Skyfall: The Crusaders

by sister_mike

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Apple Bloom

Apple Bloom hit the punching bag as hard and as fast as she could. She didn't stop when her arms got tired or when her hands ached. She would switch it up and kick at it every now and then too. Anything to get the frustration and hurt out.

"Thirteen years!" she screamed, hitting the bag. It swung back and forth as she hit.

It was Big McIntosh's bag. Apple Bloom had long gotten over her feelings of guilt of going into her siblings' rooms and using their stuff. She liked to come up to Big Mac's room twice or so a week to work out her frustration. Today was an extra day. Today was the anniversary of the terribleness.

Thirteen years had gone by and nothing had changed in Earthica, except for Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Zecora. They all aged steadily while the rest of the world stayed in a frozen state.

Apple Bloom had never thought it would have lasted this long. She would hope and dream each year after the incident first happened, that any day now the rest of the world would wake up. Then her sister and her friends would go and figure out what had caused the sleeping spell, and would seek it out and destroy it with the Elements of Harmony. The princesses would be found, and the world would return back to normal.

But after six or seven years, Apple Bloom began to doubt it was ever going to happen. Still, she tried to be optimistic. She thought several times that one day Zecora was going to whip out the anecdote and say "Gotcha!" and explain how the whole thing had been a test for the CMC to get their Creative-Marks, and then time would be restored back to what it was before. That the whole thing had been a simulation and she was still a ten-year old little girl.

But her Creative-Mark had nothing to do with saving the world or sleeping spells. She had received her Mark before her friends. When food began to grow scarce at Zecora's and they were all tired of eating the strange herbs that grew in the Everfree Forest, Apple Bloom said she would go to the farm and see if the plants and apples were still growing.

When she saw that they were, she gathered some food and brought it back to Zecora's. She then said she would keep harvesting some of the apple trees—she was too small to do it all on her own, and she told her friends it was something she wanted to do without their help—and start a small garden full of the other fruits and vegetables they grew on the farm as well. It was just as the small seedlings were beginning to grow one day, that Apple Bloom had looked down at her wrist, and her Creative-Mark was there. It was a small apple flower bud.

It was around the eight and nine year mark that Apple Bloom really began to get anxious about time. She would cry herself to sleep and have horrifyingly vivid nightmares. She was certain at this point that they would never wake up the world. And each day, she began to realize that she grew closer and closer to Applejack's age. Her older sister was going to become her younger sister. And Apple Bloom wasn't sure why, but the thought terrified her to the very core. That day had passed two years ago. She wanted to be left alone on that birthday, and cried by herself in her old farmhouse.

Now, at two years later from then, she was in between Applejack's age and Big Mac's. She punched the bag harder, causing it to swing violently. Big Mac had been a good fifteen years older than her. And now he was only two.

Apple Bloom sighed and collapsed on Big Mac's bed. For a solid number of years, she had kept the house tidy, getting it ready for when her family awakened; but over the past couple of years she had slacked. A small puft of dust flew in the air as she made contact with the bed. She sneezed.

She tried to hide the fact that the aging bothered her immensely. She was pretty sure she had Sweetie Belle fooled—but then again, Sweetie Belle was so gung ho on figuring out a way to wake up her sister, that everything else pretty much went by unnoticed. She was always practicing magic in her room at Zecora's, and consulting with Zecora on spells and herbs she could use. If she wasn't at Zecora's, she was either in front of Rarity or at the library.

Apple Bloom knew that Scootaloo knew though. Scootaloo was always giving Apple Bloom odd looks, like she expected Apple Bloom to suddenly explode. Scootaloo never asked her about it though. Scootaloo was the type of person who wouldn't press you for information. If you wanted to talk about it, she'd be there and listen when you were ready.

Apple Bloom sighed again and slowly got off the bed. She left Big Mac's room and passed by Applejack's. She rarely went into Applejack's. She felt bad enough that she was now wearing her sister's clothes. It was just too painful.

Before she left the farm to meet the others at the library, she visited her brother and Granny Smith one last time. Big Mac was frozen out in the orchard, hand reaching up to pick an apple that had long since expired and was now gone. His face was calm, a slight smile poking out of the corner of his mouth. He and Fluttershy had just gone out on a date the night before the incident.

Granny Smith was sitting in a rocking chair on the back porch, looking out to Big Mac. She had a stern look on her face. Apple Bloom knew it was because at the time, Apple Bloom had been fooling around and trying to juggle some apples instead of working.

Apple Bloom walked up to Granny Smith and put her hand up to the thin layer of crystal that imprisoned her.

"Bye Granny. I'll see you later," she said softly. She bent down and kissed the crystal, and then turned and walked away.

Scootaloo was already at the library with Sweetie Belle by the time Apple Bloom had arrived. Scootaloo was lazily flipping through a book, obviously not really reading it. Sweetie Belle was surrounded by a pile of books and was staring intently into the one in her hand. Apple Bloom sometimes joked and said that Sweetie Belle had turned into Twilight Sparkle's sister instead of Rarity's. Sweetie Belle never laughed.

"Hey," Scootaloo said. She threw the book behind her and stretched back, as Apple Bloom walked into the library. "How's the family?"

"Frozen as always," Apple Bloom muttered. "Where were you this morning?"

"The cliff," Scootaloo said.

Scootaloo frequently visited the cliff that looked over Peoplesville. Apple Bloom sometimes worried that Scootaloo was going to throw herself off of the cliff in an attempt to fly, but so far it hadn't happened.

Apple Bloom nodded. She wandered over and began to scan the books on the shelves. Scootaloo sighed and picked a random book off the top of Sweetie Belle's pile.

After a few minutes of silence, Sweetie Belle slowly put down the book she was reading.

"You know... I'm thinking maybe we should go to Central City, see if we can find anything there," Sweetie Belle said slowly. Central City was their capital, and where the princesses had lived.

Apple Bloom groaned and Scootaloo slumped back and put the book over her face.

"We already went to Central City, Sweetie Belle. There's nothing there. Everyone's just as frozen," Scootaloo said, her voice muffled from the book.

"Yeah, we went there like what, once? And that was at least four years ago," Sweetie Belle said. She stood up. "Maybe the answer isn't in Peoplesville, maybe it's in Central City."

"Sweetie Belle, it'd be a waste of time! There's nothing there! There's no cure anywhere! We've traveled across Earthica and haven't found anything. The only place we haven't searched is Cloudsdale, and that's because there's no way to get up there," Apple Bloom said.

"Gee, thanks," Scootaloo said, as she sat up.

"I didn't say it was your fault that we can't get up there," Apple Bloom snapped.

"You didn't have to," Scootaloo snapped back.

"Come on guys, let's not fight. We can look for an air balloon again, and we can go up there together. Didn't Pinkie Pie have a hot air ba—"

"Oh forget it Sweetie Belle, we've looked for the damn air balloon and it's missing," Apple Bloom said.

"Maybe there will be one in Central City," Sweetie Belle said.

"No, there won't be one in Central City. There won't be anything in Central City except for a bunch of stupid frozen people!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"You don't know that until we look! Maybe in one of the storage rooms in the palace they have a balloon or some other sort of flying machine," Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom threw her hands in the air and shook her head.

"Sweetie Belle, you don't get it! There is no cure! Get that in your head. We, plus Zecora, are the last four people alive in this world. If there was a cure to wake up everyone, we would have found it by now. There's no cure, and no hope, so stop it! Just stop it!" Apple Bloom shouted. A look of hurt flashed across Sweetie Belle's face.

"You don't have to yell at her," Scootaloo said, as she stood off of the floor, "She's just trying to stay positive."

"Well she can stop shoving her optimism down our throats. You said it long ago Scootaloo, there's no hope in finding a cure," Apple Bloom said. Sweetie Belle turned towards Scootaloo.

"Do you really think so Scoots?" Sweetie Belle asked softly.

Scootaloo looked from Apple Bloom to Sweetie Belle. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. She then just closed her eyes and sighed, and didn't answer.

"Just give up, Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said quietly, "Rarity's never waking up."

Tears began to brim in Sweetie Belle's eyes. She stood quickly from the floor and began gathering up random books into her arms.

"Well... well, I don't care what you guys think or say. I'm going to Central City," she said hotly, tears spilling down her cheeks, "And don't bother thanking me once I wake up everybody."

Sweetie Belle stormed out of the library.

"It's a waste of time Sweetie!" Apple Bloom shouted after her, as Sweetie Belle walked quickly away from the library and towards the forest.

Scootaloo roughly pushed past Apple Bloom, causing her to stumble.

"Hey! What was that for," Apple Bloom snapped.

"Just let her do what she wants, Apple Bloom. She won't give up on finding a cure, so just let her do her thing and support her in doing it," Scootaloo said.

"It's a waste of time Scoots, and you know it," Apple Bloom said.

"Doesn't matter. She's our friend," Scootaloo said. She then turned on her heel and began to storm off also.

"Where are you going? What's your problem?" Apple Bloom said.

"I don't need my best friend reminding me that I'm useless and can't fly. I already think about it on a daily basis on my own," Scootaloo snapped.

"Oh please Scootaloo, you know I didn't mean it like that, so stop being so sensitive about it," Apple Bloom said.

"Sensitive like Sweetie Belle is about finding a cure? Stop being so negative and grumpy just because you're older than Applejack. If you're soooo sure that there's no cure, then you don't have to worry about facing the day that she wakes up and you're an old maid," Scootaloo said.

She turned her back on Apple Bloom again and began walking in the same direction as Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom shrieked in frustration and threw the book in her hand after Scootaloo. She then punched the wall and collapsed beside it, willing herself not to cry.

Comments

[Bronyhood of steel]

Not bad

[mbpony 512]

Man, its tough being a "leader."

It's even tougher when you're suffering the "The Super Mario Brps" Complex.