//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Sitting Still is a Big Deal // Story: The Mortal Sin // by Humanarian //------------------------------// The next day wasn't very... eventful. Obviously, with her wound still needing some healing, Apple Bloom was allowed to stay home instead of going to school. Also, all of her chore responsibilities had been lifted for the time being, so, she practically had nothing to do, except for the homework that was going to be delievered to her that afternoon, and which I had promised to help her with. If she even needs my help... She is a rather smart child. For the time being, however, her and I were left alone. Granny Smith was cooking something at the kitchen, Big Macintosh was working on the field and Applejack had left for Princess Twilight to see if she could help me find my real family. Not in this world, I'm afraid... "Ah'm boooored!" - Apple Bloom had announced, - "Ah need to do something, or, Celestia help me, Ah might go insane!" "You know what Applejack said, Apple Bloom," - I tried to offer, obviously to no avail, - "You shouldn't exhaust your wounded leg." "Ugghh!" - the filly had exclaimed, - "Don't tell me yo're with her!" Her frustration was understandable. Being disguised as a child myself, I happened to see many other children running around and often doing things just for the sake of doing something. I had come to realise that it's the problem of that age. "You know, Apple Bloom," - I had began, hoping that my idea was going to be welcomed, - "You won't exhaust your leg if I just carry you on my back." The minute had passed. Okay... Perhaps, I was a little bit too straightforward with that idea. Apple Bloom just kept staring at me, still as aghast. The only thing that had changed was the colour of her face. Again. "...or we can stay here in your room all day, if you want," - I added, in order to remove the tension. That seemed to have a desirable effect. "Ah... What? No!... Ah mean..." - Apple Bloom had tried starting her phrase over and over, but each time to no avail. At least, not until she had finally taken a deep breath and exhaled slowly, calming herself down, - "Ah... guess Ah have to agree," - she said, avoiding my gaze. "It's settled then," - I replied and, after getting a weak nod from her, stood up and walked closer her. "Are we there yet?" - the bored filly seemed to have found nothing better to do than trying to annoy me. It is... the fifteenth time she repeats that question, is it not? I had decided to keep quiet, hoping that she would get tired of that eventually. We, and by that I mean myself only, were walking to the repaired clubhouse. Yes, it had been rebuilt, but Apple Bloom had a lot of work still waiting for her inside: restoring all of the precious mementos of her little group. "Dark Side..." - I had nearly stopped at that. It could only mean that the filly had decided to change the topic to something more serious, - "...Ah'm sorry for being annoying." She sounds... rather sincere. "It is fine, Apple Bloom. I understand that you're bored out of your mind at this point, but at least we've found the way to move our activities outside without breaking Applejack's rules today, don't you agree?" "Ah s'pose..." - her reply had been muffled by my coat. I chuckled at that. "We're almost there. Soon you'll be able to tell me all about the adventures the Cutiemark Crusaders have been through!" That seemed to brighten up the filly's mood, even if just a little. It still counts. When we had finally made it to the clubhouse, the filly's mood had changed for the better noticably. As if having forgotten about the pain, Apple Bloom was, as they say, all over the place. She had opened the box with the CMC possessions that were carefully collected and put there by Applejack, and started to refill the empty clubhouse with them again. Even though she did it rather fast, a certain amount of care and cherishing could be noticed every time she touched each of those mementos. "I can tell how much those possessions mean to you, Apple Bloom," - I started, after watching her work in silence for some time, - "It really shows!" My comment had caused the filly to blush, even if ever so slightly. "Thanks, Dark Side. Ah really treasure them all... Each of those have a story behind it," - she said, looking at the memento she was holding, which was horseshoe. It seemed to bring a warm smile to her face, - "This here one, of example..." After making an amazing performance as a Rodeo Clown and accidentally revealing his identity, Trouble Shoes had nopony to defend him from the angry ponyfolk and their accusations. Nopony, except for the three little fillies, who were brave enough to stand between him and the crowd, to explain them that he never meant to cause any harm, to reveal his special talent and find the true meaning behind his cutiemark. "Turns out I was just looking at my cutiemark all wrong," - the absurdly large pony had concluded. His cutiemark was an upside-down horseshoe... "That was really amazing, Apple Bloom!" - I exclaimed, trying to sound like an impressed child, - "You three had really helped that poor stallion." "Yeah, that we did," - she said with a warm smile, giving a horseshoe one gentle stroke before taking a ladder and hanging the memento right above the door. "Be careful there, Apple Bloom, your wound still hasn't healed completely. You might..." - just as I was saying that, the filly started to lose her balance, eventually falling back along with the ladder. I was quick enough to catch her in my... forelegs, I suppose? - "...fall." She looked me in the eyes, and once again her face color started to change from yellow to the bright red. I had gently put her down. "Please, be careful next time." "Wow..." - the gentle voice coming from the doorway had interrupted our moment. I turned my attention to it's source and found two fillies standing there, completely aghast. One of them was a unicorn, and the other one - a pegasus. So... here's my first meeting with the ponies of two other tribes. Those two had fit perfectly to the description of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo that Apple Bloom had given me before. "To catch a falling filly like that... it's so romantic!" "Pffff.... Here you go again, Sweetie Belle! Can't you see how awesome it was? That colt must be super strong and agile!" "Greetings to you, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo," - I had decided to be polite and greet them properly. Worked perfectly fine so far. - "I am Dark Side. Apple Bloom has told me much about you and this Cutiemark Crusaders club. You three had such wonderful adventures, and must be really brave fillies. It's a pleasure to finally meet you two." After a moment of silence, Sweetie Belle was the first of them to speak. "Such a gentlecolt." A gentle... colt? I suppose, "man" isn't a word here. "I see, Apple Bloom has already introduced us to you in our stead," - she continued, to which I nodded, - "I can't say I've seen you around here before." "Again with the high-society stuff! Haven't you noticed that his name is Dark Side? That makes him, like... 20 percent cooler! But... yeah, I haven't seen you around eaither. Where are you from?" I prepared to give them an adequate reply regarding my current situation, but Apple Bloom had spoken before I had a chance to open my mouth. "Not so fast, girls. Dark Side probably ain't his real name. Applejack found 'im on our farm two days ago and he doesn't remember much beside waking up in the Everfree Forest. And... wait a minute, aren't you two supposed to be at school?" "Oh, we've snuck out during the lunch break, no biggie..." - Scootaloo dismissed the filly's concern, - "But wow... you really don't remember your previous life?" Sweetie Belle's face had shown sadness. I had decided to lighten up the mood a little bit. "There's no need to worry. Applejack is currently talking to Princess Twilight about me. They will help me!" That seemed to take a desirable effect. "Now, that I take a closer look... Has something happened to our clubhouse, Apple Bloom? It seems... a bit different," - Sweetie Belle looked around, studying the place she was supposed to be so familiar with. It's settled then... Story time. Two fillies were sitting still, completely aghast for the second time that day. They obviously did not expect to hear such a story. "Oh... WOW!" - Scootaloo was the first to break the pregnant pause, - "That. Was. AWESOME!" - she had exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air, - "You're now, like... I don't know, a 120 percent cooler in my eyes!" "Thank you kindly," - I had taken a slight polite bow, - "I am glad I was there to save Apple Bloom. She's too young to die, is she not?" "Oh, ahem. Yes, that would be correct," - Sweetie Belle had collected herself enough for an adequate reply. Obviously, she was amused by my manner of speaking. However, I've manage to catch a hint of a sly smile just on the very corner of her mouth, - "And, it seems, our friend was lucky enough to be saved by a gentlecolt such as yourself..." The hidden message was clear as day, and it wasn't long before the mentioned filly's face had started to change it's colour again. Is she... teasing Apple Bloom? I don't know why, but I had an urge to return a favour as I replied. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle. Though, you do have a rather brave hero by your side as well, no?" My reply seemed to catch her and Scootaloo off-guard. For some reason, those two fillies had briefly glance at each other, before looking away all too quickly. A hint of crimson was obvious on their faces by that moment. Oh?... Am I getting on something here? Two crusaders had left the clubhouse shortly after: the lunch break was going to end soon, and they needed to return to school before that. After waving our hooves to them, me and Applebloom sat quietly near each other. It wasn't long before she started leaning on me, which wasn't an unwelcome gesture. "Say, Applebloom... Why do the ponies seem to change the colour of their faces so often?" "That's what happens when we feel emerrassed. We can't help it..." - even with such a topic brought up, the filly seemed to remain calm when we were alone. Just the two of us. "What were you embarrassed of today?" - the simple question of mine had caused the silence to fall. I tried nudging the filly a bit, shaking her out of her deep thought. "To admit that Ah really like you..." "Why would you be embarrassed of that?" "Ah don't know..." - she sounded confused at first, but was able to figure out an adequate answer, - "Ah guess that just never happened tah me before. It's confusing..." The proximity of the filly which had become so dear to me for some reason was giving me a warm feeling... The very same wamth that I felt before, every time when she was involved. It was just a couple of days, but I had somehow managed to get so close to that filly... and, it seemed, to let her in at the same time. "I, for once, have no trouble saying it: I really do like you, Apple Bloom," - I said, turning my head to look at her. She did the same thing, and for the next few minutes we were trapped in each other's eyes. She is so... beautiful. I didn't notice that before... "So... do we kiss now?" - her voice had broken the silence. "I suppose, we're a bit too young for that, Apple Bloom. As a certain stallion told me once, it's a "grown up pony kahnd of thing," - I said, trying my best to copy their accent. It came out rather poorly, which had prompted the filly to giggle. Soon, we locked each other in a tight embrace and were sitting there, enjoying each other's warmth for who knows how long... until we had been rudely interrupted. "APPLE BLOOM!!!" - the booming voice of Applejack had reached us all the way from the farm house. "Uh-oh... Ah guess we're in trouble now," - said the filly. She seemed a bit scared, which I learnt was a normal reaction of the children to their parents' yelling. I had offered her a kind smile, trying to show her that everything will be fine. "Don't worry, Apple Bloom. I'll solve that problem. It was my idea to carry you to the clubhouse, after all." "Ah-huh! Here you two are!" What? She's already... here? Just how fast those ponies can move? "Hello, Applejack," - I tried a calm and polite greeting, but the mare wasn't really up for a nice talk. "What did Ah tell you before Ah left?!" "Uhm, you see, sis..." "WHAT DID AH TELL YOU?!" That was going a bit too far. I still couldn't explain the reason why I was getting more and more protective of the little filly, but whatever it was, the fact of it being true was still there to count. So, I moved in, answering Applejack's question in Apple Bloom's stead. "You said that Apple Bloom was not to exhaust her wounded leg," - my answer seemed to be what the farm pony wanted to hear, so she pressed on. "So?" But I was ready for that question. "So I have carried her all the way to the clubhouse on my back." Applejack's mouth remained slightly open, but no more sound had come from it. "It's true," - Apple Bloom had confirmed my words. "B...But... But how?" - Applejack didn't seem to believe it was possible for a regular foal to carry the filly on his back then... But I'm not a regular foal. I had picked the filly up once again and slowly, but effortlessly, walked down the clubhouse stairs. "That's how," - I smiled, stepping close to Applejack. Her anger forgotten, she couldn't help but smile back as she reached to ruffle my mane with her hoof. "Yo're mighty full of surprises, little fellah." "Thank you, Applejack. I try my best." - I replied. It was nice to see that she was a reasonable per... pony, after all. Applejack tried to convince me to let her carry Apple Bloom in my stead, but I insisted. And the filly seemed to cling tighter to me at the opportunity of being taken away. That was a rather... endearing display. As we were walking to the farmhouse side by side, I had decided to take an opportunity to ask Applejack about her meeting with Princess Twilight. "Ah, don't ya'll worry none, little fellah. The Princess was shocked to hear your story. She's defenitely going to do all she can to help ya find your parents. In fact, she's coming for a visit this evening!" What?! I felt being completely forzen mid-step. It took a few moments to settle in. Princess Twillight was an alicorn. The member of a all-powerful god-like tribe of a pony race. Which meant that the all-powerful. God-like. Monarch. Was coming to me this. Very. Evening. The cold ran down my spine, despite how warm Apple Bloom was. I don't like it... I don't like it at all.