Apple Bloom somehow against all reason and sense, found herself, herself at her very first school dance. She was at Canterlot High for the first time in more weeks than she wanted to remember, walking along all quiet-like under the generous bustle of Diamond Tiara’s elaborately crafted gown. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were there too, at least at first.
But then a boy named Octave came and broke up their shaky little circle of friendship. “Sweetie, you came!” the dark grey boy said in a cheerful voice heading towards a baritone, bowing graciously before her and, not noticing everyone else with her, it seemed.
“H-hi Octave,” Sweetie said with a nervous wave. “These are my friends,” she said uncertainly. “Diamond Tiara, Ap—Scootaloo, and Scootaloo.”
“Charmed, I’m sure,” he said politely, still not looking at anyone else. Taking Sweetie’s hand, he led her to the steps to the auditorium saying, “Come, let us enter the formal, together! Our first formal, and to do it with such a beautiful girl as you. I can truly say this is going to be a magical night!”
Sweetie didn’t have the heart to curb his very well mannered, but overeager enthusiasm, and let herself be dragged inside, trying not to catch her dress on the way in, with but a little pleading look to the others before vanishing through the doors to face the ticket masters.
Apple Bloom peeked out from under Diamond’s dress, saying, “Reckon we should help her out.”
“Shoosh!” Diamond said, pushing her dress down over Apple Bloom. “You’ve gotta stay hidden like until we get inside!”
“Ah still think this is a terrible idea,” came Apple Bloom’s muffled voice from underneath the bustle.
“You think what’s a terrible idea?” another boy asked Diamond, who stiffened and said,
“Me? I was just like, the hem on my dress, just it’s like a little bulky you know how it goes ha ha ha ha ha!”
Apple Bloom couldn’t see a blooming thing outside this dress thingamajig. What’s worse is, it had the curiously acrid yet marshmallowy smell of Diamond Tiara herself. Apple Bloom never felt glad to smell like a horse more than this evening right here under this smelly thing. At least the beautiful girl wearing this gown was meticulously cleanly, and hadn’t had beans for dinner or anything.
Stuck under Diamond Tiara’s butt extension, Apple Bloom just had to peek her nose out again at the sound of someone being dragged around, and the sound of Scootaloo’s subsequent exclamation,
“Come on Diamond, don’t be teasing my date now!”
What Apple Bloom saw were some shiny black dress shoes, some boy dolled up all formally, and she barely caught a glimpse of wavy blonde hair before losing her nerve and ducking back underneath. This was a terrible idea. That was Dinky, huh? This was the worst idea. Scootaloo sure had her arm hooked in his at least, so it must be him.
After an awkward pause, Scootaloo’s voice said in a dissatisfied slump, “I guess we should go then.”
“Yeah like.. don’t mind us– me. Don’t mind me, Scootaloo,” Diamond said smoothly. “You two like, enjoy your uh, like, stuff.”
“Are you waiting for anyone?” came the boy’s light tenor, calm yet with a searching edge to it. It made Diamond stiffen right up against Apple Bloom, so Bloom figured he must have been addressing Diamond directly.
After a pause, Diamond Tiara said, “Yes!” in a challenging tone. “I mean, no,” in a less challenging tone, and then “Like, none of your business!” in a challenging tone again. Apple Bloom resisted the urge to face... put her hoof against her face, whatever you call that now.
“Look,” Scootaloo said, “I don’t want to make this awkward or anything...” That made Apple Bloom’s ears flatten even more. Couldn’t Scootaloo tell Diamond Tiara was lonely as all getout and she needed someone to reassure her that she was still the awesome girl she always was? Yeah, Scootaloo probably couldn’t tell. She was sort of clueless about stuff like that.
Then Dinky spoke up again, saying lightly, “You uh, want to come with us?”
“Why should I?” Diamond said with as much restraint as she ever did. “You didn’t ask like, me to the Fall Formal!”
Dinky stuttered at that, saying, “W-well I didn’t I mean I couldn’t ask everyone I mean Scootaloo and I are uh, we know each other and—”
“It’s fine,” Diamond said resignedly, turning her dress in a way Apple Bloom had to scramble around.
“You really couldn’t get a date?” Dinky asked incredulously. Apple Bloom couldn’t even imagine how awkward this was making Scootaloo feel. That girl really knew how to pick her dates.
“Why’s that so surprising?” Diamond responded haughtily, which was odd since it was a self deprecatory statement.
“Well I’d think it would be easy,” Dinky said in a somewhat irritated tone. “Lots of boys would want to go out with someone as beautiful as uh—” Dinky cut off like the head of a sad crab. Oh wow, Casanova, Apple Bloom wanted to shout sarcastically.
“Oh wow, Casanova,” Scootaloo drawled sarcastically. Apple Bloom could practically feel Dinky’s blush from ten feet away. “Telling other girls they’re beautiful when your date’s right here,” she teased with a touch of insecurity in her voice. Apple Bloom really hoped this wasn’t going to end in Diamond and Scootaloo brawling, because there was no way she was going to be able to hide under Tiara’s dress in that case. And also as a side note, they might hurt each other again.
“You’re beautiful too, Scootaloo,” Dinky said solemnly. Apple Bloom would have buried her head in her hooves, if she wasn’t so busy manuvering to stay underneath this bustle. Now he really stepped in it! That was not what you said to Scootaloo. You called her cool, or awesome, or even rough and tough, but not beautiful! That was Sweetie Belle’s thing! Sweetie was the one who got all blushy at being called beautiful, but Scootaloo hated stuff like that. Scootaloo didn’t even answer at first, and when she did, both her and Dinky spoke at once, Dinky saying,
“When I said it before, I meant—”
and Scootaloo cutting over him with,
“No, I’m not.”
Diamond broke the uneasy stalement brutally, saying in a teasing if sincere sneer, “Come on, lovebirds, let’s go dance!” Then, Tiara’s dress really began to move, and Apple Bloom had to scramble along, missing their conversation due to focusing all her attention on her footing. She winced every time her stiff hoof struck concrete, trying to put as much of the impact on the rough, thick pads at the bottom of her hooves as possible. Then they were going up stairs! This was a terrible idea. Apple Bloom managed it, somehow.
“Ready to dance the night away?” Scootaloo said excitedly. She didn’t have to inflate her excitement either, neither to cover for Apple Bloom, nor for why they were really here. If there’s anything Scootaloo loved, it was dancing.
“I’m ready to try!” Dinky said brightly. He really seemed a cheerful sort, when he wasn’t stuffing his foot in his mouth. Apple Bloom would’ve liked him, if she could have come out from underneath this dress to actually meet him. Yeah that would go over well. Hi there, Scootaloo’s date. I’m a talking pony space alien. Want to shake my hoof like it was a hand?
“Tickets,” a neutral, older male voice came. It was mostly a formality, the ticket proceedings, but pretty much only students and faculty were supposed to be in the dance, so that kept some strange hobo or worse some student’s overprotective parents from coming in and making a scene. It was one of those real grown up things, where you were trusted to act on your own and behave responsibly. Something Apple Bloom would have appreciated if she wasn’t....
Well, it was starting to sound like a broken record at this point. Apple Bloom was tiny. Apple Bloom was a pony. Apple Bloom just didn’t feel safe anymore without someone to check with or keep tabs on her. She just felt too... all... woobly and stuff.
She had figured it must’ve just been her getting all paranoid over her family’s speculation about dogs out in the woods, why she felt so funny away from them. But right now, quivering under a teenager’s dress, in what was probably the worst plan ever conceived since the noodle incident, Apple Bloom wasn’t so sure about that. Right now, Apple Bloom just wanted to run into Applejack’s arms and whimper into her chest and maybe even cry a little until she felt safe again. It wasn’t the sort of silly sissy way she’d felt for a long time, not since she was...
Not since she was real little.
“That was easy!” Scootaloo said as the fourthree of them shuffled along at the pace Diamond had to go to manage her ridiculous dress.
“Well we’re in now,” Diamond responded conspiratorially, “And now we can—” she cut off, then said in an exaggerated declaration, “Dance. We can like, dance, and have refreshments and things!”
Someone was going to lift Diamond’s dress and see a pony all buried in its folds. That’s just what was going to happen. Apple Bloom’s ears were down and her tail was low, because she just wanted to get out of sight before anything bad happened. And maybe a little cuddling, and soft rocking. Then Dinky said,
“Diamond Tiara, your dress has a... um...” Apple Bloom was sure the jig was up. She looked around frantically and she seemed like she was totally covered except for her—!
Apple Bloom jerked her tail back under Diamond’s dress.
“Oh, I guess it’s... fixed,” Dinky said in a puzzled tone. But despite Apple Bloom’s fears that he would flip up Diamond’s dress and expose her, nothing happened. She just kept shuffling along, trying to quiet her hoofsteps and any whimpers that threatened to escape her tight chest.
“Just like a... loose ribbon,” Diamond explained, “That I pulled like, tight yeah.”
Apple Bloom felt herself cantered sideways in a semicircle, thanking herself for doing so much running around at the farm, because she would have tripped a thousand times by now if she had just transformed today. Then, the frame of the dress smacked against something solid, and Apple Bloom’s heart skipped. Were they there?
“Boy these refreshments sure look good,” Diamond Tiara announced loudly. That was the cue. Hunching down, Apple Bloom peered under the dress only to see a dim, indirect, filtered light. Perfect. She scootched forward, and thanked her lucky stars she was a pony, who didn’t have to stand up to move forward easily. Apple Bloom snuck out from underneath Diamond Tiara’s bustle...
...to right underneath a refreshment table. Sweetie had made sure her sister made sure her friend made sure to get a nice long tablecloth or two on the thing while decorating, making it a big long rectangular corridor under which Apple Bloom was unseen and completely alone. Yep, Apple Bloom had to conclude that hiding under a refreshment table was definitely one of her better ideas.
Apple Bloom swiveled her head around to look behind her and lifted her tail out of the way of the edge of the tablecloth, just in time to see under it. Diamond’s bustle was moving away from the edge of the refreshment table. That bustle would be Apple Bloom’s ticket in and out of here. No other way for her to leave. She sure as hell wasn’t gonna go run out on the dance floor and try to cut a rug, much less leave this dance walking out in the open all exposed.
But she just had to be here for the big event. This was where Diamond Tiara’s dream was gonna be. With the demon attacking and the rainbow zappy thing. Apple Bloom figured since she was already a pony, she was halfway to being one of the demon defeaters, yay! If nothing else, she absolutely, certainly, totally had to see the look on her sister’s face, when Applejack did turn into a horse woman before beating that evil thing.
And Apple Bloom kind of really, truly wanted to see her sister be a big hero like that.
So there she was under the refreshment table. The smell of cheese and crackers wafted through her snout, and more prominently lettuce and carrots, and crisp cucumbers and celery, and parsley, and those white flowers with the yellow cups in them which probably was just a centerpiece. Apple Bloom kind of regretted not eating before she left. Diamond didn’t check on her before walking off (too risky) so Apple Bloom couldn’t ask for anything. The plan for Apple Bloom was just to wait under here, until shit started going down. Then she could help, or just watch, or something.
Yep this was pretty much the worst plan ever.
Apple Bloom hunkered down, her hooves folding easily under her to press her smooth belly to the cool gymnasium floor. That really did make her blush, because she remembered she didn’t have Diamond’s dress protecting her anymore. She was all naked under this table. All those naked hours on the farm didn’t stop her from feeling fiercely self conscious about not having any clothing on, here at this very important formal dance, with all these people and boys around to see her buck naked. Apple Bloom had heard of those wild parties where you find a girl naked under a table, but this was ridiculous!
She was okay though. Apple Bloom was nice and hidden. They picked the furthest off table with the least fun eatables on it to hide under, and nobody would find her. One side of this table was flush against the wall, and a second side flush against the corner. No way for anybody to sneak up on her.
Yet for a second, just one second, Apple Bloom did spare a guilty blush at the thought of just running out there and cutting a rug out in the middle of the dance floor, without a single scrap of clothing on her behind. And she covered her face embarassedly at the thought of Diamond Tiara doing that too, just to show her up.
The minutes ticked by, and one could only fantasize about one’s wild friend dancing in the nude so long without... doing something about it. And Apple Bloom did not even slightly entertain the possibility of doing that. Not here, not nowhere, not never! She wasn’t into animals, and therefore she wasn’t into herself. Besides, she didn’t even have fingers anymore, so how would she even do it? Squirming a bit and swishing her tail aside, Apple Bloom just ignored any thoughts like that, distracting herself with the food smells and the sounds of partygoers around the tables and on the dance floor.
Those thoughts were actually pretty easy to ignore. Her attention instead drifted to curiosity again, and Apple Bloom stood up, almost able to stand up straight under this table, hunching her head forward just a titch to sneak along to the edge of a tablecloth. There was a tiny crack that she could see through, between where the tablecloths met.
She couldn’t make out much, mostly just moving bodies gesticulating back and forth, but it was a view of the dance floor, and she did occasionally catch glimpses of Scootaloo going nuts, and even saw Diamond Tiara, who had ditched the hoop skirt in the locker room in order to rejoin the ball in her athletic yellow dance pants and fancy boots and that black jacket of hers with the white liner. Diamond had said something to Apple Bloom about how yellow was the new black or something fashionisty like that, but Apple Bloom kind of wondered if Diamond was trying to match Apple Bloom’s colors for some reason. Not that you needed a reason to admire a smoking hot yellow furry flank like this!
Yeah Apple Bloom didn’t know who she was kidding.
She didn’t know how many hours the dance was, but soon her stomach was rumbling something fierce. Apple Bloom could almost taste those celery sticks. She wondered if they had peanut butter on them. She really hoped they had peanut butter on them. No wait, no she didn’t, because she was stuck under the table and couldn’t get any! If they had peanut butter, that made it even worse! They smelled like it. She really wanted some peanut butter.
Apple Bloom’s guardian angel flew in, the sound of Scootaloo coming up to rest with a thump on the refreshment table, dragging along behind, her (much out of breath) date. She and Dinky were laughing and talking, about some fancy electronic thing called a dance pad. An arcade game, maybe? Anyway whatever it was, Apple Bloom snaked a hoof out and tugged on Scootaloo’s sock urgently. Scootaloo kind of paused then, and physically pushed Dinky a few feet across the floor, then dropped down on her knees saying quickly,
“Dropped a contact lens.”
Scootaloo lifted the tablecloth just enough for Apple Bloom to look out at her urgently and whisper, “Scoots ah’m dying here! Cain you get me one of them celery sticks maybe?”
Scootaloo nodded silently, and flexed her legs to stand, right at the moment that a purple boy with short blonde hair, dressed in a dissheveled but conservative suit and tie bumped into Scootaloo, searching the ground with his dextrous slim fingers for a ...
Well gosh did he have some pretty eyes.
Scootaloo released the edge of the tablecloth, letting it fall gently down.
“Was that a—” Dinky managed to say before Scootaloo whispered desperately,
“No, don’t look!” scrabbling at his hand, no doubt reaching again for the tablecloth that was the only thing keeping Apple Bloom hidden.
“Is there an animal under there?” he whispered back to Scootaloo. The only reason Apple Bloom’s ears weren’t going flat down was she felt paralyzed with fear. Her ears perked straight like she had to hear every single little thing to get some hint of how to get out of this without a disaster.
The two of them stood up with Scootaloo clumsily whispering, “No it, yes it’s, it’s not what you... it’s nothing!”
“Scootaloo, there is an animal in the gymnasium,” Dinky whispered back, and every time he used that word it cut right through Apple Bloom’s heart. Why did she even come here? She should be on the farm. The stupid boring same old everyday safe farm with her warm bed and her teddy b— she refused to finish that thought. She had to do something! This Dinky fellow was going to ruin her! The table flying away from her like it was in a tornado, and all the students standing in a circle around her, spotlights pouring on her at all sides, all them glowy eyed kids in the shadows, whispering to each other and pointing and jeering and—
“I’m going to get the principal,” Dinky said quickly, his feet stepping away from the table.
“No wait!” Scootaloo exclaimed, grabbing his arm. “You can’t!”
“Is this a prank?” Dinky said angrily, “You could get people hurt! Why do you have an animal tied under there? Is that a dog? What if she gets spooked and bites someone? This is cruelty to animals!”
“No it’s not!” Scootaloo said back, equally angry for different reasons, enough that she was starting to raise her voice most disconcertingly. Apple Bloom’s whole future now depended on Scootaloo’s sense of tact and restraint. She couldn’t imagine herself being any more doomed.
“Then what’s going on?!” Dinky retorted. Apple Bloom panicked.
She desperately stuck her head out from under the tablecloth, looking around frenetically. Nobody by this refreshment table but the tense figures facing each other off, of Scootaloo and that Dinky fellow.
“Ah’m a magical animal!” Apple Bloom called out, up at Dinky from under the table. Apple Bloom put on her most convincing smile, and looked up at the golden eyed boy, who had turned to stare at her with the widest eyes. Apple Bloom tried to explain, “Ah’m here on a... mission to uh... it’s top secret.” She thought she could stand the look he gave her, but she was wrong. Because it wasn’t a look of fear, or wonderment exactly, or bewilderment... exactly.
“...Apple Bloom?” Dinky asked in too small a voice for his lanky frame, with a look of recognition. Apple Bloom yanked her head under the table. She was hyperventilating under there. She curled up in a ball. She had to calm down. Everything was fine. How did he recognize her?!
“How did you recognize her?” Scootaloo hissed at him.
“Leave me alone,” Apple Bloom whimpered desperately, but she wasn’t sure she said that loud enough for anybody without weird freak radar dish ears to hear it.
“She... she had her bow on,” Dinky said distantly. “That’s Apple Bloom?!” he exclaimed. “Why is she a... is that why she’s been absent the whole year? What happened to her?” Despite her fears, Apple Bloom couldn’t help but perk an ear at his tone of voice for some reason.
“You know her?” Scootaloo asked incredulously. “Where do you have classes—”
“No I—” Dinky cut in, “No, I mean, she’s your friend, and I know you. And you showed me your music video. ...a lot.”
“Yeah, okay...” Scootaloo said skeptically, “But—”
“Plus she disappeared. She’s been absent for months! There’s lots of rumors going on about what happened.” Apple Bloom unfolded a bit, laying her dumb pony body out flat again. Kids at school missed her? No, of course there were rumors. They all just wanted to know what weird thing happened to some random girl.
“Okay fine, you know her,” Scootaloo said in a disgruntled pout. “You know all about what happened then, I guess.”
There was a pause, and Dinky stated uneasily, “So, the one about the horse is true?”
“Well she did go on the ten o’clock news,” Scootaloo said, with an eye roll Apple Bloom could feel from way down here. Bloom was... finding it really difficult to remain panicked, by their almost casual tones of conversation. It was nice and dark under here and... and this Dinky fellow wasn’t going and swinging her out in public. He was Scootaloo’s date, so of course he would be cool like that, right?
Scootaloo leaned down on the table and whispered to Apple Bloom, as if Apple Bloom needed Scootaloo to lean close to hear her whisper, “Why’d you go on the news if you’re so worried about being seen?”
“Ah thought ah was gonna get dumb like a horse, and not care any more!” Apple Bloom whispered back up, as loudly as she dared.
“You’re a horse then?” Dinky asked, from right down at the level of the table. Apple Bloom’s pupils narrowed as he lifted up the tablecloth again, to peer at her curiously. “You’re so little though!” he exclaimed with honest intrigue, “And you still have your human col–”
“Back off!” Apple Bloom snapped, smacking his hand with her hoof so that he jerked back, the table cloth dropping flat again. Blushing head to... toe, yeah head to toe, that’s what she was going to admit. Blushing head to toe, Apple Bloom said, “Ah ain’t got any clothes with me. Ah’m naked under here!”
“Uuh,” Dinky said articulately, falling on his smooth, pantsed, tail-lacking ass. “B-but you just look like an anim—”
“Ah don’t feel like an animal,” Bloom said back to him, in a chastising tone. “It may not look like it, but that’s mah rear end you were oglin’!”
“Uhk,” Dinky responded in the most sophisticated of manners. Once he’d regained his ability to produce vocabulary. “B-b-but the f-fur covers...” he said in a desperate, seeking tone. Apple Bloom didn’t want to answer. She shouldn’t even give him the time of day. But he didn’t mean to. There was nothing wrong with him it was her.
“It really don’t,” she answered, in far too tiny a voice for her liking.
With audible difficulty, the boy collected himself to his feet, still leaning heavily on the refreshment table, muttering in a strained tone almost to himself, “Okay, 1) Apple Bloom: horse rumor is true. Horse, but little, size of a dog. 2) Therefore absent from school, explains need for secrecy. Conspiracy? 3) Fully sentient. Rethink my assumptions. May be alien. 4)...”
He stopped at four, and just kind of slowly turned towards Scootaloo, finally asking in a bewildered tone, “Why is she under the refreshment table, completely naked?!”
“Uhh...” Scootaloo droned in the reluctance of someone who knows the answer but doesn’t want to be seen giving it. “Our other friend is psychic,” she finally admitted, “And she had a vision, that a demon is going to attack the dance tonight, so Apple Bloom wanted to come along because it might be related to her being a pony and all and uh, it was too hard to smuggle her clothes in. It’s not like anyone was gonna see her!”
Apple Bloom was really lucky to have a friend like Scootaloo, because she did not want to have to explain something like that to a boy, pretty much ever. It kind of hit her that Dinky was even Scootaloo’s date. Had Apple Bloom really gone and flashed her rear end at her best friend’s new boyfriend? Well, more like flashed her side, because it’s not like her rear was directly pointed that way, but still.
Not like he could ever be attracted to some inhuman creature like her. He didn’t even think it was embarassing to stare at her naked. Of course she couldn’t ever threaten Scootaloo’s romantic prospects. Apple Bloom was limited to... really weird sickos, and ... she wasn’t even going to contemplate the possibility of normal horses. There had to be some of her kind out there somewhere. But could she ever be attracted to them? She tried to imagine a little pony like her, except maybe a bit squarer jaw and with a swank hairdo and a big fat Apple Bloom ceased imagining immediately and totally.
“I need to sit down,” Dinky said wearily.
“W-well c’mon then,” Scootaloo said nervously, adding, “You won’t tell anyone though? She’s just hiding there until the big thing happens, and then we’ll all go straight home.”
“Shouldn’t you tell someone about this... vision?” Dinky said warily. “I mean, demon attack? That’s pretty er, important.”
“Apple Bloom’s sister knows,” Scootaloo assured him. “She and her... friends, plus someone are going to stop her, according to the vision. A-and it might just be a mistake and nothing’s going to happen. I think they told the principal, maybe. Apple Bloom’s sister doesn’t really uh... think that it’s real. It’s just sort of... not the thing you want to miss, right?”
Dinky grumbled uncertainly, and Apple Bloom hoped Scootaloo could find it in herself to do the unthinkable. The puppy eyes. Apple Bloom shuddered at the sheer power behind those eyes. Sweetie Belle was the picture of adorable, so you expect it from her, but Scootaloo you’re looking at rough and tumble one minute, and the next suddenly you’re face to face with
“Okay, okay I won’t say anything!” Dinky said desperately. Apple Bloom scrunched her muzzle grimly. Yep, the puppy eyes.
“C’mon, let’s go dance some more!” Scootaloo said cheerfully, picking him up from the table. Hopefully not picking him up over her shoulder.
“C-can we not?” Dinky said quickly. “I really need to sit down. This dancing is just too... I mean, we can if you want but I mean...”
“Yeah, okay,” Scootaloo said with diminished enthusiasm. “Let’s just go find a bench to sit on. We can talk about... stuff, not just that I mean, but... yeah.”
Apple Bloom was almost disappointed when they walked away without even saying bye, or otherwise acknowledging her presence, but it occurred to her that she was very incognito right now, so the less acknowledging the better. She just had to hold out until the demon attacked, then she could... well, hopefully the dream princess would be there, imprisoned in a pod or something. Then they could all go home, and everything would be fine.
Oh for the love of—she forgot about the vegetable platter!
Some time later, a considerably more miserable Apple Bloom was trying to ignore her hunger pangs and just doze off or something despite the loud thumping music. Not many people came to this table, since humans didn’t have weird flat pony teeth, that needed lots of delicious vegetables that were just inches away and she couldn’t get it without everyone in the gymnasium seeing her. People came and went, and Apple Bloom certainly couldn’t ask for help from any of them. She waited for Scootaloo to come around again, for Scootaloo to remember about the starving little pony wasting away under the refreshment table. But Bloom couldn’t kid herself; Scootaloo had the attention span of a gerbil sometimes. Actually didn’t gerbils like run around on their wheel all day? That’s lots of attention! Just wheel, wheel, wheel.
Apple Bloom was so damn bored.
Her other guardian angel approached the table then, walking up furtively, then resting her slim butt against it lightly. “Uggh,” came the precious voice of Sweetie Belle, making Apple Bloom’s ears perk right up at the sound of the white pink girl. Before she could get her attention though, Sweetie started talking to herself.
“What a lovely night this is, Sweetie,” she said derisively to no one in particular, “Not so lovely as you. You’re so beautiful Sweetie, no other comes close to your beauty. What style and grace you have, Sweetie. I’m so happy to be graced with your presence!”
Apple Bloom felt like she probably shouldn’t be hearing this. Sweetie Belle never had spite like this in her tone. What was she complaining about even? But before Sweetie could storm off to wherever she came from, Apple Bloom reached out from under the table and poked the heel of one of Sweetie’s soft purple shoes. Sweetie Belle jittered to a halt, but didn’t say anything. Apple Bloom really hoped she could somehow communicate with her friend, because she needed something to snack on!
Sweetie walked back and forth a pace quickly out there, then ducked down as fast as she could, scooting her butt right under the table and pulling the tablecloth around behind the generous hair on her head. Now this really gave Apple Bloom a good idea of just how small she had become. Sweetie Belle was hunched forward all hugging her knees to fit under here, and still butting her head up against the top of the table, but as far as Apple Bloom was concerned it was a rather roomy cave.
Apple Bloom’s inferiority complex aside, her friend gangled herself right under the table, and looked at Apple Bloom with wide eyes, before whispering, “I’m so sorry! I forgot you were under here. Oh Apple Bloom, it’s so good to see you!”
“Yeah, you seem to be having...” Apple Bloom trailed off, lifting a hoof from where it was curled underneath her to wave it around vaguely, “Not a good time,” she finally settled on saying.
Sweetie frowned, and looked away guiltily. “I am having a great time!” she lied. “Octave has been nothing but good to me the entire night!”
“What’s wrong with being beautiful?” Apple Bloom asked hesitantly. “B’cause you are, y’know.”
“Yeah,” Sweetie said resentfully. “Even you see it.”
Apple Bloom stood and walked over to Sweetie, another thing she could do that the cramped girl could not. “Something’s bothering ya Sweetie,” she said concernedly, laying a hoof on the girl’s knee. “You can talk to me about it, if’n you want?”
“Everybody says I’m beautiful,” Sweetie exclaimed quickly enough to make Apple Bloom rear back just a tad. “And I am,” Sweetie said. “And there’s nothing wrong with being beautiful, and everybody loves how beautiful I am, and Octave just won’t stop telling me about it, and trying to make me feel even more beautiful.”
“He’s perfect!” she said agitatedly to the little pony. “He’s everything any girl would want. He’s polite, and nice, and confident, and really smart, and he really cares about me, and he wants me to know that I’m beautiful!”
Apple Bloom stood there, blinking. “...ah still don’t see the problem, Sweetie,” she said feeling a bit dull for not picking up on it. Actually she felt guilty for not picking up on this before. Seemed like something that didn’t start just today. Apple Bloom wished she could’ve been with her friend to support her more, this school year.
“I’m not used to being beautiful,” Sweetie said quietly. “It’s so strange the way... I mean, people like to look at me, and that’s good, and I like being beautiful for them, helping them, but it just doesn’t feel so... good. For me.”
“I used to be cute, you know?” Sweetie asked. Apple Bloom was still trying to process Sweetie’s train of thought and certainly didn’t know what to say. Thankfully the question was rhetorical. “I used to be just cute,” she repeated, “And not... beautiful. And that was fine! I just wish I could... I just...”
“Growing up is a good thing,” Sweetie asserted rotely, like she was trying to convince herself. “It means I can do more. I’m bigger and stronger, and I can do things on my own. I can learn more, and I’m not so helpless. I can help people now, and that’s a good thing!”
“But I don’t—” a sniffle cut off Sweetie Belle’s voice, as she wiped at her beautiful nose, croaking out beautifully, “I don’t want to be beautiful...”
Apple Bloom was starting to consider that maybe she wasn’t the best judge of who liked to be called beautiful. She wasn’t even a boy though, so she was supposed to understand young, teenage girls! But even as a young, teenage girl, she ain’t never felt like this. Nobody had ever called her beautiful, so uh... aw shucks, was she ugly or something?
Sweetie Belle was practically on the edge of tears under here, for no good reason. Apple Bloom hated it to death, and she hated Octave for doing this to Sweetie. But she also didn’t hate him, because here was Sweetie telling Apple Bloom something she probably never told anyone. Like tearing off a band-aid or something. So Apple Bloom just got up real close to Sweetie, and leaned her head against the girl, rubbing her little pony cheek against Sweetie Belle’s side.
Sweetie in turn wrapped her arms around an unresisting Apple Bloom and pulled her to her chest, hugging the pony tightly, and just... crying quietly. Apple Bloom knew that kind of crying, and she knew Sweetie just had to... she knew that there wasn’t anything you could say that would help. So Apple Bloom just did her best to be that teddy bear Sweetie Belle needed, and waited for Sweetie to get done with her ...thing.
Come to think on it, didn’t Diamond Tiara have this very same sort of crying? She was always butting heads with Scootaloo, but now Apple Bloom had to wonder if maybe, somewhere deep inside, Diamond Tiara wasn’t more like Sweetie Belle, on some level.
...
Nah.
After Sweetie Belle had calmed down, and placed Apple Bloom neatly on the floor in their impromptu hiding spot, saints be praised nobody had noticed them hiding under there. Or if they did notice, they were polite enough not to disturb a crying girl they heard hiding under the table. Sweetie rubbed at her face again, and pulled out a delicate handkerchief to blow her nose on. Even her nose blowing was dainty. Apple Bloom was kind of starting to see what Sweetie was on about. The question is, did Sweetie, herself?
“Ah’m gonna have to repeat mahself,” Apple Bloom said carefully, making sure she had Sweetie Belle’s full attention, “Because it sounds like you ain’t even answered the question for yourself. I’m not saying beautiful is good; ah’m asking you for an answer. What is wrong with being beautiful?”
“N-noth—” Sweetie still said habitually, but Apple Bloom urged her,
“No, really. Think about it.”
Sweetie paused, and looked between her bent legs. Without looking up she said, “It’s scary, for one thing.”
If Apple Bloom said “how so?” she’d sound like she was denying Sweetie, so she just looked at her quietly, tilting her little fuzzy pony head and holding her ears attentively, and thankfully Sweetie continued on her own at the silence.
“It’s scary because people look at me differently, like I’m a different person when I’m not. I’m afraid I can’t... be who they want me to be. It’s scary because boys... boys want to do things with me now, and I don’t know if they really like me, or if they just like how I... look. I–I’m gonna have to get pregnant some day, and have a child, and be a mother and I’m just not ready to be that!”
“And because I’m ‘beautiful’” Sweetie drawled with air quotes, “That means people are gonna try to make that happen to me sooner, and faster. As soon as they can make me want it. I can’t do anything I want, just ...be beautiful for them. And the more beautiful I am, the less bad they’ll feel about making me stop doing anything I want to do. You feel bad for a girl who’s normal, but you feel good if a beautiful girl has to spend her whole life just raising their children and being their special someone, and I just...”
“I mean I like children,” Sweetie Belle admitted. “Who could not like children? But I just wish sometimes... that I had like a... like a scar.”
“A... scar?” Apple Bloom said very hesitantly.
“Y-yeah just like a big scary scar, all across my face.” What was scary was how enthusiastic Sweetie was about this. What was even scarier was how much sense she subsequently made:
“How on earth is having a horrible scar on your face something you’d ever want?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed in horror.
“Well, I wouldn’t be beautiful,” Sweetie said pensively, and Apple Bloom had to admit, but still!
“And people would wonder how I got it,” Sweetie continued, “Like maybe I was fighting a pirate with a big wicked knife, or maybe I was in a battle with a whole army, or maybe I got it being interrogated because I wouldn’t talk. Maybe I tripped a trap in some ancient temple. They’d look at me and they’d think wow, there’s someone who used to be beautiful. I wonder what happened to them? I wonder what they did?”
She paused and added, “And they wouldn’t care what I am anymore, only what I did.”
“But uh,” Apple Bloom said worriedly, “You’re not just gonna go an’ just all go and cut yourself are ya? Because that ain’t exactly fighting pirates, it’s just kinda like lying.”
“Pff, no,” Sweetie said rolling her eyes. “I would feel so stupid, and Rarity would just die when she found out! It’d be like if you went skiing, and broke your leg after just to make people think you were um... dangerous.”
“Well, good,” Apple Bloom frumped, “Ah would just die if you did that to yourself too. Ah don’t care much if you’re all beautiful or nothing, but ah do want you to care for yourself.”
“Really I just want to go on adventures,” Sweetie sighed distantly, with a dreamy glimmer in her eye. “My life is just a big blah of doing boring things like school and dances, boys and dresses. I never get to do anything dangerous, like exploring or finding new places or you know, just jumping into it and making big things happen. I want to go to the mountains and just... jump into whatever’s over there. And if I get a scar, then too bad, because I’m not just some girl at a dance, I’m Sweetie Belle the um... Daring!”
Apple Bloom tried not to snort at that, she really did. Sweetie pouted immediately, and Apple Bloom said, “No, no I totally feel you there. Ah don’t know about all that danger, but finding places no one has seen? Going an’ uncovering mysteries an’ learning stuff for real, instead of just from in a book? Wouldn’t that be the life.”
“Yeah, well, um...” Sweetie fiddled with her fingers. “I know I can’t even um... I get hurt easily, and can’t really do any of that stuff. But it’s a fun fantasy... like I could be something special, like you.”
“Like me?” Apple Bloom asked in puzzlement.
“Yeah the whole um, pony thing,” Sweetie said, “You’re just... you can do things you couldn’t do before. Climb places, and get under things, and run just forever. I bet you could do adventures! And um, yes I know it’s different, but if I could be...” she trailed off, then giggled.
At Apple Bloom’s puzzled look, Sweetie clarified amusedly, “I sure wouldn’t be a ‘beautiful flower’ if I was a cute little pony like you.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, but then stopped rolling them on account of a realization on her part.
“Sweetie Belle, ah want you to promise me something,” Apple Bloom said looking her in the eyes seriously. Sweetie frowned at her concern, but Apple Bloom pressed on. “Promise me that if’n you ever get t’ choose b’tween a big ugly scar and being a cute little pony, you’ll go with the pony.”
Sweetie’s bright laugh was interrupted when her arm bumped into the leg of someone standing at the refreshment table.
“Is someone under there?” an unfamiliar boy’s voice came down
Apple Bloom’s spine went stiff, goosebumps prickling all along her back. Sweetie Belle called out more boldly than usual, “Oh, sorry. I was just um, resting one second. It’s so hard to find a moment’s peace in these dances!” She crawled out, putting herself in between the table and the boy’s feet Apple Bloom could see.
“Just, getting some refreshments, don’t mind me,” Sweetie said shakily, with a plink of food on her—dang it she was gonna leave now, and Apple Bloom still hadn’t gotten anything to eat!
“Um... okay...” the boy said uneasily, backing away from a Sweetie Belle who was probably smiling entirely too widely for his liking. Apple Bloom stuck out a hoof and poked Sweetie’s boot again, trying to get Sweetie to check on her just one more time. Sweetie didn’t bend down though, not until a while after the boy had walked off, resigned to his inability to reach around the crazy girl to get at the snack tray.
Sweetie bent over slightly then and whispered, “What? I don’t want to attract attention!”
“Celery!” Apple Bloom whispered up to her.
Apple Bloom blinked, and then said a little less enigmatically, “Gimme some celery! Ah’m hungry down here!”
There was a pause and Sweetie whispered, “It has peanut butter is that oka–”
“Ah will love you forever if you give me that celery right now,” Apple whispered out to her enthusiastically. There was more plinking sounds as Sweetie took some... things. “An’ a piece of cheese!” Apple Bloom whispered out, “Just a lil’ one!”
Sweetie looked around to see if anyone was still watching their table, then bent over and slid a plate of peanut butter celery, cheese, and carrots right up to Apple Bloom’s hungry hooves. And Sweetie also demonstrated psychic powers, or at least half a brain cell more than Apple Bloom had, because when Apple Bloom’s mouth was too full of peanut butter to ask for help, Sweetie was already in the process of sneakily lowering the punch bowl for this table all the way to the ground, standing straight, and pushing it underneath the table with the back of her foot.
“Than’ you so mush Sweethie,” Apple Bloom managed to say, after abusing that punch bowl in a way that polite little girls who had drinking cups and opposable thumbs would never do.
All Sweetie said was in a tight whisper, “I’ll watch for a while make sure nobody saw anything.” Then Apple Bloom froze at the sound of Sweetie jolting up straight. Sweetie didn’t sound alarmed though, when she just said in hot disappointment, in her normal tone of voice, “Oh, shoot. He saw me already!”
Apple Bloom got her clarification, when that smooth voiced Octave strode up saying, “Sweetie Belle, there you are! Come, the night is young. Don’t waste away your precious beauty there by the wall like a flower. To the dance floor, where your beauty can shine!”
Apple Bloom wasn’t as hungry anymore, for two reasons now. If Apple Bloom had any doubts about her understanding of Sweetie Belle’s unique predicament, as Octave dragged Sweetie back into the fray, Apple Bloom now pretty much understood exactly what was going on. Octave was laying it on thicker than butter, and if Sweetie weren’t nearly as much of a pearl as she was then he’d... probably still lay it on thick as butter but not mean it nearly as sincerely. Hm.
Honestly Bloom didn’t know how much of Octave was pomp, and how much was circumstance. Maybe he really did mean it, even if he loved being all flowery and poetic about it. But it definitely wasn’t very considerate towards Sweetie Belle. So Apple Bloom got a twisted sense of satisfaction later, when she learned that later that evening, Sweetie had finally just latched onto Diamond Tiara, killing two birds with one stone, and the two of them pretended to be kissy faced the whole evening, just so he’d know he went and pushed his girl all the way to the other side.
Yeah, Octave had a lot to think about after the Fall Formal. A lot to think about even after that, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, Apple Bloom was finally reaching some measure of content. The peanut butter celery ratio was too much, but the carrots offset that, and she could swear the cheese seemed to help with it too somehow. She had enough to eat, and a sugary drink to quench her thirst, yet another oddity of her pony metabolism. Apple Bloom could subsist on coarse hay and oats, could only manage to eat a teeny bit of fat and protein, except peanut butter for some reason, but suffered absolutely no ill effects no matter how much sugar she managed to consume.
So she was fat and happy, and the dance was winding down. Things were looking pretty good. Apple Bloom even dozed off down there, curled around the half empty tray of food. She’d sort of forgotten to look out for the demons at all at that point, and probably should have stayed a lot more alert. Yes, she definitely should have stayed a lot more alert.
Fortunately Apple Bloom was easily awoken by the concussive blast that punched a hole in the gymnasium wall, kicking her table up into the air like a dollhouse to smash upside down on the floor further down the wall with a cacophany of shattering glass and ceramic. Apple Bloom was momentarily just a little pony sitting all by herself, totally exposed there at the corner of the gymnasium, going frantic from lack of cover or concealment. However, she quickly perceived that she didn’t have to worry, because everyone was too busy running around screaming to even see her.
That blue girl with the white hair, was she riding around on some sort of cannon? BOOM Holy shit, she was!!