As the Apple Blooms

by The FraudulentBrit

Apple Bloom's First Junker

One month. Today was the one month anniversary of Apple Bloom’s arrival in Allspark Wells, and the former farm girl didn’t know how to feel about it.

As she rose from her bed to the sound of the roosters cawing in the distance, her door was opened by Wheeljack, a jolly smile on his face. “Good morning!” He sang out as he lifted his right leg as he stepped into her room as if he were a cartoon character (or Pinkie Pie now that she thought about it).

“Mornin’ to you too Wheeljack.” Apple Bloom greeted her intruder as she rubbed her eyes to shake the last of her exhaustion away. She then asked, “So do ya mind explainin’ why ya barged into mah room?”

Wheeljack, shuffling his foot, answered, “I can’t say yet. Get ready and come on downstairs. Ironhide has something special in mind for you.” With that, he turned around to leave, only to be stopped when Apple Bloom asked, “So why did ya fee it so important to barge in here?” Wheeljack simply shrugged and replied, “Consider it payback for that stunt with the water.”

Once Wheeljack was gone, Apple Bloom sighed as she walked over to her drawers to find an appropriate outfit for today. After a few minutes of pondering, she settled on the now tried and true tested blue overalls with a yellow and blue plaid shirt, all topped off with her black boots. Now all that was left was to get her hair.

Making her way into the restroom, Apple Bloom began to fix her hair so that her braided pigtails were once again neat and clean. All in all, Apple Bloom realized that she didn’t look much like she did when she first arrived. With a different outfit and new hairstyle, she wouldn’t blame anyone back home for mistaking her for someone else entirely.

Then again, maybe that was a good thing. Considering all the problems she and the CMC caused during the Anon-A-Miss incident, it was nothing short of a miracle that she could even sleep at night without feeling guilt over what happened. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t even thought about her friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, or even what they had said to each other. As she sighed in resignation, Apple Bloom said to herself, “Maybe someday Ah can make it up to you girls.”

“Apple Bloom, you alright up there?” Ironhide called out from the floor below. Realizing that she was daydreaming and wasting time, Apple Bloom called back, “Ah’ll be down in a minute Uncle Ironhide.” Taking a deep breath, she said to herself, “Alright, time to see what Uncle Ironhide has for me today.”

As Apple Bloom made her way into the kitchen, she was pleasantly surprised to see the whole crew was already there. Ironhide was fixing up breakfast, Chromia was setting the table, Ratchet was preparing several cups of coffee, and Wheeljack was cleaning his glasses as he scratched his admittedly impressive mustache. All in all, things looked like it was just a normal family, at least if a normal family was made of a married couple, their friend, their unofficial niece, and whatever Wheeljack was.

Ironhide noticed that his niece had made her way down and greeted her. “Well now, good morning Apple Bloom.” Apple Bloom greeted her uncle, “Good Mornin’ to you too Uncle Ironhide. Anythin’ ya need help with?”

Chromia then added, “We’re just about done here sweetie.” Apple Bloom nodded and, knowing that there wasn’t anything she could do to help at the moment, made her way to her seat at the table. As she sat down, Wheeljack began to speak, “As I was saying earlier, today is a big day for you kid.”

Apple Bloom could only let out a playful chuckle as she replied, “Big enough to barge into mah room again?” The moment she said this, Ironhide, Chromia, and Ratchet all focused their attention on Wheeljack. The mechanic, feeling somewhat cornered, defiantly replied, “Hey at least I didn’t use the trash lid and the hammer!”

Ironhide, finishing up stirring some scrambled eggs, began to speak. “Well he is right Apple Bloom, we’ve got something special in mind for you today.” As he began to set the eggs on several plates for the others, Apple Bloom asked, “So is there somethin’ different ya need cleaned or there an errand ya need me to run?”

“Nope.” Ironhide replied. “Since today is your one month anniversary, Chromia and I decided that today you get to scrap your first car.” This made Apple Bloom’s heart jump. Was Ironhide finally trusting her to scrap a car?

Chromia then added, “Well, not exactly on your own. The boys here will be helping you tear apart this old sedan we found in the junkyard.” Apple Bloom mentally shrugged. Considering they would be working with sharp and rusty metal, it made sense that she wouldn’t be scrapping a car on her own just yet. Still, to finally be able to help scrap something, to finally do what they advertised, made Apple Bloom feel like she was truly part of the family.

“Alright!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Ah can’t wait!” Ratchet then spoke up, “Whoa there, keep it cool Apple Bloom. We don’t want you getting yourself hurt, now do we?” Apple Bloom hesitated for a moment before replying, “Good point. Still, Ah can’t wait to finally tear apart.”

“It’s not quite that simple.” Ironhide said as he brought several plates over, each containing scrambled eggs, sausage, and two pieces of toast. As he began to set the table, he continued, “Scrapping around here isn’t as simple as crudely tearing a car apart. We’ll be starting off with…., well….” He paused for a moment before continuing, “We can start with the details after breakfast.”

After breakfast, Apple Bloom was brought into the garage with Ironhide, Ratchet, and Wheeljack. To her surprise, there was no car yet parked in the garage, only mobile cabinets of supplies and several clear bins. Confused, Apple Bloom asked, “Uh, Uncle Ironhide? Where is the car?” As Ratchet walked over to the wall and pressed a button, Ironhide replied, “It’ll be here in a minute.”

Sure enough, once the garage door opened, an old, rusty car entered the garage with Chromia behind the wheel. Said car was covered in rust and grime, and as far as Apple Bloom could tell, was probably fifty or so years old, if not older.

As Chromia turned the old car off for what would probably be the last time, she cheekily said, “Here she is. Ain’t she a beauty?” Ironhide replied, “Not as beautiful as you.” The blue clad woman couldn’t help but blush, and before long the two shared a brief kiss, much to Apple Bloom’s embarrassment.

“So Uncle Ironhide, what do ya need me to do first?” Apple Bloom asked. Ironhide, pulling a thick pair of gloves out of his own overall pockets, replied, “First, you and I are gonna go through this old junker and see if there’s any trash or anything else of value.” He then turned to Wheeljack as he continued, “While Wheeljack and Ratchet will go get the heavy tools for later.”

Wheeljack pumped his fists as he enthusiastically said, “Oh yeah. Time to tear some slag!” He then ran out of the garage as he called out, “Come on Ratchet! Let’s get the saw and the laser cutters!” Ratchet could only let out an exasperated, “I told you a hundred times Wheeljack, the prototypes aren’t ready yet.” He then began to follow his overenthusiastic colleague, leaving a confused Apple Bloom alone with Ironhide and Chromia.

Once Ratchet and Wheeljack were gone, Apple Bloom turned to her uncle and asked, “Laser cutters?” Ironhide, giving a whistful sigh, replied, “Wheeljack began working on some short range laser beams that can help with cutting things without sparks, but his prototypes guzzle energy like there’s no tomorrow and have a habit of….” He paused for a moment before bluntly continuing, “melting themselves.” Apple Bloom could only reply with a simple, “Ooh.”

With that out of the way, Ironhide then asked, “Now, how about we see what’s inside this old jalopy?” Apple Bloom gave a solid, “Alright!” With that, she walked up to the car’s left door and pulled the handle, only for nothing to happen. Confused, she asked out loud, “What the heck?” She continued to pull at the handle, until, out of the blue, she ripped said handle off, sending rust dust and a screw to the ground.

“Uh… Oops?” Apple Bloom said as she stared at the handle in her hand before bending down to pick up the rusty nail. Ironhide walked up to her and patted her on the back as he replied, “It’s alright kid. Things like that happen with junkers like this.” He then proceeded to walk around the car and tried to open the other door.

He and Apple Bloom were humorously surprised when, as he pulled the handle, he not only pulled the handle, but the entire door off. Ironhide could only chuckle as he added, “My point exact.” Apple Bloom couldn’t help but laugh as she made her way up to her uncle to help him set down the rusty car door. Once they set it down, she remarked, “How is a hunk of junk like this even drivable?”

“I don’t rightly know.” Ironhide replied. “Though I don’t think that’s something we need to worry about.” He then stepped out of the way as he said, “Ladies first.” Apple Bloom, amused by the gesture, performed a curtsy as she replied, “Thank ya kindly.” With that, she descended into the old junker to see if there was anything of value.

“Ah’d say that just about does it.” Apple Bloom said as she wiped the sweat from her brow. For the last half hour, she and Ironhide had managed to remove just about every piece of trash from the car, and the only things left inside were the chairs and anything else bolted down to the car. It hadn’t been too much, but the heat of the poorly ventilated garage left her a bit worn out, yet invigorated for more.

Ironhide, grabbing a towel for his niece, replied, “I’ll say. Now all we’ve gotta do is remove the chairs.” As the older man handed Apple Bloom the towel, the latter asked, “So how we gonna do that?” Ironhide waived to the young girl and said, “Come over here and I’ll show you.”

When Apple Bloom made it over to her uncle, the older man knelt down and pointed to something under the chair. “You see those screws down there?” Apple Bloom knelt down and focused her eyes on to where he was pointing. Sure enough, his finger was aimed at a large screw that was holding the chair down to the car floor. Ironhide then continued, “Those screws are keeping the seats secure. You and I are gonna unscrew them so we can remove them so Wheeljack and Ratchet can saw the doors off.”

Ironhide then handed Apple Bloom a wrench as he playfully asked, “Would you like the honors?” Apple Bloom took the wrench as she, playing along, replied, “Ah’d be honored.” She then proceeded to set the wrench around the screw and, remembering the old phrase “righty tighty, lefty loosy,” began to turn to the left.

After about a minute, Apple Bloom felt the wrench loose its tension, followed by the gentle “ping” of something landing on the car’s floor. She stuck her head under the car seat to see that, indeed, the nut was now free. Reaching forward to grab it, Apple Bloom grasped the nut and presented it to Ironhide as she said, “What should Ah do with this?”

Ironhide raised his hand as he gently said, “You know, you can keep it. Think of it as a souvenir from your first junker.” Apple Bloom hesitated for a moment before she shrugged and placed the small nut in her pocket. She then knelt back down and proceeded to undo another nut.

After a few minutes, Apple Bloom removed the final nut, leaving the chair free to be moved. Ironhide stepped forward and, stretching his arms, said, “Alright Apple Bloom. I’ve got this.” Apple Bloom stepped out of her uncle’s way, and the older man wrapped his hands around the chair as he pulled upward.

Apple Bloom was surprised to see that Ironhide was now holding the car chair on his own. The older man began to quickly walk towards the corner before dropping the chair with a loud thud. “Phew.” Ironhide said as he wiped some sweat from his brow. “Age must be catching up with me.”

“Ah don’t think you’re that old.” Apple Bloom replied, trying to comfort her uncle. Ironhide let out a gentle laugh as he replied, “Well thank you Apple Bloom, but honestly the gray hairs I get don’t lie.”

Before either Apple Bloom or Ironhide could say anything else, Ratchet and Wheeljack returned, both wearing leather aprons and metal masks whilst the latter held an electric saw.

“We’ve got the saw.” Ratchet said as he took the device from the clearly enthusiastic Wheeljack. “Did you two get all the chairs removed?” Ironhide motioned to the corner as he said, “We got one.”

Wheeljack let out a disappointed sigh as he said, “Ok. Let me get a good look the other seats.” He walked up to Apple Bloom and extended his hand before Ratchet cheekily asked, “Aren’t you forgetting to say something?” Wheeljack realized what he was implying as he said, “Sorry. May I please have the wrench?”

“Well….” Apple Bloom hesitated as she “pondered” whether or not she should before she continued, “Ah suppose so.” She then gave Wheeljack the wrench. The mechanic then began to strut to the other side of the car as he said, “Step aside ladies, ‘cause it’s time to work my magic.” Apple Bloom and the others could only playfully shake their heads as Ironhide said to himself, “What are we gonna do with that boy?”

After about ten minutes, all the remaining chairs had been removed. Once the last chair had been removed, Apple Bloom asked, “So uncle Ironhide, what do ya need me to do now?”

“Right now, it’s time for you to watch and learn.” Ironhide replied as he pointed to Ratchet with one hand as he pointed to the wall with the other. Ratchet silently nodded as he took the saw to the wall and plugged the cable on the end of the device into a power outlet in the wall.

Once the saw was plugged in, Ratchet turned to Apple Bloom and said, “You might want to stand back kid. Don’t want you getting hit by flying sparks.” Apple Bloom only needed a quick glance at the thick aprons he and Wheeljack were wearing to know that she shouldn’t argue with him.

Once Apple Bloom was safely out of the way, Ratchet powered on the saw. The device let out a high pitched whirling-whizzing noise as the blades ran around and around, like horses running a derby. The older man lowered his face mask so that all Apple Bloom could see was a metal plate with a dark tinted glass slit for his eyes.

Ratchet then began to lower the blades in between the car door and the rest of the car. The moment contact was made, bright yellow-orange sparks began to fly all over the garage as a high pitched grinding sound filled the air, forcing Apple Bloom to cover her ears.

After a few minutes, the rusty car door fell to the ground before falling over. Ratchet proceeded to turn off the saw as he raised his mask, remarking, “We’ve got one down.” Wheeljack then walked up to him, giving Ratchet what could only be described as puppy dog eyes. Rolling his eyes in “resignation,” Ratchet said, “Alright. Knock yourself out.” He then handed the saw to Wheeljack, who proceeded to let out a mischievous giggle as he walked up to another car door and turned the machine back on.

Apple Bloom turned to Ironhide and remarked, “There’s somethin’ odd about Wheeljack.” Ironhide gave his niece a playful smirk as he asked, “What makes you think that?” Apple Bloom would have replied, but she was cut off as the sound of the saw cutting through metal returned, the only sound able to be heard above the grinding was a maniacal laughter that could only come from Wheeljack.

“On second thought, Ah think he’s just crazy.” Apple Bloom deadpanned to her uncle. Ironhide patted her on the shoulder as he said, “You get used to his madness.”

When all the doors had been removed, the group had split up to perform their own tasks. Ironhide began to remove the engine and other devices from the front of the junker, Wheeljack was undoing the hubcaps, Ratchet was under the car, and Apple Bloom was, well, she hadn’t been given a task at the moment. And without something to do, boredom had begun to set in.

At least, it had until she noticed that the car doors had been set aside. Curious, she walked up to her uncle and asked, “Uncle Ironhide, what are we gonna do with the doors?”

“Wheeljack and I are gonna take them over to the smelting pools.” Ironhide replied. Apple Bloom then asked, “Need me to help with them?” Ironhide, not even lifting his head from the engine, answered, “No. We don’t need you cutting yourself.”

Apple Bloom sighed and said, “Alright.” She began to walk away before Ironhide said, “Don’t worry. I’ll have something for you soon enough.” Apple Bloom nodded and made her way over to the car doors. She may not have been able to do anything with them, but she figured she could at least take a closer look at them.

In truth, there wasn’t anything exceptionally special about the doors. They were simple car doors covered in rust and grime, clearly making it clear that they were very old. The only other thing that caught Apple Bloom’s attention was the clean cut from where Ratchet had sawed through, leaving an untainted, unbroken edge. the area around the cuts didn’t appear to have the kind of rust the rest of the car had.

That’s when Apple Bloom had a stupid idea. Some part of her wanted to see just how sharp the cut edges were. Of course she wasn’t going to try and cut herself, only gently compare it to the rest of the door.

Apple Bloom began to run her hand over the rusty door, letting her fingers feel the rust. Something about it felt, for lack of a better word, nice. It kind of reminded her of an old phrase Granny Smith taught her, “Turnin’ apples into apple cider.” The phrase usually meant to describe the process of turning something undesirable into something valuable, not unlike turning lemons into lemonade. Considering Ironhide and the others made money by tearing old cars apart for their pieces or to melt them down for slag, it certainly seemed to be rather appropriate.

As Apple Bloom’s hand closed the distance between itself and the sliced hinges, she heard Wheeljack call out to her, “Hey Apple Bloom, what are doing with the doors?” Apple Bloom, rising to her feet, began to call back, “Ah was just takin’ a clos……”

That was when she felt a sharp pain on her palm. “Ouch!” Apple Bloom exclaimed as she held her hand to her chest as she realized something; her hand was now a little wet. Taking a look at her palm, she was terrified to see that her palm now had a small but noticeable tear across, blood beginning to come out.

Ratchet took one sniff of the air and, worry in his voice, turned to Ironhide and said, “Sir I smell blood.” Ironhide’s eyes shrank as he turned to Apple Bloom, fear on her face as she tried to hide her hand, and then to the car doors, where the sliced hinges had small amounts of what could only be blood on them.

“Oh shit! Apple Bloom!” Ironhide shouted as he ran up to his niece and began to inspect her cut hand. As he inspected it, he worriedly, yet slightly angrily asked, “What the hell where you thinking?”

Apple Bloom, scared and ashamed, replied, “Ah was just…. Ah just wanted to see how sharp the edges were.” Ironhide sighed as he regained his composure before he said, “Needless to say, I think you’ve done enough scrapping for today.”

“What?” Apple Bloom asked. “But Uncle Ironhide, Ah…” Ironhide raised his hand as he said, “No. That’s a pretty nasty cut, which means you’d be working with one hand.”

Ratchet then asked, “Kid, you’ve had a tetanus shot, right?” Apple Bloom, confused, replied, “Ah don’t know what that is, so Ah’ll say no?” Ratchet, realizing the implication, sighed as he said, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” He then ran off, leaving Apple Bloom alone with Ironhide and Wheeljack.

Wheeljack asked, “You alright Apple Bloom?” Apple Bloom shrugged as she replied, “Ah guess. Mah hand kinda hurts.” Wheeljack caught a glimpse as he replied, “I bet.”

Apple Bloom turned to her uncle and began to apologize. “Uncle Ironhide, Ah’m sorry Ah got mahself hurt.” To her surprise, Ironhide rested his hand on her shoulder as he replied, “It’s alright Apple Bloom. We all get ourselves cut. Remind me next time to get you a set of gloves, ok?” Apple Bloom, smiling, replied, “Thanks.” She then leapt towards her uncle and wrapped him in a big hug, a sight that made Wheeljack feel a little “sappy.”

Ratchet returned with a first aid kit and, to Apple Bloom’s surprise, a syringe. “Alright…” He began before turning to Ironhide. “Ironhide, you sure that Apple Bloom here hasn’t had a tetanus shot?”

Ironhide shook his head as he replied, “Applejack and Miss Smith didn’t say anything about it, so I’m going to assume no.”

Setting his first aid kid down, Ratchet took the syringe and walked up to Apple Bloom. “Ok Apple Bloom, I’m going to need you to roll up your sleeve.” Apple Bloom hesitated for a moment, but the pain in her hand told her to just get it over with. She rolled up her sleeve as Ratchet took the syringe and removed its cap.

“Apple Bloom, this is a tetanus shot.” Ratchet said. “This should help keep you from getting tetanus.” The old medic took the needle as he inspected her arm. After finding the right spot, he warned her, “Now, you’ll feel a slight prick.” Apple Bloom didn’t say anything, simply nodding and prepared herself.

Apple Bloom did indeed feel a slight prick as Ratchet stuck the needle into her arm. After taking the needle out, he placed a band-aid over where he stuck the syringe as he said, “That’s the tetanus shot down. Now let’s get that hand of yours.”

After a few minutes, Ratchet had disinfected Apple Bloom’s palm and wrapped it in bandages and gauze. “There we go!” Ratchet said as he wiped his hands. “Keep your hand stable and by the end of the week it should be right as rain.” Apple Bloom nodded as she said, “Thanks.” She then turned to Ironhide and asked, “So, what do ya need me to do now?”

Apple Bloom should have known she’d be asked to sweep the store front. At the moment, it was the only thing that Ironhide had for her to do, at least that she could do with only one hand. Part of her was angry at herself for doing something as stupid as getting herself cut.

And yet, she couldn’t stay mad at herself for long. Ironhide had shown more concern than anger, and both he and Ratchet had made it clear that her hand would be alright within a few days.

All in all, it had turned out to be a surprisingly average day. Apple Bloom learned something new about scrapping, got herself hurt and in trouble, and ultimately found herself in, for lack of a better term, trouble. All she could think of was, ‘Ah wonder what Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith are up to?”

Granny Smith found herself staring at a simple invitation. It was an old invitation, from years long past. Heck, it was older than even Big Macintosh. She could only trace her fingers across it as she took a deep breath. The invitation read…

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Ironhide and Chromia

She remembered that day. It had been a year or so after Ironhide returned from Southeast Asia. He had been kicked to the curb by almost everyone else he knew, and needed a friend. A friend like her son, Bright Macintosh.

But Bright Mac failed to be there for his old friend. When word of Ironhide’s unit had done reached back home, Bright Mac cut all ties from him, and when Ironhide tried to explain things, to say they got in a fight would be an understatement.

Granny Smith silently cursed herself for not keeping her son in check. Maybe things could have gone better, but she knew one thing; Ironhide and Bright Mac only met one more time afterwards, where both men apologized for what happened, and Ironhide offered one favor to make up for his own angry outburst.

And now he was taking care of her granddaughter because of that favor.

Granny Smith knew what she had to do. She decided that the next morning, she would tell her remaining grandchildren about their “uncle,” as well as why he and their father drifted apart in the first place.