Aftermath of a Fallen Star

by Rated Ponystar

The Harsh Truth of Cutie Marks Part 1 (Apple Bloom)

Have you ever woken up and realized that everything in the world had changed and not always for the better? I had that feeling for two weeks ever since Princess Twilight was killed. Like a bit of hope in the world had been taken away and we were never gonna get it back. I never suffered loss in my life, I didn’t even remember my parents when they passed away since I was only a few weeks born. Twilight was the first time I ever lost somepony important to me and it made me want to never lose another pony I loved again.

I didn’t want to believe it when I heard the news two days after she had been murdered. I hated my family for hiding it until I had to learn from a bunch of muttering ponies in town. It didn’t last long because all I could do was cry and hold my family during the funeral.

Twilight was more than just a friend or a teacher, she was like a big sister to me and the other crusaders. She wasn’t like the other adults who laughed or were annoyed by our attempts to get our cutie marks. She believed in us and tried to help us find them, even teach us things we were interested in learning. Twilight had so many duties both as the apprentice of Princess Celestia and when she became a princess herself, yet she always had time for us.

It made waking up in a world, knowing she was gone, harder to live in. Granny said that time would heal all wounds but I’m not one for patience. It wasn’t just hard on me, it was hard on everypony in Ponyville. I got up and made may way for the bathroom for my morning business before cleaning myself up and heading downstairs. Big Macintosh was eating cereal and Granny was drinking coffee.

“Mornin’,” I said, getting greetings back in return. “Applejack around?”

“Workin’ early... again,” muttered Big Macintosh.

I frowned upon hearing this. My big sister had done nothing but work ever since we came back from the funeral. Granny said it was her way of dealing with the loss, but I was worried since we barely saw her anymore. And every time I tried to talk to her, she spoke less than Big Macintosh ever did. And trust me, my brother can go a whole day only talking just ten words a day. I quickly ate some toast and an apple before grabbing back saddlebags and lunch.

After saying my goodbyes, I stopped at the front porch where I closed my eyes. “Try to be happy. Try to be happy.”

But no matter how many times I repeated that everyday I couldn’t be happy.

Normally, I would take the shortest route to the school, but I was worried for two other friends of mine. Trotting through Ponyville I saw that they finally decided to take down the mourning decorations. But just because they took down the black ribbons, wreaths, and candles from night vigils, didn’t mean things were back to normal. Everypony moved slower, spoke less, and had a gloom on their faces that seemed worse than the time Discord or Trixie ruled over us for their brief times.

Even Pinkie Pie wasn’t around to cheer everypony up.

Making my way down the street, my heart leap as I got closer to rechristened “Twilight Sparkle Library”. Sweetie Belle was outside, trying to call out to Spike from the front door. I figured it must have been a bad day cause Spike wasn’t answering. On a good day he would just tell everypony to go away and leave him alone.

He had been like that for days. Nopony knew what to do. Anypony who tried to get in he threatened to attack and, even if he was a baby dragon, nopony didn’t want to get on is bad side.  I couldn’t think of anyone else taking Twilight’s death harder than he was. Twilight had adopted him officially as her son. To lose her after everything they had been through? I couldn’t even imagine it. Maybe that’s why he left Ponyville and Faust knows where later on.

Red faced, Sweetie Belle looked at me with tired eyes before yawning, “Good morning, Apple Bloom.”

“Have ya been here all night?” I asked in shock.

“No, just since six...” she muttered as she sighed and faced the door. “I still can’t get him to come out... I’m worried...”

“We all are,” I said, patting her on the back. “We can try gettin’ through to him after school.”

“Okay,” whispered Sweetie Belle as we turned around and made for the school yard.

“How’s yer sister?” I asked, hoping to steer the conversation from Spike to somepony else.

“She’s been busy, but surprisingly not with dresses. I’m really worried about her,” whispered Sweetie Belle, shaking her head. “She got a client from Canterlot who wanted her to make a dress for a party she wanted to go to.”

I growled in disbelief. Seriously? One of your princesses dies and all you can think about is a party? I never knew why my sister and brother didn’t like Canterlot folk until that day. “What did Rarity do?”

“My sister refused to do her service. To anypony in Canterlot she said.” This made my jaw drop. For as long as I could remember, Rarity had done everything she could to be welcomed and loved in Canterlot and she had refused somepony from there? I swore the world was coming to an end in my mind. “She said she was done dealing with a, and I quote, ‘disgraceful, parasitic, unethical, and disgusting city’.”

“Ya really are a dictionary, ya know that?” I joked lightly. “I take it the client didn’t take it too well?”

“That’s an understatement,” said Sweetie Belle, as we were coming up to the school. “The client said she would make sure everypony in Canterlot knew of this and she would never get business there again. Rarity said she didn’t care and to give them also a message.”

“What was it?” I asked, leaning in. “Was it... adult language?” Sweetie Belle nodded and I leaned in closer. “Tell me!”

Blushing, Sweetie Belle made sure no adults were in the area and she whispered, “She told them they could all kiss her plothole.”

“Ooooohhh,” I said. Rarity was the last pony I thought to have ever cursed. I can’t even do it at home or else I get the soap. “But won’t that kill her career?”

“She says she’s planning to do something new with her life now that... Twilight is d-d-d-e-gone,” answered Sweetie Belle, shivering upon nearly mentioning the ‘D’ word.

Before I could ask what she meant, we heard a bunch of ponies yelling outside the school. A crowd of our fellow students had formed and the two of us looked at each other before rushing over to see what was going on. Pushing our way through we saw, unsurprisingly, a vocal fight between Scootaloo and Silver Spoon. Diamond Tiara wasn’t there, but it seemed a few fillies and colts were backing up Silver.

“Take back what you said about, Twilight!” shouted Scootaloo as she was being held back by Dinky and Rumble. We soon joined their side in an instant since we all knew Scootaloo had a short fuse just like her hero.

Silver Spoon, with that devilish smirk that we all hated, said, “I’ll say it again. It’s better for Equestria now that Twilight Sparkle is no longer a princess.”

“Why don’t you come out and say you're just glad she’s dead!” shouted Scootaloo with tears in her eyes. “

“Damn right I am!” shouted Silver Spoon, growing. “My daddy said she had no right to change our traditions! Everything is fine the way it is he said! There was no need to change any of it!”

“We wanted the change! We deserve to have a better future!” shouted one pony on Scootaloo’s side.

“The news said that Princess Twilight was manipulating everything so she could be the ruler of Equestria!” shouted one from Silver Spoon’s smaller side

“She saved us all many times! She’s a hero not a villain!”

“My mommy said her actions would have ruined her business!”

“Traitors!”

“You’re the traitors!”

I wanted to scream at them all to stop, but I was deaf on ears. This wasn’t the first time I had heard arguments like this in Ponyville. There were some of them, even those who had known Twilight, to have disagreed with her policies to change Equestria. Some of them weren’t as vocal, others cause fights. It looked like some of their behavior had effected even their children.

I didn’t care about any of it. All I wanted was to mourn the loss of my friend, I didn’t care about the politics. I felt that all of this was just shaming Twilight’s memory.

“What’s going on here?!” shouted a louder voice, and nopony had a louder voice than Diamond Tiara.

“Oh great,” muttered Scootaloo. “Now she’s back...”

Nopony had seen Diamond Tiara in days, even before we were allowed back into school. She marched forward, eyebrow raised as everypony looked at her. “Hey, Diamond. I was just telling Scootapoo here what a terrible princess Twilight Sparkle was, right Diamond?”

Diamond Tiara just stared at Silver Spoon with wide eyes.

“I mean, her getting killed off might have been extreme but at least we don’t have to deal with her stupid ideas. My daddy said that they would have caused Equestria down the toilet with her new ideas.”

Now, I believe that there is good in everypony. Making friends with the changelings and Discord proved that. But at that moment I realized there was nothing good about Silver Spoon who was preaching like some heartless witch who gave into that traditionalist propaganda about how Twilight was the next King Sombra or something. If it wasn’t for the fact of what happened next, I would have beaten Silver Spoon to a pulp.

“I guess she knows now that changing the status quo is a no go. All that ends up is giving you is a one way ticket to the gra-”

And then something happened that, to this day, I will never forget.

Diamond Tiara’s right hoof sailed through the air and smacked Silver Spoon in the face so hard she fell on her back with her glasses completely broken. When it happened, I think everypony’s jaw dropped along with mine.

A furious look overshadowed a scared and shocked Silver Spoon as Diamond Tiara leaned down. “You’re dead to me.”

She then turned around and made her way into the classroom where Ms. Cheerilee, upon seeing all the commotion, was also stunned by what she had seen. Nopony said anything as for the first time in my entire life, I saw a tear drip down Diamond Tiara’s cheek..

I don’t think I paid any attention to school that wasn’t related to the incident. Silver Spoon was sent home, because she couldn’t see without her glasses, with a stern warning that if she caused a disturbance again, she would face harsher punishment. Diamond Tiara got a detention, but would be serving it on a weekend instead of today. She asked if she could be excused from school, saying she was sick, and Ms. Cheerilee allowed it. All throughout the school, those two were the talk of the entire day. It was hard not to hear any of the whispers that were going around it. Many were wondering if this was the end of their friendship, others said it was all just part of some scheme that the two were planning. If anything, it made everypony stop arguing about Twilight Sparkle and whether or not she was a hero or a villain.

I kept the tear I saw silent to myself, mainly because I was still in disbelief. I had never seen a legitimate tear from Diamond Tiara in my entire life. She cried fake tears whenever she was trying to get out of trouble or get what she wanted, but never a real tear.

By the time school ended, all I could think about was one word: why?

Why did Diamond Tiara attack her best friend and, pretty much, ended their friendship? I knew they had grown up together. They were like sisters and cared for each other. What changed? Was it about Twilight? I would have thought Diamond Tiara would have been on Silver Spoon’s side, but it was clear she wasn’t. That didn’t make sense to me since all the rich and noble pony folk seemed to have hated Twilight while us commoners didn’t.

Later in life I learned this wasn’t true. It was between those who wanted our way of life to stay the same as apposed to. those of us who wanted change.

“So are we gonna go crusading today?” asked Scootaloo, eyes wide and hopeful as we exited the school.

“S-sorry, but I’m going to check on Spike,” said Sweetie Belle, blushing.

‘Ugh, fine. Seriously can you be more obvious...” whispered Scootaloo rolling her eyes. She turned to me and said, “What about you, Apple Bloom? I wanna try being Cutie Mark Crusader Disco Dancers!”

I gave her a sad smile and replied, “Maybe some other time. There’s somethin’ Ah gotta do.”

Scootaloo sighed and said, “Fine... seriously, when are we gonna have fun again?”

I didn’t answer that question. Mainly because I didn’t know. I didn’t know when we were gonna have fun again with Twilight’s death hanging over us.

We all went our separate ways. Scootaloo to do whatever. Sweetie Belle to see if she could comfort Spike. And me? I was going to see Diamond Tiara.

Getting into the Rich Estate was easy, I just told the butler that I was here to bring Diamond Tiara’s homework. I was told she was up in her room where she had been having a fit ever since she came home. Walking up the marble staircase with solid gold railings, I arrived in front of a bright pink door with Diamond Tiara’s cutie mark on it.

I stopped in front of it, and wondered why the hay I was doing this. Diamond Tiara had been a bully to me since I was six. Why was I bothering to come over to her house and, dare I say it, feel worried about her? This was the filly who did nothing but belittle me, insult me, and hate me. Was I being foalish or was I too soft hearted? Before I could answer myself I pushed the door open to be greeted to quite a sight.

Whatever room Diamond Tiara had, it must have been pretty special before she teared it up. It was like the room a princess that you would always read in a fairy book. Gold and purple were everywhere, but it was all torn up. Ribbons and banners ripped apart, a silver mirror shattered into pieces, dolls and stuffed animals ripped in two. Make up was scattered with torn dresses and jewelry. Photos of Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara lay broken on the floor. And in the center of it all was Diamond Tiara, crying and holding a photo.

She didn’t even know I was here as I slowly inched forward. When I reached her, I saw that the photo was of yellow earth pony with long strawberry hair and looked to be about as old as my big brother. “Diamond Tiara?” I said, getting her attention as she turned around and gasped.

Glaring as she wiped the tears from her eyes, she spat, “What are you doing here, blank flank?”

I ignored the insult, and answered, “Ah... Ah wanted to check up on ya...”

“Why?” she whispered.

“Because...” I didn’t answer. Was I worried about her? Curious? Or both.

“Just get out...” she muttered, “leave me alone.”

“Fine, Ah was just tryin’ to be nice,” I muttered, thinking this was a waste of time. I was halfway through the door when she shouted at me.

“Wait!” I turned around and she was looking at me with desperation in her eyes. “I can’t believe... I’m asking this...” She took a deep breath as she looked at me with a pleading stare. “Can...can I have a hug?”

For the second time that day, my jaw dropped. “Wh-what?”

“I just... my Dad’s not here... and I really...really need a hug... because I just broke up with my best friend... and I have nopony anymore...” she began to tear up and hiccup. Before I knew it, I rushed over and hugged her as she began to bawl on my shoulder. I stood there, holding her, as she sobbed over her loss. I was hugging my worst enemy and yet I was so calm about it. Had you told me this any other day before then, I would have thought you were on hard cider.

I don’t know how long it lasted, but eventually Diamond Tiara calmed down and we separated. She turned to the photo of the mare and looked down at it sadly. I looked at it again and then at Diamond Tiara, quickly putting who in my head I was looking at. “Who is that?”

“My nanny, Strawberry Star...” whispered Diamond Tiara before growling. “And because Princess Twilight Sparkle is dead my dream is dead! Just like her!”

“D-dream?” I asked as she stood up.

“Yes, my dream for a world where nopony can be judged by their cutie marks. A world where you could decide your own destiny instead of a picture on your butt. A world where nopony had to suffer like my nanny did!” She pointed to her cutie mark. “A world where this doesn’t make us who we are completely! Only a fraction!”

I thought I was going deaf because I was hearing Diamond Tiara talking about how much she hated cutie marks. “But... but Ah thought ya loved yer cutie mark! If ya hate them so much why did ya always hate me for not havin’ one?!”

Diamond Tiara snorted. “Hate you? I never hated you, Apple Bloom. I was envious of you.” She turned to me and glared. “I hated how I was trapped in my fate and doomed to follow a path I never wanted because of how everypony needs to follow a career based on your cutie mark. I hated how I could never be what I wanted to be, only what I was talented in.” She sighed. “I got this cutie mark because I’m good with jewelry, but I don’t want to be involved with anything when it comes to jewels or gems or anything like that. I wanna be an actor.”

A snorted, but quickly hid it. “An actor? Well, no offense Ah can’t see ya as one. Besides, why does it matter. Yer rich enough to be one, aren’t ya?”

And then she laughed. “You really don’t know how it works in Equestria? Do you?” She turned to me and frowned. “Let me tell you the truth that most ponies don’t know about cutie marks. What our society limits us with them. And how much I, and many others, have lost because of them.”