Applejack approached the guest bedroom in the farmhouse and knocked three times on the door. “Babs? Can ah talk to ya for a second?”
“AJ? Sure,” a voice inside said. Applejack opened the door and walked inside, and found her young cousin Babs Seed reading from her script. “What’s up cuz?”
“Babs, ah was talkin’ with Trixie earlier today,” Applejack said, walking closer to Babs and taking a seat on the wooden floor next to the filly. “She said y’all were havin’ trouble actin’ out yer lines.”
“What?! That’s ridiculous!” Babs protested. “Here, check this out! Pray, lay down thy steel and let us join our hooves as comrades! No more shall we be enemies, for friendship is the sharpest blade in any arsenal…”
Applejack was impressed initially, but noticed that Babs’ voice began to waver near the end of her line, and that she even trailer off into silent muttering near the end. “Babs, is there somethin’ botherin’ ya?”
Babs quickly shook her head. “Of course not! I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“Y’sure? Y’know, Trixie seemed ta think y’all were afraid of somethin’.” Applejack noticed her cousin flinch.
“Me? Afriad? Heh, good one. Yeah, that Trixie mare’s pretty funny sometimes…”
Applejack sighed and scooted closer to Babs, wrapping a foreleg around the filly to draw them together. “Look Babs, y’know ah’m yer cousin, an’ that ah care ‘bout you. We’re family, an’ family look after each other, no matter what. So if there’s somethin’ botherin’ ya, please, don’t be afraid ta tell me about it. Ah won’t laugh, an’ ah won’t go ‘round flabbin’ mah gums about it, neither.”
“… Well… it’s just, I don’t want the same thing to happen that happened the first time I was here…”
“Beg pardon?” Applejack asked. “What d’ya mean?”
“Y’know… When I was being bullied in Manehatten, my folks sent me down here to get away from it. But instead of talkin’ to ya ‘bout it, I went and became the same type of bully I was tryin’ ta get away from.” Babs pressed herself into Applejack’s coat and closed her eyes. “I only wanted to make sure nopony tried pickin’ on me by actin’ strong, but I acted like a bully so much that I actually became a bully.”
Applejack stroked Babs’ mane softly as she listened. “Y’all are afraid of actin’, ‘cause of what happened back then?” Babs hesitated for a second before nodding. “Babs, you listen ta me. You’re you, an’ no amount of actin’ is gonna change that. Y’all can be an assassin or the Prince of whatever while ye’re onstage, but it don’t change who ya really are in yer heart.”
Babs opened her eyes and looked up at her cousin with a hopeful look. “Are ya sure?”
“Sure am,” Applejack said. “Just remember who ya really are an’ don’t ever let no stage persona change that. ‘Course, if ya don’t believe that yerself, ah can have a word with Trixie about getting’ ya out of theatre class-”
“No,” Babs said quickly, pausing for a bit before continuing. “No. Don’t do that. I really want to be with my friends on that stage…” Babs gave her cousin a smile and wrapped her forelegs around her in a hug. “Thanks, cuz. You’re right; I’m me, and no stupid script is gonna change that!”
Applejack smiled back and returned the hug. “Glad ah could help.”
“Hey, I don’t suppose you could stay for a bit and help me practice my lines, could ya?”
“Ah’d be happy to! Ah jus’ gotta go fetch Apple Bloom in before it starts rainin’.” Applejack rose to her hooves and turned to leave the room, a warm feeling in her chest from being able to help her cousin in her time of need. Next stop: the clubhouse.
Apple Bloom grimaced as she stared the repulsive object straight in the eyes. She felt sick to her stomach and her brow was dripping heavily with sweat as she continued staring with gritted teeth. ‘Ah can’t believe ah’m actually thinkin’ ‘bout doin’ this. But it’s the only way…’
Apple Bloom gulped and took a step forward, only to take another step back and clench her eyes shut. ‘No way! Ah can’t do it, it’s just too much!’
Apple Bloom opened her eyes again and glared at the picture of Diamond Tiara taped to a ponnequine in front of her. The picture was originally used by Scootaloo as a dartboard, but right now, it served a much more repulsive purpose.
No matter how much they pleaded, the kissing scene could not be removed. Trixie insisted that it was the most important part of the play, and that so many tickets were sold the moment news of the scene reached the ears of the public.
Apple Bloom didn’t want to do this scene, but at the same time, she really wanted a Cutie Mark. And besides, backing down before Diamond Tiara did would be like admitting defeat, and there was no way that she was going to do that.
The picture of Diamond Tiara seemed to come to life for a moment. Apple Bloom stared at the smug-looking, arrogant little filly in the picture, giving a smile that seemed to say ‘worship me’, and growled. And then she heard laughter. The mocking laughter of Diamond Tiara, chanting her victory of the farm filly and proclaiming herself to be a much better actress than Apple Bloom will ever be.
Apple Bloom swallowed the lump in her throat, steeled her nerves, and then lunged forward, lips puckered.
Applejack simply stared into the window for what felt like a millennium. She tried to close her eyes, and reopen them, in the hopes that she had hit her head and was simply hallucinating. No such luck. Her head was fine, and the image in front of her was still the same: Apple Bloom locking lips with a ponnequine that had a picture of Diamond Tiara’s face attached to it.
“Eenope,” was all that she could before she slowly backed away from the clubhouse, her eyes still wide and her mind a whirling storm of chaos as she tried and failed to burn the image from her memory.