“So, you haven’t suffered any distress such as gas, soreness, or nausea?”
Apple Bloom shook her head, “No I didn’t have any problem with mah lunch... ah didn’t use any of the roast beef of course ‘cause that dream kinda shook me... guess it was for the best.” Still sitting on the new examination table. Still in that brightly lit pleasant white sterile medical clinic. She was being questioned by the vet still, with some success, but not much.
“I really don’t know how to break it to you,” the vet said in a conflicted tone, looking at her mouth critically, “It’s nothing weirder, just kind of bad news. You might wish you turned into a cow for the kind of trouble horses have with diet and nutrition.”
Apple Bloom winced, holding her stomach, saying “So ah’m gonna get sick from a cheese sandwich?”
“If you were a horse, yes,” Dr. Cureall said frankly, “But you’re clearly not there yet. There’s no biological process that could turn you into a horse so it’s not like any of us can assume what’s even happening in your digestive system. Maybe your cheese sandwich is turning into healthy forage? What I’m most concerned with is what you eat from now on.”
Apple Bloom looked aside but didn’t protest. She was going to bet that bacon was off the menu though. The vet took that as encouragement and went on,
“I’m not even sure how far this is going to go,” the vet said with her hands held behind her back looking up thoughtfully, “And I still say that I’m just guessing at what you are. That tail just doesn’t make sense, and your weight? You’re already down to 45 pounds, which is smaller than even a newborn horse! Maybe a pony... but even then, I mean you’re just about 15 years old, so you couldn’t be a newborn. Unless you’re turning into a baby pony?”
“Can we please stop talkin’ about how shmall ah am?” Apple Bloom said fussily. “Ah don’t want to turn intho a baby pony. I–just... just tell Granny what she should feed me.”
Dr. Cureall frowned at Apple Bloom worriedly, but turned to Granny and said, “It’s not very complicated, just tricky. What horses eat are healthy green grasses and legumes, but not too green and some supplement of grains during the winter, oh and salt. She’ll need about 3% of her body weight in food per day. The ratio should go more toward grains if she um... physically exerts herself more, but not in any other situation, as eating too many calories is often fatal to horses.”
Granny frowned right back at Dr. Cureall and said, “If you recall, we do care for horses down at Sweet Apple Acres. Can’t herd cows without ‘em. And they are quite healthy, thank you very much.”
The vet blushed and said in a flustered tone, “R-r-right I’m sorry I just, I’m so used to working with clients who haven’t been around horses.”
“Haven’t you worked with us before?” Granny asked in a curiously puzzled tone.
Dr. Cureall looked at her blankly, and said, “Y–no I haven’t, and I can’t imagine why. Who is your usual veterinarian?”
Granny scratched her arm, saying, “Well, yer know I– I don’t recall. I think she moved outta town recently? Hadn’t thought of it as we don’t got no sick animals at the moment. Guess we woulda called you?”
“Yeah, that makes sense I suppose,” the vet said without looking entirely satisfied by it. “Still, I would like to take a look at your horses to make sure none are colicky or have any respi’tory problems.”
Granny put a hand on her forehead, saying “While I’ll be happy to talk with ye on mah own time, ah think mah granddaughter takes precedence here.”
Dr. Cureall looked at Apple Bloom for an uncomfortably long time before saying, “Sorry, for all I know about animals I don’t think it’s safe for me to make any conclusions about someone who’s half-way. You seem perfectly healthy. Are ya hungry?”
Apple Bloom shook her head.
“Well then all I can really say is, if you get hungry eat a very little bit of everything and see what sticks, but be really careful because if something disagrees with you, ya might not be able to throw up anymore.”
“Ok,” Apple Bloom said wretchedly.
“Now I mean that,” the vet asserted, “Horses cannot throw up. If you eat too much or something bad, you’re going to have to wait for it to go all the way through ya, so be careful.”
“Is there anything else ye can tell us?” Granny asked Dr. Cureall urgently, but the doc just shrugged and shook her head.
“Nope, that’s about all I can do at this point. If you end up with a little horse on your hands then call me and I’ll come right over, but until then I suppose we just have to wait.”
There were a lot less clinic staff watching Apple Bloom now that the novelty had passed. The clinic was a busy place ferrying the injured and ill around to be treated. As such, the uncomfortable silence between the two doctors, Apple Bloom, and Granny, was punctuated by the buzz of a printer in another room and various quiet voices and footsteps. The doctor’s clinic was as close to a hospital as you could get, and Apple Bloom just felt like it was some alien world she’d been thrown into, except she was the alien and the world was normal. Just didn’t make sense how quiet and calm everything was. She felt... unimportant, insignificant.
“I think it would be best if she spent some time in a familiar place,” Doctor Stable suggested gently, apparantly having noticed the same thing. “We don’t know how far this is going to go, and she really needs to be with her family during her final... until she’s seen this through.”
“I’m sure your granddaughter and grandson are terribly worried,” he said to Granny. “You have a wonderful and healthy granddaughter here, which unfortunately means that there’s just not much more that I can do for her.”
“Ah’ll call ‘em to pick us up,” Granny said reluctantly, looking at Apple Bloom with sad eyes saying, “Ah’m sorry we couldn’t do more for ya,”
“No it’s okay Granny it’h–” Apple Bloom sniffed, “Ah mean it’s not okay but what can you do? Just have to... try to keep it together...”
Granny dialed up Applejack’s number, and it was odd because there was a crashing on the other end of the line as if she was walking through thick brush.
-“Yeah?” came Applejack’s voice.
“Hello Applejack it’s Granny,” Granny said in that pleasant thin voice of hers, “The doctors are all done here, and I was wonderin’ if you could come and pick us up?”
There was a pause before Applejack said, “Any good news?”
“Afraid not dearie,” Granny said to her, “But at least there ain’t no bad news.”
“How is she?” Applejack asked.
“Can ah thalk to her?” Apple Bloom asked, reaching up for the phone in Granny’s hand. Granny gave Apple Bloom her phone, and Apple Bloom fiddled with it a bit before just talking into it like it was a microphone. She certainly didn’t need it next to her ears. “Hi, Applejack!” she said into it.
“Apple Bloom!” came Applejack’s relieved voice. “How are you doing?”
“It’s like Granny shaid,” Apple Bloom confirmed, “Ah’m a hlittle smaller, but otherwise okay so far.”
“You just wait there and ah’ll be right by to pick you up,” said Applejack boisterously. “Ah might be a while ‘cause I gotta get outta the woods here.”
“Why are ya in the woods?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.
“Tryin’ to find that clearing of yours!” Applejack answered, “Ain’t nothing doing though. We’ll have to try again together, see if you can remember.”
Apple Bloom sighed, but said, “Okay Applejack ah’ll try my best. Just... please hurry.”
“Ah’m on my way.”
They may have made a bit of a mistake waiting for AJ’s truck out in the parking lot. Soon as Granny and Apple Bloom left the hospital, the press descended on them. But that sounds a lot worse than it was because Canterlot wasn’t a really big town, and there was only one news station. Because of that, there was only one news crew there, two reporters, neither of whom seemed to be jockeying for position. So it was only a maybe mistake, not a really truly.
“Excuse me, do you have a moment?” The man had the same hair as the vet’s, bi-color blue, but had a shorter messier hairstyle and a big red and white baseball cap, and his skin was an even brighter yellow than Apple Bloom’s had... used to be. The woman’s hair fell in messy orange vines from underneath her fedora and she was more of a cream color. Really if you lined the three of them up from woman to Apple Bloom to man, you’d get an even transition in shades of yellow.
“We don’t want no trouble now,” Granny said threateningly. Apple Bloom just looked at the camera already pointed in her direction.
“We just want to ask a few questions,” the lady asserted.
“We’re with the news,” the man explained.
“Really?” Granny said surprisedly, looking at the semicircle of cameras and microphones around them, “Ah had no idea.”
“When did you first–” the lady started but Granny immediately interrupted saying,
“No I don’t think so! We don’t need no dag reporters cain’t yer see she’s goin through enough?”
“Granny,” Apple Bloom said thoughtfully, “No, let them ask questions ah don’t mind. It might be their only chance!”
“What are ye goin’ on about?” she said worriedly in Apple Bloom’s direction.
“Just, please Granny!” Apple Bloom said tugging on Granny’s dress.
“When did you first notice any changes?” the lady interjected asking Apple Bloom directly this time. Granny just threw up her hands exasperatedly.
“They shtarted at 6 this mornin’ but,” Apple Bloom quickly qualified, “Ah didn’t really notice until after lunch today.”
“How did this happen?” the man asked quickly.
“Uh, ah don’t know, but some kind of magic dream ah think,” Apple Bloom offered. “Just uh, don’t touch any golden applesh if you dream about ‘em.”
“Has this ever happened to you before?” asked the lady in short order. Seems like they were alternating questions.
“No it never happened before in mah life!” Apple Bloom declared, “Or in anyone’s life! Maybe like ancient Greeshe or something ah dunno.”
“What are you changing into exactly?” the man asked with an extra note of curiosity because he honestly couldn’t tell.
“T-the vet saysh a horse,” Apple Bloom said nervously, “But it ain’t exactly clear. Ah ain’t never seen a horse this color, or this uh, small.”
The woman turned to the camera and gave a silent signal then. She paused a moment and a light went on, then said, “This is Channel 7 news reporting at the local hospital where a fantasy scenario seems to have come to life. This girl has reportedly been transforming overnight into some sort of small colorful horse. We bring you this exclusive interview with the subject of this unexplainable phenomenon.”
“What impact do you think this has on the scientific community?” the man said in a more grandstandy tone.
Apple Bloom looked at him oddly and said, “Uh ah don’t know, but if the shientific community could figure out how to change me back that’d be real nice.”
“And you say this has never happened before?” the lady put in equally dramatically.
Apple Bloom frowned, and said, “Well if it did, ah would already be a horse, so, no ith ain’t never happened before.”
“How do you think your life is going to change from this?” asked the reporter man.
“Uh, a lot?” Apple Bloom said dumbly, not sure what she should say. “Ah mean, ah cain’t go back to school and all that.”
“Which school are you attending?” the lady asked.
That made Apple Bloom pause. “There’s only one high school in town?” she suggested hesitantly.
“You’re in high school?!” the lady exclaimed taken completely by surprise there.
“Yeah, ah’m a Frethman!” Apple Bloom said with a little irritation bubbling around in her breast, “Ah just started hlookin’ this way when ah got shmaller!”
The man cleared his throat as the lady reporter looked away embarassed, and the man said, “What are you going to do when your transformation is complete?”
Well that was just a silly question. Apple Bloom put her hands on her hips and said, “What horses usually do? Ah don’t know, run around, eat grass?”
The man looked a little flustered at her answer, clearing his throat again and saying, “I see.”
That gave the woman a chance to recover for him, their double team of Apple Bloom being quite effective here. “Do you think this poses a danger to anyone else, or the community?” she asked.
Apple Bloom shook her head, “No it does pose a danger becausth there was this dream ah had about a golden apple, and this ish all cause I picked it, sho like ah said, watch out for golden applesh in your dreams!”
“Dreams of apples,” the lady said to the camera again, “Mysterious transformations, and one girl who remains an example to us all. This has been eyewitness news Channel 7.”
The lady paused a second, then turned to Apple Bloom and said in a more normal voice, “Thanks so much for your time. I’m sorry to hear this wasn’t better news. You should be able to see yourself on TV if you tune in at 10:00 tonight!” she added that last part a bit eagerly.
“Uh, thanks...” Apple Bloom smiled nervously, and crossed her hands behind her back. Doing that felt more uncomfortable, in her arms, than it should have. But Apple Bloom’s flexibility aside, the reporters left her alone then and it wasn’t long before the old green pickup rattled into the parking lot. Applejack was there but not Big Mac, probably so there’d be enough room for all three of them in the cab. Well, two and a half now. Applejack looked pretty good considering, she was smiling at least, if a bit haggard what with the worry lines and puffy eyes. Apple Bloom hoped she wasn’t going to upset Applejack too bad because of all this.
Being short was getting to be a real pain, because Apple Bloom had to climb to get into the cab of the truck now. No more walking up the step into it for her, it looked like. Applejack’s eyes widened when she saw Apple Bloom eye to eye, but Applejack didn’t say anything untoward, and just said in a friendly voice, “Saddle up Apple Bloom, we’re goin’ home.”
Granny followed along behind, and Apple Bloom couldn’t help but feel an immense relief as the truck pulled in reverse and the clinic diminished away in front of her. She felt a lot safer sandwiched in-between the warm bodies of her grandmother and her dearest sister. The sadness that she was going to lose all this, was tempered by that small comfort she felt right now. She was going home.
It was probably hopeless, but Apple Bloom remembered what the doctor said. She sure wasn’t going to let go without a fight. Unfortunately her book bag was... probably still in English class, so she had to think of stuff to ...think about on her own. She ended up just going over simple random multiplication problems. Like seventy-six times thirty-one, save the 76 times one, then three times six is 8 carry the one, then 3 times 7 plus one is 22 for 228 times 10 plus seventy-six, the six falls in there, eight plus seven is fifteen, carry the one so 22 plus 1 gives you 2356. 82 times 96, six times 2 is twelve carry the one add to 18 to get 192...
She must have been muttering out loud because Applejack asked her in a casual tone over the wheel, “Whatcha doing there, sis?”
“Ah’m multiplyin’” Apple Bloom said, a squeak of fear in her throat when she added, “Ah w-wanna see how hlong before I cain’ do that no more.”
“Whattya mean?” Applejack said uncomfortably, keeping her eyes on the road.
Apple Bloom chewed on her finger... she still had those at least, even if they were looking a little... weird. She looked at Applejack again, then back forward. Apple Bloom wasn’t sure how to say it, so, she just said it. “Applejack, horses cain’t multiply.”
Applejack didn’t answer her, just driving along silently, so Apple Bloom went back to mumbling out her impromptu multiplication problems, but as soon as she did Applejack twisted the wheel pulling the truck onto the side of the road. As they rolled to a halt, Applejack leaned on the wheel burying her face in her arms so all you could see of her was her hat. She was... you could tell she was trying to hide it. Trying to be brave for Apple Bloom. But in that crowded little cab there was no way to hide it, the shaking shoulders, the gasping breaths and the... the... the sounds Apple Bloom never wanted to hear Applejack making.
“Applejack, it’s okay!” Apple Bloom said putting a comforting if uncertain hand on her sister’s side. “Ah’m sorry ah didn’t–”
“No it ain’t!” Applejack shouted, her voice breaking as she did. She lifted her head to look at Apple Bloom with tears running down her cheeks. “It ain’t fair!” she repeated, “You don’t deserve this! It should never have happened to you. Not... not you...”
Granny Smith was just sagging forward, sort of paralyzed with grief, and she couldn’t reach Applejack anyway, so Apple Bloom took her sister into as tender a hug as she could manage. She didn’t even realize how desperately she wanted a hug herself, until Applejack hugged her back, pulling against the seatbelt restraints to do so. Apple Bloom felt emotions welling up in her that she didn’t want to feel but... damnit it wasn’t fair. Her sister was just hissing out, “Consarnit,” over and over again, her voice tense with rage and sorrow. Apple Bloom hated seeing her sister like this, but... but how much longer would Apple Bloom even be able to care? She didn’t want to forget Applejack, or her friends, or even her dumb old school.
“Ah don’t wanna forget mah self,” she mumbled, quivering into Applejack’s breast. Applejack was stroking her now, her hand feeling so much larger on Apple Bloom’s back. Apple Bloom wondered if her sister could feel the fur back there. Apple Bloom didn’t know how much of her own back was covered in fur yet, but the hospital gown she appropriated tied in the back so anyone stroking there would be able to feel it, if she had it. If Applejack felt it though, she gave no sign, not even speaking anymore, just breathing slowly and holding her tight.
“Want me to drive?” asked Granny after a time. That snapped Applejack out of it, and she released Apple Bloom looking over at Granny.
“Ah know ah should be practicin’ mah driving, Granny,” Applejack said with weary eyes, “But ah– yeah, ah don’t really feel up to it, if you don’t mind.”
They were soon driving down the road, with Granny at the wheel this time. The farm house approached, presently. The light in the truck grew alternatingly bright and dim as they passed under the shadows of trees long in the late afternoon sun, pulling up to the flattened dirt of their driveway, really nothing more than a break in the trees that didn’t obstruct the roadway. Applejack and Granny piled out of the cab on either side, and Apple Bloom made to follow Applejack out the passenger side, letting her legs down on the step to the ground. Applejack reached out to help her down, but Apple Bloom shook her head and said, “No, ah got this.”
Apple Bloom jumped down lightly to the earth and then as soon as her feet touched down she fell face forward into the dirt.
“Ah’m okay!” she shouted, getting up on her knees. Then she sat up on her feet, but it just wasn’t working that way. They were so darned long and squat now she felt like she was waddling like a duck. So she just stood up on her toes, wobbled a bit, then gave Applejack the thumbs up. No she didn’t fall into the dirt again after that. She did wince at the gritty dirt against her bare foot though. She was missing shoes already.
Apple Bloom couldn’t get to the farm house fast enough, the smooth wood floors so much nicer to walk on than dirt. Applejack and Granny came up behind as Apple Bloom was kicking the dirt off her uh... toes.
“...’s kinda weird,” she said with an apologetic smile. They gave her a look but didn’t say anything. She followed Applejack and Granny into the house then, though she stopped short in the doorway, looking with worry at the door knob of the open door. It was ...at her eye level. Firming her lip, Apple Bloom strode inside, pretending she didn’t see that just now.
The art portraits on the walls in the living room really gave the place a homey look. There was a old dumpy soft brown chair and a fuzzy couch for relaxing on in front of the television, though Apple Bloom herself preferred just to sit by the fireplace in the evenings. Seemed like Big Macintosh had already got dinner started. There was a pleasant smell drifting from the kitchen, the sounds of sizzling, and clanking of pots and plates. It was clear as she stood before them in the entryway that Granny and Applejack didn’t know what to do with her, what how they were looking at her awkwardly and not saying anything. So Apple Bloom tried to break the tension, smiling hospitably and exclaiming,
“Oh man that suh-mells great! I wonder what’s for dinner?”
She... didn’t really know what to make of their reactions at first. Both Granny and Applejack smiled in relief then frowned in horror, then smiled in relief, then frowned in horror, almost in synch with each other.
“Big Mac!!” Applejack hollered pounding off into the kitchen without even taking her boots off, “What the hell are you cooking?!”
Granny looked after Applejack as she ran off like a whirling dervish, then looked at Apple Bloom and gave a very broad open eyed smile, which was pretty much as fake a smile as Granny had ever pulled off.
“So! Uh...” Granny said uncomfortably, “Smells good, eh?”
Apple Bloom nodded hesitantly, and then her own eyes widened as she realized just what she was smelling. “What?!” she exclaimed in complete abject flabbergast. “T-that don’th make no sense! It cain’t be– ah mean,” she stuck her hands in her mouth, but that big gap between her front and back teeth was still there. “Ah ain’ ot uh eef!” she protested.
“You know,” Granny mused almost to herself, “Winona likes to come around sometimes when we have an outdoor barbecue an’ try to stick her nose into affairs. We don’t give ‘er any o’course, but heh... well ah guess um... good news, then?”
Apple Bloom lay her cheek on her fist moodily. “Ah guess it thechnically ain’t cannibalithm as it’h a cow and all,” she speculated.
“I better go stop Applejack from harming yer brother,” Granny answered, turning and lumbering over to the kitchen, leaving Apple Bloom by herself in the living room. Apple Bloom looked around the room on her own, wondering if she should sit somewhere. Normally she’d be helping set the table or something but... she wasn’t sure if she should do anything like this. The table was just too darn tall. In fact, for all that the room looked familiar to her, it was old memories coming to her not new ones, the kind of memories when you were so young they didn’t even seem real. She remembered that chair as being a lot less threadbare, as it was the last time she had to jump to sit on it. She didn’t sit on Mac’s favorite chair though, just walked around looking at how much bigger everything had gotten.
Her eyes fell on a mirror hanging up on the wall beside the white lace curtained window. You could see through the window that it was getting dark outside already. The days were getting shorter on the ways through Fall after the first year of her new school had started. But the mirror was what caught Apple Bloom’s attention. She hadn’t gotten to see herself before she left the doctor’s office... hadn’t really wanted to see herself. But if there was no escaping this, it wouldn’t do any harm in looking at how... she’d gotten. She sure felt different. The biggest difference, her height, unfortunately made that mirror on the wall entirely out of reach. Apple Bloom knew there was a full length mirror mounted on the inside of the bathroom door though, so maybe she could just take a look there.
Apprehension swelled in her when Apple Bloom walked to the bathroom. That she was balanced on her toes without even any shoes was hard to ignore, now that she was paying attention to her... self. The way the hospital gown played across her skin all fuzzily, literally, fuzzily. She hadn’t even checked to see if any part of her wasn’t covered in fur yet. But it was stupid to be scared of a little looksee. It wouldn’t change anything to hide from it, and then she’d just keep changing without even knowing what was happening. And that really was terrifying. So Apple Bloom determinedly swung the bathroom door open. It opened smoothly, allowing her to see herself in the mirror, and what she saw...
The hospital gown was filthy from where she’d fallen in the dirt on it. It draped limply over a girl with a big pink bow in her bright red hair... who looked like a horse. The resemblance was unmistakable now. The animated ears on top of her head. The way her hair attached down around her neck past her skull. Her neck was thicker and longer too, and more muscular. And her nose had... her face had started to push forward into something resembling the beginnings of a muzzle.
How had she not noticed that? She put a hand on her face, feeling the way it curved just slightly outward, the firmness of her sinus cavity a lot longer and broader than it used to be. She could feel the soft warm fur all over it. Well, almost all. There was still some mottling, but it was more fur than bare skin now. She wondered if this was what men felt like when they had hair on their faces. Her face had changed so much, it was no wonder her voice had gotten thinner and a bit more high pitched. Apple Bloom looked like she thought a little kid would look like, if they were a weird horse with gigantic eyes.
She turned around to look at her tail, which waved up as she did so, making her wobble in place. It was long and bushy, and somehow the bright red hair engulfing it had the same sort of shape as the locks on her head. She fiddled with it and, it felt funny to fiddle with it but still somehow weirdly natural. It was natural for her now, being a horse and all, or something. And looking at her tail gave Apple Bloom a reluctant gander at her own legs again.
She turned around lifting up her gown, and... well, at least it wasn’t any creepier than the last time. Her middle toe had gotten dramatically larger and flatter, to the point it was holding all her weight and the rest of the toes just sat there diminutively. With a hand on the mirror she lifted a foot, and she could only wiggle the middle one. The others just felt numb. She looked at her hands in comparison, and they hadn’t changed as much. The middle finger was a lot longer and wider, but she could still move all her fingers. It looked kind of unsettlingly alien when she did though, so she stopped and looked away from it, looking at herself in the mirror again. Her hair could use a brushing she noted idly. She should probably brush her tail too, while she still can.
“Apple Bloom, I...” Apple Bloom heard her sister say approaching from behind, pausing when she saw Apple Bloom gazing morosely at herself in the mirror. “I’m sorry,” Applejack continued, “Ah thought you’d have a bad reaction to the meat, and you obviously didn’t but ah just sorta panicked you know.”
“It’h okay sis,” Apple Bloom assured her, tearing herself away from the mirror. “Ah wasn’t even thinkin’ abouth it either. Plus ah mean it’h not like ah need to be worried. Ah can always pull thingth around, or you c-can ride on me or something.” She tried to keep her tone reassuring, but Apple Bloom just felt so humiliated. She wanted to be making something of herself, not just being used to herd cows around the fields until her bones gave out. “...so, so ah won’t be served for dinner!” she tried to finish jokingly. Nobody was laughing though, least of all herself.
“Well, you wanna uh, try and eat something?” Applejack said standing above Apple Bloom jauntily. “How’s your appetite?”
“Good,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah mean it smells good, so ah could s’try, just a little bit maybe... maybe ah’m not done so I can shtill eat it?”
“Well come on then, we got a place set for you.”
Apple Bloom couldn’t believe it. They dragged out the booster seat.
“This is so humiliatin’” she said at the polished wood round table in their dining room, grumpily seated in a brightly colored plastic chair on top of the chair. On that table obscuring the apple print tablecloth was a steaming bowl of cheesy mashed potatoes and a big plate full of broccoli, three ears of buttered corn, a bowl of fresh sourdough rolls, and a bowl of chilly vanilla pudding for dessert. Big Mac carried out the main course, grilled sirloin thinly sliced. And it all smelled just amazing.
“Sorry,” he said quietly sitting down at the table. “Thought you was a cat last ah heard.”
“Doc said I had to try a lil’ bit of heverything,” Apple Bloom said failing to conceal her eagerness, “So ah’ll just take just a lil’ bit and see how ith goes.” And boy did it go. The mashed potatoes were like a taste explosion, and the sourdough roll was buttery and crisp, and the corn was sweet as sugar, and the broccoli was ...broccolicious..., and the meat was smoky and savory and... really freaking hard to chew. She found herself cutting tiny slivers off of it, but enjoying in regardless of her stupid teeth.
“Any good?” Big Mac asked.
Apple Bloom nodded with an ecstatic expression on her face, saying around a corn cob, “Everythin’ tastes so rich! This corn is like candy!”
All this food was really rich, in fact. Apple Bloom barely got anything in her stomach, even accounting for all the shrinking, and she was already feeling overwhelmed just by the taste of it all. If this is how horses tasted stuff, then she was all for it. Only problem is it was too rich, and her stomach started feeling like she’d done nothing but eat deep fried butter on a stick. She didn’t even know how to explain it to her family, because the food tasted better so why couldn’t she stand to eat any more of it?
She had to just stop halfway through a roll, saying, “Ah think that’s good...” Even though she didn’t feel satisfied, she just couldn’t imagine taking another bite. Drinking water didn’t seem to help dilute it, and it was just sitting heavy in her stomach. She barely ate enough to touch her plate, half a roll a few bites of corn, a few slivers of meat, a head of broccoli. She wanted more but she needed something to take away the impact of it.
“How’s your stomach feeling?” Applejack asked cautiously, having more than made her share of the food disappear.
“Ah don’t know...” Apple Bloom said looking down at her–she was going to have to ditch this ugly hospital gown sometime. Maybe her old clothes in the attic would fit. But she looked down trying to explain it. “Everythin’ tastes better but it’s too much. It’s too rich. If only there was something ta spread it out, ah dunno.”
“Well,” Applejack speculated, “I usually use bread and veggies when mah stomach’s fulla sloppy rich food.”
Apple Bloom shook her head, “The broccoli’s too strong, and the bread has way too much butter in it.”
“But you didn’t butter your bread!”
“Ah know!” Apple Bloom said, ears going down, “But that’s just what ah tasted. It’s weird...”
“Weaker than broccoli, less buttery than bread, hmm,” Granny mumbled loud enough to be heard.
“Hey,” Big Mac called to Apple Bloom.
“What?” she asked him curiously.
“Hey,” he repeated looking at her expectantly. Her ears went up and she tilted her head.
“What?” she asked again.
“Ah said hey!” he repeated in a frustrated tone.
“Yeah you did,” Apple Bloom said back to him, “So what’s goin’ on?”
Big Mac put his rather large hand palm first over his face and drew it down to his chin. “No, hay,” he emphasized.
Apple Bloom squinted, then blinked, then hurriedly stared with narrowed pupils at something else other than Big Mac, way across the room, that was a very important thing to stare at and not part of this conversation at all and she had to absolutely pay attention to it. “Ohh, hay” she said quietly. That wall clock was a few minutes off, Apple Bloom couldn’t help but notice.
“We could er... we gotta figure out eventually... give it a shot mebbe?” came Granny’s voice sounding as uncomfortable with the idea as Apple Bloom felt.
Couldn’t argue with that reasoning. “A-ah guess,” Apple Bloom said reluctantly, “I-it’s probably that. Ah mean it’s... it’s only natural.”
“Ain’t nothing about any of this that’s natural,” Applejack muttered sourly.
Big Mac stood up and left for a while. You could hear the door opening and closing as he went outside to go to the barn. When he came back–oh dear lord he put it on a plate. Apple Bloom stared in despair as he silently placed the plate down in front of her. At least he had the courtesy not to say anything about it, but Apple Bloom was looking at a plate full of grass. Dead grass, mostly dried out. This wasn’t food it was... it was stuffing for scarecrows and something to make hats out of. She took her fork and looked at the plate, then put her fork down and looked, then reached and almost touched it, then she pulled her hand back, said hastily, “Ah’m gonna go to bed,” and bailed out.
Apple Bloom shoved her chair back from the table, jumping down from it to the floor. Luckily the table was there, so she could hold onto it... while she could hold onto anything at all, so she didn’t fall over. It was so unfair though. Her legs weren’t even good at walking on anymore, at least not on two of them. She stifled a whimper then hurried off as fast as she could, down the hall and up the stairs. She didn’t fall down... much.
In her absence, Applejack finally got around to making an important phone call.
Any hope of her life ever being normal again finally evaporated, as Apple Bloom reached her bedroom. Apple Bloom had been in this room so many times, she knew it like the back of her ...hand, and it just didn’t look right with everything all looming over her. Looming might have been a bit of an exaggeration but she was not comfortable with having to stand on tiptoes to see on top of her dresser. Even if she was standing on tiptoes all the time now.
She looked down at herself in disgust, then went to pull open her closet door, rooting around in it for something she could wear besides this awful hospital gown. She ended up pulling out a simple white nightgown, gratefully sliding out of the hospital gown and slipping the nicer one over her head. Apple Bloom usually just wore underwear for sleeping, but that wouldn’t exactly work the way she was now. Not now and... not later. Even with this nightgown it was puddling around her feet and she had to roll up the sleeves.
Horses don’t care about being naked, it occurred to her. Apple Bloom didn’t really like the idea that she wouldn’t be able to care about how she looked anymore. She’d never been real focused on looks, but... that empty look in Winona’s eyes when she couldn’t give a buck about what she had done and rolled in. She loved Winona, but Apple Bloom never wanted to have that look in her own eyes.
Apple Bloom sighed, pulling open her dresser drawer next. She rifled around past some unopened workbooks, and found her old summer reading assignment. Man that had been one crazy summer. She almost didn’t finish her assignment in time to turn it in. She got a bad grade on it though despite turning it in, for the grammar of course. Stupid English class.
Scootaloo hadn’t even finished hers, but after Apple Bloom heard about the book Scootaloo had picked she couldn’t blame her. The cover said it was about someone playing a fancy computer game to save the world, but the meat of it was some slob dodging assassination attempts so he could screw up everyone’s lives and get the girl. Apple Bloom couldn’t get past the first chapter when it was revealed that the protagonist was literally trailer trash. She hated how people misrepresented down to home folk as if they were some kind of disease.
Apple Bloom wasn’t sure how Sweetie’s report went. She had thought Sweetie Belle picked something about pretty songs and love triangles, but Sweetie refused to say one word about anything after she read it.
Thankfully Apple Bloom hadn’t picked a novel that was that bad, so she had in her hands something she had planned on reading anyway, and had read thanks to that assignment. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a great movie and it turned out the book was even better! Well, at least it had lots of weirder things in it, and you could imagine Dorothy as whoever you wanted, even some nobody farm girl down in Canterlot. Apple Bloom smiled with familiarity as she opened it, the page falling open to show the Cowardly Lion. She wished Baum’d written more; he had such a talent for character and sass.
She threw the book up on her bed and climbed on the bed herself, laying down on top of the blankets on her belly, and flipping the pages to the beginning. Apple Bloom was pleased to find she wasn’t having any trouble reading it. She sounded out the words carefully to herself at first, but even with her being all like this physically, nothing she could find mentally had been lost. Yet.
She always envied Dorothy for going to that strange fantastical world, though Apple Bloom definitely didn’t envy Dorothy’s home life. If Dorothy had had a family like Apple Bloom’s then Apple Bloom could understand why Dorothy wanted to get back to it so much, but what happened at the end, when Dorothy went back to a sorry situation, only to have it miraculously repaired for plot purposes, that never sat well with Apple Bloom. Great beginning, confusing middle, mediocre ending. The beginning of the book wasn’t just good for its own merit, though.
It reminded Apple Bloom smugly of the time Applejack’s friend Pinkie Pie tried to tell them all about why she was a fashionist...ish major, about how her life on the farm with her aunt and uncle was all dull and grey and nobody ever laughed, and everyone only worked all the time. Apple Bloom was all, “No Pinkie, that’s the Wizard of Oz.” Pinkie Pie had just blushed beet red right on the spot, mumbled something about a correspondence course and stomped off without another word. So now whenever she wanted to get a rise out of her, Apple Bloom just had to ask Pinkie, “So, how’s Auntie Em, lately?”
Just around the time the Wicked Witch of the East got smushed, Big Mac cracked open Apple Bloom’s door and said, “Hey, y’alright?”
“Yeah so far at any rate,” Apple Bloom called out. “Y’can come in ah’m decent.”
Mac walked in with a pleasant if a bit forced smile on his boyish face. “Whatcha up to?” he asked.
“Ah was readin’ this old book from last summer,” Apple Bloom explained, “Ah know it’s silly but maybe if ah keep on readin’ I feel like ah ...won’t forget how.”
“No clue,” he said sitting next to her on the edge of her bed. “Any trouble?”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Maybe ah’m just not noticin’ but it’s all in there far as I can see. In the book, that is. All the witches and Dorothy and all.”
Mac nodded. She looked at him uncertainly. “Granny’s starting a fire,” he said casually. “You wanna come down?”
“A-ah don’t...” she mumbled insecurely, “Ah don’t wanna make y’all feel unsettled or nothing...”
“If it’s read out loud, we can tell you if you’re doin’ it right,” he responded practically, adding then with some heavy emotion in his voice, “We all wanna spend time with you...”
He didn’t vocalize it, but Apple Bloom could hear the proclamation of “...in your last moments,” hanging over them both like a reaper’s scythe. She faked up a smile and said, “That’d be right nice, Big Mac.”
She stumbled on the way out the hall, leaning onto her brother suddenly for support. Apple Bloom had almost gone... on her hands and knees for a minute there, except she wouldn’t need to use her knees anymore. She didn’t want to fall down like that, because she was afraid that she wouldn’t ever get up if she did. They made it downstairs without incident though, and Granny was there, bent over sticking the poker into a crackling fire in the fireplace.
“Where’s Applejack?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.
“Milking,” Big Mac said.
“She didn’t do that during the day?” Apple Bloom wondered.
“In the woods,” was his explanation.
“She was even putting aside her chores to root around in the woods for me...” Apple Bloom said gratefully but also guiltily, “Just based on some dream clearing that ah don’t even know exists.” He nodded silently.
Applejack burst in the door then, shouting, “Okay! All done!” The events of the past fifteen minutes would have gone down in the annals of cow history, if cows kept history, and cows would have spoken of it in hushed whispers from then on, if cows spoke, or whispered. Suffice to say, she rushed things a bit. “Ap–” Applejack said, then drew up short at the sight of Apple Bloom, standing there in a droopy white nightgown, barely half of Big Mac’s height.
“How you doin’, Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked, in too small and nervous a voice for the farm girl Apple Bloom knew and loved.
“Ah’m sthill me,” Apple Bloom said easily if squeakily. That made Applejack sag with relief. Apple Bloom held up the too large book in front of her saying, “Ah’m gonna practith reading this in front of the fire.”
“Well get on over,” Granny said, wielding a large blanket half draped around herself. So they all did. Apple Bloom ended up wedged in between Granny and Applejack and one of each end of the book rested against each of their knees respectively. She read out loud and didn’t miss a single word, nobody corrected her at least. Though her stupid teeth—or sthupid theeth as she would have put it—kept making her bungle up words, turning her d’s into r’s and such like that. Not just the missing teeth but her mouth felt bigger, like she had to move her tongue more to get to the end of it. Not a whole lot, but just enough to make you miss a ‘t’ every now and again.
The Munchkins and the Field Mice, and the Emerald City passed by, as the fire in front of the four Apples popped and crackled, slowly dying down. Apple Bloom found herself drifting away from the story mentally, too troubled about her own situation. She’d always wanted to be like Dorothy, just a normal farm girl going to a fantastical land, but what was happening to Apple Bloom was like the diametric opposite of that. Everything was completely blessedly boringly normal, except for her. It was like someone took her fantasy and sent her in the exact opposite direction of what she wanted.
Near the end, Apple Bloom found herself fighting to stay awake. The fire was so cozy and she was surrounded by the warm embrace of her loved ones. She would have enjoyed drifting off like this any other time. But here and now, Apple Bloom didn’t want to fall asleep. She wasn’t sure if she would ever wake up again. If she let her bleary eyes close, then something else would open them, and all they’d find in the morning is a dumb animal in her place.
She was fumbling with the pages. Her fingers, well except the middle one, had become weak and unresponsive. It was a bleak reminder of how horses didn’t need fingers, because they didn’t read, or do math, or hold things, or achieve. When the book was over, Apple Bloom didn’t let it close. She looked around the room for something else to read, anything to distract her from what she didn’t want to face. But all she saw is how Big Mac had already drifted off to sleep, and Granny looked like she was nodding on her way. And that made it ten times harder to stay awake.
“Ah don’t want this...” she said, her voice warbling in fright.
“Oh hon, it’s okay,” Applejack cooed to her softly.
“No it ain’t,” Apple Bloom said with a tightness in her throat.
Applejack just curled her arms around Apple Bloom, holding the half-girl to her chest saying, “It’ll be okay, Apple Bloom. We’ll figure something out.”
“I’m scared, Applejack,” Apple Bloom whimpered, clinging to her sister as best as she could. Her emotions felt more unstoppable and tidal than she could ever remember them being. She was actually having to gulp back sobs... it was right to be upset at this. Why did it feel so weird to be upset, then? Was even that changing? Could horses feel grief?
Apple Bloom sighed, struggling with herself as much as with her situation. “Will you promise to take care of me, when it... happens?” she asked tearfully, carefully controlling her voice.
“Ah promise,” Applejack whispered intensely, “Ah promise it’ll be okay, even if you... you lose yourself for a little we will find a way to bring you back.”
Apple Bloom couldn’t answer her, because Apple Bloom didn’t think she could talk without crying anymore, so she just whimpered miserably and pressed herself tight against Applejack’s deceptively soft warmth. Apple Bloom hadn’t cried herself to sleep in... a long, long time, but this night she was crying hot tears one moment, and forgetting herself in the next. Sleep claimed her like a dark vortex, and there were only dreams from then on.