//------------------------------// // Gossip can hurt // Story: Poles Apart // by InsaneJustin //------------------------------// Daring was finally out of the hospital, even if it was a day later than expected. Thank Celestia for healing spells and bone knitting spells. Instead of waiting months one only had to wait a few days, or worst case scenario a few weeks. Things mostly returned to normal, I say mostly because Daring was never bullied again. In fact almost all of the other children completely avoided him. The only ones who didn’t were his sister and her friends. It didn’t matter that he was the smartest pony in the class, everyone was afraid that if he got hurt with them around they would get into trouble. But that suited him just fine. It allowed him plenty of time to read through the books his dad had gotten for him from the library. Ms. Cheerilee proved herself more than useless if Daring had any questions about the Sci-Fi. However, she was extremely helpful in explaining how lighting power is currently used to make things like Lighting music. Something a certain pony had become popular for. Ms. Cheerilee could only give basic info about the way magic gems worked, and how they used magic to power certain devices, She even explained that the reason they didn’t use magic to power the Sci-Fi machines was most likely because most metals act as a damper to magic, hindering their overall effects. By the time he had finished with the 3rd book, The only pony who could supposedly answer his questions was the Princess of Magic, or The Princess of the Library, as some called her. Apple Bloom came to pick Daring and Star up from school as Rainbow and Mac were both busy with work. “Hey Aunty Bloom, could you just drop me off at the Library today?” “The Library? What do ya need from there? An’ don’t call me aunty Daring, it makes meh feel old.” “Alright, but I just wanted to ask Princess Sparkle some questions, and thank her for getting me those books.” Apple Bloom sighed “Well alright then, what about you Star? Did you wanna go to the Library too?” “Ehh, I’d rather go play with my friends...” Bloom looked up at the 3 fillies and 2 hatchlings waiting nearby looking at them. “Sure, its fine by me, just don’t stay out too late.” Star got a big smile on her face and giggled as she ran toward her friends. “Thanks Aunty Bloom!” “Don’t call me Aunty!” Apple Bloom grunted in frustration and looked down to Daring. “To the Library then?” Daring nodded his head and crawled into the wagon behind Apple Bloom. Walking anywhere with Daring always took some extra time. The only one who seemed to keep a pace that Daring could match was Granny Smith. Normally when they went someplace Big Mac or Rainbow simply carried him. Apple Bloom had to bring along a wagon as she wasn’t big enough to carry him on her back, nor could she fly with him in her hooves. “So what did you do today in school Daring?” “Just read, oh and the lunch you made me today was really good. Applejack needs to use less apples in her cooking, and salt.” Apple Bloom just chuckled “Does she now? Well don’t tell her that.” Feeling some pride after having the food she made praised she pressed him for details. “So what about my lunch did you like so much?” “Well for one, it was a spinach and alfalfa sandwich instead of 3 apples and 2 fritters. But it was sweet, did you sprinkle sugar on it or something?” “Actually I used some of the glaze I got from the bargain mart, apparently a restaurant in Canterlot made something they call Salad dressing. I got a bottle of Sweet Glaze. Was it that good?” Daring nodded his head. “Most definitely. Oh and of course, the milk box was better then the apple juice box.” Apple Bloom just chuckled again. “Maybe Ah should talk to Sis about how ta pack yer lunches.” Daring nodded his head. “If you wouldn’t mind, yes. Less apples and more calcium. I wish the Doctors knew how to fix this, or at least make it so I don’t walk funny.” “You don’t walk that funny Daring. Who said you walk funny?” “Mikuo did, He said I walk like a pony who had to much Cider or Salt.” “What? You mean that bully?! Ignore what that Skag lick said. You walk just fine!” “What’s a Skag lick?” Apple Bloom gasped “Ah shouldn’t a said that. It’s a bad word apparently, so don’t repeat it.” “But, what is it?” “I don’t know, but Ah’ma guessing a Skag is some nasty critter or thing, and... Why am I telling you this? Big Mac is gonna be so cross with me if he finds out you picked up exotic slang from me.” “I won’t tell mom or dad nothing Bloom.” Apple Bloom let loose a sigh of relief. “Thanks Daring, anyway, we're here now.” Apple Bloom stopped in front of the towns library, and Daring slowly crawled out of the wagon. “Thanks Apple Bloom. You can just have mom or dad come get me later, I’d rather just hang out here all day if that’s ok?” “Oh, its fine with me. I’ll just uh, leave the wagon here outside, just in case you know?” “Thanks Apple Bloom. I’ll see you later.” Bloom nodded her head and she turned around and left Daring at the front door. Daring knocked on the front door after what his dad told him what he caught Spike doing. After a short pause the door cracked open with Spike peaking through the crack. After Spike saw who it was he flung the door open. “Hey Daring! They let you out huh? What brings you by?” Spike looked around and didn’t see anyone with him “did you walk here by yer self?” “Na, I had Apple Bloom drop me off. She picked me up from school today.” “Ah thats cool, well come inside and make yer self comfortable. Twilights gone again to Canterlot. Not sure what she’s doing up there though, she never tells me nothing.” Daring slowly nodded his head in understanding “Mmmm, hey Spike.” “Yeah?” “You know what a Skag lick is?” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Star Rider was out with her friends, they decided to play a game in the park near the school. Ever since Apple Blooms cutie pox, Loop-de-hoops had become a thing, so to say. When the owner of the bargain marts had seen his daughter playing with a hoop-de-loop he asked her what it was, and she explained. It didn’t take long before he began to have them mass produced and sold all around Equestria. It was popular among the younger generations for sure as they had small compitions around it. So anyway, it wasn’t until after the little compition was over and Star Rider had won, yet another sport game. One of the griffins voiced her opinion. “Why are you so much better at everything Star? Its totally not fair!” the fillies looked between the two of them “What do you mean not fair? I play the same way as everyone else!” “Well, it does seem kind of unfair Star, I mean, your wings seem like an unfair advantage over everyone else when it comes to a race.” “B-But we wernt even racing today! It was just hoop-de-looping!” “And you still won! By a huge margin I might add!” Star rider puffed out her cheeks in frustration “Fine! I won’t play any sport games with you guys then!” the fillies looked at each other, and before they could say anything Star Rider had run off. “You think we were too harsh?” the hatchlings walked over and put a claw on their pony friends shoulders “No way, just because she was born special doesn’t mean she should show everyone else up. She needs to sit back and let others compete every once in awhile. Come on, lets go play another round without her this time.” the other little fillies just looked in the direction Star had run off “Well, if you say so.” Star Rider was upset, not because her friends had decided to ostracize her for winning all the time, but because of why. Her mom and dad had told her she was special. Born with wings like Princess Celestia, large and powerful. And her body was strong just like her dads. The athletic prodigy. While her brother was, the egghead. She never understood why she seemed to have everything while her brother had nothing. Being twins you would think they would of ended up the same. Star Rider finally stopped running when she ended up in the market place. She briefly wondered if Aunty Applejack was somewhere around selling apples. She figured if her friends didn’t want her around right now, then she could just help out her family. She wandered around the market place for a few minutes and spotted Applejack selling bushels of apples and haggling prices to everyone. Star decided to approach the cart from the side so that she wouldn’t get in the way. When she got behind the cart she just waited patently for Applejack to have a moment of spare time. After a griffin flew off carrying a large bushel of apples Star saw a break in the chaos of selling. “Hi Aunty Applejack!” Applejack spun around to see Star Rider. “Oh, heya Sugarcube, what brings ya around here?” “Well I uh, finished playing with my friends and wondered if you might need any help.” Applejack looked around for a bit then smiled as she suddenly got an idea. “Well, Ah ain’t got much but ya think ya can take this bushel over to Ditzy’s house for me? She pays in advance so she just has ta pick up her bushel a apples once a week. Sometimes she forgets to pick it up though. I was gonna drop it off when I finished up here, but if you could do that for me. It would help me out a lot sugarcube.” Star Rider got a big smile on her face. She always liked being able to help out “Sure thing! Ditzy lives with cousin Golden Harvest right?” “Sure does sugarcube.” Star Rider strapped the large bushel of apples onto her back and happily made her way over to Ditzy and Goldens house. After a brisk trot out of the market and down a few roads she arrived at her destination. So she knocked on the door. After a moment Golden Harvest answered the door. “Hey Star Rider, Is Applejack having you do deliveries now?” Star shook her head. “Nope, well sort of. I asked if she needed any help and said I should bring Ditzy’s weekly apples over.” Star began to unstrap the bushel from her back and set it down “Oh, so your just helping out then huh? Well that’s good” Golden grabbed the bushel from Star and placed it by the front door inside. “I’ll let Ditzy know you brought her the apples Star.” Star nodded her head and turned around to start heading back. “Thanks Golden, I’ll see you around!” Golden Harvest waved as she left back toward the market to let Applejack know she had finished. Little did Star know Applejack had some customers who had decided to gossip more then shop. Like usual, Star didn’t want to interrupt their conversation so she hung out behind the apple cart, out of view. “...But is that possible? I mean, it doesn’t sound like a normal thing to happen, right?” “Oh indeed its not, I was talking to my doctor because I was hoping to have a filly of my own, and he said the possibility of it was very low.” 'What were those mares talking about? Were they gossiping about having kids? Was Aunty Applejack gonna get married?' “Well I suppose it is rare for a pony to have twins, yet even rarer to have one twin steal all the nutrients from the other in the womb. Just like what happened with Rainbows twins.” "What, they’re talking about us, me? What’s a nutrient?’ Star sat silently behind the cart listening to the conversation. “Hey yall, there’s no proof Star had anything to do with Daring being born so small and frail, it was just the way a things. The Doctors said everything was normal any who.” ‘What? It might be my fault Daring was born so weak?’ Star slumped her head down and she continued to listen to them. “Oh Applejack, those spells the doctors use to check how foals are doing are all so primitive. They basically just give genders and general sizes, and only when its late in the pregnancy. And because Twin to Twin Transfusion syndrome is so rare, they haven’t put a lot of resources into being able to check for it yet. So its highly possible Star did take everything from her brother while they were growing.” ‘It is my fault Daring is the way he is’ Star’s eyes began to water as she thought more about what they had said. “Those doctors really need to step up their game, what if I had twins and the same thing happened with them?” “Oh yeah its some nasty business that, but have you heard? Celestia sent a bunch of Doctors to study that sickness in the griffins kingdoms” Star was on the verge of tears, not only had her friends pushed her out of their games, but she was responsible for her brothers fragile condition? “Mhmm that nasty disease running rampant around the Griffins kingdoms, all of the best doctors are hard at work searching for a cure last I read in the newspaper.” “Yeah, that’s some nasty business with them griffins, last I...” Star had heard enough, the more she thought of it, the harder it became to hold back her tears. She ended up running away as fast as she could from the area. Applejack heard the sound of little hooves galloping away from behind her cart. She held up a hoof to stall the conversation the 2 mares were having and looked back behind her cart. Then over in the distance. She could see Star Rider running away as fast as possible. “Well why is she...” Applejack looked at the ground behind her cart and saw small spots where the ground was wet. “...oh no, she didn’t hear what we was talkin bout did she?” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Yeah, I can’t find the word Skag anywhere in the dictionary Daring. So I have no idea what a Skag lick could possibly be.” Daring put a hoof to his chin “Hmm, perhaps a Skag is something from the zebra lands then?” “No way bro, I already looked through everything we have. A Skag is either some made up creature or such a slang term that wasn’t written down.” Daring sat back down and looked at all the books on the self. “Well what if...” Daring was interrupted by Rainbow Dash crashing through the front door yelling “Twilight! Where are you?!” Spike leapt up and spoke. “Twilight isn’t here Rainbow, its just me and Daring right now. Twilights up in Canterlot for something with Princess Celestia again.” Rainbow just growled in frustration “What a time for her to be gone...” “What’s wrong mom?” Rainbow looked over at Daring and sighed “Your sister heard some older mares talking about how its probably her fault you were born the way you are. Now she’s run away, and we can’t find her.” Daring put his head down with a frown on his face. “Do you know what they were talking about?” “No, Applejack was pretty vague about what they were talking about, mostly because I think she had trouble remembering all the ‘fancy’ talk as she put it, just something about how Star stole everything from you in the womb or some such crap.” Rainbow walked over to the front door of the library and flared her wings out in preparation to fly away again. “Stay here while we continue to look for her ok?” Daring nodded his head along with Spike. Then Rainbow gave spike a look that was more of a glare. "Stay with him. O.K Spike?" Spike nodded his head again and as soon as Rainbow was out the door and out of sight Daring turned to Spike. “Spike, Can you take me someplace?” “Hey dude, Yer mom just said to stay put!” “They won’t find her anytime soon, besides, I think I know where she is.” Spike raised a scaled eyebrow at him. “You think were gonna find her before yer mom or dad do? They are pretty fast you know.” “Fast? Yes, but they for sure wont be looking in the right places.” “What do you mean?” “Just pull me in the wagon Spike, I’ll tell you where I think she went.” Spike just grunted as he moved to close up the library. “Alright dude, but if yer mom gets mad, it was all yer idea got it? I’m pretty sure you wont get beaten up.” Daring opened the door to the library “Pfft, whatever dude, We just need to find my sister.” “Yeah yer right, I guess a few hits are worth it. So where we heading anyway?” Daring crawled into the wagon that Apple Bloom had left outside. “Sweet Apple Acres.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Star Rider was laying down under a tree as she looked up at the fruit bats that were all over the west orchard. Their colorful and peaceful nature always made her feel better when she was upset. And since no one ever came out this far, she always had time to think about what ever was bugging her. “Is that why I’m so much stronger then every other pony my age? Was my brother supposed to have wings and I stole those as well? Is that why mine are so big?” As Star just laid under the tree her eyes began to fill with tears again as she thought of all the possible things she took from her twin brother. As she just laid in the grass under the tree she began to cry again. After awhile she could hear some yelling, it sounded like, Her Brother! “Spike Hurry up! She’s bound to be around here! There’s fruit bats everywhere now.” “That’s what you said about the last 3 areas, I’m not a pony you know. I can’t run as fast or as long.” “Sorry Spike, but we just gotta find her.” Star Rider could hear them, but she couldn’t see them. She didn’t want to see her brother right now, not when it was her fault for making him so weak. She was just a bad pony, she shouldn’t of been born, then her brother would of been happier. She wanted to hide, she didn’t want to be found. But for some reason her body didn’t move, she just stayed on the grass crying. She kept telling herself to get up and hide, but deep down, she really wanted to be found. She wanted to be found and have someone tell her it was going to be ok and that it wasn’t really her fault. What would Daring think? If he knew it was her fault, she was the reason he couldn’t run, or play outside with everyone else. He would hate her for sure, for sure he would... “Aha! She’s over there Spike!” Star just curled up into a ball under the tree. Thinking that if she could make her self small enough they wouldn’t see her. Spike pulled the wagon over closer to her and then stopped. He went over and sat next to Star as Daring crawled out of the wagon to do the same. When they were both situated on either side of Star, Spike spoke up. “Ya know everyone’s worried about you Star. Why did you go an run away?” “Because...” Star remained in the curled up ball form muffling her speech. “Because what? Of what some silly older mares said?” “Yes! They said, they said...” Star looked over at Daring who was just looking up into the tree at the fruit bats. “What did they say sis? That it’s your fault I’m like this?” Star nodded her head as she slumped back down into the ball. As soon as she put her head back down a hoof connected with the top of her head. Star looked up to see Daring rubbing his left fore hoof. “Don’t be stupid Star, it’s not your fault I’m this way, even if it is because of Twin to twin transfusion syndrome, it’s not your fault.” “H-how did you know about that?” “You remember when I jumped off the kitchen table 3 months ago trying to imitate Daring Doo’s escape I read about?” Star giggled a bit as her tears let up “Yes I remember, I also remember you yelling at the top of your lungs, ‘You’ll never catch me Hazardmuss!’ followed by you hitting the ground and screaming.” “Yes, I broke 2 of my legs that day, and that's when I started to read medical texts, because they didn’t want me to leave the hospital for 2 weeks.” “But what does that have to do with anything?” “I read some medical books in my ‘spare time’ to try and figure out what to do with myself. You know, like cures or something. That’s when I read about Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome or TTTS for short. I’ll be honest with you Star, I was mad at first. But the more I read about it. The more I realized it’s all a roll of the dice while were still growing. And even then, there's something else wrong with me, even if it was TTTS I would of evened up in size by now, but I haven’t. I’m still not growing at the normal rate or getting stronger. And I can’t figure out why, The doctors can’t even figure it out. I’ll probably end up as tall as Mr. Snails when I’m fully grown.” “So its not my...” “Buck no its not your fault. You can’t go around blaming yourself for something you didn’t do. To Tartarus with what others think, Even mom said what they were talking about was stupid, she said so when she came to the Library looking for Twilight.” “Well but, what about your bones?” “Same thing, not your fault. From what I was reading, my body just doesn’t create collagen properly so my bones are brittle, I’ll probably needs glasses later on and magical bone manipulations as I get older so I can still walk relatively normal. But otherwise its just a genetic defect. Not. Your. Fault.” “Wow, dude, your life sounds bucked up.” “I know Spike, but I’ve come to terms with it while sitting in the hospital and library reading so many books...” Daring sighed as he set his head down on the grass. “I wonder if Zecora knows anything that might fix you up at all.” “Who’s Zecora?” asked Star. “She’s a zebra that lives in the everfree forest, she knows all kinds of natural remedies to heal and get rid of curses and other strange ailments.” “Sooo, shes an herbalist then?” said Daring “Yeah, she mixes plants to make potions.” “Huh...” Daring looked over to Star “...Hey Star, go find mom and bring her here yeah?” “W-why?” “Cause I’m tired, all this running around I did wore me out...” Spike cleared his throat and coughed after hearing that.“ ...I’m gonna take a nap, so have mom come get me yeah?” As Star began to nod her head Spike spoke up. “I have a better idea, give me a second.” “A better idea?” Daring yawned and laid down resting his head on his hooves again. “Yeah, I know how to get everyone’s attention, just watch.” Spike got up and walked out a bit so he was no longer in the shade of the tree. Once he was out in the open he took a deep breath and held it for a moment before exhaling a large amount of green gas that slowly began to take shape. After it began to take shape Daring spoke up. “Is that a muthabucking cannon?” Spike chuckled as his green cannon took on its complete shape “You bet your sweet plot it is. Lets see if it works.” Spike aimed the cannon upward into the sky and pulled on a green string that hung from its topside. A large boom with tons of green smoke shot up into the sky. Every fruit bat in the area was startled by the explosion and took off into the air. It didn’t take long before the sky was filled with a multitude of different colors by the fruit bats. “Wow, its so pretty.” Star Rider just watched in awe at all of the fruit bats flying high up into the sky. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash was flying high above the town and even checking stray clouds to see if she went up to one to be alone, nothing. Big Mac was looking around on the ground in places that she would miss by flying, and with them covering the entire town head to toe, No spot would be left unchecked. But they still couldn’t find her. Rainbow saw Big Mac and Applejack looking around in the park and landed behind Big Mac. “Did you guys find her?” Big Mac turned around and shook his head. “Ya think she’s a hiding out at a friends house or somethin?” “No, all of her friends were playing hoop-de-loop at the park.” Rainbow looked around and shot back up into the sky and began to scour the surface of the clouds again. After a bit she looked off in the distance toward Sweet Apple Acres and saw a green plume of smoke with a rainbow streak moving away from it. “What the fuck...” Rainbow flew back down to where she last saw Big Mac “Hey Mac! Over at the orchard there’s some strange green smoke...” Applejack overheard Rainbow say smoke coming from the farm and went into panic mode. “Smoke!? There’s a FIRE at the farm!” Mac just turned around to see AJ Sprint off toward the farm. “I don’t think she heard the word green. But yeah, go check it out. Green smoke sounds like Spikes magic to me.” “Spike...” Rainbow looked out towards the farm “... I told him to watch Daring at the Library, he better not be out there leaving Daring all alone.” Rainbow jumped up into the sky and blasted off toward Sweet Apple acres where she had seen the smoke leaving Mac in the dust. “Dashie, Spikes not that stupid, or crazy enough to anger you like that.” Big Mac sighed as he broke into a sprint to catch up to his sister and wife. As Rainbow flew closer and closer to the smoke and rainbow streak she realized that the rainbow was actually a bunch of fruit bats. By the time she reached the spot where the green smoke originated she could see a huge green cannon on the ground with Spike standing next to it. Seeing him alone made her mad, very mad. “SPIKE! What the flying fuck are you doing out here!? I told to wait at the library with Daring!” The smile on Spikes face disappeared and was replaced with fear as Rainbow yelled at him, all the while she was hovering closer to him as he stepped back. “But Rainbow I...” As Spike was backing away he was looking at the tree behind him. Rainbow was still to high up to see that Star Rider and Daring were sitting under it. “Don’t give me any Excuses! How dare you act like such a Skag Lick griffin and ignore what I...” Star and Daring suddenly came into view and her anger subsided and was replaced with embarrassment and worry. ‘Did they hear everything I just said?’ Star leapt forward and waved at her mom. “Hey mom, Don’t be mad at Spike, he just helped Daring with finding me, but what do the words Fuck and Skag lick mean?” ‘Oh shit they did hear me!’ Daring sat up and slowly walked out as well. “Yeah mom, I heard some mares call a griffin a Skag Lick, what’s it mean?” ‘How the Tartarus am I going to explain those words?’ Suddenly out of nowhere Applejack came running into the clearing and looked around her. “Well hey, Star was over here, Can’t find no fire though...” Applejack looked up into the sky to see the left overs of the green smoke. “...Wonder what kinda fire makes green smoke.” The children just ignored Applejack and kept pressing Rainbow for answers “Come on mom! What do they mean!” Rainbow just shook her head and decided to go for the easiest way out. “1st of all, I don’t ever want to hear you say those words! Those are bad words! And because they are bad words, I don’t need to explain them to you, because you don’t need to know.” “But that’s not fair at all!” Shouted Star “Its fair because I’m an adult! Now enough of this subject! Star, What are you doing out here anyway?” “I just, I just wanted to get away for a bit.” Rainbow wasn't buying it. Not one bit. “Mhmm, Was it because of what you heard some mares...” Rainbow looked behind her at Applejack who simply shuffled her hooves in the dirt. “...said about you and Daring?” “Well yes, but I know it’s not my fault now. Daring explained it to me!” “What?” Rainbow had prepped her self mentality to speak to Star about this whole ordeal, and it turns out Daring solved everything himself. She went over to Daring and looked him up and down, he didn’t look any worse for wear. “And you, I thought I told you to stay at the Library!” “Did you say that mom? I don’t really remember much after you said Sis went missing. But look, Spike and I found her!” This colt! He must of gotten his dads Smart Aleck remarks as well. As if on Q, Big Mac entered the area and saw everyone gathered under the tree except Applejack who was off the side a bit. “Ah see you all found Star...” Big Mac looked around seeing the green Cannon, Spike, Daring and his wagon. “Ah’ma make a wild guess and assume Daring convinced you to bring him here to search for Star, right Spike?” “Uh yeah, that’s exactly what happened! And then Rainbow yelled at me!” “Is that true sweet-ums?” Big Mac looked over at Rainbow as she blushed slightly “Only because he disobeyed me!” “But in the end everyone is ok right? And besides...” Big Mac knocked the wagon with his hoof. “... looks like Spike pulled him the whole way here.” “Yeah I did! But its fine. We found Star and now everything is better now.” “Is it now?” Big Mac looked at Star who was smiling again. After awhile Daring ended up having to explain everything that he explained to Star beforehand so they all understood the situation as well. “So then, why won’t your body grow normally then I wonder?” Daring just shrugged and looked at his dad. “I dont really know but, can I ask you a question dad? its been buggin me all day.” “Alright, shoot son.” “Alright, What’s a Skag Lick?” Big Mac raised an eyebrow while Rainbow just groaned.