Chapter I: Adagio’s Day Off
Perhaps it’s just my nerves… Everything in my body tells me that this might go badly. I can’t quite help it since the last time I saw her, she ran away from me with tears in her eyes. The thought of talking to her again makes me feel nervous and scared, despite the fact she’s quite a bit younger than me. I guess what makes it worse is that she’s one of my first friends. And I’m the one who caused us to stop talking in the first place…
A few weeks ago, I was so busy trying to get everyone together for Sunset’s birthday that I didn’t really have the time to talk to her again. Even after Sunset’s birthday, I’ve barely had any time to myself due to a sudden increase in student size. I guess it’s to be expected since it’s right around the time school opens again, meaning a lot of kids will probably enroll in the classes offered at the music studio. But that’s one of the things that’s worried me a bit… Apple Bloom hasn’t attended any sessions for weeks. She’s probably still hurt… I didn’t mean to ignore her, I just… forgot…
Grabbing my scarf from the rack next to our door, I can’t help but sigh heavily. It’s the middle of August and I can’t help but worry about the upcoming day. Today is the only free day I’ve had in a while, so I promised myself that I would actually talk to Apple Bloom again. No matter what. I would ask Sunset for a ride, but she already left for morning classes hours ago… That means I’ll have to walk again. I’m used to walking, but it’s still a long distance from our apartment to the Apple Family farm. Hopefully, she will be there by the time I get there…
Closing the door behind me, I can’t help but find this whole situation ironic. It wasn’t even a couple months ago when Applejack was the one who was resistant to the idea of talking to me and Apple Bloom was trying to get her to open up to the idea. Now, the situation has practically reversed… I’m friends with Applejack and now Apple Bloom is the one who doesn’t want to talk to me. Given, I wouldn’t want to talk to me either… I really hurt her feelings by breaking my promise to her. I just hope I can try to fix things with her… Apple Bloom is a good person and I would hate to lose her as a friend because of my own stupid mistake.
“I suppose you’re never happy, are you?” a whisper asks me from the back of my mind, causing me to grimace. Not her again… Trying my best to ignore her threatening voice, I quicken my pace down the sidewalk, avoiding any people who might be walking by. “You fixed the situation with Sunset and her friends, yet here you are. Whining about how you screwed up with the little brat,” her whisper stabs at my mind, making my frown grow bigger. “Can’t you just be happy you fixed one situation for once? God damn, Adagio…” Whereas her voice is usually threatening and taunting to try and get to me, but this time, her tone sounds genuinely annoyed.
“You never get it, so why should I explain?” I whisper in response, trying to not seem weird for ‘talking to myself,’ even though it’s much more complicated than that.
“You don’t need to explain. I just find it tedious and a lot more work than what you need to do. What does she even offer you? I understand that you ‘love’ Sunset and such, but what can a brat like her give you?” I can feel my teeth grit at her statement, clenching my fist in my pocket. Despite the fact that I’ve been putting my hair up and dressing in more flashy clothing, she always seems to bring my self-esteem to ground level, no matter what I do.
Bringing my hand to my scarf, I take a deep breath, looking forward at the environment in front of me. “She’s my friend. And you’ll deal with it whether you like it or not.” Her evil laugh once again rings throughout my mind, making me shudder slightly.
“Go ahead and act like I don’t have an affect on you, Adagio. We’ll see who wins in the end.”
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Jumping over the all-too familiar ditch, my mouth forms into a slight smile, remembering every time I’ve encountered this part of the scenery. It could definitely hurt if someone fell into it, making it a hazard to jump over, but Apple Bloom has dragged me over it countless times at this point. I think she told me she sprained her ankle once from falling in, but she disregarded the injury simply because she’s hurt herself so many times around this farm that it barely makes the top ten. I’ve never understood why the Apple Family seems proud of their injuries… It’s like they try to boast how much they’ve lived through when they could have easily died. There was one time Apple Bloom proudly showed me an inch-long scar on her shoulder, telling me she got it from falling off the roof close to the wagon. Not her bright red, child-size wagon either. The one they attached to the truck for hay rides back at the reunion. I mean, hell… She probably could have gotten hurt a lot more, so she’s lucky only getting a small scar, but her family talk about it as a fun story.
Regardless, the ditch is something I’ve come to memorize at this point. It tells me that I’m close to the clubhouse where the Cutie Mark Crusaders conduct their operations. These operations usually consist of trying new things together to try and find their calling in the world. It’s not a half bad idea either with how society basically forces people to decide what they want to do from a young age. Sunset told me how her financial aid applications for college basically required her to have an established major from day one, making it seem like kids these days are given little chance to experiment with life. Or to make mistakes. Thankfully, Rich agreed to pay for Sunset’s college fees for the rest of her school days, so she won’t have to worry about that. I should tell her about that… In terms of Apple Bloom and her friends, I’m not sure what they will do for college.
Apple Bloom has expressed her interest in going to college, but she also told me it probably won’t happen since she might need to take over the farm someday. In no way do I think college is a necessity for her life to be a good one, but if she does want to pursue higher education, I kind of think it’s a shame that the farm may prevent her from doing that. It doesn’t seem like that will be the case though since Applejack wants to hold onto the farm as long as she can. I actually asked her for permission to go see Apple Bloom before I made it here… I suppose because I try to respect her and not sneak around her property without consent. That and I suppose I wanted to know if Applejack was mad at me for what happened between Apple Bloom and I… Thankfully, she seemed to understand the situation and granted me access to go to their clubhouse. Now the only problem I have left is actually talking to Apple Bloom and trying to straighten things out…
Walking through the trees, the light from a clearing hits my eyes, stunning me momentarily. It’s the same clearing I’ve seen a dozen times now, the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse sitting in the middle with a garden off to the side. Apple Bloom’s favorite red wagon sits right outside the clubhouse, tied to the tree with a thick rope. I suppose the young cowgirl is afraid of someone stealing her alternative for a backpack, but for someone to come all the way out here just to steal a wagon is a longshot. I would be impressed if that was a thief’s only goal… Within a moment, I notice a white girl looking out the window, her eyes connecting with mine briefly. Shock comes over her face, causing her to close the blinds to put a barrier between us. This is starting off well…
Getting closer to the clubhouse, I look up at the door, contemplating walking up the stairs… Would it be rude of me to knock on their door…? I know that I’m probably the last person Apple Bloom wants to see, but how else am I supposed to make things better between us? I’ve already waited a couple weeks to even come here, so that looks pretty bad to begin with. Then again, I haven’t really had the time to spare… Literally. Fancy Pants increased my shifts due to the increasing size of students that we have, so I couldn’t really come here until today. Why does this have to be so complicated…?
Without any warning, something hits my shoulder with the force of a plastic ball, making me raise my eyebrow slightly. A small foam dart sticks to my leather jacket, my eyes looking back up at the clubhouse only to find an orange girl with a helmet pointing a toy gun at me. “Don’t take another step, Adagio! That was a warning shot,” Scootaloo calls out to me, despite the distance between us being less than the length of a car. Seriously, why would she say that in such a loud tone when I’m right here?
“Point taken,” I say in a considerably quieter tone, pulling the dart off my jacket with a slight roll of my eyes. “Listen, Scootaloo. I’m not here to play. Can I talk to Apple Bloom?” Bringing my hands to my hips, I can’t help but frown in response to Scootaloo shaking her head, her gun still clearly aimed at my head.
The other window on the other side of the door opens, Sweetie Belle revealing herself again. This time, the young girl holds a tennis ball in one hand and a bucket with more balls in the other. Despite how hard Scootaloo tries to be intimidating, I feel more scared of the girl with tennis balls considering those can really sting, depending where they hit you. “Apple Bloom’s busy at the moment,” Sweetie Belle responds to me, a big frown on her face. Before I can even think of something to say, the front door opens, showing the iconic magenta bow come into the sunlight. Apple Bloom’s eyes look down at me with a solemn expression on her face before holding her hands out to the other two.
“Girls, please. I can speak for myself,” Apple Bloom interjects, signaling for them to step down. Even though she stops the two of them from threatening me, her eyes still speak a thousand words, adequately showing how uncomfortable Apple Bloom is to see me. “Hey, Adagio…”
Taking my hand out of my pocket, I give her a small wave, trying to smile as genuinely as possible. “Hi, Apple Bloom. How are you doing?” For a moment, no response is given, Apple Bloom’s eyes still looking into my own. My attempt to try and lighten the mood is almost completely ignored as the sound of the wind is the only thing filling the air. Rustling leaves make the atmosphere feel… surreal. I know I hurt her back then… A pinkie promise is something she takes seriously and she was relying on me to be there. Instead, I decided to dance with Sunset for hours when I could have cut it off after one dance.
“What are ya doing here, Adagio?” Apple Bloom asks me blankly, her stance not moving an inch from the spot at the top of the stairs. Her question is filled with doubt, making me feel even worse about the whole situation.
“I just… wanted to talk. That’s all.” Reaching inside my purse, I slowly pull out a box, wrapping paper covering the surface in a red and yellow checker pattern. Apple Bloom’s eyes widen slightly upon seeing the box, seemingly recognizing the wrapping paper. “I had a little bit of the paper left after you gave me a roll last December. I was just going to give you the box, but…” Placing the present on the stairs and taking a couple steps back, I look up at Apple Bloom with a smile. “I remembered what you said was the correct way to give a gift~” All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders stare at the box, but Apple Bloom is the one who seems the most affected by it, a nervous expression coming to her face. Slowly, the cowgirl walks down the stairs, picking up the box with one hand. The gift is about the size of a book, making it considerably easy to pick up. On the top of the gift, there’s a small sticky note with a message I wrote. I would have put one of those stickers that says who it’s from and who the gift is for, but I didn’t have one of those readily available.
“‘Hope this can help fix the damage,’” Apple Bloom recites my message from the note before gently tearing the paper. Within a moment, the box is opened, causing Apple Bloom’s expression to turn to one of surprise. Her hand gingerly reaches inside the box, pulling out the gold fabric and inspecting the gift. On one side of the fabric, the shape of a shield with magenta, pink, and purple is present. In the center, the shape of an apple is shaded with purple and pink, her name sewn with magenta threads on the edge of the shield. At the top of the fabric, there’s a button on one side and a hole on the other. Their old capes were red and had a blue shield with a yellow pony in it, but they kept ripping. So, I got the idea to replace them with more durable materials. I’m not much of a seamstress, but thankfully, I had the help of Rarity and Applejack to make these capes. All I really did was suggest the colors and Rarity made the designs. The gold cape in Apple Bloom’s hand shines slightly in the light of the sun, her eyes as wide as dinner plates as she looks at the design. “Ya made this?” she asks me in a surprised tone, seemingly in disbelief at the quality.
“Well, kind of… I had some help,” I say with a nervous smile, her eyes still looking at the cape. That was a lie. I needed a LOT of help. Her gaze finally moves back to the box, pulling out two more capes. Their designs, as similar as they are, reflect each one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. These capes should be harder to rip, taking a lot more damage than before. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry, Apple Bloom. I hope these gifts can make up for my mistake.” Her eyes finally look back at me, a conflicted tone in her stare. Both of us can feel the wind press against our skin, my heart wishing it was easier to ask for forgiveness. “I would do anything to make things right between us, Apple Bloom. Honest.” I refrain from saying the word ‘promise’ since I ended up breaking my last promise to her.
Turning her back to me, the young cowgirl walks up the stairs and gives the other two capes to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, both of them seemingly in awe at the designs. Within a few moments, Apple Bloom dawns the cape and looks at the cape flow in the wind. “These are really nice~” Scootaloo comments, feeling the gold material before she wears her gift too.
“Did my sister help you with these?” Sweetie Belle asks curiously, seemingly recognizing some of the work on her own cape. Before I can answer her question, Apple Bloom looks at the two girls, her bow bouncing from each movement. Even though I can only see the back of her head, I can see the other two girls seemingly understanding whatever Apple Bloom was trying to tell them.
“You’d do anything, huh?” Scootaloo remarks with a smirk, leaning against the window ledge. The young cowgirl turns around to look at me once more, a big smile on her face.
“What about a competition? Think ya can handle that?” Apple Bloom’s question does little more than confuse me, making me raise my eyebrow slightly.
“A competition…? What kind?” I ask cautiously, weary of whatever plan these three have.
“The School Days competition~”