You stifled a yawn as you sat at the kitchen table of the Apple family home with a crudely drawn blueprint in front of you. It had taken you a week but you had finally thought of a plan to help Apple Bloom what her cutie mark was. The only problem was that you had needed to find a way to wake up before the Apples, and in all of your brilliance you had decided to stay up all night to make sure you were at the table before them.
‘Damn it why did I have to do this the same day as Rainbow Dash’s audition for the Wonderbolts. At least this will all be worth it when I see the look on Apple Bloom’s face when her cutie mark appears.’ At that point a yawn escaped your throat. ‘Ugh, why do I have to hate coffee so much? It would help so much right now.’
You heard footsteps coming from upstairs and pretended to be absorbed in your blueprint. A few moments later the Apple family came into the kitchen with their ever-present energy at the early hours which managed to annoy you slightly. You pushed the thought out of your head when Apple Bloom approached you.
“Whatcha doin’ up so early, Blackstar? Normally you’d still be asleep at this point.”
“Hey, Apple Bloom I didn’t see you there.” You lied. “I was just making a plan for what I wanted to do with the house I bought about a week ago. Would you like to take a look?”
“Sure,” Apple Bloom replied, pulling up a chair next to you. Applejack gave you an odd look which you noticed right away. You just gave her a slight grin that you hoped hinted at what you were trying to accomplish. “Blackstar, Ah don’t want to offend ya or nothin’, but this is a terrible plan.”
“What do you mean by that?” You asked innocently. ‘That’s it little fishy, take the bait.’
“Fer starters, the dimensions ya got here don’t seem to follow any kind a scale. Then ya got the drawing itself. Ah can barely tell what it is.”
“Why don’t you show me how to fix it?” ‘Now I just start reeling it in gently.’
“Alright,” Apple Bloom said, taking one of the pens you had on the table and placing it in her mouth. After a few minutes Apple Bloom held up the revised blueprint with a smile. “Ah think Ah made somethin’ you’ll really like.”
‘He shoots, he scores. Wait, I was using a fishing metaphor. Man, I am tired. Who cares though! I did it. Now all I have to do is sink the putt. I should really start talking before I switch to another metaphor. “Wow Apple Bloom, that’s awesome. That sure is one special talent you have there.”
“Ya really think so!” Apple Bloom beamed.
“I know so, take a look.” There was a small flash of light as Apple Bloom looked at her flank, where a mark of a ruler and hammer were crossed in an x shape with a blueprint in the background.
“Ah did it Ah earned mah cutie mark!”
“Good job, Apple Bloom.” Applejack said with a warm smile.
“Eeyup”
“Way to go there Dearie, Ah knew ya could do it.”
“You all can have your little moment. I on the other hand will go make breakfast.” You said, getting up from the table and heading into the kitchen.
“Ah’ll help ya,” Applejack replied. “Ya look like yer about to collapse.”
After you and Applejack got a pace settled in cooking she managed to break the silence in the room. “How’d ya do it?”
“How’d I do what?”
“Don’t play dumb. How’d ya get Apple Bloom to earn her cutie mark?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Apple Bloom earned that cutie mark herself.”
“Blackstar,”
“Fine, I figured the only way she’d earn her cutie mark is if somepony recognized and told her what a talent she had for design work. So I set up a blueprint I made myself so she’d want to fix it. Then, I’d tell her what a good job she did and, presto instant cutie mark.”
“Ah don’t know whether to be impressed or scared of ya.”
“It’s not that big a deal. I just wanted to help. Think of it as my way of saying thank you for all your family has done for me.”
“If you keep doing things like this, we’re gonna start owing you.”
After breakfast you decided to wash up and rest before you had to leave and meet up with Rainbow Dash.
Applejack sat back with an odd look on her face. She couldn’t help but think about what Blackstar had just done. She couldn’t help but think about the dream she had had a while ago. It was very different from what she had pictured but in the end he had still helped Apple Bloom earn her cutie mark.
“Alright ya lazy sack a bones we still got plenty a work to do so let’s get goin’.” Granny Smith said, pulling Applejack away from her thoughts. Just as she was about to leave Granny Smith grabbed her by the hoof to keep her in her seat. “Not so fast, you and Ah need to have a little talk.”
“What do ya want to talk about, Granny?”
“What do ya think? This is about a certain blue worker that you’ve taken a shine to."
Applejack blushed and looked away from Granny Smith for a moment. “You noticed.”
“Sugarcube, Ah’ve watched you grow up from a little foal to the strong mare you are today, of course Ah noticed. What Ah wanna know is why you haven’t done anything about it.”
“Its mah friends, most a them like ‘im too.”
“And you think that if you just tell ‘im outright how ya feel you’d be hurtin’ them.”
“Ah guess ya could say that.”
“Listen, Ah went through somethin’ like this too. Some of mah friends liked your grandpa, and Ah felt like Ah wouldn’t be able to get ‘im without makin’ them mad or upset. But in the end Ah decided to put it all on the line and just tell ‘im mah feelins.”
“And yer friends understood?” Applejack asked hopefully.
“No,” Granny Smith replied, causing Applejack to deflate a little. “At first, they almost hated me for it. Eventually they were able to understand but it took some time.”
“What was the point of that ya almost lost yer friends.”
“The point is that Ah might’ve lost somethin’ even more important if Ah had waited. You might not even be here right now if Ah hadn’t done it. Ah know you think that this is Blackstar’s choice to make, and it is. But he’s probably twice as thickheaded as yer grandpa was so he’ll need some convincin’ to make the decision. At first, yer friends may not wanna talk to ya for doin it, but if they’re really yer friends then they’ll understand eventually.”
“Ah’ll keep that in mind Granny.”
Rainbow Dash hovered with her thoughts racing with the million things that could go wrong. ‘Alright Dash, you can do this. You’ve been training your whole life for this moment. So what if you screw this up you may never have another opportunity like this again. And if you do screw up it won’t just be in front of all of Cloudsdale and the Wonderbolts. Oh no, you’d be screwing up in front the stallion you… really like.’
‘If that happens then how can I claim to be the coolest pony in Equestria? And if I’m not the coolest pony in Equestria, then what possible reason would Blackstar have for liking me? It doesn’t help that his friend did everything but read the Riot Act to us last week.’
Rainbow Dash thought back to that night and everything started to melt away as the moment came back to her.
“I’m impressed, Flarewing. It’s been almost an hour and you haven’t done anything ridiculous.” Blackstar said.
“Me, do something ridiculous? When have I ever done something like that?”
“Just about every second I’ve known you. I could start listing off examples but in the interest of your dignity and the fact that I have to use the restroom I will avoid doing so.” Blackstar said, getting out of his seat.
“Fine, I’ll just sit here and tell the girls some embarrassing stories about you until you come back.”
“Wow you and Blackstar get along really well.”
“Yeah, we do. And that’s why I have to ask you girls not to do anything to hurt the guy.”
“Excuse me?” Twilight said. “Why would we want to hurt Blackstar?”
“Look I’m not blind. I can tell that most of you like him. That’s by no means an insult he’s a really good pony. But be careful. You know the pony you just saw leave the room?” Everypony at the table nodded slowly feeling apprehensive. “Well, that wasn’t the same pony I met about a month ago. The fact that he can open up to you like that means he does see you girls as his friends. But there’s something on his mind that he doesn’t want to talk about.”
“You mean the thing he talked to with the princesses?”
“Probably, I don’t know much about that though. Even though we’re best friends he doesn’t tell me everything. Whatever it is you girls are planning, please be careful. This is the happiest I’ve ever seen the guy and I don’t want anything to happen to him.” The girls slowly nodded and Rainbow Dash slowly returned to reality.
‘I mean, what right does that guy have to say what we should and shouldn’t do?’ Rainbow Dash’s shoulders slumped. ‘Who am I kidding? He had every right to say that. He’s just really concerned for his friend. If I was in the same position I probably would’ve said a lot more. I wonder: what is it that Blackstar has on his mind? Is he sick or something? Or is he hiding something really bad about himself?’
Rainbow Dash started to shake her head vigorously. ‘What am I thinking, Blackstar, a bad pony? That’s crazier than Pinkie Pie on coffee, which I never should do again. I’m getting distracted. Whatever it is that’s on Blackstar’s mind, he’ll talk about when he’s good and ready. Right now I have to psych myself up for the audition. Alright I can see it all now.’
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and was suddenly in the middle of the Cloudsdale stadium. There I’ll be, the cheers of the crowd thundering down on me. Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash! They’ll cry. I’ll give them a modest wave to start things off and to keep them waiting. Then, I’ll shoot up and do my Filly Flash. After that I’d do some of my other moves like the Buccaneer Blaze, and to finish it all off I’ll do what nopony else can do: the Sonic Rainboom!
The crowd, Wonderbolts, and Blackstar would erupt into cheers. The Wonderbolts would name me the winner on the spot, and the crown would feel so sweet. After the crowd leaves it’ll just be me and Blackstar. He’ll give me that weird and somewhat cute grin he does and say to me,
“The Wonderbolts uniform is gonna look good on you.”
“I know, thanks for being here for me.”
“Are you kidding, I wouldn’t have missed this for anything!”
“Really, are you sure about that?”
“Positive.”
“Even if Applejack asked you to miss it to do… other things,”
“Are you suggesting that I like Applejack in a more physical way?”
“I guess you could say that.”
“Let me put it to you this way. Applejack may be kinda cool, but there’s a certain mare that is really cool that I’m attracted to.”
“Do I know her?” And then Blackstar will lean in and kiss me, causing the world to disappear for a while. Then, he’ll break away with a grin on his face.
“I think you’ve met her before.”