Apple Bloom was happy she had chosen to subscribe at the ballroom dance club. For a while, she looked for a hobby, as she could see her siblings spending a lot of time doing theirs, and she had finally found it. She really liked to dance, particularly the demanding rhythm of Quickstep and the extravaganza of Lindy Hop.
This activity stimulated her a lot, yet she was happy to get home and to rest in front of the television. It felt good to take off her shoes, to savor Sweet Apple Acres’ Red Delicious and Pippin stuffed roll cakes without having to think things through.
Today, like every day, Apple Bloom announced her arrival… No one answered, neither Big Macintosh, Applejack or Granny Smith, so she said to herself they all might be at a meeting or something of the kind. The preteen girl didn’t wonder so much… Her family’s habits weren’t quite the same than anywhere else.
Her cakes on a tray with a big glass of fresh milk, she turned on the TV to watch cartoons. It was her favorite thing to watch when no one was home. She didn’t want them to keep on treating her like a child, and made this her own little secret. She was in High School now, after all…
Everything would had happened like any other day if Apple Bloom hadn’t noticed something new which wasn’t there before, after a few minutes spent on the couch. Under the huge flat-screen television set of the lounge, the newfangled video-game console took center stage, and by its side, were put an abundance of video games.
Curious, the young girl got nearer in order to observe this little marvel of technology… It was the one that could be brought outside!
Her mouth wide opened in admiration, she stroked the black plastic casing, already seeing herself doing wild games with the rest of the Crusaders. Maybe they would even find their purpose and it would be in the video game area. Who knew? Perhaps they were professional gamers on the become.
Suddenly, something struck her. It was nothing normal. No one was the type to be fond of new technologies around her. Big Macintosh already had his own video-game console and when Applejack wanted to play at something else than the rodeo applications on her phone, she came and played in his room. None of them had ever spent hours and hours playing, though.
She pricked up her ears. There were sounds upstairs. One of her siblings might be there. Fine. She needed new information about the newbie. It was better to know than being disappointed in case this was a mistake or an impulse which would lead to a return in the next days.
Apple Bloom climbed the large stairs leading to the second floor, where her big sister Applejack had her suite – a huge bedroom adjoined to her private bathroom, with a bubble bath she borrowed from time to time.
If she wasn’t home, she would go and visit Big Macintosh instead… Maybe he only wanted a brand new console and he hadn’t had the time to put it upstairs yet, taken by a sudden meeting or unfinished chores.
The door’s room was ajar. Apple Bloom pushed it softly, and all while knocking, spoke to the eldest. She knew she was here since she could hear her tapping on her keyboard… Fast. Very fast.
“AJ, do ya know what’s dis… OOOOOOH!!!”
Apple Bloom thought she would faint. Her sister’s room… What in the world had happened? Yesterday Big Macintosh had said she was ill, and this morning, she barely had time to have a glimpse of her, hurried by Granny Smith like never before. But she hadn’t imagined this at all. It probably was more than serious.
Every Applejack’s rodeo trophies were on the floor, and instead, figurines of a famous sci-fi TV show took center stage. Posters of the same TV show upholstered the walls which until then were decorated with pictures of her winning rodeos, of her family, as well as of her friends.
Leaning over her computer, glasses on her eyes and wearing her complete school uniform, with jacket, tie and sleeveless sweater, the eldest sister paid no attention to the youngest, way too focused on her task.
“What the… what the… What the hay is happenin’ to ya?”
“Oh, Apple Bloom, I haven’t heard you coming. I don’t know what you’re talking about. The things on the floor are strange. I don’t understand why I want to keep these… What’s your opinion? How much would this one cost on eHay?” she asked showing one of the trophies on the floor, a huge one with a bull shape, decorated by a blue ribbon.
He sister… wanted to sell her own prizes on the Web? Applejack would never had done such a thing! These trophies meant the world to her, spending each of her weekend mornings polishing them and talking to them like they were her own babies.
As an answer, Apple Bloom screamed on top of her lungs.
Where was her big sister and who was this person pretending to be her?
---------------------------------------------------
Today, like it happened during the latest two days, once again Applejack had refused to hang out with her friends after school. She had more important stuff to do, since, according to herself, Sweet Apple Acres’ internet site needed a good restauration she was the only one able to offer. She had even lectured Twilight for she preferred going out rather than studying.
Like each time one of them was absent for a wrong reason, the rest of the group wasn’t in high spirits. Gathered at their favorite place at Sugarcube Corner, in order to avoid the biting cold of December, they were sipping on their favorite drinks unenthusiastically.
They all felt that what was going on was out of their control. Previously, they’d been able to go through ordeals with a bit of imagination. This time, it seemed the solution wasn’t within their reach.
The strike was particularly harmful to Twilight. Her biggest fear, to be the rival of one of her best friends on an academic level, was about to become a reality. Indeed, thanks to her very recent excellent grades in every single subject, people talked more and more about a possibility to have Applejack enrolled in the Guiding Class.
Of course, she had to wait and see how the situation would evolve, but the prospect was probable. All it took was for the Homeroom Teacher to agree and the student in question to agree as well. As her Homeroom Teacher was no one but Principal Celestia herself, and considering how zealous her friend was when it came to courses, she had no doubt that if offered, Applejack would accept.
And there were many other problems…
“What is this thing about wanting to be called ‘Apple Jewel’? Does anybody know where it comes from?” Rainbow Dash asked, slightly irritated.
General shrugs. The five friends thought that if Rainbow Dash didn’t know, then none of them did.
Their gang had started with them both, and they knew each other since the longest time, to the extent that, back in eighth grade and the beginning of ninth grade, the rainbow-haired teenager had spent more time living in her friend’s house than in hers.
However, the situation was painful and distressing for each of them. And it infested the whole functioning of the school, as well as her own family’s working. Indeed, since her head had knocked the ground, Applejack had given up on her chores at the farm, and Big Macintosh now had a heaviest workload, although in was in the middle of mid-term exams – just like Zephyr and Soarin.
As far as young Apple Bloom was concerned, she looked depressed all the time, and had spent the previous day at the nurse’s office, in the complete disinterest of her eldest.
“It’s just not Applejack to let Apple Bloom in such a state”, Fluttershy softly said, staring at the whipped cream of her cappuccino.
“Because this isn’t our Applejack. There’s an alien inhabiting her body”, Pinkie Pie went on, imitating a zombie. “Like in ‘The Invasion of the Body Snatchers’!”
“How on earth do you know this movie?” Rainbow Dash asked with a bit of bitterness.
“You’re the one who showed it to me. Dashie got a lot of old strange movies home.”
“They’re not old strange movies! They’re great classics.”
“Alright, they’re not strange. They’re just old!”
“A great classic is timeless, it means it never gets old… Ask Rarity.”
“Don’t you think it would be more productive to refocus?”
“Thank you, Sunset Shimmer”, Twilight replied, sighing. “There’s more serious topics to discuss about… Like Applejack in the Guiding Class! I don’t want to compete against Applejack!”
“Do you really think this is the most serious of all topics? Not that AJ no longer is AJ?”
“Or maybe it’s like in ‘The Stepford Wives’… She’s a robot! This movie was shown to me by Maud, Dashie.”
“As long as it wasn’t the awful remake… And Pinkie, could you please stop with your cinematographic references? There’s no alien invasion and no humans turned into robots!”
It was hopeless. When they started arguing over trifles, they had to wait for things to calm down on their own, and avoid to stick your oar in one of the girls’ argumentation. After more than one year spent by their side, this was what Sunset Shimmer had learned.
What she’d learned as well was that when one of them was injured or harmed, it was the whole group that suffered from it. That was how close they were.
As their best friends, they had to do something in order to help Applejack but they all felt they were helpless. And somewhere, they probably were thinking that if the young woman was happy this way, they didn’t have to intervene. But was she happy?
None of them could be sure, so out of desperation, here they were arguing about many different things. It didn’t help much but at least, it gave them the impression of not staying with their arms crossed, waiting for something to happen.
The tearoom’s bell resounded, and the group as a whole turned around to look at the door. In secret, they hoped it would be Applejack, her hat on her head, back to her old self by magic…
Of course, this wasn’t the case. But maybe were they about to get fresh news from the situation since the person who had just come hurtling in Sugarcube Corner was Big Macintosh.
Immediately, Fluttershy’s face was embellished with a charming smile, after being so gloomy right before, and her eyes lightened up like a Christmas tinsel when she saw her boyfriend.
Just like Rainbow Dash with Soarin, because of the mid-terms exams, she hadn’t seen him much during the last two weeks.
However, conversely to her friend who seemed to be alright with the fact, she couldn’t help being afraid. Indeed, even when she had worked for Rarity, they had spent more time together than now… What if he realized he didn’t miss her? After all, when he had accepted to be with her, he had said he wasn’t in love. Nothing could prove her he was in love now.
Well, if it were the case, she would have been unable to detect it.
Fluttershy didn’t really have the time to get reassured, since Big Macintosh stopped by their table and barely looked at her, obviously here for another reason than spending time with her.
“Girls, the situation is serious!”
“What’s happening, Big Mac?” Pinkie Pie questioned.
“It’s Applejack… She refuses to go to her photoshoot for our new apple-flavored tea drinks. And she also decided she’ll never take part in a rodeo again! You gotta help me!”
At the same time, the five girls gasped in shock, and it draw the attention of the whole tearoom, silent for a very short while.
This wasn’t funny anymore. It was highly grave. A good part of the incomes generated by the family brand came from Applejack’s image, and not only thanks to her pretty face and her athletic body, but also and most importantly because she was a star in her discipline. All this was a well-oiled mechanism which each link was essential for the complete machine to work out fine.
The most worrying detail, out of the financial aspect, was that by refusing to model for the brand, she was refusing to help her family. Applejack. Applejack couldn’t refuse anything to her family, it was the most important thing of her life, along with her friends. More important than her passion for rodeo, more important than anything alive on earth.
It went beyond becoming the school nerds’ muse, or even beyond giving up on her hobbies and friends. It was a total denial of who she really was inside. They could not let that happen. No matter what it would cost, no matter how long it would take, they were going to save their friend.
Now it was their number one priority.