A House Divided

by Weponizedtism

Chapter 2: A Ponyville Day

Applejack woke up uncharacteristically late for the normally diligent earth pony. The summer sun illuminated her Ponyville room in a warm glow as it shone its bright rays through her curtains. Her family had decided to let her sleep in even though she had specifically asked them not to let her skip out on the morning chores, everypony could tell she needed the rest. Summer had finally brought what most hoped would be peace on the continent. After almost six years of constant fighting, it seemed like nopony wished for more conflict; especially the exhausted farm mare turned commanding officer of the Royal Army. The one-month leave she had been granted four days ago had been well earned; no sooner had her request been approved she boarded the first train from Canterlot back to Ponyville. After a tearful reunion with her family at the station, she was ready to enjoy a well earned break from her duties to Equestria at her beloved farm. Stumbling out of bed, she could hear Applebloom excitedly droning on about something downstairs in the kitchen. The annoyance of being allowed to miss most of the morning began to fade away and with a smile, the earth pony put on her hat and made her way downstairs.

Victory had come in late spring, as Equestrian forces finally raised the royal flag over Chrysalis’ bombed out palace in Vesalipolis. And, though Applejack hadn’t been there during the final assault on the bombed out Changeling capital. The following months had been hectic for the element of honesty. After the unconditional surrender of fieldmarshal Thrax and the Changeling Oberkommando, she was hastily relieved from her posting on the army group in Olenia and was flown into the destroyed Vesalipolis. The princess and the Royal Ministry of War wanted all the element bearers present at the signing of the articles of surrender, a powerful message to Equus and the world. Though she was glad to see her friends again, their tight schedules left them no time for each other. From treaty signings, to military parades and ceremonies, to meetings and photo-ops with the new Thoraxian provisional government and the transitional allied occupation authority; she barely had gotten a moment to herself, much less a full conversation with any of her old friends. The hardest part of the whole ordeal had been the allied parade through the former grand royal avenue of the Changeling Capital, as she had to see her cousin.

As AJ made her way downstairs, her mind still waking up from her unusually deep sleep, a small framed picture caught her attention. One of the many old photos Granny Smith had hung up throughout the years; nothing she hadn’t seen a million times before. This time however it stood out to her, it was a picture almost the entirety of the extended Apple clan posing before the barn, of one of the last Apple family reunions they had hosted on the farm. Her heart sank, she realized just how many of them were no longer with them, or no longer wished to be with them. Motionless, she stood looking at the image of the Appleloosan yellow colt with his brown hat, his light green eyes staring back at her from among the familiar faces in the frame.

“Sis you woke up!” Applebloom called from the kitchen door, snapping her back to the present.

“You ought to have woken me up sooner, Apple Bloom,” Applejack answered back with a small smile on her face.

“Sorry sis, we just wanted you to be rested up, that’s all” The now not so young filly responded, with a bit of guilt in her voice.

“It’s fine, I don’t suppose it’s too late for breakfast?” AJ, asked jokingly as she finished coming downstairs to greet her younger sister.

The Apple family kitchen was a bit stuffy due to the late morning summer heat and Grannysmith’s cooking, but AJ didn’t mind one bit. Bigmac had gone to town to buy some materials to patch the barn’s roof, Apple Bloom sat beside her sister as she ate some fritters granny had made. Granny Smith was finishing washing the dishes in the sink.

“Granny, you ought to let me help ya with them dishes.” Applejack said in between bites.

“Oh nonsense, it’s no trouble dear. I’m just happy to have you with us again” the old mare answered back with a smile that almost entirely hid her tired complexion.

“Did you write to Babs?” Applejack asked his sister.

“A-ah did,” the now almost grown filly answered. Her voice trailing off, her red caramel eyes looking down at the table, and her ears drooped back at the mention of the topic of cousin Babs Seed, “She don’t really want to talk to us again sis…”.

Realizing her mistake the Orange mare struggled to switch the topic of conversation. “Eh, how are Sweetie and Scootaloo?” She quickly asked, trying to switch the topic.

“They are doing good sis, busy like everypony nowadays. Sweetiebelle is managing the CMC’s fabric and textiles collection drive for the army. Scootaloo is looking to train to become a fighter pilot, Rainbow Dash even wrote her a letter of recommendation!” The younger Apple family member responded, picking back up at the mention of her friends.

“Good morning” a deep voice spoke from the outside-facing kitchen door. “Good day, I should say,” Big Macintosh said with a mocking tone to his sister, as he placed the day’s newspaper on the kitchen table alongside some groceries he’d brought from town.

“I told yall to wake me up if I overslept!” she shot back, a hint of annoyance in her tone.

“You earned your rest” the normally stoic stallion simply replied with a sympathetic smile.

The element of honesty continued with her late breakfast, for a brief moment things seemed to have returned to normality. She had a nice day with Rarity ahead, “just like old times sake” she thought. That was until she shifted her gaze and read the frontline heading of the recently arrived newspaper.

“Vanhoover reintegrates! Stalliongrad backs down!”. The headline, like Trenderhoof’s annoying past advances, had kept creeping back into her head throughout the day. She had done her best to ignore it, she had made plans to have a spa day with Rarity, and wasn’t gonna let the worrisome headline ruin her the only real time with her friend that she’d had in a long while. She had almost succeeded. Walking back to town from the spa, through the apple orchards, the elegant white mare finally asked the question to her friend she had been dreading since the morning.

“Did you read today’s paper dear?” the white unicorn asked with barely disguised concern.

“Yeah, Ah did,” the farm mare answered. “Hey, ain’t the trees beautiful in this light” she continued quickly, hoping in vain that shifting the conversation to an aesthetic topic would distract the fashionista. Though the trees were indeed beautiful as their vibrant green leafs were illuminated in the sun that now hung lower in the sky. Yet, Rarity wasn’t that easily dissuaded. The element of generosity had suffered particularly in the last years of chaos. A small and barely visible scar on her flank, from the bomb that tried to kill princess Luna on that fateful winter day at Manehattan, was a tangible reminder of that.

“Do you think the princess will try the same ultimatum with Las Pegasus? Or heaven forbid, the Confederacy directly?!” Rarity continued undissuaded by her friend’s attempt at distraction. “And if they don’t agree? Wouldn’t that mean…” she stopped as the realization of what she was about to ask dawned on her.

“Rarity, I’m really tired of politics can’t we talk about something else?” Applejack responded with a flat tone that tried to conceal her concerns.

“Of course dear, I am sorry. I’m just exhausted from so much conflict and suffering” Rarity said in an apologetic tone.

“It’s ok, Rarity, I understand. Say, how is Sweetiebelle? Apple Bloom mentioned she was helping with one of the CMCs initiatives.” Applejack responded, a faint smile on her lips, glad to finally be able to change the topic of conversation. Through the apple trees, the warm sun illuminated the two friends as they talked and walked back to Ponyville.

The evening sky was light yet vibrant blue, and the clouds above the small Equestrian town were already darkening as dusk fell. Though, their bottoms seemed to glow in a deep orange hue as the setting sun threw light upon them from in between the far away mountain peaks. The warm summer air was filled with fireflies, and the sounds of singing birds and of the creek had made her walk through Ponyville back to the farm, particularly relaxing. She looked forward to being able to spend the following weeks in her beloved hometown. Tomorrow she would bake some apple fritters and have a nice picnic with Fluttershy; she hadn’t seen the meek yellow pegasus since the ministry had flown her in for the changeling surrender ceremony. The earlier preoccupation regarding the possible ramifications from the morning news had all but subsided. “Nothing will happen” she had assured herself with confidence “The Vanhoover situation was unique, Equestria critically needed that port back, even the Staliongrad government had understood this and not pushed back” her reasoning followed. “Nothing will happen with the southern block, the cost is too high, nopony wants war” She had reassuringly concluded. Things would blow over and it’d all be fine. “I can’t wait to see what Granny Smith and Apple Bloom cooked up for dinner” Applejack eagerly thought as she walked into Sweet Apple Acres, fireflies lighting up the white fence line. Opening the farmhouse door she soon was greeted by her younger sister, a worried look in her face.

“Sis, this letter came in this afternoon” she said with a concerned tone, “The soldier that brought it said it was urgent.” She added dejectedly. The element of honesty’s heart sank as she saw the seal of the Royal Army High Command stamped in blue ink on the envelope.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Oh dear but its always hard to see a leave crushed

[shining paladin]

sweet

[The Blue EM2]

“They are doing good sis, busy like everypony nowadays. Sweetiebelle is managing the CMC’s fabric and textiles collection drive for the army. Scootaloo is looking to train to become a fighter pilot, Rainbowdash even wrote her a letter of recommendation!” The younger Apple family member responded, picking back up at the mention of her friends.

Sweetie Belle and Rainbow Dash are each written as two words.