Home is Where the Heart Is

by Revenant Wings

Opening

It was a late night at Sweet Apple Acres. The air was slightly misty and cool, hanging on to the last moments before a long, mildly hot summer. The first of two apple harvests had come in, and the apples were glistening with dew in the barn.

Applejack and Big Macintosh lifted the last of the barrels up into a pile, carefully setting it down on top of another two in a neat tower. Applejack wiped the sweat off her forehead and let off a relieved sigh.

“Whew!” she said. “That’s the last of ‘em, I think.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said, nodding in confirmation as he wiped his own forehead.

“So now we’ll have to sort through ‘em by type,” Applejack said. “Shouldn’t take too long; I think they’re already almost done ‘cept for a few barrels on top.”

Big Macintosh climbed up and looked into two of the barrels. One had green apples and another had red apples, and another had gold apples. “Nope.”

“You mean we got to go through all of them?”

“Eeyup.”

“Oh, ponyfeathers!” Applejack slammed a hoof on the floor. “I thought I had all of them straightened out.”

“Nope.” Big Macintosh came over and put a hoof around Applejack’s shoulder. “We’ll start it tomorrow. It won’t take that long. Few days, at most”

Applejack smiled at her brother. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s head inside and tell Granny we’ve finished.”

Applejack walked inside the house and into their living room. Granny Smith had been dozing on her favorite rocking chair with the sounds of country music from the nearby radio floating through the room. Apple Bloom was on the floor reading a book.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack called. “Isn’t it time for you to go to bed?”

Apple Bloom got up with a start. “Oh, come on!” she complained. “Sweetie Belle’s goes to bed at least an hour after I do!”

“That’s because Rarity doesn’t pay attention to time as much. Come on,” Applejack said, giving Apple Bloom a nudge. “It’s late and we have to get up early tomorrow. You’ve got school in the mornin’.”

Applejack walked up the stairs behind Apple Bloom and watched as the little filly jumped into her bed. Applejack covered her little sister up with the blankets and cracked a window open. “Y’all comfortable?”

“Uh-huh,” Apple Bloom said. “But… one more thing.”

Applejack looked at Apple Bloom curiously. “What is it, little sis?”

“Can you tell me a story?”

Applejack smiled. “Well, sure, if I can remember one. What do you want to hear about?”

“How come Braeburn went to Appleoosa?”

“Gosh,” Applejack said. “I was… I think I was too young really.”

“Well, what do ya remember about it?”

Applejack went over to the bed and sat down. “Well, I know he was a little older than Big Macintosh, almost the age I am now. He was a fiery colt, always gettin’ himself into all sorts of situations.” Applejack smiled and gave her little sister a noogie. “Kinda like you sometimes.”

Apple Bloom giggled and flailed, trying to escape Applejack’s hoof. “Hey! You kinda do that too!”

Applejack chuckled. “I suppose I do, lately. Well, back to the story.”

“A few years after he got his cutie mark helpin’ Granny on the orchard,” Applejack continued, “Braeburn was a fine young stallion, and thought it was time he headed out on his own. I was there to see him off when he got on the train to see the world. I didn’t have my cutie mark yet, and I didn’t know what was goin’ on.”

“A few weeks later,” Applejack said, “I headed on to Manehattan to live with my Aunt and Uncle Orange. You were just a little baby, then, and not the grown-up little filly you are now. I tried livin’ life as a fancy pony, but I never did fit in with them. I came back and ended up gettin’ my cutie mark because I knew I belonged on the farm.”

“But how did Braeburn get to Appleoosa?” Apple Bloom said through a yawn, eyes drooping but not closed.

Applejack continued. “Well, the next I heard was that Braeburn had been sendin’ us postcards from Las Pegasus, up to Vanhoover, all the way across to Manehatten, then down to Baltimare before headin’ over to Dodge Junction. He worked for a few years in Dodge Junction establishing an apple farm there before headin’ off with a group of settlers to go and found Appleoosa. He’s been there for the past six years now workin’ his own apple orchard.”

By now, Apple Bloom had her eyes closed, but she yawned again and managed to speak once more. “I wish he’d visit us more than just the reunions.” And then she drifted off and started snoring.

Applejack looked at her sister with a sad smile. She quietly got up and walked over to the door, turning off the light and closing it slightly. “So do I, little sis,” she whispered.

As Applejack headed downstairs, she thought about her cousin. Sure, he’d been to the last Apple Family Reunion almost three years ago, but what then? It seemed like at least a few times a year, some member of their extended family would come down and visit with them for a week. Or, once or twice a year they would go and visit them during the off-season. It seemed like every year, no matter what happened, every single one of them would manage to see every other one of them.

Except Braeburn.

Sure, Braeburn had been a “go-getter”, as Granny Smith once described him. All of the Apples had pretty much settled down in already established communities, while Braeburn had volunteered to go off into the wilds of the San Palomino Desert just to establish an Apple Farm in a dusty old community. He even had become one of the higher ponies of the land, helping in diplomatic relations with the buffalo.

He even looked like he was quite pleased with himself when Applejack had gone down there with Twilight and the others to deliver Bloomberg. His first instinct was to immediately run his mouth off to Applejack to describe every single thing that he’d seen and heard since then and to show off the finest of the town he’d helped established.

She wondered if he still had that mouth of his. It seemed like he never shut up at home, but maybe a few years of work had settled him down a little.

By the time Applejack had gotten down to the living room, Big Macintosh was filling in Granny Smith on the results of the harvest.

“Almost twice the barrels from last year!?” the old mare was saying. “Hm… well, the cider season’s gonna be nice. But… I almost think we’ll need to hire an extra hoof. It won’t be easy gettin’ all those barrels of apples sold or made into cider.”

“Nope,” Big Macintosh agreed. “It’ll likely take us a few days just to sort the barrels.”

“Well, that’s even longer than it normally takes us,” Applejack said. “We can sometimes get them done in one day, maybe two.”

“Do you know anyone who might be willin’ to help us?” Granny Smith asked. “I still have the zap apple harvest to worry about comin’ up.”

“I’m sure I could ask Twilight to help us,” Applejack said. “I mean, I don’t want to interfere with her duties as a princess, but I’m sure she’d be willin’. If not, I’m sure Caramel or that Time Turner fellow would be willing to lend a hoof for a couple more bits’ pay.”

“I’d rather not ask those two,” Granny Smith said. “We Apples are a mostly self-sufficient bunch. That said, I don’t want the extra harvest to rot if we can’t do it.”

Applejack and Big Macintosh nodded.

A few minutes later, Big Macintosh was in a back room doing some calculations, Granny Smith had once again dozed off in her chair, and Applejack was cleaning the kitchen and finishing the dishes from that night’s dinner. The warm suds felt good under her hoof, cleaning the dirt and dust away as she gently scrubbed each dish with a single hoof.

Applejack finished the dishes and was cleaning off the table when a knock came at the door. She looked out the door and saw the full moon clearly over the hills. “Now, who could be knockin’ at such a late hour?” she asked herself.

Applejack walked over to the living room. The knock came again, startling Granny Smith out of her sleep. “Eh, what? Applejack, what’s goin’ on?”

“Someone’s knockin’ at the door, Granny. I’ll see who it is.”

Granny Smith managed to muster enough energy to lift her head and look around at the door as Applejack approached it. With a sigh, Applejack opened the door and looked out into the night.

“Hey there!”

Applejack, who had been getting tired herself, was now wide awake. “…Braeburn!?”

“Hey there, Applejack!” Braeburn said. “Thought I’d come by and pay the family a visit!”

Granny Smith almost fell backwards out of her chair. “…what?”

Comments

[Vivid Syntax]

Gotta love a good "Hey there!"

Great opening! I was a little taken aback by the harvest being twice the size of last year's, but that's the most minor of nitpicks. I'm really looking forward to more of this story!