Two hours after the mock trial began, in which the major figures in the Apple family decided to cast the final votes that would seal Mosely’s fate, much of the drama had already been forgotten. All those not briefed on the decision were distracted from the beginning, as the Apples tried harder than anything else to make this reunion seem as upbeat and casual as any other. Even for those who knew better, the events went on as usual, and much of the day’s heaviness was kept to those directly involved.
As soon as the trial ended, the Apple family members were shuffled away from their conversations and divided into groups of two for a scavenger hunt around the farm. While Applejack’s overly elaborate games hadn’t gone over very well during the last reunion, the idea of familial competition still held some promise for bonding. This time, as before, both foals and older ponies were allowed to compete for small prizes, but unlike before, absolutely nothing was on the line. There were no worries of failing or being mocked, just an easy and laid-back family event.
Still, as she geared up to join the hunt with Apple Bloom, Babs couldn’t help but have at least a little bit of doubt. She’d decided to join in at her cousin’s urging to get her mind off her troubles, but even then, they still didn’t seem to leave her. She’d made at least some progress in that she could stand before the Apple family without worrying that they would betray her or cast her out, but one thing still remained on her mind.
What’s gonna happen afterwards? Now that Mosely’s out of the family, is this really the end?
“Relax,” Apple Bloom told her cousin as the two fillies received their list of items. “It’s all taken care of. Applejack says you don’t even have to be at the big trial if you don’t wanna, so for all you know, this could be the last you ever see of him.”
“I know,” Babs answered, not even caring at this point how easily Apple Bloom had read her. “But facin’ him after all this is harder than I thought it’d be. Even without actually talkin’ to him.”
That was one way Coco had managed to keep ahold of the situation—the more she was with Mosely, the less likely Mosely was to goad Babs. He had to have known by now that she knew, and as long as she did, who knew what he would’ve been willing to do? As much as Babs hated the idea of that stallion getting anywhere near her adoptive mother, she feared the idea of him noticing herself even more.
“I know it’s rough, but you have to calm down by the time this thing’s over. The new member ceremony’s gonna be in a couple of hours, and if you really want to show Coco off to everypony, you have to—“
“I’ll be fine by then,” Babs told her. “But you’re right. Winning this thing would definitely lift me past all this.”
“Then it’s on, cuz. Let’s show all those other ponies out there what we’re made of.”
The first few items were simple, found within comfortable and easily visible areas of the farm. This time, for once, Applejack had made everything as straightforward as possible, just easy enough for foals but just hard enough for grown ponies.
Fifteen minutes into the contest, the cousins stared into their bag of found items. A gingham print towel, a heart-shaped leaf, a plush fruit bat, a tiny skillet pan for making tarts.
“Think I could hit somepony over the head with this?” Babs teased, striking a threatening pose and holding the panhandle in her mouth.
“Why’re you askin’?” Apple Bloom replied. “You plannin’ on doing that anytime soon?”
“Only if I need to,” Babs chuckled before putting the pan back into the sack. "We should probably go back to the checkpoint and take this in, though. Not sure if we're supposed to bring the stuff we found back 'fore the contest ends, but surely Applejack doesn't want us to haul this huge ol' thing all the way through."
They dropped the pan off and checked through the list again, making sure they’d found as much as they could. They retraced their steps over and over in hopes of having the same sort of luck as before, but deep down, both knew that couldn’t be possible. Halfway through, and they’d exhausted every area they could.
“That does it, I guess,” Apple Bloom sighed. “The other teams probably got ‘em before we did.”
“I don’t think anypony has crossed the finish line yet, though. And Applejack said there’s more than one of everything on the list. There’s gotta be someplace we haven’t looked yet.”
Babs flipped the list to reveal a hastily-drawn map on its back. Sweet Apple Acres had been split into four quadrants for this event, and each team of ponies could only go as far as the one they had been assigned to. Considering that there were five teams to each quadrant and two copies of each item, the two still had a fighting chance.
Especially considering that there was one place they still hadn’t looked.
“Wasn’t that the part the fruit bats came from last reunion?” Apple Bloom asked, pointing to the densely populated orchard on the map. “Are you sure that’s safe?”
“It’s gotta be,” Babs replied. “Don’t you head over there all the time? We might just have to do some climbin’ to get to the clues and stuff, but you’re always up for that sorta thing.”
Night was nearing, and the sun had almost completely dissipated from the sky. It wouldn’t be long before it disappeared for good that day.
“Didn’t you tell me not to worry so much, anyway?” the brown filly asked.
Turning her head from side to side as if she expected a ghost to pop out of nowhere, Apple Bloom finally conceded when nothing came.
“I’ve just been readin’ too many of Twilight’s scary stories these days,” she admitted. “I guess I’m no different from Scootaloo about those. It’s probably nothing.”
With that, two shadows walked into the woods, leaving the past and everything about it behind for the moment. In any other situation, such an attitude would be an advantage, one that would allow them to win for sure.
But victory would soon be the least of their worries…
****
Meanwhile, a single pony cantered out of the forest with fear in his eyes. Inside his bag, he already had all the items he needed to clinch this contest. However, he already knew there was no way he could win, no matter how hard he tried to convince his fellow Apples.
“Braeburn!” he could just hear Applejack yelling from the distance. “This way! Follow my voice!”
Only fireflies lit the cloudy night by now, and the Appaloosan stallion might as well have been disqualified for the way he’d already breeched the rules. He still had every intention of heading towards the finish line, though, because that was just what his teammate had told him to do. If he didn’t win, he ought to convince them that he did.
Braeburn knew next to nothing about his partner, a pony who seemed to have dropped by from a place where Apples of his kind were rarely acknowledged. Up until now, he hadn’t even heard the other pony’s voice. But today was different. Suddenly, the stallion atop the tower had taken note of a humble cowpony like him. Complimented him, even, treated him like a friend. Even if his mysterious relative hadn’t treated him so warmly before, he still would’ve accepted his offer to partner up with him anyway.
Besides, there was just something so alluring to his voice. So by the time the first few sentences hit his ears, he’d already had Braeburn around his hoof.
Without thinking any further, he headed straight towards the finish line and spread all his items out for the judges to see. Just as his teammate had advised, he wore the proudest of smiles, hoping nopony noticed the problem that would keep him from winning.
It took all of thirty seconds to shatter that hope completely.
“Look,” Applejack sighed, “y’all know you can’t win this contest unless both ponies show up.”
“He said he was feelin’ under the weather right when the challenge was ‘bout to end. Couldn’t go on any longer, he told me. He also told me to make sure I win this thing for him.”
Applejack gave her cousin a glance that seemed half-concerned and half-skeptical.
“Y’know, we can have somepony come over to help him if he really ain’t farin’ well,” she suggested. “The hospital isn’t too far away from here, and we can delay the rest of the contest if he’s that bent on winnin’.”
Braeburn quickly shook his head in response.
“Oh, no, no, no,” he muttered. “He specifically told me not to call anypony. He can handle everything himself. Apparently, he gets these mighty bad indigestion fits at the drop of a hat, and he’s allergic to every antacid medication on the market. ‘All the nurse would do would prescribe one of them to me.’ That’s what he said, exact words.”
At this point, Big Mac had joined in on the whole situation, giving a glare even more skeptical than Applejack’s had been. In response to the excuse Braeburn’s teammate had given, he uttered a single “eenope” before turning his attention back to the other competitors.
“I agree,” Applejack responded. “Big Mac used to have problems like that, too, and he was allergic to a lot of ‘em. But even then, we were able to find one that fixed it. Same story with all the other ponies he talked to about it, so what you’re describin’ is basically impossible.”
“You’re doubtin’ family here?” Braeburn asked. “That’s mighty cold of you, cuz.”
“I have every right to, ‘cause somethin’ here’s not adding up. If he’s not allergic to every antacid on the market, then he might not even have indigestion to begin with. And if he doesn’t have indigestion to begin with, he probably isn’t sick now, and if he probably isn’t sick now, he’s not stayin’ in the forest to get better. So what the hay is he doin’ there to begin with?”
The cowpony’s mouth opened as wide as it could after hearing all of this. One could almost swear his eyes were entirely white at that moment.
“I…have no idea,” he answered. “I barely even know the guy. He hasn’t even come up to me before today.”
“So, who is it?”
Braeburn put a hoof to his chin in thought. Embarrassingly enough, even the stallion’s name was a blank to him at that moment, he’d been so floored by everything else.
“I know he was one of those Oranges,” he told her. “He had a weird first name that took me a few times to memorize, and I’m normally the best in all Equestria with that. What the hay was it? Monty? Moorly? Measly?”
Coco had been just within earshot of the conversation, learning patchworking from some older Apple mares just beside her. She’d paid it no mind up until now, only catching a few words of the exchange. But those words were just enough to send chills up her spine, because she remembered a set of other ones all too well.
“If they side with that foundling of yours instead, things will have to get a bit more…complicated.”
While Applejack tried her best to explain the gravity of the situation to Braeburn, Coco was already planning her escape. She couldn’t afford anything less, if he was about to go through with what she thought he was about to do. The first step would have to be asking the mares around her if any of them had a scavenger hunt map, just to make sure Babs was in another quadrant, that she would be safe, that she would be safe…
Coco already knew what the answer was going to be seconds before she found it, though. More than anything, she wanted to tell herself that everything would be all right, that the chances of Babs being in that exact place at that exact time were slim. But she also knew that if something were to happen, any chances she had of forgiving herself would go down the drain, and that was only the best-case scenario.
No, she thought to herself as she cantered away from the finish line faster than she ever had in her life. No. No. I can’t let any of this happen. This isn’t how all of our stories are supposed to end. This isn’t how her story’s supposed to end. We’re supposed to introduce ourselves to the Apples together, and I’m not about to just give up on that. I’m not about to give up on you, Babs.
She reached the scene and was met with only vague threats and insults. She knew more than anypony else, though, that it wouldn’t stay that way for long as long as Mosely was alone, as long as he had absolutely nothing to lose. Even if she didn’t know from that alone, she could tell from the opening in his saddlebag, the unnatural gleam coming out from its crack. She knew she wouldn’t come out of this fight unscathed.
But Coco also knew that the first step in becoming a hero was always sacrifice.
****
Desperation could do the oddest of things to a pony, and Mosely never thought he’d understand that to the point he did now. Even with all the despair that’d been building in his heart ever since that night, he’d still estimated that he had at least a seventy-five percent chance of the Apples taking him back in again. Realizing that the speech he’d given on stage almost two weeks ago had come across as crazed to nearly everypony who listened to it, he’d spent much of his spare time in police custody trying to come up with a better explanation. One that not even the most pure-hearted of ponies could resist.
However, he’d never been the type of pony to let the twenty-five percent escape his mind, and now that he was down to that unlikely statistic, it was time that he took definite action.
Mosely would be an Apple, no matter how hostile the means. He couldn’t afford to have two families bail out on him now, and he certainly didn’t have the strength to fight a war on two fronts. All he would have to do was take any evidence of his wrongdoing out of the equation, and he would certainly be taken back in.
Give them enough time, he told himself, and they’ll even forget any of this ever happened. If they never see the fruit of the problem again, they’ll forget there even was one to begin with. He’d seen this very same technique performed enough times with other Bridleway stars to know it worked almost instantly.
At this point in time, he didn’t even care that the evidence he would have to remove was not just an object, but another pony. Bad seeds needed pruning, after all, so they wouldn’t taint the rest of the crop. And as far as he could tell, this particular one had already begun to spread to the rest of the family.
So, not a single regret went through his head when he trotted into the forest, left his current pawn Braeburn behind, and headed towards the real goal. His mind was a blur, completely removed from anypony that could possibly reach him. All he would have to do would be to find the filly, take her by surprise, and hiding the evidence would suddenly become a million times easier.
Approaching Babs, on the other hoof, would be far harder now that he remembered it was a partner challenge. The other filly by her side, Apple Bloom, likely knew of his deeds and, more importantly, was a pure-blooded Apple. Splitting the two up would ideally be the way to go, but he hadn’t seen Apple Bloom leave her cousin’s side for the entire reunion. At the same time, though, he really had no reason to harm the other filly, and he figured that with enough threatening, she should trot away and do his job for him.
As stealthy as he was trying to be, for once he didn’t quite hold the element of surprise. In his current state of having lost everything, the last thing on Mosely’s mind was camouflaging himself, and so every once in a while, you could see a slight flash of green behind the tree that didn’t come from a leaf. Still, Apple Bloom and Babs circled back and forth across the woods in search of the final clues, passing by his tree multiple times without noticing anything.
A few minutes later, the fillies had already cleared the area, making sure there weren’t any items nearby. As they trotted away from that particular patch of forest, they could suddenly hear the galloping sound of another pony’s hooves.
“What was that?” Apple Bloom cried out. “That can’t have been an animal…could it?”
“Sounded like hooves to me,” Babs agreed. “But it’s probably just somethin’ to scare the ponies who’re takin’ too long. The new member ceremony should be comin’ up pretty soon, after all.”
“Ya think we should keep going? I really don’t think we’re gonna find anythin’ here. The others probably took ‘em already.”
The cantering noise came once more before Babs could even respond. This time, Mosely had hidden himself behind the biggest apple tree on the farm, straight on the path out of the dense orchard. No matter which way the fillies would go, there would be no avoiding him, since all paths out eventually ended up leading to that very tree.
Just for good measure, though, he called out to both of them, disguising his real voice as well as he could. He’d never been much of an actor himself, and the impression wasn’t exactly a good one, but at this point, the two fillies were desperate to the point where they’d listen to anything that would bring them closer to the farm.
Just like he was desperate to get this over with, to get everything over with.
He kept calling out to them, guiding them through the visual darkness and into his own. Drawing out their own desperation to relieve his own. It started with simple hints and directions. And finally, when the two finally crossed past the tree, he decided to reveal himself once and for all.
As predicted, they both backed away, but Mosely had them surrounded this time. They could have cantered back the other way, but then they would’ve lost themselves even more, trotting around in circles until they finally ended up back where they began.
Almost as if they themselves knew they couldn’t escape, they stood their ground. Apple Bloom’s instincts kicked in quickly by his limited standards, rummaging through the now skillet-less sack.
“Look here, I may not have anythin’ to hit y’all over the head with,” she muttered, “but that sure won’t mean my sis won’t when she finds out you’re still on our territory. There’s a reason she told ya to run back to Manehattan and never come back.”
“I swear,” he replied, “I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I just have some unfinished business here. Then I’ll be off your hooves forever.”
None of those statements were lies, at least in his mind. But all he had to do was make the mistake of looking at Babs, who was utterly frozen with fear at this point, and Apple Bloom still knew.
“You just followed us so you could bully her one last time. Well, I ain’t standin’ for it, and neither are the rest of us. I may not have known about all this before, but now that me and everypony else knows, you’re not gonna get away with any of this.”
“That’s what they all say,” he answered with a chuckle. “On Bridleway, just before the villain’s about to strike—that’s what the hero always tells them. Most of the time, it works, even. But this time, you don’t know a thing.”
By then, Coco had found herself in much the same position that Mosely was only a few minutes before, hiding behind trees with Applejack and Granny Smith shadowing her. It was only then that Granny Smith began to regret her decision, when he opened up his saddlebag and began to pull out an object that shined in the moonlight.
“See, just when ponies think they’ve figured me out, I always have a few extra surprises waiting for them,” he whispered. “And now, I just have even more of them, because I’ve got nothing to lose. When you’ve got nothing to lose, well, you find that even the most extreme of measures can fall into place pretty easily.”
In spite of his condition, Mosely was grinning with all his teeth, the same sort he would always flash to the cameras when he was a Bridleway producer. Except this time, the smile dangled a knife handle right in between it.
“Are you insane?!” Apple Bloom cried. “She—she never did anythin’ to you! And now you’re actually gonna…”
“No, no, and yes, in that order,” he answered. “You were actually right about one of them, at least. But that filly’s caused me enough misfortune to last me a lifetime, and if I end it here, so will everything else. With the bad seed gone, the Apples can finally be a decent family, even if it means I have to leave it. And with that…maybe Coco can finally be free from everything, too…”
As young as she was, Apple Bloom still wasn’t about to back down, and in any other circumstance, Mosely almost would’ve admired that about her. But time was running out, and he couldn’t put up with it much longer.
“I’ll put it in words you understand,” he spoke. “Your cutie mark is a shield, just like your friends. Just like the ponies you’re destined to be bound to forever. Just from seeing you at reunions, I know you live by cutie marks.”
His previously condescending voice took on a sudden edge as he continued.
“So tell me, what does it mean when you look at hers? I know what it should mean, at least.”
Gripping the knife tighter in his mouth, he pushed Apple Bloom out of the way effortlessly and started heading towards Babs.
“Her destiny isn’t you. Or anypony, for that matter.”
Babs remained frozen in shock, her eyes shut tight, unable to utter a single word, just like in the dream she’d had not so long ago. Except this time, it was all too real. Just like then, she was on the verge of disappearing, and there was no possible way she could avoid it.
Or rather, there was no way she could avoid it alone.
“I am her destiny! And I won't let it slip away again!”
Babs could hear a mare’s voice right in front of her, and that was all she knew for sure. She should’ve felt the knife go through her. She certainly shouldn’t have still been alive, for that matter. And yet, when she opened her eyes, she saw an aura of magic emanating from the cuff Mosely wore, keeping him from moving any further.
She saw Apple Bloom and Applejack with sorrowful looks in their eyes. The knife was on the grass right next to them, almost as if he’d dropped it right when the spell on the police cuff activated.
And most important of all: even though Babs hadn’t been stabbed, there was still blood on it.
She was just about to move towards the rest of the Apples when she felt herself step on something soft and furry. Even when she only moved a single hoofstep away from the scene, she could still see the white fluff attached to it.
Attached to her.
She scrambled towards the mare’s scarred and bleeding flank, hoping to Celestia that what she feared most hadn’t just happened. The slash of the knife hadn’t gotten in the way of her cutie mark, and Babs could still see it clearly. It was the same hat she’d seen so often before already.
“Coco!” she yelled, seeing that the mare’s eyes were closed. “Coco!”
As tough as Babs had always tried to be, she still couldn’t keep the tears from rolling down her face.
“You—you can still hear me, right? You have to! It really can’t be over after all this, can it? I was gettin’ close to really making you happy again, I know I was. I mean, we—after all this time, we were finally gettin’ to know each other again. You—you really did save my life back there, and well, not just today…”
Coco’s eyes still wouldn’t open, but that still wouldn’t keep Babs from trying.
“Coco! Coco! Mama! Please come back, Mama!”
She kept calling this over and over until every single mention of “Coco” turned into a different word, one that she couldn’t remember ever using on anypony. Maybe Cameo once, when she was small. The word was so foreign to her mouth on any other day, and yet in that moment, it felt just as natural as breathing.
“Granny’s goin’ over to get bandages,” Applejack clarified. “She says she’s mighty sorry for all this hullabaloo, but the way I see it, she got caught up in Mosely’s schemes just like everypony else. If we had to punish her, we’d have to punish everypony. I realize that might not be enough for the two of you, but—“
“It would have been,” Babs replied with a sad sigh. “If there were still two of us to begin with. But now that Mama’s gone—“
“I didn’t quite catch that,” another voice suddenly interrupted. “What were you saying about somepony’s mama being gone?”
Babs barely even had to turn around to know who it was. It was the same voice she’d heard over and over for years, even going back to when she was at the foster home. Even a little before then.
Seeing the figure’s light blue eyes, the filly suddenly turned around and hugged the mare, not caring whether or not the blood would end up on her.
“You’re—you’re not dead!” Babs whispered in shock.
“I never said I was,” Coco answered with a smile. “I may have wanted to save you, but I certainly didn’t want to leave you alone for good. So when he pulled that knife out on you, I made sure he’d end up hitting a place that could heal.”
“So that’s why you were hanging around Mosely all day? Because you knew he was going to do something suspicious?”
“I can tell ya somethin’ for certain,” Granny answered, attending to Coco’s wound, “I sure didn’t think he’d go that far. If I’d known that scoundrel was gonna pull that sorta thing, I never would’ve gone this far with everythin’. I guess we could say we all went a bit too far here.”
“But what matters is that I was able to catch him before he was able to do any damage to you,” Coco continued. “Thank Celestia for that!”
Even in spite of her happiness, though, tears still streamed from her eyes.
“I’m still so glad, though,” the white earth pony whispered. “You…you actually called me ‘Mama.’ You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to hear that. For the longest time…I was actually convinced I’d failed you so much that you’d never call me that.”
Babs hugged her even tighter, melting into her embrace just like she always did after her worst dreams.
“You never failed me, Mama. Not even for a moment. I promise.”
Their ceremony as mother and daughter would have to wait until the next day. Until then, with Applejack and Granny Smith holding her steady, Coco trotted towards Ponyville Hospital with her head held high. In the late hours of the evening, some nurses had finally closed the scar atop her flank and were about to use just enough magic to grow fur around the area again so that nopony would ever have to see it. But as soon as the words came out of their mouths, she knew what her answer was going to be.
“No,” she told them, gesturing to Babs’ own scarred flank. “Because at least now, we match.”