Author: Jelly
Description: Granny Applejack finds herself retelling the story of her favorite tree at Sweet Apple Acres. But perhaps some memories are best kept to oneself.Applejack's Favorite Tree
Additional Tags: Short and sweet; reliving memories.
Story Two After the Break!
[Shipping] [Sad] [Light Grimdark]
Description: Awakened by her eldest granddaughter, Applejack finds herself finishing the tale of her favorite tree... and her best friend.Applejack's Shooting Star
Additional Tags: Sad Memory; Family; Shooting Star
[Comedy]
Description: After a long night, Granny Applejack wakes up in a mood for pancakes. While cooking, she can't help but reminisce about Pinkie Pie's infamous pancake party.Applejack's Pancakes (New!)
Additional Tags: Party; Pancakes; Cloud; Fun; Memory
31 comments:
Short, sad, and sweet, with just enough ambiguity left over for the reader to figure the rest out. Thank you Jelly. It was really good.
ReplyDelete@Singol Darkwood
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more.
The story is extremely well crafted and the characters are very well expressed.
Made my heart ache a little...
Good work Jelly!
Loved how it was developed. Especially that every part of the story did matter.
ReplyDeleteThis story melted my heart... Then punched the melted puddle until I almost teared up.
ReplyDeleteI try to avoid "sad" whenever it's coupled with "shipping"... But I couldn't help myself here.
Amazing story-telling. Definitely worth the read.
...and now I recall that darn picture of Scootaloo in front of Rainbow Dash's grave in Drawfriend 204... confound these bronies, they tear my heart to pieces!
ReplyDeleteWell written, I just don't think that's how Rainbow Dash should've ended.
Memo to self: Stop reading [sad] and [grimdark]!
Saw the ending coming. Knew it was coming. Prayed that, despite what the setup of the first story implied, my assumptions about the second were incorrect.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't.
F***.........
ReplyDeleteGrimdark tag dude. Sad is an
ReplyDeleteUnderstatement.
Oh, darn you, Jelly.
ReplyDeleteI read the first chapter... then couldn't read the second. It's too obvious, and too sad.
Picture changed and [Light Grimdark] tag added to sequel based on comments.
ReplyDeleteManly tears.... Manly tears.... Can't hold it back! *Sobs uncontrollably*
ReplyDelete@Singol Darkwood*reads story*
ReplyDelete*rereads it*
*rereads it again*
*grumbles*
another FIMfic where rainbow dash gets killed BECAUSE of sonic rainboom
P.S.this is a tragic story.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Comedy just doesn't really work after those first two chapters. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThe third story just makes everything sadder...
ReplyDeleteMy apologies the third story doesn't seem to be to people's liking, given the context of the first two!
ReplyDeleteIt was actually spurred by a prereader's comment, who wanted to know more about the pancake "adventure" alluded to in Applejack's Favorite Tree. I guess I could have requested that the story be posted completely separately, but it didn't feel quite right since it was clearly filling in a blank from the first story.
I will note, though, that these are supposed to be individual stories -- and not "chapters," per se. They can hopefully be read in pretty much any order, though they make the most sense to read chronologically.
My heart, it hurts :[
ReplyDelete*Begins reading*
ReplyDelete*Gets halfway through second story*
I'm not gonna cry...I'm not gonna cry.
*An hour later, he finishes the story*
Damn it! I couldn't help myself *Wipes tears from eyes*
Okay, I'll admit, I loved the story :) It was great. But, yeah I'll confess it brought tears to my eyes by the end.
I look forward to reading the third story, but I can already tell I'll love it too :) Keep up the great work.
I think at this point I am going to actually change Pancakes to being a "Prequel" -- something to be read before Applejack's Favorite Tree and Applejack's Shooting Star.
ReplyDeleteAs it is, I think it is pretty much impossible to read Pancakes with a light heart once one has already read the first two stories -- there's no way it can really get a fair shake. But I suspect this would make a nice trilogy if Pancakes were read at the very beginning. It's just bad luck they were published in this order!
I'll be requesting that the orders of the stories be changed. If accepted by the powers that be, I'll also switch around the links on the bottom of the stories.
Thanks for the comments, everypony! I still have much to learn.
... Trevor wants to know who AJ's husband ended up being...
ReplyDeleteOverall, the story was okay. Wasn't great, wasn't horrible, and it didn't make one cry, so... Sorry. Just not enough emotional attachment to the characters aside from the show. One means, Trevor KNOWS that they're supposed to be 'together', but since there was no bg on HOW or WHY they're together, there was just no attachment to them as a couple, and thus, what happened with the trick just wasn't... Yeah. Just wasn't very powerful for Trevor. Anyhoof, keep writing!
~ Magical Trevor, Minstrel of Equestria
Yeah, I read the other two stories (which were touchingly-written, by the way) before Pancakes, so the emotions went something like this:
ReplyDeleteGranny Applejack lowered her earthy-green eyes, moist with the sadness of recollection, and murmured gravely, "Now ya two fillies both know the truth 'bout why that there rainbow apple tree's m'favorite."
Suddenly, she perked up, a bright smile on her face erasing the forlorn emotion that had until now darkened the furrows of her time-worn face. "Now lemme tell you 'bout the time we made wacky pancakes before my lover kicked the bucket!"
Me: Wuh?
This story is made more tragic because the pancakes adventure happens on the same day as the accident along with Applejack and Rainbow spending time together one last time. Sad because one of them was cut down in the Prime of their life, snuffed out just like that. The fact that the grand daughters have never heard of Rainbow also means that Applejack never mentioned her.
ReplyDeleteI read Pancakes first but I noticed that at the beginning of Pancakes, it starts off after the end of the 2nd fic (Grandmother waking up with the grand daughters nearby). So it's not necessary a prequel, it seems like it's happening at the same time in the other two fics. But you won't miss anything by reading Pancakes first.
I, uh, um...
ReplyDeleteI've read a lot of dark stuff before. Things have kept me up at night. Stephen King type stuff. After reading p2 of this, it was disturbing, not bad, it had the right effect for the story it was telling. I had to do my usual distancing from the characters to appreciate it, reminding myself as I've done in the past they're just characters. Then I saw p3, wondering what the heck it could be about. I couldn't finish. Re-reading the part where Pinkie decided against cake "if something is just going to fall on it" broke me, knowing exactly what happened. That is not to say this is a bad story, a very good one in fact to invoke such emotion, kudos.
This story seems to fit Ballad of Autumn Dreams perfectly. Although in retrospect, I don't think my heart will forgive me for listening to it while i read this.
ReplyDelete@Jelly
ReplyDeleteThat's just cruel.... :P
@Jelly I actually disagree...
ReplyDeleteI mean, Pancakes is a prequel, but I think it still has the most impact at the end.
I know several series that have prequels that were written after the actual story and that are best read after the story.
I think this is one of those.
Don't doubt yourself just because you impacted a few ponies feelings too much; that's a good thing.
The lack of happy use of hammock, as implied by header image, leaves me wanting more. :(
ReplyDelete@MABE (I38VWI)
ReplyDeleteWell, that's just it: Pancakes wasn't written to "hit home" the tragedy of Tree/Star! It's supposed to be a light story to bring a smile to your face. But if read last (especially if read directly after Tree/Star), it is just too jarring.
I think (and hope) reading Pancakes first will, if anything, just make the impact of Tree/Star hit home a bit heavier.
The title sounds like Flutterjack.
ReplyDeletei had to cry a manly tear or 2 (maybe more) on that shooting star one =( it was good well done i don't do manly tears so when I do you no its good.
ReplyDeleteOh... oh god... I was not prepared for this... all of my tears...
ReplyDelete