Apple Bloom’s Secret

by YourUncleFuncle

You’re Never Truly Alone

Sweetie Belle was frozen on the couch next to Rarity, trying to think of an answer to her question. She couldn’t reveal the real origin of the word in her mind, especially now that she knew what it meant. Apple Bloom would be mortified, embarrassed, and she would lose all trust and faith in her if she was to tell anypony about this.

She was essentially stuck between a rock and a hard place, and she was just searching for a way around it when an idea popped into her head. A diabolical one that Apple Bloom, and most certainly the earth pony’s older sister would absolutely abhor. Lie.

“A kid in my class called me it today,” Sweetie Belle explained, trying to sound as confident as possible, “I didn’t know what it meant so I asked you.”

Rarity gasped and put her hooves to her chin in horror. It wasn’t like when she passed out from pure shock, instead it was more of worry for her little sister. After a few seconds her expression changed to one of anger. “Who?”

Sweetie Belle flinched at the question, which sounded like a villain from a movie when her big sister asked it. She quickly ran through a list of fillies and colts into her class until she landed on one that seemed plausible. “It was Diamond Tiara.”

“Again?!” Rarity shrieked in disbelief, “This is at least the fourth time this year that filly has done something like this.” She sadly looked to her little sister and hugged her, tears almost welling up in her eyes as she did so, “Sweetie Belle, I’m so sorry she has done something like this to you! She had no right to call you such an offensive name, and I will see to it that this behavior of hers stops immediately!”

She then got off the couch and trotted over to her desk, activating her horn to levitate a piece of paper and a quill toward her. Sweetie Belle got up from the couch and followed her, and tried to get a glimpse of the note. Rarity noticed this and gave her a comforting smile.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that mean old bully, darling. Rarity’s going to make sure something like this never happens to you again.”

“Oh, alright,” Sweetie Belle said softly. She wasn’t sure if it was out of fear or out of protection for her friend, but she didn’t reveal the truth.

Eventually Rarity finished her letter and began to walk outside, presumably to put the letter in the mailbox. Afterwards she came back inside and went into the kitchen.

“Now that that’s taken care of, would you please be a dear and help me set the table while I clean up this mess?” She pointed toward the green plate she dropped and went into a closet to get a broom and dustpan.

—————————————————-

Apple Bloom was once again in the dream realm, waiting for something to happen. After her friends had come and gone Applejack had come upstairs a few more times to check on her, and once to bring her dinner, before Apple Bloom turned in early for the night. She still felt drained and mentally exhausted from her day, and even from the night before.

Although the memory of the dream had subsided in her mind slightly, it was still playing in the back of her head, with the flowery scenery and the loving kiss being turned into a fiery scenery and scorn from her friends and loved ones.

There was also the Princess and the overarching concern that she had heard and seen everything. It was possible that she thought nothing about it, but it seemed like she could’ve put two and two together. After all, if anypony could find insecurity in somepony else, especially in the dream, it was the Princess of the Night.

All of these fears were balanced out with the utter exhaustion she felt from the events leading up to her now sitting in bed, presumably ill, and she had no problem falling asleep.

This time, however, there was nothing in her dream. No environment, nopony else, not even light. Nothing.

Not that Apple Bloom really minded. After the demonic dream from the night before, she couldn’t really complain, either, because that had been terrifying. This just felt like one of those dreams that you forget right when you wake up in the morning. She almost felt a certain calm, not really having anything to do, she just decided to sit down and enjoy the silence of the dream, breathing in and out.

It almost reminded her of the time Sweetie Belle had convinced the rest of the crusaders to try to get their cutie marks in meditation, which went about as good as you might expect. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom didn’t have the patience to sit around and do nothing, and Sweetie Belle barely did, so their attempts ended about five minutes in and they went on to try for the more exciting taekwondo cutie mark.

“Maybe this is what Ah had been missing this whole time. This headspace is a great way to clear mah thoughts and worries. Who knew all Ah needed was a nice, plan, quiet dream?”

“I did.”

Apple Bloom jumped at the sound of the voice and turned around to see where it had come from. She could’ve probably guessed without looking, so she wasn’t as surprised to see the same alicorn princess from a night ago as she was that she had somehow been able to read her thoughts.

“P-princess Luna,” Apple Bloom stuttered, “what are you doing back here?”

“I came to check on you again, young filly. It is uncommon for me to visit the same pony’s dreams two nights in a row, however it’s not unheard of,” Luna explained, walking closer to the filly.

“So why have you then?” Apple Bloom said as she started to shy away from the princess as she got closer, avoiding all eye contact.

Luna kept trotting forward until she closed the distance between the two before laying down next to the small filly, bringing herself to the other pony’s height to make her seem less scary. She had learned it as a technique when she was still learning the proper etiquette of being a modern princess.

“When I went into your dream last night, I saw how much it scared you, even after I took it away.”

Apple Bloom shifted nervously where she stood. “Y-you saw it?”

Luna nodded, but because Apple Bloom couldn’t see her, she received no response. “I feared that you may have the same nightmare twice in a row, as it happens with our fears sometimes, so I made your dream calm and tranquil for you.”

She looked down at the scared earth pony who was shivering in fear, still refusing to give any indication of understanding, so Luna continued.

“When you ran away from me, I feared that there was a fear connected to the dream, that it was paralleled with something that you must be having to face.”

Apple Bloom looked up at Luna for the first time since the alicorn had come into her dream. She finally spoke again, her voice in a squeaky whisper, “You know?”

“I suspected, Apple Bloom,” Luna explained, “and I can see that the secret is tearing you up inside.”

“It’s not fair, Princess Luna! Ah don’t want to feel this way!” Apple Bloom cried as her eyes started to fill with tears.

“It’s not a choice, it’s just how you were born-”

“But why did Ah have to be born like this?”

Luna’s eyes widened in surprise at the interruption from the filly, but before she could say anything, Apple Bloom continued speaking, tears stinging her eyes and now threatening to spill out, “Ah want to be normal like my friends and family! Ah want to like colts like mah sister Applejack, not fillies! Ah’ve known for a little while now and the feeling doesn’t get any better!”

Luna looked at the crumbling pony before her, pity painted across her face for Apple Bloom. The tears in the earth pony’s face had started to pour over, and her anxiety-filled rant was still going.

“What if mah family doesn’t like it, or mah friends! Ah already told Sweetie Belle, and Ah can tell she thinks it’s weird by the way she reacted! Mah own crush! She’ll never be able to look at me the same way again!”

Luna stood up and put a hoof on one of Apple Bloom’s shoulders. “Apple Bloom, not everypony is straight! There are other ponies out there who are attracted to the same gender like you, and-”

“Like me?” Apple Bloom said, feeling more angry than sad now, “Like me! If being a fillyfooler...a freak...is what being me is, then AH DON’T WANT TO BE ME ANYMORE!”

Apple Bloom finally just broke down. Right there in front of the Princess having finished her rant. She had meant what she said, or at least she thought she had, but in that moment she just needed to let it all out.

Princess Luna knew this, too, and she waited a few moments for Apple Bloom to compose herself. When the crying had finally stopped, Luna leaned in to give her a hug, although it was slightly awkward due to the size difference.

“You don’t mean that,” Luna reassured, “once you learn to accept the part of yourself that likes fillies, you’ll see that it’s not so bad.”

“B-but sometimes Ah...Ah do wish that Ah w-was somepony else,” Apple Bloom said between sobs and sniffles, “Ah really wish Ah could be like everypony else.”

“That’s where you're wrong, Apple Bloom!”

The yellow filly raised her gaze to see Luna stand up and turn away from her. “This may be difficult for you to understand now,” she started, “but as you start to accept this, your fears will subside. If you already told one friend, that’s a step in the right direction, and you’ll become more comfortable with it the more you tell other ponies and talk to them about it. Your friend may be shocked to hear this from you, but if she is a true friend she will eventually accept it, like you should. You are not the only filly in Equestria that likes other fillies either, and you’re not alone. You’re never alone.”

Apple Bloom sighed and looked at the ground, considering what the princess had said. On the one hoof it was true that she had never really considered there would be any other ponies that liked the same gender, but on the other hoof-

“She probably doesn’t feel the same way about me.”

“And she might not,” Luna agreed, “but you never know until you’ve tried.” It was then that Luna started to fly up toward the empty sky in Apple Bloom’s dream. All Apple Bloom could do was stare up at her as her wings spread to their fullest extent and she shrunk and shrunk into the moon. “Remember, Apple Bloom, you are never truly alone!”

As the little dot that was the Princess finally faded into the moon, Apple Bloom heard a distant voice calling for her.

“Wakey wakey, little sis!”

Apple Bloom woke up under her covers to find Applejack hovering over her with a big smile on her face. She turned toward the window to look outside and she saw that it was still early in the morning, which meant that-

“It’s time to go to school, sugarcube! How are you feeling today?”

“Better,” Apple Bloom said, which was the truth. It wasn’t hard to beat, but she felt thousands of times better than yesterday.

“Great! You look better, too. Your eyes are a little puffy, though. Did you sleep okay?”

Apple Bloom hid her fear that she had been crying in her sleep behind a shy smile and a head nod.

“Good,” Applejack said, turning towards the door. “We’ll get yourself washed up and ready to go, then. Big Mac’s making breakfast this morning, and Ah bet him three bits he couldn’t flip four pancakes at the same time, so you better go fast!”

She laughed and rounded the corner, leaving the door open on the way out. “Geez, for the Element of Honesty she sure isn’t very good at detecting lies,” she said with a head shake, although she couldn’t really complain. She had been lying a lot lately it seemed and her big sister had picked up on very few.

Apple Bloom got out of bed and went down the hallway to the bathroom, straightening her bow in the mirror. As she looked at herself she began considering what the Princess had said to her.

“You are never truly alone.”

Author's Note:

The line “freak” was inspired from one of my favorite stories on FimFiction, despite it being cancelled. The story itself helped inspire this one, so please check it out (https://www.fimfiction.net/story/80041/freak) it’s really good. Thanks for reading!

Comments

[NovemberDragon]

This is a really interesting story, waiting continue!)

[YourUncleFuncle]

10370593
I’m really happy you liked it! Don’t worry, there’s still plenty more to come!