• Published 27th Jan 2015
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Bloom Filter - ferret



When the most unexpected fate befalls Apple Bloom, she thinks her life is over, but what she has found is something far greater than herself, an ancient secret that will shake the world in days to come.

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Too Little, Too Late

“Sweetie Belle, are you bothering the nice unicorn girl, again?” came the voice of Sunset Shimmer, making Sweetie Belle hunch guiltily as she looked at the flame-haired human girl, who was most definitely still sitting there beside Sweetie Belle and the amazing unicorn who really could use magic.

Sweetie had been giving the other adult white unicorn known as Vinyl Scratch some voice lessons, but she admittedly approached Vinyl with the express goal of learning all of her dark secrets. Sweetie’s ears went down, but Vinyl laughed at Sunset’s words though, an unhesitant, hearty laugh, saying appeasingly to the fire haired girl,

“Shee’sh fine. Firs’ it was wha’ did my mashic do, then wha’ coul’ I do wish it, then what’d it feel like. Good quesshions!”

Sweetie wasn’t done blushing so she didn’t answer. Sunset scooted up closer to the two of them. To the less than satisfied Sweetie Belle, Sunset said, “Hey, don’t mind me. I’m just joking with you. Seriously, it’s fine if you want to grill us about magic. You kind of remind me of when I was a filly. Couldn’t learn enough about magic back then!”

“Yeah, but you could actually use it,” Sweetie said somewhat bitterly, still only half looking at the fire haired girl.

Sunset shook her head lightly, “I grew up with my horn,” she said. “It took me years to get it to spark, just those were years I spent growing the darn thing, the first years of my life.”

“When did you first um... spark?” Sweetie asked, hardly expecting the answer would be anything she liked.

“Well, not counting wild surges, the first time I did it on my own power was when I was 7,” Sunset said, smiling fondly as she remembered. “I was the first in my class. Knew I was destined for—” her smile faltered, “...great things. Really, I think I just wanted to get my dad in line. Wasn’t very complicated, back then.”

“What was his deal?” Sweetie said curiously.

“Oh, heh, he’s a good stallion, but he had to raise us alone,” Sunset said with a roll of her eyes. “The old story of a pony without a herd, having to pinch to get by. We had a disagreement over getting enough to eat, and I was gonna like, make it big in Canterlot and summon tons of money, or something. And then eat tons of cookies right in front of him. We worked on it though. My brothers helped me a lot, with getting the hang of my horn.”

Sweetie smiled a bit, and asked, “How many siblings do you have?”

“Two brothers and a sister,” Sunset said. “It was a pretty crazy household, especially without my mom around.”

“Why wasn’t—I mean, no pressure or anything, just curious,” Sweetie said, biting her lip. She certainly didn’t want to bring up any old wounds, especially in someone as cool as Sunset.

“Don’t worry about it. Was a long time ago, and I’m pretty much over it,” Sunset said, a bit too easily. “Really, I could never blame her for skipping out on him. After she had me, she was pretty much done with him. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, and you’re getting a divorce, buster.”

“Um...” Sweetie said cluelessly.

Sunset glanced at her, offering a dry chuckle. “Heh. I meant that I was sort of a happy accident. The third happy accident. My dad always wanted a lot of foals, you see. And my mom kind of... well, she wanted the first one. But after that... you know how it can be.”

Sweetie honestly shook her head at that.

“Uh, you know...?” Sunset said, wincing and closing her index finger and thumb into a sort of circle. She then pushed her fist through that circle.

“Oh,” Sweetie blanched. “That.”

“Yeah, I didn’t... tear her or anything, but it sure isn’t a lot of fun, I’ve heard,” Sunset said, waving her fork around in the air. “Nail in the coffin, really. They just didn’t love each other, by then.”

Sweetie thought about that, and it kind of hurt in her chest to really think about it. “You mean, she just abandoned you, b-because she didn’t want you?” Sweetie asked unhappily.

“No, because she didn’t... because...” Sunset clenched her fist, touching her forehead with it. “She didn’t want me,” Sunset said carefully, “And on an unrelated note, she got a divorce, so that she wouldn’t have to... uh... raise us. God, it does make it sound like she divorced him to get away from me, doesn’t it.”

Sweetie didn’t know what to say to that.

“I visited her, I mean... sometimes. She’s nice enough,” Sunset said uncertainly. “I shouldn’t really complain. She took care of the hard part at the beginning, and he took care of us after that. Heck, we bought groceries with her child support.”

Sunset blinked.

“Wow, okay, wow. Enough about how my mother is an ass,” Sunset said lifting her hands and spreading her palms for some reason. “Dunno why I’m going and dumping on you. This is why I never tell you people that I come from the magical kingdom of Equestria.”

“Doesn’t sound like it was magical enough, if you ask me,” Sweetie offered snidely. And Vinyl Scratch, who was totally still here too, had to suppress a snicker at that.

“Hey, you’re looking at the top student at Princess Celestia’s School for Magical Unicorns,” Sunset retorted smugly to the little filly. “We may have had some hiccups at first, but I was the princess’s personal protege! My stipend alone was enough to put my dad on easy street, and my brothers and my sister were working by then, too. Once I got into that school, and started seeing what I was really capable of, that was the magic of Equestria to me. It was a really magical...”

Sunset just trailed off and shook her head. “Anyway, enough about ancient history. How about you? How’s school been uh, going?”

“Ugh,” Sweetie said, taking a bite of her boiled peas.

“Ugh?” Sunset queried.

“Ugh,” Sweetie confirmed a bit messily. “It’s all just so... boring. I feel even more useless than I did before. I just... I never realized how hard it is to hang out with people at school. Not even cause they don’t want to! There’s always a lesson, or a hall monitor, or a lecturer, or an assembly. I just have to sit there, being... a unicorn in the middle of a bunch of people, and they’re not even allowed to look at me! They just look at the teacher and take notes. And don’t even get me started on how hard it is to take notes with a crayon in your mouth.”

Sunset smirked at that, saying, “Definitely some advantages to humanity, eh?”

Sweetie thought about that. Then she gave Sunset a sly sideways glance, and answered with a testy statement, “So, my back is kinda itchy. It’s very hard to reach that... on my own.”

She looked more steadily towards Sunset, turning it up until the girl caved, saying, “Okay, okay, sheesh,” and Sweetie happily presented her back.

Sweetie Belle soon felt Sunset’s slim fingers combing into the fuzzy soft fur on her back, and already felt herself starting to relax. “Thanks...” she said gratefully, leaning into it a bit.

And Vinyl Scratch was looking at her oddly now.

“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it, sister,” Sweetie grumbled to the older mare.

Somewhere along the line Vinyl had wandered elsewhere, while Sunset ended up with her chair pulled back from the table, Sweetie Belle draped across her lap so that Sunset could afford better access to Sweetie Belle’s soft white hide. Sweetie wasn’t wearing her dress at the moment, because back scratches. Their dinner plates weren’t put away, though Sweetie at least had the grace to let Sunset finish eating first. But now that the meal was done, other things took priority.

“School hasn’t been all bad,” Sweetie Belle purred, as Sunset’s fingers did their own magic to her. “We finally got to hang out with Diamond Tiara at lunch the other day.”

“Still having a problem with that, huh?” Sunset said distractedly, more focused on her own thoughts of the past, and the warm weight of a small horse draped across your lap.

“Yeah,” Sweetie said, shifting to get a bit more comfortable. “It’s almost like she’s been avoiding us. I think she’s just jealous, that she’s not a pony.”

Sunset had to raise an eyebrow at that, glancing down at Sweetie and saying, “So, Diamond Tiara wants to be a pony?”

“She won’t admit it, but yeah, I think so,” Sweetie Belle said wryly, considering her ambivalent pink friend. “So she’s been sitting with the techies instead of with us, all the time.”

“That was where she sat before you were friends?” Sunset asked idly.

Sweetie Belle shook her head slightly, “No, it’s actually really nice to see she’s making some other friends. Before us, she was pretty much alone. Diamond has some problems getting along with people, sometimes.”

Sweetie sighed happily, continuing, “But now she’s back with Silver Spoon and all the other techies, mostly thanks to help from her boyfriend, Dinky.” Sweetie giggled, saying, “Oh, you should see them, they’re so adoraAAAAA”

Sweetie Belle’s words turned into an undignified squeal as Sunset stood up from her chair, unceremoniously dumping the candy haired unicorn right down to the ground.

“Hey!” Sweetie shouted, trying to get her hooves under her as Sunset Shimmer vaulted over her and ran across the room. “What was that for?!” Sweetie shouted afterwards, but Sunset wasn’t even paying attention to her anymore.

“Who has a car?” Sunset demanded loudly, of the ponies and humans lounging around the crowded living room. “I need a car!”

“What’s this about, Sunset?” Applejack called over, standing up from the couch to jog over to her. “I got the truck, if’n you—”

“I need to get to the orphanage,” Sunset said gripping Applejack’s wrists and pulling her face-to-face. “It is an emergency.

Sweetie Belle’s blood ran cold.

“Sunset, no!” Sweetie Belle said, jumping down from her chair and trotting up to Sunset to peal up at her. “I didn’t mean it that way! Dinky and Diamond Tiara are just friends! They said they were going to be careful!”

“They are not careful,” Sunset said staring down at Sweetie Belle in a total panic, her pupils down to pinpricks. “They’re never careful. Oh fucking damnit I can’t believe I forgot. Those two! Oh buckfucking god damnit!”

“Language, Sunset!” Applejack said irritably, as the fire haired girl pulled her by an arm towards the front door. “Are you sayin’ that you don’t trust Dinky’s virtue? I met the feller, and he’s a downright gentleman!”

“He has mommy issues a mile wide,” Sunset said urgently to Applejack, “We need to get those two separated, now. I am dead serious.

Sweetie Belle was starting to feel like she should have brought this up, a lot sooner.

Folding her arms stubbornly, Applejack said brusquely to Sunset, “And just how do you know just what those two are gonna do together?”

Applejack’s face fell then, and the words tumbled out of her mouth, “Oh, Nelly.”

“Yes, time loop. Yes. Previous knowledge,” Sunset snapped, fighting to get her shoes on. “Let’s go!” Applejack seemed beside herself with unease, until Sunset snapped at her, “Applejack, come on!

Reluctantly and unsurely, Applejack joined her, trying to get her own boots jammed on quick as a licking. “OK so you need me to take th’ truck, but...”

“Wait!” came a third strident voice from across the room. A large, moderately cerise pony known as Cheerilee came gallopping up (well, stepping unsteadily up) as she made her way around the various obstacles, animate and inanimate.

“Don’ go yet! Oop—” she shouted, flouncing on the pile of bags assembled beside the closet full of bags, yanking her handbag out from the bottom of the pile. “Jus’ a sec!” she called out, then basically shoved her nose into the handbag.

Shortly thereafter, Cheerilee’s keys came sailing through the air, caught by Sunset as Cheerilee leaped back up to four hooves.

“Take my car!” Cheerilee said urgently.

“Why?” Sunset asked, confused.

It’s faster!” Cheerilee shouted.

Nodding curtly, Sunset walked out the door.

Then she walked back in the door, grabbed Applejack by the arm, and dragged her out the door, slamming it shut behind her.


Cheerilee’s beat up old beamer had a powerful engine in it, the sort of engine that would make car lovers cry, with how little Cheerilee used it. Rudely awakened from its time as a go-to vehicle for a reserved librarian, it coughed smoke as it roared down the highway. Not many cars out in the evening, the light in the sky dimming overhead to darkness as the sun made its trek beyond the horizon.

“Okay, now,” said an orange girl at the passenger’s seat, in a button up shirt, a hastily worn overcoat, a jean skirt and a stetson, “Number one, why aren’t we floorin’ it?”

“Because if you only drive 10 miles above the speed limit,” explained a very anxious looking fiery haired girl smoothly driving down the highway with one hand on the wheel, “You won’t get pulled over in the evening and held for an hour on the side of the road by an irritated cop who just wanted the day to be over with.”

Sunset swallowed, and added, “Plus, it’s probably already too late.”

“Number two,” Applejack continued heedlessly, “How do you forget somethin’ like this?”

“It happens almost every loop!” Sunset exclaimed in exasperation. “Those two can’t keep their hands off each other! When something happens every loop you start losing track. I just forgot that it was... I just—he’s really easy to forget about, okay?”

“Third question,” Applejack said insistently. “What did you mean by he’s got mommy issues?”

“Because for example he keeps crying himself to sleep,” Sunset said grimly, “After he wakes up thinking his mom is going to be there. Because he told me that, after I tried to get him counseling, because I was trying to figure out why he was fucking Diamond Tiara!

“I can’t believe those two!” Sunset continued to growl to herself. “Diamond Tiara wants to get herself knocked up, because she blames herself for getting orphaned. And Dinky doesn’t even know who his mom is—he grew up in the orphanage! But he wants to knock her up, to replace the mom he lost! And like clockwork, those two fall head over heels for each other, every single year! I stopped even thinking about it; it was just this thing that happened. It’s actually...”

Sunset blinked.

“It’s actually kind of adorable,” she admitted. “When there are no consequences, that is. But now, we broke the time loop. There are going to be consequences! And worst of all, everyone is changing into ponies!”

Applejack massaged the bridge of her nose, uttering in exasperation, “You’re not sayin’ that Diamond Tiara is going to give birth to a horse. Please tell me you’re not sayin’ that.”

“I don’t know!” Sunset said desperately. “I never even thought about that! Are pregnant women going to be pregnant mares, with foals? Is something going to go wrong? What happens if an unborn child changes before the mother? Or the mother, before the child?”

“Well they—oh... cornfeathers,” Applejack swore, “Sunset, what’re we gonna do?

“I don’t know,” Sunset said, gripping the wheel harshly. “Why didn’t we see this coming? It’s so obvious, now. Only a matter of time before we have to deal with it. We should have warned people. Told them not to have—have sex, until it’s run its course. Found out whether their children are going to be okay.”

“What do we do about those two, though?” Applejack asked, “They’re way too young to have a baby, even if they don’t change into ponies! Dinky and—and Diamond Tiara? I have a class with Diamond Tiara! She’s even younger than I am! She can’t go bein’ a... a mom!”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Sunset said with a panicked edge to her voice, “I just let it happen. I just—didn’t even care, every single loop, because it wouldn’t stick! It’s going to stick now! What do I—”

“Okay hold on, we gotta calm down,” Applejack interrupted, putting a hand to her breast. “Won’t do us no good to get worked up over something we cain’t do nothing about. We’ll get to ‘em and then we’ll deal with whatever... we got to deal with.”

“I can’t take this, Applejack,” Sunset said in a haggard tone. “I’m not ready for things to happen. It won’t all go away anymore, and I’m freaking out... completely not ready for this. Horrible things could happen, and I can’t do anything about it.”

Applejack took a long look at the tense Sunset, and put a hand on her shoulder. “It ain’t your fault, sugarcube,” Applejack said gently. “You gotta do what anyone else does, just take things as they come. Do your best to fix things, but don’t beat yourself over the head just because you messed up. Even if...”

Applejack gulped.

“Even if messing up, means that this happens,” she said.

It was in silence that they screeched up to the building complex known as the Canterlot Home For Wayward Youths. Sunset had a calculating look to her face, while Applejack just looked strained.

“One more question,” Applejack said to Sunset before they made it to parking. “Why am ah here?”

“To keep me from going crazy,” Sunset answered curtly. “And to call the guard, while I sneak into the boy’s dormitory, and stop them.”

“You don’t think that they’re—right now?” Applejack gasped.

“Like. Clockwork.” Sunset growled.

“I don’t know Sunset,” Applejack said uneasily, “Ah ain’t so good at that subterfuge stuff. You know how I value honesty and integrity.”

“There’s nothing dishonest here,” Sunset retorted, “I’m the one doing the sneaking. I’m going to sneak into the boy’s dormitory, and it’s a Friday night in April, so I’m going to catch Dinky and Diamond Tiara red-handed. You’re going to walk in the front door and demand that the staff go check on Dinky. They’re going to check on them. They are both going to both confess to what they’ve been doing, and I’m going to make sure they’re both completely clothed while doing so. That’s the honest truth.”

Applejack still hesitated, but then shrugged. “Cain’t argue with that logic,” she guessed. “But land sakes, if you ain’t acting like Apple Bloom tryin’ to get out of a parent/teacher conference. How am ah supposed to talk to them at the office? Ah told you I ain’t good at subterfuge!”

“No, but you’re good at attracting attention, and getting things done,” Sunset said. “So just pretend I’m not here, and do what you think is right.”

“I don’t know what’s right about any of this!” Applejack protested miserably.

Sunset responded by pulling her hood on, stuffing her hair under it and pulling the drawstrings tight.

Desperate for not having to deal with this, Applejack asked, “But ain’t it hard to break into those dormitories?”

“Not nearly hard enough,” Sunset said grouchily. “Now get in there, and get those kids some help!”

“...yes ma’am,” Applejack said resignedly. Sunset had it right. There wasn’t any better way to handle this that... didn’t court danger even longer. People were gonna be turning into ponies! What about the ones who got pregnant? Were they just gonna explode or something?

Sunset hadn’t given many answers, instead slinking off to break into a dormitory full of young boys. As creepy as that sounded, Applejack just let her go, and got out of the car herself. The stars were already overhead, barely a glow on the horizon from the dimming twilight. Applejack hunted around in the dark for something that looked like an official office building. Oh why hadn’t she paid more attention when Granny arranged things with the orphanage for Diamond to come over? Finally Applejack found something called “main office” in the front center of the complex, with the lights still on, and she figured that was as good as anything.

Pushing the door open nervously, Applejack walked into the orphanage’s office, where a greenish blue lady with closely combed dark black hair was sitting at a desk, looking at something on her phone. The lady looked up in honest surprise when the door opened. “Our visiting hours are over, miss,” she said cautiously, “You look a little young to adopt anyone though. What brings you over?”

“I got a little uh, situation,” Applejack said nervously. “You may have seen me on the TV but ah’m one of them people who’re helping with all the pony stuff.”

“You mean, one of our kids is turning into a pony?” the lady said in guarded interest, standing up from her chair. “Who is it? How do you know? Perhaps you have a sort of ‘space pony radar’ for that sort of thing?”

Applejack blinked, and shook her head. “N-no, I didn’t mean that. Nobody’s turning into a pony here, that I know of. You’ll know about it before me, so just keep an eye out for if your uh, kids get pony ears or anything.”

“So what is it then?” the lady asked. “A girl shows up at the office, an hour after curfew, and—”

“Your curfew is 8pm?!” Applejack yelped in outrage. She blushed then, and stammered, “A-ah don’t mean no offense that just seems k-kind of early, and givin’ the older kids a b-bit too much time to uh... dangit ah’m bad at this. I told her I was bad at this!”

“Seriously, what are you talking about?” the lady asked. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is you ain’t watchin’ your ‘kids’ nearly close enough!” Applejack retorted. “I need you to go check on uh... boys dorm, right. Ah need you to go check on a boy here, name of Dinky. My friend is right convinced that Dinky’s getting up to some uh... some seriously dangerous... uh... stuff.”

The woman winced painedly, and exclaimed, “Oh no, not him! He’s such a nice boy! What did she find he was carrying?”

“...carrying?” Applejack replied cluelessly.

“Yes, what substances?” the lady asked. “Was it marijuana? That stuff is unfortunately prevalant in this city. I don’t even want to think if it’s a harder drug, like cocaine, or—”

“Woah, woah, no ah didn’t mean that!” Applejack said, raising her palms, as if to hold the lady back from jumping to conclusions. “No drugs involved at all!”

“What is it, then? He’s not hurt, is he?” the lady asked worriedly.

“Will you quit guessin’?!” Applejack snapped. Then her anger broke into fear again, and she said, “A-a-ah didn’t mean to snap sorry, it’s just kind of a messed up situation.”

“Alright,” the lady said patiently. “I’m listening.”

“So... Dinky’s real good friends with this Freshman girl at school, name of Diamond Tiara—” Applejack started to say, only for the lady to jump up from her desk and practically shriek,

“Diamond Tiara’s been sneaking into the boys’ dormitory after curfew to have sex with Dinky?!”

“Uh...y-yeah...” Applejack said, looking away as she toed the ground. “How did you know I was gonna say that?”

“Process of elimination,” the lady said curtly. “You have to understand this is a very serious accusation though. Our facility makes sure to keep our children well educated, and we keep a close surveillance on the older children. We truly haven’t had any incidents like that in... quite a while. You seriously think he’s...?”

“Sunset seemed pretty damn sure of it,” Applejack said. “Enough to drive me over here after the sun went down, just so I can holler at you about this, while she goes in and breaks them up before they get in any more trouble.”

“You think they’re doing it right now?!” the lady exclaimed all in a tizzy.

“Sunset thinks so!” Applejack retorted. “An’ it don’t matter if they’re doing it now or not. It matters if they did it a week ago! Or a month ago!”

“L-let me just pull up the footage of Diamond Tiara’s room,” the lady said, nervously. Working at her keyboard, she got a picture of a dark room popped up on it, with three beds, a sleeping figure laying in every one.

The lady blinked at that, adjusting her spectacles.

“Diamond Tiara, you said?” she asked in a puzzled tone.

“That’s what I said,” Applejack agreed. “But is it exactly ethical to go put cameras in everyone’s room?”

“Well, how else are we supposed to keep hundreds of kids all going into puberty from having sex?” the lady retorted irritably. “I’ll just check Dinky’s room to be sure.” She typed some more, and another camera image popped up. This one looked like it was brightly lit from below, but everything was enveloped in blackness.

“What the... heck?” the lady said staring closely at it. “Their lights are on, and something’s covering the camera?”

“Yeah, looks like Sunset’s jacket,” Applejack said appraisingly. “She’s probably already in there.”

“Your friend went into the boy’s dormitory after curfew?!” the lady exclaimed even more stridently. “But the doors are locked!”

“Ain’t never stopped Sunset before,” Applejack grumbled. “Sometimes I think she already is a unicorn.”

“What?” the lady said, then closed her eyes and shook her head saying, “No, never mind. You mean there are two girls in Dinky’s room now? If your friend is trespassing, and breaking and entering, just to—”

Stop them from doin’ anything,” Applejack retorted. “I don’t even think Sunset’s ever looked at a boy that way. She just knows what those kids’re up to, because she’s one of the alien ambassadors, who was originally a pony, and her mind don’t get stuck in the time loop every time it repeats!”

The lady at the desk paused, then gave Applejack a slower, more critical look, asking,

“...are you high?”

Applejack carefully raised the palm of her hand and laid it against her face. “Ah told her I was bad at this,” she said, into it. Her palm was a good listener.

“What—” the lady started to say, but Applejack recovered quickly, spearing the lady’s gaze and saying,

“Ah ain’t high, and ah ain’t crazy, but it don’t matter if ah’m crazy. You gotta send someone to that room, to find out what’s goin’ on, and you gotta do it right now!

The lady sniffed offendedly, but said, “Fine, it’s worth checking out at least. Hold on, let me get the courtesy officer, and we can all go and... work this out somehow.”

Minutes later, Applejack still didn’t know why she was getting dragged along. Accomplice or something? More like hostage! The thin male guard, and the lady who was a case worker literally named Lady Moore it turns out, escorted Applejack to the boy’s dormitory, where lo and behold, the back door was unlocked. Going in there, trouncing up the stairs and down the hall, there was light coming from inside one of the doors on the third floor.

Knocking on the door, the lady said, “Hello? Dinky—” but the door opened quickly. Sunset was at the door, apparently waiting in there for them. Sunset stood saltily there by the door, as the two adults and Applejack filed into a nice, brightly lit dormitory room. In it were three empty beds, and a very miserable looking boy and girl, each sitting on respectively separate beds now. Diamond Tiara was wearing a pair of purple pants and a rumpled looking blouse, rumpled because uh—and hugging a winter jacket around her shoulders. Dinky had a plain yellow t-shirt on, with some sweatpants instead of his usual slacks because uh—

Yeah Applejack really, really didn’t need to be here right now. And Diamond’s hair was all mussy and her tiara was askew because—and Dinky was looking at the three who entered the room, with such a scared look on his boyish face because he was just a kid who didn’t know what to—and Diamond wasn’t looking scared, just hopeless, like she got everything she wanted and it was still so wrong, like she felt betrayed... by herself.

Applejack grabbed Sunset’s wrist, and dragged her out in the hallway. Sunset barely had time to snag her jacket before Applejack had shoved past the security guard and taken her away, saying, “We’re goin’ Sunset.”

“W–wait!” she said, pulling against Applejack, “But they still need help!”

“Ah don’t care what they need, ah’ve had enough,” Applejack growled at Sunset, “I think they got plenty already. Now let’s just go!”

“Wait!” the guard shouted at them, and Applejack just shouted back at him,

“Crisis is over! Problem solved! Y’all can take care of it, like yer supposed to!”

“I still need to ask you some questions—” he started to say, but Applejack belted out,

“No! No questions! No more! Ah cain’t take one more second of this! Ah wanna go home!

A worried glance at Applejack, and Sunset said to the guy in a dangerously smooth tone, “You know where we live. Just send a report to the police, if you’d really rather take this to court, instead of keeping it out of the spotlight.”

Then she and Applejack fled the building.

The guard didn’t say they could go, but he didn’t stop them. Applejack was just... she knew that sorta stuff happened, but to them? Those two? They weren’t mean kids, or messed up, or nothing! Well, Diamond Tiara was kind of messed up, but she had been getting better! Applejack was not meant to see that, she was pretty sure. All you wanted to do was deny what was happening and pretend everything’s gonna be fine, but when you’re looking right at it, it was just impossible for Applejack to deny it.

So she just stomped right out of there, down the hall, down the stairs, and out into the night. It was probably the only time she’d ever been a building reserved solely for boys, and she couldn’t have been more disgusted. Not with those younger kids, not with what they done, Applejack was disgusted with what happened to them, what it was gonna do to them, and why Applejack had to be there, seeing it all.

“Applejack, I’m sorry,” Sunset said with honest concern, as they got to the automobile Cheerilee graciously let them borrow in the panic. “I could have handled that better. I’m sorry, it’s just the last time I interfered with these two, this is what... worked best. You don’t have to forgive me.”

“It’s fine, Sunset,” Applejack said darkly, “I just wish it weren’t the case. Is Diamond gonna be okay?”

Sunset didn’t say anything, just climbed in the driver’s seat, and patted the passenger seat. Applejack got in too, and the car revved up, departing the parking lot a lot less crazily than it came in.

“She’s usually fine,” Sunset said as they got onto the street proper. “Mentally, at least. She really does want to be a mom, if nothing else as penance for what her parents did, leaving her at the orphanage. I don’t... know much about her. I only studied that particular relationship for a handful of loops. Diamond’s kind of a wild card. She doesn’t...”

Sunset frowned at the street ahead, trailing off into silence, before saying with some concern, “She doesn’t loop the same, every time. Not quite. Something’s... wrong with her, I think. She usually goes insane, especially after really traumatic loops. Like, to the point she has to be restrained from hurting herself. Not when she befriends the CMC though. They help her at a real... crucial point in her life. I don’t know what it is, honestly. Just loneliness?”

Shaking her head, Sunset went on, saying, “It’s rare that she carries the pregnancy to term. She doesn’t have enough time to carry a pregnancy to term! Meets Dinky, falls in love, does... this, and now there aren’t 9 months left in the year. But with how early they could have come together, sometimes Diamond has... just enough time. Then the time loop rolls around, and he’s just... gone.”

“Her... she actually has a...” Applejack said in shock.

“It’s a boy,” Sunset replied with an ironic turn of her lip. Applejack didn’t even... Applejack didn’t know what to think about that. What did Sunset go through every year?

Seeming to pick up on Applejack’s stunned silence, Sunset remarked, “I could convince her to get an abortion. I know exactly what to say to her.”

“What?” Applejack said in a note of horror.

“I’ve done it before,” Sunset went on. “Not proud of it, but I did. It was better than letting it ruin her life when it alienates her from the few friends she has. Plus, who cares about a dead baby, right? It’ll all go back the way that it was before, in less than a year.”

“Sunset, that’s... that ain’t a healthy way to think,” Applejack pleaded with her. “You just don’t even care if someone’s baby d-d—”

“That’s just dark humor, sorry,” Sunset cut in. “I never tried to get her to abort after the first trimester. The only thing she loses thanks to me is a little cluster of cells, not bigger than a little speck. It’s still kind of eh... not good, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve done here, by far.”

“Well it ain’t healthy to joke about it either!” Applejack said in hot faced frustration. “She should be fine though? You said she met the Crusaders, an’ then she’s fine?”

“Befriend them, yes,” Sunset said thoughtfully. “But like I said, I don’t know what’ll happen after next September.”

Applejack counted out on her fingers, and came to the conclusion of, “7 months. Whooee.”

“She’s probably been pregnant for a while now,” Sunset muttered. “The Fall Formal is when they first meet. After that, it’s... CMC drama that decides how long they hold out.”

“The Fall Formal, that was...” Applejack paled at the thought.

“3 months ago,” Sunset said, “I don’t know how long it’s been happening this time. We ran out before I thought to check if she was—you know, showing.”

Applejack rubbed her neck, wondering what to say to that. What to say to her. Wondering about Sunset, and her supernatural knowledge. Time loops, and watching everyone’s life go by, again and again.

“Listen, Sunset,” Applejack said hesitantly, “Ah’m sorry I just ran outta there. We coulda stayed, helped them, or... something.”

“It’s fine,” Sunset said unconvincingly.

“You could see everything they did... in everything about them,” Applejack said hollowly. “Ah just couldn’t even look at them no more, because you could see everything they did... and... and they didn’t want to do it!”

The BMW they were in cruised smoothly on the highway out of town, as Sunset ruminated over Applejack’s words. “Love can make you do things you don’t want to do,” Sunset replied quietly, “I think love is the most evil force in the universe. Nobody ever died of unrequited hate for someone.”

“That... ah cain’t even begin to start on what’s wrong with that,” Applejack replied frankly, trying to read the girl’s features in the indirect glow of the headlights.

“Concentrate on that, then,” Sunset said, “Don’t dwell on their personal problems. What happened to Dinky and Diamond Tiara was... it could have been avoided, if I’d remembered, but I didn’t, so it’s done. They’ll... just have to deal with it. It’s terrible, but that’s the truth.”

The turnoff to the farm came, and soon the car was crunching over the dirt, down the long road to the center of the Apple family’s farm.

“You’re right, Sunset,” Applejack sighed. “Ah just felt so bad for them, just seeing them like that. They were just kids, Sunset!”

“They’re not all that young,” Sunset said wryly, “People—humans grow up in just 18 years! They start going into puberty as early as—well, 12, I mean! Twelve! That’s like... I can’t even imagine, if I had gone into estrus that young.”

Applejack blinked.

“Did you say... estrus?” she asked.

Sunset gave her head a little toss at that, saying, “Oh. Right. Yeah, that’s another big difference between humans and ponies. Or, similarity with horses, I suppose.”

And now Applejack was clutching her hat and feeling like she was gonna panic again. “Are you sayin’ that our entire pony population is gonna go flipping nuts in June?!” she said to Sunset shrilly.

“What?” Sunset said, turning to look at Applejack incredulously, before bringing her eyes back to the road. “Nuts?” she asked distractedly, “How crazy do horses get?”

“Well, suffice to say you never want to get behind Winona when she’s in heat,” Applejack grumbled. “But we don’t have a stallion, except Gummy but he’s gelded, so all she gets is mighty irritated that time of year. Cain’t even touch her flanks. Pisses on everything. I certainly hope that’s not what you’d call normal?”

They actually pulled up to the house entirely, before Sunset saw fit to answer.

“Well—” she said uncomfortably, “The flank thing, maybe. I mean, it’s an erogenous zone for mares. And I think it’s a universal constant pretty much, that estrus puts you in a bad mood.”

Pulling the car to a halt, Sunset pulled the parking brake and turned Applejack’s way, saying, “But come on, Applejack. Humans are even crazier! They go into estrus every month!

“Yeah, but Winona’s an angel compared to some mares,” Applejack retorted. “Break down doors, jump fences, whatever it takes to get in the company of stallions. Biting, squealin’ like a banshee. Do ponies... wink?

In the dark it wasn’t clear just how much Sunset was blushing now. She pulled open the door, getting out of the car and saying to Applejack, “You know what, I liked our old topic. Let’s go back to talking about human kids making stupid mistakes. It’s less embarassing.”

Jogging after Sunset in the icy night air as they headed toward the mostly dark farm house, Applejack said, aghast, “Ponies do go crazy, don’t they!”

“No!” Sunset shouted behind her, “No they—look, it’s like chimpanzees and humans. Ponies are... I don’t want to say more evolved, but we’re only similar to horses. And that’s Equestrian horses, rather than Earth ones. Estrus is something that every mammal experiences, except apes, so it’s humans that are the exception!”

“What are Equestrian horses like?” Applejack asked curiously.

“Well, honestly I don’t know,” Sunset said frankly, standing on the porch where the light inside provided at least some illumination of them. “Ponies pretty much took the place of horses... same ecological niche and all. Horses in Equestria are less of an equipological thing, and more... archaeological. Generally, what are considered the direct descendents of horses are smaller, and more foragers than browsers now... donkeys, basically.”

“Donkeys?!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, from where she was peeking her little white nose through the front door. “Ponies are like donkeys?”

Sunset paused.

“Uh... honestly Sweetie Belle, I specialized in sorcery and omniothaumology,” Sunset told the little unicorn filly, crouching down to speak with her. “You’d have to ask an equipologist to be sure, maybe a specialist in paleoequipology. But in other news, hello Sweetie Belle! What are you still doing up?”

“Worrying about Dinky and Diamond Tiara,” Sweetie Belle said seriously.

“Oh... we did kind of run out on you, didn’t we,” Sunset said, downright abashed by it.

“It’s okay,” Sweetie said testily, gazing up at Sunset through the open door now. “Did you get to them in time?” she asked.

Sunset squared her lips, and said, “Nnnno. But I think we stopped the chance of any further incidents.”

Sweetie Belle grew a little blush, as she asked, “So, is Diamond Tiara... pregnant?”

This conversation was important and all, but it was a real cold night. Winter hadn’t quite let go of ‘em yet, after all. Applejack didn’t want to break ‘em up, but she was starting to get kind of cold.

“Can’t say at this point,” Sunset lied to Sweetie Belle, “But I’m sure she’ll be finding out pretty soon, if she is.”

“How will she know?” Sweetie asked innocently.

Applejack cleared her throat, couldn’t quite get around Sunset and the girl.

“Oh, you don’t know about pregnancy tests?” Sunset replied curiously looking down at the tiny unicorn.

“Oh,” Sweetie said without humor, “No, I’ve heard of those.” She added in a whisper to Sunset, “(I think you pee on them!)”

“Y’all’re gonna have to cut this conversation short, ah’m afraid,” Applejack cut in. “Freezin’ mah toes off out here!”

The two girls carefully walked inside, where the body heat from all the ponies and humans was enough alone to keep the living room warm. Kicking off her boots, Applejack found herself yawning, and noticing Sweetie Belle was still standing there beside them, said, “We should probably all be gettin’ to bed... and homework, respectively.”

Sweetie Belle stuck her tongue out at that. “I shouldn’t be sleeping either. I still have homework, and it’s due tomorrow,” she whinnied chirpily. “Too much to do, with how much we have to sleep!”

Applejack had to smile sadly at that, ruffling the girl’s soft pink and purple curls. “Just... deal with it as best you cain, Sweetie,” she reccomended, “At least you can get your homework... eventually. I honestly envy you, for all that sleep you get. You start feeling worn out on 6 or 7 hours of sleep, even as a big sorta-grown-up high school girl like me. But what cain you do?”

“Not do school,” Sweetie said in a disgusted tone.

“I think we’re all a bit cranky this late at night,” Sunset cut in catching both of their attention, “Plus with that... thing with Diamond Tiara. I’m really sorry I dragged you into that, Applejack. I really didn’t think that through.”

“Well... at least you didn’t try to drag Cheerilee along with too,” Applejack said amiably to Sunset Shimmer. “Besides you were right. You needed somebody there to keep you sane.”

“Heh,” Sunset chuckled quietly, then her eyes flicked up and she said, “Oh, by the way where is Cheerilee? Is she asleep yet?”

“We were waiting for you, and kind of fell asleep,” Sweetie admitted. “I woke up when I heard the car coming, but I think she’s still asleep, over there by the couch.”

“Guess we can get her caught up tomorrow,” Sunset said with a sigh. “Sort of out of our hands at this point.”

“You did good, Sunset,” Applejack said encouragingly.

Sunset smiled at Applejack, and said, “I hope so... this time I have to make it count.”

“So... what was that about estrus?” Sweetie Belle asked innocently.

Sunset’s palm transformed into a face seeking missile.


The fallout over Diamond Tiara and Dinky’s... mistake was pretty minimal, as far as Apple Bloom was concerned. She didn’t get the full story when they woke up in the morning, because they all had to go to school, and it was a bit too awkward for a synopsis on the way there. She talked about it with Sweetie and Scootaloo at lunch though, in hushed tones, of course. There were a number of people who had overheard the initial overreaction, but everyone still wanted to keep this sort of low key, if only for the sake of those two kids.

It got Apple Bloom thinking about her butt a whole lot more. Was it really that easy to go and do that sort of thing? What had those two been thinking, and could it happen to her? And that got her talking with Sunset and Twilight about it a whole lot more. Just to settle her doubts at first, but then it was just fascinating how much those girls knew about pony biology. Twilight especially, as Sunset’s knowledge was quite a few decades rustier than it ought to be. Especially since Twilight was a lot less weirded out by the idea.

“So... ponies have estrus,” Apple Bloom said uncertainly to Twilight who was all too happy to educate her, “And that’s like menstruation, but happens once a year, not once a month?”

“Essentially,” Twilight replied, while Apple Bloom went and put off her homework again, so she’d have some time to learn something from this girl. Apple Bloom was seated at Twilight’s feet while the girl sat on the couch, reading something or another, but Twilight was quick to put down the book when Apple Bloom came around, because she loved to have a chance to teach someone something.

“Ponies however, absorb the uterine lining rather than just... leaking it out,” Twilight continued, “I can tell you that was a surprise for me, the first year I came here! Humans sure have a crazy biology, from my perspective at least.”

“Yeah, um... ah know, I guess,” Apple Bloom said a little embarassedly. “I was kind of wondering why I stopped... you know. That. But with four legs under me, I just assumed it was a pony thing. I guess I’m... too young for that estrus sort of thing?”

“Well, yes you have quite a ways to er... grow, assuming we don’t get this all cleared up and return you to your original forms,” Twilight said. “Pre-estrus doesn’t begin until around age 20, when you have your growth spurt.”

Pre-estrus?” Apple Bloom said skeptically.

“I—I’m not a—a qualified authority to ask about the biological specifics of that um... stuff but it isn’t... bad?” Twilight said with an uneasy smile. “So anyway,” she went on, “It occurs naturally when the length of day reaches between...”

Apple Bloom was still worried about it at school some days later, trying to pay attention while professor Berry tried to ignore her hangover from last weekend. The teacher ran a hand through her straw blonde hair, grumbling something out about the war of 1812, or about her past weekend, it wasn’t really clear. Apple Bloom was remembering her own human growth spurt, and the weird excitement she felt when she had shot up 4 inches taller from the previous year, more than ever before. It’d been kind of achy, but not too bad overall, and she could reach stuff so much higher.

And she was counting the years... pony years until she hit 20. It wasn’t longer than Apple Bloom’d been alive, but it wasn’t far off. She wanted to be there, and be past all this being little stuff, but... really she couldn’t find too much to complain about. She could run faster than when her legs were longer, and she wasn’t having any problem with jumping and climbing to get at what she needed. Really the loss of hands was harder on her than the loss of height. She wanted to be all big and stuff again, and maybe look eye to eye with her sister one day, but... it also felt fine where she was right now. Natural-like.

It was weird enough being a horse thing, Apple Bloom didn’t know what she’d do if she had to deal with having an adult’s problems on top of that.

At least they’d finally found a new location for their club meetings.

Author's Note:

Note: Dinky died on his way back to his home planet.

Seriously though, there is always going to be a lot going on behind the scenes, sometimes. It is a whole city, and a very large cast. Not everything happens in the same place or happens to every character. So, sorry if this came out of the blue, and sorry in advance if it fades back into the blue. This story is not “Dinky knocks up Diamond, The Musical” after all.

Um.. Diamond, Dinky, where are you right now, cause if it's where I think it is, :applejackconfused: - raven618 :rainbowderp:

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