//------------------------------// // 39 worries and understandings // Story: Ponyville Fire Department // by Rescue Sunstreak //------------------------------// Silver peered over at the door again, perhaps for the thousandth time. Worrisome lines etched her face and she found herself pressing to the yellow apple filly next to her that much harder. Bon Bon and Rescue glanced at each other and then spoke softly. “Silver, Apple Bloom, trust us. We won’t let anything get out of hoof. You have us here, and Lyra will be here, too.” Pip glanced up from where he and Diamond sat pressed side-by-side in the chair next to the one their friends sat in. “Yeah, and you have us here, too,” Pip said with a kind of confident, almost-commanding presence in his tone. It was one many of the Explorers and not a few adults had took note of. It was very much like his adopted father's tone. Before Apple Bloom could respond, the door started to open. “Honestly, Lyra, ah got things that need doin' on the farm. Whatever tha girls got to say could.” She paused and her eyes narrowed, looking around some, then back to Apple Bloom. She could see her sister was... afraid? Almost trembling as hard as the gray filly pressed up to her tight in the small chair. She looked over at the one pony in the room who she knew would give her a straight answer, the big draft stallion sitting up on the floor near the sofa, next to his husband. “Okay, one of y’all need to come out and tell me what in tarnation is going on. Why does my sister look scared out of her wits? An' why are y’all here?” It was Ailan who spoke up. “Applejack, sit down, please.” She huffed, then walked over to the chair the pegasus pointed to and sat down, crossing her forelegs over herself. It grew very quiet for some time, before a voice so tiny, so filled with fear and almost tears, came from the yellow earth pony with the bow in her mane. “A-A... Applejack, ah got something t'tell you, but, ah—” her ears flattened and she looked away. “Ah... am afraid.” Never had AJ seen her sister like this. Sitting up more, legs uncrossing, she leaned forward in her chair and reached up, pushing her stetson back off so her whole face and eyes showed clear. Her very expression showed the worry now, the concern for her sister. “Sugarcube, you ain’t never got to fear telling me sumthin'. Y’all are family, and ain’t nothing in the world is gonna change that.” The filly looked at the gray pony beside her, who gave a little nudge and a smile. Turning back to her sister, Apple Bloom's eyes filled with tears. “Ah... ah am, Ah mean we have been, for a year now, ah... er, ah...” Applejack sighed softly and looked at the two. She shook her head very lightly. “Ah know, Apple Bloom. Ah be a durn fool not to be able to see it. ‘Sides that, Mac saw you and Silver there mashin' lips up in the barn 'bout two months back.” She slid out of the chair and walked right up to her sister and the other filly, looking at them not with anger, or appearing upset. Rather, she smiled very softly. “Ya thought, even when ma best friend has a husband, and ma other friends are married...” Gesturing to Rescue and Ailan, then to Bon Bon and Lyra. All of whom gave a soft smile at that, she looked back to her sister. “That ah would turn you away? Oh, sugarcube, all ah can do is be happy for ya. You too, Silver,” her tone took on a more serious color. “We will be talking ‘bout boundaries and such however.” Apple Bloom was out of the chair and had her hooves wrapped tightly around her sister's neck, knocking her hat to the ground as she did, face pressed into the older apple’s neck. The young filly sobbing as she clung there. “Oh, big sis!” Everypony stayed quiet and let the two sisters work things out in that hug, in the tears shed. Soon, Applejack gently pried her sister off her neck some, turning to look at Silver who had the hint of tears, and a very furlong look to her face. Once again AJ was the type to pick up on things far better than most. “Bloom, you go on and get up in the chair with Silver,” she said, waiting for the yellow earth pony climb back up and wrap her legs around the grey earth pony. “Silver,” AJ glanced around the room at the others and back. “You... ain’t told yer parents, have you?” She bit her lip then slowly shook her head. The eldest apple sister put her hoof up on the filly's head and rubbed softly. “Well then, figure we should go have us a talk with them. Bon Bon, you mind coming along?” Silver blinked and looked at her fillyfriend and then up at the bigger apple mare, laying her ears back as Bon Bon came over. “Miss Applej—” Applejack cut her off mid word. “No, you call me AJ or Applejack, none of this miss stuff.” She smiled very lightly. “Applejack, w... will you really go with me to tell them?” Soft eyes found hers. “Silver, if’s you and mah sister stay together. Well, ah figure you will be apple family sooner or later. Might as well back you up as family now.” Rescue leaned over and put a small bag of bits into Ailan’s hoof. This of course drew the attention of a few in the room. The big draft stallion lifted his own hoof up and rubbed the back of his neck. “Shut up,” making Lyra and Ailan laugh. --- Applejack looked over at Granny Smith as she tucked the young Apple Bloom into bed, laying her ears down hearing her sister's words. “Granny, do... do ya hate me now?” The matriarch’s eyes grew soft and she put a hoof on her young grandchild’s blanket-covered form. “Oh, child, no. Ah am old and set in mah ways. That don’t mean ah hate ya, or that little filly Silver. No, ah suspect you just give this old mare a bit ta get used to the idea. 'Til then, you keep in yer heart that ah love ya.” Walking out and closing the door, the faded green mare glanced over at her granddaughter, admiring just how much of her mother showed in how Applejack carried herself. “Don’t you be giving me that look, Applejack, you ain’t so old that ah can’t take ya 'cross my knee.” Applejack gave a soft smile and a nod. “Ah need to head out in the morning, Granny. It’s my turn on the shift at the station.” The old apple looked straight into her granddaughter's face. “Applejack, you just know this. Ah am proud of you, yer brother, and that little filly in there. You three stepped up not only fer the farm and our family, but to help the whole town. Yer parents would be proud of ya.” Getting a small hug from the orange mare, she continued. “Ah ain’t gona be ‘round much longer, Applejack. That is just how life works. When that time comes, it’s gonna fall on yer back to keep this family together.” Applejack gave a soft nod and sniffled some, glancing down the hall at where Big Mac’s room was, and Apple Blooms across from it. “Granny, ah won’t let ya down.” Shaking her head. “Ah know, child, ah know. Now this ol' mare needs her sleep. Got a lot of things to think about. Goodnight.” Into her room she trotted, to leave the Element of Honesty alone in the hall. She exhaled lightly and looked up, a picture frame of her parents on the wall looking down at her. “Ma, Pa, ah know ah ain’t perfect, but, ah swear ah won’t quit tryin' to keep the family together.” Far off in the sky, two of Luna’s millions of stars. Two that were oddly always so close together, twinkled in a merry and almost happy way. --- Life in Ponyville just was, and that was good enough for everypony, as it was the same in Canterlot. However, for one butter-yellow coated, purple-maned mare, things were slightly different. She was escorted by two of the day guards to the gardens. “To the right of the hedges there, ma'am, can’t miss it.” She smiled a bit and gave a nod. “Thank you,” then turned and walked. Past the benches, past the raised dais where two stallions had stood almost four years past and sworn their love to each other. She came around the hedge and found herself looking at a small area of the garden. Out past the rail, one could see all of Equestria as far as the eye could take in. There, dead center was Ponyville, a tiny beacon among the forest and farms. She turned and stared at the statue of a stallion, a unicorn with half of his horn missing, his head hung some, and a sad look to his face. She walked over and stood before it, looking up at it. “I... said I would come and talk, I am ready now to do just that. I know you can’t answer back, but, that is okay. I will come up here once a month and talk with you. Just, all I ask is that you reflect on things.” Sitting down, ears back, she began to talk. As if talking to Case Study, she simply just sat there for almost three hours. Up in one of the rooms above, two alicorn princesses looked down into the garden. “Does thou think, sister, that this will help?” An alabaster head nodded softly. “I do, my sister. I think for both of them, this may be the best hope from all of this.” Luna was silent for a time, watching, before she said, “Thank you, for not fighting me, sister, when I took control of the fire and police departments,” looking up at her with a smile. Celestia shook her head and put her wing around the smaller dark alicorn. “You should guide them, sister. They were formed because of your words, your passion for watching over others. Far more so than I. All I did was keep the dream alive while you... rested.” Both looked back out again and the view, and said nothing more.