In The Beginning

by flutterJackdash

3 Applejack

Sigh.

The view from this floor wasn’t so bad, at least she could see past all the buildings now. Everything she cared to see was pretty far away though, barely recognizable in the far distance.

Even if she could have seen it, what difference would it have made? It wasn’t as though she could ever go back there again.

Another sigh, then she lay her chin on the sill of the window.

At that moment, something strange happened in the sky. There was an eruption of color, followed by noise, and then everything went silent and still. She blinked, looking down at the street and seeing ponies frozen mid-stride, utterly motionless.

“Wha?”

“Ain’t important,” said a voice from behind her.

Applejack spun from the window, spotting the orange filly lying on her bed. The filly wore a stetson, with her hair done in a simple tail tied at the end.

“Wha? Who’re ya, and how’d ya get inta mah room?!” she barked.

“Can’t you tell who ah am?” asked the filly, raising an eyebrow.

“Er… ah… ah s’pose I can, but… how?” she asked.

The other filly shrugged. The motion flipped her mane across her shoulder, and sent her hat slightly askew. She nudged it with a foreleg to correct. “Ain’t too sure mahself. Ain’t like ah’m some fancy unicorn with all that special magic… But anyhow, here ah am,” she stated.

Applejack took a tentative step towards her own bed, “and what are ya doin’ here?” she asked.

“Ah notice you was lookin’ out toward the farm,” said the orange filly, wearing the beginnings of a warm smile.

Applejack’s head snapped back at the window, swallowing a lump in her throat before turning back to face the other filly, a mild glare formed on her features. “Er… yeah,” Applejack said quietly.

“Whatcha thinkin’ bout when ya look at the farm, then?” the other filly asked as she examined a foreleg.

“Mah family… What ah left behind ‘n all,” she answered.

The other filly crossed her forelegs in front of her, then lay her chin upon them, gazing still at Applejack with her forehooves dangling from the bed. “What’s yer family mean to ya?”

“Everythin!” Applejack declared indignantly.

“Yeah? You sure?” asked the other filly with a slight tilt of her head.

“Course ah’m sure!” Applejack snapped, venom entering her young voice.

“Why aintcha doin’ nothing about it then?” the other filly asked, sounding bored as she closed her eyes.

“About what?” Applejack asked, a note of frustration in her voice as she stamped a hoof against the carpeted floor.

“Bein’ away from yer dang family, that’s what!” barked the orange filly as her eyes snapped open and she looked directly at Applejack again.

Applejack lost all of her steam at once, deflating. “Uh… ain’t nothin’ I kin do, really…” she said quietly.

“And what makes ya say that, partner?”

Applejack looked away, sniffling and dragging a foreleg across her snout. “Ah left ‘em behind… an’ now here ah am in the middle o’ Manehattan, and ah’ve changed too durn much!”

“You think yer family ain’t gonna still love ya when they see ya next? That it?” asked the other filly, her voice gentle and soothing.

Applejack sniffled, dragging her right foreleg across her eyes for the second time before nodding.

“Now that is just foolish, and ah ain’t never known ya to be foolish!” the other filly barked.

Applejack blinked away more tears as she took a deep, shuddering, breath before turning to face the other filly.

“Ya ain’t never known me at all!” she snapped.

The other filly just smiled and shook her head, then rolled onto her back, her stetson drifting to the floor. Applejack stared at the hat, it was worn and looked so familiar. She had no idea why that was.

“You’re wrong, Applejack… I’ve known you all my life,” the other filly said quietly, staring at the ceiling with all four of her legs pointing straight up.

“Ya ain’t! Ya can’t have! I ain’t ever met ya!” Applejack declared.

“Heh… Ya ain’t ever looked in a mirror then, I take it?” the other filly said with a chuckle as she allowed her legs to drop lazily to the bed beneath her.

“Ah… er…,” Applejack wasn’t sure what to say to that. Simple enough answer, sure enough, but she felt weird for wanting to answer it in the first place.

“‘salright Sugarcube… Ah know it’s hard ta swallow… but ah do know ya, better ‘n ya know yerself, even,” the other filly said softly.

“Ya… ya remember ma ‘n pa?”

“Eeyup, ah do. Let ‘em go sugarcube, move on…,” said the other filly.

“But-” begin Applejack, only for the other filly to continue on.

“Ya have other family that’s still livin’... and ya left ‘em behind, and now yer thinkin’ ya can’t ever go back? Look what ya done to yerself, filly!” the other filly cried.

“What do ah do?” Applejack pleaded.

“What do ya wanna do?” the other filly asked.

“Ah wanna go home…,” said Applejack, hanging her head, a tear escaping only to soak into the carpet.

“What’s stoppin’ ya then?” asked the other filly, who rolled back onto her belly and tucked her legs beneath her.

Applejack took another breath, then made her way to the stetson on the floor and took it between her teeth.

“Ah am,” she said.

“So stop stoppin’ yerself then!” stated the other filly.

Applejack nodded as she placed the stetson back on the other filly’s head, and then she was gone.

Comments

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Okay. You're thinking on the same level as I do on this one, and I suspect it is the head-cannon of many fans who examined this situation closely. You reaffirmed what I have been thinking, that Apple Jack moved to Manehatten to get away from the painful memories of her parents passing. That should mean Apple Bloom has already been born as well, but very young. Young enough to likely not know her parents that well. Yet another family member Apple Jack trotted away from.

I also recall Apple Jack once saying that she was the last in her class to get her cutie mark, but Rarity is the only other filly of the Mane 6 who is a true native of Ponyville, and she appears to be of comparable age to her friends so she might be included as a member of Apple Jack's class. It does appear that Rarity got hers a little sooner than Apple Jack, but likely not by much. Rarity came home after being inspired, improved her costumes then gained her cutie mark in the play that night. If Apple Jack's statement is also correct, it took her longer to return from Manehatten and get her cutie mark upon her return to her family.

By the way, you do appear better at writing county accents than I am. If you came up with a unique country slang or comparison as well, like, "That looks more cozy than a warm cider on a rainy day," then I would have really been impressed. A took a stab at it once in my story, and it feels like a D- grade to me. Kind of pitiful. If I had to do Zecora's speech, there's another mare who'd give me quite the pause there for a while to come up with something appropriate.