//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Shambles 
// Story: Bruised Apples 
// by PinkLemonLimeSprinkles 
//------------------------------//

Granny Smith, the usually bright green pony, was an extremely dull green. Applejack, came in through the brown door. She was dull as well, but her hair ties were gone, and her hair was down. She put a hoof against Granny's head. It was so hot, Applejack started crying.

"You're not getting any better.... The doctor told us this medicine would work. He LIED!" She stamped a hoof on the ground.

Granny Smith looked over at her granddaughter. "Applejack...It was too late for me anyway. You should accept I am going to die. Your....folks...I'll get to see....my daughter..."

Applejack's tears streamed down her dull orange flank, to the hard wood floor. "Your daughter...Ma. I...miss..her...so much."

She remembered her mother, Honey Blossom, the red mare with honey brown eyes, two long blonde braids, one on her tail, one on her mane. Both tied at the end on two green bows. Her mother's cutie mark, a pie with a Honeysuckle above it.

Granny Smith started crying, when the red stallion himself came in, with his wife, Fluttershy. They both were upset. But Big Mac was yelling at Fluttershy. Fluttershy was crying.

Fluttershy, tears streaming down her flank, looked at Big Mac, and then the pink blanket. "I swear Mac, I didn't do anything during my pregnancy."

Big Mac was crying, looking down on the pink blanket. Applejack walked over to her brother. "What's wrong with your filly?" She asked.

Big Mac looked at his sister. "AJ, she was born with paralyzed wings. She'll never fly." The foal had Fluttershy's color, Mac's eyes, and hair. She also had two wings. The foal's name was Sweet Blossom, and she would have been beautiful, if not for the paralyzed wings.

Fluttershy was crying, and she was looking at Big Mac. "I'm so sorry, honey. I don't know how it happened." 

But Big Mac looked at Fluttershy in not love, but hate. His eyes grew sharper, and he turned to Fluttershy. "What are we going to tell her when all her friends go to Flight Camp? What are the kids going to think?" He tightened his grip on the blanketed foal, making Applejack take the foal, and rocking her. "Mac, you need to get over this. Just love her. So what? Lots of ponies have disabilities."

Mac looked at his sister. "Well, I don't want that THING near me!" He stomped out of the room, not looking at Fluttershy. After he left, Applejack looked at the foal.

The foal looked normal, until AJ noticed something. Each wing, was bigger than a normal foal's wing. "She would have made a great flier." Applejack said, under her breath. Granny Smith coughed. First soft, then loudly. Then she sighed, her eyes losing light.

Applejack moved toward her. "Do you want some cider? Or some pie?" she asked.

Granny Smith sighed. "No. Applejack? Do you remember your ma and pa?" she asked.

Applejack's eyes turned dull, she lost feeling, and she found herself on the floor, tears streaming like never before. "More than anything."

Granny looked at her. "Do you remember their deaths?"

Applejack, foal in hand, exploded. "YES! I DO! YOU SHOULD'NT BE ASKING ME THAT! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT FEELS, WATCHING YOUR PARENTS DIE!!!!" She dropped the foal, making Fluttershy pick her up, and leave the room. Granny Smith was shocked to see her granddaughter like this, but she couldn't blame her. The child watched her parents die.

Granny Smith turned to AJ. "Little darling, I know. No pony was more upset than you. You were their favorite child, and you were with them, that day. Plus, you loved them more than anything. They were your whole world."

Applejack didn't want to, but she felt forced, and remembered her parents death.

Young Rarity was playing with Applejack on a bridge. A roped bridge, over a rushing river, and the two foals were playing, not realizing they were in danger. There was a loud creak, and the one side of the rope broke. The foals screamed, begging for help. Both crying, thinking they was going to die. Honey Blossom, and Haralson Apple both showed up, seeing their foal, dangling from three ropes, not four. Haralson Apple held the rope, while Honey Blossom jumped on, and rescued her foal. Then went back for Rarity. but the rope snapped, and Honey Blossom threw Rarity to Applejack. Applejack pulled her friend up, but looked back, and saw that Haralson was struggling. Then, he fell, and he took his wife with him. AJ, the small foal, was paralyzed in fear. She flopped down on the ground, with a crying rarity, hugging AJ, and telling her she was so sorry. All that was left of her parents, was her Pa's hat...

Applejack was crying, so hard. It took a lot to remember her parents death.  But the memory, was so clear and vivid, she could never forget it. Then, Applejack left her grandmother's room, and ran upstairs to her room, where she grit her teeth, and stomped on the floor. "WHY?! WHY!?  IT WAS MY FAULT!! I TOLD RARITY WE COULD PLAY ON THE BRIDGE! I KILLED THEM!"

She landed on the floor, in an orange heap, crying herself to sleep. There was no going to console her, she was already terrified, and frightened. Applejack was just going to try to forget her ma and pa. She turned away from their pictures, and she erased them from her mind. But she couldn't. Every piece of their death was stitched into her brain. There was no going back. As AJ cried, she heard a knock on the door. The door opened, to Applebloom, the grown mare had gotten her cutie mark. An apple bloom, with a paintbrush. She was a wonderful artist. But seeing her sister worked up like this, it made Apple Bloom sad, but, she was just a tiny foal when her parents died.

AJ looked up at her. "What do you want?"

Apple Bloom looked at her big sister. "Applejack, you need to forget our parents death."

Applejack looked at her sister angrily. "What do YOU know about them? YOU were just a baby. YOU BARELY KNEW THEM, AND I WATCHED THEM DIE!!!!!" she flopped on her head, crying tears into the pillow. Apple Bloom left the room, wondering what happened to this family. Then she thought for a moment, thinking she could maybe see a red face and some red hair... but it was so blurry. She was so small, and she cried an awful lot after her parents passed. Babs had gotten her cutie mark a few days before Apple Bloom, which made her proud. But she felt kinda left out when babs told Apple Bloom all about how proud her ma was... It hurt. Apple Bloom walked to her room, and flopped on the bed, looking at her favorite picture. It was a picture of The Apples at Sweet Apple Acres, and Winona was in the picture too. They were such happy ponies, and nothing ever usually upset the Apple Family. 

"What happened to this family?" Apple Bloom asked herself, hugging the precious photo.