- Sunday, 12 PM -
- (Now) -
Apple Bloom stared down at the remains of her lunch. Oats and apple slices had never looked so unappetizing. The otherworldly taste of her failed cider still lingered on her tongue. At least the smell wasn’t so bad anymore. After a few hours, the abominable stench lurking in her nose finally died down to something approaching pleasant. If only the cider had smelled like that from the start. If only it’d tasted as good as Zap Apple Jam.
The window by the table gave her a scenic view of Ponyville, the orchard, and, at the far left, the old barn peeking above the tree line. If only she didn’t have to walk all the way out there tonight to dump the cider. There wasn’t any getting around that, though. If word of her turning something as special as a Zap apple into something as disgusting as that cider ever got out, she’d never be in charge of jam-making again. She’d be lucky if she ever got to help make a humble apple pie, if Granny Smith and Applejack knew what a lousy cook she’d turned out to be.
“What’s got you down, youngin’?”
Apple Bloom jumped. She hadn’t heard Granny Smith enter the room, let alone notice sweet silence overtake Granny Smith’s snoring. “I thought you were takin’ a nap.”
Granny Smith blinked a few times and yawned. “Was, ‘til all your worryin’ went a woke me up.”
“ ‘m sorry, Granny Smith.”
“Pshaw, I’m just rufflin’ your mane, Apple Bloom. What’s got you starin’ at your lunch like it’s full ‘a worms?”
Apple Bloom spread the oats around on her plate. “I’m just… disappointed. I worked really hard on somethin’ and… How long did it take you to invent Zap Apple Jam?”
The neighboring chair squeaked against the floor as Granny Smith pulled it out. She sat down, stared out the window, and tapped her chin. “Why, that must’ve been… twelve harvests, all told?”
Apple Bloom gasped. “Twelve harvests? But I thought you said your jam is what got Ponyville started!”
“That she did, but that first batch wasn’t anything too special aside from the color, not like the jam we cook up now. Learning all the Zap apple secrets I’ve been passin’ down to you took a good long while.”
Apple Bloom gulped. “Did ya ever… make mistakes? M-more than getting the taste a little wrong I mean.”
Granny Smith gave a quick and uneasy laugh. “Almost burned down the kitchen a few times, if that’s what ya mean.”
“Really?” Apple Bloom couldn’t help smiling. “It was really that tough?”
“Magic always is.”
Apple Bloom took another look at the barn in the distance. “Then maybe I’ve been beatin’ myself up over nothing. Applejack and I found an old barrel of Zap Apples yesterday, and I—”
The afternoon sunlight faded. Apple Bloom looked out the window just as raindrops started pelting it. Dark clouds were settling over the whole orchard. “I didn’t think it was gonna rain ‘till tomorrow.”
“Rainbow Dash moved up the storm, somethin’ about making sure we’ve got all the water we need for cider season.”
Apple Bloom set her forehead on the table. “Aww, now I’m gonna have to walk out there when it’s dark and mud—”
Lightning illuminated the darkened sky, connecting the hostile cloud cover and the old barn with a brilliant flash that lasted far longer than it should have. The orchard vanished in rainbow-hued light seconds before an ear-splitting boom rattled the pots on the shelves, shook open the oven door, and blew out the window next to them.
Apple Bloom had instinctively covered her eyes when the light got so bright, and now found herself shaking glass out of her mane. “What in the—”
Applejack burst through the door. “What in Equestria was… Look at that!”
The situation outside just kept getting worse. A shimmering, rainbow-hued glow was expanding away from the old barn and towards Ponyville like a slow-motion shockwave, punctuated by the quiet but unmistakable sound of windows breaking all over town.
---
- Sunday, 12:30 PM -
- (0.5 Hours After) -
Apple Bloom was still seated at the kitchen table. She hadn’t been able to move, partly for fear of cutting her hooves on the glass covering the floor, and partly in the vain hope that she was on the cusp of waking up on the barn floor again. All she’d done for a half hour was tell and retell the story of why the pouring rain was soaking the drapes.
Applejack was still out there somewhere, likely near the column of multi-colored smoke rising out of the orchard. When she’d declared she was going to go check for damaged trees, Apple Bloom assumed she’d be back in ten minutes. Then ten turned to twenty, and twenty turned to thirty. Had her cider experiment knocked down half the orchard? Forget never being allowed to help cook again, she’d never be allowed to do anything again.
“I was gonna dump it all tonight… Just before bed.”
Big Mac dumped a dustpan brimming with glass into a nearby trash can. The sound was so reminiscent of that final moment of doom, the sound of every window in Ponyville shattering, that Apple Bloom wanted to bury her head in her hooves and cry like a baby. The lingering taste and smell of the cider apparently hadn’t been torment enough.
Granny Smith, who also hadn’t left the table, cleared her throat. “Apple Bloom…”
Apple Bloom shivered. This was it, her last moment before being grounded for the rest of her life. “Y-yes?”
Granny Smith’s voice was softer than Apple Bloom expected. “We don’t use Zap apples for cider. Makes ’em a bit… angry.”
Apple Bloom buried her head in her forelegs. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
“Rightly so, but you’d better get used to tellin’ that story. There’s a town full ‘a ponies that deserve to know why they ain’t got windows anymore.”
“Do you mean—”
“Make sure you grab a coat and some boots. The rest of us ‘ll clean up the ol’ homestead while you’re out.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Okay… I’ll see y’all later… I hope.”
Being grounded for all eternity didn’t sound so bad, not compared to the prospect of telling every pony in town about the worst mistake she’d ever made. She slid off her chair and carefully made her way toward the door. As bad as her morning had been, the afternoon promised to be far worse.