Handing over the keys

‘’Will you hurry up? She’ll be back before long!’’ Applejack said as she nudged her big brother’s shoulder with her boot, whom was on his back and busy working on the underneath of the car.

‘’Relax, AJ. Car’s done, anyway. I was jus’ correcting the suspension,’’ He told her, pulling himself out from underneath the vehicle he had been working on with his sister. His hands and face were dirty with oil, both dry and wet, and the scent of freshly-applied oil and transmission fluids wafted from his skin. It had been no picnic in getting this far with this project, but it was finally done.

Applejack and Big Mac stood back as they took in the fruit of their labour, marvelling at how pristine and how clean it looked now that it was back in one piece. From the chrome to the original paint, newly-added glass windows and refurbished interior, it was a work of art. It had taken a number of months to get it back in working order, so to see it done and sparkling clean was a huge relief for the Apple siblings.

It had been hard keeping it hidden from the intended recipient, too, the duo having to keep the barn where it was being kept constantly locked and guarded, in case their younger sister, Apple Bloom, by herself or with her friends, stumbled in and ruined the surprise. It had been rough and nerve-wracking to keep it out of sight for as long as they have, but the time for it to once again see light of day was coming.

‘’Ain’t she a beaut, big brother?’’ Applejack asked her brother as she gave him a pat on the shoulder. Herself, like her brother, was also covered in licks of old and new oil and fluids.

‘’She sure is, sis,’’ Her brother replied. ‘’As good as when she left the factory. Ma sure would be proud,’’ He said, the words slipping almost silently from his lips as a pang of pride mixed in with sadness hung around the pair of siblings.

‘’Hey, buck up,’’ Applejack said, forcing away her rising sadness, turning to her brother and slinging her arm around his shoulders. ‘’She’ll be proud. Pa would be, too. Now, come on, Apple Bloom’ll be home soon - we should get ourselves cleaned up before then.’’

It was high noon by the time Apple Bloom had arrived back at the farm. She had been out with her friends at the shopping centre to celebrate their success on their final year of high school following their graduation ceremony. Finally, after all those years of hard work, studying, doing her homework and meeting deadlines had come to an end, meaning that she was now a free girl to do what she pleased.

Talk was already been thrown around about the universities the girls were thinking of enrolling to, but they were all going to take a break from their studies for the time being, enough to take some time to relax and collect themselves. And so, it felt wonderful and fulfilling to get a breath of fresh air, a sense of peace and release of stress upon her shoulders, knowing that the hard part was over.

As Apple Bloom came back onto the farm and entered the farmhouse, she practically burst through the door, expecting to find her big brother and sister waiting for her, or perhaps her grandmother, but they were nowhere to be seen. She unloaded her rucksack and tossed it onto the kitchen table before calling out, ‘’AJ! Big Mac! I’m home!’’ to the empty space around her.

Still, nobody came to greet her. She was confused for a moment, wondering where her family was. Shrugging and thinking maybe they were outside somewhere or maybe in town getting some groceries and / or farming supplies for the next harvest, she headed to the fridge. She yanked the door open and pulled out a half-empty pitcher of chilled milk. There was a label attached - ‘Apple Bloom’ - meaning that it had personally been reserved for herself by one of her siblings.

She grabbed the small pitcher and drank it while shutting the fridge door with a gentle slam, as to not cause anything fragile inside to topple over and shatter. (She had done that on accident a couple times before, much to her big sister’s annoyance.) Apple Bloom stopped mid-sip as she noticed something written on the whiteboard secured to the front of the fridge.

Upon closer inspection, Apple Bloom recognised the neat handwriting of her sister, written in green ink, reading out as, ‘Apple Bloom, come outside to the barn. Got something you’ll want to see.’ Wondering what that meant, Apple Bloom naturally became curious. Her mind began to run rampant with random ideas over what it might be.

Did she buy me a new dog or something? Apple Bloom thought. Finishing off the last drop of milk in the pitcher, Apple Bloom left it on the kitchen table and she headed back outside towards the barn, her thoughts still running rampant as she expected to find Applejack waiting for her. Sure enough, Applejack was standing outside waiting for her, waving over to her the moment she saw her.

‘’Applejack!’’ Apple Bloom called as she ran over to her, lightly kicking up dust of the rural earth beneath her.

‘’Good to see you’re back, sugarcube,’’ Applejack said as she hugged her younger sibling, gently stroking her cherry red hair.

‘’So, what’s all’a this about? You said you wanted me to come out here for somethin’?’’ She asked, curious what her sister wanted.

‘’Your brother an’ I have a surprise for you, sugarcube,’’ Applejack told her. ‘’Y’all ready?’’ She asked her, asking her to step back from the barn’s massive oak doors. Apple Bloom stood next to her while she waited for whatever was about to happen. ‘’Alright, Big Mac, fire her up!’’

Apple Bloom gave a confused expression when she said that, glancing around the area with her senses on high alert for anything that might happen, but she didn’t expect to hear a loud roar rumble from within the barn. It sounded angry yet clean and crisp, a deep and earth-rocking growl which was soon followed by the rhythmic ticking of pistons kicking and knocking about while they pumped air and fed petrol into the engine.

The barn doors opened as Granny Smith pushed them outwards to their full extent, and it wasn’t long before she aroma of petrol flooded the air, that sweet and intoxicating scent that was so mesmerising to car lovers everywhere. There was another revving of an engine before what was causing the noise began to slowly emerge from the darkness of the barn.

Apple Bloom continued to watch in astonishment and pure surprise as the light hit the vehicle making its emergence into the brilliant light of the afternoon sun, reflecting off of the vibrant paintwork of the car. A part of the young girl’s heart throbbed as she recognised the vehicle instantly, a sweet sadness arising within her chest.

Big Mac was sitting behind the padded steel steering wheel of her mother’s car. It was a Ford Thunderbird, a 1955 model, with the original turquoise blue paintwork it left the factory with. The colour and chrome popped in the brightness of the sun, enough that Apple Bloom could see her own reflection. The engine purred for a few moments longer until Big Mac brought it to a stop and cut the engine off.

The last time that Apple Bloom saw this car, she was a baby being brought home in it by her father after her mother had given birth to her. She barely recalled the comforting touch of her mother whilst she was sat in the passenger seat with her as her father chauffeured them back to the farm to complete the family. The Apple’s father, Bright Mac, had bought the car and restored it himself to give it to his wife, Pear Butter, on their anniversary. As it turned out, that was the last time he ever drove the car before they both passed.

Not one person in the family had touched nor drove the car since then. It had been sitting in a storage unit their parents once rented for nearly a decade. It never felt right to drive it, being the only thing left of their parents.

‘’Is…Is that?’’ Apple Bloom stammered, pointing limply at the car in all of its glory.

‘’It sure is, sugarcube,’’ Applejack said as Big Mac began to get out of the car. He approached his two younger siblings and he turned to Apple Bloom, taking a hold of her hand and turning it around so that he could place the keys for the car into her palm.

‘’An’ now it’s yours, AB,’’ He said to her. ‘’Me and AJ spent months fixing her up and gettin’ her in tip-top shape, so take care of it,’’ He then closed her fingers around the car keys. ‘’Ma and Pa woulda wanted y’all to have it. Seems only right.’’

It was then that Apple Bloom threw her arms around her big brother’s shoulders, and although she was a lot taller than she was before, her brother was still towering over her like a solid brick wall, but he leaned down to make it easier for her. Tears formed in her eyes as she thanked her brother and sister for the car.

‘’Thank you big brother, thank you big sister. Thank you, Granny,’’ She spoke lastly to her grandmother.

‘’Aw, shucks, youngun, if your ma and pa wanted anybody drivin’ around in their car, it’d be you,’’ She said, coming over to the driver’s side door and motioning for her to come over. When she did, Granny Smith pulled open the metal door of the car and revealed the pristine interior. It had been stitched up where it had eaten away by mice and age, an effort made in order to preserve its originality and its relevance to the family’s history. Applejack had done all she could to do the job as tidy as possible on the bench seats, as well as giving them a rubdown to clean any muck from them.

Like the outside of the car, the vinyl seats matched the same turquoise shade with a white cushioning on the back and bottom. The dashboard was a similar shade of blue, complete with that vintage charm that screamed with style reminiscent of mid-fifties-era cars, chrome lining the dials, glove compartment and the mirror. This particular model was a hard top, painted white. Every single part of this car had a charming character which jumped out at Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom climbed in and she sat herself behind the steering wheel, metal-framed and padded with white plastic around the circumference. She ran one of her hands around the rim of the wheel, and for a moment imagined her father sitting where she was. This was the closest she’s been to him since the day he drove her and her mother home from the hospital, the feeling of sensing his presence with her causing her heart to swell and throb, wanting to remember what it felt like to be touched by him and to hear his voice.

This car was now her own, but Applejack and Big Mac had gained shared ownership of their father’s pickup truck. It was a slightly younger model Ford, maybe about 1957, and most of its original paint had peeled away and been smeared with mud and dust from heavy use around the farm. Now, all three siblings owned a piece of their parents.

Granny Smith closed the driver’s side door and placed her hands around the rolled-down window. She smiled to her granddaughter and patted her head.

‘’Now, listen here, youngun, your ma took great care of this car when your daddy bought it for her. It’s time for you to do the same now that you’re out of school. Your ma and pa would be proud of ya for graduatin’ this year. If only they could see you three all together now and how much you’ve grown up…’’ Granny said, getting a little misty-eyed herself.

‘’Aw, Granny, I will. I’ll keep it the way ma woulda wanted me to, I promise,’’ Apple Bloom said assuringly.

‘’An’ don’t be bringing any boys around, neither!’’ Big Mac called from beside Applejack, whom soon nudged him with a playful scold.

‘’Big Mac!’’ Apple Bloom blushed deeply, embarrassed at the idea.

‘’Oh, don’t listen to him none, sugar, he’s only teasin’. But you take it easy in this thing; I don’t wanna hear about y’all gettin’ into any wrecks or drag races or whatever else you kids do these days, ya hear?’’ Her grandmother continued to make her promise, but Apple Bloom giggled.

‘’I won’t, Granny.’’

‘’Now, go on, start her up,’’ Granny said. Apple Bloom did as she was asked and she slid the small key into the ignition slot located on the side of the steering column. The engine roared to life the second she turned it all the way, the entire car purring and rumbling from the refurbished engine bay. It felt like a hundred horses were waiting to breach the gate in their pen the moment the pedal was pushed down.

Apple Bloom gave the engine a few revs to try it out, the power streaming through her body, coursing through her veins and fuelling her mind. It was so tempting to slam the pedal down and to go coasting around town to show it off to onlooker, but she promised her grandmother that she wouldn’t do such a thing and endanger the life of the car which served as a four-wheeled memorial to her parents and their love.

‘’Well? What do you think, Apple Bloom?’’ Applejack asked.

‘’I love it, AJ!’’ Apple Bloom called over the roar of the engine and the bucking of the pistons. ‘’I love it so much!’’

‘’Well, go on; take it for a spin! Show it to your friends! But take care of it!’’ Applejack said that last part with extra emphasis, obvious concern audible in her voice, not wishing for months’ worth of hard work to go down the drain the second it hit the road.

‘’I will, big sis! I’ll see y’all later! I’mma go an’ show it to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle now!’’ And with that, Apple Bloom put the car’s automatic gear box in Drive Mode and she began to cruise it down the dirt road leading out of the farm.

The engine clicked and clacked as the mechanics worked the petrol and air through the metallic veins of the vehicle to power the drivetrain that turned the axles, the car seemingly wanting to go like a blue-coloured dart along the road. The power in the engine block for the time it was built was pretty amazing considering its age, but Big Mac and Applejack had done a terrific job in tuning it.

Once she was on the road, Apple Bloom decided to have a little fun and she made way for Scootaloo’s house with dust, exhaust fumes and burning rubber trailing behind her.

Author's Note:

The 1955 Ford Thunderbird (or T-Bird) is my dream car that I wish to own one day. I fell in love with its style and beauty ever since I saw one and drove one in Mafia 2. It was my go-to car to drive around Empire Bay. You can't beat the classics.