*Earlier Sweet Apple Acres*

Misty ran. That was all she could think to do. All her life all she ever did was run. She was very good at it. When Life comes knocking she always had an escape plan. After all, a good magician always has a plan. But this time there was no plan, her plan as far as she thought, was to run as far from all the fighting as she could.

She ran among the trees of Sweet Apple Acres trying to avoid everypony, unaware that she was being perused by Applejack. The orange pony followed her halfway through the farm fields before she came to a stop near a lake at the southern end of the property. The azure earth pony panted, resting her tired body on the warm grass at the edge of the lake. It was a small lake, only about a mile across.

From where she was there was a line of trees about fifty feet behind Misty, where Applejack stayed hidden from view, and across the lake was open fields of grass. On a small hill on the opposite end of the lake was a single tree. It was a large oak tree standing over fifty feet tall and cast a mighty shadow beneath it.

Misty settled into the grass basking in the warmth of the sun when she suddenly heard a noise from behind. She snapped her neck around to see her mates oldest daughter, Applejack, hiding among the tree line. She smiled at the young mare who gave a sheepish smile back.

"You're Applejack, correct?" Misty inquired.

The orange pony nodded silently.

Misty turned her head to face back at the lake. "Turnover talks about you often."

"She does?" Applejack asked sitting beside the older pony.

"Oh, yes she does." Misty replied, shifting her body to lay more to her side and face Applejack. "I had hoped to speak with you concerning my little Trixie."

The farm pony sighed looking down at the water. Her reflection was distorted and barely recognizable. Fitting, that's how ah feel. She thought.

"I was wondering if you could tell me about your encounters with my daughter."

"Well, it was a rough start. As you know she came here twice. The first time she came here was a while ago that lead to the whole ursa thing. Then about a week ago she came wielding the Alicorn Amulet. She was beaten again by mah friend Twilight." Applejack sighed pulling off her hat and setting it aside. "Ah thought that after that I'd never see her again. Boy how was ah wrong about that."

"So the next day ahm walking to the west field to begin the apple bucking season when Trixie and the mayor come into the house. That's when ah learned Trixie was working for the mayor as her assistant. Ah wasn't very fond of the idea of her being in town at the time. Now, ah'm glad she stayed. There's no telling how things might have turned out if she'd left."

Applejack's thoughts wandered onto Twilight and how she used the Alicorn Amulet to get to her. The influence the amulet had on her was so strong she acted on her base desire to be with Applejack. And she would had done anything to get to her, no matter what it took. If Trixie hadn't been there...

"Ahm just glad she stayed." Applejack said.

Misty could tell something weighed heavily on the young mares mind. They both did.

"What did my mother tell you about me?"

"Oh, I guess I forgot about that statement I said didn't I? So sorry dear."

"Ain't nothing wrong with it." Applejack replied.

"Well," The blue earth pony shifted her weight. "She says you're very loyal to family. Even at a young age you always held family in high regard." Misty looked at the orange pony with a sad look on her face. "I can see why you'd hate us."

Applejack looked up at her. She gave the older pony a curious look not understanding what she meant.

"Don't you hate ponies who believe in same sex relationships?"

"Not anymore." Applejack replied, looking ashamed.

Misty tilted her head scooting closer to the younger pony. "Why's that? If you don't mind me asking?"

Applejack thought over the events of the last week. She had done a lot of soul searching and found herself embracing the idea of being, a fillyfooler. No longer did she say the word in spite, or at all anymore. She changed drastically over the last day after being saved by Mary, and her mates.

"Heh, had yall come to me earlier this week I'd have beat you senseless." Applejack said with a laugh.

"Wow, just like my little, Trixie." Misty said jokingly.

Misty laughed rolling over accidentally. After recovering she sat upright as Applejack laughed at her falling over. The two shared a good long laugh, the stresses of the day long gone. When they managed to stop they both stared at the lake for a while neither saying a word. Misty thought about her favorite place in all the world a large lake near the base of Mt. Hooverest a few miles from Manehattan.

The spring frost would melt streaming down towards the rivers and into the lake. It was beautiful this time of the year. She wished she could take Trixie to see it, but it would be impossible since the young unicorn hated her.

Misty looked at Applejack gauging her silently.

"What do you think of my daughter?" Misty asked suddenly.

Applejack's mind came to a halt at the question. What did she think of the blue unicorn? Sure, they weren't exactly friends, but she hoped that they could both put the past aside and become friends. Someday. She thought about his for a long while, Misty sat patiently waiting, before long Applejack had her response.

"Ah think she's wonderful mare. She true to herself, selfless, and brave. If a little arrogant at times."

"You really think that way about her?" Misty asked.

"Ah do."

"Well, that's great to hear." Misty said excitedly clapping her hooves together. "I just wish I could get her to not hate me."

"Ahm sure she will once she cools her head off."

"I sure hope so." Misty looked away from the lake to watch the trees. "Well, I guess it could have been worse. You could have hated me too."

"Ah don't know you-" Applejack stopped mid sentence to really think about that.

She never gave it much thought, but she barely knew Trixie either. She just made assumptions after their initial meeting back when Trixie first came to Ponyville. When the unicorn boasted her magical prowess, being able to defeat an ursa major, she was reminded a lot of her rivalry with Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was always very arrogant and prideful.

Yet in spite of all that, Applejack still considered her a friend. She would always see her as a friend. Perhaps, she should have given Trixie a chance too. Instead all she did was try so hard to hate her for being different, when in reality , they weren't so different.

"Ah think, I like to be her friend." Applejack said softly. "She's... unique."

Misty chuckled at the statement, knowing exactly what the mare meant.

"That's true, my daughter is very unique." she said, standing up and stretching like a cat. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you hate me for what happened to your family?" she asked in a worried tone.

Applejack had to stop and think about that one. She wasn't sure if she hated her, but at the same time she didn't know her very well. She had expected to hate the mare that took her mother away. Yet, she didn't feel that much anger or hate for her. Sure she didn't like her for tearing her family apart, but at the same time she felt her mother was more to blame than anything.

After getting to know the mare, she couldn't bring herself to hate Misty. But if she didn't hate her then why was it so hard for her to like Trixie? Had she changed that much over the last few days? Did Trixie influence her in such a way that she no longer held any animosity for her or her own mother? It was all so confusing. She felt connected to the mare somehow.

Misty stretcher again, flexing her legs. "Well, let's get back. I bet the others are looking for us, and I want to speak to my daughter." Misty said helping Applejack up.

"Thanks." the orange pony said, wiping blades of grass off herself.

"Come on. Let's get back."

The two walked back to Misty's trailer to find Trixie asleep on the couch while Platinum and Turnover were gossiping at the dinner table. They were sitting side by side with a bowl of grapes eating as they chatted up like a couple of school fillies. Turnover stopped at the sound of the door opening. She craned her neck to look over the couch and saw Misty with Applejack.

She got up and ran over to the earth pony mare hugging and kissing her. Applejack and Platinum looked away embarrassed by the show of affection. While Misty got her scolding from Turnover for running off, again, Applejack knelt beside Trixie at the couch. Platinum decided to join her and pulled up a chair so they could both sit and not disturb Trixie.

"How is she? She's not hurt is she?" Applejack asked wondering why she was asleep.

Platinum giggled rolling her eyes. "No, she just fainted from learning about her sister."

Applejack did a double take. She never knew Trixie had a sister, at least she didn't recall that being brought up. When she was about to ask the silver unicorn to clarify what she meant, Trixie awoke with a loud groan.

"Ah! Trixie you're up!" the silvery unicorn cheered hugging her. She then looked over to Misty and Turnover, waving at them to get their attention. "Turnover! Trixie is up!"

The two older mares walked over sitting beside Applejack who was now between them and Platinum. Trixie shook her head, her vision was blurry as she awoke. Once her vision cleared, she realized she was surrounded by several ponies. She felt relieved to see Platinum. She reached for her mate and pulled her into a quick kiss before releasing her.

"Oh, Platinum I had a horrible nightmare!" Trixie cried out loud. "I dreamt that Turnover had married my mother and said, ‘Applejack was my sister in law’!"

All four of the other mares had different reactions. Misty frowned at Turnover who looked away with a bright blush, while Platinum giggled and Applejack turned pale.

"Trixie?" Misty leaned towards her.

"M-mother?"

"Turnover and I are married, so technically you are Applejack's sister in law." She finished her sentence with a smirk.

Trixie's eyes rolled up into her head as she fell back onto the couch and Applejack followed suit, falling off the chair and onto the floor. Turnover was having way too much fun with this, but it was nice to see the family getting along so well.