Chapter 1
Gramps got no cutie mark!
.
It was a bright afternoon on Sweet Apple Acres, when an apple yellow filly, most recognizable by a big red bow in her hair, trotted up to her grandfather, a large graying brown stallion.
"Hey Gramps," little Apple Bloom called out in the most serious of tones.
The old pony stopped pulling his cart and turning to his red haired granddaughter.
"I was meaning to ask you something about cutie marks," Apple Bloom continued. "Applejack told me, she got her cutie mark late, Big Mac got his late and mom got hers' late too. And our entire family has apples for cutie marks. I've been thinking it is on account of genetics," Apple Bloom pronounced the last word carefully and thankfully took a moment to breath.
"That is a mighty big word you have there." Grandpa Hay Seed nodded his head.
"Ah' learn it in school. It means it runs in the family." Apple Bloom said with a dash of pride. "And ah was wondering…. Is your cutie mark invisible or something? Cause I don't see it. If you have an invisible cutie mark, maybe I'll have one too?" She said hopefully.
"Oh, no Apple Bloom. I don't have one. Some ponies never discover their special talent. That is why I have spent my whole life…"
Apple Bloom face was scrunched up and tears were pooling at the corners of her big honey colored eye. Her lips were trembling.
"Apple Bloom," His voice was enough set the young filly bursting into tears.
Apple Bloom sprinted away as fast as her four little legs could carry her. A trail of tears and red hair was left in her wake.
"What in tarnations? What have you done now, you old goat." Granny Smith yelled as she approached slowly, her bad hips being a hindrance.
"Nothing!" Grandpa Hay Seed defended. "Apple Bloom asked about my cutie mark."
"Oh no, you didn't. 7 foals and 30 grandchildren and you still haven't learned a grain of tact. Apple Bloom has been obsessing about her lacking of cutie mark for months now. I even hear she and the two friends of hers are getting into all sorts of mischief looking to find their cutie mark."
"Maybe I could go after her. "
"You sit right there, Hay Seed. The last time you went out and had a talk with one of our young en', it took Carrot Cake and I two days to talk Apple Cider into coming out of her room. Even then, she was still convinced that that the only place for her in the whole wide world was in the circus, beside the bearded mare!"
"She has mighty strong legs, our Apple Bloom." It was left unsaid that Sweet Apple Acres was a large farm and her bad hips were only the most visible sign of her failing health.
Granny Smith snorted. "Ah' don't need to catch up with her if ah' know where she'll end up."
x-x-x
The walk to the old tree house was a long one for Granny Apple Smith. 'When did the farm become so big?' she wondered as she let her hooves find their way down a familiar path to the tree house at the far end of the apple orchard. 'Was it when she started to use the walker? Or was it the day foals in Ponyville started calling her Granny Smith'. Apple Smith sighed. She was getting old and...
Apple Smith stopped. She was already up in the tree house overlooking the farm. Her mind must be wondering, but the view from high in the apple tree was a pretty sight. Apple tree all around, over hills right to the edge of the Lemon's farm. Many didn't know, but Apple Smith remembered; This apple tree, with this tree house in its branches was the oldest on the farm and likely the first apple tree in the whole of Ponyville.
'Just a bit of rest.' Apple Smith lowered her tried body onto a rug. Apple Bloom and her two friend surely had done up the place. There was a bolt of fabric hanging on the wall, she wonder where Apple Bloom got it from, and a large drawn map of Ponyville. It looked well drawn but many of the prominent spaces of Ponyville had been crossed out.
Apple Smith waited. She hadn't been in this tree house since it was Applejack's House of Commerce for Apple and Lemon pie. That filly sure loved running businesses, better at it than Macintosh. It was beginning to become pretty clear who should inherit the farm. It was a good thing too since the… 'why couldn't she say it', since the death of her oldest daughter Apple Cider. Never would she forget the day that explosion happened in CloudsDale weather factory.
Apple Smith's ears flicked forward. Just any moment now, she could already hear the little taps of little hooves climbing up the ramp.
Apple Bloom peered through the door, "Granny Smith, what are you doing in ma' tree house."
"Ah I was thinking you needed some company. Do you want to talk?"
Apple Bloom blinked at her grandmother and took a deep, deep breath. It looked to Apple Smith that her young grand daughter was inflating up like a balloon.
"Applejack said all I needed to be was to be patient and I'll get my cutie mark but I talked to Gramps and he never got his cutie mark. So ah' can't be patient. I need to get my CUTIE MARK NOW, else ah' might NEVER get my cutie mark and forced to spend ma' whole life mucking out the pig pens."
"Slowly down there Apple Bloom." Apple Smith held up a hoof. Where did she get those lungs? "Sit down. And do you really think that all your grandpa does is muck out pig pen?"
Apple Bloom nodded her little head as she settled beside her grandmother's dull green flanks. "He was about to say so himself."
Apple Smith opened her mouth to correct her grand daughter. How did this young filly come to believe that tub of hog wash…. but when was the last time she saw her husband do anything aside from working the animal pens. It had been a long time since she had seen Hay Seed out bucking apples… actually it had been a very long time since Hay Seed and herself where out in the orchards bucking apple. It would have been around the time that Applejack finished school.
"I am sure your Grandpa does other things. And it is on no account that his lack of cutie mark is forcing him to muck out the pig pens. Why back in our day, your Grandpa could buck apples with the best of them. As big as your bother Macintosh is, I think your grandpa was bigger. Snapped an apple tree or two with his hind legs!"
"Really?" Apple Blooms eye went really wide.
"Ah was so angry with that dumb stallion that I chased him right across the farm."
"Granny, you said a naughty word."
Apple Smith laughed. "It'll be our secret. Just don't tell your friends and maybe Applejack. Your sister is a bit of a stickler for rules and good behavior. Ah' reckon it is from that time she spent at Manehatten with the Orange side of the family."
"But Granny Smith, what if ah' never get my cutie mark?" Apple Bloom asked worriedly and crossing her hooves anxiously.
"Dear, there is more in life than a cutie mark. Look at your grandpa, granted he isn't much to look at nowadays, but back then he was a stallion." Apple Smith smiled fondly. "Even if he never found his special talent, he could do a lot of things rather well," Granny Smith blushed a bit.
Apple Bloom didn't look convinced and spared a moment to wonder why her grandma was blushing.
"He, my sisters and ah' built this here farm together. Have I told you how Sweet Apple Acres was built?"
"No. But what has that got to do with cutie marks?"
"How about ah' tell yer the story first and yer can decide."