Big Macintosh, Applejack and Applebloom all stood around the hospital bed at Ponyville Emergency looking down on a bed-ridden Granny Smith. Caramel paced outside of the room, watching Nurse Redheart working over the counter where the data on Granny Smith was compiled.

Frantic would be the most mildest of descriptions for Caramel’s current state of mind as he paced in a tight small circle. His heart hadn’t left his neck since the incident in the barn. First and foremost on his mind was the constant fear that something bad had happened to Granny Smith and that she may not be able to recover from it (she was an old pony). However, beyond that, was the constant nagging fear that they had been discovered; there would be no hiding their relationship now. A part of Caramel was shaking non-stop like a new foal at the fear of everything that was going on, and his fears did not dissipate when Toffee and Grandpa Jonagold came galloping into sight.

“We heard all about it from Twilight!” Toffee said coming to a clattering stop next to Caramel; her hoofs scraping against the marble floor viciously.

Jonagold however, ran right past his Grandson and got into the room as fast as possible. It was only a moment or two later when Big Macintosh and his siblings left the room to leave the two Elderly Ponies alone.

None of them wanted to meet eyes, and Applebloom was too young to fully understand what was going on. Applejack was busy looking at the ligthing, her hoof dragging along the marble floor absently, while Toffee had sat down in the waiting section and was flipping through a magazine that was up-side down. Leaving Big Macintosh and Caramel standing alone awkwardly in front of the door to Granny Smith’s room.

The tension in the air had achieved a level beyond palpable, it felt like it was ready to choke the very air from the room. They both felt terrible that Granny Smith had ended up in the hospital, they both felt guilty and shamed, and above that they felt the urge to be nearer to each other then ever before. And the swirling emotions were beginning to get too much for the two stallions standing silently in the hallway until Jonagold (followed by a tired looking Nurse Redheart) exited the near-by room.

Big Mac looked at his Great Uncle questioningly, not needing to voice any of his worries. Jonagold wouldn’t leave the poor stallion without an answer.

“Rest easy Macintosh, they say she’ll be fine.” Jonagold said in his weariest of old stallion voices. “They say that the shock wasn’t the big problem but the fall put out her bad hip.” Caramel winced as his Grandfather explained the injuries that Granny Smith had suffered due to his actions.

Caramel was not a pony built to hoofle guilt.

“She should be all healed up in time for the Zapapple harvest.” the old stallion said taking a look back into the room where his sister lay. “You two on the other hand may take a lot longer to recover when I’m done with you.” he said pointedly to Caramel and Macintosh; his eyes sharp, even with their golden hue faded.

Caramel looked down unable to meet his Grandfather’s eyes, terrified with what he may see in them. Anger, shame, disgrace... disappointment. Jonagold had always been the driving factor in Caramel’s life, without a father or mother of his own he had tried so hard to be the best he could and screwed up his hardest. Disappointing Jonagold always hurt Caramel the most, and he just couldn’t bring himself to look this time; keeping his eyes trained on Big Mac’s hooves.

Caramel released a whiny from his throat when his Grandfather’s hoof cuffed him behind the head and started to drag him out of the hospital. “You too Macintosh!” he bellowed back, Caramel just closed his eyes tighter hoping that it was all just a bad dream.

XXXXXXX

Caramel sat in the kitchen of his home, what he hoped would remain his farm when Jonagold was done with him, scared of being removed from the family. Big Macintosh was sitting opposite of his colt-friend keeping his eyes down, deep in thought. If there was something that any Apply pony knew it was that when Big Macintosh had that look on his face then leaving him alone was the best idea.

Jonagold was busying himself heating up some hot apple cider not looking at either of the stallion’s occupying his kitchen. Caramel swallowed hard watching his Grandfather’s back as he worked, listening to the occasional sigh of exhaustion, the sign of inner fatigue. “Caramel...Caramel... Caramel!” Jonagold sighed shaking his head with each word a hoof going up to rub the old earth pony’s forehead before bringing the drinks over on a platter wedged between his teeth; sitting down upon the head chair and looking out at the two Apple stallions. Jona sat there looking at the hot cider for a long moment before pushing two cups out to the Stallions with another deep sigh.

“You’re not going to make this easy on me are you, Mel?” he asked; a rhetorical question if Caramel ever heard one. If there was one thing that the young stallion had learned over the years was that his grandfather was a master of words. He was very much like a mayor or governor, some politician with pretty words and a kind message that could make you believe almost anything he wanted. Caramel thought it best not to answer and took a sip from his cider, wincing as the bitter drink bit at his throat. Jonagold sure brewed it rougher then any other cider Caramel had ever tasted before. The cider would speak volumes for the pony in question.

“It wasn’t something we planned...” Caramel whispered into the cup not looking to either Macintosh or his Grandfather. “Macintosh and I...” he tried to vocalize, to make words out of the confusion in his mind, but Caramel was not a speaker like his Grandfather.

“Hush, Mel.” Jonagold ordered, cutting the younger pony off immediately. Leaning back in his chair looking at the pair of them. “You two know the elders will need to be called in on this... my brother and sisters will not be happy.” Jona sighed thinking of their reactions, fearing it; a thick sense of deja vu haunting him at the moment. “I don’t know how they’ll take this Caramel...I really don’t.” he whispered into his cider more than to anypony in the room. Big Macintosh looked up at him for a long moment.

“The worst?” his resounding baritone echoed off the windows and shook the plates. Macintosh always had a way of cutting through the thick of things and getting right to what he wanted.

“They remove you both from the family and attempt to force you off the farms.” Jonagold said with a shrug. Still lost in the world of his cider.

The silence weighed heavily on their shoulders as much as a hard day of working in the sun; it felt like a physical enemy holding the three of them back, choking the life from their bodies. It was almost too much to bare for Caramel when he felt a weight press against his leg beneath the table. It was Macintosh’s hoof. Caramel could feel that all too familiar warmth spreading from his leg up over his body; it had a healing effect like none other. In that one moment Caramel had almost no fears, almost no worries. Macintosh would love him no matter what the elders said and no matter what the ultimate decision was. They had each other.

They always would. Jonagold gave an awkward cough and broke the beige stallion’s concentration; causing Caramel to wonder just how he must have looked in that one moment of relaxed nirvana.

“I’m going to go to bed.” the elderly stallion said with a defeated shake of his head and a sigh of exhaustion. “I suggest you two do the same... they’ll be here in a few days.” He moved from the table, pounding back the rest of his cider like a champ and placing the cup gently in the sink before walking out of the door way.

It was just as Caramel was about to suggest that he and Macintosh follow suit that his Grandfather’s voice cut out harshly. “Your own beds!”

Caramel was flushing furiously at the comment which caused Macintosh to release a deep chuckle, it always amused the big stallion how embarrassed his cousin could become. Macintosh moved slowly, the cider weighing him down slightly making him feel bloated. Passing Caramel he lifted his hoof and ran it gently through that familiar beige mane. The warming sensation was mutual, it spread through both of them through a connection that neither of them could explain.

It was in those moments of released love that brought so much peace to the two stallions whose lives were being tossed upside down.

XXXXXXX

Jonagold sat in the town square of Ponyville on a bench which was often used by the elderly to feed the pigeons and offer carrots to the local bunnies to persuade them from attacking the flowers and vegetables used in the shops. The old stallion looked like any other weathered apple family member to the mare’s and foals running by in the early morning bustle. They would nod there head, wave a hoof, or give a polite “Good Morning!” and go about their day. None of them really seeing the man sitting on the bench, the pain he was in, nor did they see the resolve he was building.

The tell-tale sound of her arrival echoed the streets long before Granny Smith came into sight; Jonagold wincing at the sounds her hingy hip was making with every move.

“Morning Maria...” Jonagold called to his sister; whom fresh from the hospital plopped down beside her older brother.

“Good Mornin’ Jona!” Granny Smith practically yelled, stretching out her words comically. Age had hit her hard, but Jonagold was a patient stallion.

“Feeling better sis?”

“Right as a bit of applesauce rain!” she crowed happily giving her limbs a rickety shake that was supposed to reflect sturdiness. It caused only further worry.

“And the boy?” he asked keeping an eye on Maria when she wasn’t focusing on him, it was one of the few things that talking about seemed to pull Maria out of her stupor; her family.

“Macintosh is a good boy Jona... he’ll get through this somehow.” she was suddenly very somber, this felt almost all too familiar to Maria and she was almost sure that it would be much worse on Jonagold. “And he’ll have Caramel either way... those two will make it. With or without the backing of the Apple Family.” she said with a stretch of her neck softly. “Feels similar though doesn’t it.” the nostalgia in her tone spoke wonders for the two parts of this conversation.

Jona looked at his sister for a full moment. “When did you notice?” he asked quietly, it wasn’t something he had ever talked about it in his long, and tiring life. Even now with his sister it hurt the old pony to the core to think of that past.

Maria smiled and looked at the birds in a nearby tree which dotted a small park in the center of the town, eyes lost on them. “Probably shortly before you did...”

“And the others?” he asked roughly, choking on his voice.

Granny Smith shook her old head slowly. “I don’t think they ever clued in.” she said with a defeated sigh. Looking to her brother first time fully since their conversation, there was a deep sadness in his once golden eyes. “We’ll cross that bridge tomorrow after the hearing... You’re going to tell them everything aren’t you Jona...?”

“Yes, Maria.” the old stallion said after what felt like an eternity of silence. “I’m going to tell them everything.”

XXXXXXXXX

Macintosh and Caramel stood in the Smith family barn at Sweet Apple Acres, having just met individually with the three elders who had arrived earlier: the eldest Akane Apple with his weathered old coat of red and a apple third resting on his flank; mane of flaxen gold turned to muddy blond, Sansa Apple an elderly mare with a coat of dulled mud and a hair of burning red who’s bitten apple reflected her talent as the best pie maker in the family, and lastly Maggy Bonum with her red speckled blond coat and a tarnished apple bearing a crown on her flank; the oldest of the Apple family siblings.

They both looked shaken up as the three elders sat behind the makeshift wall and podium that was thrown together for their visit. Incest was a serious offence within the apple family, they knew first hand the problems that could come of inbreeding and worse the loss of public appeal. The fact that Caramel and Big Mac were both stallions and could not produce offspring would not work in their favour at all, Colt-cuddling was not something that was too publicly accepted, especially in the more rural areas of Ponyville or Dodge.

Granny Smith and Jonagold stood by the barn doors keeping an eye on their two grandchildren, worried for them. Applejack was up on a stack of hay keeping an eye on them as well, nervous as to how this would go in regards to her own ultimate fate.

Caramel was absolutely beside himself as the hours ticked by waiting for the decision of the elders, he couldn’t stop himself from shaking and jumping at any little sound that happened to occur. Macintosh on the other hand sat in stoic quiet, though the ponies in the room were sure his mind was a tumulus mess.

It felt like time had decided to take leave for the “day” and leave the ponies to the agonizing pain of the wait. The air seemed to stop moving and the clouds hung static in the sky, casting the room in menacing shadows ( which caused Caramel to shake and shiver all the more). It was a dawning moment for all of them, this long silence, for it could determine if certain ponies would remain as members of the Apple family.

When the back of the barn opened Caramel practically jumped out of his skeleton. They came in one at a time and moved to the podium before the others gathered bellow. The sun had past its zenith by now and the sky was beginning to dim, casting all three of them in a natural shadow.

Akane cleared his throat and all the ears in the room perked up to listen to what the head elder had to say.

“Now we have discussed this over long... and hard.” he began; the voice touched by years beyond either Jonagold and Maria. “And the three of us have communally decided to have both Big Macintosh’s and Caramel’s names cut from the family tree, and removed immediately from their farms.”

Caramel fell onto his haunches and it looked for all his worth that his soul had completely left him, Macintosh was as unmoving as ever, the two grandparents seemed unsurprised by the answer and Applejack looked more than a little worried.

“A relationship between family members is strictly forbidden. Beyond that the two of you getting together blocks any chance of a direct heir bring born to the land you once held to your name. Sweet Apple Acres will fall to Applejack and Candy Apple Grove will fall to Toffee.” He said looking out at the two stallions. He opened his mouth again to give them a what could possibly be the sternest and most intense chewing out that old Akane had ever given in his life.

It was at that moment that Jonagold spoke up.

“If the primary factor of expelling Macintosh from the family tree is that he chose to mate with another Apple Family member then I object.

“On what grounds?” Sansa said leaning to get a better look at her younger brother.

“Caramel Apple is in no way related to the Apple Family.” He said, plain as day. In a tone of complete common place.

The still comatose Caramel turned his head towards his grandfather and his soft voice spoke a word benign to his own command. “What...?”

“My Son, Toffee’s Father, died just short of a year before Candy was impregnated with Caramel...” Jonagold said ignoring Caramel and staring right at Akane.

“And you never thought to mention this before?” the eldest sibling growled, his ancient voice on the edge of blind chagrin.

“I loved my Son.” Jonagold said with that fatherly tone of his which made anypony quiet down and listen up. “I lost him once, and I got him back. Then he was taken from me a second time. I swore I’d look after Candy and Toffee after Caramel passed away... But Candy took my son’s death hard, there was a long time when she was gone and I was alone with Toffee. She came back and she was pregnant and scared. The poor girl had been lost for so long, and I figured that my Son, MY BOY” he raised his voice, the elder-pony getting lost in his memories, “would want me to take care of his wife no matter what. I figured none of you would have paid enough attention to the dates to notice the inconsistency and I was right... And then Caramel was born... MY Caramel.” he said softly looking down.

“So all this time...” Caramel said, feeling completely lost; he had no idea who he was.

“All this time you’ve been my grandson!” Jonagold barked looking at Caramel. “Mel, I lost my son when he was young. He fell in love with a city girl and I refused to accept her as an Apple and removed him from my farm. Years later my little brother talked to me and showed me how wrong I was Mel... and I took my son and his wife into my life with open arms. It was hard, and short. He was taken from me shortly and then I was left with Candy and Toffee... then you! You were born Caramel...” Jonagold said his voice raising and falling almost wildly, Maria kept her eye on her older brother worried for his health. “You looked so much like my son! My Mel... I had felt like Celestia was giving me a second chance with my boy. I had you Caramel! And I loved you like my son, like I never did with my boy. You have been and always will be my boy Caramel.” Jonagold was staring at him with all his seriousness.

“Well even if this is so...” Sansa began dragging the focus back to the elder three. “ these two are still both Stallions and this relationship can not be tolerated. Even if we choose to keep Macintosh on the tree he will be unable to hold land within the Family and will need to vacate Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Now hold up one bucking-minute.” Jonagold said turning on his older siblings moving up towards the podium, making his sisters withdrawal a step. “I have a bone to pick with all of you and this issue of “Colt-Cuddling”.”

Akane took a deep swallow and stared down his younger brother. “Proceed then, Jona.”

“I had to sit by and watch my younger brother die alone and cold because of ponies like you. Ponies who’d judge and punish a pony like Macintosh and my Mel... and my little brother.” He was staring into their confused faces and felt a bit of his rage deflate. “Did you really never see it? How he would look at a handsome stallion the same way you and I would look at a handsome mare...? Akane, did you really never see him sigh when he saw the Stallions pairing up and making families when he was being left behind by his Family. The one group of people in this world that was supposed to look out for him, take care of him... and we enforced onto him a life of solidarity... I had to watch my brother live a life of silent pain out of fear of your reactions, and Celestia bless their souls, out parents. I loved my brother, and I loved him in everyway. It wouldn’t have bothered me for him to come out to the family but I knew, and he knew that none of you would be able to deal with it.”

There was a long pause between the Apple Family members until Sansa spoke softly. “Maria... did you know...?”

“Ahhhh I had my ideas, turns out they were right.”

There was silence between all the elders, it was then that, for the first time Maggy Bonum spoke. “You can’t expect us to be so accepting, we are still living in the old ways Jonagold... Even if we as a family agree to allow this relationship to continue we can not allow them to continue living on the farms and owning Apple Land.” her voice was one of the deepest baritones that anypony in the room had ever heard.

“Sweet Apple Acres is my farm, actually.” Granny Smith said moving forward. “And who I choose to live there is mine, no matter your verdict.”

“Same for my farm, taken from the family or not that is the land I settled myself.” Jonagold said. There was silence between them all as they looked into each other’s eyes. The challenge had been delivered and accepted.

“We’ll take the night and make our final decision.” Akane said stepping back first leaving the other Apple Family members to their own Machinations; the elders choosing to stay at a local bead and breakfast for their visit.

Caramel, for this entire time, had remained immobile staring at the spot where Jonagold had told him that his entire life was a lie. He felt in this time, this space that he was cut off completely, that not even Macintosh’s warm touch could pull him back. If he wasn’t an Apple pony then what was he... who was he....who would he become.

His soft voice broke the awkward silence with it’s gentle tones. “It’s all been a lie then...?”

A hoof was on his shoulder then and there was none of the comforting warmth that usually flowed into him. His eyes moved lazily to view the limb, it was a dull blond color instead of the usual brilliant red... Jonagold...

“Caramel, do you know why you have that cutie mark...” Jonagold asked him, his voice quiet and resonating. “You have that cutie-mark because my Son, Caramel had the same cutie mark and because.... because my younger brother... who took in my Son when I turned him away had that mark... his name was Caramel too did you know that? Caramel that mark has been passed down through three generations of apples, your real father be damned Caramel. You are an Apple pony, you always have been and always will be Mel... I promise.” Jonagold whispered as he wrapped a fore-hoof around his grandson’s neck, then another limb did.

It was Macintosh’s. From this limb flowed the almost magical warmth that always seemed to follow the quiet stallion wherever he went. His deep voice resonated with the words he must have been plotting to say all day.

“Caramel. I love you.”