A Cure For Tears, And a Bandage For Broken Hearts
The crisp autumn air came blowing lightly throughout the plantations known as Sweet Apple Acres. An elderly green earth pony with a pie for a cutiemark sat in a old, squeaky, wooden rocking chair inside of a white gazebo. The sweet aroma of apples traveled through the air above as a freshly baked pie sat on the open windowsill.
A small, orange filly came running onto the farm. Her freckle-covered cheeks were red, and tears poured down her face. Her eyes were squinted; she wanted to close them, but she needed to see. Her blonde hair was knotted and tangled, and a small whine came from her.
When the young pony realized who was sitting in the rocking chair, she leaped up and trotted as fast a she could towards the elderly pony. She climbed up into the mare's lap.
"Whut's wrong, sugarcube?" The green pony asked, with a slight country accent.
"Oh, Granny Smith! It was horrible! Jest horrible!" the filly replied, with the same way of speaking.
"Now Applejack, ya' need to calm down now. Slowly, tell me what happened to ya'."
"I... I was at school, a-and, I... I was laughed at." Applejack stuttered.
"Now then, why would anypony evah laugh at somepony as cute an' nice as ya'?"
"They... th-they said I have a dirty, messed-up face." The orange filly replied.
"Why did they say that?" The elderly pony was becoming frustrated with the dilemma.
"I have lotsa freckahs!" Applejack whined.
"Now now, Applejack. I'm sure they are jest jealous of your freckles, an' they tease ya' 'bout it so they don't feel as bad." Her granny tried to comfort her.
"No! Ah don't think so, granny. They said my face is diseased, and covered with sick spots, and that ah'm cursed." Applejack buried her face into her front hooves, beginning to sniffle.
"What a silly thang ta say! They're jest freckles. Applejack, now, don't let 'em bother you. Jest remember that you're special the way you are, and that nopony at all has the right to say you're not pretty."
"But ah'm not pretty!"
"Yes you are, sweetheart. Why don't you go help Big Mac with his chores out there in the field? He could use some pretty pony like you to help him."
"He's mah brother; he doesn't care. But ah guess I'll go... I need to work, anyways."
"That's the spirit, now!" The older pony said.
Applejack hopped down and wiped her face. She had quit crying, but her cheeks and eyes still had a light shade of pink covering them. As the filly walked into the field, somepony caught her eye.
"Why are you here?" She asked shyly, noticing a silhouette of a small pony in the distance behind her.
"Why are you here?" She repeated louder, realizing the pony couldn't hear her mumbling.
The pony stepped closer until he came into view. It was a young colt about Applejack's age. He was a light brown earth pony, with a darker brown mane and tail. He too did not yet have his cutiemark. His blue eyes looked at Applejack's face, and his facial expression turned from nervous to surprised. His jaw dropped, but no words came out.
"What? Are ya' here to make fun 'o me, too?" Applejack's green eyes began to tear up again.
"Wha- no." The colt said shyly.
"Then why'd ya look it me like that?" Applejack whined, not able to control her voice while crying.
"I- I was at school today. I saw you get teased..." He said, a little louder than before. He started rubbing his hoof into the ground. "I didn't tease you, though."
"So? Is that it? You came here to tell me you didn't tease me?" Applejack started to sniffle. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again. "I-I thank yer for not teasing me, but why'd you come all this way from the school to tell me that? It's not gonna make a difference. They already said I'm- I'm diseased... messed up... a-and... ah'm cursed!"
"I don't believe that." The colt spoke up. He began to walk over towards Applejack.
"Then what do you think? My face is hideous!" Applejack sat down, and closed her eyes as warm, salty tears ran down her red, freckly cheeks.
"Your face isn't hideous... it's rather... pretty. It just has angel kisses."
"A-angel kisses?"
"Yeah. Angel kisses... you've heard of that before, haven't you?" The colt sat down next to Applejack.
"No..."
"Well then, I think I should tell you. If you'd like to know, anyway."
"O-okay." Applejack sniffled.
"When a pony is born, it doesn't have any freckles at all. On one night, and only one night only, that a young pony sleeps, if it's super-duper special enough, it gets a visit. A pony-angel comes, and when it does, it kisses the pony. The kiss marks that are left turn into freckles."
"That's the most ridiculous thang I've ever heard of."
"I wasn't quite done. See, these 'pony-angels' aren't the kind of angels you're thinking of. Usually these angels are ponies that you've loved and that have passed on. They want you to remember them, so they leave freckles for you. Those freckles are angel kisses."
Applejack sniffled louder. Tears ran down her face at an accelerated speed unlike before, and her face turned completely pink, if not red.
"What's wrong? The story can't be that bad... can it?" The colt asked.
"I-it isn't that..."Applejack's quiet voice mumbled, "M-mah parents... died about a year ago..."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." The colt wrapped his hoof around Applejack's neck.
"R-right after mah lil' sister was born. B-b-but..."
"It's okay. Everything's going to be alright." The colt interrupted, trying to comfort her.
"Before then... I had no freckles."
The only thing that was heard was the wind, which was slightly blowing. There was complete silence. As Big Mac sneaked some of the pie that still sat on the windowsill, Granny Smith climbed the stairs to check on Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom, who was crying tremendously. The filly and colt couldn't hear it, though. They were out in a large field, far from the barn.
"I'm sorry." The colt said, breaking the silence around the two ponies.
"No, don't be. You didn't kill them, or tease me. What's there to be sorry about?" Applejack finally opened her eyes, and looked up onto the colt's face.
"I didn't mean to make you sad." He said quietly, now looking into Applejack's eyes.
"You didn't. When you told me the rest of the story, I had just remembered my ma and pa. But... I'm happy now." Applejack grinned a little bit.
"But how are you happy?" The colt became confused.
"Because now, m-my family... we're all together again. All thanks to you... uh, what's your name?"
"My name's Caramel."
"Oh, okay. I'm Applejack."
"Applejack... I like that name."
"Thanks... Caramel." This time, Applejack didn't blush from crying. No, she blushed from... Caramel?
"You're welco-" Caramel couldn't talk. He had been cut off by a sudden feeling both inside and out.
Looking down, he realized that Applejack had leaned over, and had began to hug him. His stomach filled with butterflies, and he too hugged her back. And no matter what anypony else said, Caramel believed that her freckles were beautiful. Then, he turned his head and kissed her cheek, because to Caramel, any kiss is a cure for tears, and a bandage for broken hearts.