The Private Scrapbook

by Cadabra

Chapter 12: Years Later

Chapter 12: Years Later

Big Macintosh began to tear up as he listened to the story. “Awwwww, shucks,” he said, grabbing Granny Smith’s handkerchief and blowing his nose.

Rocking her sensitive grandson, Granny Smith turned a few pages to reveal a photo of her family’s first house. “Now don’t go a belly achin’,” she teased. “That weren’t the last time me and Bladire ever saw each other. It just took us some years before our paths crossed again.”

Granny Smith found the pages in her scrapbook to help explain how many years it would take before she and Bladire reunited…

Many years had gone by at Sweet Apple Acres, and in those years the Seed Family had finally prospered. Thanks to the fertile land and the seeds that Pokey Oaks and his family had collected and planted, they were finally able to grow some of the most profitable fruits and vegetables they had ever grown in their lives, including the mysterious zap apples that Smithy had found in the Everfree Forest.

Smithy thought about how far her family had come since they first arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. She had kept herself a scrapbook with those memories to help her never forget the experiences that had shaped her into the mare she was now and to remind herself to be grateful for what good things she and her family had worked so hard for. Flipping through the pages reminded her of just how much had changed from when she was a little girl.

She smiled absentmindedly as she skimmed over the photos she had kept of Happy Trails’s wedding. He married soon after the farm became a success. Smithy had always wanted a sister when she was little, and now she had one with her sister-in-law, Sunfower. Sunflower was an elite from Canterlot, whose father was an investment broker. Seeing potential in his now son-in-law, he helped Happy Trails start up the very successful moving company that brought so many ponies to Ponyville. The courier job in Canterlot had really helped give Happy Trails the experience he needed become a success. Good thing too, because he and Sunflower were expecting another child!

Prairie Tune on the other hoof had chosen the life of the rogue musician, his bluesy tunes leading him to become a great musical success. He toured all over Equestria, enjoying the finer things in life. He also took pleasure in some of the not so fine things in life on his tours, such as hard liquor, illusion inducing weeds, and easy women. Having fathered a filly or a foal in nearly every town in Equestria, he never settled for anything or anypony that could make him happy. No matter how much money he made, he could never find a reason to be happy. Smithy hated watching him induce so much suffering upon himself. Even his music posters that she kept in her scrapbook made him look like a brooding soul.

Pokey Oaks and Sew n’ Sow were just happy to be able to grow old together in a blissful state of comfort instead of letting their financial insecurities eat away at their marriage. That wasn't to say they still didn't have their ups and downs. Various farm related hazards such as vampire fruit bats and bad weather prior to an establishment of a pegasus weather team in Ponyville gave them their fair share of marital stress, but they had vowed to each other that there would be no more secrets between them. Ever since that first board was laid at Sweet Apple Acres, they pledged to each other to not make the same mistakes that had brought them so much misery in Dodge City. While this promise wasn't always easy to keep, the results were clearly worth the effort.

They had tried to become parents again, but nothing they did seemed to be working anymore. Grateful to have sired the children they had, they settled down to their life of financial security. For once in their lives they were ahead, and even the envy of the town. The mayor of Ponyville had even given them a high rank in the town council. It felt good to see them being influential for a change.

Pokey Oaks had a change of heart since being released from Foalsom Prison, and his new conservative lifestyle had helped the Seed Family to finally pay off all of their debts to Princess Celestia. He even managed to start saving up some money with Mighty Rich’s help, much to everypony’s delight.

Mighty Rich came by the evening the last payment was made to have a party with the Seed family. He cracked open a case of cider with Pokey Oaks in celebration of the zero balance, helping them build a bonfire with the accounting papers that had started it all. Relief poured over them all as the cider poured freely. Mighty Rich even announced his retirement that very night, leaving the Dodge City Building and Loan to his eldest son, Fairly Rich.

Come to think of it, Smithy hadn’t seen much of the Rich family since that night. Sure, she'd seen Mighty Rich and Opulent every so often when they would drop by to play cards with her parents, but she hadn’t seen the Rich boys in ages. She sometimes thought back to the bargain she made with Stinking Rich years ago in Canterlot, wondering if he was ever going to call in the favor she had promised him. Since so much time had passed since that day, she had a feeling he was just trying to look like a big man instead of a pipsqueak.

The last time she remembered seeing him was at the big bonfire their fathers held for paying off the debts. Stinking Rich seemed more quiet and reserved than he once was, a drastic change from the rude, opportunitistic troll she had known growing up. She approached him at one point in the night, just to make polite conversation while their parents got drunker and drunker on celebratory cider. She found out that he was anxious and jealous over his brothers inheritance of the family business. He mentioned his concerns for finding his own success and the odds stacked against him. Smithy had never seen this vulnerable side of Stinking Rich before. While she was interested in hearing more, her mother was more interested in taking a snapshot of the two of them together.

The conversation ended quickly after the embarrassing, sideways, slightly out of focus photo was taken, the very photo that Smithy was looking at now. She hadn't seen him since, but heard from his parents that he had gotten into a distribution agreement with Grossly Rich's general store. She didn't remember all the details, but to her it just sounded like busy work. Looking more closely at the photograph, she wondered if he ever had found the success he was looking for.

All Smithy had to her name was her zap apple jam. While she was glad it could help turn a barren land into a bustling town, she noticed an increase in zebras working the fields in Ponyville. Every time Smithy saw a group of zebras toiling in the hot sun, she thought about Bladire. She couldn’t help thinking about him every time she watched a zebra slave laboring away. She would often look to see if maybe one of them was Bladire, and wondered what ever became of him. Had he ever found that sister of his, or found his way out of those awful chains?

She thought about Bladire as she held the onyx necklace that he had given her the day they parted ways. Going up to the mirror to fasten the necklace around her neck, she thought about how slavery was still alive and thriving in Equestria. Slavery had started in the palaces and mansions of Canterlot, but over the years it spread like a virus throughout Equestria and had become universally accepted among the masses. How could that lovely princess who had shown her family such mercy not want to do anything about this injustice?

Smithy was glad knowing that the Seed Family had never taken a slave, but not for the same reasons that she felt. Pokey Oaks was too proud for that kind of thing, feeling that he needed to work off his debts for himself instead of letting somepony else do it. He had been given a second chance to make amends for his mistakes, something he regularly reminded his family of that it didn't happen very often in life. Even though Sew n’ Sow felt differently and often begged him to buy a few slaves, Pokey Oaks wanted to know that his success was something that he himself had worked for. Smithy was proud of her father for sticking to his beliefs, but knew that she felt differently about slave labor than he did.

Before she could dwell further on the subject, she heard a knock at her door. “I’m a comin’!” she said, taking off the necklace and tossing it aside on her dresser, being sure to put a handkerchief on top of it to keep it hidden.

On the other side of the door stood Pokey Oaks, eager to get the zap apple jam stand set up with his wife and sons. It was zap apple season again, and her brothers were in town to help with the harvest. Despite their own personal lives, the Seed boys always seemed to find time to come around to help the family with the harvest. After all, the zap apples disappeared if they hadn’t been picked in time. “Time for some good ol’ fashioned zap apple jammin’!” he exclaimed, giving his daughter a big hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

Comments

[FashionablyHospitable]

CELESTIAAAAAAA!!!!!

DO SOMETHING DANGIT!

[Lovinlife]

I feel that there is really nothing to talk about for this chapter. Nothing to point out, it was just there.

I have nothing to say!? WHYYYYYY! Wait I guess I can wait till the next chapter to review something worth while of both of our times. YESSS! That is what I'll do. And have a party along with it HEHEHEHE.

Okay, got that out of my system. Yeah, there is really nothing to say about this chapter which I say I neither a good thing or a bad thing. I'll see where things go from here.

[Spiritus Arcane]

Well, it's sorta easy to guess why the slavery period was covered up; probably because Celestia feels like a moron for not noticing the truth for so long.

[StarzGecko]

6189220
Indeed. I would actually love to read stories of a deep state rulling than Celestia... Though I have to wonder in this story how she founds out and changes history that leads to the show events.

Though sadly it seems Celestia doesn’t look the inside of a pony like how Luna does, it’s one of the reasons why she didn’t notice her sister was hurting.