//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: The School Project 
// by Alicorn-Twilight 
//------------------------------//

"Sweet Celestia, what happened to yer leg!?" Applejack shouted. Her fur glistened with sweat. She had been working on the farm when she noticed Apple Bloom from a distance limping.

Apple Bloom had walked all the way home to Sweet Apple Acres. Surprisingly Diamond Tiara had actually helped her. "Ah got bitten by a Timberwolf."

Applejack nearly fainted when she heard that. Her little sister had again nearly been killed by another creature? Memories of the time Apple Bloom tried to make a pie delivery ran through her mind. She had nearly lost her sister that day, though she was also partly to blame for being far too overprotective, leading Apple Bloom to attempt the delivery to prove she was capable.

"Apple Bloom, ah thought you learned from what happened with the chimera!"

Apple Bloom hung her head in shame. Applejack sighed, taking a look at the filly next to her. Diamond Tiara. Why is she with Apple Bloom? Those two have never been able to get along.

"W-what?" Diamond said. "Why are you staring at me like that?" She was starting to feel very uncomfortable. It was her idea that had gotten Apple Bloom hurt, but she figured that since she helped break the Timberwolf that she shouldn't have to face any consequences.

Applejack thought about questioning her, but decided against it. Her sister's leg needed attending to first. "It's not important right now. Come on Apple Bloom, let's get that leg looked at."

The three ponies entered the Apple household, Applejack carrying Apple Bloom on her back. Granny Smith was sitting there on her rocker taking a nap and Big Macintosh was doing some ploughing.

"Wait right here a minute. I'll go get the medical kit." Applejack told her.

With Applejack gone, the two fillies found themselves in an uncomfortable silence. Although this would be the perfect opportunity for Diamond Tiara to attack Apple Bloom with a flurry of insults, she held back since Apple Bloom had saved her from getting bitten.

"So..." Apple Bloom wasn't quite sure what to say.

Diamond Tiara looked at her leg with concern and then to her face. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Huh?"

"It was my idea, so why didn't you blame me?"

Apple Bloom gave a small smile. "Now what good would that have done? Ah agreed to it, so it's just as much my fault as it is yours."

"T-That's right!" Diamond grinned. "You should have stopped me, but you didn't."

Apple Bloom's frowned, regretting trying to relieve Diamond's guilt. Before she could respond, Applejack returned.

"This is gonna sting a little." Applejack warned. Apple Bloom nodded as she awaited the painful torture to come. Applejack sprayed her front left leg with a disinfectant. Apple Bloom closed her eyes as she held back a shout.

Diamond Tiara giggled at the sight. Apple Bloom looked ridiculous banging her front right hoof repeatedly on the floor. When Apple Bloom heard the giggle she glared at Diamond.

"There, that should do it." Applejack said. "Yer gonna need to take it easy for a while." She turned towards Diamond Tiara. "Now ah wanna know what your involvement in this was."

Diamond sighed. It looked like she would have to admit what happened. "We were paired up to do a school assignment by Miss Cheerilee. The assignment is about studying creatures that eat ponies and we decided to do Timberwolves. I wanted to get this over with so I suggested we look at them directly."

"And you agreed to that!?" Applejack asked her sister. She received a reluctant nod as confirmation. "Ah wouldn't even do something like that unless I had to."

"We thought we were far enough away." Apple Bloom spoke up. "We were about a hundred hooves away using binoculars when one just suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

Applejack tried to calm herself after seeing how defensive her sister was getting. After going through what she did, the last thing she needed was to be yelled at. "Timberwolves are sneaky creatures with very good hearing. Sometimes it's hard to notice them approaching."

Apple Bloom looked down. "I'm sorry."

Applejack wrapped a leg around her, comforting her. "It's okay sugarcube."

Diamond Tiara stared at them curiously. There was something unusual about their relationship that she couldn't quite put her hoof on.

"Well Diamond and I need to get started on the assignment now." Apple Bloom told Applejack, getting out of the embrace. Applejack raised an eyebrow at her. "We'll use books this time."

Applejack smiled. "Good. If you need me, you know where to find me." Applejack walked out the door into the orchard for some apple bucking.

"Ah hope you don't mind working here." Apple Bloom said hesitantly. "It'd hurt a lot to walk all the way to yer house right now."

Diamond Tiara sighed. "Whatever. Let's at least get some work done. I don't want coming over here to be a complete waste."

Apple Bloom led her to her room. Diamond Tiara looked around, taking it all in. She was surprised that she wasn't disgusted with the room. It was simple yes, but it had a nice feeling to it.

As nice as it was, to Diamond Tiara, it paled in comparison to her own room. Her room was much, much larger. It had a huge and expensive pink king-sized bed, a wardrobe made from the finest wood in Equestria and a closet that could be a room itself.

"Not bad." Diamond stated. "A little small, but I thought for sure your room would be covered in mud, the floor would be falling apart, the walls would have fungus growing on them, the ceiling would be damaged from rain, the-"

"Okay, I get it." Apple Bloom interrupted. She wasn't quite sure if what Diamond had said was a compliment or an insult, but it sounded more like an insult to her.

For the next half an hour the two of them worked silently on the project. Apple Bloom looked at Diamond Tiara. Wow, she's actually doing work. I'm impressed.

"You and your sister are strange." Diamond said looking at her.

Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes. "What do ya mean by that?"

Diamond sighed. "I'm not insulting you blank flank." Apple Bloom gave her a look. "Well, I wasn't until then. What I mean is that she's your sister, but she also acts like she's your mother."

"Oh." Apple Bloom thought about it. "Ah guess that's sorta true. My parents died when ah was really young, so Applejack, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith have all had a hoof in raising me. Ah don't think of Applejack as my mom or Big Mac as my dad, but ah guess they've kind of been at times."

Diamond Tiara took the information in. There was one question she had, but she was hesitant due to its nature. "How did... How did your parents die?"

Apple Bloom frowned. She had seen the question coming. "You know what? Ah don't actually know. Ah used to ask a lot when I was younger, but ah stopped when everybody would refuse to answer."

"Heh, maybe your parents aren't actually dead. Maybe your mom is actually Applejack and your dad is actually Big Mac."

Apple Bloom looked horrified at the thought. "Ewwww! Diamond, you have a sick mind! Never in a million years would that even be a possibility!"

Diamond only laughed in amusement at the other filly's reaction. "You should have seen your face. Priceless."

"Ha, ha." Apple Bloom said dryly. "Now if yer done messing around, let's get back to work."

The two continued to work, now somewhat communicating their findings with each other.

-------

"Wow, we got a lot done." Apple Bloom exclaimed. She wasn't expecting to get such a good start on the assignment. "Yer actually pretty smart Diamond."

Diamond Tiara scoffed. "Of course I'm smart... Wait a minute. I just realized you've been calling me 'Diamond' all this time!"

Apple Bloom put a hoof to her face. She's still on that?

Diamond sighed. "Fine, you can call me that when we're working on the assignment, but in public it's 'Diamond Tiara', you got that?"

"Yeah, ah got it." Apple Bloom grumbled.

"Good. It's getting late, so I'm going home now. I've stayed on this dirty farm for far too long."

Apple Bloom bit her tongue to prevent herself from lashing out. The two of them walked down the stairs to the main entrance.

"Bye." Diamond said awkwardly.

"See you tomorrow." Apple Bloom waved to her as she left. "Phew, glad that's over with."

A sudden uncomfortable feeling struck her. She ascended the stairs again and went straight for Applejack's room.

"Well howdy there Apple Bloom. Diamond Tiara gone?" Applejack asked.

Apple Bloom nodded and gulped. "Ah have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"You and Big Mac aren't my parents right?

A look of complete disgust appeared on Applejack's face answering her question. "Now where... *urf* would you get an idea like that?"

She looked away shyly. She couldn't believe that she had actually taken what Diamond Tiara had said seriously. Am I insane? Of course they're not my parents. "It was Diamond's idea. It's just that you never tell me what happened to my parents."

Applejack's face softened as she looked at the little filly. "Ah didn't want to tell you because of how stupid Big Mac and I were. It was all such a horrible mistake."

Apple Bloom did not like the phrasing of that one bit. Applejack and Big Mac made a 'mistake'. "Um... just so we're clear, you AREN'T my parents right?"

"No Apple Bloom." Applejack said firmly. "Our dad died shortly before you were born in an apple bucking accident. A tree fell and hit him right on the head."

Apple Bloom's heart fell. Even though she didn't know him, it was still painful to hear.

"Our mom died when you were born." Applejack continued. "Big Mac and I were so upset that we... blamed you. We wished that you hadn't been born."

That was even more painful to hear. Apple Bloom would have never thought that at a certain point in her life that her siblings actually hated her. "How long... did ya'll hate me?"

"Big Mac got over it pretty quick. The next day he realized that it wasn't your fault at all and he was ashamed that he even had those thoughts. As for me..." Applejack sobbed. "Ah wanted you gone for the entire week." At this she began to sob uncontrollably.

"A week?"

"A whole week! I'm such a horrible sister." Applejack continued to cry.

Apple Bloom was not amused. "Sheesh, ah thought you were gonna say two years or something. A week isn't so bad."

"It's plenty bad!" Applejack shouted. She pulled her sister into an embrace and continued crying.

Apple Bloom facehoofed in annoyance. "It's going to be one 'those' nights isn't it?"

----

"How was your observation?" Filthy Rich asked the minute Diamond Tiara returned home.

"It went... well." She lied. Her dad would ground her for a year if he knew the trouble she had gotten herself and Apple Bloom in.

Filthy Rich raised an eyebrow. "Really? Didn't, I don't know, go near the Everfree Forest and almost get eaten by a Timberwolf?"

Diamond gulped. He knew what happened. "How did you find out?"

"Big Macintosh came over and told me everything." Filthy Rich stated.

Applejack must have told him what happened...

"I'm very disappointed in you. You nearly got your friend killed!"

"She's NOT my friend!" Diamond argued. Like I would ever be friends with a blank flank! Well, not again.

Thoughts of Babs Seed entered her mind. She had considered Babs a friend and was completely surprised when she and Silver Spoon were betrayed. Both of them felt hurt that she would turn on them like that.

"Not your friend!?" Filthy said, interrupting her thoughts. "She risked her life for you and you're not even appreciative? I thought I raised you better than that. You're grounded."

That word, she had heard it so few times in her life. The last time was a few years ago when she was running around the house and ended up breaking a very expensive vase... which set off a chain reaction destroying everything in their living room.

Oh how she hated that word.

"B-But what about our assignment?" Diamond pleaded.

Filthy Rich did not give in. "You may go to Sweet Apple Acres to work with Apple Bloom only. Everywhere else, except school, is forbidden for one month."

Diamond Tiara's eyes widened. She'd never been grounded that long before. How would she survive without hanging out with Silver Spoon after school?

"But-"

"I'll tell you what." Filthy Rich started. "If you can get along with Apple Bloom and I'll know because I'll ask her myself, then I'll shorten your grounding."

Get along with Apple Bloom!? That's impossible. I can barely stand to be in the same room as that blank flank. I'm doomed.