August 29

Applejack ran her fingers over the brim of her mother’s hat as she waited for the judges to decide her score. One by one they lifted their card each with the number ten. A perfect score. Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh both cheered. Applejack smiled and lead Ribbon back to the stables.

Applejack removed Ribbon’s saddle and began brushing him. There were a few more competitors before the ribbon ceremony.

Applejack had decided to only compete in two events this year, agility with Ribbon and knife throwing. She had won the knife throwing competition by a wide margin as the former champion was out with a broken arm. Of course the immediate reward was being hit on by a bunch of older guys some of which were already married. . Applejack had spent most of the fair not far from Big Macintosh. Guys were less comfortable hitting on her infront of her tall and muscular older brother.

“You looked real purdy out there.”

Applejack scowled. He was back. Of course the organiors had to assign her a stall right next to one of the sleaziest loners of the whole fair. Applejack ignored him.

“One of the booths out there was selling flowers. I got you a rose. You want to come smell it?”

The sound of big boots approaching broke the silence. Applejack looked up to see her brother walking over. Applejack smiled and moved to hug him.

“Well done AJ. You two looked fantastic.” Big Macintosh fed Ribbon a sugar cube.

“Thanks.” Applejack grabbed a tail brush out of her out of Ribbons care bin.

The sleazy guy stomped off in annoyance.

“So Apple Bloom and I were thinking we would get some deep fried turkey legs and go watch the lasso competition.” Big Macintosh said.

“That sounds great but I don’t think I’ll be able to join you.” Applejack said. She didn’t look at her brother.

“Why not?”

“We need to talk. And you aren’t going to like what I have to say.”

“What’s going on.”

“Let’s go somewhere private.”

“Apple Bloom is waiting outside. We could walk over to the trailer.”

“If you don’t mind I want it to just be you and me for this first talk.”

Applejack lead Ribbon back into his stall and gave him some oats.

Applejack and Big Macintosh walked over to their horse trailer.

“What do you want to talk about?” Big Macintosh asked.

“The future.”

“Excuse me?”

“Big Mac?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m pregnant.”

“WHAT!”

Applejack stared at the ground.

“WHAT THE HELL!”

“I’m about eighteen weeks along.”

“Really!?”

“Yes.”

Big Macintosh stared at Applejack with a mix of anger and disappointment.

“Of all the irresponsible things you could do.” Big Macintosh said quietly. “Our parents would be ashamed of you.” Big Macintosh turned and walked away.

Applejack’s head was spinning. That went better than I thought it would. I can’t go home tonight. I can’t stay here. Applejack pulled out her phone.

Apple Bloom fidgeted with a rope while she waited for Big Macintosh and Applejack to come back from their little talk. I wonder why she didn’t want to talk to me? We are sisters. We used to be really close. What happened. Her mind wandered to Scootaloo. After overreacting to Scootaloo coming out Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had thrown them a coming out party. It had brought them closer together. Even if our lives go in different direction we are still family. I am sure there is something we can do to bring us closer again.

Big Macintosh marched back into the barn alone.

“Where is Applejack?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I left her a the trailer. Did you know?”

“Do I know what?”

Big Macintosh leaned against Ribbon’s stall. “I don’t know what to say. AJ… She is so dependable and responsible… I never imagined her doing this to us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“AJ pregnant.” Big Macintosh said quietly.

Apple Bloom felt like the gears in her brain had slowed down. Applejack pregnant? But she’s not married. How did this happen? Applejack’s never been interested in sex. She’s never been interested in men either.

“I’ve got to talk to Cheerilee.” Big Macintosh said.

“Why?” Apple Bloom said without thinking.

“To see if she is pregnant too.” Big Macintosh walked out.

Apple Bloom stared at his back in shock.

The announcer on the speaker broke her out of her trance. The voice said it was time for the ribbon ceremony.

Apple Bloom walked over to the stands. She climbed the steps to the back row and sat down hard.

My sister is pregnant. She is going to be a mom. And I’m going to be an aunt. I always thought Big Mac would be the one to make me and aunt. And I thought I would be older. Am I ready to be an aunt? Does is matter?

Apple Bloom watched Applejack walk out with Ribbon and receive a first place trophy and prize money. She had watched Applejack win lots of prized but today didn’t feel real. She felt like she was in a dream.

Apple Bloom watched Applejack walk back into the barn.

Apple Bloom got up and filed out of the stands with the rest of the crowd. She walked to the edge of the park. She walked along the fence until she spotted a trail leading off into the woods. She climbed over the fence and walked into the trees.

Applejack sat in the back seat of Aria’s truck. Sonata was yamering about a new visio game she was playing Applejack didn’t care. Aria slammed on the breaks after she pulled into the driveway.

“Out of my car!” Aria barked.

Sonata bounced up the steps to the house and knocked on the door. Applejack slowly walked up. Aria parked her truck in the garage.

Adagio opened the door and let them in.

“I made fritters if you are interested.” Adagio said lazily.

“That would be great.” Applejack said quietly.

“Adagio’s fritters are the best!” Sonata sang happily.

Applejack walked over to the couch and sat lay down. “I told my brother.”

Adagio sat in her lounge chair. “How did he react.”

“Better than I thought he would. Still not great. I was wondering if I could stay with you guys for a few nights.”

“That should be fine.” Adagio said.

Sonata walked into the living room with a large plate of Fritters and Aria walked in carrying a pitcher of lemonade.

“So any news from Equestria?” Applejack turned to face Adagio.

“Yeah. a journal entry just came in from Sunset.” Adagio said grabbing the journal from ontop of her coffee table.

“Can I read it?”

Adagio tossed Applejack the journal.

Dear Applejack,

I have some good news and lots of WTF news.

Good News - We are all still alive.

We found pony AJ. She has given birth to a pegasis. The foal is fine. AJ is okay. It’s hard to tell. She had some Minor burns. Pony Moon Dancer saver from the worst of it. Her breathing strong and she’ll probably be fine. It is probably going to be a long road to recovery.

The Tarasque is dead. The royal guards killed. Celestia did some magic thing that tamed it or something and then she brought it back to Canterlot and the royal guards killed it…

The guards said that they panicked. They didn’t trust the beast to stay tamed. It killed too many ponies and I don’t blame them for wanting to get rid of it. Also the military is a little distrustful of Princess Celestia right now wondering how she pulled this solution out of nowhere after the creature did a lot of damage.

WTF - Celestia tamed the beast with seemingly no effort. The Elements of hHrmony couldn’t do. Arguably they made it worse… somehow. That might not be true. Rarity and Pinkie Pie think that Applejack passed out and so they didn’t, I don’t know, run their full course?

Anyway, Celestia said she was waiting for the right circumstances to do her thing. That she couldn’t have done it sooner. When I get back to canterlot I am going to surech the library for that book and see what is says about Tarrasques.

The doctors diagnosed Human Moon Dancer with magical overexertion. Princess Cadence thinks she knows how to fix her extreme case.

That’s right. More good news! Princess Cadence came back from vacation and Shining armor should get here tomorrow.

Anyway. I would write more but I’m falling asleep. I got some minor injuries fighting the beast. I need to rest.

I hope all is well over there.

Sunset.

Applejack read the letter several times. “This letter just leads to more questions! For starters, why didn’t the Elements of Harmony fix things?”

Aria and Sonata winched.

“You know AJ, for a pseudo Element of Harmony you really don’t know anything about them.” Adagio said.

“The Elements of Harmony have two main approaches to handling disorder. Take away what is directly causing the chaos or, to use a human phrase, restore something to factory settings.” Adagio said.

“For the Tarasque it took the second approach. It removed the enchantment controlling it.” Aria said.

“Sunset said the Elements of Harmony made it worse. How does that happen.”

“The Elements of Harmony kind of hurt.” Sonata said uncomfortably.

“Immagin for a second that someone woke you dog up by dumping a bucket of cold winter and her and cornering her. What do you think she would do.” Aria said.

Applejack thought about it for a moment. “She would probably get aggressive.” she said quietly.

“Exactly.” Adagio said calmly.

“So it was just user error?” Applejack stared at the ceiling thinking. “How do you know so much about Tarasques?” Applejack asked as soon as the thought popped into her head.

“One the other side of the mirror we knew some sirens that had a pet Tarasque. We hunted with them a couple times.” Adagio said.

“You hung out with other sirens. I thought you guys were loners.”

“We mated with them.” Aria said.

“Normally you spend a couple months hunting with your mate or your mate’s group.” Sonata said.

“Oh.” Applejack flipped back through the journal. “There was a siren that entered Equestria at around the same time as the Tarasque. I wonder it the siren was controlling the Tarasque because they were following it at a distance.”

“If so that isn’t a good thing for Equestria considering the ponies just killed their pet.” Aria pointed out.

“That’s a good point!” Applejack exclaimed. “I’ve got to write to them.”

Author's Notes:

I forgot to press publish. Oh well. Here it is.

This might only matter to me but it is really nice to have the date at the top of the page again.

As always comments are welcome!