//------------------------------//
// Fallen Apple 
// Story: Fallen Apple 
// by Soothing Stone 
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Many hours had passed by at that point. Fillies and colts alike took six more tests, each seemingly more demanding than the previous one. They all cheered when they got their lunch break and recess for relief, this day was so taxing and they still had to go through three more hoops before the final bell.

Yet Apple Bloom had prepared well enough, so much that she felt confidant after six of the seven quizzes. Yes, they were tougher than she thought. But there was also an occasional test that she breezed through within ten minutes.

She was getting a real good feeling from her success, and when they came to the final test, she felt confidant that this one would be a piece of cake too.

She waited as the teacher's pet handed out the test papers to the class, and she noted everypony was sweating and exhausted, from mental fatigue and sheer nerves. Were the tests that difficult? Didn't feel that way.

Nevertheless, Cheerilee raised a hoof as the last test had been passed. "I just wanted to say, I graded all the previous tests, and nopony failed a single subject. I'm really proud of you as a teacher, and I wish you all luck on the last one."

The atmosphere lifted in the room as almost everypony sighed in relief. Apple Bloom grinned, and took a look at the quiz in front of her.

It was on history, something she was always good at. She took a pencil in her mouth and began.

Question 1: 600 years ago, a prince from the royal family struck out against Celestia's rule, starting the Eclipsed Civil War. Which of these stallions is he? A.Starlight B.Starfire C.Winning Streak D.Whirlwind

It was D, and she marked it on her sheet. She couldn't believe it, the day was almost over. Already she could imagine helping her brother and sister like a true farmer, doing every piece of work that was needed to keep the Acres in their pristine quality.

The clock in the room let her know there were only fifty minutes left before the day was out, and she couldn't resist raising a hoof for a question.

"I'm sorry Apple Bloom, I don't answer questions during a quiz," Cheerilee responded. "I can't help you if you're stuck."

"It's not that," the filly replied. "But this is the last test of the day. Do we get out when we're done with the test, or do we have to wait for the bell to ring like everypony else?"

"Well, I didn't have anything else for you to do for today, or any assigned homework. I guess in that case, you're dismissed early."

That set Apple Bloom into high gear. She picked the pencil back up and read all the questions, blazing through them all like it was nothing. To her, it really wasn't. But to her surprise, there were a bunch more questions here than she anticipated.

Nevertheless, she was undeterred. She went through question after question, pausing when she had to think about the answer a little more.

Question 24: It has been at least 1500 years since Celestia and Luna defeated Discord and established their rule, setting up the current kingdom. True or false: There were other alicorns present when they took over.

False. With that annoying question that sucked away five precious minutes of her life finished, she went for the last sixteen items and had finally finished. She cheerfully took the piece of paper in her mouth, and put it into the bin only to discover there were already fifteen of them there before hers. To make things worse, the bell did ring at that moment, meaning Apple Bloom had barely turned it in on time.

Her mouth dropped in shock at the clock. How could she have wasted so much time on one stupid question?

Working as a cherry on top, Diamond Tiara came to the desk and pulled away the tests, and pointed at her name written on top of the first one turned in.

"I guess you're not the fastest in everything after all," she smirked. "See you later, slowpoke."

Apple Bloom felt a tiny bit ashamed, realizing she didn't study as hard at history as she could have. She turned to the door, and walked out after the rush of ponies went before her.

"Thank you all, students!" Cheerilee said as a farewell. "I'm confidant you all did an amazing job, and I'll see you next week!"

The filly groaned at the attempt at saving face, and soon the other two Crusaders came to her side. They were both looking better and worse than her, more sweaty from their nerves but not feeling like horse apples like Apple Bloom.

"So what if she beat you in time by a wide margin?" Scootaloo comforted. "You probably scored a lot better in history, you always do!"

"By only two points," Sweetie Belle pointed out.

Scootaloo jabbed her by the side, and then they noticed Apple Bloom had already went on before them, since the advice did not help matters one bit.

The hallway was empty by now, with the occasional piece of paper drifting along aimlessly. It was almost completely vacant save for the teachers, as she opened the door to exit the building.

Sweetie and Scootaloo rushed out the door by then, and Apple Bloom did not look up any. The unicorn paused in thought, before an idea came to mind.

"Don't worry about it," she started. "We're going to have the bestest sleepover tomorrow night, and you have that thing with Applejack to do--"

"The tree cutting!" Apple Bloom said out of nowhere. She hugged both of them at the same time, while saying, "Thanks for reminding me! Ah almost forgot about it back there. Don't worry, Ah'm good for the sleepover. Applejack will be fine with it, Ah'm sure! See you all tomorrow!"

She let go and ran away to the Acres, leaving the two of them to try to figure out what just happened.. Sweetie was a little dizzy from the bear hug, while Scootaloo was gasping for air.

"Maybe one talent we could all learn is not hugging everypony so tight," the pegasus gasped.

"Well, at least she's happy," Sweetie Belle stumbled.

With school finally out of the way, Apple Bloom galloped all the way to her house, not stopping for a break to catch her breath. She didn't recognize how weird it was that nopony was there to pick her up, only that she was free to do what she had looked forward to all week.

Ponyville went far away from her view as she kept running, and it wasn't long until she could make out the familiar apple trees of the Sweet Apple Acres. She gleamed in joy as she could make out that a few of the trees were cut down, yet there were still red X's all over.

She entered the gate that led to the farm in high spirits. The filly looked around the fields, going from hill to hill. But there was nopony around that she could see for miles. So she found the highest hill, the one that could give her a good sight of every inch of the Acres.

But she still couldn't see anypony around here. Why was that so? And then she saw that there weren't many trees with red paint cut down. In fact, most of them were still standing. This was so unusual for Applejack and Big Macintosh that she was worried something bad might have happened.

However, as many people do when they imagine worst case scenarios, she tried to rationalize what the reason was behind all of this.

OK, so why would they not be cutting down trees? Maybe the saw they were working on was soft after a while. Big Mac could be sharpening it while Ah'm up here.

Or it could be that they're in town for supplies. That makes sense. Cutting down trees take a lot of work and they were unprepared.

Better yet, they might be taking a break. It takes a lot of strength to do something like this. Ah would be taking breaks every few hours if Ah was working on this. Ah bet, no matter what it is, Granny Smith knows what in the hay is going on. Ah should go ask her, and then we'll start cutting down trees, the three of us.

The rationalization had done its job, calming her down from her panic. She slowly came down from the hill and could see the house a few hundred feet away. It would take some time to get there, but it was worth it.

She peered around while she was heading to the house, when she couldn't help but feel a heavy atmosphere get thicker the closer she got there. It was like having a dumbbell on top of her shoulders, and she hated the feeling it gave. But she didn't know the reason she felt that way. After further rationalization, the sensation left her mind and she arrived at the house.

It wasn't long until she opened the door, but she still couldn't see anypony. But then she heard it. It was so unusual in its nature that she didn't know if she was hearing things, or if it was really happening. So she waited. And waited. And waited. But it wouldn't leave. She pinched herself with the corner of her saddlebag, and realized it was real. The heavy atmosphere was coming back.

It was the sound of Big Macintosh quietly crying.

From how it sounded, she gathered that it was coming from the living room in the side of the house, and made her way there. She kept looking around for Applejack and Granny Smith, but they either weren't on the first floor or were good hiders.

"Hey, Applejack! Granny Smith! Where are you girls!" she asked out loud.

Then the crying stopped. Instead, she could hear the sound of whispering, and then she could see Big Mac at the end of the hallway. His eyes were red from crying, and waved her in.

"No, not yet!" Smith's voice said clearly, out of sight. "She's just a little filly, we need to wait to tell her. Too young to be learnin' about something like this."

"She can hear both of us!" Big Mac shot back. "And we can't lie to her on what happened. If not now, then when? And you know Ah've been no good at lying. She needs to know now."

"Know about what?" said the young filly.

The stallion turned back to her, and said nothing as she came inside. Granny Smith sat with a calm manner on her rocking chair, while a pile of used tissue were on the table closest to Big Mac. It was so surreal, seeing her brother like this. Crying.

It was obvious at first sight that Applejack wasn't here. There was no softened saw, no new supplies, and no Applejack in here. It stuck out like a scar across the face, and Apple Bloom needed to know why it was happening.

"Wait a minute. Where's Applejack?" she asked. "She's still cutting down trees today, right?"

Like it was a trigger, Big Mac's tears came back, and he wiped them away with a thing of new tissue. "That's what we need to talk to you about. Ah...Ah don't know how else to put it."

He went into another room, where Apple Bloom could hear the sound of fabric brushed against something. When he came back, he had Applejack's hat in his mouth. He laid it on the table, and that's when she could see it had a little bit of blood on it.

"Ah was working with her out on the farm, just like we planned," he reflected back, his voice getting choked up and scratchy. "The first few trees went fine, like we wanted. And then we came to this really big tree..."

He had to stop and blew into another thing of tissue. Tears welled up in Apple Bloom's eyes, as she was fearing the worst might have come true.

"It took a while to get through. We took a break when we were on that one. After what felt like an hour, we finally managed to cut it down. But when it started to fall, it fell really fast...and it came down right on top of her."

He could barely find it within himself to say the next line, but he had no choice. "Apple Bloom...your sister is dead."

That moment...that moment would be sketched permanently in the young filly's mind. Her world felt like it had shattered into a million pieces, each reminding her of what her life used to be like.

Her jaw was flat on the ground, and realized it was true. It was all true. Her sister was dead and gone. Forever. Never coming back.

Her eyes watered up, and her heart felt like it was as heavy as the tree that killed Applejack. She didn't want to acknowledge this was real.

The next thing she knew, she ran with all her soul upstairs. She did not look back as she came to her bedroom, and jumped into its covers. All she could do was bury her face within her pillow as she broke down into tears. Nothing would stop her from crying her heart out, trying to hide from the reality a little longer.

No...it can't be true! IT CAN'T BE TRUE! Applejack...please...be here, please be here, Ah need you to be here for me. You can't go like this! You're better than having an old tree kill you like this!

Are you gone? Really gone? There's no way...oh my Celestia...you're dead. You're dead...you're dead...

She couldn't do anything but cry. There was no strength to do anything else. Accepting fate only caused the pain inside to get worse and worse. The way it came out of nowhere, and how happy she was earlier...it was all too much for somepony as young as she was.

Her body ached from a pain that wasn't there. It went limp, as she gave up trying to fight it all. Her feelings sunk into her heart, as she continued to clutch to her pillow for support.

Time felt like it had no real meaning to her anymore, as hours felt like minutes. She looked out the window after a seemingly short fifteen minutes, only to see it was dark outside. Yet, it did not bother her, as she had stopped crying but still felt like the world was crashing around her.

She lifted her head from the pillow to see it was dripping from tears. There was no telling how many of them she had shed, but she only stopped after her eyes felt dry. Once they got better, she would be crying again.

Then, the door opened wide in front of her. Big Mac came in, considerably calmer than before. He looked right at her, as she made no attempts to hide her state of mind. Rather than say anything right then, he sat on the side of her bed, keeping his eyes on her the whole time.

As soon as he did, she climbed out and clung to her brother tightly, holding on for dear life. He took her in his lap as he held her as well, brushing her mane with his hoof.

"It's OK, let it all out," he comforted. "You'll feel better if you do."

And so she did. She found the strength to cry again, as she buried her face in his stomach. All she wanted was Applejack to come in the door, alive and well. But she couldn't have that. But having Big Macintosh be there for her was helping big time.

He continued to say nothing else after that, as he wasn't all there either. But he couldn't imagine what it was like for her, a simple minded filly who had yet to know about life and death like she should have. So he felt like it was his duty to be here for her, almost like a guardian.

After this went on for a while, she did feel a lot better. Not that she was feeling happy, but compared to the sheer sorrow she had hours ago, it was an improvement.

"Why did it happen, Big Mac?" she asked in a whisper. "Why did she have to go?"

"Ah don't know," he said, shaking his head. "Sometimes, things like this just happen, like it did with your parents. It's nopony's fault, and there's nothing we can do about it. We can do something about what we do after it happens, though."

She looked up at him with watery eyes, and nodded with understanding. "Ah don't feel so good," she said silently. "My stomach feels terrible."

"Well, that's something we can change," he smiled. He placed her on his back as he got up from the bed and went out of the room. From there, he went downstairs and into the kitchen, while she remained motionless from there.

He sat her on a chair as he dug through the cabinets, looking for the right medicine to use. He found the stuff he was looking for, and mixed it with a glass of water.

She looked over her shoulder, and took the glass of water he handed her. She took a few gulps only to make funny faces from the taste.

"It tastes like something Winona would eat."

"Probably, but it will help your stomach. Take a few more drinks."

Against her wishes, she took another sip. It tasted like dishwasher water now, but she had to keep drinking. She forced herself to get more, and once she was done, her stomach felt a lot better while her mouth tasted like...well...any flavor that's not good. She cringed as the last part of the sour flavor sunk in, and handed the glass back.

"That's better," he mentioned, as the glass was placed within the sink. "You should be getting some rest now, it's been a rough day."

Apple Bloom nodded, and climbed back upon Big Mac's back. He steadily went out of the kitchen, careful not to lose his balance up the stairs. It didn't take much longer until they were on the second floor.

"So, you want to sleep in your room again?"

She nodded. "But could you watch over me while Ah'm going to sleep?"

"Yeah, Ah'll do that for you."

He entered back into the bedroom, and turned on the lamp. The stallion placed her back on the bed, turning over the pillow to the side that was not so wet. She smiled as he tucked her in, making her feel a bit safer.

With her in bed, he found a chair and brought it to the bed's side. He sat there, watching over her as promised.

She cried a bit more, remembering what happened to her big sister. It was...just awful. That was the only way she could describe it. She was crying for those few minutes, until she felt a little more drowsy with every passing tear. It wasn't long until she was sound asleep, snoring.

Now that the filly was resting peacefully, he went back downstairs and into the living room. Without any hesitation, he cried some more as well, clutching tightly to Applejack's hat. He figured it would be how he would remember her in the future, and promised her to protect and maintain it.

Within the next hour, he was asleep as well, with her hat still in his hooves.

Ah won't forget you...Ah promise.