Hush Now Li'l Darlin'~

The sun had started setting over the horizon, traces of the approaching nighttime becoming more and more evident as cooler shades slowly bled into vibrant fiery skies. A cool wind gusts by, making the branches of nearby trees sway and dance to their whispered melody. Below the canopy of a great oak, small sounds of fidgeting and whining could be heard. The whining escalated into crying, crying from a little filly with short tufts of golden mane for pigtails as a bigger pony, a mare, wiped at the squirming infant's dirtied muzzle.

"Now quit yer fussin', li'l missy! I done told ya to stop gettin' into them fritter plates! I swear, yer appetite's as bad as yer daddy's."

The gentle voice belonged to a red coated mare who was resting against the trunk of her family's old oak tree. Her long golden mane and tail were braided tied at the ends with dark pink ribbons and atop her head sat a weathered Stetson. In her hooves sat a fussing little orange filly with big green watery eyes, her tiny little hooves pushing against her mothers' attentive hooves as she cleaned the remains of apple fritters off of her foal.

"There! Now yer lookin' yer best! Ain'tcha, ya little apple biter?"

"Ah thought the term was 'ankle biter', hun." A deep and masculine voice spoke up from beside where the mare sat. A yellow coated, red maned stallion large as life itself came around the tree to sit his flank beside the red coated mare holding the little foal.

"Now don't you start on me as well, Cider!"

The stallion Hard Cider let out a gentle chuckle and brushed his smirking muzzle along the mares' cheek in a quick nuzzle. "Can't help it, Peachy. Ya look as pretty as a field o' sunflowers when yer riled."

The mare, Peach Velvet, let out a huff through puffed cheeks and turned her face away from the stallion, moving her hooves around as she balanced a still-squirming little filly around. "Durn fool."

Hard Cider chuckled again and turned his yellow eyes towards the little filly in Peach Velvet's hooves. "Hey now, li' 'un, you givin' yer mama a hard time?"

"Pfft! Just like her daddy it seems. You know what yer daughter did earlier today?"

"Hm? What'd she break?"

"Nothin' like that, ya durn fool! Li'l Applejack here done got herself into the fritters again! Gran had to pry the li'l filly from under one of the benches outside near where the fam was makin'em!"

"Aw, shootfire! Ah done missed out on some freshly made fritters! Ow!"

Peach Velvet stabbed an elbow into her husbands' ribs before passing the little apple filly to him. Hard Cider opened his arms and scooped up the little one as carefully as he could while Peach Velvet stretched her limbs and lay on her side on the grass.

"Is you causin' yer mama strife, young'un?" The stallion spoke in a mock disapproving tone and scrunched his eyes as he settled his little girl onto his snout. The little filly Applejack merely let out a gurgling little giggle and rubbed her snout against his fur.

The stallion chuckled at his daughters' mirth and swayed his head, making silly raspberry sounds and wide, funny eyes as he moved. A tiny Applejack let out a squealing laugh at her papa's antics, whereas her mama rolled her eyes at the grown stallion and adjusted her Stetson so that it covered her eyes, smiling all the while. "Girls' got a gullet the size o' yer own y'know."

"Ha ha! Shootfire, yer already gettin' like yer ol' pa! OW!"

This time a kick met his ribs. "I already got two children to raise, let's not make it three, darlin'!"

From the corner of his eye, Hard Cider caught sight of his little colt bringing out a couple of carts from the barn. A proud smile spread over his grizzled muzzle at seeing the preparations little Big Mac had made for gathering up the barrels left out in the orchard. With careful hooves Hard Cider blew out a raspberry against the barrel of the little filly, once again making her squeal out in delightful laughter and kick out her little hind legs. The stallion let out a deep chuckle and went to gently deposit his little filly back into her mama's hooves.

"How much more you an' Mac got, Cider darlin'?"

Hard Cider pressed his snout against Peach Velvet's braided mane in an affectionate nuzzle, a lazy looking smile on his face. "We just have the northern orchard to gather up, then we can call it a day."

The red furred mare felt another nuzzle against her shoulder and she smiled contently, leaning her head upward to reciprocate the gesture. Meanwhile, the little apple in her forelegs made little "Eww! Icky!" comments and tugged on the lowest part of her mama's hat her little hooves could get to and played with it while they made kissy faces. Peach Velvet let out an amused giggle at her daughters' antics and turned her muzzle around to blow against little Applejack's chubby cheek. The little filly burst out laughing and squirmed around once more.

The stallion watched his girls interact a few moments more with a proud and loving smile on his snout then quietly trotted off to where Big Macintosh stood, the little colt smiling as he caught sight of his mama with his baby sister.

"Alright, li'l filly, time to put you down fer some rest."

Peach Velvet reclaimed her favorite Stetson from her daughter, rose up onto her hooves and holding her little apple carefully in her teeth, walked over to the main house. Inside the house smelled of sweet spice and wood shavings, signs that Granny Smith had made some apple cinnamon pie and Hard Cider had finally gotten around to repairing one of the support beams. Her small hooves clacked against the floor boards as she climbed up the stairwell, braided tail and mane swaying in rhythm as she went.

Little Applejack let out a tiny whine and began fidgeting again against her mama's hold. "Buh ah done wanna go sweep mama!"

An amused Peach Velvet let out an inquisitive "Oh?" as she maneuvered the orange little apple so that the filly was now sitting against her crest. "Well as yer granny says, darlin', 'growin' young'uns need their sleep so's they can grow to be strong apples!'" The mare spoke up her grandmothers' words, mimicking her voice and tone perfectly.

Both of their ears perked up as they caught an audible "Durn tootin'!" followed by a wheezy cackle from the kitchen downstairs. Mare and filly eyes meet in unison and they both mouth 'How does she do that?'

Upstairs, Peach Velvet carefully lay down her little Applejack within her crib, hoof-carved by a relative from Apploosa as a gift. The little filly sank into the tiny mattress but immediately sat up trying to grab onto her mama's hoof again.

"Ah ain't tired, mama!"

The older mare chuckled knowingly and ruffled her daughters' mane before undoing her little pigtails. "Now darlin', I know you're wantin' to play some more but it's gettin' late! And as much as Gran says it, she's right y'know! Little fillies need their rest if they wanna grow to be big, strong ponies!"

"Buh mama! Ah-"

"Don'tcha wanna do the same things your brother does with me and your pa? Y'know, workin' the apples of Sweet Apple Acres?"

At that, the little apple 's green eyes lit up as a wide open smile formed onto her little face, making her mama giggle at her little girls' reaction.

"Ah get to work wiff apples too mama?!"

Peach Velvet nodded her head, smiling down at little Applejack. "Mm-hm~! But you have to get your sleep, young lady! 'Else you'll be too tuckered out when you get to buck the apples tomorrow."

Little applejack hopped in place, squealing in delight and excitement as she clapped her little hooves together. "Ah get to buck aaapples~! Ah get to buck aaapples~!" As she hopped and clapped, little Applejack opened her little mouth wider and let out a loud and drawn out yawn.

Having seen this, Peach Velvet scoops up the little blonde apple and cradles her in her forelegs as she stands up on her hind legs. Her braided tail sways slightly as she balances herself and remains upright. Applejack then began to rub her little eyes and squirm and fidget about in her mama's hold, trying to remain energetic when all the sleepy signs were showing.

"You wanna sing your mama's song?"

"Ah un 'member the words to mama's song...."

"Heh heh heh! S'alright, hun. Your mama'll sing those words for ya."

Peach Velvet began gently rocking her child in her arms, beginning to hum a tune behind her motherly smile.

Hush now, li'l darlin'~

I'll tell ya what I know~

You're friends and family love you~

No matter where you go~

But now the stars are shinin'~

The sun's gone far away~

It's time for li'l fillies~

an' colts to hit the hay~

As the apple mother rocked and swayed to the rhythm she hummed, a tiny Applejack let out another little yawn and soon fell asleep against her mothers' chest. Peach Velvet held onto her child and rocked with her for a time longer, still humming and swaying and not wanting to let her little apple go. So engrossed into coaxing her daughter into sleep, the mare hadn't noticed heavy hoof falls clacking quietly against the floorboards and stopping right behind her. Her shoulder brushed against the coarse yellow fur of her husband, Hard Cider.

"She went down fast."

"She's as blunt as her daddy is. How long you been there by the by?"

The stallion shrugged his shoulders. "Long enough to get in a little show. Ah love it when you croon out that little ditty, sugarcube~."

Hard Cider gave his little wife a tiny peck to her cheek and moved his head lower to plant one onto his little girls' forehead.

"Mm~ Thank ya kindly, darlin'. Oh! And I promised li'l Jackie here that tomorrow she'd be learnin' the family business and learnin' how to buck apples."

Hard Cider simply nodded his head, too distracted with nuzzling his little baby girl to fully realize what his wife had said. With a motherly kiss of her own, Peach Velvet leaned over the rail of the crib and with a practiced patience, gently set the sleeping filly Applejack down softly onto her bed. She passed a hoof over her blonde mane as Hard Cider pulled up her favorite blanket over her shoulders, one she instantly curled herself into.

Peach Velvet smiled lovingly at her slumbering child, her smile widening as Hard Cider pulled her against him in a half hug. An idea comes to mind and Peach Velvet removes her Stetson from atop her head. She eyes its rim, takes in the rough material with an appraising eye and memorizes the curves of the wide brim. The smile never left her muzzle as Peach Velvet laid her Stetson atop her daughters' little head. In sleep, little Applejack's tiny hooves immediately latched onto the rough material and she nuzzles into it.

The stallion beside her has his mouth wide open in dumbstruck awe at what he just witnessed. "P-Peachy....that was-"

A cheeky kiss to his lips was effective to silence the farm stallion, allowing a weary Peach Velvet to walk past the stunned stallion and head towards bed. Hard Cider then lets out a small, stupid-sounding chuckle as a love-struck grin spread over his muzzle. Just as quickly, his goofy face froze in horror and turned white as a sheet as his wife's words finally sunk in. And as quickly as he could go without causing a loud commotion, Hard Cider moved his clunky hooves so as to catch up to Peach Velvet and hissing out a panicked "YA DID WHAT?!?!?!"

Author's Note:

This was a little something that popped into my head one day as I was working on a top-secret fic that's a WIP. I was thumbing through my favorites in DA and came across a few faves from Earthsong and it was instantaneous. I based AJ's parents by Earthsong's OC's so they belong to her and are not mine. I know in her works it's Hard Cider who wore the hat, but I imagine the impact of losing her mama and being bestowed with the favorite accessory she wore, just before she passed, was what made AJ so attached to it.

Lyrics here are ones I made on the fly, though the song/rhythm is to Applejack's Lullaby, I figure it was one her mother sang to her as a foal but because it's been a long time since she heard the right words to it, she made it up on the fly to help Apple Bloom to sleep.

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