Title: The Seventh Element
Rating: T
Chapter: Chapter 15 Granny’s past and requited feelings
AN: Alright! A new chapter! I hope you guys liked last time! THE PLOT THICKENS!! Anyway, these next two chapters will be all about Sweet Apple Acres and NO PONY ELSE. These characters need to go through some hard time and good time. LET’S GET THIS BITCH GOING!!
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Rarity had forgotten what it was like to have dinner with the Apple Family. Even though she kept true to always coming over every weekend, she never stayed long as she grew older.

But now, she wondered why she had never stayed all those years anymore. The table was alive with chatter, insults, stories, and laughter as dinner had gone through. Big Mac had actually participated in the chatter, even sharing a few stories of humorous moments he had seen. Rarity felt at peace, just being with the Apple family. Just sitting next to Big Mac.

After dinner, Apple Jack washed the dishes with Beau drying them.

“Beau? What do y’all think about Rarity?”

Beau shrugged as he dried the glass in his hand, “she’s alright. Def’nately not a country mare.” Apple Jack chuckled in agreement. “What’s with you two? Y’all kept starin’ at ‘er like she was gonn’ sprout a new head!” He laughed as he placed the glass in the cabinet.

Apple Jack blushed, “well… Ah really took a liking to ‘er.” Beau was clueless and it showed on his face. “Beau… I’ve liked her a lot since we was in kindergarten…”

Beau’s face was still clueless.

“Ne’ermind.”

Beau just shrugged as he dried the plate Apple Jack had handed to him. Beau smirked on the inside; he knew exactly what she meant. He just didn’t want to get involved.

Smart move.

Later…

Granny Smith was sitting on the swinging seat in the back porch. She was wrapped in a thick wool blanket with apple shaped patches. She watched the darkness that was spread out on the orchard, and the high moon that hung with the sprinkled out stars in the night sky. Her breath was frozen in the February air.

Rarity knocked on the open backdoor, which startled Granny Smith out of her trance. She saw it was just Rarity, so she calmed down. “Sugar cube, I have lived a long and wonderful life.”

Rarity smiled and nodded, she sat herself on the swinging seat next to Granny Smith. “Child, I have to tell you. I have to tell somepony my life.” Rarity shook her head.

“Granny Smith, shouldn’t you be telling this to somepony else? I don’t think I’m right for the task. Besides, why do you suddenly need to tell this to somepony?” Granny Smith just smiled at Rarity. She clamped a hand on Rarity’s shoulder and just stared at her. “Granny Smith… I think this should be shared with somepony in the apple family, like Apple Jack or Big Mac…” Granny Smith just stared at her with a far off gaze with misty eyes.

She didn’t know why, but she just leaned back into the swinging seat they sat on. “Trust me sugar cube. You’ll understand.” Rarity stayed still, then slowly nodded.

Granny Smith then turned back to the open darkness before them, “surely you know the tale of how Ponyville was made?” Rarity nodded, “good. Then we can start from there.” Granny Smith smiled to herself, “…well, after me and my family made a fortune on the zap apples, you can imagine we had no idea what to use it on. We had to come up with a check list of things we needed to spruce up our farm. Well, pa had made the list and asked me to go into town and drop it off to the local carpenter. Well, by this time, we had been living there on the farm for a few years already, so I had gotten a bit older by then. Anyway, as I was walking to the carpenters shop, I heard a grunt. I stopped and checked to see what had happened, and there he was. There was Maccy Boy’s grandpa, Earliblaze Apple.”

“I had helped him up, and mind you, he was much older than me, so he was much heavier and taller. So I asked what happened, he told me that he had been travelling a long time from his original town, far off in the west. Well, I felt so bad for the poor thing so I quickly dropped off the list and went back for him. I led him to my home and had my family help him. Well, us Smiths weren’t that fond of strange ponies with no backgroun’s, but I wouldn’t stand for it!” Granny Smith stomped a foot onto the porch, “I darn tootin’ made my family help him! And they did. We fed him, clothed him properly, and made him feel welcome.”

“Though, my family was still wary of him, especially when I was alone with him, what with him being a much older pony than I was. But really, I didn’t care. I enjoyed talking with him and taking care of him, to me, it felt like it was right. It felt right to learn about him and have him learn about me. I learned he was actually part of a long line of apple orchard farmers, with a huge family and all. I had asked him why he didn’t just move in with his family, and why he was traveling all by himself. You know what he said?” Rarity made a sound for her to go on, “he told me, ‘Gabby, I have done many bad things. I don’t think my family will ever forgive me for what I had done.’”

“Why, I was just shocked at what he had to say. My young little mind didn’t understand, what could he have done to be in such a predicament? Well, I was determined to figure it out and accept him as he was. I told him that, but he just shook his head saying, ‘Gabby, you got a lot of learnin’ to do about life. There are some things which cannot, no matter what, be forgiven.’”

“Well, that didn’t deter me at all, no siree! I just tried harder to learn more. Heck, even just being his friend would have been enough for me. Well, at the time, I didn’t know that what I felt for this older pony Stallion was the first stages of love.”

“Love? For an older pony?” Rarity asked exasperated. Granny Smith just nodded, “you chose to love him, even though society wouldn’t like it?”

“Yes. We were going through a civil revolution. Celestia was remaking laws and raising ages for certain activities, like how old you have to be to marry, or how old you have to be to get a job, or how long you have to go to school for and so on. Heck, it got so bad that the town’s ponies were wary of our farm, they kept thinking such vulgar things about the fact that there was an older pony in our home, and that I was the only filly in the house along with my ma.”

“I thought you had a sister?”

Granny smiled, “mah sister had long since moved out of the house and into Canterlot to start her own business. Mah brother had done the same in another town away from Ponyville. Ah was the only one left on the farm with ma and pa.” Granny’s smile faded, “it got so bad that some ponies didn’t come to the farm for our yearly zap apple jam.”

Rarity scoffed, “all this fuss for a rumor?”

Granny nodded, “well, back then, ponies were the biggest gossip hounds, espesh’lly with our limited com-mu-ni-ca-tions. So ponies usually believed other ponies who even had a whiff of truth in em!” Granny just shook her head, “well, the stress that they cause really took a toll on us, and really impacted on our crops. That year was one of the worst crop seasons we had, only one other season was worse than that one. Ma had gotten sick, what with all the dis-trust all over the town, it made her heart sick. She couldn’t take knowing the town thought of her family as such terrible ponies with dark secrets behind closed doors.”

“We tried to nurse Ma back to health, but she just didn’t want to get better, even when a doctor came all the way from Canterlot to see her. She just didn’t get better at all.” Granny’s lips tightened as her eyes became blurry from the oncoming tears, “well, Earl saw how our family was suffering, and he felt responsible for it. Earl thought he should leave, so the rumors could stop, and our crops would get better, and so would my ma.”

“I remember that day so clearly. I was bringing in Earl’s breakfast, since we made him get up before dawn like us, and I saw that the bed was unmade and the closet didn’t have any clothes in it. Why, I dashed outside, and ran as fast as I could to the gates. And at the gates, I saw him on the hill, just walking towards the horizon with a sack on his back. Ah couldn’t bear the thought of him leaving, so I galloped as fast as I could to him and got in his way…”

Earl stopped in his tracks, Gabby had blocked his path with her small lithe body. “Gabby, y’all just get out of mah why, ya hear?”

She shook her head, whipping her long bright yellow braids from side to side, “where are you goin’ at this time a’ day? And why do y’all have yer bag with ya?”

Earl just straightened, leering down at her from his monstrous form, “ain’t ya got any sense? Ah’m leaving!!” That was the first time Earl ever raised his voice like that. Gabby stood there, shocked at how loud his voice had become. Earl just scowled, “just git! Ah’m leaving and that's final!” He walked around Gabby, and continued to trot towards the horizon.

Gabby had awoke from her trance, noticing that Earl wasn’t there anymore. The words had registered in her mind, and images of him flashed through her mind. If he left, she wouldn’t get to see those rare smiles of his, she wouldn’t get to have the pleasure of bringing him his breakfast in the morning… She wouldn’t be able to bear the pain that would come with him leaving. As this thought entered her mind, her body reacted on pure instinct. She whirled around and galloped to him, running into him and nuzzling his neck.

“What in the hay!?” Earl practically shrieked in surprise. He raised a hoof and gently tried nudging Gabby off of him, but he soon saw that it was no use. He stood there, with his long red mane billowing in the wind, his amber eyes half closed as they blurred with memories. He could practically feel the blush color his golden coat as he felt Gabby nuzzling his neck. His body stood wooden, as his mind drifted to the memories of his family. Of his beautiful wife and children. Then his mind drifted to the screams of agony as the thundering sounds of wild hooves crashed the earth and onto his family.

The tears fell from his face. It had been so long ago, since the day he lost everything. It had been so long ago that he promised to never forget his family. It had been so long ago…

That he promised to never love another and suffer the same pain twice.

His eyes shot open as the revelation struck him. Why, he loved this filly. He loved this sweet, caring, overly generous, hard-working filly! Without him even knowing, he had fall head over hooves for her!

For a filly.

He backed away from Gabby abruptly. His eyes wide with horror. “Earl? What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?”

Earl just shook his head. “No Gabby, you ain’t done nothin’ wrong. Ah’m the one who did wrong.” He broke down into the only time he ever bawled like a foal. Gabby rushed to him, but he pushed her away, “please Gabby! Don’t!”

She stood there, but kneeled down as he felt himself crash down into his sobs. “Please don’t go Earl.”

“Gabby, ah got to!”

“Well, where are ya gonna go?”

“Ah don’ know!” Gabby stayed silent, “ah don’ know Gabby, ah don’. Honest to Celestia, ah don’ know! If ah stay I fear ah may just… just…” Gabby nudged him to go on. “ah fear… ah fear that ah might do somethin’ ah might regret.”

“Earl, please! Ah don’ want ta lose you!”

“Gabby, for Celestia’s sake! You’re seventeen! You know the new laws forbid any kind of contact with a pony under eighteen!” He took a deep breath, “Gabby, ah’m over thirty! You’re just a little filly!”

“Mah birthday is in a month’s time! Soon, ah won’t be a filly no more! Soon, ah’ll be a mare! A mare that has feelings for y’all!” Gabby blushed heavily as Earl stared at her, aghast with the revelation. “Ah don’ care if y’all are over thirty! Ah still love you!”

“Stop it.”

“No matter what happens, I will always love you!”

“Stop it!”

“Ah want to be there to take care of you, and be with you and-”

“GABBY! STOP!” Gabby stared defiantly at Earl, daring him to tell her something else.

“Earl, am I not enough for you?” Gabby teared up, “am ah just not enough for you? Am I!?” Earl shook his head, “then tell me! Tell me why you don’t love me too?”

“Because you deserve a better Stallion than me! Gabby, ah’m not a nice Stallion! I’m an older Stallion that had a wife and a few foals! Ah owned the largest ranch in all of Equestria and was prac’lly rollin in the crops and wealth. Then one day ah got drunk on cider! Mah wife couldn’t handle me when ah’m drunk so she tol’ me to ride out my high outside. But since ah was so drunk, ah didn’t hear that a nearby herd of Bison were stampedein’! So when ah was out enjoyin’ the liquid death, mah family was inside our home that was torn down by frightn’ Bison, and stampeded to death! Ah was too drunk to notice, and too proud of my season’s crop to stay away from the cider! It was mah fault tha mah family is dead!”

Gabby stared at Earl, tears streaming down her face as well. “If ah had been a good husban’, mah family would be alive today. If mah family was alive today, ah wouldn’t have made that promise to never love another! If ah had never made that promise, I’d still be in my hometown with my friends and family! If I had stayed, then ah wouldn’t have travelled till ah died! If ah hadn’t travelled, ah wouldn’t have come here! If ah hadn’t come here, ah wouldn’t have met you! If ah hadn’t met you… If ah hadn’t of met you ah’d still be able to keep mah promise!!”

He panted heavily as the sun began to rise over the horizon, casting a warm glow over the hill and onto the both of them. Gabby took a deep breath and hugged him tightly. “Earl…” She mumbed into his mane, “Earl…” Earl tried to move, but his body told him no. How did this little filly just take him into her and hold him so gently?

Even though he told her his sin, she still wanted to be around him. He was a terrible, black hearted Stallion, with no hope for the future.

“Earl… It’s not your fault…”

“Gabby… What do you know? You’re just a young’n. Y’all don’t know nothin’ bout the real world. Y’all think life is sunshine n’ rainbows…”

Gabby pulled herself away and glared at Earl, “well look here mister! Ah may be a little filly to y’all and all of so-sigh-et-tee, but I do know how the world works! Me, pa, ma and my brother an' sister had lived on the road all my life! Heck, ah was born on the road! Ah was born in a ditch near a busy town that didn’t take in poor seed farmers like us! Ah’ve never known anypony else except mah family, the townsfolk and you!” She cried as she burrowed her face in his mane, “Earl, please… Ah may be young, but please… don’t go!”

Earl didn’t know what to say to her, all the times he talked and learned about her, she only told him about her time in Ponyville, never about her life before Ponyville. Oh, how stupid he had been. All he had cared about was himself, and he had tried to leave Gabby all alone here. He was disgusted with himself when he realized that really, he didn’t know Gabby. He didn’t know the pony in front of him.

But now he wanted to know.

“Ah’ll stay.”

Gabby pulled herself away from him, her smile was wide and dazzling. The light just caught his red mane in the right way, making it look as if he were only twenty again. Gabby leaned forward to place a kiss on his lips, but he caught her. “No Gabby.”

“W-why not? You said you’ll stay, and that… y’all love me… Why not?”

“Ah don’t want to become a criminal.”

Granny Smith was still, her back now straight and her eyes faraway. “Earl was a very smart pony. He knew the boundaries and he knew when to just back away.”

Rarity had her arms circled around her knees, hugging them to her chest, “what happened next Granny? What happened to your mother? And what about Earl?” All the times that Rarity had been at the farm, she had never seen Earl, nor heard of him till now.

Granny smiled at Rarity, “well, I just accepted it as it was. Besides, my birthday was coming, and fast! But…”

“But?”

Granny looked into the sky, seeing the moon’s position. “Oh dearie! It’s getting late! Y’all head on off to bed now. Y’all’s room should be on the first floor, down the hall and second door to the right.” Granny Smith stood herself up and started to make her way back in the house. Rarity stood.

“Granny? Why are you telling me this?”

Granny Smith stopped in her tracks, turned and sighed, “y’all remind me so much o’ myself when ah was younger.”

Rarity laughed, “Granny, we are nothing alike! I stay inside while you work outside. I hate dirt and you work in it all the time. You run a farm and I run a boutique.”

“Y’all are kind and generous. Y’all never take into account of yerself when others are in need. You are a strong and independent mare with a bright future ahead of you. You’re smart, pretty, and a clever mare.” She turned and walked into the house and to her room, “just like ah was when ah was a young mare.”

Rarity processed the words that Granny had told her. Sure, she could be generous to others, and at times figure out things that even Twilight couldn’t answer. Heck, if she wanted to, she could move away and still be successful! Maybe Granny is right…

Maybe they are alike.

Rarity folded the blanket and carried it inside with her. She placed it on the arm chair Big Mac is so fond of, and followed the instructions Granny gave her. Though the house was so dark, she felt as if she knew the way like the back of her hand. She came to the door, opened then closed it behind her.

It was such a long day for Rarity, she had to pack her new clothes, take a long trip to Sweet Apple Acres, make dinner with Granny Smith, have a family dinner, and now Granny wants to tell her past. A lot to do in one day. So Rarity just stripped her clothes off till she was only in a bra and panties, came to the bed and flopped herself down onto the hard surface. “the bed is a little hard for my liking, but it will do…” Rarity stated sleepily.

She let her eyelids fall and sleep whisk her away as the mattress began to move up and down in a slow rhythm.

Why is Rarity sleeping on top of me? Big Mac thought to himself as Rarity made herself comfortable over him. Her head was nestled on his chest, right over his heart, their legs now tangled, and stomachs pressed together. Big Mac contemplated whether or not to get away from her, but when he realized that she was only in her underwear his face became the shade his coat was before the transformation. Now that he noticed that she was lying on top of him, and asleep, he could now feel her skin pressed against his.

Her skin felt soft and silky against his hardened skin. She felt so small while she was with him, like he was a giant. Her heart, Celestia her heart, it was a soothing beat that felt in time with his own. He wrapped an arm around Rarity and nuzzled the top of her head, making sure not to have her horn hit him. He pulled the heavy blanket over the both of them as he was lulled to sleep by her gentle breathing.

It felt so right to have her in his arms, to hold her close to him, to sleep together after a long day.

He vowed that no matter what, he was going to make sure that he always felt this content with her. To live everyday with her by his side. He felt sorry for Apple Jack, now that he was determined to make Rarity his. He felt a pang of guilt that he was choosing his own selfish desire before making his sister happy.

But this thought was pushed away as Rarity shifted slightly in her sleep.

The world felt so perfect now.
DONE!
Hope you guys liked the new chapter! I need to come up with a schedule of some sorts, because the one I got now has no definite term for being lazy before I start typing again.
Anyway, Read, Rate, Review, Subscribe and Favorite! Oh jeez, you guys will NOT believe what I have planned! :3 But that’s MY dirty little secret. NYEH HE HE!