Slice of Velvet and Pear

by David Silver

75 - The Last Roundup Part Three

"What are you thinkin' so hard 'bout?" Pear Butter watched her daughter, the train rumbling gently beneath them. "You don't look as happy as ah'd expect."

Applejack perked. "Oh! Well." She tapped her hooves together. "It's just, you know, I thought." She looked out the window at the scenery going past a moment. "I thought I'd win."

"And ya didn't." Pear sat up. "A mighty fine showin', but you didn't win, child mine."

Applejack sank at that, the truth pressed against her. "Nope." A soft sigh escaped her. "Which means ah won't be just comin' home with the bits neither, 'least not all at once." She cracked a little smile. "Got lucky, so we'll have bits, just kinda after the fact. But ah didn't win."

Pear reached across the divide, booping her daughter gently. "What'd you learn?"

"Learn?!" Applejack frowned at that. "This weren't one of Moon's friendship lessons to jot down."

"They come up a lot." Pear smiled with patience. "So give it a try. What did you learn?" She curled on herself, pulling out a sheet of paper and offering it to Applejack. "Go on."

"Yer serious." Applejack took the page and looked it over. It was blank, waiting for her thoughts. "Ah learned..." She looked it over, eyes drifting a moment before she continued. "Ah learned that ya have to work harder. Ah didn't do all I could do. Ya know, the balance?"

Pear inclined her head. "That's a fine start. All good things need some effort. But ah saw you movin' 'round that kitchen. You weren't lazin' 'bout. There was plenty of effort to be had." She clapped her hooves suddenly. "Ah know, what'd you score best in?"

"Flavor!" Applejack had a grin then. "Yup, that was it!" Her tone became softer, more thoughtful. "Fer flavor, Ah'm the best in town."

Pear nodded softly. "And what'd you score the worst in? Because they weren't just givin' you numbers. They were tellin' you how to get better."

"Oh." Applejack tapped the table. "That was... Presentation."

"Ah see." Pear shook her head lightly. "Can't be the best in the town at everything. Gotta admit there's ways to get better." She rolled a hoof slowly. "Write that down. If presentation was your worst score, that's what you need to work on. Got to have the basics down before ya go thinkin' you can fly."

"Heh. Nothin' quite so easy as bein' a Wonderbolt." Applejack scribbled her mom's wisdom onto the paper. "Not that bein' one of those is easy, 'ccordin' to Rainbow. Shoot, is what it looks like that important compared to how good it tastes? Ain't that the whole point?"

Pear Butter snorted with amusement. "'Magine this. Somepony comes up to you with a dirty brown bag. Inside is what looks like a mud ball. They promise it's the best tastin' thin' ya ever tried!"

"Sounds like a dirt eater to me." Applejack's nose wrinkled. "Ew. I ain't gonna eat that. Better things to do with mah time."

Pear Butter spread her hooves wide. "Presentation matters then. You didn't even try it. Maybe it actually was the best tastin' thin'." She nodded at Applejack. "Get it yet?"

"Sure." Applejack slumped at that. "Can't look nasty. Looks good enough to make it into mah mouth." She pointed out the window, at the landscape rushing past. "Why you bringin' the point up? What's so hard 'bout fixin' how stuff looks, huh?"

Pear lifted an ear. "No reason to get short with me, AJ. I didn't score you. But they did. It's not a matter of 'how hard', but you didn't. They said it tasted great, but didn't look great, it looked 'alright', but not 'great.' So, daughter mine, that's what you improve." She pointed to the paper Applejack had scribbled on. "That's the lesson, maybe not the only one."

Applejack lifted the sheet, reading over the things she'd written. "Shoot..." She leaned back. "Ah feel like that's the least of what ah could do."

"All things start small." Pear sank in her seat, gentle smile returned. "Each journey starts with a single hoof on the ground. That don't make it any less important. Now, jus' so we're clear. Ah'm very proud of you. You took second place! Only one thang higher'n that!"

Applejack sank. "Yeah." She put the paper down, slumping against it. "Second's good, and all, but there was the chance."

Pear raised a hoof. "Second place on your very first try? That's worth crowing about, not bein' sour over. You'll take first, eventually, but you had lessons to learn. Now, what was your second worst score? Try to think of those judges as teachers, not judges. They were givin' you homework fer next time is what they were doin'."

Applejack grabbed for her list again. "Err... Mouth feel... Is that even a thing?" She scratched her head. "It didn't taste bad or anything!"

Pear Butter snickered at that. "Of course it is. If you're tastin' somethin' mighty fine but it feels like sharp sand in your mouth, or strange slime slippin' 'round in there, yer gonna like it less. Maybe ya let some of it get moist when it was supposed to be crispy, or the other way 'round. Think on it, and write it down."

"Some of it got moist?" Applejack looked over her list carefully, then her brows creased. "Oh, I think ya mean texture? That's a thing?"

"Certainly." Pear watched Applejack. "If it was the second worst score, you think you'd remember." She held her chin a moment. "Or are you the type to think the opposite way around?"

Applejack frowned at that. "Ah was busy cookin'!"

"And ya cooked up somethin' tasty." Pear nodded, thinking back on the score. "But it weren't perfect. We're talkin' 'bout how to get even better next time, hm?" She watched Applejack, letting silence fall while her daughter mulled things over.

"Okay. Ah got it. Texture, an' Balance, whatever that means." Applejack had a more confident expression as she wrote that down. "Okay, fine. Got plenty to work on." She folded the paper and tucked it away. "Fine." She flipped an ear back. "Are ya really, um, proud, or ya jus' bein' supportive?"

"That ain't a yes or no question, dear." Pear stepped down to reach up and embrace her daughter. "Ah'm always proud of you. Always."

Applejack returned the hug. "Good ta hear it. But it makes mah question double. Ya proud of what ah done?"

Pear gently disengaged and pat her daughter's cheek. "Second place in the Canterlot Cooking Contest! Of course!" She shook her head, returning to her seat. "Now, ah heard from Velvet that you went with a certain...spice. Yer takin' my advice."

"Eh?" Applejack rubbed the back of her head. "Maybe. It ain't exactly the same."

"Well." Pear Butter adjusted her seat. "Don't exactly look like the same Apples, now do we? But it sounds like it."

Applejack's cheeks reddened. "Ah was tryin' to put mah own spin on it, ya know?"

"That's part of it." Pear settled comfortably on her bench. "Every Apple takes a twist on the recipes. Ain't no technique don't get changed a little, passin' from daughter to daughter. From son to son." She stroked over her chin gently. "Jus' the way ah things."

"Ma..." Applejack scooted closer and leaned over her. "Ah don't think that's just our family, y'know?"

"Shucks." Pear laughed at the notion. "'Magine it ain't! Change ain't somethin' we can avoid. We're alive, so we're gonna change, and change things 'round us."

"Yup, but ah'm just sayin' it's a universal thing, that's all." Applejack relaxed herself as she spoke. "We do it, others do it. It's a thing ponies do. That's all ah mean."

Pear wiggled a hoof in the air. "Ain't no argument from me. Now, let's get home where you get to be a hero."

Applejack perked at that. "Will ah? Ah won't be comin' home with the bits to fix thin's like ah promised."

"It's comin'." Pear waved that off. "An' you know it. They'll be so proud of you for what ya did. So, be ready with one of yer speeches, 'cause they'll be wantin' one."

"Oh, ah'll give one!" Applejack stood and puffed out her chest. "Ah'm gonna tell them all, what ah've done! The great things ah accomplished and how they're all gonna get rich!" She laughed nervously at that. "Goin' a bit overboard there." She sank to her seat. "But the town hall'll get paid fer, 'least."

Pear waggled her head, giving her daughter a bemused smile. "A touch more modest, maybe." She turned to the view out the window, and the fields spreading out in the distance. "You did good."

"And next time." Applejack crossed her arms. "Ah'll do even better! Hope yer ready to try some thin's. Ah'll be whippin' up some treats, and ah'll expect some scores on how it looks an' how it feels, in yer mouth." She stuck her tongue out with a giggle. "Ain't no better teacher than experience!"

Pear swiped playfully at her daughter. "You got it!" She looked up as the train's brakes squealed. "We're just about home. Best find your hat."

"Oh, darn!" Applejack felt her head, and was relieved to discover her Stetson still present. "Yer messin' wit' me." She hopped to the ground with a flick of her tail. "Let's go tell 'em the good news."

Pear followed after Applejack with a pleased smile, confident that the proper lessons had been learned in the end.

Author's Note:

And... end episode, I think. That feels like a right nice ending, hm? Do tell me if I did good, or bad. Note, we ended with train tracks either way, but it's so much nicer to be on a train doing it.

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Comments

[TheGJ90]

And thus, for no apparent reason, Rarity felt a wave of relief flow through her body and meticulously maintained mane.

[Booster Spice]

How would I have improoved things?

I have no idea, because if I did, those are things I wouldve worked on.

Pear is a mother.

She knows these things.

[howard035]

A brilliant lesson!

[David Silver]

11856398
It's nice having a caring mother about.

[howard035]

11856525
One who knows her daughter well enough to know that Applejack would meet sympathy with stubbornness, but would respond well to opportunities to work and improve herself.