• Published 6th Sep 2014
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An Apple Far From the Tree - Autum Breeze



You would think life would be normal. Yeah, well, then you ain't me. I've become Apple Bloom, for crying out loud!

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Chapter 4 (rewrite)

.Chapter 4

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“So, when’s the flight gonna leave?” I ask, standing on my hind legs, pressing my forelegs against the window of the hummer we’re riding in towards the airport.


After the interview with Weekend Sunrise, we’d gone home and Lauren had explained to my family what was going on.

Of course, getting home and even inside had been a challenge, what with the countless reporters, MLP fans and, sadly, Anti-Bronies/People thinking I’m the spawn of Satan.

Admittedly, my family were hesitant to the idea of me leaving for America, but, seeing as the alternative was going to some secret government facility, likely to never see the light of day again, they came around pretty fast.

In terms of packing... there wasn’t really much needed. Being a pony for so long (not to mention appearing on live TV wearing nothing at all), I’d gotten used to walking around nude, so I didn’t have to pack any clothes... not that I even had clothes that fit me anymore.


The tricky part had been getting away without the camera crews following us. Thankfully, Tara and Michelle had come prepared, with a plushy of Apple Bloom, which they pretended was me, with Tara pushing through the hordes of people to get to a taxi, holding the plushy close and talking to it as she forced her way to and into the taxi.

The moment it took off, everyone else followed after, thinking they were following me.

Once the coast was clear, we hurried back to the hummer and the driver headed towards the airport.


My family sit around me, each talking about my trip. Aside from Mum. She’s calling someone, I’m guessing work, to let them know she won’t be in for a while.

“What? What do you mean I can’t take time off?”

My head turns from the view of the Ikea store I know is very close to the airport and turn to see Mum with her phone against her ear, and angry expression on her face.

“My child needs to go overseas and you’re telling me I can’t take some time off to be with her?” she demands into the phone.

We all sit there, watching, Tara (we met up with her several miles away from where we currently are, her having shaken the groups following her), Lauren and Michelle glancing at each other.

“No, but—” Mum pauses, listening the other end, her expression softening a little. “I understand, but I can’t just leave her— Okay. Yes. Yes, I understand. But, my husband can’t get time off either, so maybe you could— Right,” she gives a dejected sigh, her expression drooping. “Yeah, I— I understand. Okay.”

She hangs up and there’s silence in the car for several long moments.

“Uh... Ma?” I ask, looking at her. “Is... is sumthin’ wrong?” Well, o’ course there is, stupid.

“I... I can’t get time off,” she says, looking down at her lap, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “I... I can’t go with Sam to America.”

“Wait. What?” Dad stares at her with wide eyes. “But, we can’t just send her alone!”

“And you know neither of us can keep our jobs if we try to go with her,” she shoots back, glaring at him, despite tears forming in her eyes.

She pulls me into a hug and silently cries as she holds me. “I can’t leave you alone! I won’t!”

“Maybe I could go with her,” John suggests, leaning forward. “I mean, I do have some time off from my studies and I’ve a huge amount of leave.”

“We could consider it the vacation we were planning for a few years from now,” Jill says, before frowning in thought. “Though we’ll need our passports, which I left back at my place.”

“Same with mine,” John says, before slumping, putting a hand to his head. “This is ridiculous.”

“So... ya can’t come with me?” I ask, looking to each of them. They all lower their heads and tears stream down my face as fear floods my veins.

I can’t go to America alone! I don’t know anyone there. Where would I stay? What would I eat?

“Um... I have an idea.” We all turn to Michelle, who’s looking a little sheepish, but places a comforting hand on my shoulder. “If you like, Sam could stay with me and my family while she’s in America. I can even go with her should she need to travel interstate and stay in motels/hotels and the such.”

We all blink at her, my shivers slightly lessening, along with the fear gripping me tightly.

“Ya... ya’d be okay with a pony stayin’ at yer place?” I ask, the fear still within me causing my voice to squeak a little.

She gives me a warm smile. “I’d be honored. Plus... I kinda feel like I owe it to you. if not for the character I play, you wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.”

I open my mouth to argue that logic, when a “Hmm” from John causes me to turn and see him pondering. “Sumthin’ wrong, John?”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “It was a silly thought is all.”

“What about? Also,” Tara asks, raising an eyebrow, before indicating to me, “your older brother has turned into a little pastel pony filly. I think we can handle silly thoughts.”

He shakes his head, leaning back. “It was a dumb idea, but, seeing as Michelle voices Apple Bloom and now Sam physically is Apple Bloom, does it kinda make them sisters?”

Silence sounds throughout the hummer as we all process what he just said.

I just stared ahead, all thoughts of my fears gone in an instant as my brain went over the theory... somehow finding plausibility in it, despite the human within me saying it couldn’t possibly work... while the Brony in my reminded myself that whatever had changed me from a human to a pony was due to magic of some kind, so the human logic could take a hick.

After what felt like forever, Dad finally managed to cough, bringing us all out of our stupors. “I’d say sisters might be going a bit far,” he said slowly, as if going over his words several times in his mind before speaking them. “Perhaps... cousins?”

There was a pause, before Lauren said, “I think... that would be reasonable to conclude, Mr. Wilson, given the circumstances.”

Michelle looks to Mum, her eyes soft. “Mrs Wilson, I know we barely know each, so trusting your... child—” I wasn’t sure whether to be angry or thankful she had avoided calling me Mum’s “daughter” yet hadn’t referred to me as her son due to my current gender “— but, I promise that I would look after Sam. I wouldn’t let her come to any harm if I can help it.”

Mum remains quiet, looking unsure of herself. I can imagine the warring battle in her mind. She doesn’t want to just trust my safety to someone she barely knows, but can also tell Michelle does care about me and that it would be rude to say no. Not to mention the constant backdrop that I would have to go no matter what to avoid being taken by the government and Michelle seemed the best chance for a place to stay whilst I was overseas.

After several moments of quiet, she gave a reluctant sigh and nodded. “Alright. I guess we can agree on that.” Her eyes narrowed. “But if anything happens to her, you will have me to answer to. Understood?”

Michelle stiffened and I felt like I was looking at the cockatrice that Fluttershy used The Stare on. Michelle gave a shaky nod, clearly making a mental note not give Mum reason to regret this choice.

“Anyway,” John said in a tone clearly met to try and lighten the mood, holding up a small leather square-shaped pad. His flipped it open and gave a cocked eyebrow. “I don’t understand why the government agreed to giving Sam as passport... especially with the... current photo.”

I get up and hop down from my seat, climb onto his lap and look at the photo... and find myself torn between wanting to burst out laughing and groaning in irritation at the same time.

The passport has all the regular details one would expect, age, name, home address, date of birth and so on. however, in the photo area, it was an image of myself— my current self— looking up in with a smile.

“Ah’d ask if they just went an’ grabbed an Apple Bloom pic fr’m online, but that background looks too real and this don’ look photo shopped atall.”

“That’s gonna cause some serious confusion when you change back,” Tara says jokingly.

A dead silence follows and she looks around at us in confused concern.

“You... do think she’ll change back... right?”

Mum shakes her head as I snuggle into Johns lap a bit for comfort. “We... honestly don’t think so, Mrs Strong. We’ve had theories about how she went from the Sam we knew to how she is now, but... as for changing her back...”

“Humanity just has no idea how to work that kind of thing,” John said as he began to stroke my mane. “I mean, when was the last time someone turned into another species and humanity figured out a way to change them back?”

Tara looks away, a somber expression falling over her face. “I guess you’re right.”

“We can hope that she’ll change back somehow, someday,” Mum says, looking to me with sad eyes. “But... other than a sudden change happening in reverse to what made her transform in the first place... we’re pretty much preparing for her life to be like this.”

I snort. “An Ah’m really lookin’ forward to female pony puberty,” I say sarcastically. “Can’t wait fer mah first heat.”


By now we’re nearing the airport, passing through the parking areas... when we notice a large gathering around the entrance. It’s s huge that it stretches to and through one of the parking lanes.

Taking note of all the security trying to keep the many people away from the entrances, I was reminded of what happens when celebrities arrive in airports, all the fans wanting to see them.

For a moment, I wonder what kind of big celebrity could’ve caused this much of a fuss... before I notice the multi-coloured wigs, T-shirts and such of many of those grouped.

I face-hoof. Of course. No celebrity would be as big news as the living, breathing MLP character who appeared on TV. How could I be so stupid?

“This might not be as easy as we’d first thought,” Tara says, frowning at the large crowd. “We may need to use the fallback plan.”

I blink, looking to her. “Fallback plan? What in the hay is that?”

Michelle smirks. “You don’t get famous without learning a few tricks on how to avoid the press.”

“Driver?” Lauren calls, tapping on the screen between us as the front of the car.

The screen lowers and the driver, I can’t see him aside from a silhouette from my current position, looks back. “Yes, Ms Faust?”

“Round the back way,” she says, leaning back in her seat.

He nods, the screen going back up again.

The hummer turns away from the direct path to the entrance and heads down another road, one I notice looks more private. When the hummer pulls up a few minutes later, I can see several people standing outside a double door. They’re wearing uniforms that tell me they work for the airport.

As we step out of the car, they all look at me for several moments with the smallest amount of surprise I’ve yet seen someone wear when first seeing me, before they move to the back and start taking our luggage out, placing it onto a steel trolley.

We follow two that didn’t move with others inside, heading towards the front area.

I can already tell things are still going to be difficult, despite avoiding the front entrance crowd.

Inside are a far smaller amount of people wearing MLP related stuff, T-shirts, wings, onesies.

Thankfully we avoid being spotted as we move along what’s mark as the Private Line. As we wait, though, I can’t help looking out from between the legs of everyone, wondering if we’re going to get spotted.

When we finally get to the front, Lauren, Tara and Michelle deal with getting their boarding passes printed first, the woman behind the counter not blinking an eye despite their fame. When she gets to my passport to print my boarding pass, though, she frowns, looking toward everyone.

“Is this some kind of joke?” she asks in a very unamused tone, holding up my passport, showing the picture of a yellow filly with red hair.

I nudge Michelle’s leg and she bends down, picking me up holding me in view of the woman.

She just turns up her nose. “Animals go in the animal care compartments,” she says, reaching for a plastic cage I know animals go in.

I glare at the woman. “Do Ah look like Ah’m jokin’, lady?”

She blinks, looking up from the cage she was about to grab, before giving the most amused, yet at the same time, unamused smile. “Very funny, Miss Creber. I know about your role in that show my niece is so fond of.”

“She weren’t the one talkin’,” I say, directly in her line of sight.

She just stares, her eyes going wide.

“An’ Ah ain’t goin’ in no cage,” I snort. “Ah may be a pony now, but Ah was still a human once an’ as such, Ah’m going on the plane like any other human. Okay?”

She just keeps staring at me, before her body starts moving as if on its own, handles my details, printing my boarding pass, then hands them over, Tara taking them, before murmuring, “Hey a nice flight,” in a distant voice, as if she isn’t really here anymore.

Nodding, Michelle puts me back down and we start heading for security to put our stuff carry-on luggage through.

Again, things go normally as one would expect (in truth I’ve only ever been to and from an airport twice in my living memory, once to Queensland and another time to Hong Kong before heading for Japan).

Whilst the other three go through the process I turn to my family, each of them giving me a hug and wishing me luck in America, John and Jill promising to do what they can to meet up with me at some point.

With our goodbyes, some of them tearier than I’d like to admit, over with, I turned to follow Michelle, who’d just passed through security. However, as I move to pass through the metal detector, the security guard stops me by putting a foot in front of me.

“Sorry. No pets allowed.”

I look up at him with a cold glare. “Pet?! Do Ah look like a pet ta you, pal?”

He takes a step back, his partner at the machine they scan luggage with an x-ray staring at me with wide eyes.

“Ya know, seeing as Ah’ve been on the Weekend Sunrise, the lack of people knowin’ me by sight’s kinda annoying,” I say, looking at the girls on the other side, who shrug.

I glare back up at the guy who stopped me. “Ah’m gettin’ on that plane like any normal human. If’n ya got a problem with that, talk to the government, pal.” And with that, I just walk through, both guards still looking like they were trying to process the situation they’d just experienced.

Gone through security, I glance back at my family on the other side and give a finally wave, before I follow Michelle and the others into the airport.

I feel both self conscious and like laughing at the endless number of people who suddenly stop whatever they’re doing, even those running to clearly get to their plane, and stare up me in expressions ranging from shocked, confused, surprised to plain dumbfounded.

I stay close to Michelle. One thing we got right, without my family, she’s the one I feel safest with. I can only assume it’s something in my subconscious about her being Apple Bloom’s and technically my, voice.

After checking in at our get, we’re told we have about an hour before the plane arrives. With my stomach growling, we decide to pass some of the waiting time by getting an early lunch.

We stop by a McDonalds, the girls ordering salads for all of us. I end up waiting at our table towards the corner of the small restaurant. Along with our salads, we each have a fries (large for me), a sundae (Lauren has chocolate, Tara has strawberry and Michelle and I have caramel) and drinks (Lauren and Tara have Diet Coke, Michelle has lemonade and I have Fanta).

We tuck into our lunches, the others deciding to chat with me about our personal lives, most likely just for something to do.

I certainly learned things I hadn’t known before.

Tara has two kids, Sammy Strong, who is twelve and Aden Strong who’s ten.

I almost cough on my lettuce when she says that. I’d had no idea Tara was a mother.

Michelle also revealed a few things I’d not known about. Her mother, Monique Creber, is a singer, voice over artist, actor, artistic/musical director, producer and performance coach and her father, Michael Creber, is a Grammy nominated and Juno Award winning jazz pianist/producer/musical director who has toured and recorded with k.d. Lang, The Rankin Sisters, The Irish Rovers and Raffi... though who those were I have no idea. But they sound important and famous, so I don’t say anything.

It seems fame and talent run in the Creber family.

Another thing she answers for is why she didn't order a burger and went with a salad too. It's because, whilst not a vegetarian, she has a low tolerance for beef, making it clear she didn't just order a salad to make me feel better because I can't eat meat and she didn't want to remind me of that, at least anymore than being in a McDonalds does, anyway.

Shortly after we finish our food, I glance at the menu and frown.

“What is it, Sam?” Michelle asks, noticing me looking at the board.

“Ah’ve never tried their apple pies afore,” I say, scratching my chin.

“Do you like apple pie?” Tara asks, before snickering. “Or do you like them now that you’re an Apple?”

I roll my eyes and give her a deadpan look. “Har dee har har. No. Ah’ve had apple pie afore, just not theirs.”

“Well, maybe a little extra snack before we board,” Lauren says, glancing at a clock on the wall. “We’ve still a few minutes before our plans meant to board, so why not?”

Turns out the apple pies aren’t that good. Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice and the flavour is pretty tasty. In truth, my dislike is more because of the pastry it’s inside. It just doesn’t feel right.

Flight 216 to Los Angeles, California, now boarding, a female voice says over the airport PA system. Flight 216 to Los Angeles, California, now boarding, All First Class and Business Class passengers now please line up to board.

“That’s us,” Lauren says, getting up, slinging her bag over her shoulder and starting back towards our gate, myself, Michelle and Tara following after.

“Which class are we?” I ask, moving a bit faster so I can look at Lauren as I talked to her.

She grins. “Seeing as you mentioned before that you’ve been to Premium Economy and really liked it, thought we’d all go Premium Economy.” She winks. “though we will be right up the front; hope you don’t mind.”

I shake my head. “Nah, it’s okay. ’Slong as Ah can sit at a window seat.”

They all chuckle and I blush, my ears folding against my head, realizing how that made me sound like a kid. But, I can’t help it. The first time I went flying for the one day stop in Hong Kong before we went to Japan, my dad had put me by the window seat and I’d loved it. It was the second time I'd flown from home to somewhere else (the first time I'd not been next to a window at all) and I'd never thought I'd be likely to get on a plane again, so I was eager to see that view again.

“You can’t let it on!”

The shout causes us to pause and glance around, before spotting a group of people, men and woman, standing by the gate to our flight. They seem to be in a heated discussion with the people at the desk.

“Whom we let on isn’t your concern, sirs and madams,” the girl behind the desk says, wearing an expression that clearly shows she’s tired of whatever they’re talking about.

“If you let that freak on the plane, you’re begging for a disaster!” one guy says, shaking his head.

“That demon shouldn’t be allowed on the plane,” a girl says, slamming her hands on the desk. “You’ll doom everyone on board.”

“Why do I get the feeling these guys are talking about somepony we know?” Tara says, a very unamused expression on her face.

“Looks like some snuck through security,” I snort, looking at the group. There’s nine of them in total, fives guys, four girls.

“This is going to be fun,” Michelle mutters as we move towards the gate.

As we get nearer, one of the girls in the group spots me walking next to Lauren and points, shouting, “There it is!”

The group, not to mention everyone within earshot of her call turns, the group charging forward, their expressions grim.

Michelle quickly comes forward and bends over me, spreading herself like a human shield, while Tara and Lauren stand in front of us.

“Get out of the way!” one of the men says, trying to push past them to get to me as I cowered under Michelle. “It needs to be dealt with!”

Security to Gate A. Security to Gate A, immediately, a voice says over the PA.

This only seems to make the group angrier and more frantic to get to me, which only makes the girls redouble their efforts to keep them back.

“Halt!” several voices shout, followed by running footsteps.

Several of the group break away and run off, while some turn to deal with security guards and the last few try in vain to get to me.

However, all those nearest who didn’t run away get pressed against the floor, their hands cuffed.

“You idiots!” one of the guys on the ground says, glaring at me as Michelle stands, moving off from me. “Why do you defend that freak of nature?!”

One of the guards pressing his foot down on the guy’s back, making him return to laying flat on the ground. “Freak of nature or not, she’s innocent and was doing nothing wrong. You, on the other hand, attacked without reason.”

Without reason?!” one of the girls shouts as a female guard presses her down. “Without reason?!”

“Without logical reason,” Tara supplies coldly, glaring.

The guards give their apologies and we’re moved to the front of the line, where our things are quickly looked over and confirmed, before we head onto the plane, myself hoping the flight is less eventful than the boarding.

Author's Note:

Finally! Didn't know if i'd get this out today and i started it yesterday.

Next chapter the time of the flight, then their arrival in Los Angeles and the next interview. Can you guess who it will be with? No hints.


Anyway, i'll try updating this again tomorrow. but i'll make no promises. will only really have tomorrow, since i'm taking my dad out for lunch on Father's Day, and, with my luck, won't get home til around after 2-3pm.


Hope you enjoyed this chapter and, til next time (and even though it's still over half an hour til 6:00 alone), goodnight everypony