The mid-morning of Sweet Apple Acres was busy, as it typically was. Especially for Applejack. With Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Midnight, Faerie Tail, Twinken, and even Thunderlane, Rumble, and Button Mash's help, Applebucking Season was coming along nicely, and it wouldn't be long before it was Apple Cider Season, what with Fall already halfway through. The Running of the Leaves wasn't that long ago (Midnight won again, to Applejack's irritation), but as Winter wasn't far off the Apple Family had to make sure everything was ready and they drummed up enough business to keep the farm afloat through the winter.

"Hoo-whee!" Applejack wiped the sweat from her brow as she loaded the last basket of apples onto the wagon, the boys and Faerie Tail stood by as the cowgirl declared, "Well, everypony, Ah do hereby declare Applebucking Season a success!"

Everypony cheered, stamped their hooves, but abruptly stopped when Applejack raised her hoof for their attention, at which point she added, "Ah'm mighty proud o' my fam'ly an' truly thankful t' our friends fer workin' hard an' in record time too! Which is why Ah invite y'all t' join us inside fer a nice hearty lunch courtesy o' Granny Smith."

"That's for me!" Midnight licked his lips.
"Can we have apple cinnamon pie too?" asked Twinken, with added pleas from Rumble and Button Mash.
"If we do, it's good we didn't ask Soarin to help out," Thunderlane cracked wise, "he'd have inhaled the whole pie himself!"

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed but then he said, "`Fraid Ah'm gonna hav' t' turn ya down, AJ.`Shy's expecting me home an' Ah don' wanna keep her waitin'."

"S'alright, big brother," Applejack waved it off, "go give tha' mare o' yors some "special" attention!"

The way Applejack bobbed her brows caused Macintosh to wince in slight embarrassment, and Faerie Tail gently scolded, "Applejack, there are foals present!"

"Wha' duz Applejack mean `bout 'special attention'?" Apple Bloom asked innocently as she and the colts looked up at Faerie Tail, who flabbergasted.

"Oh- Uh... Well, kids-" Faerie Tail stumbled on her words so Thunderlane came to the rescue.

"You'll find out when you're all older."

Ignoring the disappointed "aw"s, Big Mac phew'd in relief before saying, "Well, Ah hope Thunder gives you th' "special attention" you deserve, sis."

Applejack blushed and babbled nonsense at having been given a taste of her own medicine as Macintosh turned and left. Midnight sighed and said, "Enough with the banter, let's get inside and eat!"

Granny Smith's food was perfect no matter what mealtime. The Apples (minus Big Macintosh), their adoptive members, and their friends all chowed down heartily on vegetable soup, hot buttered rolls fresh from the oven, salad, apple juice, and apple muffins as a treat. Apple Bloom talked about some new Crusading ideas, some of which Applejack and Faerie Tail were quick to dissuade her from (some of which included free climbing, snake charming, and logrolling), Twinken talked about his study sessions in the Dream Realm with Princess Luna, Button Mash brought up a sleepover he was planning soon and hoped his fellow Crusaders would come, and Rumble brought up Hot Shot, who'd acted like a real jerk the other day at school.

"...and then he got dirt on my wings!" Rumble grumbled, "Cloudchaser and Flitter wouldn't leave me alone when they saw me! They spent hours preening my wings and making me take a bath and I even got soap in my eyes!"

"Well, it's only because they care, little brother," Thunderlane assured, "They love you enough to clean you up even if they might have went a tad overboard."

"Thunder's right, Rumble," Applejack agreed, "Cloudchaser an' Flitter wouldn' do tha' stuff if'n they din't care. Ah know Ah'd do th' same if Ah saw Apple Bloom all dirty an' upset cuz some bully was givin' her a hard time."

Faerie Tail smiled and looked to Rumble, "Those young mares are more than just your foalsitters, Rumble. They're like your big sisters."

Those words left Rumble in awe as he thought about Cloudchaser and Flitter with a little more consideration, when Faerie Tail added, "Family takes care of each other, no matter what."

"Amen to that!" "Darn tootin'!" "T' fam'ly an' friends!"

"TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!" Everypony raised their glasses in a toast to Apple Bloom's words, and resumed eating. For a few minutes, there was only the sounds of everypony eating and enjoying their food.

But then Granny Smith spoke up, "Applejack... it's gettin' real close t' that time o' th' year again."

Applejack paused for a moment and said nothing, so a curious Faerie Tail asked, "Is there some special occasion about to happen?"

"Uh-uh, uh-uh!" Midnight whispered to his mother while motioning a "cut it out" gesture with his hoof.

"Granny, every year you bring this up, an' every year Ah say th' same thing," Applejack responded in a rather cold way. She got up from the table and said, "Thanks fer th' lunch, but Ah gotta take th' apples int' town t' sell. Our Client'll be expectin'em real soon."

The others watched as Applejack left the house, and Faerie Tail felt her heart sink to see the sad looks on everypony's faces, especially Granny Smith and Apple Bloom.
"Should I have said nothing?"

"It ain't you, child," Granny Smith assured with a tone morose, "Next week is th' day Applejack's parents died. She ne'er really got past th' pain o' losin' them. Every year, Ah'd invite her an' her brother an' sister t' come wit' me an' visit their folks' graves. But Applejack... She jus' can't bring herself t' come along. One year, we argued real bad, an' she said t' me tha' wer' wastin' our time, tha' her folks `r gone, an' all we go is talk to a couple o' headstones with bones buried underneath `em."

"Oh my..." Faerie Tail felt her heart hurt, especially when she saw how sad Apple Bloom, Rumble, and Button Mash all looked. She got up and went over to give them all a motherly hug, before she asked Granny Smith, "So Applejack has a hurt heart that just never healed up."

"An' Ah fear it never will," Granny Smith sighed with a nod, "not unless she fin'lly accepts it for wha' it is, an' stop mournin' them sadly an' start missin'em fondly."

Applejack pulled the wagon of apples like a mare on a mission. Every year - Every year! - Granny Smith would bring this up and every year it stuck in Applejack's craw. She didn't understand why her grandmother kept insisting on salting this old wound. Her parents are dead, so what was the point of visiting their graves? Stare at a couple of headstones with their names on them, set above two skeletons buried six feet under? No thank you.

"Hey there! Applejack!"

Snapping out of her funk, Applejack looked up and saw her client, Ale Cask. A middle-aged pegasus who'd passed his prime, he had a caramel apple red coat, brown mane and eyes, and his cutie-mark was a barrel, representing his talent and self-employment as a brewer. He used to be one of the biggest and strongest stallions in town, until an accident in his early thirties damaged one of his wings. Now he couldn't fly like he used to, and the depression he fell into caused him to let himself go a little, evident by his rotund barrel. But his family finally helped him get back up on his hooves and he managed to make a name for himself in brewing booze. His recipes, which always included various kinds of fruit, made his booze popular and he managed to earn enough bits to open up his own brewery right here in Ponyville.

"Howdy-doo, Ale Cask," Applejack approached the brewer pony with a friendly smile, pushing all her troubles aside and pulling the wagon of apples she'd brought, "As you can prob'ly see, Ah got sumpin' for ya."

"Ya sure do, AJ," chuckled Ale Cask before he turned while saying, "C'mon, let's head into town. My wagon's parked an' ready to recieve all this fine produce, an' I'm mighty excited t' turn it all into some apple-flavored moonshine!"

"Lead th' way, partner," Applejack followed, and as they shot the breeze, Applejack fell back a bit, the weight of the wagon feeling a tad heavier all of a sudden.

"AJ? you feeling alright, cowgirl?" Ale Cask looked back in concern.

"Yeah, Ah'm fine, Ah jus-!!" Applejack felt her jaw drop when she saw Ale Cask was surrounded by... something! It was dark, and hazy,and in full light of the sunshine! She scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head before looking again.

It was gone, as though it were never there, surrounding Ale like flies. He gave her a worried look, "You alright, sugarcube? Yer lookin' spooked!"

"No, Ah... Ah think muh eyes're jus' playing tricks on me," Applejack sighed as she fanned herself with her hat, "Maybe Ah could do with a drink."

"Well, you've come to the right pony, AJ," Ale Cask smiled kindly, "After I've paid for those apples, let's have a drink on me to another good transaction."

"Sounds like a plan," Applejack agreed. But as she followed Ale, she just couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

The two walked towards his brewery, passing the steep ramp up to where the carts were loaded. The carts were loaded and moved down carefully, as one wrong move could spell disaster. Applejack turned to look at Ale Cask, only to see the same dark haze over him from before. She paused to rub her eyes, and looked again to see it was gone.

Noticing the look on her face, Ale Cask asked, "AJ, are you sure yer okay?"

“Y-Yeah, Ah'm... guess Ah din't get enough t' eat earlier,” she shrugged it off before clearing her throat and unhitching herself from her cart. “C'mon now, we got work t' do.”

Ale Casks nodded in agreement and turned to see something that instantly filled him with horror. One of the carts, which was being loaded, wasn't properly secured and was now running loose down the ramp.. right towards Applejack!

He didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, shoving Applejack out of harm's way, causing the earth pony mare to stumble and roll across the dirt road, right as she heard a loud THUMP. Groaning and looking up, Applejack looked and her blood froze to see Ale Cask laying on the ground, the wagon broken, and a large gash on his head, bleeding profusely.

"No...!" she whispered in abject horror, her body frozen in shock, her mind barely registering the shouts and cries around her.

For a moment, everything seemed frozen in time. But then she saw it again, the dark shroud that had been closing in on Ale... and from it emerged a tall hooded figure, standing even taller than Princess Celestia or Prince Sombra.

She saw a long gray horn, that looked worn and chipped in places, poking through the hood of the cloak, which was a gray so dark it was almost black, shadowy, with some kind of jeweled brooch fastening it at the shoulder, the jewel cloudy like quartz, and the hems of the cloak flowed along the ground never touching the dirt, so she could barely see the hooves of the figure. But then she also noticed the figure had wings! They were feathered but also looked dusty, colored a pale gray, and there was also a long mane flowing out the bottom of the hood, colored white like sun-bleached bone.

The figure gently touched Ale's corpse on the shoulder, and Applejack gasped to see a pale glow come from Ale's body... and then rise up, becoming a transparent figure of Ale Cask himself!

Then Applejack saw the figure look her way, and in the shadow of his hood she saw eyes a most pale blue, and she looked back at the see-through double of Ale Cask, and saw he was looking at her... and smiling in relief. Then, the hooded figure raised his wings and gently embraced Ale Cask's spirit, and both vanished, like smoke from blown-out candlelight!

Next Chapter: 303. The Pale One - Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 36 Hours, 40 Minutes