Rain and thunder echoed across the orchard. Flashes of lightning was the only illumination, save for the windows of the Apple home—even there, one window was pitch black. Applejack stepped out to the front porch carrying a travel cradle on her mouth. Placing it down, she threw a couple of bags out as well. She looked up trying to find the stars, which she usually spent time watching, but tonight there was nothing but darkness in the sky. Turning around, her eyes never left sight of the floor, as she walked to the sofa where Granny Smith and Big Mac sat. Granny’s eyes were closed, but she was sobbing and little tears rolled to her cheeks; Big Mac’s eyes were full of anger, as if in the littlest provoke he will do something unthinkable. Right in front of them was Apple Bloom whose eyes were completely red and full of tears.
“Please… Ah don’t-,” said the filly before she was interrupted.
“You and… THAT can go now. We don’t wanna see you anymore,” Replied Applejack.
“Please, no. You’re my family.”
“And this is how you repay us? You brought shame to this family.”
Applebloom didn’t notice, but somehow she was already on the other side of the door, right next to the bundled foal. She fell on her knees and begged “Don’t make me go. I’m sorry sis, I’m so sorry! I love you.”
Applejack approached the door slowly, her face was expressionless, she looked at her sister right in her eyes and said, “You are not my sister.”
The filly’s eyes opened wide, she was no longer in the living room now she found herself on her bed, tears were still running through her eyes. She scanned the place looking for anypony, but she was all alone. For now she was safe from going outside on her own. “It’s okay, it’s all okay. It’s just a dream,” she told to herself. She tried to sleep once again, but it did not come. Sweaty sheets and the clock’s glare of 2:08 A.M weren’t helping.
“Darn it I have school tomorrow… Err… Later,” She groaned, flipping the clock face down.
Sliding out of bed, she pulled fresh sheets from the dresser to replace the sweat soaked ones. Fresh sheets and the evil red eye of the clock hidden, she stumbled up on her bed and slipped between the sheets trying to fall asleep again. But the image of her family throwing her out of her house was too scary to even close her eyes. She tried to keep her mind busy, she read a book, she counted sheep, and she even snuked into the kitchen to heat milk in order to relax, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t.
The day began, it was the start week and as every monday, the fillies gather at school to learn more. Fillies from around the town went to school happily, except for one. Apple Bloom ploded in direction of the school. Her hooves and eyes were equally heavy. Moving by memory alone, Apple Bloom gazed unfocused at the road. Unaware of her friends approach until they were shoulder to shoulder to her ”Gah! What the hay gus?!”
“Good morning, Apple Bloom?” They greeted in a unison
“‘Morning” She sighted and kept her eyes on the road.
The two friends exchanged a worried look “Are you alright?” Scootaloo Asked
“Yeah,” Answered the earthpony
“You sure?” Scootaloo asked again.
“Yes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” Apple Bloom growled through clenched teeth.
Sweetie Belle jerked back from Apple Bloom with a frown “Oh no! The mood changes started!”
Apple Bloom sighted “It’s not that! I just had a hard night... I couldn’t sleep.”
The far off sound of the school belle echoed across the field, interrupting the conversation.
“The school bell! Run!” Scootaloo said, taking off in a full sprint.
The unicorn and pegasus ran to the school. Apple Bloom kept her slow pace and moved to where the sound came from. Maybe she would be tardy, but she didn’t really care, she couldn’t run even if she wanted to.
Apple Bloom rested her head in her hooves, if it wasn’t for the chair being uncomfortable she would have fell asleep a while ago. The classroom was filled with noise caused by the children. She couldn’t care less about what her classmates were talking about. She even ignored Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who were talking right next to her, expecting she would react. It wasn’t the fact that she didn’t sleep in the whole night, it was the dream she had what she kept her mind away from her. The hate in her sister’s eyes was the scariest thing she have ever imagined, the look on everypony’s face, and the fact that they would send her away, just made a huge knot on her stomach preventing her to focus on anything else.
A sound of the door creaking took the attention of the little ponies and saw the teacher entering the place. She greeted her students cheerfully “Good morning, my little ponies” The teacher said, everypony answered back except for Apple Bloom “We have an important lesson to get to. Everypony please take notes”
She dived straight into the day’s lessons, she kept a slow pace so the whole group could take notes without much trouble. The sound of the pencil moving on the paper and the voice of the teacher was all that could be heard. Apple Bloom had her pencil in her mouth, but just stared at the teacher. It was a technique she learned from Scootaloo, “as long as you keep looking at the teacher she will think you are paying attention”. The earthpony did just that, her eyes were frozen on her teacher, but her mind was elsewhere. This could be the most important lesson on her young pony’s life, and she wouldn’t even know.
‘What am I going to do? I better not tell my sister… No, no, it was just a dream… But what if she really do it? What if they threw me out? ... But they are my family, would they actually do that?’ She wondered on the topic over and over.
“Apple Bloom? … Apple Bloom … Apple Bloom!” A familiar voice called her back. Sweetie Belle shook her to make sure she was still awake.
“What?”
“It’s lunch time, let’s go,” Scootaloo said.
Apple Bloom shooked her head in confusion “Lunch time? Already?” She hadn’t even notice how much time have passed. “O-okay, let’s go” She wasn’t hungry, but she thought she might as well go in order not to worry the other ponies. Picking up her lunchbox, Apple Bloom followed her friends.
“Apple Bloom, could you come here for a moment?” Miss Cheerliee said before they had reached the door.
Looking at her friends, she gave a nod to telling them it was okay. Turning around, she made her way to the teacher’s desk. “Yes, Miss Cheerliee?”
“Don’t think I didn’t see you half sleep like a zombie earlier. If that doesn’t work for Scootaloo, it doesn’t work for you either” She said calmly, with a smile on her face. It was confusing for Apple Bloom, she didn’t know if she was being interrogated or if the teacher just wanted to chat. Miss Cheerlie took a sip from her coffee and continued “Now tell me, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“You are the happiest and one of the most engaged of my students. You always take notes and ask questions during the class. Today you weren’t even awake. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I’m here to help in anything you need.” Miss Cheerlise said with a concerned smile.
Apple Bloom could tell she was being honest. The filly looked away to think up an excuse to tell, maybe she should tell her teacher, but it didn’t feel right “You see Ms. Cheerlie… The thing is that Ah-” She stopped to think for a moment What if she tells my sister? What good would come to this? She thought in a fraction of second, she wasn’t sure but she took her decision “It’s just… Ah’ have been having these weird dreams lately, and sometimes Ah’ can’t tell if they are for real”
Miss Cheerlie looked pointedly into her student’s eyes “Are you sure?” She asked
“Yeah, no worries.” Apple Bloom smiled and tried looking away, her teacher’s eyes feeling like daggers.
“Okay, but no more sleeping in my class. Understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Okay, now go lunch break time is almost over.”
Gabbing her lunch box and went out with her friends who were waiting for her outside.
“What happened?” Scootaloo asked.
“Nothing. Ah just can’t focus on school right now.” Apple Bloom answered.
Sweetie Belle had just swallowed a big chunk of sandwich and decided it was a good time to ask a question “Hey, about...” She looked around to make sure no one was hearing “You know what. Who you are going to ask for advice?”
“Ah’ figured it was best to ask somepony who has actual experience about it. So, the only one Ah’ can think of is Mrs. Cake.”
“Make sense. We should go ask her after school. The sooner the better, right?”
They nodded their heads in agreement and went to a nearby bench to eat their lunch with the little time they had they had left.
The rest of class went normal, not really useful information for Apple Bloom ‘Who uses algebra?’ She kept thinking, but if she wants to keep a low profile she was needed to do her schoolwork. The school bell rang once again letting the ponies know it was that the classes were over. Every pony took their stuff and ran out of the school as quickly as possible, not that they didn’t like school but they prefered being outside. The trio walked out and moved towards the Sugar Cube Corner. If they are lucky the place won’t be full and that would give them the chance to talk.
Suddenly Sweetie Belle stopped, the other two turned and saw her friend immobile “What’s wrong, Sweetie?” Asked Apple Bloom
“Sorry, girls. I remember I have something to do. See you later at the treehouse,” The unicorn left almost running. Her friends didn’t know what that was about, but they had some more important stuff to do, so they moved along.
As they walked into the bakery they noticed that there were only Mr. and Mrs. Cake attending the place. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen and there were no customers, it was the perfect moment. The two fillies approached the counter clear their throats, giving the formal way to say that they were waiting to be attended.
“Oh! Hello, dearies. What can I get ya?” Mrs. Cake asked happily
“Well… We wanted to ask you something,” Scootaloo said .
“About what?”
“Er… About… Um… Babies,” Continued Apple Bloom.
Mrs. Cake eyes opened widely and her face turned all red “Umm isn’t that something to ask to your parents? ... Or relatives? …. Or teacher?”
“It’s just that Ah can’t let Applejack know.”
“Why not?” The usual smile in Mrs. Cake fade into a serious look. Apple Bloom suddenly knew this was not a good idea. Mrs. Cake lives with Pinkie, if Pinkie knows she will tell Applejack. On top of that she had told too much, she thought about a lie that would get her out of that predicament.
But then Scootaloo helped her. “It because… Applejack is pregnant! And she doesn’t want other ponies to know. Could you keep that secret?”
Apple Bloom put her hoof around her friend’s neck and spoke to her ear between clenches “What are you doing?”
“Hey! You are the one who screwed up. I just try to clean up your mess.”
They suddenly heard the baker giggling, she had her hoof on her mouth and she was blushed “Oh my. I didn’t know Applejack found a stallion, I thought she would be the last. Tell me, who is he?”
“She doesn’t tell. She wants to keep it as a secret until the time’s right. So, can you?” Scootaloo replied
“Of course, of course. I just still can’t believe it” After a few more giggles, she was back to normal “Alrighty then. How can I help?”
“Well, we wanted to know about how to take care of a baby properly, and how much does it cost, and some other tips you can give,” Apple Bloom said.
“Of course. First, is to keep track of the baby’s growth. Does Applejack go to the doctor regularly?”
“Not really.”
“That is just bad. She has to see the doctor at least once every month to see everything is alright. Please tell her that.”
Scootaloo took her notebook and a pencil and began taking notes of everything Mrs. Cake says “What else?”
“Well, babies are really expensive. Baby crib, baby bottles, baby clothes, diapers, medicine, toys, just to start. That can be really expensive, but you can buy some of those used. Ponies don’t like to do that, but it can save you tons bits… Come to think of it, I might be selling some of that baby stuff soon. Tell your sister, and we might do business.”
Apple Bloom listened to every single word, she didn’t want to miss the littlest detail about it. She was worried she might not have enough money, but she was also somehow excited “Is there anything else?”
“Well since it’s gonna be your niece or nephew, remember to let the baby sleep. Babies need to sleep a lot. And when they wake up they want to eat. For the first month that’s going how it is going to be. They might wake up in the middle of the night when you feel really tired, and you had to clean the whole place because your apprentice thought it was a good idea to put a cake inside a party cannon and shoot it inside of the building, and dealing with the customers’ complains for almost two hours…” Mrs. Cake looked agitated and she was clenching her teeth, but then she noticed who she was in front of and returned to her regular being “But you don’t worry. Just keep it down and help your sister with whatever you can. Is there anything else?”
“No, thank you so much Mrs. Cake,” Apple Bloom said.
Scootaloo took all her stuff and put it in her saddle bag “I got everything. Let’s go to the treehouse now”, Scootaloo said, trunking her notes into her saddle bag.
The sound of trotting could be heard, somepony was entering the bakery and greeted the little ponies “Howdy! Hey, you came here after school?” It was Applejack
Apple Bloom turned and noticed her sister standing right behind her “Wh-What are you doing?!”
“Granny sent for some biscuits,” She answered.
“Applejack! “Mrs. Cake cheered, trotting out from behind the counter to greet her.” I just heard about the little one, congratulations. But don’t worry about it, though. Your secret is safe with me. I’ll put some extra biscuits to Granny’s order, you know, now you’re eat for two” She said before disappearing into the kitchen to get the biscuits.
Applejack shook her head in confusion “What the hay was that all about?”
“Er… I dunno… She might got a bit “pinkied” … Uhm… Gotta go,” Scootaloo replied before the two of them ran out of the place as if the olden pony was chasing after them. If Applejack said something before that they couldn’t hear it, they just focused on getting to the treehouse.
The cutie mark crusader house is usually empty until later on the day, but now it was going to be the shelter of the running fillies. They ran the stairs fast, entered the house and closed the door. They were tired for running so long and so careless, they could barely breathe. After a couple of minutes they could regain their calm “Okay, that was close,” Said Scootaloo.
“At least Applejack didn’t find out,” Replied Apple Bloom
The pagasus reached her saddlebag and took out her notebook, she proceeded to read the notes she took while speaking with the baker “And speaking of which, I think we should go to the doctor. Remember what Mrs Cake said.”
“Ah don’t know. Ah don’t have money for that”
“What about Spike? Didn’t he say he would get some gems?” Scootaloo asked further
“Yeah… I think we will have to wait for him,” Apple Bloom said, looked outside of the window, watching the clouds move.
For now, she could only wait for her dragon to return.
- - -
Spike woke up early that day. The morning light had just entered the room. For Spike at least it was very early, he usually sleeps two hours after Twilight wakes up, but today he had something to do. He left a note on his bed saying “I have some things to do for the crusaders. Won’t be back until late.” Taking a bucket, heading out to the gems field outside of Ponyville. Ponies tend to avoid going to that field, there is a gang of dogs called “The Diamond Dogs” who look for gems or in some cases steal them. But since Rarity and her friends had a confrontation with them, there hasn’t been reports of witnessing them around the area anymore. Spike counted on them not being around so he could gather as much gems as he could.
Nice going, Spike He told to himself dropping the bucket on the floor. When he was with Rarity he got a cart full of gems in no time, but back then Rarity used her magic to detect where the gems where, and Spike just had to dig them up. This time Spike was alone, he had no idea where to start or how to look for gems on his own Well, let’ just get this over with He thought as he began digging on the spot. His claws touched the dirt and pulled it away craving for gems. One claw after another he pulled the dirt away and he descended slowly, he was focused on whatever sign of a gem he could see, a different color than gray or brown, a spiked shaped object, or a simple sparkle. But even though he was using until the last drop of his energy, there was no sight of any gems.
He found himself inside a hole as tall as him. There might be gems further, but if he went any deeper, he might trap himself inside of the hole. Jumping out of the hole, he, took three steps, and began digging again. A few shovels down his shovel finally uncovered something shiny. Pulling the stone from the soil with his claws, Spike examined his find, it was an emerald. Not very big, but it’s perfect color sparkled in the morning sun.
It looked delicious.
Brushing the dirt away, he held the gem between his teeth, but froze before he bit down.
Cleaning it up, and moved it carefully into his mouth. The image of Apple Bloom and the little baby growing inside her, reminding him of why he was here in the first place.
“It’s just one gem. No one will notice,” he thought. But the more he looked at it, the more Apple Bloom came to mind. Her big and bright eyes, and that cute little smile of her. After grunting and forcing his own hand to move towards his mouth, he threw the gem to the bucket A whole gem field, and I get to eat none of them. I wonder what would other dragons do in this situation He wondered and continued his labor.
He went on and on, digging hole after hole. Toiling in the summer sun, the heat, the sweat on his eyes, and the pain on his claws made it difficult to move on. He’d dug more than a dozen holes, but he only had a half-bucket as fruits of his labor. The idea of going back home and lay down on his bed came every five minutes, but he dismissed it quickly when the image of Apple Bloom came to mind.
He finished pulling out a few sapphires from the bottom of his current hole, he pulled himself out and spotted the new digging area. Everything in him hurt, his claws, his arms, his head, even his eyes hurt a bit. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and began digging a new hole. His arms started to move on their own. He stopped feeling his arms, and if it didn’t hurt, it meant he could keep going. Landing the shovel in the soil, a familiar voice paused him from further work.
“Hey Spike, how you doin’?” Sweetie Belle said. She was carrying a saddlebag, and looked to be straight from school.
“Hey Sweetie Belle. What brings you here?”
“I just came to check up on you.”
“Thanks. Things aren’t as good as I hoped they would. Without your sister, this is harder than I thought.”
“Why my sister?”
“She knows that gem finding spell. Without it I’m going blindly.”
“Well, I don’t know any spell-“The filly reached her saddle bag and took something a big bottle of water “But I brought you this.”
Spike took the bottle desperately, and drank half its content in a couple of seconds “Thank you!”
Sweetie Belle giggled for a moment and noticed the dragon’s tummy was growling “I think you’re hungry.”
“Yeah, but I haven’t even filled a bucket,” Spike said, sitting down for a moment while he nursed on the rest of his water.
“Why don’t you just come back to town and eat for a moment, and then dig some more? You can’t dig without energy, right?” Suggested Sweetie Belle.
Spike thought about making up an excuse: it wasn’t necessary, or he rather finish the job and then go to eat. But he was really hungry, this has been one of the toughest job he ever done alone. “Yeah, thank you” He said.
Spike took the bucket and pulled it with him on the way back to Ponyville, while Sweetie Belle kept up with the dragon on a slow pace. To lighten up the mood the filly thought of start a conversation “So… How did you and Apple Bloom… You know?”
“I-I don’t want to talk about it” Spike blushed and shook in embarrassment, almost dropping the bucket of gems.
“Spike… Do you love Apple Bloom?”
The dragon remain silence, acting as if he didn’t hear the question. Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but to feel a little worry about her friend and asked again “Do you?”
“I don’t know,” Spike answered.
Sweetie Belle froze in place, her mind filled with the same question, but she noticed something in Spike’s eyes that prevented her from asking further: She saw regret.He never left sight of the road and kept walking. The filly knew this was one of those moments that she had to remain silence. They walked on direction to Ponyville and didn’t saying another word.