The Day the Darkness Died

by lunabrony

Afternoon/Applejack 2

"Ah miss y'all."

Applejack was not, by nature, an extraordinarily emotional pony. She was tough yet fair, sometimes thick headed. She'd almost killed herself once trying to harvest the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres by herself. It was a big place, filled with apple trees of all ages and sizes, and varying degrees of importance. But the most important apple tree was not the biggest tree, nor the one which carried the most fruit.

It was an old stump. Hidden from the rest of the world deep within the maze of orchards and hills that made up the majority of Sweet Apple Acres. Few knew it even existed. To most of the rest of the world, it may even appear to be an eyesore.

Applejack sat upon it, running her hoof along the crevices in the old bark. It had once been a proud and mighty tree, but that was years and years ago. She cringed, tears running down her face. She could still see so vividly the wild, terrible storm that had brought the tree crashing down. There had been a storage barn nearby once, one that the tree had been dangerously close to falling upon. She remembered almost everything as if it had only just happened.

The rain was pouring down from the sky in a violent torrent, visibility was nearly nonexistent. Lightning had struck the tree, and although the rain had nearly put out the blaze that had ensued, the tree threatened to topple over at any moment.

Big Macintosh stood outlined against the darkness, his build already impressive at his then younger age. "This is too much!" He yelled over the wind. "It ain't safe to be out here! Y'all need to get inside!"

Applejack's father had shaken his head. "We gotta make sure the barn stays up! We can't afford a new one, and if it goes down we won't have no place to store our equipment!"

Macintosh had protested. "Ain't safe! We can deal with it!" The two had begun bickering. Their mother was shivering. "Applejack! Git back inside an' watch Bloom's crib! This terrible noise'll wake'er up!" Applejack didn't like any part of this, but knew better than to argue with her mother. She had turned to head back to the house, and had only gone a few steps when the tree fell.

Her memories went slightly hazy at that point, lots of shouting, her father pushing Macintosh out of the way.

Dead silence. Pouring rain. The longest night of her entire life.

Macintosh blamed himself for that night. He had had barely talked since then.

Applejack found herself crying over the stump, comforted only by a golden plated hoof on her shoulder. "Bad time?" A familiar voice asked gently.

The mare looked up to see Princess Celestia standing near her, and quickly wiped her eyes in embarrassment. "Ah'm jes' allergic to... to... aw, heck, it ain't allergies." She admitted. Lying didn't come at all easily to her. "How'd y'all know ah was here?"

"It's my job to know." Celestia said. "I think about it too, you know. In my own way."

"Does it ever git easier, losin' someone y'care about?"

"No." Celestia said, looking up at the afternoon sky, where the crescent moon was barely visible. Applejack followed her gaze and fell silent. "But you learn ways to deal with it, if only to pass the time. You stop asking yourself what you could have done differently, and instead ask yourself how to prevent it from happening again. That's the important thing. Come on now. It's not good to dwell on the past. It only makes the future seem more unpleasant." She nudged the farm pony, and two slowly began to veer away from the remains of the tree.

"What brings y'here?" Applejack asked, composing herself.

"I heard something about my little ponies having an encounter with Changelings, of course I had to look into it. I understand that you've seen them?" She asked gently.

"Course ah did, ah got in some good rope practice too." She said proudly. "Din' hurt the varmints of course, jes' a bit of rasslin'."

"And you brought them to Twilight?"

"Yess'm! She always seems to know what tah do in these situations. Course ah could have handled it mahself."

"I'm sure you could have. But I'm glad you all sought help. Did they stay with Twilight?" Celestia knew all this, of course, but it was important she encourage the others to tell the truth on their own.

"Nope. She sent one out with each of us. 'Cept Fluttershy. Ah don't think she really wants tah leave th'house, dang things scare her somethin' awful."

"And where is yours?" She asked. "I would have thought that he'd be helping you on the farm."

"Aw, heck, ah sent him off with Apple Bloom and 'er friends. Seemed more appropriate, bein' about their size and age ah guess. He weren't hurtin' nothin', was jes' gettin' in mah way anyway."

Celestia smiled. "Then it looks like I've some Crusaders to find. Thank you, Applejack. You've been a big help."

"Shucks, weren't nothin'. Ah needed tah stop mopin' anyway. Ain't right."

"It's perfectly normal." Celestia assured her. "The ones we love are held closest to us, and are the hardest to let go of. But as long as you remember them, they are never truly gone." The princess began to depart for the clubhouse, not yet entirely convinced that the Changelings were to be redeemed so easily.

Along the way, she stopped, and summoned a scroll. With a flawless glow of her horn, words appeared on the parchment, words that she had been meaning to say, at least more often, for a long time. Nothing extravagant. With a flourish, the scroll was sent off.

Far away, in Canterlot, Princess Luna was awoken from her sleep by a flash of fire. A scroll unraveled.

I love you.
-Celly

Luna clutched the scroll tightly against her chest, and cried.

Comments

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Heartfelt. Very nice.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Discord_Lexia]

DEM FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS!!!