Pear was so brave to defy her stubborn dad so she can be with Bright Mac. It’s easy to see where Applejack and Applebloom got their hearts.

@ArrJaySketch  
Same here.

@Background Pony #E01D  
Granny Smith’s pretty stubborn too. I’d say Applejack gets that from both sides of the family.
 
 
@SeraphimDawn  
According to Mrs. Cake, their mom also had the same ability to help ponies find their purpose that the CMC have.

Every time I load this image, I admit watching a few loops because it’s just so cute. The little squish of her mane and and eyes, and how her body adjusts to the weight of his hoof across her back…it’s just so cute.

@Background Pony #E01D  

 
She does seem like Grand Pear in a way.  
The pushy side of her.
 
While Big Mac is almost a carbon copy of his dad. Apple Bloom being a very affectionate filly, might have picked up from her mother. She’s also the most lady-like member in their family.

@ArrJaySketch  
Like I said, it was a compromise.  
There will always be consequences.  
It’s just fate.

@ArrJaySketch  
Which, I believe, is where Applejack inherited said stubbornness. :)

@SeraphimDawn  
I really do think it was sheer stubbornness, not foresight, and he really regretted his decision.

@Starswirl  
Pear saw the need for his business, which is the livelihood of his family to expand and prosper. Which wasn’t wrong.  
He could have dragged it on. But knowing that would only cause more problems at that point. He just left her.  
It was a compromise.

@SeraphimDawn  
I… don’t see how you could arrive at this sentiment. Grand Pear repeated over and over how he let his anger blind him over the love for family, to his deep regret. It was betrayal and wounded pride, not fatherly affection.

@SeraphimDawn
 
Also, remember the comic dub by DrWolf001?
 
That describes his regret

@Dirty Bit  
That was his main regret.  
But he did at least get to see their saplings before he eventually departing from the world.
 
I can also imagine an alternate ending where he still holds his resentment towards the Apples which accumulates to this point.

@SeraphimDawn
 
It’s a shame it was the last time he ever saw her daughter…

Grand Pear knew he made the right decision to just leave them be. Knowing Pear would be all well with the Apples in his mind.  
In a strange twist, it was a decision out of love for his daughter.

@FSin  
Aye. At this moment in time, Grand Pear hadn’t forced his daughter’s choice yet.

@SeraphimDawn  
Hence why it’s difficult to reverse its flow in molecular rearrangements

@laofuzi  
“Love” is just a complex set of chemical reactions.

Sorry, but LOVE WINS EVERYTIME!!!

Protec

KHAAAAN

@Background Pony Number 17  
True, but her reaction starts after Pear Butter says “but the apples are my family now too”.

@SeraphimDawn  
Probably somepony who we’ve never seen before in both cases, as boring an answer as that is.
 
Though if Bright Mac doesn’t rebound particularly quick, he might end up with nightmare Moon. If Applejack was never born, she might not be going anywhere for a while, and it’s basically Lunamac but with her evil side and his dad (who wouldn’t be his dad in this case because Pear Butter never… Ugh, talking about alternate timelines makes my head hurt. The concept is fine, but trying to figure out how to phrase things can be downright painful.)

Who would have Bright Mac or Pear Butter been paired up with had they been kept apart?
 
Romeo was engaged with a woman before he met Juliet. And Juliet was to be arranged by her father with another man which prompted her to stage a fake suicide.

@FSin  

 
I think what really shocked Granny was Grand Pear being enough of a yay! to actually make his own daughter choose between him and her new husband.