“Apple Bloom! Breakfast! We made your favorite!”
Applejack shouted up the stairs before turning around and starting to eat her own breakfast. Pancakes with butter tons and tons of syrup and an apple on the side. Across from her sat her brother Big Macintosh with the same breakfast, only with more pancakes. He had gotten up a few hours earlier to go and take care of some jobs on the farm, so he looked wide awake.
“Ah told you that you should stop working so hard, big brother,” Applejack said. But all Big Mac did was smirk and roll his eyes before continuing to eat.
Applejack shook her head before turning around at the sound of hoof steps creaking down the stairs. A few seconds later her younger sister appeared in the doorway, and she walked over to the table and started eating. “Morning Apple Bloom,” Applejack said happily, “Ready for school today?”
“Yep,” Apple Bloom said, trying to avoid eye contact with her older siblings. She was still thinking about the dream she had last night. All the voices. All the insults. All the-
“Well that’s great!” Applejack’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Why Ah remember when I used to go to that there school. It was fun, but Ah always hated to get outta bed after the long weekend as a filly. Why Ah remember one Monday in particular when Granny Smith had to…”
Apple Bloom lost her concentration, as the lack of sleep seemed to set in as she slipped back into her thoughts again, thinking about her dream more. She knew that it was technically alright for a mare to like another mare, but that didn’t stop ponies from hating the ponies that did. The Apples were a caring family, but they were also very strict and very conservative, and Apple Bloom wasn’t sure what they would think about her not liking colts. On the one hand they had accepted something like Big Mac’s thing for carrying Smarty Pants doll around. On the other hand they were kind of that family that would have to get any fillyfriend or coltfriend approved by the entire family before they would date them.
Then there were her classmates. She always heard a lot of them joking about fillyfoolers and coltcuddlers, but they all assumed everypony there was straight, and as far as she knew, she was the only one. Like her family, she wasn’t sure how her friends would react, because at best they would accept her and she would have a chance with her crush. At worst, well, she saw it last night, until…
She froze in her seat and almost dropped her fork, but Applejack barely seemed to notice, as she was still droning on chuckling a few times. She had just had a really bad thought. “What if Princess Luna saw?”
She knew it was almost impossible for the Princess to hate her for it, seeing as how she supported all kinds of relationships, even more than her sister perhaps, but she didn’t want anyone to know. Not her family, not her friends, and not Princess Luna. Apple Bloom didn’t know if she had seen her dream, and when she started running from her she might have put two and two together and realized that she was a fillyfooler.
Apple Bloom tried to shake of the thought and looked back to Applejack, who at this point had tears welling up in her eyes, and pretended to be listening to her story more intently. She even nodded to show her fake encouragement and amusement at her story a few times. However, her concentration was broken by a pair of big green eyes staring at her from the other side of the table.
She looked and made eye contact with her big brother, who seemed to be observing her suspiciously. Apple Bloom turned her head away a little too fast as Big Mac’s gaze continued to be on her for the few minutes that remained of breakfast. “What if he saw my eyes,” she wondered, “they were still a little red when I was in the bathroom. For a pony who never shows any, he sure knows how to read emotions.”
“...and that’s why Granny will never make me oatmeal again.”
Applejack’s story finally concluded and she had one last before she looked up at the clock. “Well Apple Bloom, time for you to go to school!”
Apple Bloom quickly got up ignoring the stare Big Mac was giving her, grabbed her book bag off the floor, and ran out the door. Applejack then stepped into the door frame, shouting behind her sister, “Have a good day, little sis!” She laughed while going inside, only to stop when she noticed Big Mac staring out the window after their sister. “Hey Big Mac? You okay?”
“Eeyup.” He said, although his expression hadn’t changed and his eyes never left the window.
Apple Bloom rushed up to school and into the classroom, where she was greeted by her teacher, Miss Cheerilee.
“Hello, Apple Bloom! Are you ready to learn about the Horse Wars today?”
Apple Bloom was thrown off by the positivity in her voice. “Seems like that’s been happening a lot recently, though,” she thought before responding, “Yeah!”
She tried to sound as enthusiastic as possible, but it seemed like Cheerilee had bought it, because she nodded and turned around to do whatever it is teachers do at desks.
“Hey Apple Bloom! Over here!”
She froze. She knew that squeaky voice from anywhere. It was the same voice that belonged to the filly she had nearly kissed last night. She turned towards the voice and saw her two best friends in the world, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, pointing to the desk in between them. Her eyes, instead, focused on Sweetie Belle, the pony of her dreams. “That’s all it will ever be,” the voice in the back of her head thought, “a dream.”
“Uh, Equestria to Apple Bloom!”
She shook her head and noticed the orange hoof that had been waving in front of her eyes for a few seconds. Scootaloo looked at her with confusion. “What gives Apple Bloom? You were frozen for a few seconds.”
Apple Bloom felt her face heat up as she looked to Sweetie Belle, who was still sitting at her desk but had a look of concern on her face.
“I was just...uh...remembering the story my sister Applejack told me this morning…” It was a pretty lame excuse, but at the moment it was the only thing she could think of.
Scootaloo then raised an eyebrow, seeming unconvinced before shrugging and going back to her desk. Apple Bloom thanked Celestia on the inside that Scootaloo hadn’t pressed further, and followed her and took her seat, just as the bell rang.
“Okay class,” Cheerilee called, “please find your seats and we’ll start today’s history lesson.”
Apple Bloom got out her textbook and turned to page 394 where they left off. The rest of the class was kind of a blur to her. Diamond Tiara was late as usual. Miss Cheerilee was giving her fun little lecture as usual. She stood her book up on her desk and pretended like she was buried in reading about the Siege of Manehatten.
She stared at the white unicorn sitting to the left of her, and she felt like she was being hypnotized by her beauty. To Apple Bloom she was like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. She could be surrounded by so many other paintings, and yet her beauty would stand out from all the rest. Apple Bloom loved her beautiful lilac mane, her sparkly eyes, and pure white coat.
Apple Bloom felt like she could stare at her for hours, and she felt her face continue to heat up the more she thought about how great it would be if Sweetie Belle liked her back. They could go on picnic dates, kiss, cuddle-”
“Apple Bloom?”
Apple Bloom suddenly looked up past the book that was covering her face and saw the entire class and Miss Cheerilee staring at her. It made her really uncomfortable being stared at in general, but after her daydreams it made it even worse. She knew that it was impossible for any of them to know what she was thinking about, but the looking eyes still felt like they cut through her soul and could read what she was feeling almost.
She finally acknowledged the call for her attention from a few seconds later, and turned to Miss Cheerilee, who was looking at her with an expecting expression with a touch of worry. She waited for about ten seconds before asking, “Do you know what year the Siege of Manehatten ended?”
The tone in her voice made Apple Bloom realize that she had already asked her the question and made her embarrassed once again, if that was even possible. She lowered her head so that her muzzle would be covered by the book and that only her eyes would be showing. Fortunately her book just so happened to be opened to the exact topic they were discussing, so it only took her a small glance to the page to answer the question.
“Uh,” she stammered, “t-the Siege ended in 1546 when the c-captain of the Wonderbolts surrendered the c-city to save his people.”
“Well done, Apple Bloom!” Cheerilee smiled and as she started turned back to the board to continue the lesson, Apple Bloom nearly passed out.
Her eyes had turned blood red, just like in the dream. She shivered for a second before turning back and hiding her face back in the book. The thoughts came back, and it made her even more worried. The logical part of her mind knew that what she saw wasn’t real, and that there was no way that her teacher would ever be that cruel.
But the other part of her mind was telling her that it was real.
“Apple Bloom? You okay?” She turned to the right and realized that it was Scootaloo that had asked her the question. She looked at Apple Bloom with a rare worried expression and awaiting a response. Apple Bloom looked at her and said, “Ah’m fine. Just a bit tired, you know.” She mustered up a big smile to hopefully trick the pegasus twice.
Unfortunately for her Scootaloo didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright. You look a little sick.”
“I sure feel sick,” Apple Bloom thought. “Nope, Ah’m good!”
“Well, if you're sure…”
Scootaloo finally turned back with one last unconvinced look when…
It happened again. Her eyes turned red just before she turned back to the front of the room.
Apple Bloom rubbed her eyes and shook her head lightly. “It’s not real! It’s not real! It’s not real!”
“...but it could be.”
After that last thought Apple Bloom couldn’t stand to look at anypony anymore out of shame. She didn’t want anypony to see her broken down, and she had to try her best to hide her feelings if she had any hope of keeping her secret.
The rest of the class Apple Bloom spent in her thoughts, only snapping out slid it a few times when Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle gave her a sideways glance. When that happened she would pretend to be checking something from her book and look up at Cheerilee again to make sure that they wouldn’t worry.
Eventually the bell rang, signaling for a lunch break. “Alright class,” Miss Cheerilee announced, “time for lunch. See everypony again in a half an hour.” Apple Bloom grabbed her lunch as quickly as possible and almost bolted for the door, but before she could break free of her imaginary chains and be free, a voice pulled her back and she froze.
“Apple Bloom? Could I please see you for a minute?”