Sweetie Belle groaned. Her alarm clock seemed to be ringing in her ears. She yawned, reluctantly got out of bed, and switched off the alarm clock. She felt like crawling back into bed to go to sleep, but she knew that she set her alarm for a reason. It was time for school.
As soon as she started heading downstairs for breakfast, a smile spread across her face as she realized... she was graduated. Once Sweetie Belle rushed down the stairs eagerly, she met Rarity at the bottom.
"Hello, darling," Rarity greeted her. "You're up early. What's on your mind?"
"I thought I had to go to school," Sweetie Belle admitted with a laugh.
"Oh," Rarity replied returning a chuckle of her own. "Well now you have a full day of freedom. What are you going to do?"
"I'll go see my friends!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
"Great idea," Rarity complimented.
Sweetie Belle finished her breakfast and burst out the door. She felt the wind brush her coat as she ran. She didn't mind the feeling of the wind most of the time, but the excitement made the rush of the wind feel amazing. As she looked across Ponyville, the buildings and ponies were a blur as she rushed by. She didn't know how fast she was going, but she did know it was at least a gallop. Most of the ponies she knew were different. She could still make out some blatant features. Like the Cake Twins who were now 4 years old. Pumpkin Cake was very calm and collected and tended to be very smart. Pound Cake, on the other hoof, was playful and labeled as a bit over the top.
Sweetie Belle arrived on Sweet Apple Acres. As she entered the clubhouse, she spotted a disappointing sight. The clubhouse was dark and empty. Papers of cutie mark crusades from years ago lie scattered on the floor. Sweetie Belle felt a rush of nostalgia run through her body, but she tuned it out desperately.
"Maybe... I can just hang out with Twist instead," Sweetie Belle said to herself with an obvious disappointment.
Sweetie Belle hesitated, but then left the clubhouse without her walk of confidence. It was slow and sad and a bit confused.
"They'll be there tomorrow," Sweetie Belle surmised. "Time couldn't have passed too much... right?"
That's where she was wrong.
About 6 years later, the clubhouse was almost abandoned completely. Once in a while, one of the crusaders would visit it hopefully, but they weren't on the same page on the same days anymore. After just a bit more time elapsed, the clubhouse was deserted. None of the crusaders dare go in because they knew their friends wouldn't be there.
Apple Bloom had adjusted to this very slowly, but she learned to live with it. She worked hard on the orchard, but secretly wished her friends were there to help. Applejack was there to help when needed, but it just wasn't the same.
Sweetie Belle just accepted the fact and began to help Rarity. When she asked for help with fashion, Sweetie Belle was by her side in no time flat. Spike was also there and Sweetie Belle had begun working with him. Spike always wanted Rarity to fall in love with him, but she seemed too distracted. Sweetie Belle was there to give him comfort every time he was left with a gemstone not to eat, not to give to Rarity.
Scootaloo had gotten used to it much faster, but that's because she hung out with Rainbow Dash almost every day. They had become closer now that Scootaloo was grown and had much more free time on her hooves. They continued to work on flight, but Scootaloo's progress seemed to move like a slug. After 8 months, she only knew how to do a front flip and a back flip and couldn't go more than 7 inches off the ground. At least, she had Rainbow by her side... until the one day her special somepony changed everything.
It started as a normal day.
"No, that's flapping too hard," Rainbow Dash advised. "Don't strain yourself. Make them work together in unison to lift you off the ground."
"Aw, come on!!" Scootaloo hollered. "I've tried!"
"Don't worry," Rainbow Dash said. "You'll get it!"
"Of course she will," a voice encouraged.
Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash turned to see none other than Soarin Skies, one of the other Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash's special somepony.
"Soarin!!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She flew over to him and gave him a short embrace.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash," Soarin said with a chuckle. "Scootaloo, you've been making so much progress in your flying."
Scootaloo sighed and a faint smile appeared on her face. "Thanks, Soarin."
"No prob," Soarin replied. He turned back to Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Rainbow? May I ask you a question?"
"Ask me anything," Rainbow Dash said.
Soarin kneeled down and Rainbow Dash arched one of her eyebrows, a bit confused. Once he pulled out a box, Rainbow Dash felt all of her feelings go crazy. All her happiness floated to the front of her mind and circled around it. Scootaloo was a bit shocked, but extremely excited for Rainbow Dash.
Soarin opened a box and revealed a beautiful 20 karat ring with a chain around it, so a pony could wear it as a necklace. "Will you marry me?"
Rainbow Dash just stood there in disbelief. She never expected the question anywhere in her fillyhood and now she stood here being asked the question in her adulthood. But a smile quickly lit up on her face. "YES!!!" she exclaimed.
Scootaloo clapped. "I'll come to your wedding!"
"I'd love to see you there!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Soarin gave a nod of agreement. He had grown to know Scootaloo since Rainbow Dash was so close to her.
Scootaloo watched as Rainbow Dash and Soarin walked down the street eagerly talking about the wedding. She smiled genuinely happy for the couple. But she didn't know how wrong it could go.
It was now 8 months after the wedding and Rainbow Dash and Soarin's love still burned as strong as a forest fire.
Scootaloo still couldn't fly very well, but she could lift herself 4 more inches off the ground than before. She came up to Rainbow Dash and Soarin who were sitting at a table talking.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo greeted. "Hi, Soarin! Can we hang? Work on my flying?"
"Of course!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed eagerly rising from her seat. "I'd love to work on---"
Rainbow Dash was cut off by Soarin. "I'm sorry, Dash, but remember the Wonderbolts performance in 20 minutes?"
Scootaloo's heart sank. Soarin and Rainbow Dash had been busier than ever now that they had settled into their married life. Rainbow Dash rarely had time for Scootaloo now that the Wonderbolts was more popular than before.
"I'm sorry, squirt," Rainbow Dash said sincerely. "I really am. But I've gotta go. Maybe, next week?!"
"New routine," Soarin reminded her.
"Oh, yeah," Rainbow Dash remembered. "I'll find the time! Don't worry!"
Soarin and Rainbow Dash flew away until they shrank away into the distance. Tears filled Scootaloo's eyes and before she knew what was going on, they spilled down her cheeks.
"What can I do?" Scootaloo asked herself. "What do I do?"
"Why?!" Spike cried. "Why must I fail at every attempt to get Rarity?!"
"I think you deserve her," Sweetie Belle said.
"Me too," Spike replied. "Which is way I keep trying... and then failing. What am I doing wrong?"
Sweetie Belle looked at Spike and was reminded how many years had gone by. The once very small baby dragon had hit his growth spurt and was almost taller than Rarity. At the moment, Spike and Rarity were the same height. Sweetie Belle knew Spike wasn't done growing yet and would most likely surpass his friends.
"It's okay, Spike," Sweetie Belle comforted. "Rejection can really hurt. But it'll be alright. You'll find somepony else. Or maybe there's another dragon."
"Another dragon?" Spike asked. "Like who?"
"There's that Ember girl you told me about," Sweetie Belle suggested. "I think you two would make a cute couple."
Spike rolled his eyes. "That's never gonna happen."
Sweetie Belle sighed. She no longer knew what to say to Spike. She wanted to say something to make him feel better or at least smile a bit, but her mind went blank. All her thoughts went swirling down the drain of her mind. So, instead she said, "Okay."
Apple Bloom was upset by the fact that her friends weren't coming to the clubhouse anymore. She asked for Applejack's help in taking it down, but she refused.
"Keep it," Applejack had said. "You'll be sorry if you take that memory down."
However, Apple Bloom liked to talk to Granny Smith a lot more than usual lately. She had some great words of advice that she hadn't taken the time to listen to before. But Granny Smith was very notably much older. She no longer had a single day where she didn't need her walker and she wheezed a bit and hobbled around. It scared Apple Bloom, Applejack, and Big Mac. They didn't know how much time she had.
One day, Apple Bloom noticed Granny Smith on her rocking chair looking out at the farm with tears in her eyes. There was a faint smile on her face.
"Granny?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Huh?" Granny Smith said. "Oh, Apple Bloom. Come have a seat." She motioned to the other rocking chair.
Applejack and Big Mac looked at each other with worry. Apple Bloom pulled the rocking chair next to Granny Smith and sat down. She felt a bit better as she felt the chair sway back and forth.
"How are you doing, Granny?" Applejack inquired. "Are you doing alright?"
"I'm doing better than ever," Granny Smith replied without hesitation. She looked out across the orchard again and sighed with a strange happiness. "I'm so glad we've come so far."
"Granny, promise me you'll stay as long as you can," Apple Bloom pleaded.
Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac all looked at her waiting for her response. Granny Smith sighed and responded, "I promise."
Apple Bloom gave her grandmother a hug. "Thank you."
"Well, now that that's out of the way," Granny Smith said veering the subject off of her condition. "Let's talk about the apple family reunion."
The familiar words filled Apple Bloom's heart with joy. She loved the apple family reunions.
"There's another one coming up?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed in surprise. "There's another one coming up!"
Apple Bloom held Applejack's hooves and the two sisters spun around and laughed.
"Here comes the family now," Granny Smith said with a smile.
They turned to see most of their family arriving on the farm huge grins on their faces, ready for the event.
Apple Bloom saw a familiar face and ran over to her cousin. "Well if isn't Bad Seed," she said teasingly.
Babs Seed chuckled. "What you gonna do?" she asked playing along.
"I have some activities!" Applejack exclaimed.
Babs Seed and Apple Bloom looked at each other. The last time she had planned the activities it had gone wrong. "Applejack, please..." Apple Bloom began, but she trailed off.
"Hey, I promise they're not hard this time," Applejack assured.
Babs Seed and Apple Bloom nodded and decided to try the activities. Applejack had planned an apple toss. The objective was to get the most amount of apples into your barrel. Babs Seed won that.
"Yay! I won!" Babs Seed cheered.
"That wasn't fair at all," Apple Bloom claimed.
"You'll like the next activity then," Applejack told her.
It was bobbing for apples. Apple Bloom dipped her head into the bucket and her mane was sopping with water when she came up, but an apple was in between her teeth. "Hey! I got one!" she said, words muffled by the apple in her mouth.
Babs Seed came up. Her mane was soaking wet, but she didn't have an apple in her mouth. "Wait! I don't think I did that right!"
Apple Bloom and Applejack laughed as Babs Seed plunged her head back into the barrel of apples floating in water.
The next activity was a simple ring toss. Babs Seed's great aim had let her win that one. Apple Bloom sighed. "Oh well. What's the next?" she asked.
The next activity was a much shorter relay race. There was a few obstacles, but they were somewhat simple obstacles. Apple Bloom won the race and Babs Seed was a good sport about it.
In the middle of the reunion, some familiar faces arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. It was Applejack's friends. Even Rainbow Dash had found the time to visit.
"Hey, Applejack!" Twilight exclaimed. She looked around to see the Apples having their reunion. "Oh, sorry. Are we interrupting?"
Fluttershy began to apologize profusely and rush away with embarrassment.
Applejack just giggled. "You're forgetting one thing, girls. Friends can be family too. Come join us."
Applejack's friends broke out into grins and Pinkie Pie let out a whoop. The Apples welcomed them warmly. Especially Pinkie Pie since Applejack found out she could be related to the Apples.
Amidst all the laughing, singing, and dancing, there was a faint frantic yelp. "Stop! Stop! Everypony, stop!"
Everyone reluctantly stopped what they were doing. Apple Bloom and Applejack turned to see Apple Split with a horrified expression on his face.
"Apple Split, what's wrong?" Apple Bloom inquired worriedly.
"Apple Bloom, it's your grandmother," Apple Split answered. "She's fading!!"