Spring had finally arrived in Canterlot, and we were all the happier for it. It meant we could put our winter clothes away, and return to our summer outfits. Sweetie Belle seemed especially pleased at the change in temperature; she seemed as uncomfortable wearing shorts or pants as I did wearing skirts!
We were also building up toward the Friendship Games, which left me with some apprehension, as of course I knew what was coming. However, we could at least enjoy each other’s company. We spend a wonderful spring afternoon one Sunday playing in the park. I forget how long that came of tag went on for, but we even got in an adventure or two, climbing on the rocks and walking through the caverns, imaging we were explorers looking for lost treasure in dark places. In spite of our age, we still enjoyed those sorts of adventures, as it allowed us to be children. And after all, isn’t growing up optional?
The very next day, we had just exited our lessons before break, Scootaloo seeming rather annoyed.
“Mrs. Harshvoice has gone too far this time!” she said.
“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“She’s set us some poetry that makes no sense!” Scootaloo said, exasperated.
“What would that be?” I enquired.
“Gertrude Stein.”
“Ouch!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle. “That gave Rarity real trouble when she was our age. I remember it.”
“Shall we go and look at it in the library?” I suggested.
That break, we puzzled over some of the ‘poems’, if you could call them that.
“A charm a single charm is doubtful. If the red is rose and there is a gate surrounding it, if inside is let in and there places change then certainly something is upright. It is honest.” Sweetie Belle looked in utter confusion. “What does that even mean?”
I puzzled over another one myself. “A blind agitiation is manly and uttermost.” I shook my head in confusion. “How does that relate to a cutlet?”
Scootaloo was snorting like a traction engine over another one. “Look at this one, ‘Peeled Pencil, Choke’. ‘Rub her coke’. What is this, innuendo?”
Sweetie Belle glanced at another one. “A little monkey goes like a donkey that means to say that means to say that more sighs last goes. Leave with it. A little monkey goes like a donkey.” She sighed. “It seems like she just threw a load of random words into one sentence!”
“It looks like yer writin’ when you were 3, sugarcube,” said Applejack from a nearby table.
“HEY!” I shouted. “Ah could put sentences together!”
“Ooh, how about this one!” Scootaloo interrupted. “Aider, why aider why whow, whow stop touch, aider whow, aider stop the muncher, muncher munchers. A jack in kill her, a jack in, makes a meadowed king, makes a to let.”
“How the school board thinks this is within our ability level is beyond me,” Sweetie Belle admitted.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t give any further opinions, as the intercom suddenly went. "Can Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle please report to Principal Celestia’s office?”
I looked at the others. “What could this be about?”
“I don’t know!” Scootaloo replied. “Could be anything.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Sweetie Belle added, quivering as she did so.
We walked along the Principal’s office, and I knocked on the door.
“Come in,” said the voice of Celestia. She did not sound pleased.
We stepped into the brightly lit room as if we were being interrogated. Celestia pointed to three chairs in front of her desk. “Sit,” she commanded.
We took our seats and sat there, being given the staring treatment by both Celestia and Luna.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking,” ventured Scootaloo, “but what is this all about?”
“Where were you three yesterday between the times of 15:00 and 18:00?” Luna asked.
“We were in the park, enjoying the sun,” I answered. “Pip, Scoots and Sweetie Belle can back me up on that one.”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Then how do you explain this?” she asked, turning her monitor around.
It was CCTV footage of the school halls yesterday, recorded between those times!
“These show you, do they not?” Luna asked again.
“Ah-ah don’t get this!” I exclaimed. “How-?”
“Indeed,” Celestia said coolly. “How did you get into the school when it was locked? You do realise there are serious charges for trespassing.”
“But she was with us the whole time!” Scootaloo protested.
“She couldn’t be in two places at once!” Sweetie Belle added.
“That’s because she ain’t Apple Bloom,” said a third voice. We jumped when she spoke, and looked behind us.
Standing there, was a yellow-skinned girl with red hair, a bow in her hair, and was wearing a green shirt, blue shorts, and a pair of yellow boots.
“Ah am,” was all she said.
We just looked, utterly dumbfounded. My heart was beating at incredible speed as I realised my cover was well and truly blown.
“Well, ya think Ah enjoyed bein’ stuck in yer body?” she asked. “A 12-year-old girl, in the body of a 20-somethin' man? Well, it weren’t fun!” she snapped.
“Apart from...obvious changes, Ah had to pretend to be somebody else for months, whilst you got mah boyfriend all to yerself. And mah friends. And mah family!” She stomped around the front.
Celestia shook her head in complete and total confusion. “Am I seeing double here, or are there two Apple Blooms?”
“Yes sister, there are,” Luna replied. “But I have no idea what this is about.”
“SHE took mah life!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“Well, you took mine!” I shot back, before realising what I had done.
Sweetie Belle looked over in consternation. “What?” she asked. “is this true?”
I froze in shock.
Celestia turned on the intercom. “Get me Applejack.”
“Yes ma’am!” Luna replied, opening the door to reveal Applejack standing behind it.
“NOT THAT QUICKLY!” Celestia bellowed. The door was promptly closed, and the intercom engaged. “Could Applejack please report to Principal Celestia’s office?”
There was a knock at the door, and Applejack opened it. “Is somethin’ the matter?” she asked. "And why are there two Apple Blooms?”
Apple Bloom looked angry. “She’s an imposter!”
Applejack looked into my eyes. “Ah want you to answer me honestly sugarcube,” she said. “Is this true?”
It was at that moment the dam burst. I hugged her, crying with all my might. “I-it’s true!” I sobbed.
“How?” Applejack asked. “Just who the hey are you?”
After giving me a moment to compose myself, I finally answered her question. “Ah was a guy named Tom. Ya see, where I’m from, you guys are a TV show called Mah Little Pony: Equestria Girls. We have an event called BronyCon where we meet and discuss the show. Ah went as Apple Bloom, and somehow got transformed into her, then ended up here. That’s why Ah had amnesia.”
Sweetie Belle spoke up. “That explains what happened after you were hit by the door. You must have switched places around then.”
Applejack shook her head in disbelief. “All this time, Ah was bein’ lied to.” She pointed to the door. “Get out.”
“Wha?”
“Get a move on.” Applejack looked angry.
“But sis, Ah-”
“Don’t ever call me that again!” she bellowed. “Ah never want to see ya again! AH HATE YA!”
It was too much. I ran out of the room crying, having seen all that I’d tried to build come crashing down. I ran through the corridors, as far as I could, before running into Pip.
“Apple Bloom!” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
I tried to speak through my tears, but my words were incomprehensible. I simply sobbed in his arms for what felt like hours.
“Mah own family rejected me,” I whispered. First Rebecca, then Applejack? I truly had nobody left.
“You can stay with me,” Pip said. “My parents wouldn’t mind.”
“And we’re behind you,” said a voice behind me. I looked back, and saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
“Why?” I asked. “Ya know who Ah am!”
“We do, Apple Bloom,” answered Sweetie Belle. “And we want to make this right.”
I truly had friends in this world. It seemed things weren’t going to be as bad as I’d thought.