//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: A Silver Summer 
// by Fanboy 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 11

Apple Bloom flew right threw door, slamming it open without any regard for anything or anypony that might have been behind it. Fortunately, the only thing it slammed into was the wall. The following bang in return woke up the only pony present inside the room.
Granny Smith, green coated and grey maned as Silver Spoon remembered her, had been napping peacefully in a rocking chair standing next to a bookshelf, built-in under a staircase. Now her upper body shot upwards, her eyes wide open. The sudden movement caused her rocking chair to start rocking back and forth. The old pony sitting in it flailed her arms around desperately to get back her balance.
“Apple Bloom!” she protested. “How many times have Ah’ told ya’, ya’ mustn’t scare me like that?”
“Sorry,” was Apple Bloom’s simple answer, said too casually to be meant seriously. “But Ah’ just want to drop of ma’ stuff and then show ma’ friend around.”
“Yer friend?”
Granny Smith rubbed her eyes and leaned forward, almost toppling over with the chair. It took her a moment until she recognized who her youngest granddaughter was talking about.
Silver Spoon was still standing behind Apple Bloom in the doorway, fascinated by the room she had just entered. In some way it was like Fluttershy’s home. Just like hers, it was made completely built from wood. A bit more spacious maybe, but nonetheless it emanated the same coziness. Even though the interior was rather plain.
There was an old-looking couch to Silver Spoon’s left, a few flowers and lots and lots of family photos. And it were these photos that really stood out to Silver Spoon. They showed so many different ponies, but all were – or had been - obviously part of Apple Bloom’s family.  The resemblance to either her, her sister, or her brother was astonishing. Some of the pictures were even in black and white. Silver Spoon knew that meant they had to be really old.
And of course, there was the rocking chair, now standing upright and calm once again. More importantly, there was still Granny Smith sitting in it. The old lady looked like she had finally recognized who Apple Bloom was talking about. Her eyes focused on Silver Spoon and she gave her a gentle smile. The warm and kindly way of a smile Silver Spoon loved so much. Somehow, only old ponies seemed to be able to smile like that. With the exception of Fluttershy maybe. It gave her such a pleasant feeling of being welcome. And she couldn’t help but smile herself.
Shyly, she said: “Hello, nice to see you again.”
“Yes, Ah’ remember ya’,” the old pony replied. “Yer from Apple Bloom’s class, right? The nice little filly who sat next to her when I was there to tell ya’ ‘bout the zap apples. And the first to clap when Ah’ was done, if ma’ mind doesn’t betray me.”
Silver Spoon nodded. “Yes, that was me. But I think, we have never been introduced properly. My name is Silver Spoon and I am pleased to meet you.”
Before she knew it she had done another curtsey. But unlike Applejack and Big Macintosh, Granny Smith didn’t laugh at this gesture. Her smile only grew a little warmer.
“Now yer ain’t just a nice little filly but a polite one as well. Nice to meet you too, Ah’m Granny Smith. Ah hope ya’ll enjoy yerself here. And maybe ya’ could be some good influence on Apple Bloom while yer here, could you?”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” exclaimed Apple Bloom indignantly.
Now it was Silver Spoon’s turn to struggle for a straight face. At least she managed not to laugh at her new friend, but she still had a wide grin on her face when she asked: “What? I’m not good enough as role model for you?”
“Ah’ have ma’ sister for that,” Apple Bloom pouted.
“You do?” Silver Spoon asked with exaggeratedly and fake surprise. “Why haven’t you told me before?”
For a moment they both just looked at each other before starting to laugh. They laughed so hard Silver Spoon’s eyes even started to tear. She had no idea why she had to laugh so hard, but the more she tried to calm down, the harder she had to laugh. Apple Bloom’s laughter by her side didn’t make it easier for her in any way.
But eventually they were too exhausted to laugh anymore. Silver Spoon had to sit down right where she stood because her legs would carry her any more.
All the while Granny Smith had been watching the scenery, her face showing irritated amusement.
When the two fillies had finally fallen silent she said: “Well Ah’ve no idea what’s been so funny ‘bout that, but didn’t ya’ say somethin’ ‘bout showin’ yer friend around, Apple Bloom?”
“Yeah, Ah’ did,” the filly replied while trying to catch her breath. “So let’s… get to ma’… room and unpack.”
Silver Spoon nodded. She followed Apple Bloom upstairs, watched by the still irritated Granny Smith.
The stairs led up to a corridor with two doors on each side. Except for a few more pictures on the wall and a simple lamp hanging from the ceiling there were no decorations up here. Not even a carpet on the blank wooden floor, which creaked under every step they took.
“This’s ma’ brother’s room,” Apple Bloom explained pointing to the first door to the right. “Right next to ma’ sister’s. The first on the left is Granny Smith’s room. Which leaves only one as mine.”
With the last words Apple Bloom pushed open the mentioned door. The room behind it was about half the size of Silver Spoon’s own. She took a few steps inside and looked around.
The walls were colored in green. A dark shade of lime-green which clashed uncomfortably with Apple Bloom’s fiery red mane. Next to the door stood a blue closet. On the wall to the right from the door was a commode, also colored blue, with a wide mirror. Across from the door, beside the only window in this room, stood a desk with a chair in front of it. It was considerably smaller than Silver Spoon’s but all the more tidier and well-organized. And there was a canopy bed to the left, by its side a little nightstand with a bedside lamp on it.
“Just drop yer stuff and the sleeping bag on the bed.”
Apple Bloom’s voice startled Silver Spoon. She was so caught up with taking in what she saw that she had almost forgotten who actually lived in this room. All in all she was rather… disappointed? Disillusioned? Or what should she call it?
“What’s up? Somethin’ wrong?”
“No… Or yes, maybe there is. Not with your room, I mean. I think it is… just me.”
“What are ya’ talkin’ about?”
“That’s it, I don’t know. I was so excited to see your room. But somehow this is not as exciting as it had been in my head.”
“Well, what did ya’ expect?”
“I have no idea. I expected… something. Without even knowing what that something was.”
“Compared to yer house this must look rather boring, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess it does,” she admitted reluctantly. “Do all, er, normal foals’ rooms look like this?”
“Normal?”
“Yeah… What else should I call them? You said I shouldn’t say poor.”
“Yes, Ah’ did. But normal doesn’t sound right either. Ah’ mean, yer not not normal, ain’t ya’?”
“Well, sometimes I think-”
“No, stop right there. Yer normal, that was no question.”
Silver Spoon smiled. “Okay, but what should I say then instead of ‘normal’?”
“Ah’ don’t. know. ‘Not-rich’, maybe?”
“Alright then, do all not-rich foals’ rooms look like this?”
“Well, if yer askin’ ‘bout size, yeah, most of ma’ friends have similar rooms.”
“I was asking more about the interior. I mean, there are no toys, no stuffed animals, not even a bookshelf. And no decorations.”
“Okay, startin’ with the last one; yes, no decorations. Ah’ don’t mind it that way. Scootaloo always say Ah should get some posters and Ah’ thought about it, but it’s never been that important to spend ma’ money for it.
“About the stuffed animals, Ah’ve never been really into them. When Ah’ was in fohlengarten Ah’ had a teddy, but that was so worn out we threw it away a long time ago.
“All the books we have are in the shelves in the livin’ room. The toys Ah’ have are over there, in the commode. And we have some games in the kitchen.”
Silver Spoon waited for a moment for Apple Bloom to speak on. But as she remained silent, Silver Spoon asked: “The kitchen? You have your games in the kitchen?”
“Yupp. That’s where we play those games anyway, ‘cause we have the large table there. So we keep our games in the kitchen.”
“That is a little bit… er…”
“Unusual? Yeah, Ah’ guess.”
“Okay, but you still haven’t answered my question.”
“Ah’ don’t even know if it can be answered. Like Ah’ said, the other ones Ah’ve seen were about the same size as mine. Save for yours. Some a little smaller, some a little bigger. But apart from that, the only similarities are that they had a bed, a desk and a closet.”
“Hm, maybe I have to compare them for myself then?” Silver Spoon couldn’t help blushing a little when she said those words.
Apple Bloom smiled. “As soon as ya’ve made some new friends?”
Silver Spoon returned the smile. “Yeah, I guess.”
“That’s an awesome idea.” Apple Bloom looked like she had achieved something important to her. “But before we get to that, why don’t ya’ finally drop those saddlebags and Ah’ll show ya’ around the farm?”
The silver maned filly nodded and let the saddlebags slide from her back where she stood.
The next moment they were on their way outside. Silver Spoon was barely able to keep Apple Bloom from just barging back down the stairs and prevent Granny Smith from being woken up so rudely again.
As soon as they had passed the creaking wooden floor and closed the front door, Apple Bloom turned to Silver Spoon with sparkling eyes and asked: “So, where should we go first?”
“Wherever you think we should,” answered Silver Spoon surprised. “The way you tried to scare your grandma’ again I thought you had a plan.”
Apple Bloom scratched her chin. Obviously she didn’t. She mumbled: “Okay, so our chicken coop isn’t so different from Fluttershy’s, the cowshed and hog house are empty right now…”
“Why? Where are the cows and pigs?”
“During the summer they’re on the paddock all day.”
“Oh, okay,” said Silver Spoon. Then she added: “But still, I’ve never seen a hog house. Or a cowshed. Or anything else that’s there to see on a farm.”
“If ya’ put it that way…” pondered Apple Bloom. Then she smiled and declared: “Okay, then let’s go, Ah’ll give ya’ the complete tour!”
As Silver Spoon had to find out, when Apple Bloom said complete, she meant complete.
She even started out with the chicken coop that had already been dismissed before. Then she showed her every stable, shed and barn there was on the farm. Like Silver Spoon had been told, they were empty. But they were still interesting nonetheless. Each one was built differently. Each one in the needs of the animals they were housing, according to Apple Bloom.
As Silver Spoon inspected the hog house she asked: “I was wondering, why do you keep pigs on the farm? I can see why you have cows and sheep. But pigs neither give milk nor wool, so why pigs?”
“That’s simple. They eat everything.”
“So does this one colt from our class…”
“No, that’s not what Ah’ meant. They literally eat everything. If our food goes bad or we have some leftovers, they eat it. Or if we have some bad crops we can’t sell or use, they’ll eat it too.”
“So, they are something like your living trash cans?”
“No… well okay, ya’ could say so… But that sounds mean. And they’re not only here to eat what we don’t need. We can use their feces as fertilizer.”
“Their fe-” Silver Spoon began stammering. She didn’t even want to use this word. “As a… fertilizer? Isn’t that something you need to grow plants?” She knew she had seen the word on some bags among the stuff their gardener needed for his work.
Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah’ don’t really know how it works, but we need it to grow our crops.”
“And what do you do with it?”
Silver Spoon didn’t like where this was going.
“We spray it across the fields.”
She felt her stomach starting to revolt. The image building up inside her head was just dreadful. “So, all your corn and grain and even the carrots grow on fields covered in pig poo?”
Apple Bloom cocked an eyebrow. “Ya’ really have a knack of puttin’ things in the most unfavorable ways.”
“But that’s just what it is, right?”
“Well, yeah. But that’s just how it’s done. Not only here, but everywhere.”
“So, every bread I ever ate was made from grain that grew in…” Silver Spoon wasn’t able to finish her sentence.
“Look, just don’t overthink this. It hasn’t hurt ya’ till now and it won’t ever.”
She knew Apple bloom was right. But it didn’t help her getting those images out of her head. The more she fought them the more they grew. She needed a distraction. “Okay, let’s not talk about this anymore. Can we just go on with the tour?”
“Alright,” rejoiced Apple Bloom. “Let me show you the fields next!”
Silver Spoon wasn’t exactly able to partake in her friend’s joy. On the contrary, her stomach only twisted a little further. She looked at her in stunned disbelief.
“Oh come on,” the red maned filly laughed. “We only fertilize the fields before we sow the seeds. All of that is long gone.”
Still a little bit reluctant, Silver Spoon followed the amused farm filly outside. The fresh air, even as hot as it was growing in the noon sun, had never been more refreshing to the grey little filly as it was right now.
Not as enthusiastically as before she let Apple Bloom guide her across the fields surrounding the farmhouse. At first she was more focused on the ground beneath her hooves than on what Apple Bloom was saying and the plants growing all around her. But after a short while, when she had finally convinced herself that it was nothing but normal, not-gross soil she was walking on, she started to enjoy all of it more and more again.
They both spent a lot of time in the fields, Apple Bloom carefully making sure her friend knew of every crop the Apple family grew around here. Admittedly, it was a little bit tiresome and she didn’t exactly pay attention, but her friend’s joy and enthusiasm was all it took for Silver Spoon to enjoy herself.
When they had passed the fields – not without Apple Bloom explaining that the building with the carrot on its roof located next to the carrot patch was used to make carrot juice – they came to what Sweet Apple Acres was most famous for:
The apple orchard.
And it wasn’t nearly as interesting as Silver Spoon had assumed. Why she had thought this would in any way be more interesting than vast fields of crops eluded her by now.
Even though the view was nice, the air had a hint of the sweet scent of apples and the happy chirping and singing of the birds hidden somewhere in the trees had something relaxing to it, all in all it was just a lot of trees.
Still Apple Bloom kept talking about what different kind of apples her family grew, how they tasted and when they had to be harvested. And Silver Spoon listened less and less to what she was told.
Her attention completely diverged from her guide when they came along the two older Apple siblings still hard at work with the harvest. She had never really seen two ponies work so hard before. Of course she had seen others work in town. But most of them were standing around behind counters or a market stand, busy cutting other ponies manes or cleaning the windows of the town hall. Even at home there were the gardener, the pool colt and the butlers and maids.
But compared to the hard physical labor Applejack and Big Macintosh had to perform, all of these other ponies seemed so relaxed in what they were doing. She was sure she couldn’t keep something like this up for more than a few minutes. Most likely not even a single one. And they had to do it for hours, all day along.
She kept watching them, her feelings a mix of awe and pity. And the more she watched them, she noticed something. What grabbed her attention the most were their faces, the expressions they wore.
Applejack had a determined look, like she was eager to impress somepony by what she was doing. She had seen it so many times before on the foals in her class, especially during arts or sports classes. Even then, with Miss Cheerilee around to praise her classmates and approve of what they had accomplished, she never quite got it. They just did what they were there for. And similarly, Applejack did what she had to do for a living. If she didn’t do it, her family would earn no money. And furthermore, who did she want to impress? It certainly couldn’t be her younger sister and older brother. So was it her, Silver Spoon, she wanted to show how hard she was working? But then again, the apple bucking mare didn’t seem like she had noticed the two fillies strolling through the orchard, just a few yards away from her. And whenever she had filled another bucket with apples, she smiled satisfied. Of course, she had all the reason to be satisfied with successful work, but it was more than that. Her smile reminded Silver Spoon of those foals in her class who had earned the longed for words of approval from their teacher.
Big Macintosh on the other hand was back to his absentminded smile, his gaze lost in a trance-like state. Again, he emanated an aura of familiarity Silver spoon couldn’t grasp. He looked like he was remembering something joyful or entertaining. Yet at the same time there was this contradicting trace of sadness hidden beneath. It seemed to the little filly like he was sad about the happy things he was thinking of.
“Hey, are ya’ listenin’ to me?”
Apple Bloom’s voice cut right through her thoughts. She had completely forgotten that there was still a filly standing by her side.
“No,” was her startled reply. It took her a second to realize what she had said and understand why Apple Bloom grimaced offended. “I’m sorry,” she apologized hastily. “I didn’t want to be mean, but I got distracted.”
To point out what had distracted her she looked back over to her friend’s siblings.
“What, ya’ve never seen somepony work before?” Apple Bloom still sounded a little bit hurt, but to Silver Spoon’s relief the underlying indignation was gone.
“Not this hard, I haven’t. But that’s not what I meant. It’s your brother.”
Any last bit of offense that still been on her face vanished instantly. She blinked a few times and looked over to her mentioned sibling. “What about him?” the red maned filly asked hesitatingly. Silver Spoon could clearly hear nervousness in her voice. Not unlike what she had felt when Apple Bloom had visited her home yesterday.
“Why is he so sad?” Silver Spoon asked
“Sad?” Apple Bloom now sounded irritated. “What do you mean, sad? He’s smiling like he always is.”
“Yes, I see him smiling. But his eyes are… sad.”
At those words Apple Bloom shook her head.
“No, don’t get fooled by the way he keeps lookin’. He’s always like that when he’s workin’. But when he’s around us he’ll live up again, believe me.”
“Okay, if you say so…”
Silver Spoon wasn’t convinced. But since she had no way of disproving what Apple Bloom had stated, she decided to follow her once again. And this time she was careful to listen to what her friend had to say about apples.
Luckily she didn’t have to endure this outstretched biology lecture for much longer. Either because Apple Bloom had finally accepted that her new friend wasn’t nearly as thrilled as she was about apples or she had indeed reached the place where she had been heading to all along. Silver Spoon didn’t know and didn’t care.
What she did care about was the quiet spot they had reached, hidden away on a small clearing not too far away from the last trees in the orchard. And even more, the tree house located there.
Apple Bloom turned around towards Silver Spoon, a proud smile on her face and proclaiming: “And now, Ah’ present to you: The Cutie Mark Crusaders’ club house!”
Silver Spoon looked at said club house in awed surprise. In fact it was not just a club house, but also a tree house as well. And not one of those simple shacks built in a treetop she had seen in one of her books. This was actually a house in a tree. A small house with probably only one room, but a house nonetheless. It even had a pitched roof and gable window.
Leading up to that tree house was a wooden ramp. Or more accurately, it led to a balcony stretching from the front to the side of the house. And from that side led another ramp up towards the tree’s crown where another small hut was located. In its window a telescope could be seen.
“Come on!” said Apple Bloom and started climbing up the ramp, followed by Silver Spoon.
Like her real home, Apple Bloom’s club house had a simple interior decoration. There was a small table with some flowers on it, a larger, empty one with a chair by its side, a chest at the other end of the room and above it, to Silver Spoon’s further surprise, pictures of a blue coated, rainbow maned pegasus she had seen a few times before.
“Isn’t this that weather pony my mother always complains about?” she asked after she had walked over to take a closer look.
“Ah’ don’t know. If it’s Rainbow Dash she complains about, then yes.”
“I don’t know her name and neither does my mother. But I don’t think there are that many blue weather ponies with rainbow colored manes in this town.”
“None that Ah’ know of. What’s yer mom’s problem with her?”
“According to her, whenever she sees that Rainbow Dash she’s more likely to sleep than to work and when she is working, the weather is terrible. Though I have to say, I don’t really know what exactly my mother understands as ‘terrible weather’.”
“Why does she care how often Rainbow Dash’s nappin’? She gets her job done, that’s what important. And Ah’ like the weather she’s doin’.”
“Don’t tell that to me. I don’t have a problem with her. But why do you have pictures of a weather pony hanging inside your club house?”
“Well, Sweetie Belle and me only agreed to that because we wanted Scootaloo to stop botherin’ us that we should hang up some pictures of Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo wants them to have here because Rainbow Dash is her idol.”
“Her idol? Does she want to become a weather pony?”
“No,” answered Apple Bloom immediately, but the next moment she scratched her chin. “Or maybe she does. To be honest, Ah’ don’t know. But either way, that’s not the reason she admires Rainbow Dash.”
“Then what is?”
“Because she is an excellent flyer.”
“Who? Rainbow Dash or Scootaloo?” joked Silver Spoon.
“Rainbow Dash, of course.”
Silver Spoon’s amused smile vanished as fast it had appeared. Somehow this reply came a little bit too fast. And not just that, it sounded so stern. Maybe even a little bitter.
Before Silver Spoon was able to address what she had noticed, Apple Bloom was smiling again and asked: “Say, would you like to try our telescope?”
Had she noticed Silver Spoon’s bewilderment? It did seem to the grey filly like her new friend was trying to avoid this topic. But why would she? Was Scootaloo actually such a bad flyer? Then again, if she were, why would that be something not to talk about?
“Well?” Apple Bloom inquired.
Trying her best not to sound irritated, Silver Spoon answered: “Yeah, why not.”
They climbed up the ramp leading up to the little booth in the treetop. The telescope was even larger than it had looked from outside, being as long as Silver Spoon was from head to tail.
At first she wasn’t very excited about looking at stuff really far away. If she had wanted to look at that, she wouldn’t have come here, would she? But the more she tried it out, the more she enjoyed it. Just testing out what she could actually see from where she was now held more fascination to it than Silver Spoon would have ever expected.
Her view wandered across the town. She even tried to see her own home. Unfortunately the mansion itself was blocked out by the town hall but she could still see what was right and left of it. After she was done watching their gardener from afar, she thought about looking for Bon Bon’s store. But as she was searching the town for it, she found something – or rather somepony – else.
“Hey, isn’t this that Rainbow… Rainbow…”
“Dash,” finished Apple Bloom for her. “Ah don’t know, let me see.”
The filly stepped aside and let her friend take a look. Then she stepped back and nodded. “Yupp, ya’ found her. Now ya’ can tell yer mom that you saw that pegasus actually workin’.”
“Um…” started Silver Spoon, now reminded of the short exchange they had only a few minutes go. “I’m not sure if I should bring this up.”
“Bring what up?”
“I don’t know how to put this. It’s about Scootaloo. What you said sounded like she isn’t a good flyer. And now that we talked about that, I started to think. I can’t remember that I’ve ever actually seen her flying before.”
“Well, just because ya’ve never seen it…” began Apple Bloom halfheartedly, clearly avoiding Silver Spoon’s gaze.
But as her voice trailed off and she didn’t say anything further, Silver Spoon continued: “Not only that. I’ve heard some of our classmates talk a few times before. About Scootaloo, I mean. Apparently, none of them has seen her fly before.”
“Ah’ see what yer getting’ at. But please, let’s leave it at that.”
“Because Scootaloo wouldn’t forgive you for talking about it?”
For a moment Apple Bloom was silent. All she did was looking straight into Silver Spoon’s eyes. Then she nodded and she said gratefully: “Yeah, Ah’m glad ya’ understand.”