Chapter 2: Dashed Hopes
A couple of hours had passed since Rainbow Dash broke the news to Apple Bloom about the near-certainty of a snow day, and while the filly’s excitement might have petered out somewhat, that didn’t mean she was going to sit down and get to work on writing a poem she not only didn’t want to write, but that she might not even have to work on until the weekend. Instead, she simply made the transition from being in a state of ecstasy, to being completely lazy. She carried this sloth attitude throughout dinner and even after. Normally she would use the time in-between dinner and bed to study or do homework that was due the following day.
However, because she was certain that school would be cancelled, she chose to mosey on into the living room and plop her flank onto the soft armchair. She reclined against the back cushion, smiling in satisfaction as she patted her stomach, full from her delicious dinner of apple fritters. Big Macintosh sat on the sofa beside her, reading the day’s newspaper. Applejack was busy cleaning the kitchen with Granny Smith, who was rather well-rested considering how late it was.
“Ah, no homework and no school tomorrow,” Apple Bloom said, putting her hooves behind her head, “this is truly the good life.”
Applejack stopped washing the dishes and pressed her hoof into her forehead. “Ugh, Apple Bloom,” she turned to face her idle sister, “Ah already told ya to treat tomorrow like school is still gonna happen, because as of right now...it is!”
Apple Bloom took a glance up at Applejack to see the mare standing in front of the sink, the scowl of disapproval so often shown by parents, or in this case an older sister acting like a mother. Apple Bloom waved her off with a hoof.
“You heard Rainbow Dash, ninety-five percent chance!” She said before turning away from her sister. “Now those are some odds worth bettin’ on!”
“Yes, well Rainbow Dash also says that dogs can’t look up.” Applejack muttered as she turned back to her dishes. “And Ah’ve seen Winona look up plenty of times before.”
“Whatever, Applenag,” Apple Bloom said before she leaned forward and let forth a mighty belch.
BBRRAAAPPP
The filly rubbed her stomach and turned to see Big Mac peering at her from over the paper. He didn’t look amused in the slightest. His eyes asking for Apple Bloom to utter the two magic words of ‘excuse me’. The filly, however, simply raised an eyebrow and gave a different response.
“Don’t act like ya ain’t impressed.”
Big Mac rolled his eyes then got back to the paper. Apple Bloom smirked and lay back against the chair. Applejack, who had just finished cleaning the dishes with Granny Smith, walked over to the living room.
“Fine, go ahead and be lazy lump,” she said. “But remember, ya reap what ya sow. So don’t be bellyachin’ to me if things don’t work out.”
Before Apple Bloom could get a chance to respond, she was stopped by a sudden knocking at the front door.
“Ah got it!” She shouted, hopping off of the armchair and trotted over, throwing it open to show none other than Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, both of whom had looks of dread on their faces. The same look of dread they had upon first hearing the assignment from Cheerilee that day.
“Hey Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said, “we’re here to get the poem done.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo muttered, reaching her muzzle into her saddle-bag and pulling out a sketch-pad and laying it on the ground. “Also, I’ve got some wicked awesome ideas for how we can present it to the class tomorrow.”
The pegasus flipped open the book to a page filled with various drawings. They weren’t the best, but they managed to help create a scene for what she envisioned the presentation to look like.
“I was thinking that we could use the drums that I used to initiate Babs into the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” she said before pointing to what appeared to be a sloppy representation of three small fillies on the page, donning sunglasses and odd hats. “And for what we wear, I suggest we go for the this awesomely stylish look. I’ve got three pairs of sunglasses that we can use and Sweetie Belle has some fedoras.”
“Yeah Rarity makes them all the time,” the little unicorn said, “There’s an entire stack of them back at the Boutique that Rarity said I could pick up before school tomorrow.”
“So, what do you think?” Scootaloo asked. “Do you like our ideas?”
“Yeah! Do you?” Sweetie Belle asked. Both girls grinned in unison, hopeful gleams in their eyes. But Apple Bloom’s response wasn’t what they expected. Almost immediately she started to laugh, shaking her head as her friends exchanged confused looks with each other before turning their attention back to their hysterical friend.
“Um, what’s so funny?” Scootaloo asked, clearly insulted by her friend’s apparent mockery of the effort her two friends put into the presentation.
“Yeah?” Sweetie Belle added.
Apple Bloom finally calmed herself down enough and steadied her breathing so she could give a proper response.
“Oh you girls are too much,” she wiped a laughter-induced tear away from her eyes. “We ain’t gonna have school tomorrow.”
“What?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle asked at the same time.
“Rainbow Dash said the pegasi are plannin’ a blizzard early in the morning, and school is most likely going to be closed,” Apple Bloom couldn’t help but grin even more as her two friends slowly started to smile.
“You mean?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking at Scootaloo- looking just as excited as her two friends.
“A snow day?” Scootaloo jumped into the air excitedly, her tiny wings buzzing. “We’re going to have a snow day!?!”
“You betcha’.” Apple Bloom said with a nod. “And you know what that means?”
“No poem tomorrow!” Scootaloo shouted. All three friends leapt for joy, laughing gleefully and hoof-bumping. Apple Bloom joined in as well. All three friends giggled and pre-emptively celebrated the snow day.
“So what do we do now?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I mean, do you want to work on the poem since we’re here?”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “No! We can start workin’ on it either tomorrow or Saturday,” she said, “but tonight we take a much deserved rest.”
“Rest?” Scootaloo asked, rubbing her hoof against her chin before she gave a nod. “Yeah, I could totally go for that.”
“Me too.” Sweetie Belle said.
“Great!” Apple Bloom said.
Scootaloo stuffed her sketch-pad into her saddlebag. She and Sweetie Belle turned to leave, waving to their friend before heading off into the night. Apple Bloom closed the door and turned to lean her back against it before sliding to the floor.
“Hehe, no school.”
“Ya don’t know that!” Applejack shouted from the living room.
“Stop ruining mah mood!” Apple Bloom shouted back. “Jeez Applejack, yer such a buzz-kill.”
Apple Bloom examined her toothpaste-filled mouth in the mirror of the bathroom. Once she was certain her mouth was clean, she spat the minty froth into the sink and washed it away. She hops off of her stool and trots to her bedroom, humming a cheerful tune- nothing could dampen her mood.
Nothing except, perhaps, a logical older sister that happened to be standing in the hallway, waiting for her to come out of the bathroom.
“So ya didn’t do yer homework?” Applejack asked. “Did ya?”
Apple Bloom stopped in her tracks, her happy expression fell and she sighed.
“Could ya please stop nagging me?” She turned to face her sister, who had a very concerned look on her face.
“Ah just don’t want ya to freak out tomorrow if ya wake up and there ain’t no snow.”
“Ya heard Rainbow Dash,” Apple Bloom said. “There’s gonna be a blizzard! She should know, she and the other pegasi do control the weather.”
“All Ah’m saying is that sometimes weather plans for the pegasi change at the last second.” Applejack said, closing her eyes. “And it’s always better to buck apples when ya think ya don’t need to, than to put it off only to realize ya should have done so when it’s too late.”
Apple Bloom tilted her head, “Huh?”
“It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Applejack reiterated before turning, “Try to remember that, all right?”
Applejack leaned in and gave Apple Bloom a kiss on the top of her head. “Good night, Apple Bloom, Ah’ll see ya tomorrow.”
Before Apple Bloom could say anything more, Applejack trotted back into her room and closed the door- leaving the little filly all alone in the pitch-black hallway. Sighing, she turned to walk into her room when she looked down the hall to see Winona walking towards Applejack’s room only to become distracted by a fly buzzing over her head. She looked up, nose held high as she tried to take down the fly. As Apple Bloom watched her family’s dog, she couldn’t help but stare.
“Huh,” she muttered. “Ah guess Rainbow was wrong about dogs.”
As soon as the words left her lips, she felt a sudden pang of worry flow through her. She was uncertain about the polychromatic pegasus’ predictions for the first time that night. But knowing there was no point to freak out now, as the time approached eleven, she shrugged it off.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” she muttered to herself. “So Rainbow Dash was wrong about dogs looking up. It doesn’t mean she was wrong about the weather. Ah’m positive that Ah’ll wake up tomorrow to see a nice, blanket of snow outside of mah window.” The filly then let out a massive yawn. “But right now, it’s time to get some shut-eye.”
Chuckling a little, she entered her room, leaving the crazy dog to continue to follow the fly, preparing to bring it down to earth and scarf it away.
Inside her bedroom, the little filly crawled under her sheets, the chilliness of the room making her shiver a bit. She pulled the sheets up to her chin and turned onto her side with a grin on her face.
“Wow, no school tomorrow,” she whispered. “Ah’m so excited, Ah don’t know how Ah’ll be able to fall aslee.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.”
The once excitable Apple Bloom closed her eyes, her head fell against the soft pillow beneath her as she fell asleep. Bombastic snores escaped her mouth that could rival Rainbow Dash’s own. That night she would enjoy a plethora of dreams involving a beautiful winter’s day without any school. Just mounds of snow and her two friends by her side.
And several odd, completely unrealistic scenarios that so often occur in the world of dreams.
Apple Bloom and her fellow crusaders crouched behind a large pile of snow, three tiny pyramids of snowballs beside them as they waited for their targets to arrive. Scootaloo popped her head up from behind the massive pile before looking down at her friends and giving them the ‘nod’ to signal that the targets were in range.
This was their cue to snatch one snowball in each hoof, climb the mountain of snow and lock in on the two fillies coming their way- a pink one with an expensive-looking scarf and a smug look on her face and a grey one with an equally smug look, though also a hint of uncertainty.
“Hey, Diamond Tiara!” Apple Bloom shouted.
The two fillies- Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon- looked up to see the three heads of the ponies they so liked to classify as ‘blank flanks’, as if it were their only trait.
“Look,” Diamond Tiara sneered, turning to Silver Spoon with the most arrogant of expressions.
“It’s the three bare-bottomed stooges.”
She then looked back at the snow-hidden fillies. “What are you doing out here? Trying to get your cutie mark in snow-pony building or something?”
The two fillies laughed, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t fazed.
“I think the more appropriate question is,” Sweetie Belle said, pointing at the two arrogant fillies. “What are you doing out here?”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo said, gesturing to Sweet Apple Acres behind them. “This is our turf, and you just mosey on up here like you own the place?”
“That don’t sit well with us in the slightest,” Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle shook her head to emphasize her friend’s point.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stopped laughing. They looked at each other and grinned.
“Oh yeah?” Diamond Tiara sneered, taking a few steps towards the snow banks on which the victims of her insults appeared. “And what are you losers gonna do about it?”
“Yeah, hehe, losers.” Silver Spoon laughed, following her leader as she usually did. Playing secondary lemming to her master.
The three fillies exchanged looks, nodded, and pulled out their snowballs.
“Full-frontal assault.” Apple Bloom responded with a snide grin. Before either bully could do anything they were silenced by a barrage of snowballs. After throwing her two, Scootaloo slid down the hill and started to toss up balls to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, who caught them and hurled them at their targets as they fled, screaming. But the trio of warrior fillies wasn’t done yet.
Apple Bloom looked down at Scootaloo, “Call it in!”
Scootaloo nodded and pulled, out of nowhere, a fully operational walkie-talkie, “This is the Chicken-Hawk on the ground,” she spoke into the device. “Targets are fleeing. Drop the package. I repeat, drop the package!”
“This is Big City Red, package has been released!” Came a reply over the radio that Apple Bloom immediately recognized as her cousin, Babs.
Apple Bloom turned, as did Sweetie Belle, to see what looked like a gigantic ball of snow falling through the sky, directly at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Both fillies stopped running and looked up. Even from the distance their looks of horror were all too clear.
“Tactical snow-boulder incoming!” Sweetie Belle shouted. Apple Bloom slid behind the mountain of snow and covered her head, as did Sweetie Belle, just in time to avoid the explosion. There was a flash of white, followed by a loud boom and dual screams. Snow blew over their heads as they ducked in cover, a low rumble echoing from all around.
Once the booming had stopped, as did the burst of snow, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle popped their heads up from behind the snow-bank to see a massive mushroom-cloud of snow billowing up to the sky. Beneath it was what appeared to be two snow-ponies frozen in place. Moments later, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon popped free of their snow-prisons and ran off, screaming and crying.
To Apple Bloom, the sounds of their agony was a symphony more beautiful than anything the Canterlot Philharmonic Orchestra could produce.
Once the dynamic duo of doom had fled, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ snowball arsenal had been thoroughly reduced, the three blank-flank fillies burst out into triumphant laughter. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom slid down to the bottom of the hill to join Scootaloo in their laughter.
“So do you think our special talent is snowball fighting?” Scootaloo asked.
At hearing the possibility, all three girls looked at their flanks to see that, aside from some snow that had gotten caught in their fur, they were still blank as a slate. Sighing, they lay back against the soft snow.
“Oh well,” Sweetie Belle said, her smile returning, “it’s still been a totally awesome snow day!”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said back. “Think about it, instead of reading a boring poem to our class that they’d probably laugh at anyway, we took down the two wicked witches of Ponyville Schoolhouse.”
“Hehe, yeppers!’ Apple Bloom said, not noticing as the fictional world around her started to blur- the dream collapsing in a completely serene manner. “Thank Celestia there was no school.”
Apple Bloom’s eyes fluttered open to meet near perfect darkness. Slowly she sat up and looked around her dark room, letting out a huge yawn and stretching her arms. She looked up to the spot on the wall above her dresser to see the time: 4:25.
“Hm,” she said. “Four twenty...” Apple Bloom’s eyes lit up and she let out a gasp. “Four twenty!”
She quickly tossed the covers off of her and stumbled over to her bedroom window. “Oh mah gosh the snow! Ah can’t wait to...!” Once she reached the window she was silenced, her excited expression replaced with one of disbelief.
To say there was a lack of snow would be the understatement of the millennium. If anything the ground looked drier than it had the night before. There was a gentle breeze, as seen by the way the branches and stray leaves on the ground danced around, but it didn’t carry any snow.
“No...snow...” Apple Bloom muttered, her breath condensing the window so she had to wipe it off. She backed away from the window, shaking her head. “No, this...this has got to be a mistake of some kind.”
She then looked at her clock, the hands now showing 4:29.
“Maybe the pegasi are delayin’ the snowstorm,” Apple Bloom told herself, nodding at her clearly denial-driven reasoning. “Yeah, that’s gotta be it. They are probably delayin’ the snow for about an hour, hehe.”
Apple Bloom tentatively slipped under her covered, an optimistic, yet nervous, smile plastered onto her face. “Ah’m sure if Ah wake up in an hour the ground will be completely covered.”
And so she tried to fall asleep, but the anxiety brought on by a lack of snow made it near impossible. She kept finding herself turning towards the window in the hopes of seeing gigantic flakes of white drifting down from the sky, only to be met with the complete and utter darkness that she had seen before. She would then look at the perpetually-ticking clock- watching the hands go from showing 4:35 to 4:55 to 5:21 to 5:32. Groaning, she’d turn and bury her face into the pillow and bite down onto the soft cushion, trying to relieve the anger she felt welling up from within her. She then looked at the clock again, only to see the time had reached 5:40.
“Dang it ya stupid clock! Stop movin’ time so fast!” Apple Bloom hissed, falling back and laughing nervously, sounding increasingly like a mental patient.
“It’ll be okay Apple Bloom, it’ll all be okay,” she kept muttering to herself, rubbing her hooves together nervously and not looking unlike Twilight would whenever she had a mental breakdown. “Ah’m sure there will be snow before Ah have to leave, there has to be. And even if there isn’t, maybe Miss Cheerilee will be upset that she has to work and cancel school anyway.”
She didn’t even believe that last statement, but she didn’t retract it. She just kept staring up into the void of darkness, her eye twitching and her smile starting to quiver as her horror made the happy facade she was putting on impossible to maintain.Eventually the door to her room opened, the darkness completely chased away by the bright light of the hallway. She turned to see Applejack standing in the doorway with a smile.
“Rise and shine sleepy head. Time to get ready for school!” Applejack trotted over to flick on the lamp beside her younger sister’s bed only to have the filly leap out from under the sheets and scoot to the edge of the mattress so that she was mere inches from Applejack. The filly’s eyes were big and tired, but that wasn’t the most striking characteristic. No, that would be the desperation present within them, the sheer grovelling as if her sister could make the snow magically appear.
“Applejack...please tell me this is all some joke ya cooked up with Rainbow Dash and the entire town is covered in snow besides the part of the orchard outside of mah window!” She begged, putting both hooves onto her sister’s shoulders.
Applejack sighed and turned the lamp on. “Ah’m sorry lil’ sis, but this ain’t no prank.”
“But Rainbow Dash said- !” Apple Bloom started.
“What did Ah tell ya last night? Rainbow Dash can’t predict what the higher up pegasi will decide,” Applejack cut her off. “The weather team does this all time time. They say they’re gonna do one thing and change it up at the last second. This past week there was supposed to be a downpour three separate times, but all we got was bright sunshine and cloudless skies.”
“So,” Apple Bloom started with a quivering lip, still not wanting to believe what her sister was saying, “there was no snow?”
“Actually the outskirts of Ponyville did get some snow,” Applejack corrected, “but the pegasi made sure to keep the town clear.”
Apple Bloom’s jaw fell. “They brought snow everywhere...but Ponyville?”
Applejack nodded. “Eeyup.”
Apple Bloom was about to complain again, mainly ranting about how unfair it was that they get their expectations up only to avoid dropping snow the one place she needed it, when the image of Winona looking up, following the fly that buzzed above her curious head, flashed into her mind. She immediately closed her mouth and pulled away from her sister, looking down at her hooves.
“But the Rainbow Dash promised snow here,” Apple Bloom muttered, “it sounded like such a sure thing.”
“Welcome to the unpredictability of snow days.” Applejack said before she started trotting out of the room.
“Wait!”
Applejack turned to see Apple Bloom sitting on her bed.
‘
“Ah...Uh,” The filly looked from side to side as she tried to come up with something, anything, she could use to get out of going to school. When she thought of one, she threw herself back on the bed, clutching her stomach and letting out moans of agony. “Ugh, mah stomach, ohhhh...Ah suddenly feel so nauseous.”
Apple Bloom peeked through her partially-opened eyes to see her sister’s reaction.
“Really?” Applejack said, skeptically looking down at her little sister, “Are ya seriously pullin’ this stunt?”
“What stunt? Ah really don’t feel good,” Apple Bloom said, letting out another groan. “Ugh, Ah think those apple fritters ya made last night were undercooked. Ah...Ah don’t think that Ah can go to school today. Ah need to rest.”
Applejack face-hoofed. “Now honestly, Apple Bloom. This is just pathetic. Pretendin’ to be sick to get out of school? That’s the oldest trick in the book. Not to mention ya were actin’ fine a minute ago.”
“Ah told ya it just suddenly came on,” Apple Bloom said, letting out an exaggerated cough. She then pressed a hoof to her forehead before quickly retracting it. “Ah feel all feverish and everythin’,” she held her hoof up to her eyes, “Ah’m startin’ to see double.”
Applejack trotted over and placed a hoof across Apple Bloom’s forehead. “Ya feel fine okay to me.”
“But...Ah feel so awful.”Apple Bloom moaned. “On the inside...my stomach feels like it’s doing flips...and Ah have chills.” Apple Bloom shivered a little to sell her point. But Applejack just kept giving Apple Bloom the most disbelieving of looks. Noticing this, Apple Bloom decided to take things a little further as, being a little filly, she didn’t understand the concept of subtlety.
“Ah...Ah see the light.” Apple Bloom said, reaching up towards the ceiling, “It’s...so beautiful...”
“So ya feel that awful, huh?” Applejack asked, her hooves crossed and a sly grin on her face. Apple Bloom, completely oblivious to the mischievous look in her sister’s face, nodded.
“Well then,” Applejack said, looking down at her sister, “maybe Ah should get the thermometer out and take yer temperature. Would ya like that?” Before Apple Bloom could open her mouth to respond, Applejack interrupted her.
“And it wouldn’t be the mouth, ear or forehead thermometer, neither.” Apple Bloom tilted her head in confusion, not sure what exactly her sister was getting at until Applejack leaned forward.
“It would be...the special thermometer.”
Apple Bloom’s eyes went wide in horror once she understood Applejack’s threat. She said no forehead thermometer, no ear thermometer and no mouth thermometer. That left only one other kind of thermometer present in the Apple household to use- the unholy kind. The kind that would make the sickest pony pretend to be well in an attempt to avoid it’s violating intrusion.
Immediately Apple Bloom sat up as panic overtook her. “Ah you know what, it’s not that bad,” she laughed nervously. “Ah could probably push mahself to get through school.”
“Ah thought so,” Applejack said with a satisfied nod as she trotted out of the room. “Now get up and come downstairs, yer breakfast is getting cold.”
As soon as Applejack left, Apple Bloom pulled the pillow over her face and let out a scream- venting her rage until she felt her frustration subside. She then pulled the fluffy muffler off of her face. She hopped off of the bed and trotted over to the window, like she not only didn’t believe her sister, but also didn’t believe the truth her own eyes told her. Outside was just as snowless as it had been when she first woke up. The sky was starting to brighten as the sun slowly rose, turning the indigo to orange and illuminating the cause of the filly’s misery. The green, healthy-looking grass and the lack of white.
Apple Bloom sighed, “This day’s gonna be awful.”