What happened last night could't have just been a dream. At least Apple Bloom thought so. But she had awoken in her normal, everyday bed, not the luxurious splendor that she had fallen asleep in. The moment the youngest Apple got downstairs, she regaled her family with such tales.
"It was so amazing! Applejack you were there! Only it wasn't you, ya had these button eyes! And Big Macintosh painted this great picture of me, and Granny Smith! She was all lively and she could play the piano and stuff and wow!" Apple Bloom exclaimed with excitement. "It was so great." she added with a slight sigh.
Applejack had listened to her sibling's dream with half hearted enthusiasm. It had become half hearted when Apple Bloom had mentioned how much of a great cook the "Other Applejack" was. Not that she was jealous of a fabrication of the mind, well um…well Applejack insisted she wasn't jealous.
"That's some dream ya had little sis." Big Macintosh replied in his same drawl.
Apple Bloom sighed again. "It's so strange, it felt so real."
"Well that's thing about dreams, ya know when Ah was about your age, Ah dreamt Ah could fly." Big Macintosh mentioned.
Apple Bloom looked at her brother with surprise. "Really?"
"Eyup. Felt so real too, that is until Ah hit the floor. Woke me right up."
That made Apple Bloom giggle, her brother's grin signified that was his intent. The smile was broken when Applejack arrived.
"Sorry to be a spoiler, but y'all got some work ahead of ya big brother." the mare reminded.
The crimson stallion cricked his neck and left to go do his day's duties. Applejack had her own work she had to do. Nothing apple related for the time being, a little personal project of hers, something she felt another would want to help her with. "Say Apple Bloom? How'd y'all like to help your big sister out with something important?"
Apple Bloom's face tweaked with curiosity and interest. Her sister needed help with something? Honestly that interested her very much. After being denied work in the orchard. Apple Bloom would be more than willing to help. "Sure! what ya need?"
If only Apple Bloom could read narration. Then she would know what she was working on.
"Picture album?" the filly looked at the stack of photographs upon the table. "Applejack!" she whined.
"Come on please Apple Bloom, Ah been wanted to do this for a while now and well hey! Ya could maybe find your cutie mark this way!"
Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes. "Seriously? A cutie mark for putting pictures together?"
She wasn't buying it. Applejack didn't even bother trying to rationalize that. "Please sis? Ah could really use the help."
Apple Bloom just followed her sister's lead after that, going into the various photo's and putting them in a proper place within the album. Some of them she admitted were rather humorous, such as one depicting a red faced Rainbow Dash at a Pinkie Pie party.
"Someone spiked the punch." Applejack explained.
Apple Bloom looked at another picture showing the same party, only with Applejack's face reddened. Applejack quickly hid that one away, her face blushing this time from embarrassment. Apple Bloom continued to look through the photographs, when one caught her eye, particularly because unlike the rest, it was black in white.
"Who's the filly in the picture?" that was another thing she had noticed. "She kind of looks like me." indeed, within the picture was a young filly. Despite having slightly shorter hair, this filly could very well be Apple Bloom's twin.
"Why that's Granny Smith when she was about your age." Applejack answered.
This surprised Apple Bloom. "Granny? Really? Wow! She looks so young." Apple Bloom exclaimed. Ever since she was born, a wrinkled visage was all she saw of her grandmother. The child version of her sat near what appeared to be a wagon. A bright smile and a shining glint in her eye, very different from the Granny Smith of today. It was amusing in its own way. Yet there was something else that drew her to this picture. For standing next to the younger Granny Smith, was another filly, this one, a dead ringer for Smith.
"Hey Applejack? Who's that filly?" Apple Bloom asked.
Applejack had gained a smile upon her sister's discovery of their Granny's younger days, only now that smiled faded away.
"That's Granny Smith's twin sister." Applejack solemnly replied. "She'd be our great aunt."
"A sister?" Apple Bloom repeated. This was news. "Well where is she now? How come we've never heard of her?"
Applejack's solemn tone matched her expression. "Ah asked the same thing when Ah was your age. Ta be honest with ya, nopony knows. One day, when she and Granny Smith were just fillies, her sister just disappeared."
Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "Disappeared?"
"Her folks looked high and low for her, but there wasn't a trace, eventually they just gave up hope." Applejack continued with slight dejection.
"But what about Granny Smith? What does she say? Does she miss her sister?" Apple Bloom asked.
Applejack turned in the direction Granny Smith currently snoozed, or at least the room. Even from here, the faint sound of a snore could be discernible.
"If you'd ask her, she would just get silent, stare out the window, and insist someone stole her sister." Applejack finished her story with a sad note.
Apple Bloom almost did ask her grandmother that question, but she decided against it. She couldn't recall a moment where Granny Smith was sad, and she didn't want to. The two sisters finished the photo album without much dialogue, but Applejack busied herself with more work afterwards, leaving Apple Bloom on her own once more.
The young one busied herself with another walk, no destination in mind, just walking. The weather unfortunately still held it's gloominess. It made her wonder if the weather crew shared in Rainbow Dash's laziness? Well, it could simply be that the mess was too big to handle in a day.
"Come on you can do it!" Apple Bloom heard a voice far off along the trees that lined her path. Curious, she strode over, through the large towering pines, if they were pine trees that is. Amidst the brown and green, she saw a view of purple, accompanied by green spines.
"Spyke?" Apple Bloom found this a repeat of yesterday's meeting.
Certainly enough, it was the dragon. "Oh! hey Apple Bloom." Spike enthusiastically greeted, As before, the dragon seemed to be centering his attention to something.
Apple Bloom had a guess, to what it involved. A little further in, Apple Bloom found herself correct. "Don't tell me." she muttered.
"That's it, just a little more." Spike cheered on a certain slimy creature, just as he was the day before.
"Is that the same slug from yesterday?" Apple Bloom inquired, noticing the creatures size.
Spike proudly smiled and picked up the slug, placing it upon his scaly shoulder. Apple Bloom stuck her tongue out at that. "Yep! What can I say? I grew attached to the little guy, so he's my new pet now."
"Pet?" Apple Bloom held considerable disgust and disbelief.
"Yeah I mean, Rarity has Opalence, Pinkie Pie has Gummy, Fluttershy has Angel, and your sister has Winona. So I figured why not me?" that made some sense.
Apple Bloom didn't find it any less disgusting however, particularly when Spike removed the slug from his shoulder and held it up the pony. "I'd like you to meet Wybourne. Wybourne this is Apple Bloom."
Apple Bloom stared right at the twitching eye stalks of the slug. Lowering one eye she had just one thing to say towards the creature. "Hello Why-were-you-born."
Spike immediately caught on to the insult. "Hey! That's not nice!" Spike pulled back his pet, petting it in a comforting motion. "It's okay Wybourne, Apple Bloom is a girl, she doesn't understand how undeniably awesome you are." Spike soothed. "Who's a good slug? Who's a good slug?" the dragon cooed, scratching the slug under its belly.
This didn't look any less odder for Apple Bloom. "Say did you check out that building?" Spike spontaneously asked.
That made Apple Bloom's thought drift. All this time and she hadn't thought about the abandoned building "What? Oh that place. Yeah but it wasn't anything special." Apple Bloom didn't want to add the detail of the dream again. Besides, a dream was a dream, nothing more, nothing less.
"Last two days have been boring." if Apple Bloom wanted to say anything, it would be about her day.
"I know what you mean." Spike commented his own addition. "Half the time I'm nothing but a messenger, I mean I eat breakfast, using the bathroom, and then I belch up a scroll." Spike made a motion with his mouth. It incited a giggle from Apple Bloom. "I mean we haven't gone done anything in a while, sometimes I wish something big happened. Like….an evil centaur tries to turn all the ponies into monsters! Or an evil witch wants to capture them to make a potion! Or…..hmmmm…..An evil kraken tries to drown Equestria!" Spike listed all these fantasies, great adventures stemming from his own imagination. "But what are the odds of that happening?"
Apple Bloom had to admit to herself, those were creative. "Well Ah did learn something new today." Apple Bloom remembered.
"Oh? Like what?" Spike grew slightly curious.
In her mind however, she felt hesitant to speak. "Ah just found out mah granny had a twin sister."
"A twin?" Spike voiced back. "So where is she now? She twice removed or something?"
"Nah, she just disappeared one day when she was mah age." answered Apple Bloom.
Spike's mind processed this information. It wasn't everyday someone told you their grandmother had a long lost sibling. "Maybe she ran away? I mean with twins there's got to be some rivalry. That or one of them is evil."
Ignoring the "evil" comment, Apple Bloom thought back to one other possibility. "Mah granny thinks her sister was foalnapped."
"URP!" a massive belch interrupted Apple Bloom. Right next to Spike's feat lay a scroll. A look of pure disappointment crossed the young dragon's face. "I gotta go, Twilight's expecting this from the princess." Making sure Wybourne was safely onboard, he waved goodbye. "Later Apple Bloom!"
Apple Bloom politely waved her hoof in response, but she gave a disgusted glance at Whybourne. "Boys," she muttered. Sometimes she didn't understand them.
CRUNCH!
Apple Bloom turned her head. Was there someone there? Her eyes looked about, but found nothing.
XXX
Zecora mentally told herself to be more careful. She hadn't meant to spy on the young ones. Originally she had set out to locate some herbs, particular ones that grew around this area. By pure chance she had found the pair, but she stayed when the subject of a missing child sprang up.
Such a thing seemed out of place in these parts. Ponyville gave off an air of happiness and tranquility, no darkness or sadness hanging over. This particularly applied to the Apple family. Although she had only been aquatinted with two members of the family, she could see a tightly bonded family when she saw one. Running away didn't seem to really fit. A possibility maybe, but something in her gut told her that wasn't the case. Perhaps she was simply overanalyzing it, but it all traced back to that building.
Something wasn't right about that place. The ground held a stain, her brew had told her so. It almost felt…..evil. Perhaps she should watch that place more closely. Putting up her hood, she moved on.
XXX
He felt a twitch, something new, his claws , he didn't have those before.
"Hold still my new little doll." He heard a voice.
"Who are you?" he asked. That was something else that was new, he couldn't talk before.
There came a giggle. "I am your creator, your mother."
Something swished behind him, a tail. A stitch followed with new additional limb and sense. The final one being sight. Two buttons were sewn in, and then at last, he was complete.
Another doll to reel in her catch.
XXX
Apple Bloom couldn't sleep. Too much weighed heavily on her mind. The rest of the day had gone on normally, nothing much to note. She didn't ask her grandmother with regards to her missing sister. From what Applejack told her, that was something the old mare didn't need. Yet there was something else that held more prevalence in her mind than that.
Right about now, she really wanted to get to sleep. Her reason? To dream again. But not of simple things, but of grand dinners, and of a fun family.
It all had felt too really to be a dream. Of course, many ponies probably thought of really good dreams. But there was a substance to the one she had. Something in her mind prodded at her, like an incessant gnat biting under her skin.
An hour had passed since she had gotten into bed. There would be only one way to stifle her mind's urging. By obeying it.
The previous night's wanderings etched into mind. Carefully stepping, not making a creak, don't wake granny, out the door, and down the path. Back in her room, the doll of Apple Bloom sat. It's black eyes fixated on the spot where Apple Bloom once was. Suddenly, it's head gave a droop, and a glint shined in its eyes.
Outside, Apple Bloom traversed. A soft rumble came from above, a roar of thunder. A few droplets hit her face. This further served to hasten her pace. Right before the rain increased in its pattering drop, she spied the ancient creak of the door. Its hinges squeaked as the wind blew against it. Her little mind filled with fear, as the stormy setting intensified, but she made it inside as she shut the door. Swiftly she scurried, down the darkened hallway. The fear itself vanished away the moment she made it in the room. A warmth spread over her body, filling her soil and warming her body.
A breeze ran past her cheek, accompanying it was the warmth. They caressed her, moving her head to its source, a tiny door, below it, was an oh so familiar key. Eyes growing large like saucers, the filly swooped up the key and opened the door.
If her eyes could grow any bigger at that point, they would have fallen out of her head. Below her lay a blue tunnel, the warmth and love flowing up from it.
"Ah knew it was real!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, right before she excitedly entered inside to see the wonders that awaited her.