Scootaloo was... fine, relatively fine. She was trying so hard to make a good impression on Rainbow Dash, yet she couldn’t see that Rainbow Dash was plenty impressed with her already, and trying just made things worse. On the plus side, Scootaloo was really paying attention to pronouncing what she said and not slurring in front of Rainbow Dash. But on the minus side, even knowing what they were, Scootaloo still tried not to talk about or draw attention to the things on her back, which Rainbow Dash was having none of. Dash’s unrestrained insistence that what happened to Scootaloo was a good thing, it really helped a lot, but it left tensions high. Apple Bloom would think it was an artificial enthusiasm, just trying to make Scootaloo feel better, yet the more she got to know this Rainbow Dash over the course of the afternoon, the less confident Apple Bloom was that a girl like that could display any kind of subtlety whatsoever.
Rarity returned in her tuna boat, and Rainbow Dash blustered out as intensely as she blew in. With Dash gone, Scootaloo was finally able to relax, just flopping on the floor by the mantle, on her belly, and giving a huge sigh of relief. “Y’gotta relax, Scoots,” Bloom told her earnestly. “Rainbow Dash ain’t gonna bite. She’s fine with you just being yourself.”
Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom standing next to her, then looked away. “Thanks for teashing me about talking,” she mumbled in a dim apology.
Apple Bloom started to nod, but her ears drooped and she flopped down right next to Scootaloo saying in a dejected manner, “Ah wish that weren’t all I could do for you. This is just so much trouble. Wish ah’d never touched that golden apple.”
“It’sh fine,” Scootaloo said appeasingly, “I mean, flying righ’? Thash jusht... wow. Do you really thingk I could fly?”
“It don’t make no sense, a’course,” Apple Bloom said practically. “Your arm...wing thingies are way too small, an’ ah dunno how much you weigh, but you ain’t much smaller’n me. But come on Scoots, get real.”
Apple Bloom waved a hoof over to Sweetie Belle, who was up on the couch now, with her head in Rarity’s lap, while the older girl patiently brushed smooth Sweetie Belle’s still bouncy curls. “Sweetie’s a unicorn!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “That is about as magic as you can get. No reason you shouldn’t be magic too. If I can crack eggs with mah mouth without dropping any shells in, for you flying oughta be a snap!” Apple Bloom smiled brightly, snapping as she did so for emphasis.
Instead of cheering up though, Scootaloo just stared at Apple Bloom like she was an alien. Well, more of an alien.
“...what?” Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo, looking at her uneasily.
“How’d you do that?” Scootaloo asked in an accusatory fashion, pointing at Apple Bloom’s upturned hoof.
“Do what?” Apple Bloom said, looking at it with worry.
Scootaloo just looked at her open mouthed, then shook her head and said, “Never mind. You’re right poniesh can fhly.”
“What?” Apple Bloom repeated, with a confused whine.
“I can totally fly!” Scootaloo said, waddling off. She was already getting better at a basic gait.
Apple Bloom chased after her on threes, brandishing her raised hoof worriedly, saying, “What? What’s wrong with my hoof!”
“Nothing!” Scootaloo yelled back, continuing to fail to avoid her, “Nothing’z wrong. I don’ wannta think abouht it!”
Ever persistent, Apple Bloom finally managed to get a straight answer out of her suddenly flustered orange bird pony friend. “Aw that’s easy,” came Apple Bloom’s confident reply. “You just...” She looked at her hoof again and said, “Uh, ah mean, you... like...”
“Come on Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said derisively, flopping her own front right hoof in the air. “Explaining it should be a snap!”
Now Apple Bloom was staring at her own hoof like it was an alien.
After Apple Bloom’s little... crisis of existence, and her sudden inability to snap her ...hoof, no matter how she tried to repeat the process, she gave up and led the others walking around the house for practice. Bloom led them like a little pony parade, around the couch and the chair so they could get better at turning. Sweetie kept falling on her side, but Scootaloo got it really easy. She was weaving through furniture effortlessly, in short order. And Sweetie stopped falling at least, in short order.
That was what they were doing, passing right by the doorway, when Cheerilee walked in the door with her arms full of big square paper grocery bags, just bursting with food. Apple Bloom watched, as if in slow motion, the librarian’s sudden entry that brought her foot inexorably toward the side of the middle of their impromptu pony train. Sweetie turned her head just at the moment to see that she’s about to be used as a literal stumbling block.
Apple Bloom should have shoved Sweetie out of the way, but in her panic, she just went and shoved Cheerilee instead, rearing up and pushing on the lady to get her upright, before her unbalanced two-legged form could fall, spilling groceries everywhere. Cheerilee righted herself. She—!
“Eggs!” Apple Bloom shouted, when the recoil of Cheerilee righting herself sent the carton of eggs slipping out of the top of the grocery bag. Diving through the air over a squealing Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom managed to catch the carton, going down with a whuff on the floor as her forelegs gently cradled the falling eggs all the way down. “Got ‘em!” Apple Bloom shouted out in relief. She stood up then, carefully placing the eggs on the floor, out of Cheerilee’s way so the librarian could continue to walk inside.
While Cheerilee dumped the bags in the kitchen, Scootaloo sidled up to Apple Bloom saying, “You already convinshed me, y’know.”
“Huh what now?” Apple Bloom asked dimly, looking at the smirking pegasus with confusion.
“Didn’t need to show me more mashick,” Scootaloo answered with no more than that simple smirk.
Apple Bloom deadpanned at her, saying, “Catching eggs ain’t magic, Scoots.”
“Sure sheemed like it to me,” Scootaloo countered insistently. “You are sho good at moving.”
Apple Bloom blushed, and scuffed a hoof saying, “Aww, don’t be like that. You’ll get there too.” With a wince, she bit her lip and added, “Ah mean you’ll probably change back, and this’ll all be over before you do, ah was just speculating.”
They turned to look at Sweetie Belle, as her bright tones pointed out, “If we shange back, we shange back.” She shakily approached the two of them again, saying, “Until then, we can jusht pracshish at it as if we were gonna be poniesh forever.”
Just one of Apple Bloom’s ears went down at that, and she looked at Scootaloo worriedly, but instead of looking down with glum sadness, Scootaloo was looking down with a weird smile. “We’re not gonna be poniesz forever,” Scootaloo said laughing darkly to herself, “Becaushe Apple Bloom’s gonna fihnd the golden hamshter wheel an’ we’ll all turn into hamshters.”
Apple Bloom had to chuckle at that and added, “Yeah and then ah’m gonna dream about the uh... human... golden truck, an’ we’ll all turn human again.”
“Nope,” Scootaloo corrected Apple Bloom, in an official sounding tone of voice. “Zthen we turn into anshropomorphic carsh like in tha’ movie.”
“Oh no!” Sweetie said as if horrified at the thought of it, “And wha’ if I wasz the brohken down htow thruck!”
“Ah’d be that one!” Apple Bloom put in jovially to Sweetie Belle. “You’d be that cute lil’ Volkswagon beetle.”
“And I’ld be a ‘99 Dodgze Viper,” Scootaloo said, smugly.
“...that exact one, huh?” Apple Bloom said skeptically.
“Yup!” Scootaloo said confidently, her nose tilted up just a bit. “It haz the four hun’red fif’y horshpower V-10. It waz the lasht generation wish forged pisthons, but wish 18 hinch wheelz.”
Apple Bloom just looked at her blankly. Scootaloo smiled self consciously, and tried to rub the back of her head (unsuccessfully), saying, “I read abou’ it af’er I shaw the movie.”
Apple Bloom shook her head bemusedly
“We have to get ready!” Twilight Sparkle screamed, hurling the spectrogram machine across the room. Wait, shit. Sorry.
“We have to get ready!” Twilight Sparkle screamed, hurling the spectrogram machine across the room. The warehouse was a very noisy place this evening. Sunset ducked down as the heavy machine passed over her head, landing in the pile with the other...stuff.
The two girls and a dog were in an abandoned warehouse, where they kept all their ill gotten scientific equipment. The aluminum roof curved far overhead, muted sounds of traffic coming through the corrogated walls all around them. Some boxes labeled with “Unimportant box parts” were off to the side, and in them, the slimmer purple girl was rifling through everything she could get her hands on.
“Twilight, you need to calm down,” said the flame haired girl in a concerned yet somehow still unimpressed tone.
“No I don’t!” Twilight shouted, sticking her head out of the box she was completely immersed in. “This is big. This is huge! This could change everything!”
“This is a... new development,” Sunset admitted, hands raised as if in defense, but really she just wanted to catch the automobile code reader in those hands, before it landed and broke something. Spike was being his usual intelligent self, and hiding behind a box out of the way of this purple storm of scientific fury. “But there’s no reason to freak out!” Sunset shouted, dodging another... a thing. She put down the reader and stood up in time to catch a surge protector. “Twilight, we can’t even use half of this stuff!” she exclaimed, catching a flying egg beater in her other hand. “Twilight!” she shouted in exasperation.
Dropping everything, Sunset just strode forward and grabbed Twilight around the shoulders, before she could hurl something else, saying to her face, “You need to calm down!”
“No I don’t!” Twilight said struggling against Sunset.
“Yes you do!” Sunset countered, “There is no reason to panic! Twilight!” Twilight stopped struggling in vain, and Sunset told her eye-to-eye, “I’m not stupid. What is really going on?”
Twilight looked at Sunset with a trembling lip, then reached forward and hugged her. “Ack!” Sunset said intelligently, flailing backward at the sudden affection, making the box wobble as Twilight surged out of it.
“Oh Sunset,” Twilight said sorrowfully, “I messed up. I ruined everything!”
Sunset extracted herself from Twilight, and Twilight from the box, and the girl soon stood there guiltily, exclaiming at Sunset, “Apple Bloom was right there! Poor little Apple Bloom, and she needed my help. And I yelled at her! And ran away...”
“She’ll understand,” Sunset said as soothingly as she could, “You’ve been through so much!”
“No I haven’t!” Twilight said through angry tears, angry at herself as she stalked away from Sunset. “This is only my 5th cycle. I get to visit my friends every year! You—” Twilight got a blank look on her face and turned away.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said softly, “That was terrible of me.”
Sunset just laughed, “My fifth one I punched out everypony who tried to get in my way. Even Principal Celestia.”
“You punched the principal?” Twilight exclaimed aghast.
“She caught me ransacking her office looking for whatever was causing this time loop,” Sunset explained. “Besides, it was the closest I could come to getting back at Princess Celestia. I was pretty uh, vengeful back then.”
Twilight seemed to have broken again, so Spike spoke for her, agreeing with Sunset as he said, “Yeah, you really were a huge—”
“Finish that sentence and I’ll make you a female dog,” Sunset growled at him.
“I’m just telling the truth,” Spike said itching at his ear. “You’re good now, so it doesn’t matter if you used to be evil.”
“I never was evil,” Sunset insisted to the dog levelly. “I was just... really, really frustrated.”
“And now?” Spike asked with a head tilt.
“Tired,” Sunset groaned, feeling her shoulders sink.
Twilight seemed to have recovered, and Spike had returned to her side, nuzzling her warmly. She placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “We’ll get through this,” Twilight said comfortingly. “I just have to figure out how to talk to her without... blowing up at her. Again!”
“You’re not used to being angry, are you?” Sunset said mockingly to Twilight. But then Twilight actually blushed at her words, and turned away in embarassment. Was she really that not used to being angry? Sure Twilight had been nose bleedingly cheerful the past 3 years, but she couldn’t be that much of a goody two-shoes?
Sunset decided not to bet on that.
“Don’t worry,” Sunset continued, “If I know my temper tantrums, that was in the heat of the moment, and now that you’ve had some time to calm down, you’re not going to do that to Apple Bloom again.”
“I sure hope so,” Twilight sighed, leaning against her puppy’s cheek rubs. “I just... she looks exactly like Apple Bloom.”
A beat.
“Okay, okay yes I know,” Twilight said waving her hand at Sunset clumsily and blushing. “What I mean is I know she’s the Apple Bloom counterpart in this universe, but in our universe I know Apple Bloom. She’s quite possibly the most adorable filly in Ponyville. You know once, before all this happened, she asked me if I could use my magic to give her a cutie mark?”
“What did you tell her?” Sunset asked curiously.
“I told her the truth, that a cutie mark can only appear when your postcartunculus matures,” Twilight said, “And she wasn’t familiar with the anatomical term, so I told her it can only appear when the time comes, but she just wanted one to attend a cuteciñera, Diamond Tiara’s in fact.”
“How old did you say these fillies are?” Sunset asked skeptically.
“I know!” Twilight exclaimed. “The alternates here are aged so weirdly! I’m hardly out of journey age, Apple Bloom is a school graduate, and Cranky Doodle looks like he isn’t a day under 300!”
“Needless to say, It’s the nature of this world,” Sunset explained. “Why ponies are—I mean humans are biased toward the age to attend this high school is like asking why the sky is blue, or why the sun experiences a gravitational lens effect when it rises and sets. It’s just something you have to get used to.”
“Supposedly they’re shorter lived,” Twilight pondered. “Yet they don’t exactly have much opportunity to experience a full life span with this time spiral. There’s just no way to gain enough experimental evidence in so little amount of time!”
“Yeah, but!” Spike barked. “What were you saying about Apple Bloom? I know her too! I mean, our Apple Bloom, not the one here.”
“It’s just when I saw her transformed into a pony,” Twilight said, “The resemblance was just so uncanny. I thought... maybe it was stupid but I thought maybe she was Apple Bloom, here to explain why the portal isn’t working, another accident courtesy of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
“Then she wanted to be changed back,” Twilight said clutching her head, “And all I could think was, why? I wanted her to be the pony Apple Bloom, not a weird mixed up human Apple Bloom. I wanted to go home, not... her! I just took it all out on her, without once thinking about her feelings, and she was just—”
“She was just a little filly!” Twilight said on the verge of a sob.
Twilight looked at Sunset in a speechless plea, but before Sunset could think of what to tell her, Twilight’s face fell neutral. The purple girl took a deep breath to compose herself, and she said more evenly,
“After the cuteciñera, Apple Bloom, my Apple Bloom that is, went through the library shelves on her own, and managed to find and, at least partially comprehend Maxwell’s Many Manifestations. She trotted up to me not two days afterward absolutely hopping mad because—”
“The novelty cutie mark spell,” Sunset cut in with a look of surprise.
“Yes, I...” Twilight blushed and toed the ground. “I was trying too hard to be a good moral example, I suppose. It turns out several of the foals attending the cuteciñera had novelty cutie marks, themselves, and Apple Bloom was rather... ostracised for it. She... Apple Bloom that is, she tried to teach me the spell on the spot, saying I had no right being a ‘big fancy unihorn’ if I recall her wording, if I didn’t know a simple thing like that.”
Sunset tilted her head, asking warily, “...did she?”
“Oh I knew the spell,” Twilight said hastily, “In fact she got to have bells on her hindquarters for the next week, as a token of apology. She taught me that a lie is only a lie if you try to get ponies to believe it. If it isn’t deceiving anypony, then it could just be a little vanity or... social lubricant.” Twilight sighed, twirling a lock of her hair around a finger. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, what I saw last Tuesday was a scared little filly, but it was also Apple Bloom, in a sense. I yelled at her, but... I think she has what maturity it takes to weather whatever I can throw at her. I really don’t need to worry about talking to her this weekend.”
Twilight kept twirling her hair, until Sunset added, “But you’re still scared.”
“It’ll be fine, I just,” Twilight nibbled at the hair on her finger saying, “I’m just a little nervous, and... you think she’ll be mad at me?”
Sunset blinked. “Yes?” Sunset tried, and Twilight deflated at that. So Sunset tried something else. “She’ll understand,” Sunset said, “She’s a smart kid. Foal. Whatever. Doesn’t mean she won’t be mad, but if you sincerely apologize, I think she’ll be just fine.
“I could be wrong,” Sunset added, heaving to toss some useless equipment back in the box. “I’m sort of new to this whole friendship thing.”
“No, you’re right Sunset,” Twilight said intently. “I will sincerely apologize; I owe it to her, and it’s vitally important that I help in any way I can, whether predicting the future or adapting to the present. I can’t stop hiding from this.
“From them...” Twilight added with a whisper.
Sunset eyed her uneasily, but Twilight didn’t say anything, just kept chewing on her hair like it was wheat stalks. “So, now that you’re calmed down,” she said finally. “You are calmed down, right?”
Twilight inhaled evenly. “Yes, I am calm,” she confirmed.
“What equipment do we really need to bring?” Sunset asked, indicating the mess Twilight made of their stash. “Help me put together a checklist of these things, would you?”
Twilight smiled, and did.
The snow would come before the weekend did, tiny little motes of white descending from the featureless grey clouds above. It was a bittersweet time for Apple Bloom, both happy that she had her friends to help her with this, and happy that she could help them so much now. After having been helpless all year, it was such a relief to be the one who could provide needed assistance.
On the other hand, or hoof as it were, Apple Bloom was dismayed at just how much help her friends needed. This pony thing was no laughing matter. Apple Bloom had forgotten how long it took her to acclimatize to it, and days passed with neither Scootaloo nor Sweetie able to get more than a slow walking pace, and their new mouths so inscrutable they still had a hard time with lisping. She had to say they were improving in leaps and bounds faster than Apple Bloom had, since they had an experienced pony to pattern themselves after, but days of improvement just couldn’t add up to months of improvement.
She had expected the most resistance from Scootaloo, so was surprised when it was Sweetie Belle who gave her the hardest time. It was just subtle noncommittal actions you couldn’t really pin on her, forgetting lessons she should have learned, or pretending she couldn’t walk as well as she could, but it was really starting to get on Apple Bloom’s nerves. Little suggestions that Apple Bloom’s home couldn’t provide for her the way Rarity’s place could, not outright admitting to missing the hustle and bustle of the city, but just implying it with a sigh or a dull stare at nothing in particular.
Scootaloo in contrast was going all out to convince Apple Bloom that she was totally fine with this and it didn’t bother her one bit. And the funny thing is as powerful as Scootaloo was in denial, it sort of started working. Her attempts to act like she was enjoying herself turned into enjoying herself, without any sort of subterfuge involved. It was sort of contagious too. Scootaloo joking about the proper form of her waddle even made Sweetie Belle crack a smile, a small one at any rate. And she was the one who got all three of them doodling in an attempt to write with one’s mouth. Apple Bloom was the only one who could write anything legible, but the others were still having fun drawing pictures and testing the limits of their new bodies.
But at the end of the day, Sweetie was still sitting there, stared dully outside at the lightly falling snow. She had dragged a chair over by the window, so she could climb up on it and perch there. But she just didn’t seem too enthusiastic about what she was seeing. Just perching there, looking at nothing in particular. Apple Bloom walked quietly up and looked to the white unicorn.
They had been practicing walking up until lunch, when Granny announced there was fresh apple slices, and sweet buns, and hamburger bites. Granny took off work early that day just to spoil her grandchild a bit, and her friends as well, who were sorely in need of some comfort. They used their new walking ability to fall over themselves to get into the farm house, giving Apple Bloom the idea that she may be waiting a while before either of them can run with her. They each ate a hot bun fresh out of the oven, a bunch of apple slices, and one teeny little hamburger bite. After that it was hay, hay, hay, and it was great for Apple Bloom at least. She just loved the... the feel of it, or something. She was pretty sure her friends were enjoying the hay too though. Nice and relaxing to sort of stand there like cows eating hay together. Or horses, as such.
She hoped it was nice at least. Sweetie didn’t really want to talk about it, and Scootaloo just blushed and said it was totally cool and she was totally fine with it, no problem at all. Scootaloo was a pretty terrible liar, that’s for sure. The three fillies all had happy bellies after a balanced meal, but perhaps not as unanimously happy minds. Each troubled in some way, and Apple Bloom only really knew of her own troubles, her worries about her friends, her insecurity about being able to provide what they need, and her guilt at them having to go through something they never asked for, at least, not outside of asking in jest.
Scootaloo was off taking her nap, because well... ponies slept a lot more than humans, or even real ponies for that matter. But Sweetie didn’t join Scootaloo, and just went off by herself, then sat there looking tiredly out the window. It was at least a good time to... talk, talk with Sweetie, without Scootaloo there to make her feel silly, or put on the spot. But what do you say to someone like this?
“Hey Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said, drawing the girl-gone-unicorn’s attention. “Mind if I join you up there?”
“Hknock yourself out,” Sweetie said in a less than friendly tone, just going back to staring outside. The little soft white unicorn was just the right height to use the arm of the chair to hold herself up on two legs. Her big two toned curly tail was spreading out behind her, pressed against the seat of the chair like a fan. Sweetie Belle... she probably wasn’t doing that, just to try to feel human again. It was necessary to rear up like that, for a little pony to see out the window. But it worried Apple Bloom, nonetheless. Seeing Sweetie as uncomfortable with her body as Apple Bloom had been at first, it was hard to take.
Apple Bloom climbed up a lot easier than Sweetie Belle had, and joined her in looking out there, also rearing up on two legs to see outside. Wasn’t much to see. The fall leaves had fallen, and wasn’t any more to be done besides cover them up in snow. Scootaloo was excited at the possibility of sledding as ponies, but Sweetie was... not. Apple Bloom didn’t bother Sweetie Belle, but her presence there was enough, and little-by-little, Sweetie’s expressive new ears edged downward.
“I hate this,” Sweetie said bitterly, without looking at Apple Bloom. And that was it.
Apple Bloom sighed, and said, “Ah’m worried about you, Sweetie. This pony thing’s really gettin’ to ya. Can y’ tell me what’s on your mind?”
“I don’ know,” Sweetie said, slumping on the chair leg. “It’s jusht stupid.”
Apple Bloom watched her a sec, then said, “Ah had to drop outta all mah classes. Ah been living like a prisoner in mah own home, because people won’t take kindly to turnin’ their whole world upside down. Less seen of me the better. Ah couldn’t write a single word for the last three months, and even now ah cain’t write better’n a grade schooler, because ponies ain’t built for writing, and ah’m just using my mouth ta cheat that.”
Apple Bloom looked out the window, and continued with, “There’s a lotta fun things about being a pony, but there’s a lotta bad things too that ain’t no fun. Trouble is, ah only know the bad things that I can see. The more ah go on still being a pony, the easier it is to stop even noticing them. Ah barely miss mah hands anymore, not because it ain’t harder without them, but because I just cain’t even remember what it was like to have ‘em.”
Sweetie Belle spoke up, saying glumly, “I don’ wanna forget habout my hands.”
“Y’had real nice ones,” Apple Bloom said sympathetically. “Always kept ‘em nice and clean an’ manicured, and I just cut my fingernails on occasion.”
“You really sztart thinking of your appearance, when you’re living with...” Sweetie trailed off, then shook her head. “No, i’s fine if you know I wasz living with Rarity. I don’ um...” Her tail swished irritably, “I supposhe I do not have to worry about the orphanage anymore, if I’m like this, but she...she kept us both out of... that. I wish I coul’ do the same for Diamond HTiara... Tiara.”
“Y’really ain’t got no parents, Sweetie?” Apple Bloom asked bemusedly, before clamming up and blushing angrily at herself. That was wrong to ask.
Sweetie took it gracefully though, and in fact gave it more thought than you’d expect you’d need for a yes/no question. “I sthink I do,” Sweetie said uncertainly, “But I haven’ sheen them in... I mean, they went away a long time ago. I guessh they were on vacation or shomething, but then Rarity had to get the apar’ment, and she didn’t zsay anything bu’... I don’ sthink they’re coming back.”
“Somesthing musta happen’ to them, so...” Sweetie sighed. “I jus’ don’ know. Doesh that make me an orphan, too?”
“It’s kinda mysterious of a coincidence,” Apple Bloom mused quietly. “We just got to be friends like, forever ago, an’ we never even knew that you and I both ain’t got... y’know. Ah got mah granny, so it’s easier on me, and Applejack, an’ Big Mac. Granny teaches us everything about runnin’ a household. But ah think Scootaloo might be our only friend who still got parents. And where’s her dad, for that matter?”
“Guessh you’d have to ask her,” Sweetie Belle said with a noncomittal shrug.
“That ain’t what ah’m getting at though,” Apple Bloom said hastily, laying a hoof on Sweetie’s back, not quite a hug, but just being there. “Ah meant that ah cain’t tell every single thing that’s wrong about this. You can probably see things ah never even thought about. So, just... like... rattle off some things wrong with being a pony, and I’ll let you know if you think of something ah ain’t yet considered.”
Sweetie blinked at her. “Just like, off the top of your head,” Apple Bloom pleaded. “Like ah said, about the writing an’ the dropping out. It’s your third day, so what’re you missing so far?”
“Hmm,” Sweetie frowned, pushing away from the chair leg, trying to come down on all fours but just flumping down clumsily on her butt instead. “That, for starterz,” she groaned, while Apple Bloom helped her up, and off the chair to the floor.
“It’s jus’ sho boring,” Sweetie said tiredly, walking aimlessly once she was standing, with Apple Bloom there at her side. “There’s nothing to do here bu’ walk aroun’, an’ play, and work on t...talking. There’sh school booksh to read, bu’ it just feelsz so empty. There’s nobody here.”
She stopped her walking, and turned to face Apple Bloom intently, saying, “That’s really what it isz. I miss... all the people, and teachers, and zstudents. Fighting hthrough the crowdsh, working htogether, all the shtuff we were doing for each othzer... now I can only do stuff for myshelf, by myself. A-an’ I am so gladh that you’re here wish me I didn’ mean you weren’, jus’... it’s so hardh not being able t-to do shings... things for people.”
“You’re helping me lots just by being here,” Apple Bloom said to her sympathetically.
“I know,” she said reluctantly, “But...”
“Ah know how you feel,” Apple Bloom said. “It really does feel paralyzing... but remember ya just changed into a pony. You’ll be lots more helpful once you get the hang of it. Especially that horna yours.”
Sweetie crossed her eyes trying to look at it. “Do you really hthink I can ushe magic with it?” she asked, in a bit of an awestruck tone.
“Yeah, like real magic,” Apple Bloom said, “Didn’t Rarity say something about levitation? Sounds more like telekinesis though, with little objects an’ stuff. Levitation is more like lifting a whole person! Or uh, pony.”
“I thingk I can feel the magzic,” Sweetie said quietly. “I keep feerling something going sthrough it. Like, vfibrating but more liquidy. It’s... really weird.”
“Ah was so jealous when you got that thing,” Apple Bloom admitted, waving a hoof dismissively at her past misgivings. “But now that ah think on it, you gotta live with it. Cain’t exactly take it off or nothing. It’s a part of your body, like a foot or an ear, an’ if it does do something weird, you’re stuck there feeling it.”
“It is shcary,” Sweetie agreed, “Bu’ it isn’t dangeroush, Rarity said. She said Shcootaloo was going to break her neck wif thoze wingsh before I um, cast a wrong shpell.”
“Ah know you’ll be careful with it,” Apple Bloom said with a smile. “An’ once you got the hang of it, you’ll be helping people so much, you’ll be making Rarity look bad.”
“Well, I dohn’t wanna make her look bad,” Sweetie said, rolling her eyes. “Buth I hknow what you mean. She said you can even sew with it!”
Apple Bloom grimaced at that. Sweetie tried so hard at that fashionist thing, but it seemed the only thing worse than her sense of design was her cooking. Apple Bloom wasn’t going to call her on it or anything, but Sweetie really needed her sister taken down a few pegs. Maybe then Sweetie Belle would be able to see what she really wants to do in life.
“Don’t take Rarity too seriously,” Apple Bloom cautioned Sweetie. “You know how she can be. An’ what she told us was told to her by that Shimmer girl, who ain’t even a pony anymore.”
“Sunzhet Shimmer shaid she’d come to szee us, tomorrow,” Sweetie nodded hopefully. “We can ask her for sure then, and maybe she can show me shome um... horn things?”
“She was a unicorn, so it ain’t a foregone conclusion!” Apple Bloom said brightly. She added in a more serious tone, “Scootaloo is right up a creek though with those wings of hers. We ain’t got no wingy ponies from the uh... alternate universe. What do you even call those ponies? Pegasus?”
Apple Bloom turned away and fussed to herself, in a dissatisfied tone, “That was just his name though,”
Sweetie just shook her head unknowingly.
“Need to look up the fable,” Apple Bloom speculated, “To find out what they actually call his particular breed of winged horse.”
“Shunset is a mythopo... mythology dramatist,” Sweetie noted with a yawn. “It’sh really convenient I guessh... maybe that’sh why she majored in it?”
“Keep that in mind to ask her,” Apple Bloom suggested, and... Sweetie’s slow amble had uncoincidentally led the two of them to the pile of giant pillows (normal sized pillows to humans) that Scootaloo had conked out on. Between the weird pseudo wings on her back, and the way she was curled up on it, Apple Bloom couldn’t get out of her head how it looked like Scootaloo was up on a bird’s nest. It made her laugh anyway, softly so as not to wake the birdy pony girl.
Apple Bloom hadn’t bothered getting dressed after the first day. She liked the clothes, but without clothes sized for her friends, they’d just feel even more embarassed if she wore them. Sweetie Belle might have been been able to fit in Apple Bloom’s dress perhaps, but it was kind of dirty, totally reeked of Apple Bloom, and there was no way Scootaloo could wear anything without covering up her wings, something that was really uncomfortable for her. Apple Bloom didn’t mind the nudity so much, but her friends were still getting used to it, so she did whatever she could to make it easier for them until they could all get something to wear. They pretty much insisted on her wearing the bow though. Said it didn’t bother them at all. Scootaloo was actually wearing one of Apple Bloom’s bows too, until she got a look at herself in the mirror and promptly sent it flying across the room. And then went and collapsed on some pillows to sleep.
“Y’bout ready for that nap?” Apple Bloom said to a tempted looking Sweetie standing before the pillows.
“Shounds stupid when hyou say nap,” Sweetie grumbles. “I’m notta lil’ kid. Why do we hafta be so tired?”
“It’s either that or go ta bed at like 8,” Apple Bloom said sympathetically. “But it’s just ‘cause we’re ponies, not anything else. We’re supposed to sleep longer because we’re like, better at dreaming ah guess.”
“If you say so,” Sweetie said reluctantly, climbing up onto the pillows beside Scootaloo. If Scootaloo acknowledged them it was with nothing more than a wing stretch and rolling over. Apple Bloom reminded her self she still had to ask Scootaloo if she can get control of those things on her own.
“Are you gonna dream ‘bout the dream princess again?” Sweetie whispered while Apple Bloom situated herself.
“Hope so,” Apple Bloom whispered back. “Ah gotta tell her ‘bout you two. But she takes a long time sometimes.” She didn’t mention the princess’s reaction to Apple Bloom’s story of the purple girl, how frustrated and concerned she was with that girl’s actions towards Apple Bloom, and of course the lack of anything significant at all happening at the Fall Formal. Apple Bloom didn’t know how long it’d take before she snapped out of it, but the princess could stay in a funk for... weeks without any contact. Just had to wait until she came. That princess moved slowly as a stone sometimes, a symptom of her sensory deprivation perhaps. Or whatever was keeping her asleep.
Apple Bloom’s nap wasn’t long enough to dream, so she didn’t see the princess. But even at night she couldn’t find hide nor hair of her. The princess must have still been ruminating over something, was all Apple Bloom could figure. That princess really got stuck on pondering sometimes, on account of her distorted perception of time. But even dreaming on her own, Apple Bloom did enjoy how she could make the dream landscape do what she wanted, sorta. It was easy to lose track of yourself in a dream, but with the princess’s help Apple Bloom had gotten pretty good at catching herself. She used her dreams for brainstorming these days, mostly. Weird way to sleep, but Apple Bloom always woke up refreshed, so she guessed it was working.
In the case of a nap, Apple Bloom didn’t have much time to dream, so didn’t see the others or anything. It wasn’t as peculiar as Apple Bloom had dreamed the night before. That night, Apple Bloom had found herself just drifting into a scene of what looked like Sweetie Belle, as a unicorn, dipping her horn down and touching it to the surface of a murky lake, outside some factory sewage pipes. Crystal clear clean water spread from the spot where her curved horn touched the surface, to engulf the entire lake in crystalline purity. Sweetie stood, a tall, graceful and enigmatic creature who saved the—and then she fell flat on her face. And Sweetie wasn’t a big tall unicorn anymore, just the little stumpy self she woke up as. She was trying to talk and it wasn’t coming out right, and everyone was just laughing at her while she tried, and failed, to stand up.
But not Apple Bloom, no she’d never laugh or tease her or nothing! Apple Bloom just ran forward and helped Sweetie Belle to her hooves. And Sweetie looked at Apple Bloom with that grateful expression that made Apple Bloom understand. You can be weak, and flawed, and clumsy as all get out, as long as your friends are there to help you stand, until you can stand on your own. Doesn’t matter four legs or two, it’s the same thing.
So that’s how Apple Bloom woke, she, Sweetie and Scootaloo roused by the dawning of the sun. Apple Bloom didn’t know why she was dreaming about Sweetie Belle’s insecurities though, and it was weird how Sweetie kept giving Apple Bloom these looks during breakfast and hay time, like Sweetie was appreciative or something. Neither her nor Apple Bloom managed to put it to words though.
Regardless, their little pony nap here was ended by Big Macintosh coming home with Granny Smith. The three of them were wide awake pretty soon, clamoring for bits of sweet dough in the kitchen from Granny’s spoon, to varying degrees of ability. Watching her friends whether happy or sad, Apple Bloom had to feel confident that she was at least doing something right. No matter how hard it got for them, she’d always be there for her friends, to help them up from wherever they fell.
The weekend couldn’t come soon enough. Applejack said Diamond Tiara didn’t uh... want to come over. Apple Bloom really worried about that. But Applejack also said that her friend, the Sunshine girl was coming over, and she was going to clear up so much for them. Apple Bloom loved her sister, but Applejack just didn’t give Apple Bloom the benefit of the doubt sometimes, trying to protect her from the truth instead of preparing her for it. With a direct line to the flame haired girl, Apple Bloom really hoped she could get her questions answered, instead of being treated like a little kid, just because her species happened to look that way.
The three pony girls were outside, when she arrived. They were not so much waiting for that Sunny girl to arrive, but instead it was the simple fact that there was snow on the ground! That meant snowballs, wait they ain’t got hands to throw them with. But it meant snowmen, oh wait you need hands to... but no, maybe you could...
And so Apple Bloom built a snowman with her nose, bumping the little ball around like a football shaping the snow onto it until she could roll it up to where the other one was. Sweetie helped by putting in twig arms with her mouth. She wanted to use her “magic” as Rarity specified, but all Sweetie got from staring at the sticks was a constipated expression on her face. Sweetie didn’t mind using her mouth though, because Sunny Shiny was coming today, and she knew all about how to get horns working.
So Apple Bloom rolled three balls one on top of each other, the snowman coming... about to her chest in height. Sweetie stuck twigs in the little thing as arms. And Scootaloo took a flying leap and belly flopped on top of it, flattening it to the ground.
“Waugh!” Apple Bloom squawked scrambling back as the orange beast crushed the snowman beneath her unyielding bulk.
Scootaloo screamed “Waugh” too for a different reason, struggling to rear up onto her hooves going “Colcolcolcol!” at the snow that encrusted her underside. She shook like a dog to get the snow off her belly, and looked with big eyes between Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Then she stumbled away as fast as she could, crowing, “No regresh!”
“Do that again, an’ ah’ll flatten you to the ground!” Apple Bloom called after her. She didn’t pursue though.
“Leas’ she waited until we finished it thish time,” Sweetie pointed out calmly.
Yep, Scootaloo was a piece of work alright. She could sort of use her wings at least. Not use use them, but move them purposefully. It wasn’t as satisfying as you’d think, because she still had to concentrate to trigger whatever got them to move, and they only seemed to either spread out or fold up. Nothing more sophisticated than that. Scootaloo did not have fine motor control over the things, that’s for sure.
Apple Bloom turned her ear then, at the sound of another car coming up. Specifically, a car coming up about a mile away, but... pony, freaky ears, you know the drill. She squinted down the road, not seeing much, but from the sound of it, it was Rarity’s cadillac. And Apple Bloom knew what that meant. “Hear that?” she said to the other two.
“I sthink they’re here!” Sweetie said excitedly.
“Go fetch someone, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom suggested. “Ah think your mom was in the kitchen.” Scootaloo saluted, and bravely waddled off towards the warm farm house. The three of them should have been colder, but that’s one of the many benefits of being a pony, that extra fat layer or something. Really, the coldest Apple Bloom felt was on her neck where the fur was thinnest. Once the snow stopped melting on them, it was pretty easy to play around in the thin powdery stuff. More snow on the forecast of course, but this was pretty good for a first snowfall. Winters were pretty mild in Canterlot anyway.
Scootaloo returned with Cheerilee, who did have a light jacket on, and earmuffs. The lady’s slower paced 2-legged gait, and Scootaloo’s enthusiastic 4 crunched up to them, and Apple Bloom pointed where she thought she could see the car coming down the hill.
“Yeah thassit,” Scootaloo said squinting off in that direction. “Theresh Rarity an’ her friend’s in the passenger sheat.”
“Seat,” Sweetie corrected Scootaloo.
“Wha’ever,” Scootaloo said with a roll of her eyes.
“I really hope Sunshy is nice,” Apple Bloom said. “She seems real smart, but ah ain’t seen much of her at all.”
“I don’t think tha’s her name...” Sweetie prompted uncertainly.
Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie with surprise. “Shoot!” she exclaimed, kicked in frustration at the frozen ground. “It’s uh... Sun-something ah know that. Ah was thinking Fluttershy but that ain’t right.”
She looked at Cheerilee questioningly, who raised her hands and said, “Don’t ask me. I’ve only spoken with her once, and if I recall no names were exchanged! We had rather... odd things to talk about.” Cheerilee finished with a bit of a guilty smile.
“Well, Applejack knows at least,” Apple Bloom said reservedly. “Ah’ll just go ask her. Y’all yell if they get here before ah’m back.” Apple Bloom didn’t wait for an answer, just gallopped off across the yard, toward where their corral was.
Her goal was past the corral though, at the cow barn. Where all the cows hung out when there wasn’t anything to eat but hay. Which there wasn’t, but they had plenty of hay. Apple Bloom trotted right into the expansive interior, her hooves sounding hollow on the dirty boards, shadows long and covering everything with patches of dark and light, like a cathedral for cows.
“Sis, you still in here?” Apple Bloom called out, walking in the aisle between the stalls. Cows didn’t care one way or another about her presence, which was fine with her. She headed toward the one open stall, repeating “Sis?” and peering around the corner of it.
“Right here, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, seated there in the stool right in the middle of milking one of the cows. “They here yet?”
“They are,” Apple Bloom said excitedly, “Scootaloo saw her uh... her, an’ everything! So uhm, I kinda forgot her name though. I cain’t exactly greet her if I only know it’s Sun... Sweet Sun?”
Applejack laughed at that. “Wise ‘a you to ask, then. Ah don’t wanna see what that girl’d say to bein’ called Sweet. Mah friend is about as sweet as a rutabaga. But her name’s Sunset Shimmer, so remember that good an’ you’ll get along just fine.”
“Sunset, right,” Apple Bloom said, ruminating over it while Applejack resumed making the hot squirts of milk spurt into the bucket. “Sunset Shimmer,” Apple Bloom repeated once more carefully. “Got it. Thanks sis!”
“Don’t sweat it, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said without looking up. Apple Bloom didn’t wait either, just went charging off across the farm again. The car was pulling up when she got back, and she gallopped up to the other two just in time for Rarity to pull her tuna boat to a halt. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were looking nervous now; who wouldn’t be? But they just clustered closer to Apple Bloom, while she looked forward bravely, seeing a girl who must be Sunset get out of the car, and then Rarity from the other side.
“So this is them, huh?” Sunset said down at the the pony girls in a casual tone, striding around the hood of the car as she spotted the three ponies. “They sure do look... like ponies,” she added noncomittally.
Rarity bent down and picked up Sweetie Belle right off her feet like a pony doll, saying to Sunset, “Ahem! Rude.”
“Right, sorry,” Sunset grumbled, glancing aside. She looked at the...two ponies remaining on the ground and said, “So, you heard a lot about me I suppose?”
“Not really!” Apple Bloom said, surprised at the tinge of bitterness in her voice. She added more humbly, “We been waiting till the weekend mostly. Nobody wants t’get the wrong story just ‘cause they were in a hurry.”
Scootaloo practically had her head buried in Apple Bloom’s flank, so Apple Bloom hooked her hoof around Scootaloo’s shoulder and hauled her to face Sunset together, saying, “Ah’m Apple Bloom, an’ this here’s Scootaloo. She’s mah best friend. An’ the pony Rarity’s uh, snuggling is Sweetie Belle. You can see the resemblance, no doubt. She’s mah best friend, too. Ah had two other friends this year, but they ain’t ponies.”
“Well,” Sunset said at once humorously and hesitantly, “Pleased to finally meet you, Apple Bloom. I bet you have a lot of questions for me.”
“Do I ever!” Apple Bloom cheered with an enthusiastic hoof pump.
“OK, 1) Nobody knows why you’re a pony,” Sunset stated then, ticking off her fingers. Apple Bloom sagged a bit at that, but she sort of expected it anyway. She’d have been human by now if anyone had the answers to that. “And 2)” Sunset continued, “There isn’t any way to go to my world, for now. But other than that, I can probably help answer anything you want to know.”
“O..kay,” Apple Bloom said cautiously. “How ‘bout, am ah from that pony world of yours? Is that why ah’m a pony?”
Scootaloo elbowed her and Apple Bloom corrected herself. “Ah mean, are we from that world?” she asked Sunset.
“Short answer: no,” Sunset said, as Rarity set a wiggling Sweetie Belle down to join her friends again, the girl gone unicorn zipping up to listen raptly to Sunset’s every word. “If you want the long answer though...” Sunset trailed off. The lanky flame haired girl then stepped back to the side of the car she rode up in.
Sunset pulled open the back door of Rarity’s tuna boat, and leaned in, beckoning. She then whispered, “Come on, you can’t chicken out now!” quiet enough Apple Bloom suspected none of them out here were supposed to hear it. Then Sunset Shimmer dragged by the elbow, a third girl out of Rarity’s car, who stumbled around the hood of that cadillac tuna boat... and Apple Bloom found herself staring up at the purple girl. The very same one who shouted her down at the Fall Formal.
Apple Bloom couldn’t help from shrinking back, as the nervous girl raised a hand and introduced herself,
“Hi... I’m Twilight Sparkle.”