The following morning found Applejack pacing back and forth in the back of a supermarket in the town part of Elysium’s View. It was one of the places where in the past the three families would have sold their fruit in bulk to. That stopped a few months ago for obvious reasons. Still, the Pear twins, Sunshine, Big Hoof, and Maybelline all knew the store’s owner and they were able to set this up. According to them, their parents were all familiar with the supermarket and the ponies who ran it as well. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing for them to come out here on sudden business.
Wild Strawberry was already here with her and now the two of them were waiting for their cohorts to arrive with the special guests. Applejack had it all set up, it felt bad to trick them into coming like this but there was no way the three of them would get together willingly. So she was forced to be a little deceptive and hope things turned out for the best.
At least she could rely on the others to make sure Mr. Berries, Ol’ Honeycrisp, and Mother Pear Jam wouldn’t be allowed to immediately turn around and leave. Their kids would be pleading with them just like Applejack and Wild Strawberry.
“Stop pacing around so much, Applejack. I’m sure things will be fine,” Wild Strawberry said to her.
“I sure hope so,” Applejack mumbled and looked around.
On the table here in this backroom they had three bowls of fruit set up. One with strawberries, one with apples, and one with pears. They were the key to everything. Possibly the only fruit on all three farms that still tasted good and hadn’t suffered the “bitter curse” like the others. Applejack paced and paced as she continued to worry that she might not even get the others to give this a chance.
“They oughta be here any minute...” Applejack said.
The clock ended up ticking for five more minutes before Applejack was proven correct and the backdoor opened up.
Maybelline led Ol’ Honeycrisp into the building and the older mare was already making a fuss about something.
“Now I don’t see why-” the Apple matriarch stopped as she saw the table in front of her and Applejack and Wild Strawberry standing there. Her eyes immediately narrowed at Applejack in particular. “You. What are you doing here? Just what’s going on?”
“Mother, please hold on and-” before Maybelline could finish speaking the door leading in from the front of the supermarket opened up and the Pear twins came in with Mother Pear Jam. But nothing happened before the side door into the room opened up and Mr. Berries was led in by Sunshine and Big Hoof.
The three families were now facing off against each other, each startled by the other’s appearance and each confused by Applejack being there with her table of fruits. So far though Applejack was grateful things hadn’t simply erupted into a great big shouting match right from the start.
Applejack took a deep breath and smiled at the three heads’ in turn. “Glad y’all could make it. Would you mind coming up to the table and saying hi to one another?”
“What is this?” Mr. Berries angrily spat out instead—scowling at the Apple and Pear family members. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“You tricked us into coming here?!” Ol’ Honeycrisp turned on her daughter with a furious expression.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull but I want no part of any of it! I’m leaving!” Mother Pear Jam said.
“Me too!” Mr. Berries shouted.
“Me three!” Ol’ Honeycrisp shouted louder so as not to be outdone.
Together the three of them turned around and attempted to leave—but their children blocked them from doing so.
“Sorry Ma, but I can’t let you just walk out like this,” Maybelline shook her head.
“That’s right, dad, we brought you here to work things out,” Sunshine said while Big Hoof fully blocked Mr. Berries off.
“It’s true, Mother. We didn’t want to trick you but something has to be done,” Pear Pie said to Mother Pear Jam.
“Well aren’t you a bunch of neerdowells then,” Mother Pear Jam narrowed her eyes at her twin sons. “Consorting with Apples and Strawberries, lying to your own mother, you think you can do this as the heirs to the Pear farm!”
“That’s why they had to do it,” Applejack said over the arguing. “Cause otherwise there wouldn’t be a pear farm in the near future.”
“How dare you!” Mother Pear Jam yelled at her.
“She’s right!” Sunshine shouted from across the room, stepping out to join Applejack and Wild Strawberry by the table. “She’s right about all of this! It’s not just the Pear farm that will die, it’s the Apple farm and our Strawberry farm too! All of you know how bad things are and how they’re about to get worse and none of you know what to do about it! None of you have figured out a way to solve the bitter problem, all you’ve done is double-down and make threats and insults to each other when what we needed to do from the start was work together! Maybe if you had set aside your pride, your differences, and any petty little grudges, it never would’ve gotten so bad in the first place.”
“Listen to your kids!” Wild Strawberry said and hopped up onto the table so everypony could see her. “I came here as part of my journey to spread the love and joy of strawberries everywhere! And when I got here, I thought I found a place that already knew about that. But instead what I found was a bunch of ponies who had forgotten what it means to grow and raise something you love—and to see others eat it and smile. Not just strawberries, but apples and pears too. All three fruits that should be full of love and sweetness and make a pony’s day when they bite into one of em!”
“You should be looking to spread the love of apples, strawberries, and pears to other ponies. Not stewing in your own bitterness to your rivals,” Applejack said.
“Like you actually know anything!” Ol’ Honeycrisp rolled her eyes. “None of this is going to solve any problems, even if we did all come together for a big group hug then so what? All our fruit is still bitter and nopony knows why! Pears and Strawberries can’t figure out their own crops and we can’t figure out our apples!”
“And I refuse to acknowledge anything good about these two!” Mr. Berries said, gesturing to Ol’ Honeycrisp and Mother Pear Jam.
“And I refuse to even entertain the notion that apples or strawberries could be as good as pears,” Mother Pear Jam stuck up her nose.
Applejack sighed and momentarily squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing her face in exasperation. Once she was finished she sharply looked back at Ol’ Honeycrisp. “We do know a lot. But I think it’s something the three of you really need to experience for yourselves. Come up here to the table and have a bite to eat.”
“Bite to eat? Like I haven’t had enough bitter pears lately,” Mother Pear Jam snorted.
“You won’t be eating pears,” Applejack said to her.
Mother Pear Jam tilted her head in confusion for a moment before she fully grasped what Applejack meant and her eyes widened. “No! You don’t mean-”
“That’s right,” Applejack nodded. “You’re all going to be eating each other’s fruit.”
And unsurprisingly, that proclamation set off the loudest and angriest bout of arguing so far. Applejack, Wild Strawberry, and the various children all had to wince and try to calm the others down as they shouted—slinging insults at Applejack and each other. It was amazing how they were so set against simply tasting fruits other than their own, or maybe just these particular fruits. Even Applejack was surprised at how deep their hate went. Wild Strawberry meanwhile just sat on the table and rolled her eyes, fairly amused knowing that she was being far more mature than some of the adults here.
Finally, Applejack got tired of it all and she started to lightly stomp her hoof on the floor. Of course lightly for her was still fairly strong and it easily got the attention of the others and quieted them down. “Okay, okay, okay! Have y’all had enough? Cause none of you are leaving here until we settle this.”
“That’s right, mother,” Pear Cake said. “It’s not the end of the world if you eat a strawberry or an apple. Just do it. You all need to come to appreciate each other.”
“They’re going to be bitter and disgusting anyways...” Mr. Berries mumbled.
“Just eat them, dad,” Big Hoof sighed and pushed his father towards the table.
“Hmph… ridiculous,” Ol’ Honeycrisp said but was also forced up by Maybelline.
Now all ten of the ponies gathered around the table and the gathered fruit, the three older ponies grumbling and mumbling under their breath but not fighting against things anymore. Wild Strawberry proudly stood next to the bowls of fruit while Applejack gathered two pieces from each bowl and set them down in front of the specific ponies. A pear and a strawberry for Ol’ Honeycrisp, an apple and a pear for Mr. Berries, and a strawberry and an apple for Mother Pear Jam. The three of them stared down at the fruits given them with total derision.
“Choose whichever one you want and take a big bite,” Applejack said.
“The sooner you do the sooner you can leave,” Wild Strawberry said.
“Tch,” Mr. Berries clicked his tongue. “It seems like you kids really got us in a pickle.” He reached for the apple in front of him and held it up to his mouth. “Fine then, if this is how it has to be I’ll at least try an apple out of respect to you, Applejack.” He glanced at the two matriarchs, waiting for them to pick up a fruit as well so he wasn’t the only one doing this.
Ol’ Honeycrisp snorted but still grabbed the pear in front of her anyways while Mother Pear Jam’s lip curled and she picked up the strawberry in her hoof.
“If you’re all ready, you can eat now,” Applejack said.
The three heads of the farms gave each other one last dismissive glance before they bit into their chosen fruits.
Applejack and Wild Strawberry smiled as the others expectantly looked on at their parents. Possibly because they had been expecting something bitter, possibly because they had nothing but contempt for the other fruits and couldn’t believe they would taste good, but the reactions were even more intense than when their children had eaten their first sweet fruit in months. Mr. Berries, Ol’ Honeycrisp, and Mother Pear Jam seized up and gasped around the delicious fruit in their mouths—so overcome by the taste that they momentarily forgot to even chew. Each one of them wasn’t just tasting the simple sweetness of a fruit, they were basking in the love that had gone into making them. They were feeling how different they were from the fruit they grew. They were tasting the difference.
And they couldn’t believe how delicious the other fruits were.
Wordlessly, they went for the other fruit they were given and took a bite out of it too to see if things were the same. Judging by the gasps and the sublime reactions they had, they were.
Applejack breathed a sigh of relief and so did the others as they watched Mr. Berries, Ol’ Honeycrisp, and Mother Pear Jam eat up every last morsel of the fruits they had been given. Applejack was sure they would’ve liked to have eaten the inedible parts of the fruit if they could. It was like all three of them were having some sort of spiritual moment. What was the sweetness and love in those fruits doing to them? Applejack even noticed a sort of far off look in their eyes as if they were reliving some part of their life, remembering something happy in the past, reminded of it thanks to the delicious fruit.
“How...” Ol’ Honeycrisp whispered. “Where did you get these? And how do they taste so good?”
“I never thought an apple or strawberry could be so delicious…” Mother Pear Jam said.
“It’s like when my mother made strawberry jam for me… I’ve never had something so nice,” Mr. Berries said.
“They’re the product of love. Real, honest, love. And not poisoned by the bitterness the three of you have been spreading through your farms,” Applejack told them.
“They’re what you’ve always known how to grow—but you’ve just forgotten what’s important and let everything bad get to you. All those bitter feelings are what led to things going bad,” Wild Strawberry said.
“Which is why nopony could figure out what was wrong,” Sunshine said. “It wasn’t the soil or the fruit itself.”
“It was you and everypony else letting hatred fester, growing our fruit for the wrong reasons, never having a kind word to say to anypony,” Maybelline said.
“But we remembered the first thing you had taught us about farming,” Pear Pie said.
“We just needed Applejack to come and remind us,” Pear Cake said.
“That anything raised with love will be delicious,” Wild Strawberry smirked and puffed out her chest.
“I can’t believe we were so wrong...” Mr. Berries said. “Was it really our fault?”
“I never imagined it could be something like this, that it could be so simple, that we had lost our ways so much...” Mother Pear Jam said.
“This pear, this strawberry that I just ate. They were as good as any apple I’ve ever grown with my own hooves. I could taste the love that was put into them,” Ol’ Honeycrisp said. “What happened to us? I didn’t know that the way we felt… the way we acted to each other would do something like this. And it’s not just the taste—but I honestly never believed you put this much love into growing your strawberries and pears.”
“Me neither,” Mr. Berries shook his head.
“I wouldn’t have believed it either,” Mother Pear Jam said.
“Do you understand now? And maybe have a bit more appreciation for each other?” Applejack asked them.
The three farm heads looked across the table at one another, meanwhile Sunshine stood with Big Hoof and hugged her brother, while Maybelline brought a hoof up to her chest and smiled at her mother, and the Pear twins stepped forward to put a comforting hoof on their mother. Parents and children had come together closer than they had been in months. Apples, Strawberries, and Pears closer than they had been… maybe ever before in Elysium’s View. It was the beginning of something new, something beautiful, something that wouldn’t be bitter any longer.
“I… I think we’ve all been a bunch of right fools,” Mr. Berries said.
“If this is what’s been missing because of our feuding then we need to put a stop to it,” Mother Pear Jam said.
“That’s right,” Ol’ Honeycrisp nodded. “For our fruit, our farms, and our families.”
“Yeah!” Wild Strawberry shouted and started jumping up in joy right on the table.
Sunshine, Big Hoof, Maybelline, Pear Pie and Pear Cake, all sighed in relief and went in to hug their parents. There were smiles all around as the families finally reconciled completely.
And as for Applejack…
While she was proudly looking on at the happy affair, she both felt and heard something coming from her flank. Her jaw dropped and she looked down at it—seeing her Cutie Mark blinking and flashing—the tell-tale sign that a friendship problem had just been solved and the mission the Cutie Map had sent her on was completed. Joy burst up from within Applejack and she reared up on her hind legs, kicking at the air.
“YEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!!!”
“I’m really going to miss you again, Applejack,” Wild Strawberry said to her while they walked to the road leading out of Elysium’s View.
“I’m going to miss you too, sugarcube. But let me tell you something—you’re welcome to come by and visit Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville whenever you want. And I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again someday,” Applejack winked at her. “It’s a long trip from her but I’d say you’re pretty used to making long trips already, aren’t you?”
“Heh, yep!” Wild Strawberry smirked.
“I’ll treat you to some of my family’s apples and you can see how they taste.”
“That’s easy to say—I already know they’ll be the best apples ever.”
Applejack patted the filly’s head. “Just like I bet you grow the best strawberries ever.”
They had already passed by most of the actual buildings and Applejack could see the White Forest in the distance. Most of what was around them now was merely the great marble pillars and archways that Elysium’s View practically just used to show off to new visitors. Soon Applejack would be out of here and on the way home. Finally going back east instead of west. It had been an adventure, and though she had done some good deeds and made some new friends she was glad it was now over.
“How long do you think it’ll take before you get back home?” Wild Strawberry asked.
“Hopefully a lot less time than it took to get out here, but I’m not really sure,” Applejack answered.
“Well good luck. I just wish you weren’t leaving right now.”
“I know it was quick but I really do need to get home. Going out and doing stuff like this was never my calling. Or at least I never thought it was. Right now I miss my friends, my family, and my farm a whole bunch and I can’t wait to see them again.”
“I understand,” Wild Strawberry nodded. “I’ll make sure everypony back on the farms makes a toast to you at the party tonight—they’re gonna wish you stayed for that too.”
“Yeah…” Applejack rubbed the back of her neck. “Honestly I kind of needed to leave quickly or who knows what I’d get caught up in here. Might end up staying for days accidentally.”
The two of them reached the welcoming arch at the edge of Elysium’s View after a few more minutes of walking and for a moment they both stopped. Applejack taking a deep breath and looking ahead—thinking she’d probably be able to also make it out of the White Forest by the end of the day. It was then that she could consider her return trip to have begun.
“Guess this is goodbye,” Wild Strawberry said to her.
“Mhm. Maybe ‘see you later’ would be a bit more positive though,” Applejack said, looking down at the short filly affectionately.
Wild Strawberry smiled. “See you later then.”
Applejack nodded. “See you later.”
She turned to leave-
“Wait! Wait, hold on! Don’t go just yet!” A pony was loudly yelling from behind them.
Both Applejack and Wild Strawberry looked to see an unfamiliar stallion running down the street to catch up with them. He was wearing a blue and white uniform with a cap and carrying a large sack, that looked empty, with him. The stallion came running over to them at full speed before screeching to a halt. He had to rest and catch his breath for a moment before he could look up at Applejack.
“G-Glad… I c-caught you…” he panted. “Is your name Applejack?”
“Uh, yeah, it is. Why?” Applejack asked, fairly suspicious.
The stallion smiled and wiped some sweat from his brow, standing up straight. “Phew! I got lucky then I suppose. I’m a mailpony and I have a letter for you.”
“A letter for me? Can’t be,” Applejack shook her head. “Nopony would be sending me a letter out here.”
“I was really confused too,” the mailpony shrugged. “I was going through my deliveries like normal today and just when I thought I was done I look in my bag and I see this letter with a note on it saying to find you here. Look-” he reached his hoof into the bag and indeed pulled out a letter. “It has your name on it.”
Applejack took it from him, seeing her name embossed in black ink on the letter. She briefly looked over at Wild Strawberry but the filly only shrugged—just as lost as she was.
“Well, job’s done, you take care now!” The mailpony said and waved goodbye to the two of them, trotting away down the street without a care in the world.
“That’s kind of weird,” Wild Strawberry said.
“Weird seems to follow me around…” Applejack grumbled and opened up the letter. She was getting a bad feeling from this. Unexpected things never seemed to turn out well for her or her friends. And her luck especially always seemed to be comically bad.
Applejack took a deep breath and read the letter:
Dear Applejack,
If I’m right, you should be receiving this letter right as you’re about to leave Elysium’s View. And if that’s the case, sorry to suddenly spring this upon you but the world is ending in three days and you’re the only one who can stop it. Good luck.
-H.B.
Applejack sighed and looked to the east. “Why can’t anything ever be simple?”