It Runs In the Family

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 6

"You knew our parents?" Applejack asked Sour Grape at the dinner table in the farmhouse. Shortly after she was introduced to Apple Bloom, the youngest Apple insisted that she had dinner with them so they can hear more stories about their parents.

Sour chuckled sweetly, "That I did."

Big Mac and Sugar Belle sat next to each other as the stallion inquired, "For how long?"

The unicorn replied, "Oh, very long. Your mother was my best friend while your father was my best guy friend. I can remember spending every summer by the swimming hole with him and I can recall visiting your mom every Hearth's Warming Eve to exchange presents and making gingerbread cookies together."

Applejack asked, "But how come we've never heard of you before? Even when Ma and Pa were still…" she paused before saying, "still here, they never told us about a friend name Sour Grape."

Sour felt slightly annoyed by that, Humph, you would think the two oldest friends I ever had and loved would at least make some kind of mention about me to their children… It's like I didn't even mattered to them! But she was careful not to show her anger as she put on a polite smile and said.

"Well I'm sure it's because I left without them knowing."

Apple Bloom asked, "Why did you do that?"

Sour answered, "Oh, I had my reasons, very good reasons in fact."

Sugar Belle questioned, "What were they?"

The older unicorn merely stated, "That's personal, I'm afraid." taking a sip from her drink.

Applejack furrowed her brow at that. Something was off about this pony that knew her parents. Why was she never mention before by her parents and for that matter why did this pony open up about her past with them but then kept quiet about why she left her friends without them knowing?

Sour motioned to Applejack, "By the way, I noticed that ring around your neck; may I ask who your intended is?"

AJ touched her engagement ring and stated, "His name is Spike. I've known him since he first came to Ponyville a long time ago."

The unicorn asked, "And was it love at first sight?"

Applejack replied, "Actually, no. You see, he was young at the time and I didn't really notice him until he saved me from a giant Timberwolf!"

Sour exclaimed, "My goodness!"

"But even then, I didn't realize I was having a slight attraction to him."

Apple Bloom pointed out, "And it also has to do with the fact that Spike had a crush on someone else."

Her sister muttered bitterly, "Yes, there was that too."

That made Sour more intrigued to these Apples' love lives as she questioned, "Your fiancé was in love with someone else?"
Applejack sighed and said, "Yeah, he did, but when he got older he grew out of it." she muttered under her breath, "Thank goodness."

Sour turned to Mac and Sugar, "So what's your story then?"

Sugar Belle replied, "Big Mac and I met when I needed apples for my bakery in my old hometown and he kept delivering them giving us the chance to get to know each other and because of that we started having affections toward the other."

Mac pointed to Apple Bloom, "But I was too shy to admit my feelins' that if it wasn't for this little troublemaker and her friends, I wouldn't have had the courage to court Sugar in the first place."

Apple Bloom was blushing in embarrassment while Sugar nuzzled up to Mac as she said, "Especially since there was a chance I would have ended up with Featherbangs instead."

Sour was fascinated by the story now and asked, "Another colt would have gotten you if your husband hadn't made a move?"

Sugar nodded, "That's right."

Then the old unicorn turned to the youngest Apple member and inquired, "And you? Do you have a special somepony?"

"Yup, you saw him this afternoon, his name is Pip, though… I did actually had this one other special somepony before him…"

That peaked the unicorn's interest, "Oh really? Do tell."

Apple Bloom made a tiny wince while her siblings gave her sad looks.

Sour noticed their looks and asked, "Is something wrong?"

AB responded sadly, "It's just… it's still hard to bring it up, but I will try."

SG slowly said, "You don't have to." but she secretly wanted to hear the story as it could prove useful in her plans.

Apple Bloom replied, "It's okay, talking about it helps me heal from the experience." she took a deep breath, "We met as foals in a dance studio…" She kept on talking until she reached the end with a sad look on her face, "…then we broke up."

Sour Grape shook her head in pity, "How awful that must have been for you…"

"Oh, it was…" she sighed, "Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get over him…"

Applejack, Mac, and Sugar Belle exchanged looks hoping that she would indeed get over it.

Sour let out a tiny smirk as she magically held her drink to her lips, "Oh, I'm sure you will, dear…" she took a sip.

---

When dinner was over, Sour Grape gave her thanks to the Apples and started to head out just as Applejack offered.

"Are you sure one of us can't escort you back to town and to the inn?"

"Oh, please, don't make a fuss over me. I'll be fine, I did grow up here after all and I've had my share of walking home at night."

The middle Apple slowly said, "Well… if you're sure…"

Sour sweetly responded, "Very sure." she went out the door.

Once she was sure she was out of earshot she said to herself, "So it seems love triangles run in the family too. Granted, Pear Butter and Bright Mac never did know about my attachment to them but the fact remains that their kids have experienced similar problems regarding their love lives. And from what I can tell, the youngest one still has feelings from her previous romance… This Tender Taps and her were very close until he moved away to Manehattan to become a big star. Perhaps I should have a visit with his young colt to see if he feels the same…"

She made a malicious grin.

---

Tender Taps bowed before the applauding assembly with roses being thrown at him. The curtains then closed on him giving him the chance to drop his smile and sighed deeply. The adoring applause would have been more enjoyable if a certain red-haired mare with golden eyes was in the audience tonight and every other night when he performs. When he was first offered this job, he was so sure his marefriend would have come with him, she herself had told him she was coming with him but at the last minute she changed her mind and decided to stay in Ponyville.

The fight they had afterwards would forever haunt him…

"What?! But you said-"

She held her hooves up in defense, "I know what I said! But I wasn't thinkin' clearly on it!"

"Not thinking clearly?! You call being in love not thinking clearly?!"

"No! Of course not! Believe me, Tender, when you first asked me to come with you, I was so happy that I would have given anything to be with you in that moment!"

He could feel the tears about to escape him, "Then why, Apple Bloom?"

She sighed, "If things were different, I would get on that train right this second, but I need to think of my family and my friends… I love Ponyville and I love Sweet Apple Acres, but more importantly, I love my family… I can't leave them now not with Granny gone… And my work as a Cutie Mark Crusader is too much for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to handle on their own. I'm needed here… And you of all ponies should know that…" she looked at him with big eyes.

He turned his head away with guilt and said, "I can never thank you enough for that…" he faced her again, "And it was because that moment I started having feelings for you…"

She slightly smiled, "I felt the same…"

Then he frowned, "But if you're going to stay here from now on and I'm going to live in Manehattan how are we going to make this work?"

The tears came fast as she spoke, "I guess… we don't…"

His own tears fell, "So this is it? This is goodbye…?"

She sadly nodded her head.

He was about to say it until a part of him stopped him and he quickly got on the train without saying another word. Apple Bloom stood there in shock and watched as the train slowly moved out of the train station.

He muttered as he made his way back to his dressing room, "I'm sorry, Apple Bloom, but I just couldn't say it… You still mean too much to me…"

A voice suddenly spoke out, "Aw, she would be so pleased to hear that…"

He turned to see a dark figure hiding in the shadows of backstage. He demanded, "Whose there?! Who are you?! Answer me! Or I will call security!"

"Oh, there's no need for that… I am but a humble mare who happens to know the love of your life…"

His eyes widen in surprise, "Apple Bloom?"

The figure chuckled, "That's right. I'm actually an old friend of the family as I had dinner with them the other night and she told me all about you…"

"She did?"

"Oh, she did, and I can tell how upset she was when she told me about your break-up."

Tender looked down shamefully.

"She also told me she had a new coltfriend…"

His head shot up and he exclaimed in fury, "WHAT?!"

"Now why are you getting angry? You left her after all. Of course she was going to move on to someone else…"

Tender uttered in disbelief, "But I thought we… we had something special, something that could never be replaced…"

"Or perhaps… she didn't love you as much as you thought she did…"

He retorted, "Of course she loved me!" he caught himself, "That is… She does love me! I can bet you she still loves me!"

"Then… wouldn't you like to prove it?" The figure levitated a vial full of red liquid in front of him and took out the cork, making some of the liquid turn into a gas and it went out of the bottle to surround Tender's face before it went into his eyes making them temporarily red before returning to his normal violet color.

He rubbed his eyes with his arm, asking, "What was that?"

The figure slowly went back further into the shadows as she said, "Just something that will give you a boost of confidence to win back the girl…"

Tender stopped rubbing to see that the figure was gone.

Who was that mare? Well, that's not important right now, if what she said was true, then I need to get back to Ponyville to see for myself this new boyfriend Apple Bloom has…

He called out, "Stage manager!"

An earth pony with a headset and clipboard came to him, "Yes, Mr. Taps, sir?"

"I need you to tell the boss that I won't be able to perform for awhile, I'm cashing in my vacation time as of right now."

The manager inquired, "Are you sure, sir?"

"Yes, something has come up and I need to attend to it right away."

"Very well, sir, I will let him know."

"Thank you." he went into the dressing room to start packing all while his eyes would turn a shade darker.

Author's Note:

Lack of updates are the same reasons I put in the latest The Tail of Robin Jack chapter, but this story had little to no reviews at all! That really upset me because I really like this idea I made for the story, okay so maybe it has a cliché plotline but I'm making as different as possible so it's new and realistic. Feedback on how to improve the story is always helpful to me because I just want to give the readers the best I can offer in my stories.

Comments

[Godslittleprincess]

Finally! I was wondering when this story was going to get updated. Gee, I'm getting this weird sinking feeling that Sour Grape's going to go after Rarity and Featherbangs next. Wait. Rarity is with the rest of the Mane 6 on a map mission, so she's probably safe, maybe. Hold it. What if Sour wrongly assumes that Spike's old crush was Sweetie Belle and goes after her instead? The suspense is killing me.

[MySisterBroughtMeHere]

Suspense. Tension. Now here comes the shocks and thrills.

[Foxhelm]

Well... Tender has been played.
So we have to worry about Spike and Sugar Belle... Why do I get the feeling that Sour Grapes will be stopped in her plan by the three fan-mares... . So that really leaves Spike.

Well as Meat Loaf once sang, "Two out Three Ain't Bad."