Fate After Failure
Chapter 5: Applejack
Applejack was feeling homesick. Of course, like the others in the Apple family, she would never admit it.
It was the Monday morning of her second week in Manehatten, and she felt worse than ever about leaving home, but she didn't want to have wasted her time by coming to the big city; she wanted to hit it big like her Aunt and Uncle Orange.
After having the first week to settle, Applejack was subsequently enrolled in the closest, most prestigious school in the neighborhood. She had woken up two hours before she was supposed to. She felt grateful that she could sleep at all; she was awash in different emotions that kept her awake for hours on end. What's the school like? The school back in Ponyville was just a schoolhouse, but this one, Applejack figured, was much bigger on account of the higher number of students.
Are the other ponies there nice? Applejack thought. Her experience with city folk was mixed at best; on one hand, they had mocked her comment about not waking up until roosters called, but, as Aunt Orange later informed her, they were laughing with her, not at her, so she didn't know how to feel. I guess I can't judge'em too harshly.
She had the house maids help her with her hair, because, to Applejack, hairstyles were about as foreign to her as calculus, which, to her displeasure, was one of the things she was going to be learning in school. She also learned that she was going to wear the school uniform. It was tight or loose on her in the wrong places, because most ponies who wore them were more petite compared to Applejack's country-grown body.
Regardless, she squeezed into it, and made her way onto the busy streets, carriages and ponies alike bustling in the loud city streets.
The walk to the school was harrowing, and although she left relatively early, she was almost late to the school, and was late to class, because she had to pick up her room number, teacher, and instructions on how to get there.
As Applejack walked into the new classroom, she got many looks from the students, who were talking among each other. The class fell silent as she walked in. The teacher greeted her with a smile, updated her on what the class was working on concurrently, and showed Applejack to her seat, next to a pink pony with straight hair.
"Hi, I'm Pinkamena!" The pink pony next to Applejack said with a smile.
"Hi, Pinkamena, I'm Applejack. That's a long name you got there, mind if I call you Pinkie?" Applejack said, trying to hide her accent.
"I've never been called that before, I guess you can."
"Great! So Pinkie, how long have you been here? I just got here last week, I'm staying with my Aunt and Uncle."
"I've been here for a day or two; I-er, I mean my family found a big rock full of gems, a geode they called it, on the rock farm, so we cashed in, and moved to the city so me and my sisters can go to a good school."
The girls continued to talk, only stopping when the teacher was talking.
A few hours later
The school bell had just rang out, and the fillies and colts poured out of the school like birds from a cage, but Applejack and Pinkamena were walking slower, talking with each other. Eventually, the two got to the sidewalk where they had to go their separate ways.
It was weird to Applejack, how she was so homesick, yet now she had another reason to stay, her new best friend, Pinkamena 'Pinkie' Pie. She had a friend in this crazy new world she was in, and sometimes, one person is all it takes.
Her mind was so wrapped up in thoughts of her new friend, she didn't notice the shouting of ponies, warning her of the runaway carriage, careening downhill. She didn't notice the awestruck faces of fillies who ran away. She didn't notice the carriage, which collided into her, until it was too late.
End of Chapter 5
To Be Continued...