Rest of Their Lives

by babyuknowme13

Applebloom Begins to Grow

Chapter 6: Applebloom Begins to Grow!

Applebloom made her way towards Fluttershy’s cottage by the edge of the Everfree forest. The day was warm and sunny, the birds were chirping, and nothing was moving on the edge of the forest so she probably wouldn’t get attacked by a manticore again.

Fluttershy was outside saying hello to all her animal pals, so Applebloom marched right on over.

“Howdy, Fluttershy!” She made sure that she didn’t come up in the nervous pegasus’ blind spot.

“Oh, hello, Applebloom.” Fluttershy returned her greeting. “How was school today?”

“It was good!” She smiled, pleased they’d gotten to the subject already. She would be the first to say she wasn’t the best at beating around the bush. “The Crusaders and Ah learned something new about Equestrian society today.”

“Really? What did you girls learn?” Fluttershy looked around curiously when she couldn’t find the other two fillies.

“Scootaloo went to find Rainbow Dash to tell her about what we learned, and Sweetie Bell wanted to be with Rarity for a while.” Applebloom explained. “Anyway, we learned about herd instinct today.”

“You did?” She seemed surprise. “Huh, I don’t think herd instinct was even mentioned until final year.”

“Ms. Cheerilee explained it to Sweetie Bell because everypony’s been real worried for her since yesterday.” She explained again.

“I heard about that as well.” Now the timid pony looked uncharacteristically hostile. Applebloom hadn’t seen her so mad since the cockatrice. “It’s just awful!”

“Oh, but, you were saying you learned about herd instinct.” She blushed.

“Yeah, we learned of how ponies used to fight monsters and stuff whenever they had foals because they couldn’t run away.” She nodded. “And we learned how so many foals are born when there aren’t a lot of stallions!”

“You did?” She gasped. “My, that certainly is…uhm, progressive of Ms. Cheerilee.”

“Oh no, she didn’t tell us that! Silver Spoon explained all about the ESC law!” Applebloom corrected her. “All of us went around the playground asking the other foals if they knew both their parents, but most of them didn’t!”

“Then Scootaloo got to wondering whether or not any of us had any half-siblings we didn’t already know about and—!” She was interrupted by Fluttershy’s horrified gasp.

“You said Scootaloo went to find Rainbow Dash?” She asked worriedly.

“Uh, yeah?” She was suddenly swept onto the back of the yellow mare as they flew faster than Applebloom had ever seen Fluttershy go before.

“This is terrible! Applebloom, we went to Canterlot to attend Rainbow’s father’s funeral!” She yelled over her shoulder.

“What!?” Now she understood Fluttershy’s panic.

“Yes, and Rainbow only then found out that she has a half-brother!” She continued as they neared town. “If Scootaloo brings that up without being sensitive she could hurt Rainbow’s feelings and poor little Fast Pace!”

“Who’s Fast Pace?” She asked.

“He’s Rainbow’s brother, he’s going to be living with her from now on!” She told her. “Quick, we have to find Scootaloo!”

“There!” Applebloom cried, pointing to the orange filly on her scooter. She must still be looking for Rainbow Dash.

“Scootaloo, stop!” They both cried.

After a hasty explanation they were both taken to Sugarcube Corner for milkshakes. Fluttershy paid for both of them and gave them the longer version of the past few days’ events. Scootaloo was appalled that she’d nearly been so insensitive to her mentor’s feelings.

“Phew,” She sighed in relief. “Good thing you caught me when you did. I’d just heard that somepony had seen her flying towards her house!”

“Yeah, dodged one there.” Applebloom agreed.

“It’s alright, girls.” Fluttershy reassured them.

“We just wanted to know if you and Rainbow Dash knew who your dads were.” Scootaloo slumped in her seat.

“Oh well, Rainbow’s always known her father, Quick Dive, but wasn’t particularly close to him. She only recently found out about Fast Pace and she’s taking custody of him now.” She told them. “And, um, I’ve only met my father once.”

“Really?” Applebloom asked, interested.

“Oh yes, I met him after I graduated, when I first moved to Ponyville.” She smiled at the memory. “My mother had written to him telling him about me and he’d wanted to meet me because I inherited his talent.”

“He’s a zookeeper in Las Pegasus, his name is Lion Tamer. We’re pen pals now.” She explained.

“That reminds me,” Scootaloo spoke. “I’ve still got to run home and ask my mom about my dad. Thanks for the milkshake, Fluttershy.”

“Ah should get home to do my chores too.” Applebloom stood up. “Thanks again for the milkshake, Fluttershy.”

“Any time, girls.” She waved them both off.

Applebloom couldn’t believe how crazy the last couple of days had been. She’d thought things would slow down a bit once they had their cutie marks, but it didn’t look that way. One thing was for sure, she was going to give Applejack a huge hug when she got home, and one for Big Mac too! She couldn’t imagine ever living life without knowing she had a big brother and a big sister.

“Aw shucks sugarcube, ah wasn’t gone that long.” Applejack laughed as Applebloom latched onto her.

“Ah know, ah’m just really glad you’re my sister and ah know you!” She smiled.

“What do you mean by that?” Her sister blinked.

A few minutes later the three Apple siblings were bucking trees together. Applebloom didn’t have the muscle or stamina to do it full time just yet, but she was learning all the same.

“Hey Big Mac, are ya gonna sire any foals soon? The ESC says ya have to!” She asked excitedly.

“Not yet I don’t.” He shook his head. “I want to raise my foals with a good mare, not just sire’em.”

“Ah didn’t think of that.” She sobered. Why would a stallion ever want to have foals if they weren’t gonna raise them with the Ma?

The next day the Cutie Mark crusaders went to Town Hall to look up the birth certificates. As they worked, under the careful eye of Mayor Mare, Scootaloo told them about what she’d learned from her mother.

“His name is Slap Dash and he’s some kinda repair pony, but mom said he wasn’t a very good one.” She informed them.

None of their classmates had any half-siblings in the same town, but a few were listed as having brothers and sisters in other places.

“Ya know, Crusaders,” Applebloom looked over the papers they’d collected. “This gives me an idea!”

“What is it?” Sweetie asked excitedly.

“Family trees!” Applebloom told them. “We’ve always got to do one really big end-of-the-year project, remember? Last year we did that whole Circle-of-Life thing.”

“Oh yeah, we made some of the younger foals cry.” Scootaloo winced at the memory.

“This time, Ah say we do a family tree. A huge one for everypony in Ponyville!” She proposed. “We go around get everypony’s family tree written down!”

“Hey yeah!” Sweetie Bell seemed to get the idea. “But that’d take a lot of paper, what if we just paint it on some plywood instead?”

“Good thinking.” Applebloom nodded. “But for now let’s worry about getting those family trees.”

Her sister always said family and friends were the most important things in Equestria. Maybe it was time to make sure everypony else knew it too.

Author's Note:

Ta-da! Little bonus chapter! I'll try not to be away for so long this time but we'll see.

Comments

[Pablo]

I like where this is going