Applejack grunts as her hind legs hit the thick trunk of one of the farm’s oldest apple trees. With practiced ease, she leans back and raises a hoof in which she catches a falling apple. Around her, a dozen more apples fall into carefully placed baskets.
All except for one.
“Ah, horse apples.”
With a sigh, she trudges towards the fallen apple. Sure enough, as she brings it close to her face for a thorough examination, it becomes as clear as the bright, setting sun that it’s too bruised to be sold. Applejack takes a deep breath as she prepares to put the apple with her extra basket of not-good-enough-to-sells, but hesitates before she reaches it. In a manner wholly unlike her, she opts to instead simply toss the apple to the side.
With the back of her hoof, she wipes the sweat from her brow. A melancholic smile spreads across her face as she looks towards the setting sun. Slowly, her gaze shifts from the sun to the orchard before her, which remains only half bucked.
“Shoot, I don’t think I’m gonna get done in time.” She clicks her tongue as she taps one of her back hooves against the grass beneath her. “Ah, well. Not like I have anything going on tomorrow.”
With a deep breath, she lifts the assortment of baskets onto her back and begins to trot deeper into the orchard. As she continues on her way, she listens to the farm around her. Birds are chirping, the wind is blowing, and everything is calm and peaceful. Even here, at the biggest apple farm in Equestria, things are slow. Quiet. Melancholic. On an ordinary day, this wouldn’t be the case.
But then, today isn’t an ordinary day, is it?
Normally, the many sounds of everyday life in Ponyville would be bleeding into Sweet Apple Acres. Ponies chatting as they pass by, carriages and carts being wheeled around, general business being conducted like it is every day in the small town’s open-air market. Sure, it gets a bit quieter every now and again, but it never falls silent. It takes something truly special to make the town go completely quiet.
To that end, it seems that Princess Celestia’s funeral is special.
Applejack pops some of her joints as she approaches another tree. Just like with the first, she glances up at the leaves above her, deftly tosses her baskets beneath the tree’s branches, and bucks with practiced precision. About a dozen “thumps” ring out as the apples fall exactly where she had anticipated. She grins at the sight of a job well done. No matter how many times she does this, it never stops being satisfying.
She finds herself wiping the sweat from her brow yet again, wishing she had brought a bottle of water with her. Even though the sun isn’t at its apex, it’s still extremely hot right now. A breeze washes over her, causing more than a few leaves to go flying off the trees. It isn’t even close to autumn (it’s the middle of summer, in fact), but she isn’t particularly surprised by the sight.
She’s not sure why, but Applejack decides to change her course. Instead of picking up her numerous baskets of apples, she opts to take a seat on the grass below her. Hot though it may be, the setting sun is quite beautiful. She’d be remiss to not appreciate it before it goes away.
As she lets the breeze wash over her, the content smile on her face slowly begins to fade. She’s not even sure why she feels this way. Is it because she’s so used to the sounds of life coming from Ponyville that their absence makes her uncomfortable? Is it because she’s not going to get her bucking done in time for once?
No, of course not. Deep down, she knows exactly what’s on her mind. The morning was a very hectic one, and in the heat of the moment, she made a decision that she still doesn’t quite understand.
News of Celestia’s passing spread quickly. Everyone knew it was coming, of course. The poor mare has been comatose for weeks after contracting some kind of long-forgotten alicorn illness or something - Applejack didn’t really understand the specifics. Still, even though it shouldn’t have been a surprise, it doesn’t feel real. Celestia has been around for centuries moving the sun and, for a time, the moon, entirely on her own. She’s guided Equestria with a gentle hoof, acting as a constant reassuring force for ponies everywhere. She’s like everyone’s mom. Never in her entire life has Applejack met someone that didn’t love her like family.
It’s no wonder, then, that everyone, including her friends and family, decided to join the mass exodus to Canterlot. They wanted to be present for the princess’s funeral. If she had to guess, she’d say it’s probably happening right now.
Applejack lets out a long, drawn-out sigh. She didn’t go with them, obviously. Sure, she’s gonna miss the princess, but she wanted to get her work done. It didn’t matter if the funeral was today, a week from now, or even years down the line. Whenever it came, she’d still want to stay here. This is her home, after all. Though, she does wish that she wasn’t–
“Applejack!”
“H-huh?”
Applejack’s hat nearly falls off with how quickly she swivels her head. The sudden calling of her name caught her off guard. It takes a lot to make her jump, too. Perhaps she’s more on edge about all of this than she thought.
However, before she has time to think about that, she finds herself being knocked onto her back as a very forceful Apple Bloom throws herself at her big sister. Her arms wrap around Applejack’s neck, and she finds herself chuckling as she hugs the filly right back.
“Apple Bloom! What are you doing here?”
“We came back after we heard you weren’t coming!”
“We?”
Applejack sits upright, looking past her still-clingy sister. Sure enough, Granny Smith and Big Mac are walking across the orchard to approach her. Both have warm smiles on their faces, but they look a bit weary.
“Now, Applejack, if you didn’t wanna come, you shoulda just said something!” Granny beams at Applejack as she comes to a stop a few feet in front of her. “Woulda saved us a lot of trouble.”
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“We thought you got on the train with Twilight and the others this morning! That’s why we left in such a hurry,” Apple Bloom explains as she crawls out of Applejack’s lap.
“Wait, really?”
“Eeyup.” At a glance, Big Mac looks like his usual, quiet self. However, his family knows him better than that. He’s shaken today, and for good reason. “We were worried about you.”
“W-well, I was worried, too. I, uh… I didn’t think the chores would get done without y’all around to help me!”
“The chores?” Granny raises an eyebrow at Applejack before looking at the baskets scattered around her. Slowly, her expression goes from suspicious to understanding, then to somber. “R-right. The chores.”
“...”
“...”
‘...Y-you know,” Apple Bloom mumbles amongst the awkward silence, “I think Granny is gonna… miss Princess Celestia the most. She’s known her the longest, after all.”
“...Hehe. Well, ‘Princess Celestia’ and I do go way back. But I think the real tragedy here is that you young’uns won’t get to know her as long as I did.”
“Aw, Granny!”
Applejack stands before wrapping an arm around Granny Smith’s neck. Apple Bloom and Big Mac quickly follow suit, causing Granny to sigh. She’s never really been one for hugs, but she can’t stop the smile from spreading across her face as tears begin to well up in her eyes.
“Come on, don’t start gettin’ all sentimental on me. It’s gonna make this harder.”
“Still, I’m surprised y’all came back.”
“It wasn’t easy finding a train back,” Big Mac quietly responds as they all let go of Granny and make themselves comfortable on the grass below. “That’s why it took us all day.”
“Why didn’t you just attend the funeral with everyone else?”
“Because, silly, we’re a family! Our friends are nice, but we all agreed we wanted to spend it with our family - all of our family.”
“Aw, shucks. You’re gonna make me cry talking like that, Apple Bloom.”
“Eh, I wouldn’ta liked that funeral away.” Granny paws at the ground with one of her hooves, an old nervous habit she hasn’t shown in many years. “It was more like a party than anything. Not at all what you’d expect from a funeral.”
“Probably appropriate for this one, though,” Applejack sighs. “Er… how are my friends doin’?”
“About as well as you’d expect. Their families went with them, so everypony is together over there. I didn’t even know Canterlot could hold that many ponies. I wonder how many aren’t gonna make it before the princess officially kicks the bucket?”
“Hm. W-well, what about your friends?”
“Sweetie is with her family, and Scoots is with hers, too. Kinda got mixed feelings about her parents apparently being able to come back in such short notice, makes ya wonder why they never bothered to visit sooner, but she seemed happy anyway.”
“Hope you said goodbye before you left.”
“‘Course I did. We hugged… a lot. Even got one from Diamond Tiara.”
“Atta girl.”
The family slowly goes quiet, now unsure of what to say. Big Mac wipes the sweat from his brow as Applejack removes her hat and begins to fan herself with it. The silence is heavy, and you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. A breeze washes over them once more, now even stronger than it was before. Applejack’s hat is carried away by the wind, but for once, she doesn’t really mind.
Suddenly, there’s a flash of light. While none of them were looking directly at it, they know that it came from Canterlot. A few seconds later, a colossal boom rings out in the skies above them. The breeze turns into a veritable whirlwind, and Apple Bloom instinctively clings onto Applejack once more. She wraps an arm around her sister, only to find Granny doing the same to her. A moment later, Big Mac has enveloped all of them into one big group hug. Despite the wind, the heat only grows more and more intense. Their ears are filled with the sound of the roaring wind as they hold on tight.
Then, Applejack sniffles.
A tear falls from her face onto the grass below. A moment later, there’s a second sniffle. Then a third, and then a fourth. The Apple family stays completely still, their tears running freely and staining one another’s coats. The sky above them grows brighter, the air surrounding them grows hotter, and over the sound of the chaos unfolding around them, Applejack’s voice is barely audible to those she holds most dear.
“I love you.”
Whether or not anyone responds, she doesn’t know. What she does know is that right now, in this moment, she’s satisfied. Even as the sun grows brighter and brighter, she’s surrounded by the ponies she loves most in the place she loves most. Yes, she could have gone to Canterlot. She didn’t have to spend the day going through the same routine as always. And yet, even in the face of Princess Celestia’s funeral…
She’d rather stay here.