Appledashery Vol. Two

by Just Essay

Seedlings

Applejack had taken a long bath.

It was still a glowing afternoon when she trotted tiredly down the stairs...

...and into the kitchen to prepare the Apple Family dinner.

As she did so, she passed by a green shape. Unexpectedly, that green shape talked.

"When are ya fixin' to bake them treats for the hoedown, AJ?"

"G-guh!" Applejack jolted in place, nearly tripping into the stove.

Granny Smith was likewise startled, shifting in her chair at the kitchen table. "Land's sakes, girl! Did ya turn part feline overnight?" She adjusted her bifocals and continued staring at a smattering of old letters and envelopes spread out before her. "It's just me, ya dag'blame'd fool!"

"I know! I know just..." Applejack winced, feeling her heartbeat return slowly to a normal pulse. She exhaled, straightened her hat, and prepared the stove. "Long day, Granny."

"They're all long days, Applejack."

Applejack exhaled. "I know..."

"Reckon ya didn't answer my question none."

"Oh! Uhm..." Applejack fidgeted slightly. "I suppose I'll be bakin' 'em tomorrow? Tomorrow night sounds good."

"Fair 'nuff." Granny Smith perused more letters, squinting through her narrowly-framed glasses. "I'll be sure to clear out of the kitchen by then. Give ya some space." A wrinkled smile. "I just know yer gonna wow the saddles off them Harvest folk. Heh... eatin' nothin' but carrots and pears has gotta murder them poor taste buds of theirs. Hyeh hyeh..."

Applejack lingered in place before the stove.

"Somethin' botherin' ya, lil' Appleseed?"

"Granny...?" Applejack looked over her shoulder. "Just about how many ponies was there when Ponyville was first settled?"

"Ya mean how many of us were travelin' together all pilgrim-like in the Apple Family Caravan?"

"Errr... yeah..."

"Why..." Granny Smith looked towards the ceiling. She fanned herself with two of the yellow'd envelopes clenched gently together. "There was Ma. Pa. Goldie. My two cousins... oh and their cousins too. Reckon a few of the Oranges were helpin' us with the wagon parts from time to time. And then there was the Rich Family from the next town over—you know what became of them." A blink. She looked back at Applejack with a smile. "Reckon I don't remember!"

Applejack sighed inwardly. "Right..."

"But... eh... a good two dozen of us!" Granny Smith said. "Easily! Then again, it was always changin' every month or so. We Apples lurve to help each other out, and distant relatives from Fillydelphia and beyond was always stoppin' on by... sleepin' in the barn... pitchin' tents... doin' whatever they could to get the Zapapples harvested and the rows of regular fruit trees seeded all nice and proper..."

"Sooooooo..." Applejack squinted out the window at the orchards stretching outward for hundreds and hundreds of acres. "...once upon a time... this place was filled with dozens of ponies at any given time... millin' all about and livin' off the farm?"

"Well... yes, Applejack. I reckon so. But that was a long time ago and since then our farmin' skills have improved mighty fine! Wouldn't you say?"

Applejack sighed.

"Is... is somethin' rotten in the basket, AJ?"

"Sometimes... when I look out at the farm that Ma and Pa helped seed..." Applejack brushed a few bangs up under her hat. "...miles and miles of glorious trees stretchin' in every direction... I can't help but feel that it all looks so... so..."

"Hmmm?"

"... ... ...so sparsely populated." Applejack blinked at herself.

"I'm afraid that I don't follow."

"No, reckon you don't." Applejack toed at the kitchen floor, exhaling through a tired smile. "Because I'm not particularly headed anywhere of note."

"I guess it has been a long for ya, darlin'." Granny made to scoot out of her chair. "Want me to fix dinner instead—?"

"No. No need to fuss." Applejack waved a hoof. "You just sit tight. I've got this."

"Hmmm..." Granny Smith sat with a proud smile. "You always do."

"I aim to keep it that way." Applejack gathered a skillet and spatula. "Just... my mind sometimes wanders on a day like this. Reckon it'll help to get to bakin'."

"Always works for me! Er... well... it used to... before I began accidentally sealin' my dentures beneath the pie crust. Hehheh... glad one of us still has the touch!"

"Whew-wee... I've got my work cut out for me, though!" Applejack glanced across the kitchen. "Treatin' a whole hoedown full of rambunctious ponies? Glad I've got the whole week to plan it!"

"Hyeh-hyeh! You say that... but it'll be over before you know it!" Granny Smith winked. "Trust me."

Comments

[Booster Spice]

In summer, working in the greenhouses, veg, lawns etc till it was too dark to see properly at 11 pm. Punching through the frozen ground in winter because the cheap tools couldnt take the strain. Cooking dinner out of sacks of carrots, turnips, potatoes from the animal feed store

We were lucky. We had it good. For what we had.

Family drifts.

[Phoenix Kitten]

"Always works for me! Er... well... it used to... before I began accidentally sealin' my dentures beneath the pie crust. Hehheh... glad one of us still has the touch!"

Once again, ew and DBZA Master Roshi's voice.

AJ has a point though, a farm that big, you'd think they'd need at least a dozen or so hired hooves, not just AJ all on her lonesome out in the orchards.

[zaponator]

"They're all long days, Applejack."

And truer words were never spoken.

[DrEggnog]

This is a different kind of melancholy than in Vol. 1. More nuanced. Less sighing too . . . so far.

[Lamplighter]

Applejack has been working so tirelessly all these years to keep the farm afloat after her parents died. Now she was finally startled to the realization that her life was lacking something essential. it's like when you've been working real hard in the fields and then you look up, only to realize the Sun is setting and your work is nearly done.

I wonder if this is before or after she met Rainbow Dash. The way they scale the time it could be either. I guess we'll find out in the chapters to come.

[Phoenix Kitten]

8254735
It seems to be before, as one of the things mentioned was a new weather patrol team on it's way, and as chapter 570 of volume 1 states, Dash met AJ by crashing into the fields on her first day on the job.

[Phoenix Kitten]

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[arancaytar]

"... ... ...so sparsely populated." Applejack blinked at herself.

Lonely frecklehorse is lonely.