Sisters

by Dusk Melody

All Our Yesterday's

"Ow!” Cloud Blossom squealed in pain as the punch from her sister found its mark on her right cheek, the force of which sent her skidding backwards into bookshelf behind her. Books of varying sizes and weights began to rain down on her as the pale green pegasus struggled to her hooves.

“Had enough yet you three legged bitch?” Apple Honey stomped her left hoof on the hardwood floor, the one she had just used to slug her sister across her jaw, a glint of victory in her eyes and mirth on her muzzle as the books continued to hit Cloud, hampering her attempts to get back up.

“Yeah…ngh! Ow!” Cloud grimaced as a particularly hefty cookbook slammed into the back of her head, causing her sister to snigger in amusement as she tried to stand up. White rage flashed through Cloud’s mind, the one and only thing she couldn't stand was being laughed at. Nopony laughed at her. Flaring her wings Cloud Blossom launched herself into a flying spear tackle; “Don't bucking laugh at me you whorse!” She screamed as she rocketed towards her sister.

The last thing Apple Honey imagined Cloud would do was tackle her. Taken by surprise the force of the impact took the breath from the burnt yellow pegasus and bowled her over till she landed painfully on her back, Cloud straddled above her pinning her to the floor with her left hoof while aiming a punch of her own with her right, which hit just below Honey’s left eye.

“You had enough?” Cloud paused before delivering her second blow, giving her sister the opening she needed.

“You bucking wish.” Quick as a flash Apple Honey brought her left hind leg up and kicked Cloud at the base if her right wing where it met her body. Using the shift in her weight Apple Honey then forced both forehooves into Cloud’s chest, the double punch forcing her off her mounted position.

“Gaaah! Sweet bucking Celestia!” Cloud Blossom grunted and cursed as fresh pain flourished across her right flank, she wobbled on her three hooves as she felt her right wing hang limp at her side as it went numb from the force of Apple honey’s well aimed kick. Taking a pained breath through her aching chest, Cloud spat on the floor, “that was low, even for you…”

“No, this is low.” Apple Honey smirked at her sister, sensing victory was at hoof as she was still struggling to even stand now she had taken her wing away. She should have ended it then, they both knew Cloud Blossom was beaten without her wings, but seeing her hated enemy just spurred her on to finish it.

Apple Honey lowered her muzzle and took the floor rug in her mouth and pulled as hard as she could, whipping it from beneath her sister’s flailing hooves and sending her hard into the wooden floor on her left side, her three legs sticking out at all angles. Mercilessly Honey closed in to give a signature apple buck to her defenceless sister’s face.

Cloud Blossom’s eyes went wide as she knew what was coming, “H – Honey…please, I – I can't stand up…”

“Not mah problem…tripod.” Apple Honey turned with a sneer and planted her forelegs into the floor, preparing to finish this fight. Slowly she brought her hind legs to her belly, muscles coiling like a spring, ready to unleash the powerful kick. Just as Apple Honey was about to release the buck a scent stung the back of her nostrils. Disbelieving she glanced over her shoulder at her sister, confirming the smell. “Y’all went an’ pissed yahself, really?” An evil grin broke her face as she prepared the buck once more.

“Honey…don't, please!” Flailing in her puddled humiliation Cloud was crying now, tears flowing freely down her face as she braced herself for the blow that awaited her.

“Ah’m gonna send you face first into that puddle o’ yours…”

The expected buck never came, for just at that moment the big double doors burst open, revealing Applejack and Fluttershy framed in the open doorway, a terrible look of rage on both mares faces.

“Landsakes! What in tarnation is goin’ on in here?!”

~

“This is real nice Fluttershy thanks.” Applejack took a bite of her daisy and dandelion sandwich, reclining on the grass in the shade of her favourite apple tree.

"Oh it's no trouble, I thought you could use a break. You've been bucking all day.” Fluttershy placed her own half eaten sandwhich on the blanket next to her as she laud her head on her wife’s shoulder, giving it a gentle nuzzle.

“Well you're welcome all day long if you bring san’whiches like these sugarcube.” Applejack took another bite, relishing the taste as she closed her eyes, enjoying the cool breeze.

“I see. You just want me for my food…” Fluttershy stick out her tongue playfully as she took another delicate bite.

“Ah didn’ say that exactly, but now you mention it…hey!...hmm…” Applejack’s snarky retort was cut short as the yellow pegasus nipped her ear in that special way she knew the farmer liked.

“You were saying my dear?”

“As long as you keep doing that ah guess ah can keep you around.” Applejack rested her hoof on Fluttershy’s own as she leant in for a kiss.

Just then the peace of the afternoon was shattered by sounds of a fight. Even all the way up in the north field the two ponies could clearly hear the battle. As far away from the homestead as they were there could be heard shouted curses and the unmistakeable sounds of furniture being destroyed.

Applejack let out a deep sigh of frustration, “Celestia’s sake, they're at it again! How many’s that this week?”

“Um, four I think.”

“Right. And it's only Wednesday.” Huffing to herself at another interrupted afternoon, the orange mare got to her hooves, “c’mon Fluttershy, let's get to it before they kill each other this time.”

Nodding her agreement Fluttershy hastily stood and ran with her partner towards the house, Applejack got there first, her powerful long strides pulling her away from the yellow pegasus, who was panting to keep up. Sweaty and out of breath from the run, both mares hesitated at the closed doors, flinching at the noises that assaulted them from within the house. The next thing they heard stunned them both cold

“H – Honey…please, I – I can't stand up…” Cloud’s muffled whimper galvanised Applejack action, but the door wouldn't budge when she shoved it with a hoof.

“Please hurry Applejack, we need to get in there!” Fluttershy panicked, imagining all kinds of things on the other side of the door. Her turquoise eyes went wide when she heard Cloud Blossom next.

“Honey…don't, please!”

“That's it, ah’ve had it wi’ this infernal door. Stand back Shy.” Applejack wound up and bucked the doors hard, fracturing the wood and forcing the stubborn doors open, the force of the buck slamming the doors against the internal walls.

Applejack’s mouth hung open at the sight that greeted her. In the middle of a half destroyed living room, one daughter was flailing in tears amidst a puddle of she didn't like to guess what, while the other daughter was wound up to deliver the bucking of a lifetime. Clearly they had arrived just in the nick of time.

“Landsakes! What in tarnation is goin’ on in here?!” Rage had overcome her shock, and the outraged farmer advanced on Apple Honey, the younger mare flashing her mother an indignant look before slowly backing away.

Fluttershy flew straight to Cloud Blossom, her nose wrinkling as she caught the smell from the floor. “Cloud…Cloud, are you okay sweetie?” Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around her daughter’s midsection, helping her to stand and move away from the mess at her hooves. “What happened?”

“Honey…she pranked me, and made fun of my leg…” Cloud Blossom pointed an accusatory hoof at her sister before dissolving into tears.

“This true Honey?” Applejack asked, her eyes narrowing to dangerous slits.

“Yeah, so what? Apple Honey brazenly admitted it, staring her mother straight in the eyes. “Ain't mah fault if she ain't got no sense o’ humour.”

“Sense o’ humour? Sense o' humour?!” Applejack’s temper exploded as she extended a hoof towards Fluttershy and Cloud Blossom. “Y’all just about traumatised her you stupid filly!”

"Pfft she's fine!" Apple Honey shouted indignantly, before backing down once more as Applejack jabbed a hoof roughly to her chest. “Ow! Momma you're hurting!”

“That ain't nothin’ compared to what's coming to you.” Turning away from her daughter the farmer addressed her wife. “She gonna be alright Fluttershy or are we going to hospital…again?”

“Um…no, Cloud’ll be fine, I'm going to help her upstairs for a bath.” Fluttershy helped the still snivelling Cloud up the stairs, allowing her daughter to rest her weight upon her. “C’mon, up you get.”

“Th – thanks momma…” Cloud grunted with the slow effort of climbing the stairs. Normally she would have flown, but her wing was still hurting where her sister had kicked her.

Applejack turned her attention back to Apple Honey, who was just stood there, not a hint of remorse on her face at all. “Apologise.”

“What?” Apple Honey blinked twice, not believing what she'd just heard.

“Y’all heard me. Ah said ‘apologise’.”

“No. Ah ain't apologisin’, not to that.” The burnt yellow pegasus pointed her hoof in disgust at her sister struggling up the stairs.

“Apple Honey. Y’all treadin’ mighty thin ice here sugarcube. Now apologise to your sister or Celestia help me…”

“Ah said no!” Apple Honey interrupted her mother, her own temper getting the better of her as she stomped a hoof on the floor in anger. “Ah will not apologise an’ you can't make me!” She'd crossed the line, she knew she had but she was way past caring. She knew she was in for the spanking or grounding of a lifetime, perhaps both.

“Get out.” Fluttershy paused with Cloud at the top of the stairs, looking down at Apple Honey with pure disgust on her face.

"E - excuse me?" Apple Honey had expected her momma Applejack to scream and yell at her, but this? She had never expected to she that look on her other mother’s face, not ever.

“Get out of this house.” Fluttershy didn't raise her voice, not once. That above all else scared the young mare below her.

"But…you - you can't, it – it was a stupid prank, that's all!” Apple Honey desperately tried to plead with her momma Fluttershy, to no avail. The yellow pegasus simply turned her back on the scene below and ushered her distraught daughter into the nearby bathroom without a backwards glance.

"Momma please, it was just a stupid prank…you can't just throw me out…”

Applejack turned her back on her errant daughter, eyes cast to the floor and her ears slicked back. With a heavy sigh that matched her aching heart she simply said; “You heard your mother.”

“So, what, you're throwing me out over a dumb prank?” The pegasus couldn't believe where this was going…it was a harmless prank, right? Why hadn't she just apologised when asked?

“It ain't just the prank Apple Honey. It's everything. Ah didn't raise mah child to have a mean streak, but girl y’all got yahself one a mile wide.” Applejack kept her back to her daughter, she didn't trust herself not to start crying. “Four fights this week, six hospital visits for broken bones this year. Celestia knows ah’ve tried to reach you, but Honey ah’ve reached mah limit.”

“So that's it huh? We’re done?”

“You ain't welcome in this house no more. Right now you ain't even an Apple no more. Just, get out Apple Honey.”

"Fine! Buck y’all to Tartarus! Who needs ya?” With a final stomp of her hooves Apple Honey spread her wings and flew out of the homestead without looking back.

~

“Ponyville the next station to stop, mind your step when leaving the train.”

The Friendship Express pulled into Ponyville station, the conductors announcement of arrival shaking the pale green pegasus from her reverie. Drawing a hoof across her face she dried tears she didn't realise she had been crying. Her last memories of her sister hadn’t been the best, then again none of her memories of Apple Honey were very happy.

Swinging her saddle bags into position on her back she carefully made her way towards the exit of the train, noticing for the first time the steady rain beating down on the platform, hitting with such force it bounced up knee high. Almost immediately upon disembarking Cloud Blossom was soaked through to her skin, her straw blonde mane and tail plastered to her neck and flanks. Despite her caution Cloud felt her hind leg go from under her as her hoof slipped on the wet platform.

“Stupid bucking rain!” The pegasus stomped a forehoof in frustration as she was deposited unceremoniously on her ass. “Great. Just great. Soaking wet through, bruised flanks, now I'm gonna have to use these…” Cloud Blossom twitched her wings in irritation, “…just to get on my blasted hooves!” She really hated using wet wings, although she didn’t seem to gave much choice, given how nopony had offered to help her up.

“Cloud? Cloud Blossom?”

The unmistakeable voice she hadn't heard for fifteen years brought her grumble to an abrupt end. Turning her head in the direction of the voice she saw but her brain refused to believe what her eyes were telling her. She was here. Apple Honey was actually here, and of course she would be on her ass in the driving rain struggling just to get up. ‘Great. Just what I need. Well here we go already…’

“Hey, need a hoof?”

Cloud Blossom just sat there, rain bouncing off her stunned face, staring open mouthed at the burnt yellow hoof offered to her. Of all the things she had expected her sister to do, offer her help was way down on the list.

~

“So that's it huh? We’re done?”

“You ain't welcome in this house no more. Right now you ain't even an Apple no more. Just, get out Apple Honey.”

"Fine! Buck y’all to Tartarus! Who needs ya?” With a final stomp of her hooves Apple Honey spread her wings and flew out of the homestead without looking back.

Anger seethed through the young pegasus as she flew through the late afternoon sky. Wind whipped at her shirt cropped dark pink mane and tail, stinging her eyes. Apple Honey flew past a few clouds, muttering under her breath before she stopped, hovering in place as a stark realisation hit her hard. She hadn't the slightest idea where she was going, or for that matter what she would do once she got there, wherever there happened to be. Despondently she flopped onto the nearest cloud and attempted to weigh up her options.

It didn't take Apple Honey long to arrive at a pretty obvious conclusion. No matter which way she looked at it, she was bucked. Really, well and truly, spectacularly bucked.

“Stupid. Bucking. Family!” She punctuated each word with a stomp of her hoof to the cloud on which she was sat. Before she could stop them tears she didn't know she was holding in began to flow down Apple Honey’s face. Burying her face in the cloud she was laid on the pegasus allowed herself to properly cry for the first time in years. She was just thankful nopony could see her up here.

"Hey kid, you alright?”

Or so she thought.

"Kid, you in there?" Rainbow Dash hovered next to the lonely cloud, worry etched on her face.

"Leave me alone Aunt Dash…” Apple Honey didn't bother turning to face her Aunt, she knew who it was. There was no mistaking that raspy voice.

“Umm, nope! Now tell me what's up kid.”

“Ugh fine! They kicked me out okay? Now ya know can ya leave me alone?” Apple Honey tried to sink further into the cloud, to no avail.

“Shy and AJ kick you out, why?”

“Because, Ah played a dumb prank on my idiot sister, it got out o’ hand and we had a fight. A big one. Happy? Now can ah be alone?” Apple Honey sincerely wished the blue pegasus would just leave her the buck alone.

Rainbow fluttered closer to the cloud and placed a hoof on her niece’s shoulder. “Got anywhere to stay?”

‘Goddesses sake why can't she leave me be?’ Honey thought to herself before answering, “No, I don't…”

“C’mon then, you can crash in my spare room, ‘kay?” Rainbow tugged at her with her hooves, but when the younger pegasus showed no sign of moving the older mare flew under the cloud and aimed a double hoofed kick at the cloud, dissipating it instantly, forcing Apple Honey to her wings.

“Hey!...okay fine, ah’ll stay with you. Happy now?” Honey flashed her aunt a scowl.

“Ecstatic kid. House is this way. Try and keep up!” Rainbow Dash was gone in an instant, rainbow coloured contrail the only evidence of her passing.

~

“Ponyville the next station to stop, mind your step when leaving the train.”

‘Bucking rain!’ Apple Honey thought to herself with a stomp of a hoof as she disembarked the Friendship Express. The train ride from Manehatten had been a long one and the pegasus wasn’t in the best of moods.

‘Ah wanted to stretch mah wings too!’ Another frustrated stomp of a hoof on the platform.

No. She was starting to lose her temper and that wouldn't do her or anypony near her any good. Quickly she remembered her breathing exercises her anger therapist Doctor Sureheart had taught her. Ignoring the pounding rain and the puzzled looks from ponies passing by Apple Honey took a deep breath and released it slowly, counting backwards from ten. The mare repeated this process another four times until she felt her frustration wane, although by this time she was soaked to her skin, although her dark pink mane was too short to go in her eyes.

‘Guess ah better get outta this here rain,’ she thought to herself. Looking around for a shelter Apple Honey noticed a brief commotion a little ways off to her right. Turning to see what had happened she saw a very familiar pale green pegasus mare slip on her ass in the rain. Indecision froze the athletic pegasus. On the one hoof she wanted to go over and offer help, but on the other she didn't know how she’d be received. Fifteen years is a long time to just go and ask ‘hey, need a hoof?’

Then again, she really wanted to see Cloud Blossom again. It had been too long.

‘Buck it,’ she thought to herself, ‘time to put those years o’ therapy to the test ah guess.’

“Cloud? Cloud Blossom?”

Apple Honey made her way through the few ponies on the platform to her fallen sister. Standing there before the pale green pegasus with her sister struggling to stand up Apple Honey was uncomfortably reminded of the last time they had been in each other's company, and just how badly that had gone. ‘Not this time sugar, time to put things right.’

“Hey, need a hoof?”

Comments

[Wroth]

Hopefully Cloud isn't going to quickly forgive, being beaten and abused by somebody for the longest time isn't going to allow for one to forgive an abuser.

[Dusk Melody]

5610548 don't worry Cloud Blossom will make her feelings known in the next chapter

[King Sombrony]

5610548 from what I've seen in stories like this, she probably will

[Crafty Arts]

Really good... BUT I WANT MOAR
... Yeah...

[Dusk Melody]

5612896 you'll get more

[Zervon Tora]

The first step to solve a problem is to know you have a problem.

More back story needed!

I like how you sequenced the flashbacks. the interplay was seamless. Good to see that the make or break moment will be without the rest of the family.

[Dusk Melody]

5616263 unusual to get a comment from you my friend!

There will be more back story in the next chapter. It was a conscious thing to have them alone on the station when they met, I didn't want any outside influence regarding any possible reconciliation.

[Crafty Arts]

5613524 yea