For Want of a Horseshoe Nail

by Sixes_And_Sevens

Maturity

Apple Bloom didn’t know where she was. Well. That wasn’t quite true. She knew she was still in the TARDIS, but that wasn’t much of a help, really. She was certain that she had run at least enough to have crossed the south orchard twice over, and the corridors showed no sign of stopping. At last, she sat down against a wall, her heart racing and sweat trickling down her brow. Her coat had grown matted with perspiration, and her hooves felt as though they were about to fall off. She stared blindly at the wall, registering nothing as her mind began to slow down from its violent whirling anger. She had yelled at Zecora. She had YELLED at Zecora. For what? Because the zebra had called her a child? She felt her face heat up. Then she had stormed out of the room without another word, thus thoroughly proving the zebra absolutely right. She slumped back, banging her head against the wall. She squeezed her eyelids together tightly. They were right. They all had been right. As salty tears began to mingle with the sweat on her face, faces and figures began to swirl out of the darkness. Diamond Tiara strutted out first, Silver Spoon not two steps behind her. Their smirks were almost identical. “Well, well,” the pink mare stated with a sneer. “Looks like the little baby’s crying.”

“What’s wrong?” Silver cut in. “Couldn’t get your cutie mark in throwing tantrums? Try napping. Or maybe playing with your rattle. I’m sure you’ll get one eventually.”

“Not!” Diamond added with a malicious grin.

Apple Bloom took a shaky breath. “No. This ain’t real. We made friends…”

“Like we’d ever be friends with a baby blank-flank like you,” Silver snarled.

Their faces melted and swirled, reforming into Zecora and Maple. The pegasus looked at her with anxious eyes. “Does ‘oo want me to hold your li’l hoof?” she cooed.

Zecora nodded, eyes full of mock concern, though a smile flickered over her face. “It would not do for an accident to befall/ one earth pony filly, who is so small.”

“Ah can take care o’ mahself,” Bloom snapped at the phantasms.

“Can you?” Maple challenged, eyes hardening. “I seem to remember that Thunderlane found you hiding in your little clubhouse, bawling.”

Bloom colored, half in embarrassment and half in fury. “An’ so what if Ah was?” she asked, indignant. “Mare can cry if she needs ta, can’t she? An’ what business is it o’ yours, anyhow?”

“Don’t talk to your mother like that,” he father interjected. The two elements had been replaced by her parents.

Apple Bloom scowled, beginning to catch on. “This is some kinda dream, ain’t it? You two are dead. Ya died a long time ago.” She swallowed thickly. “Yer meant t’ be gone.”

“We don’ have to be,” her mother replied.

Bloom’s mouth pursed to hide her trembling lower lip. “Ah reckon ya do,” she said firmly.

“Aw, c’mon now,” her father coaxed. “Wouldn’t it be somethin’? All us Apples back together again… Ah reckon that’d be somethin’ t’ try…”

Apple Bloom hesitated, and was lost. The images of her parents swirled away in the darkness. “Wait. Wait! Don’t go!”

“Apple Bloom.”

The yellow mare’s eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright. Maud Pie stood over her, regarding the younger earth pony with what could only be called dispassionate interest. “You were having a nightmare.”

Bloom swallowed and blinked back tears. “Yeah. Yeah, I reckon Ah was,” she said hoarsely.

Maud nodded once. “Tell me about it.” Despite the abrupt nature of the request, Bloom felt oddly reassured.

“Well,” she began, and then described the series of apparitions that her mind had conjured up. When she was done, Maud nodded, and the intensity of her gaze lessened slightly.

“I see. So you fear being seen as childish.”

“Well, Ah dunno ‘bout ‘fear’...”

“Fear,” Maud repeated, slightly more firmly. “An interesting one to have. Most ponies are more afraid of change than they are of constancy.” She stared at Apple Bloom. “Why do you not wish to be a child?”

Bloom’s face grew drawn and hard. “Because Ah can’t get no respect. Because nopony thinks Ah can do nothin’. Because whenever Ah do somethin, Ah get a pat on th’ head and nothin’ more! An’ it’s real patronizin’! Ah don’ wanna be a kid ‘cause Ah wanna be a grown mare!”

She stood there for a long second, panting slightly. Maud blinked slowly. “I see. That seems reasonable.”

Bloom was nonplussed. “It— it is?”

Maud nodded assent. “Yes. It is an eminently logical enthymeme. You desire respect. Children do not command respect. Therefore, you wish to not be a child. Thoroughly logical, though the premise is flawed.”

“Flawed? What’d you mean?”

“You assume that you have no respect simply due to your age. This is not necessarily true. I respect you.”

Bloom blinked. “You do?”

Maud nodded. “Yes. You have been thrown into another time stream, separated from all you know to be true. Yet you continue to function. The lack of respect given to you is not due to your age.”

Bloom scowled. “Why, then?” she demanded. “Explain it to me. Be sure t’ use small words, so’s Ah can understand.”

Maud nodded. “That.” she said simply. “That is the reason ponies do not respect you as much as you wish.”

Bloom’s brow furrowed. “Come again?”

“Before you obtain respect, you must first give it,” the Stoic elaborated. “Being rude to those who are trying to help you, shouting unnecessarily, storming away in the middle of a conversation… these are not how respect is earned.”

Bloom winced. “That was kinda stupid of me, weren’t it.”

“Yes.”

Bloom snorted in faint amusement. “Boy howdy, you sure don’t pull punches. Y’sure y’all ain’t really Honesty?”

“Yes. Honesty concerns saying what is true. Loyalty simply concerns saying what somepony needs to hear.” Maud rose to her hooves. “I would say that what Zecora needs to hear right now is an apology.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah’d say yer right.”

“One more thing.” Bloom glanced at the grey mare. Dull, cool, violet eyes seemed to soften slightly. “Don’t grow up too quickly. You can only be a child once. Make the most of that.”

Bloom studied the older mare closely. “Ah will,” she said slowly. “Ah most certainly will.”

Maud stood still and silent as she watched the yellow mare trot away toward the control room. How much she was reminded of her sister at that moment, pink and bright and never quite fitting in with the world. None of them had, really, but Pinkie was something different. She never seemed to fit in with herself, not even quite knowing what was missing. She never had a chance to learn. She closed her eyes. “I miss you,” she whispered.

***

Zecora stood idly at the monitor, regarding it vaguely and with only half a mind focused on it. The other half was pounding on her skull with drumsticks. You fool, she thought gravely. There was no real need to be so secretive. She managed to adapt to an alternate universe. How much more troubling would she find Thunderlane’s inner struggles?

And yet, there was no need to burden her with such knowledge, she argued back. Regardless of how mature she is, it was not my place to say.

Always the riddler. I can never quite bring myself to say quite what I mean. She sighed heavily and gently let her head bounce off the screen, her mane splaying every direction.

“Uh. This a bad time?”

Zecora’s eyes popped open and she lifted her head from the screen. “Apple Bloom? Back so soon?”

“Uh… yeah.” The yellow filly scuffed her forehoof against the floor. “Ah came t’ say Ah’m sorry. I shouldn’ta jes’ stormed out on ya like that. You didn’t do nothin’ wrong.”

A faint smile crossed Zecora’s features. “I thank you for that, my dear young mare. To call you a child was most unfair.”

To her surprise, Bloom shook her head. “No. Ah reckon ya hit th’ nail on th’ head with that one. Ah ain’t grown up jes’ yet, an Ah don’ think Ah will be fer a good while. But Ah’m gonna try.”

Maud slunk in through the double doors that whooshed gently closed behind her. Zecora glanced up. “Excuse me, Bloom, for just a second— There’s something I would like to check on.”

Bloom nodded once, a smile fluttering over her face as she trotted over to the exterior monitor. Zecora leaned in close to Maud and murmured quietly, “This about-face is quite absurd. How do you always know what needs to be heard?”

A faint smile formed on the grey mare’s face. “I grew up with three little sisters. One went into hysterics if you looked at her wrong, one didn’t say a word until she was eight, and one tried to dig a tunnel to the center of Gaea when she was nine. After that, this is nothing.”

Zecora let out a light snuffle of amusement. “Well, thank you for saving me from despairing. Now, how do you suppose the others are faring?”

Comments

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

A faint smile formed on the grey mare’s face. “I grew up with three little sisters. One went into hysterics if you looked at her wrong, one didn’t say a word until she was eight, and one tried to dig a tunnel to the center of Gaea when she was nine. After that, this is nothing.”

She wanted to know if the center was caramel or nougat

[Prince Leviathan]

Man...im afraid to know where AltPinkie is..

10138935
Actually it's made of Strawberry Cream Cheese.
The Moon has Nutella