A Complicated Family

A Complicated Family

By Regidar and Daring-Dash-Hoof

    For the Element of Honesty, even the smallest of lies pained her to keep. However, for the past ten years, she had always ignored this one, and just hoped that the subject in which it was involved never came up. The only other three ponies who knew gladly kept their mouths shut about it, but unfortunately, a little filly couldn't help but wonder.

   "Applejack, can Ah ask you a question?" Applebloom had just gotten home from school, and this question had been eating at her all day.
  
   "Well, sure, sugarcube! Ask away!" Applejack said, as she bucked a nearby tree, and the apples fell neatly into the baskets with a loud thump, as per usual.

    "Well, it's a little... pers'nal." The little yellow filly avoided direct eye contact with her older sibling.
  
    "Oh, come on, Applebloom, you know you can ask me anything!" The Element of Honesty smiled, and Applebloom took a deep breath.
    
    "What happened to our parents?" As the sentence was finished the look on the older mare's face was terrified and her jaw dropped.
   
    "Um... never you mind that. Why don't you run along now. Ah think Ah hear Granny Smith callin' yah!" The mare flinched as the lie left her lips.

    Applebloom gave her sister a hard stare. "Fahn. But this ain't over!" The little cutie-markless filly trotted away. Applejack rushed off to the other end of the orchard, where her older brother was silently harvesting.

    "Big Macintosh! Big Macintosh!"

    The big red stallion looked over from his tree. "eeyup?"

    "She's starting to question it! Ah think she knows!" Her brother's eyes widened.
  
    "Oh no."
  
    Applejack nodded her head sadly. "What do we tell her? We can't just dive into the subject? And what if she tells her friends? Yah remember the whole Gabby Gums incident don't yah? It'll only be a matter of time before all of equestria finds out."

    "Ah think you're overreacting just a bit, sis," Big Mac said in an attempt to calm his sister down.
   
    "Whataya mean, overreacting a bit? You should feel lucky Ah even still talk to you, after...you know." Applejack blushed and looked away. Big Macintosh put his hoof around his sister.
   
    "Hey... let's not worry about the past. We've put that behind us... as for Applebloom, we'll just tell her she's not ready to know what happened to her parents. She won't like it, but that's for the best."

    "We'll have to tell her in a few years, though."

    "Let's not worry about that until it happens."

    "I guess so."

    "Eeyup."

   "Granny Smith, ahm Ah adopted?"
  
   "Now where in tarnation would yah get that idea?" said a bewildered looking Granny Smith.

   "Well, Ah'v never actually seen mah parents, an' I was jus wonderin why?"

   "Oh fiddlesticks, yah've seen yer parents everyday since yah were born"

   "What? Where are they?"

   "Ah goodness me, Ah'm a little loopy looks like it's time for me to take mah nap."

   "But Granny!"

   "Ah can't hear yah, Ah'm asleep" said Granny Smith, as she was making fake sleep sounds.

   "That's strange, first Applejack and now Granny Smith! What are they hiding from me?" thought the disheartened Applebloom, as she walked silently up to her room.
     
   The next day Applebloom woke up more determined than ever to find out about her parents.
She decided she would look through some of the old family albums that Granny Smith kept in her room. Applebloom quietly crept into Granny's room, trying to avoid making any sort of noise possible. There were many albums in her collection, due to her long life, so Applebloom grabbed the first one she saw.

  Meanwhile, Applejack was laying out in the southern orchard staring up at the clouds. Her mind concentrating not on the sky and world around her, but on a single night around ten years ago. Applejack was a younger mare then, and she had loved going to Pinkie's parties. As a result of this love for her parties, Applejack had grown a taste for hard apple cider, and like most young ponies at parties, Applejack had once again drank too much of the delicious fermented apple liquid. Naturally in her impaired and drunken state, Applejack was making poor choices and hitting on nearly every stallion in the room. One of those stallions was Big Macintosh, her older brother who after drinking a full bottle of dandelion vodka, was too far gone to even recognize anyone at the party, let alone his younger sister.


   "What are you doing?" Asked a perplexed,yet ecstatic Pinkie Pie as she approached the still day dreaming Applejack.

   "Huh, oh it... twas... nothing, just thinking back on somethin..." said a slightly startled and embarrassed Applejack.

   "What kind of something? OOH! I know! You were thinking about that party all those years ago when I first moved to Ponyville! Man, I bet you regret that night."

   "Pinkie! Yer not helpin'!"

   Pinkie Pie grinned her crazy grin. "Well, you were only 14, who could blame you? Barely old enough to move out of the house, and then th-"

   Applejack shoved her hoof in Pinkie's mouth. "How'd ya even know that's what Ah was thinkin' of?"

   Pinkie Pie spat Applejack's hoof out of her mouth. "Well, duh! I've known you for so long that I can tell what you're thinking just by your facial expressions!" Applejack looked very surprised. "See, now you're thinking 'How can she do that?'"

   Applejack shook her head. "Whatever, Pinkie. Yer the only one besides mah family who knows, so don't go spillin the beans to anypony! I'm grateful you made up all those stories for why Ah was gone fer eleven months, and it was right around mah parents' deaths, so that made it extremely convenient, but you've managed to keep yer mouth shut on this matter the whole time! Please don't tell anypony now and I mean nopony can find out, especially not Applebloom!"

   Pinkie Pie giggled. "Of course not! I can keep a secret for you! You can trust me on that one. I haven't told anypony, and there's no reason to break that winning streak now!"

   
   "There's nothing in here but Big Macintosh and Applejack and me in here!" exclaimed a disappointed Applebloom, who had just gone through ten years of Apple Family albums.

   "Mah parents can't have just up and disappeared after I was born. Ah mean, why would they just leave? Where could they be?" wondered Applebloom silently in her mind.

   "Ah know, I'll go ask Applejack's oldest friend about it!" thought the triumphant Applebloom as she walked out of Granny Smith's room.

   "Hey Applebloom, whatcha doing?" asked Scootaloo as she and Sweetie Belle approached.

   "Ah'm goin' to Sugarcube Corner, Ah need ta talk ta Pinkie Pie bout my parents," murmured Applebloom to her friends.

   "Why would Pinkie Pie know anything about your parents?" asked a confused Scootaloo

   "Well, she's Applejack's oldest friend, so I figure she must know somethin' bout mah parents!" Applebloom was becoming frustrated with the whole lot of it. Applejack being so secretive, Granny Smith doing the same, and the apparent lack of any evidence of her and her siblings parents.

   "All you need is a cup of flour, add it to the mix, then you take something a little sweet not sour Ahhhhhhhhhh! Applebloom, what are you doing here?" asked a rather surprised but exuberant Pinkie Pie, who had just dropped the bowl of cupcake mix she was working on all over the floor.

   "Howdy Pinkie Pie, Ah was jus' wanderin' since yah've known Applejack fer so long, yah must know a lot 'bout our family," replied a smug Applebloom.

   "Oh you silly filly, of course I know a lot about your family! I mean how could I say I know everypony in town without knowing about everything there is to know about everypony! Duh!" exclaimed a overjoyed Pinkie Pie, who was quickly going off into a sugar filled rant.

   "Okay Pinkie, Ah got it, can yah answer my question then?" stated a rather impatient Applebloom.
   
   "Okie Dokie Lokie, what do you wanna know?" said Pinkie Pie smiling.

   "Who are my parents, and what happened to them?"
   
   Pinkie Pie's smile disappeared as fast a cupcake that was put in front of, well, Pinkie Pie. "I'm sorry, girls, I can't tell you that."
    
    Applebloom's face fell. "Oh well, Applebloom, you tried. Now come on! Rainbow Dash is-" Scootaloo began, but Applebloom stopped her.

    "This is way more import'nt than whatever the heck yah want to show me with Rainbow Dash!" exclaimed a rather angry Applebloom.

    "AH WANT TA KNOW ABOUT MAH PARENTS, AN' AH WANT TA KNOW 'BOUT THEM NOW!, AH'M TIRED OF EVERYPONY AVOIDIN' MAH QUESTIONS!" screamed a furious Applebloom.

    Sweetie Belle then remembered something. "Hey! Why don't we just check the birth records? They say who the parents are right on the page."

    Applebloom hugged Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie Belle, you're a genius!"

    The three small fillies then proceeded to head to the exit of Sugar Cube Corner.

    "Wait girls!, you can't look at those records!" shrieked Pinkie Pie

    "An' why can't we, Pinkie?" asked the dubiously impatient fillies.

    Pinkie Pie grimaced. She couldn't tell them, she was trapped! There was no way out of this one.

    "Nevermind, girls, have fun." sighed Pinkie, as she quietly sulked away. The Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed off to the town hall where the documents were recorded and collected.

    Pinkie collapsed on the couch, heartbroken that she couldn't keep her friends' secret safe. Then, it hit her.

    "I can still warn Applejack, and she can stop her sister!" Pinkie threw herself out the window, and raced down to Sweet Apple Acres.
  
    "APPLEJACK!" shrieked the panicked Pinkie Pie. Applejack, who was moving a barrel, looked up.

    "What is it, Pinkie?" asked a rather alarmed Applejack.

    "You have to stop Applebloom from going to town hall and getting her birth records!" screamed the exhausted Pinkie Pie.

    "Oh no." huffed Applejack as she took off as fast as her legs could carry her in the direction of town hall.

    Applebloom and her friends entered the town hall, and it was only a matter of time before they had the precious piece of paper that told who Applebloom's parents were.

    "Ah'll finally know."

    The three curious fillies read over the paper.

    "It... doesn't say!"

    Applebloom threw the paper on the ground. "It's not fair!"

    Applejack came running through the door, only to see the open file cabinet, and the looks of shock on the young ponies faces.

    "Aw, drat. Ah'm too late! Sorry, Applebloom, Ah didn't want you to find out that me and Big Mac were yer parents. Not like this, anyhow."

    The fillies' expressions somehow became even more shocked. Applejack was confused. Then, it dawned on her, the fillies had never found what she had been dreading.

    "Oh no, don't tell me..." sighed Applejack as she realized that she had revealed the one secret that she had tried so hard to hide.

    "YER MAH MOM?" Applebloom's eyes nearly fell out of her head. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stared in awe and confusion.

    "Well, ya see..."

    "BIG MACINTOSH IS MAH DAD?"

    "Yah, but-"

    "WHY DID YAH NEVER TELL ME THIS BEFORE?"

    Applejack sighed. "Well, yah see, Ah didn't want anypony to find out. You know brothers an' sisters ain't supposed to have kids."

    "Why was Ah even born then, anyway?"

    "Well, it was at one of Pinkie's parties, abou' ten years ago. Ah was o'ly fourteen then, yah gotta understand, fer the first time Ah was able to drink hard cider. Pinkie had just moved to Ponyville, so it was one of the biggest parties she had ever thrown! There was all manners of stallions there, and... I did get so drunk Ah couldn't tell who was who... Big Mac was in a similar position, he was actually an alcoholic for quite a while. He was blind drunk, and honestly, it was a one in a million chance we would get together and... you would happen. Ah guess that we weren't very lucky... not to say we didn' want you, of course. You were just... unplanned."

    Applebloom silently stared at the floor.

    "You gonna be ok, sugarcube?" Asked Applejack.

    Applebloom muttered something.

    "Wha' was that?"

    "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Applebloom ran off, out of the Town Hall, away, just to get away, sobbing the whole time.

    "Should we go after her?" Scootaloo wondered. Sweetie Belle just stared, open jawed at Applejack, unable to comprehend the actions that had led to her best friend's conception.

    Applejack left the Town Hall, and ran after her sister. Unfortunately, the little filly had fled faster then Applejack could keep up with. Applejack frantically searched around, not even noticing she was on a collision course with a certain lilac unicorn.

    "OOF!! Sorry Twilight! Hey, have yah seen Applebloom?" Twilight levitated her books back into her saddlebag.

    "No, sorry Applejack. Why, what happened?"

    Applejack started to sweat a bit. "Um... well, she recently got a bit of disturbin' news..."

    Twilight's left eyebrow raised. "What was it?"

    "Uh... it's not really important. But, Ah better head off to-"

    "Oh, was it about you and Big Macintosh?"

    Applejack starred in bemused wonderment at the unicorn. "Wha... how did ya know?"

    "Well, Pinkie Pie told me a little while after I first got to Ponyville... she made me promise not to tell anypony, and I didn't! Well, except Spike, and he technically isn't a pony, so... Applejack?"

    Applejack bucked open the door of Sugarcube Corner. "PINKIE!"

    The pink party pony turned around "Hey Applejack, what can I- you found out didn't you."

    Applejack nodded angrily. "Pinkie, Ah thought Ah could trust yah! Why'd yah go and tell Twilight about what happened?"

    Pinkie looked apologetic. "Well... it was a really good secret... and those are the hardest to keep! plus, I only told Twilight, and I had kept the secret for eight years before... so..." Pinkie Pie grinned, and try as hard as she might, Applejack could not stay mad at her.

    "Oh well... Twilight only told Spike, and Spike doesn't really have friends... so, I don't think anypony else knows."

    It turned out that almost everypony else knew. Spike had told Rarity, who then told Fluttershy, who had told Rainbow Dash and Derpy, and so on until almost everypony knew. Applejack was honestly astounded that this information had not leaked to Applebloom somehow. Although she did notice none of the foals knew about her "secret" and then realized that everypony in Ponyville knew the importance of not telling the young ones.

    Applejack found Applebloom crying in her Clubhouse. The orange mare put her hoof around her younger sibling/daughter's shoulder.

    "*sniff* What will the other foals think? Ah'll just be a freak... with the freak parents, that inbred monster wh-who..." Applebloom broke down into total sobbing.

    "Hey, now, Sugarcube, it'll be alright. Ah've talked to almost everypony, and they all knew, ev'n though Ah didn't know they did. No pony told any of the foals. And ev'n if they had, you're not some 'inbred monster', you're still a pony with feelings, and yer a very smart one too. Ah think you'll find most of the views on ponies like yerself are skewed. Only through generation o' inbreedin' will there be any difference... yer fine! Although, you better hook up with a unicorn or a pegasus, just to be safe." Applebloom giggled.

    "Yeah... I guess yer right, sis... can Ah still call ya that? I don' wanna call ya ma, it feels... odd."

    Applejack hugged her sister. "Ya can call me whatev'r ya like."

    The blonde haired human closed the book. "And that's the story of Applebloom's parents. Any questions?"

    Applejack and Big Macintosh looked at eachother, then pounded the crap out of Elijah.

    "AH! NO, WAIT! I'M SORRY! AH! NOT THE FACE! NOT THE FFAAAAAAAAACCCCE!"