//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Equestria Girls: The Apple of Death's Eye // by Time Agent pony //------------------------------// Applejack, along with Winona, walked along the pavement, heading towards the Animal Shelter & Clinic. The mysterious girl was weighting heavy on her mind, as far back as she could remember she couldn't recall encountering a girl like the one she had been seeing throughout the day, nor could she remember her parents ever mentioning a girl matching the girl's description. For now, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind as she and Winona entered the building. They were met by Fluttershy, who had just finished examining a pet. "Hey, Applejack," she greeted. "Howdy, Fluttershy," Applejack replied. The look on her friend's face told Fluttershy that Applejack's mind was elsewhere. "Are you alright, Applejack?" she asked, "you seemed to be distracted by something." Applejack wanted to lie and say that nothing was wrong and put on a brave face for her friend. But Fluttershy was one of those people you couldn't really lie to, she was just too kind and caring. Applejack sighed, "I got a lot on my mind, sugercube," she answered. "Do you wanna talk about any of it?" Fluttershy asked, "you know, after Winona's finished with her appointment." "Yeah," Applejack nodded, "I'd like that." Fluttershy smiled. She may have a gift when it came to animals and thanks to her geode her gift had been elevated to whole new level. Fluttershy also liked to think that she was just as good with comforting people, as she was comforting animals. While her friend took care of her dog, Applejack tried to distract herself by reading some magazines and newspapers in the clinic's waiting room. There was the Daily Bugle with J Jonah Jameson's usual rambling about Spider-man being a menace. "How does Spider-man cope?" Applejack wondered, "I might have to ask some time." Then there was Daily Planet with articles on Superman and his various heroics, reported by Lois Lane. Finally a magazine discussing whether robotics were worth pursuing, because of threats like Ultron, Brainiac and Ultimo. After a while, Applejack's mind wondered back to the previous events of the day. She was again thinking about the mysterious girl, who was she? How did she know her and her parents? The questions buzzed around inside her skull, more so than the other dilemma on her mind. Applejack was saved from driving herself crazy with her thoughts, by Fluttershy. "Winona's finished her check up," she said, patting the dog on the head, "she's such a good girl." Applejack smiled, she'd had Winona even since she was puppy, aside from her hat, Winona was one of the few connections Applejack still had with her parents. "Are you ready to talk about your problems?" Fluttershy asked, taking a seat beside her friend. Applejack sighed, she really didn't want to burden one of her friends with her problems, she was very stubborn about issues like that, but, on the other hand, she knew she had to tell someone otherwise if she kept her thoughts bottled up inside it would drive herself mad. So she explained to Fluttershy about mysterious girl she had been seeing and the decision to take Apple Bloom with her and Big Mac when they made their yearly visit to their parents graves. Applejack confided that the girl mentioned that she knew her parents, but she couldn't recall ever encountering her ever. Fluttershy listened, until her friend had finished explaining then took a long time to think of a response. "Well," she said, finally, "in regards to your first problem, I think that your brother is right, Apple Bloom is around the age to understand and deal with grief." "But she's my sister," Applejack replied, "when my parents died she could barely walk and speak, she was just a baby so we never mentioned them around her, she doesn't know them like I did, how do you tell someone about parents that they didn't remember?" Fluttershy was silent for a moment, "the first step is always the hardest," she uttered, eventually. "What?" Applejack asked, confused. "You have to take a leap of faith," Fluttershy continued, "I know you love your sister and the rest of your family, like how me and the others help and support each other through any difficulties and hardships we face and I'm sure Apple Bloom's friends will do the same for her." Fluttershy had a point, like her big sister, Apple Bloom had her own circle of friends, consisting of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, which formed the CMC (Canterlot Movie Club) where they would get together at the local cinema to catch a movie that all three of them were fans of. When Apple Bloom was with her friends they were practically inseparable, their friendship was just as strong as the friendship Applejack had with her friends and teammates in the Champions. Applejack knew what she had to do, but it was so hard to imagine that Apple Bloom wasn't the little sister she had taken care of and protected throughout her younger years. She had created an ideal version of her little sister in her head, that was sheltered and needed to be protected at all times. She just didn't know if her sister could handle the sadness and grief of seeing her parents graves. "It's like birds," Fluttershy stated, "the baby birds always need their mother for a while, but then they grow up and leave the nest." "I'm not following," Applejack said, not quite understanding her friend's words. "What I'm saying is," Fluttershy replied, "all children leave home sooner or later, the joy is to watch them fly." Applejack was about to reply, when a familiar whistle suddenly was heard. She began glancing around, trying to identify where the whistle was coming from. "Applejack," Fluttershy said, "are you okay?" Just then, the mysterious girl walked through the entrance and headed for the section of the building where the rescue animals were kept. "Thats her," Applejack uttered, "thats the girl." "I wonder what she wants with the rescue animals?" Fluttershy murmured. The two followed behind the girl, until she arrived at her destination. The girl entered the room, the animals being surprisingly quiet as she passed by their cages, apart from Fluttershy the animals had never acted like that around anyone else. The girl stopped by a cage with a partially blind cat in it. The cat looked up at the girl, who smiled and stroked the cat's fur. "Don't give up, little one," the girl said, "your destiny does not end here." The cat seemed to understand and began purring as the girl continued gently stroke its head. Eventually, the girl stopped stroking the cat, closed its cage and turned to leave, but stopped when she saw Applejack and Fluttershy standing by the entrance. "Hello again," she greeted, smiling, "we really need to stop meeting like this." "I've never seen the animals so well behaved around strangers," Fluttershy replied, "you must be really good with animals." "I guess you could say that," the girl answered, "lets just say I'm not really a stranger to them." It was then that Applejack spoke up, "Who are you?" she asked, "why are you following me?" The girl seemed unfazed by the questions, "Well," she replied, "I'm just who you think I am and I think you'll find that you've been following me." "But I don't know who you are," Applejack retorted, "I don't even know your name." Fluttershy nodded in agreement with her friend, she also didn't know who the strange girl was. The girl continued to smile, "Terribly sorry to cut this short," she started walking away, "but I have lots of things to do and very little time." "Wait," Applejack said, "we're not done here, how do you know my parents, they didn't mention anyone like you and certainly don't remember meeting you when I was younger." The girl stopped near the exit and turned to face Applejack and Fluttershy, "catch you later," she stated, after which she left the building. "Are you alright, Applejack?" Fluttershy asked, after a while. "Yeah," Applejack answered, "I'm fine." And without another word, Applejack along with Winona exited the building. She walked along back to her house with Winona walking alongside her. Applejack didn't know what to think, after the experience she had just had with the mysterious girl she had even more questions then answers. There was one thing she did know, after thinking, she finally understood what Fluttershy had been trying to tell her back at the Animal Shelter & Clinic. She had to let Apple Bloom grow up sometime, she couldn't keep her little sister in a bubble forever, she still didn't like the idea, but she could take baby steps. She had already decided what her first baby step was going to be, she had finally made up her mind, she was going to bring Apple Bloom along when she and Big Mac visited their parents' graves in the evening.