//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: A Silver Summer 
// by Fanboy 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 9

“So that’s what it’s supposed to be?” Apple Bloom said looking at Silver Spoon’s cutie mark. “But Ah’ never saw a monimentum with that bulky thing at the bottom.”
“Oh, that’s simple,” answered Silver Spoon. “The lower end is put into the ground so the whole thing won’t fall over. It’s not meant to be seen.” She covered the lowest part of her cutie mark with a hoof and turned herself a little so it was illuminated by the fire.
“Yeah, it is rather obvious once yer know what it really is,” commented Apple Bloom. “But the one set up for ma’ parents has an apple inserted instead of a heart.”
Silver Spoon nodded. “The heart is what is usually set in as a general sign of your love. Raising Hammer called it ‘the traditional way’. But many ponies decide to replace it with something more personal like the cutie mark of the one you want to remember or a symbol representing the family. I guess an apple would be more than fitting for your parents.”
When Silver Spoon looked back at Apple Bloom again, she was sure she could see a wet glistening in Apple Bloom’s eyes. But in the unsteady light of a camp fire it was hard to tell. Either way, the filly in front of her still kept her smile.
“What happened next?”
Apple Bloom’s question took Silver Spoon by surprise.
“Next?”
“After ya’ had yer cutie mark. Ah’m sure ya’ didn’t just leave and went home, did ya?”
“Oh, that’s what you mean. Well, in some way, I did. Not immediately, but after I had spent the afternoon with him and his family, I had to go home. But I did see them all a lot over the next days. The monimentum must have really been the right thing to make. After that, they all had accepted me as a part of their family. They let me join the funeral and even let me help decorating the grave.”
“Ya’ decorated the grave?” asked Apple Bloom surprised. “Ya’ mean ya’ of all ponies planted flowers? With yer own hooves?”
“Yeah, I did. Why do you ask?”
Apple Bloom chuckled. “Oh, Ah’ don’t know. Ah’ somehow had the feelin’ ya’d hire a gardener for somethin’ like that.”
Silver Spoon didn’t fell like laughing at all. She shook her head and said: “I would never do that. Not for something like this. That wasn’t some front lawn. Would you let some stranger decorate the grave for somepony important to you?”
“Of course Ah’ would. Actually, isn’t that what that family did when they let you help them? Ah’ mean, most of them only knew ya’ for a few days.”
Silver Spoon stared baffled at Apple Bloom. “I never saw it that way…”
“And Ah’m sure that ma’ parents grave was decorated by somepony not from ma’ family. Most of them aren’t that good with flowers.”
“Oh, it isn’t that hard to do. All I did back then I did more on instinct than anything else. And everypony liked it. They even told me a few days after the funeral that somepony had asked them who was in charge of the grave, because it looked so neat.”
The red maned filly stared disbelievingly at Silver Spoon for an uncomfortably long moment.
“Yer jokin’ now, right?”
Another moment passed as Silver Spoon returned the look she was receiving.
“No, it really was that easy. All you have to do is-“
“Of course it’s easy when it’s yer special talent.”
These words silenced Silver Spoon not just because she got interrupted by them. It took her a few seconds to get her thoughts in order and ask: “My special talent? But wouldn’t that mean I have two special talents?”
“Ah’ wouldn’t say so. If there’s anythin’ Ah’ learned about cutie marks so far, it’s that they can stand for many skills. Take Pinkie Pie for example. Ya’ know her, right?”
“Yeah, she threw Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceañera. And somehow she congratulates me on every birthday, even though I don’t think I ever told her when it was.”
“Good. As far as she puts it, her special talent is to make others smile, to make them happy. And she can do it in many ways. Organizin’ parties, songs or even bakin’ cakes for them. She’s fantastic with all of that. And maybe even more.”
“So, you really think my talent is more than crafting monimentums? I never thought of me planting some flowers as something special, much less being related to my cutie mark.”
“Ah’d say so. It sounds to me like yer talent is decoratin’ graves in general or somethin’ like that. Haven’t ya’ ever tried it again?”
“No, once the vacation was over I never had the chance to. Or looked for one.”
Apple Bloom gave her a look of resignation. “So, ya’ wanna tell me that ya’ never, not even once wanted to try out yer talent again since then?”
Silver spoon felt her face getting hot. That was pretty much the case. As in, exactly how it was. She looked down to the ground once again and mumbled: “Well, it’s not so easy to walk up to somepony and ask if they had somepony recently pass away and if you could decorate the grave.”
For a few moments, there was only the crackles of the camp fire. But then Apple Bloom said apologetically: “Well, okay, Ah’ see that that would be a problem…”
This gave a silver Spoon a chance she had to try. “But anyway, enough about me learning things about cutie marks. Didn’t you want to hear the story to learn something yourself?”
Much to her relief, Apple Bloom went along with this attempt to change the topic. “Well, yes, of course. But Ah’ don’t really think it helped. That’s not yer fault, but it always sounds to me like everypony Ah’ ask got her cutie mark by pure chance. But then they all keep tellin’ me Ah’ should find out what Ah’m really good at.”
“I’m not telling you that.”
“Yeah, sorry, you didn’t,” Apple Bloom admitted. “But everypony else does. Do ya’ have any idea what ya’ did except being at the, well, ‘right’ place at the ‘right’ time? Maybe ya’ can explain to me what Cheerilee meant whenever she was talkin’ about ‘findin’ one’s true talent’.”
“Sorry, no, I have no clue. To be honest, since I already had mine, I never really listened to what she said during those lessons.” In fact, she didn’t listen to what her teacher had to say most of the time for a variety of reasons. “And I never really cared about how it worked.” Obviously that answer wasn’t what Apple Bloom had hoped for at all. “Again, I’m sorry I’m not of any help here. The only thing I can say that maybe you should try not caring about it.”
“Easy for ya’ to say…” Apple Bloom mumbled.
“Oh, come on.” For a change it was Silver Spoon who tried an encouraging smile. “I know how important this is for you. And if I could, I would help you in any possible. But the only thing I can say from my way of getting a cutie mark and any other I heard about, is that nopony ever expected to get it when it happened. So maybe not caring really is the best way. Just try it. At least for tonight, so we can back to having fun.”
Apple Bloom nodded slowly. It took a few moments of contemplating for her but finally she agreed with Silver Spoon. Soon her smile returned and they were back to telling stories while working themselves through the snacks Silver Spoon had stocked in the afternoon.
It was mostly Apple Bloom who did the story telling, since Silver Spoon couldn’t think of anything to tell that was even remotely as exciting as what that yellow filly had to offer. More than once she asked herself how her newfound friend had been able to make it through the last year without any major injury.
Even more so, she was impressed how freely everything that had happened was spread out to her. She heard about attempts of earning a cutie mark that ended in disaster after disaster. Most were minor incidents, like ruining somepony’s mane as a wannabe manedresser or the failed attempt at selling apples Silver Spoon had already heard about. But there were hair-raising instants like any kind of ‘extreme sports’, how Apple Bloom called it, that ended surprisingly often in the trio falling down from somewhere. Or the one time the red maned filly had already hinted at, when she had almost set her own home on fire.
The longer she listened the more Silver Spoon found herself enjoying the stories she heard. Her initial doubts and bewilderment were gradually swept away by the joy and excitement they were told with. After another tale of Apple Bloom and her friends wrecking havoc at the post office, Silver Spoon asked chuckling: “Have you ever thought about getting a chaos raising cutie mark?”
Apple Bloom looked surprised for a brief moment, then thoughtfully scratched her chin, mumbling: “Hm, why haven’t Ah’ thought of that?”
“Uh, that was meant to be a joke, you know?”
“Don’t worry, of course Ah’ know that.” Apple Bloom grinned.
“Either way, I’m getting tired,” said Silver Spoon rubbing her eyes. “I think I’ve never been up this long before. Maybe we should get into the sleeping bags.”
The yellow filly yawned in response and nodded. They put out the fire and then crawled into the tent. Now that she had to move again Silver Spoon felt how tired she really was. She had to force each of her limbs to move forward while her mind kept suggesting that she could just lie down in the grass and sleep right where she was. But in the end she had somehow managed to end up in her sleeping bag, ready to doze off.
Next to her, she heard Apple Bloom’s muffled voice saying: “Good night”.
She turned her head and saw two half-closed amber eyes peeking out of the sleeping bag next to her, glimmering in the dim glow of a small nightlight.
“It was so far, thanks to you,” she replied with a smile. “I’m almost afraid I’ll wake up tomorrow in my bed to find out that this was all a dream.”
Then she huddled herself in the sleeping back and closed her eyes. But as it happened so often, when she was finally ready to fall asleep her mind kicked back into action and decided it was the perfect time to make her think about what had occurred over the day. How she had set out this morning to just walk around town to kill some time. Leading to her really spending a whole evening chatting with the filly she had considered her arch-enemy. Even to sharing sweets with her.
But how had all this really started? That short exchange of words during their first day of summer school. It seemed so far away, despite that it had happened not even a week ago. Especially considering that it had been more of an argument than any kind of casual conversation.
But what had it been that turned everything from the usual bickering to a serious talk? Right, there had been the topic of her taking school seriously. Just because she had so thoughtlessly proclaimed that summer school were some ‘important appointment’. Of course, she couldn’t have known Apple Bloom would show up at school later when they ran into each other that morning.
That morning… When they ran into each other… She had almost forgotten about it. Apple Bloom had been sad, to put it mildly. And as she knew by now it hadn’t been because of a fight between her and her friends. And neither had summer school been the reason. Then, what had it been?
She decided to ask her the next morning as soon as a chance would come up. With that thought Silver Spoon closed her eyes and tried to let herself fall into the comforting arms of sleep.
Unfortunately, her mind wasn’t satisfied with this solution. It kept on nagging her, pushing the question back into her conscious and denied her any chance of rest.
Annoyed with herself she opened her eyes again and asked: “Apple Bloom? You’re still awake?”
A muffled sound was all she got as a response. It was hard to make out if it was a groan, some words suffocated by the sleeping back or just a long yawn.
“I don’t know if you want to talk about this, but there is one last thing I’d like to ask you.”
She waited for another reaction but this time, she heard nothing. She thought there had been some kind of movement inside the sleeping back. Most likely Apple Bloom had just shifted her body but Silver Spoon decided to interpret it as a nod.
“That morning, the first day of summer school, when we ran into each other… I can remember that you looked somehow… downcast. Would you mind telling me what had been the reason for that?”
A few moments of silence passed. Silver Spoon already feared she had indeed been talking to a sleeping filly. But then the red mane turned and Apple Bloom’s face re-emerged from the sleeping bag. She half-said, half-yawned: “Why ya’ wanna know that? And why now?”
“I don’t know. It just bugs me. The way you looked. That was so… not you. Usually you’re so energetic and happy. Even when you’re actually upset, as far as I remember, you’d still remain somewhat composed. But that day you seemed really down. And I keep asking myself why.”
A stretched-out yawn later Apple Bloom replied: “Well, Ah’ see no reason why Ah’ shouldn’t tell ya’ this. On that mornin’ Ah’ asked Applejack if we could go on a vacation for once. All of ma’ friends are goin’ every year and all we ever did was some occasional campin’ over the weekend.”
She got interrupted by herself when another yawn forced itself into freedom. Silver Spoon used this chance to ask: “But everypony goes on vacation. Isn’t that a normal thing to do?”
The red mane shifted around in the sleeping bag. Maybe Apple Bloom had tried to shake her head while lying down or had just tried to get herself into a more comfortable position for talking. “Not everypony does. Not everypony has the money for it.”
“Oh, I see…”
“Ma’ sister said it’s because of all the work that needs to be done on the farm. It’s okay to delay it for one or two, maybe three days, but not a week or so.”
“Can’t you hire someone to do the work for you?”
“That’s what Ah’ asked ma’ sister. And apparently we don’t have the money for that. Not if we need to pay for a vacation at the same time.”
“You really want to go on a vacation that much?”
Silver Spoon knew this question was stupid. She could still clearly see Apple Bloom’s face on that day. How depressed she had looked. Not angry or frustrated, she had been almost heartbroken as far as Silver Spoon had been able to read her expression. She knew what the answer would be, but she had no idea what else she could say at this point.
“Of course Ah’ do. Those camping-trips were really fun, but Ah’ want to know what a real vacation is like. Ah’ don’t even care where we would go to. The beach, the mountains or a big city, anythin’ would be fine.”
The beach? Now that gave Silver Spoon an idea what she could do. She smiled to herself and asked: “Say, why don’t you go with the first choice?”
“Huh? What first choice? The beach?”
“Yes, the beach. Why don’t you go to the beach?”
“Weren’t ya’ listenin’? I just told ya’-“
“That you don’t have the money, yeah, I know. But what about a trip to the beach you don’t have to pay for?”
Now Apple Bloom sat up, a puzzled look on her face. “What do ya’ mean?”
“I mean that you now have a friend whose parents own a villa at the beach which is only used for a few weeks a year. I’m sure they would let you and your family stay there for some time if I ask them.”
Any sign of tiredness had vanished from Apple Bloom. “Ya’ really think they’d allow it?” Her voice was vibrating with hopeful excitement.
“Of course, I always get what I ask them for,” Silver Spoon reassured her. It wasn’t exactly true, but she decided it was true enough to not be a lie.
Apple Bloom lay back down with a dreamy smile on her face. As Silver Spoon watched the presentation of pure happiness in front of her, she felt a warm feeling spreading inside her chest. It was similar to what she felt when she got hugged by Apple Bloom or Cheerilie. Except that this warmth felt somehow happier. To her astonishment, seeing her new friend this joyful actually made her happy.
She wondered if she had ever experienced anything similar when she had been in the company of Diamond Tiara. She wanted to tell herself that she did. But she had to admit, as much fun they always had together and as joyful as the days they had spent together had been, she had never seen such an expression of deep blissfulness before. She would have never even thought that fulfilling somepony else’s wish could make her feel this happy herself. But, how could she have fulfilled Diamond Tiara’s wishes in the first place? She had everything she wanted, there was nothing Silver Spoon could give her.
Or maybe, there had been nothing.
The more this realization set in, another thought revealed itself in its wake. Was this the reason why Apple Bloom was doing this for her? Simply because she enjoyed helping her? Now that she thought about it, this might have been more or less what she had tried to tell Silver Spoon.
Asking herself why it had taken her so long to find this insight, she set her mind to put it to good use. As soon as Diamond Tiara would be back, she’d introduce her to Apple Bloom. The Apple Bloom she knew now. When her friend would be back from her vacation, Silver Spoon would make it her personal responsibility to show her that all the problems they had fitting in with the foals around them came from themselves and not the others. And in the end, Diamond Tiara’s face would look as happy as Apple Bloom’s was right now.
“That was really mean of you.” Her new friend’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts.
At first she wasn’t aware if the filly next to her had really spoken. She had started to drift off into sleep as she was thinking about future plans. Now those surprisingly cheery sounding words had yanked her awake again. She looked over to the yellow filly for confirmation that she had really talked to her and saw her looking back with a wide grin.
“How am Ah’ supposed to sleep after ya’ tell me somethin’ excitin’ like this?”
That question was left unanswered as Silver Spoon once again sank back into her sleeping and was asleep within seconds.
And Apple Bloom must have also been able to fall aslepp eventually. At least her “Good mornin’!” that penetrated the veils of slumber surrounding Silver Spoon didn’t carry even the slightest bit of sleepiness.
It was outrageous to her that anypony could be this energetic this early in the morning.
But how early was it actually?
Still savoring the last threads of sleep entangling her mind, the grey filly forced her eyes open. And immediately shut them again, as bright sunlight blinded her right through the white tarp. She had to blink a few times until she was able to get a clear vision. When she had finally put her glasses on, she saw Apple Bloom sitting right next to her, rolling up her sleeping bag.
“What time is it?” Silver Spoon yawned at her.
“Almost ten.”
“Really? As tired as I still am, I’d have said it isn’t past six.” She wasn’t even exaggerating. Her head was still clouded and told her to go back to sleep.
“Ma’ sister always says sleepin’ too long makes ya’ tired. Maybe ya’ should take a shower, that always wakes me up.”
Silver Spoon tried to move, but as soon as she tried to lift her body her back started to ache. It was less painful than startling, but she sank back onto the sleeping bag and stared at the brightness above her for a moment.
“Is it normal to feel this beat after a night of camping?” she asked Apple Bloom with another yawn.
Apple Bloom chuckled. “Only if yer not used to it. Believe me, just get up and take a shower. Ah’ already have and Ah’ can tell ya, it’s the best ya’ can do right now. Ah’ll pack our stuff up while yer inside.”
“Okay, that’s an acceptable offer.”
Silver Spoon forced herself to finally get up. The moment she stepped outside her body finally awoke. The late morning sun was warm, yet still far from burning like it would surely be once noon arrived.
After stretching her limbs she slowly walked over to the house, taking in her surroundings. It was hard to believe this was the same place as yesterday evening. Now it was a playground for all the animals she had seen before. But unlike the last time, she was right in the middle of all. And those critters were far from shy.
They ran around her and between her hooves. One squirrel, looking for a safe place to munch the acorn it was carrying, even attempted to climb up her tail. The filly was so startled she reflexively shook the brushy little rodent off before she even knew what had happened.
To Silver Spoon’s relief the animal wasn’t hurt, at least not physically. But it made some indignant noises she had never heard before and even shook one of its tiny fists at her. Then it realized some other squirrel had taken its chance and snatched the abandoned acorn. The next second both of them were gone, one chasing the other through the grass.
Amused over this little spectacle she entered Fluttershy’s home. The living room was empty, but from the kitchen came the promising sizzling of breakfast in the making, accompanied by the sweet smell of still warm pancakes. Even if she didn’t want to go the kitchen, her nose had already decided to do so and naturally, the rest of her body had to comply. Following the tempting trail of sweetness in the air, she found Fluttershy diligently watching over a frying pan while happily humming a little melody.
“Good morning,” said the little filly to make her presence known.
“Oh, good morning, dear,” answered the yellow pegasus, smiling at her guest. “You look like you slept really well last night.”
“Well, yeah, kind of. At least if it wasn’t for my back. It still hurts from lying on the ground all night. Apple Bloom suggested I should take a shower. Would that be okay?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t it be?”
She showed Silver Spoon to the bathroom, gave her a towel and told her that breakfast would be ready soon.
The bath was rather small compared to what the filly was used to from her home. Oddly enough to her, the walls were made of wood. Which was to be expected from a house completely made of wood, but Silver Spoon had never seen something like this before. There were no marbled tiles, no gilded taps, not even a bathtub. But there was a cabin containing the desired shower, which was all she needed right now.
The hot water was indeed doing wonders for her. As fun as the evening had been for her, she had missed the comforts of civilization. And this shower was pure luxury to her after a night of sleeping on the ground. But nonetheless, the filly reflected, she would like to do all of it again some time. Maybe not sometime soon, but if Apple Bloom would ask her again, she wouldn’t refuse.
And she wondered what Diamond Tiara would say if she asked her to go camping. Especially if it would involve Apple Bloom as well. And maybe even Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. How would her best friend even react if she heard what had happened yesterday? Or where Silver Spoon was right now? Would she even accept her new friendship with the very filly they both despised for two years now? Even more, would Diamond Tiara want to be friends with Apple Bloom?
When they had talked about it the last night, Silver Spoon had said she surely would. And she had meant it. But now that she had the time to think about it, doubts were entering her mind. Her friend had always been strong willed. A trait she had always admired about her, even if it turned to stubbornness once in a while. But on the other hand, she had experienced firsthand by now how persistent, no, convincing Apple Bloom could be. How she was able to just overthrow you with kindness and niceness. Even though Silver Spoon wasn’t sure if the latter was actually a word, but she decided that in favor of Apple Bloom’s personality, it should be.
Her thoughts went back and forth on this matter, until her stomach growlingly reminded her that she should stop wasting Fluttershy’s warm water. It was time to get something to eat.
After she toweled herself off and left the bathroom she went straight to the kitchen expecting to be greeted again by the sweet scent of pancakes. But all that waited for her this time was the distinct biting smell of something that had been forgotten in the pan.
The kitchen was empty; there were neither Fluttershy nor Apple Bloom. The table was still set, the pile of done pancakes was still there, as was the frying pan on the still running stove. And in it was a black lump of… something. Most likely it had been supposed to be another pancake a few minutes ago, but now it was nothing but fowl smelling crust.
Silver Spoon stared helplessly at the kitchen utensil in front of her. She had never even tried to handle a stove. Or any other device that was meant to prepare food, for that matter. Where the hay was Fluttershy? Or Apple Bloom?
At least Silver Spoon had an idea where the latter could be. The helpless filly ran outside. She was right. Her new friend was still at the tent, just starting to strike it down. Silver Spoon kept running until she was by her side.
“Apple Bloom,” she gasped. “Do you know where Fluttershy is?”
“Yeah, she’s right over there,” Apple Bloom answered irritated, pointing away from the house.
As Silver Spoon looked into the indicated direction, her stomach twisted. She gulped: “Is that a bear?”
“Yupp.”
“Right next to Fluttershy?”
“Yupp.”
“Why is Fluttershy standing right next to a huge, sharp-teethed bear that has claws as big as her head?”
“She’s feeding it.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s hungry, Ah’ guess.”
Silver Spoon’s next answer never crossed her lips. She choked as she saw the bear lifting one of its massive paws. But all it did then was waving good-bye as it turned around and trotted away. Fluttershy was waving a hoof too, a kind smile on her face. Then she noticed the two fillies watching her and walked over to them.
Silver Spoon still stared at her in awe. She looked like she had just shared a pleasant talk with an old friend. There was no sign in her behavior that she had stood face to face with a ferocious beast only seconds ago.
“It looks like you’re almost done here. Do you want me to help with the last bit?” Fluttershy’s voice was as soft and quiet as always. At least as all the times Silver Spoon had talked to her.
“No, thanks Fluttershy,” smiled Apple Bloom, her voice as calm and casual as usual.
This was too much for Silver Spoon. “Um, Fluttershy? Why were you feeding that bear?”
“I didn’t want him to be jealous.”
This answer wasn’t helping Silver Spoon at all. That sounded to the filly like that beast were a small foal she gave some ice-cream because everypony else had some too.
“Jealous? Of who?”
“Well, it started with those two squirrels I saw fighting over an acorn. I told them there was enough food for all of them and gave them another one. But then the other squirrels saw that and wanted something to eat too. And when I was done feeding them I noticed all my other friends wanted something to eat as well. Of course I don’t want them to think that I would ever treat any one of them differently than the other, so they all had to get something as well. Including Mr. Bear.”
Silver Spoon didn’t know about what end of Fluttershy’s words she should wonder first. She just stood there, her mouth hanging slightly open, staring into those large eyes filled with kindness. Helplessly she looked at Apple Bloom who still continued packing up their stuff as if this was just the usual for her. Finally, Silver Spoon decided to just put all of it aside and get to the reason why she came out there in the first place.
“But shouldn’t you have turned the stove off before you did all that?”
At first Fluttershy looked puzzled. Then her eyes widened. With an embarrassed “Oh dear!” she ran back to her house from where thin wades of black smoke streamed out the door.