “All day?” she asked.
“Eeyup.”
“Well… we had probably better head back, then.” She said, still not moving.
Applejack waited for a moment before speaking again. “Ain’t’cha gonna get up?”
“I should… but I really don’t want to.” Rose giggled.
“Well, we should…” Applejack said, also making no move to remove herself from the embrace. “I don’t wanna.”
Rose laughed for several minutes before finally pulling her hooves out from under the other filly. “Well, come on.” she said. “We really should get back. Maybe your parents will let me stay again tonight.”
“Your dad don’t mind, does he?” Applejack asked as she stood and started walking back towards the house.
“No…” Rose said, shaking her head. “He told me that it’s my time and I can give it to who I want.”
Applejack tilted her head in confusion. Rose’s statement was a strange one to say the least, still she did not want to say as much and offend her friend. “Well… it’s your time and you’re giving it to me?” she asked making sure she had it right. Rose simply nodded as her cheeks turned a faint red. “Well, I sure do appreciate it.”
“I’m glad…” Rose said quietly and Applejack thought she detected a bit of sadness in her friend’s voice, but said nothing about it.
The two girls walked into the house. They opened the doors to see Applejack’s parents and Granny Smith sitting at the table eating. “Glad y’all could join us.” Applejack’s father said with a grin. “Y’all have a nice nap?”
Applejack blushed. “Y’all saw that?”
Big Mac walked into the room then. “Eeyup.”
“Even you, Big Mac?” Rose asked causing everypony else in the room to chuckle.
“Come on. You two have something to eat before bedtime… I take it Rose will be staying the night again?” Applejack’s mother asked.
“If that’s okay.” Applejack said. “I mean we ain’t got no school ‘cause it’s summer.”
“You don’t have school.” Applejack’s mother said, sternly.
“Yes ma’am, that’s what I meant.” Applejack said.
“Well, you know Rose is always welcome here, dear.” Applejack’s mother said.
“I’m sorry, Applejack.” Rainbow said, interrupting the story. “I have a question.”
“Shoot.” Applejack said as she snuggled herself deeper into Rainbow’s wing.
“What were your parents names?” she asked. “I mean, all this time you’ve only called them ‘Mama’ and ‘Daddy’. I was just curious.”
Applejack chuckled sadly for a moment. “Well, truth be told I don’t like calling my parents by their names. It makes ‘em feel closer and not so distant.”
“I get that.” Rainbow said. “Still, I just wanted to know, ya know?”
“Yeah…” Applejack sighed. “Mama’s name was Tangerine, ‘cause she was an orange and daddy’s name was Appleseed.”
“Tangerine?” Rainbow asked.
Applejack simply nodded. “Yeah, mama was kinda the black sheep of the family on the oranges side.” she said. “She was born a whole bunch smaller than the rest of her family, so they named her Tangerine… like a small orange.”
“Was she always small?” Rainbow asked.
“Nah, she got normal sized when she grew up.” Applejack said. After a pause she decided to get back to her story. “Anyways, later that night…”
All of the Apples and Rose sat in the kitchen eating with the exception of Applebloom, who seemed to have taken a great interest in seeing just how far she could fling her peas. One of the peas hit Granny in the face, who scowled and took the spoon from the filly’s hooves. “How old are you?” she asked angrily.
“Four!” Applebloom yelled happily.
“Then act like it!” Granny yelled.
“What’s wrong with you?” Appleseed asked. “You ain’t never yelled at Applebloom like that before.”
“Nothin’” Granny said before pushing herself from the table and walking to the front porch. “I’m goin’ for a sit.”
“That was strange, dear. Maybe you should go check on her.” Tangerine said.
Appleseed nodded and walked off after his mother. Applejack could still make out most of their conversation as she scooted closer to Rose, brushing her hoof against the other filly’s.
“Mama, don’t be like that.” Appleseed said. “It’s not our business.”
“I know that look, son.” Granny said. “The look that little filly gives Applejack, and I don’t want that for her.”
“Why not?” Appleseed said. “Is it because their both fillies, ‘cause I don’t see no problem with that.”
“You don’t understand!” Granny yelled causing Tangerine to run from the table and join the two others on the porch. “I heard what she told her while they was walking in… I know what she meant and I don’t want that little filly with Appleja-”
“Granny Smith!” Tangerine’s voice carried all of it’s fury throughout the whole house. “They can hear every word you’re saying out here. If you want to argue about this that’s fine, but go to the barn first. I’ll join you after I put Applebloom to bed for the night.”
“Alright.” Granny said quietly before hoofsteps could be heard leading away from the house.
Tangerine walked back into the kitchen after a moment. “Alright girls.” she said, smiling and sounding happy as if nothing had happened. “Let’s get you all to bed.”
“But, mama, I ain’t tired.” Applejack said. “Can me and Rose stay up for a bit?”
“I imagine you wouldn’t be tired after your nap… alright, but you should still go play in your room.” Applejack’s mother said. “Come on.”
Tangerine led the three fillies up to Applebloom’s room and they all settled in the floor there. It was normal for Tangerine to sing one lullaby in Applebloom’s room every night before they went to sleep and Rose and Applebloom greatly enjoyed listening to the singing.
“What should I sing for you tonight?” Tangerine asked after they had all gotten settled. “How about “The Winged Ponies”?” she asked.
“No.” Applebloom said firmly. “Sunshine.” she said.
“I’ve sang that for you every night this week, Applebloom. Don’t you want to hear something else?”
“No.” she said again. “Sunshine.”
Tangerine smiled warmly before nodding. “Okay.” she said before taking a deep breath and filling the room with her voice.
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You’ll never know dear
Just how much I love you
Please don’t take
My sunshine
Away
Applejack was crying again and Rainbow stroked her mane with a hoof and simply waited for the tears to stop. “It’s okay…” she said. “Take your time.”
“That was the last time Applebloom saw our mama.” Applejack said quietly. “I just-” The mare was cut off as another wail escaped her, and she buried her muzzle into Rainbow’s mane.
Applejack’s sobs were strong enough to shake the entire bed the two were laying on, and it seemed like she would spend the rest of the day crying.
“Hey now, it’s okay.” Rainbow said, pulling the mare closer and wrapping her hooves around her. “It’s okay.”
Applejack sniffed and quietly sobbed for another minute before taking a shaky breath. “Sorry.” she said.
“It’s okay.” Rainbow replied, burying her head into Applejack’s blonde mane. “You can stop if you want.” she said.
Applejack simply shook her head. “If I stop now, I don’t think I’ll be able to start again.” Rainbow simply nodded. “Anyways…”
Applejack and Rose had gone back to Applejack’s room and were playing a board game when the front door opened again. After several minutes hoofsteps could be heard on the stairs and in the hallway outside Applejack’s bedroom.
A door opened and closed before a knock came at Applejack’s door. The door opened to reveal Granny Smith, her eyes red and puffy. “Applejack, could I speak to your little friend for a minute?” she asked.
“It’s alright.” Rose said, getting to her hooves. She turned and smiled at Applejack before following Granny out of the room. “I think I know what you want to talk about.”
The door closed and Applejack felt a weight start developing in her gut. Did Granny not want the two of them to be together? Was she telling Rose she was not okay with them having a relationship? Did Rose even want those things? Was Granny Smith right?
Applejack ran to the window to see the two heading to the barn. The barn. It seemed like that was the go-to place for the Apple family when they wanted to have private conversations.
Applejack stared at the door to the barn for several minutes, wishing she knew what was being said behind those large red doors. After several minutes she considered running down there and throwing the doors open and telling Granny not to bother her friend anymore.
Just as she had almost decided to do just that, a star fell from the sky. “A falling star…” Applejack said aloud. “Mama says you can make wishes on those….”
Applejack stared at the place the star had been for several minutes before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. “I wish… I wish…” she sighed. “I wish I could stay with Rose… I wish for Granny to leave her alone… and I wish… and I hope… I hope that Rose feels the same for me that I do for her…” Applejack did not want to wish for Rose to care for her, because she felt it would cheapen the feelings and besides that, she honestly did not understand how she felt for the other filly.
She knew about crushes from school, but she thought only a mare and stallion could have a crush on each other, so that couldn’t be what she felt for Rose… could it?
The door to the barn flew open, and Applejack could see a bright red blur flying away from the place as fast as it could. “Rose?”
Applejack ran from the room and out of the house to chase after her friend, and she saw Granny doing the same albeit more slowly. “Rose, wait!” Applejack yelled as she chased after the girl, seeing she was headed for the Everfree forest, Applejack picked up her pace.
After a few minutes she could hear loud steps behind her and craned her head to see both of her parents chasing after Rose as well. As her parents passed her, Applejack could feel her mother’s hooves wrap around her and pull her onto her back. “You should have been there…” her mother mumbled as she ran.
“Mama, what’s going on?” Applejack cried. “Why is Rose running from us?”
Tangerine sighed sadly as she continued her run. “Maybe… it’s best if she tells you.” she said.
“What did Granny Smith say to her?” Rainbow asked.
Applejack had actually managed to quit crying at this point and just shook her head glaring at the floor. “Something she shouldn't of.” she said quietly. “But… we’ll get to that.”
Rainbow nodded, “Sorry, just curious… didn’t mean to-”
“No, it’s okay, Rainbow.” Applejack said. “I getcha bein’ curious. I just want you to hear things in order… how I heard ‘em.” she sighed. “So ya got a better idea of what I felt.”
Rainbow nodded again. “Right… go ahead.”
Applejack nodded as another tear fell from her eye, Rainbow absently brushed it from her face causing the other mare to smile. “Sorry…” she said. “Anyways, we finally found her in the Everfree forest…”
The group stopped as they noticed the sound of quiet sobbing. They made their way through the dense forestry and found Rose, sitting under a tree with her head in her hooves sobbing uncontrollably. Her nose was bleeding and her eyes looked even more red than Applejack thought they should despite all of her crying.
Applejack jumped off of her mother’s back and ran towards the filly, wiping the blood from her face. “What happened, Rose? Are you okay?”
Rose shook her head and wrapped her hooves around Applejack’s neck, still sobbing loudly.
“Rose?” Applejack prompted. “C’mon, you can talk to me.”
“I’m sorry... “ Rose whispered. “I’m so sorry…”
“What for?” Applejack asked, absently stroking her mane. “For runnin’? That’s okay.”
“No.” Rose whispered again. “I’m sorry, I should have t-t-told you.”
“Told me what?”
“The truth…”
“Girls…” Tangerine said quietly. “I know you need to talk, but… maybe we shouldn’t do it here.”
“Why not?” Rose asked. She had only lived in Ponyville for a little over two months and she had no knowledge of the dangers of the Everfree.
A blood curdling roar ripped through the tranquil night, causing all of the ponies to shake where they stood.
“That’s why…” Appleseed said quietly.
“Well, I been talking all day… kinda thirsty.” Applejack said, pulling herself from Rainbow’s embrace. “Let’s go get some cider before I go any further.”
Rainbow scoffed as she got off the bed. “I’m always up for cider, but that seems like a crap place to stop.”
Applejack chuckled as she opened the bedroom door. “Well, you made the rules. You gotta do what I say, so let’s go get a drink.”
“Alright…” Rainbow said, following the other mare out of the room. “At least tell me what the roar was… give me something.”
Applejack stopped and sighed, “It was a dragon… the dragon that caused my parent’s deaths.”