"Mama?"
"Yes, sugar cube?"
"When is daddy coming back?"
"He'll be back soon enough darling. In fact, a letter arrived this morning from your Pa. What say you and me read it together?"
"Ok!"
"Alright then, come on up here and we can read it together."
A knock came from the doorway of the room before the filly could finish climbing onto the bed. The knock came from an old mare that seemed to be trying her hardest to stay emotionless. As she walked inside and surveyed the room, the foal caught her attention, and her face twitched with a hint of breaking the stoic look.
"Applejack, Sweetie. Can you get Big Mac from the southern field? I need to talk to your Ma for a bit."
"Awww, but we were gonna read a letter from daddy. Can't it wait Granny?"
"She's right Granny Smith; I'm sure whatever it is can at least wait for a bit right?"
The old mare gave A.J a stern look and gave the same treatment to the mare lying in bed. "Autumn Gold, this is important. I need to talk to you now; the letter can wait. A.J go and get your brother and don't give me any lip young filly or I know somepony who won't be getting any dessert tonight."
"No! Its apple fritters day! I'll get him Granny, please don't take away the fritters."
A.J sped past the mare at the door leaving the two alone in the room to discuss whatever had made the usually cheerful Granny take a serious tone.
"Granny, what could be so important that you had to threaten A.J like that?" Autumn asked as she tried to prop herself up on the bed careful to not jostle the baby.
"Autumn, sweetie. I need you to stay calm and listen to everything I have to say." Granny Smith said, as she closed the door and took a seat next to her daughter-in-law.
"Granny? What's wrong? What's going on?" panic was stirring in Autumn's voice as she saw Granny Smith slowly breakdown.
"It's about Charles, there was… an accident…"
Twilight had left the barn in search of A.J after the outburst while she didn't exactly know the origin of A.J suddenly yelling, Twilight knew she had pushed the subject of A.J's parents a little too much. It hadn't occurred to her that the farmer's parents were no longer around, though the subject wasn't something she was familiar with in the slightest. As Twilight ran across the apple trees, she spotted a mass of red disappear behind a tree. She stopped and went directly in the direction she spotted it.
Big Mac had finished harvesting his daily quota and was caught off guard when Twilight suddenly appeared in front of him. He finished loading the last of the baskets as she tried to catch her breath.
"Big Mac! Have you seen Applejack?! She ran off somewhere, and I need to apologize."
"Eeenope"
"Oh dear, you wouldn't happen to know where she usually goes do you?"
"Eeeyup."
"Perfect! Can you tell me where that would be?"
"Eeenope"
Twilight stopped her slight panic and looked towards Big Mac. He stood perfectly still and towered over her. He seemed to be giving off an air of intimidation, but that couldn't be right. Could it?
"What do you mean no? Why won't you tell me where she is? I need to find her and apologize."
"That is exactly why I won't tell you." He moved past her and put the harness on to drag the cart towards the barn. Twilight followed him close behind.
"I'm not sure I follow. Why would my apologizing be the reason for not telling me where she is?"
Big Mac came gave her a slight glance and kept moving. "Twilight, I know that you and A.J are friends. At least by what she tells me, and with everything that happened with you and the rest of the girls I know that she's the Element of Honesty. All of you saved Equestria and the Princess, and for that, I'll be forever grateful." He came to a stop and turned to look at the purple unicorn.
"However, even if she says you're a friend, I don't quite see it that way, and that's due to the fact of your isolation. Three months she worried Twilight, three months she after the initial attempts of trying to get you out. For those three months, it was obvious that she was hurting, she won't ever say it and even if you ask her, she'll deflect it as she does for anything that might be unpleasant for her."
At this point, Big Mac had come closer to her and looked down with a face of absolute authority. Twilight had recoiled and tried to make herself as small as possible underneath the intense gaze.
"Now, I know the reason you're here is to try and be a better friend, and I respect that. A.J seems happier that you're working for it, and I'm glad that she's happy. But, what I can't be happy about is the fact that you caused her to feel the way she did. She is one of the few ponies around that never really gave up on you, but for you to come here, to our home and do something to make her run off is something I can't ignore."
Twilight felt as if Celestia herself had been reprimanding her. The feeling of failing a test couldn't compare to how she currently felt under the stare of the giant stallion.
"Between you and me Twilight I don't care if you were Celestia herself, anypony that would make my family feel the way you had A.J feel wouldn't go unscathed. The only thing keeping me from throwing you out of here is A.J wanting to make this visit work. Believe me, when I say, that if you think I'm about to tell you where she is after whatever happened between you two, then you have to be delusional."
He turned away and hooked the cart once more. Giving one last glance at shaken purple mess that was Twilight, he started his trek towards the barn once more. Twilight watched him leave, and it was a while before she had composed herself enough to move. She was surprised that the usually quiet stallion had said as much as she did, but what caught her off guard was what he said to her.
Had her isolation affected A.J so much? It had only been a couple of months to Twilight, and while she knew the girls hadn't taken it well, she had no idea as to what they were feeling throughout that time. Was she such a horrible friend? Was all of this just a mistake?
"No. No. This isn't a mistake; I'm doing this to get closer to the girls and apologize for being away for so long. I may have been a horrible friend during that time, but that doesn't mean I can't fix this."
She moved towards the west grove and started her search for A.J again. This time, she would apologize. This time, she would listen to what A.J had to say about her isolation. This time, things would be different, she would be different, they would be different. She ran through the rows of trees and was near the end of the grove. The sun had started to set and night was becoming more apparent in the sky. She was about to turn back when she saw a silhouette by a tree to the far right of the grove. She walked towards the shadowy figure slowly and heard a familiar humming.
A.J sat against the tree humming the song that had caused the outburst. She had her mane loose, and her hat was set beside her. The breeze blew through her fur and mane making it seem like small streaks of gold gently blowing in the wind. Twilight had come close enough to hear the humming loud and clear but didn't proceed until A.J acknowledged her. The song ended after another minute, and A.J looked towards Twilight. Tying her mane once more into a ponytail and donning her hat, she moved towards the direction Twilight had come.
"Let's go Twi; dinner should be ready by now. Granny Smith hates it whenever anypony is late to any meal she prepares."
"Applejack, we shoul.."
"Twilight!" A.J yelled abruptly, making the unicorn take a step back
"It's fine, words were said, and nothing can change what happened. What we can do, though, is put it behind us and move on. Now let's go before the food gets cold."
A.J continued towards the house with Twilight following behind her downcast. She knew by now that unless they talked about what happened, nothing would change between them. It was only the beginning of the week, and she still had time before going leaving to spend time with Fluttershy to set things right. Before the end of the week, she and A.J would talk about what happened; she just needed the right moment to bring it up. But, before all of that she needed to find out what happened to her parent's, and that meant talking to the Apple family patriarch.