“Please look after my children.”

Pear Butter’s last words were spoken to the stranger who found their crash: the cruel, otherworldly siren named Adagio Dazzle, who sees in her death a golden opportunity.

What starts as a plan to raise willing minions for sustenance and protection goes… a little differently than Adagio had in mind.

Cover art by Uz Naimat!

Crime, is something that is present no matter where you look. Sure there are places that seem free of its influence, but scratch below the surface and you'll see signs of crime and corruption.

Even a seemingly peaceful land such as Equestria has its secrets. For unknown to many, the world of crime has quite the influence.

Applejack is aware of this fact, but when Granny Smith reveals how it ties into the deaths of Applejack's parents, Applejack is furious.

Before long however, she decides that there's only one thing to do. Teach the world of crime a lesson. And she intends to do so using their greatest weapon, fear.

And so, Equestria's greatest, and most mysterious defender is born.

When Rarity is overwhelmed with making designs for an agriculture exhibition, she turns to Applejack for advice. But when she gives Applejack a hair style treatment in return, the apple farmer lets her accent slip from southern drawl to sophisticated Manehattenite. The result? More fancy parties than you can shake a candy apple at!

One evening while Granny Smith sits and enjoys the sunset, she finds herself paid a visit by Grand Pear. The Pear patriarch wants to thank Granny for being the better pony and taking such good care of his daughter, but Granny Smith doesn't feel she deserves such praise.

Applejack's love for her farm and her family define her. They're the two things in her life which keep her going: the only motivation she needs to get out of bed every morning. Her brother, her sister, their grandmother, and—and the three of them, keeping their family orchard going strong together. It’s the life she always wanted.

But Sweet Apple Acres has taken a hit in recent years. It’s hard to ignore how, so recently, the four of them used to be the five of them, or how the farm’s account is running as dry as the fields themselves.

But it’s just a phase; a bad one, but they come and they go, like the seasons themselves. Applejack knows it’s just a matter of persevering, and staying the course. Better days are just around the corner.

Diamond Tiara has changed. After a few years of learning about friendship, she realizes another step in her journey needs to be making amends. Today, she’s making amends to Granny Smith for events that took place in the episode Family Appreciation Day.

Some things take time to mature.  Like a good apple brandy.

Written for Amore's DiamondBloom Shipping Contest

Applejack is known by her friends and family to be a stoic mare who cries on the inside, and faces every trouble in life with her chin held high. But what happens when a mare carries a burden on her own for too long? What happens when a lifetime of hardship begins to crack her foundation at it's seams?

WARNING - This story contains references to self harm and suicide. It also contains references to alcohol, and quick, moderate depictions of PTSD-type symptoms. I know that sometimes seeing these things is too much for even myself, so please don't read if those things will trigger and bad feelings.

A widow of twenty-five years, Granny Smith finds the dating game more difficult then she remembered.

A May Pairings 2023 entry.
Set in the same continuity as The Nature Of Love, though no reading is required.

Edited by the ever talented Gravelordnito

Grand Pear is trying to mend his relationship with the Apples. They're nice enough, but It just feels like it's too little too late, and he wonders if maybe he'd be better off at his house in Vanhoover instead.

Maybe he shouldn't be here at all. They have their ways, and he has his.

Written for Animak for Jinglemas 2023!
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/222289/Animak

Prompt was (Spoilers) :
Hearth's warming tale, focus on Grand Pear spending the holiday with the Apples and tries to secretly help Applejack remake her late mothers special Hearth's warming 'apple butter'

Picture is straight from the Wiki entry for Grand Pear. He just looks so wonderfully unsure.