Applejack and Butter didn’t speak for the remainder of their time together; no words were exchanged until the day they both graduated where they gave each other a fleeting ‘congrats’. After that they split down separate paths: Applejack spending her days on the farm, whilst Butter went to work on his dream of being a better chef. Applejack didn’t come to see him off; just as well really, seeing as how Butter didn’t wait around. He still cared for Applejack, but she didn’t want to be around him, so he gave her the space she apparently craved. As he left Ponyville behind, his heart felt heavy with a growing sadness as he felt the gap between the pair widen to a level he had yet to experience in his lifetime. Sure, everyone experienced something similar in their lifetime, but Butter just wasn’t ready for it. He couldn’t stop thinking about Applejack and what she was going through during this tough time. Or if she was even going through the same level of distress as he was. She certainly didn’t seem to be the type that would worry so much, but then, he also thought she was going to be his friend forever, and it was easy to see how that turned out. By the time he had left the town limits, he had shed a little of his emotional baggage, leaving it inside the town, no doubt to resurface once again should he return. With slightly brighter spirits, he set off down the path to what was considered Ponyville’s train station, but still sat outside the town limits.

Meanwhile, whilst Butter was buying his tickets at the train station, Applejack was sitting at home, faking her way through a late breakfast with her family. They had made her pancakes of just about every conceivable flavour and whilst she was grateful, she too had things on her mind. Most notably was the fact that she had grown a little bit over night, putting her at three and a half feet tall. Her family had been as pleased as she was at first, but then as the day progressed, she remembered what she had done to Butter. Her height had been a major cause for the fight and now that she was steadily growing at last, she regretted having the quarrel. This was the moment she wanted to share with Butter most of all; to have her slowly grow into her own, able to stand up for herself. She might even have grown to be bigger than him at long last, something that, if she managed, she would have loved to have seen his face for. Now she wasn’t going to get any of that, since they hadn’t said a single thing to each other in days. She didn’t even know when Butter was leaving for Manehattan. The last she’d heard him talk about it, he had said it was soon after they graduated. That could be anything from today to being a few days from now, but either way, it was preying on her mind. There were so many things that she wanted to apologise for. Most of them she had kept to herself, but she was going to apologise for them anyway. This separation was driving her mad. As breakfast finally came to a close, Applejack fled from the table before she could even be asked to help clear away some of the plates and pots. The door slammed behind her, leaving the rest of her family on their own, sighing at the complete lack of responsibility that Applejack showed.

Back at the train station, Butter had boarded the train bound for Manehattan, only to be told that it was going to be delayed for a few moments whilst some leaves were cleared from the train lines. Butter was patient and more than willing to wait around for them to be completed, but he still wanted to get out of there soon. He could see Ponyville in his corner of the station, his carriage poking out just enough to give him a view of the area. He could even see Sweet Apple Acres, sitting on a raised plain of land outside the town. Somewhere up there, Applejack was holed up, no doubt sitting in silence, wondering what the future held. In truth however Applejack was racing down the path from Sweet Apple Acres into town, heading for the train station to see if Butter was there. If he wasn’t, then she would wait for him to arrive and begin her apology, and if he was then she would apologise much earlier. She cursed herself for her foolish actions previously, the very same actions that had brought her to this point in time. Her little legs could only get her there so fast, but thanks to the small nature of Ponyville, she was able to pass through most places very quickly. Both Butter and Applejack heard the train whistle blowing at roughly the same time, giving them mixed feelings.

For Butter, it was the signal that the train was ready to leave within the next few seconds. His old life had been checked and left at the station, leaving him fresh and ready for his new life in the big city. Whereas Applejack was coming to realise that if Butter was at the station, then he was likely on the train that was blowing its whistle. The rush was on, she was going to be late and miss him, or she was going to be just in time. She rounded a corner and raced up the ramp and onto the station platform, just as the train pulled out. She ran alongside it, peering through the windows to see if there was any hint of Butter inside. The carriages whizzed past, only giving her passing glances, but as the second to last zipped past her, she caught sight of a white jacket, tan skin and ginger hair. Then it was gone, replaced by the last carriage and then eventually nothing. She reached the end of the train platform, standing there, watching the train pull away and leave her on her own. She’d have to visit Butter’s house, just to be sure that it was him that she had seen, but given that she had never seen anyone else of that colour scheme around town, she was ninety per cent sure. Her heart was broken, but she knew that the only one she had to blame for what had transpired was herself. So it was with a great deal of regret that she made her way back to Sweet Apple Acres, with the intention to check in on Butter’s house on the way. If he was truly gone, then he was gone for good. Manehattan was just too big a place for her to find him again; that sort of thing only happened in fairytales anyway.

****

Two years down the line and Butter was in his final year of academia. He’d learnt many a useful thing in the culinary arts over the years, mostly around baking, his special talent. His second year was focused on more pub-oriented foods, such as pies, fish and chips, and a multitude of other dishes and desserts. He’d even made a couple of friends in the process of his time at the academy. He wasn’t as close to them as he had been with Applejack, but after the first year that began to bother him a whole lot less. He still wanted to go back and meet her again at some point in the future, but for now he was content with hanging out with his new pals. Life at the academy was pretty good, all things considered. He had friends, he was doing well in his studies and for the first time in a long time, he was relatively worry-free. One would call it relatively due to the fact that here at the academy, one of the many roles he took on a at school was completely flipped on its head. Instead of being one of the bigger folks at the academy, like he had been at school, he was just average or below. His chub had yet to fade also, which left him open to some of the stronger and larger students.

He felt like he had become Applejack at times, being seen as the one who was ripe for picking on. He got it too, having his own brand of bullies at the academy, some of which were related to the teaching staff. Whilst it didn’t happen as frequently as it did to Applejack, it still happened and it hurt when it did. They criticised his work, often resorting to sabotaging it whenever they could manage it. Butter pushed through and tried to ignore them as best he could, but sometimes it would get too much for him and he’d need to stand up to them. They simply laughed at him, pushed him about a little bit and made him feel a mess. Needless to say, his attempts at making himself feel better by standing up to them were never successful. His new friends were never around to see the events taking place either, which only made him feel more and more like Applejack. He could go to them and tell them his problem, maybe convince them to help him out, but he couldn’t be sure that it wouldn’t become a recurring thing. All in all, whilst he was enjoying his time at the academy, he was also welcoming the up and coming end to his studies, leaving him open to taking on the wide world outside.

Today happened to be the day that he was going to try and get his second to last assignment completed. It wasn’t too tricky, but it was certainly worth getting a good grade in, just in case his other project fell flat. Which, in the case of cooking, was a very real possibility. Today he was tasked with creating something of his own choosing. He could do whatever he wanted and depending on the complexity and the actual way the creation turned out, it would influence his grade. So, rather than play it safe, Butter was working to try and make one of the most high risk desserts he could think of. He was going to make a soufflé, something that if he pulled it off, would certainly earn a couple of points with the teaching staff. He just had to make sure that he wasn’t too rough with the final product and that it was cooked in the oven for exactly as long as it needed to be; anything less and it would be a disaster for him. Speaking of disasters, he was also scheduled to be sharing the room with his bullies. Once again, his friends had their assessments in a room elsewhere, so he was going to need to be even more vigilant in terms of his work. Upon finding out that he was originally going to be working around those that he would rather avoid, he had protested to the teacher who would be overseeing their progress. By now though, they were growing tired of hearing Butter’s complaints about these boys that, as far as they could see, were charming and innocent. So they dismissed his claims, much to the chagrin of Butter himself.

Once everyone had made their way into the classroom, and were seated in their respective places, the teacher began the assignment. Silence fell over the class, aside from the hum of ovens and the constant clattering of utensils. Butter sat in silence though, watching those around him for a while, making sure that he was still safe from potential saboteurs. Everyone seemed to be concerned with their cooking and only that, so Butter began to work on his own creation. He gathered his ingredients and got to work, mixing them together into his respective bowl. As he mixed them together, he scanned the room again; he could account for just about everyone, but there were a few people missing. Butter couldn’t be certain that the missing persons were any kind of threat to him, but he still kept an eye on his station, just in case. The time was fast ticking away and he still hadn’t managed to get his mixture into the oven. To rectify that, he needed to gather some trays from the front of the classroom, an oversight on his part as he had been given the opportunity to get those at the beginning of the class. He placed the bowl down on the kitchen counter and skirted through the other stations to the front of the class. He periodically checked behind him to see whether or not his work was being tampered with. Each time he did so, he found his space to be completely empty, with everyone right where they should be, except for that one mystery person. They still hadn’t returned from their disappearance and Butter was beginning to wonder if they had ever been there in the first place.

He grabbed the trays from the front of the classroom, where the teacher was busy reading this month’s fashion magazine, hidden inside a cooking book. Further proof that some of the teachers at this place seemed to care less than people thought. Still, Butter was happy that his progress appeared to be going unhindered, since even the bullies were busy with their own projects, which was a rare sight from what Butter knew. He returned to his project and began to load the mixture into the trays ready for oven cooking. If he could just get this into the oven and let it cook for the required time, he would be home free and he could rest assured that this would be another successful grade for him. Another quick look around the room had him noting how the classmate who had disappeared was now back. Butter had been at his station the whole time; if there was anything that went wrong, he knew it would be his fault. Or so he hoped, as he didn’t know if he could take another failure at the hands of those bullies. He stuffed the mixture into the oven and set the timer. Now there was just a set amount of time to wait before he would be done with the assignment.

Whilst he waited for the soufflé to finish baking, he prepped the presentation tray and sat back to wait for the timer to go off. The cooking of this thing was rather important; too long in the oven and it would be rock solid, too little and it would fall apart in seconds. Timing was key and thanks to many hours of practice, he had the secret to a perfect soufflé every time. By the time most of his time had elapsed, a smug smile had crept its way across his face, something that the other classmates didn’t have. They were all worried or anxious about how their food was going to turn out. Those that he identified as his bullies were sitting and looking at him, as though they were expecting something from him, some kind of action. Butter didn’t know what their game was, but at least he could be sure that he wasn’t a part of it this time. He sat back and looked up to the ceiling, just waiting for that timer to go off.

After a few more minutes, he got his wish when the beeping of the alarm went off and he sprung into action. With his oven gloves on, he pulled down the door to the oven, removing the baking tray. His project looked like a success, at least for two seconds after he pulled it from the oven, then it collapsed into disarray. Butter couldn’t believe it, his gamble had fell through, despite everything being perfect. Had he overestimated? Had he gotten too confident? It was all overwhelming, but Butter placed his tray down and looked at the counter and utensils. Upon closer inspection of the oven dials, he found that his oven had been turned down from what it was. It explained why his soufflé had collapsed so quickly and so violently, it was undercooked! Nowhere near sturdy enough to support its own weight. His first thought was that it was sabotage, but as he had assured himself throughout the day, he had been the only one there at his station. Yes, he had left for a moment to get those trays and yes someone else hadn’t been there for the entire duration of the class but it didn’t mean sabotage. The truth was that he was going to have to accept that this was a failure and one that might possibly have been his doing. The assessment wasn’t too important; he’d been telling himself that, but it still didn’t alleviate any of the disappointment...

Whilst Butter was coming to terms with the low grade he was bound to receive for this assignment, over in Ponyville, Applejack was dealing with her own problems in life. Since the day she had watched Butter zoom out of her life on a train, Applejack had returned to working on the farm. Or rather, she had finally started to work on the farm, taking in details and embracing the family business. She had continued to grow up in more ways than one, now resembling something of a young woman, more than a child. In the two years since Butter had left, she had grown a further two feet and six inches, leaving her at a current height of five feet and eight inches. She was now the second tallest member of the Apple family, standing between Granny Smith and Big Macintosh. She had another ten inches to grow before she could stand as tall as Big Macintosh and she felt confident that she could achieve it. There was nothing so far that had made her believe that her growth had been slowing at any point; if anything there was evidence to show that it might continue it’s rapid progress as time passed. She wasn’t bothered though; she was quite happy to grow a little more, and each inch would help her to make her case against any future bullies she would come across.

Though height wasn’t the only thing that had happened to her in the years she had spent growing up. She had filled out all over in the way a young woman could. Instead of keeping her thin, stick, frame, common of children and some young adults, she had instead underwent some sort of metamorphosis. Her hips and breasts had filled out to give her some attractive curves, her legs had lengthened a great deal, leaving a lot of the smaller adults and children reaching barely up to her waist. In contrast, her upper body was a little more compacted than her legs, not so much that it made her look like some sort of strangely proportionate creature, but there was a definite level of squish to her frame. As a result of the compacted appearance, her rather busty chest seemed to bulge out from her body a little. Her choice in flannel shirts was a saving grace in that regard, seeming to slim her body down a little to hide her attractiveness somewhat. She wasn’t out to be ogled at; she was out to work and help her family make a profit. Her hair had grown quite long now, reaching far down her back and tied up into a bunched ponytail. She’d also taken to wearing a cowboy hat on her head, one that had belonged to her brother once upon a time. It was still a little big for her, but if things kept up the way they were, she would be able to fit it on her head perfectly in a couple of months.

Whilst Butter had moved on a little in the two years that they had been away from each other, Applejack hadn’t moved on at all. Sure, she’d made a whole bunch of new friends like Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, but she still kept Butter at the forefront of her mind. She just couldn’t shake the idea that he was out there somewhere, still disliking Applejack for her behaviour whilst they had been at school. In a way, she was grateful for it, as it was because of that guilt that she was the hard working creature that she was today. She was eager to stay on the right side of folks, working to the best of her ability to make sure that she achieved that. No lies ever passed her lips because she knew how damaging those could be to someone and she only wanted to inspire positivity, with a healthy dose of realism at times of course. She had now grounded her hot-headed urges with logical, thorough thoughts, always wary of causing another fissure, and succeeding often with greater success as she grew older. One of these days, once she had done enough work with her family, she’d take some time off to go and visit Manehattan, perhaps even with Rarity. She was always heading up there to find out the latest designs or see a show or two. It wasn’t exactly unreasonable for Applejack to be heading up there along with her, even if the two didn’t always see eye to eye.

For now, Applejack continued with her current job, that being sorting the apples from the day's harvest into the respective containers so they could be sold. Tomorrow Granny Smith would be at the stall selling their wares, and as the Apple matron grew older she needed more help. Not that she would admit it, but Big Mac and Applejack had begun sharing the burden of assisting her. There was a whole lot riding on her acting everything out perfectly though, as Applejack knew how the folks in Ponyville looked at her. They’d noticed her rapid growth and they had begun to make comments about it when they thought that she was out of earshot. The earliest she could recall one of the comments about her growth was the first time she’d went to get a new set of clothes. Her childhood clothing had been outgrown within days of her leaving school and as such, she had needed to get something new. Whilst she and her brother had been out looking for new clothes, she’d overheard some of her classmates making a comment about her. They talked about how strange it was that she had grown so much in such a short time, drawing on their own experiences to fund their comments.

Applejack hadn’t paid them much heed at the time, after all she was just glad to be a part of the growing crowd like her classmates. She had finally been getting the thing that had eluded her for so long and left her as the butt of so many jokes. But when it happened again and again whilst she was out getting clothes to fit her rapidly expanding body, it began to take its toll on her. Especially when she saw that the other youths that were making fun of her had ceased in their own growth before her. Her first thought was that she was the subject of jealous taunts, but the bigger she got, the more defensive the whispers seemed to be, almost like the youths were afraid of her. Those whispers were still haunting her to this day, this time whenever she was walking around town. She couldn’t shake them it seemed and she was forced to dwell on them day in and day out. A call from Granny Smith pulled her out of her thoughts and got her to focus on a new task. She leapt off her bed and raced downstairs to find Granny waiting in the yard. It was time for them to head to market. Applejack swallowed softly as she stepped next to Granny and began to prepare the bushels going on the cart. She seriously hoped that she could pull off a casual day working the stall, even as she noted that the shoulders of her shirt were feeling a bit tight today...