//------------------------------// // Green Hooves and Dark Secrets // Story: Blanked // by Salnalus //------------------------------// A week passed since that fateful day. Apple Bloom still wasn’t taking her sorta-imprisonment in Sunny Town well, but she was learning to deal with it over time. The only thing keeping her from total depression was Mitta’s kindness, and the fact that she wasn’t evil like the other Blanks. At least, Apple Bloom saw them as evil. They showed themselves to be like some of the nicest ponies Apple Bloom had ever met. But considering the dark and twisted things she learned about their past, she felt rather appalled about befriending the lot of them. Now had been yet another time Apple Bloom ventured off into the Everfree Forest to find Ruby again. It had been a few days since she saw the ghost filly, and besides Mitta, she was the only other friend Apple Bloom had here. “Ruby?” Apple Bloom would call out through the mass of trees and bushes that surrounded her. Soon afterward, she heard the giggling of a cheerful filly just up ahead. No guesses who that voice belonged to. Poking her head out through a bush, she saw the ghostly figure just a few feet ahead, staring right back at her. Those large, glowing yellow eyes of hers lit up Apple Bloom’s face, which Ruby giggled at. “It’s good to see you again, Apple Bloom!” Ruby cheered and stepped back, giving her space to emerge from the bush she was poking out of. “Likewise,” Apple Bloom responded as she brushed away a few twigs that got caught in her mane.. “So… it’s been a week since all this craziness happened. How are you faring?” “A week’s come and gone, but it feels almost like a year…” she complained while holding a hoof to her forehead. “That bad, huh? That’s probably just what being immortal does to you. Time seems to move fast. After a while, you learn to ignore the sense of time, because now, you have all the time in the world. You’re already dead, so you can’t exactly die again.” As time passed, Apple Bloom learned more and more about what exactly her fate meant for her. Time stopped mattering to her, apparently. And being undead, she was now immortal. To some, immortality sounded nice. But if she had to be undead to be so, she didn’t want any part of it. “I know you’re not exactly doing alright here, but… my mother. How is she?” Ruby asked curiously. “She’s kinda the same, really,” Apple Bloom answered in a monotone voice. “I see…” Ruby replied dejectedly. “She really loves me. I wish I could see her again.” A lightbulb went off in Apple Bloom’s head. “Maybe you can!” “I don’t really see how I can anymore.” “Well, you can still go inside Sunny Town, right?” Ruby sat down on her haunches and stared down at the forest ground. “Yes, I can. I’ve actually done it before. In fact, you saw me go inside that abandoned house, right?” Apple Bloom nodded her head. “Right. See, I thought that maybe you can come by and see her at night, when everypony else is asleep.” Ruby shook her head as her ears bent back. “I-I can’t do that. Because of… Grey Hoof.” “What about him?” She closed her eyes and sighed. “One time I sneaked my way back into Sunny Town, and Grey Hoof actually saw me. As soon as he did, he got the others’ attention, except for my mother. She wasn’t with them. They chased me back out before I could see her. I looked out there every single night for a while after that, and every single time, Grey Hoof was out there, watching for me. I’m sure he doesn’t need sleep. I pretty much gave up my chances of ever seeing my mother again when that happened.” That’s pretty terrible, Apple Bloom thought. She felt like she had to cheer Ruby up. “If it helps, she seems to be doing just a tad bit better whenever Ah spend some time with her. She says she doesn’t feel as lonely as she usually felt with me around.” Ruby lifted her head up after hearing that, and a smile was beginning to form on her face. “Really? She’s feeling happy?” “Well, not totally happy…” Apple Bloom corrected as she rubbed the back of her head. “She’s still really down about not having you with her. But she doesn’t look as depressed as she usually does now.” Unexpectedly, she felt Ruby throw her forelegs around her neck to hug her tight, catching her off guard. “Thank you so much, Apple Bloom, for looking after her for me. It means a lot that she’s even a little happier with being less lonely.” Without saying a word, Apple Bloom returned Ruby’s hug. She felt like that was the best thing she could do right now. After letting go, Ruby wiped a happy tear from her eye. “I wish I could see her myself though, or at the very least, be able to talk to her.” Just then, Apple Bloom got another idea, and the confident-like face she had was something Ruby could see very clearly. “You have another idea, don’t you?” There was no denying it; she definitely had one, and she thought it was full-proof. “What if Ah send messages ‘tween the two of y’all? You can talk to your mother, and she’ll be happy knowin’ her daughter is still out there somewhere. It’s the perfect plan!” Apple Bloom was so proud of her plan, she hopped up and down in excitement in a way that was reminiscent of Pinkie Pie. Ruby, however, wasn’t so sure of this plan. Sure, Apple Bloom could act as a correspondence between her and her mother. But the look of disbelief on her face held many messages, one being that she thought her mother wouldn’t believe that Ruby was still alive, not after what happened in Sunny Town. Once Apple Bloom’s little bout of elation subsided, she looked to Ruby, only to sense a bit of discomfort in her face. “Ruby, what’s wrong?” Ruby ended up explaining to Apple Bloom about the doubts she had about her oh-so-brilliant idea. Unsurprisingly, she was quite taken aback by what she was hearing. “Ah can’t say Ah understand. All Mitta wants is to be reunited with the filly she loves. Even if she can’t exactly have that, this has to be the next best thing, right?” “How exactly do you think my mother will react to seeing me as a ghost of my former self… literally? And not only that, but what if the others find out? They’d make sure I was gone for good.” At this point, she looked distressed. Her ears folded back, her head hung, even when she looked back at her flank; more specifically, her cutie mark. “All because of this mark. Turns out I’m good at finding things. The only thing I can’t find now is happiness.” “But Ruby…” Before she could say more, Ruby held out a hoof as a signal to stop talking. “Apple Bloom, please. Don’t tell my mother about me, at least not yet. I’m not sure about this right now. For now, just keep her happy. That’s all I can really ask for at this time.” Apple Bloom didn’t understand the ghost’s wish to keep it a secret, but she chose to respect it. “Fine, Ah won’t say anythin’. You’ll still be around though, right?” Ruby lifted her head and nodded eagerly. “Yeah! The afterlife doesn’t really leave anything for us ghosts to do except wander around aimlessly. So yes, I’ll still be around.” “Alright. Ah’ll just head back to Sunny Town for now. Ya take care now!” With all that taken care of, Ruby rushed past Apple Bloom toward the way she came in before she disappeared, leaving a hoofprint trail made of light that led back to Sunny Town. After a few minutes, she found herself back at the entrance, where she found Three Leaf laying down atop the grass. “Heya, Apple Bloom!” she exclaimed as she waved a hoof at the filly. “It’s a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like these, kids like you…” Before she finished her statement, which Apple Bloom felt cautious about for some reason or another, she sprung up to her hooves and held one of them out for Apple Bloom. “...should help me water the vegetables! It shouldn’t take long. Come on, what do you say?” “Gee, that sounds fun and all…” Apple Bloom replied in a way that almost sounded sarcastic, “but Ah should probably go an’ check up on Mitta.” “Oh, that’s okay! At most, it’ll only take about half an hour, but with you there, we can do it in half the time! And after we’re done, you can go straight back to hanging out with Mitta! It’s a win/win, don’tcha think?” Apple Bloom was still feeling wary about Three Leaf, being one of the many ponies in Sunny Town that only a week ago tried to murder her and succeeded. But there wasn’t really much to do in Mitta’s house, and she really didn’t want to stay in the forest either. In fact, Apple Bloom was wondering just what there was to do around Sunny Town. For the past week, she just stayed with Mitta inside her home, but that became uneventful. The ponies in Sunny Town weren’t hostile to her. At least, now they weren’t. If anything, she was treated like a V.I.P. here. She didn’t know whether to feel amazed or uncertain, and she felt uncomfortable about it. To avoid the monotony of sitting inside with Mitta all day, however (despite it being the only place she felt the safest in), she decided that maybe doing this one little thing wouldn’t be too bad. “Alright, let’s water your vegetables, or whatever…” she replied dryly, even though Three Leaf was too excited that she said yes to even pick up on her hesitance. She gladly led Apple Bloom to her home in the northwest corner of Sunny Town, which looked to be about the greenest area in the town, both figuratively and literally. On either side of the pathway to her house, many different kinds of vegetables were planted in the dirt, such as cabbages, carrots, potatoes, and some others. From out of nowhere, Three Leaf handed Apple Bloom a watering can and pointed to the right side of her front lawn. “How about you get to watering that side while I water the other side? I know this isn’t much, but I have a much bigger garden out back.” She then started to tip the can, pouring the water out and sprinkling it over her side. It wasn’t the most fun thing in the world, but at least Apple Bloom was doing something different this time. Even as she watered the field, her mind wandered on to other thoughts. She wondered more about the relationship between both Ruby and Mitta. She knew that they were mother and daughter, but there was more to it that Apple Bloom was thinking about. She remembered Mitta telling her that Three Leaf used to be her best friend. If Three Leaf knew anything more about them that Mitta didn’t told her about, it would be a good time to ask about now. “Hey, Three Leaf,” she started, with a bit of hesitation, “is there anythin’ you can tell me about Mitta and Ruby?” “Oh, where do I start?” Before she could ramble on about almost everything about them, she mentally stopped herself short to save Apple Bloom the trouble. “But I’m sure Mitta has told you just about anything you wanted to know anyway. I don’t know if there’s anything I can tell you that she already hasn’t.” “Hmm…” Apple Bloom pondered about what she could ask about. Then it hit her. “Mitta is Ruby’s mother. So what about her father? Where is he?” Three Leaf took a short pause, then suddenly started back up again. “Now that you mention it, I actually don’t know anything about that myself. You see, about ten and a half years before the incident with the Cursed One… er, Ruby, a pregnant mare entered our fair town. And that mare was Mitta. She was alone though, so whether or not she still had a lover was unknown to us. And we never really bothered to ask, thinking it was something personal to her.” That was quite a mouthful to take in. The fact that she may or may not have had a lover wasn’t all too important, but she did learn one thing. “So you’re sayin’ that Mitta ain’t originally from Sunny Town?” “Yup! As for the rest of us, yes, we are from here. She eventually was told of the urban legend of the MMM.” “The MMM?” Apple Bloom questioned with a raised eyebrow. “The Multiple Mark Mayhem. That’s the incident where many ponies living in Sunny Town, long before the COI, had many marks appear all over their body, and they would do things related to the pictures the marks had shown against their will. Mitta probably told you about that too.” “And the COI is…” “The Cursed One Incident. You know, the one with Mitta’s daughter.” “Right…” By that time, they were both finished watering the front of the house, and Three Leaf was proud of their accomplishments. “Great job so far, Apple Bloom! I got some more in the back, if you’ll follow me.” Three Leaf started to lead Apple Bloom around the side of her house to water the rest of her vegetables. As fruitful as the conversation was, she wondered if there was more she could get out of Three Leaf, or perhaps the rest of Sunny Town.