Cutie Bloom

by Black Kyurem

Day 7: Applejack Goes Bananas

~ Day 7 ~

"I understand what I have to do, but how can I make things better?"

---

Apple Bloom woke up, still in the cave she found out in the San Palomino Desert. She came out of the cave and drank some water from a river she stayed close to during her travels. After quenching her thirst, she looked in the water's reflection and shed some tears.

"Ah'm homesick," she muttered. "Ah miss my family and friends... Sweetie Belle... Scootaloo... Big Macintosh... Granny Smith... Applejack..." She started to cry. "Ah wanna go home... but ah can't." She sat by the river crying for a good part of the morning as she remembered all the good times she had with her friends and family.

---

Back in Ponyville, while Filthy Rich continued to drag Diamond Tiara on his search for Apple Bloom, he noticed that several ponies were giving him and his daughter the cold shoulder. He then remembered what Twilight talked to him about earlier, but he still didn't know about Diamond Tiara's evil deed regarding the Foal Free Press.

"Diamond Tiara," he said to her. "Do you know why everypony is behaving this way towards us?" Diamond Tiara gulped, but kept her mouth shut. "Diamond Tiara," said Filthy Rich more sternly. "Tell me the truth. What happened? What did you do?"

"I'll tell you what she did, mister!" snapped Rainbow Dash, coming down from the sky. "That jerk filly made fools out of us running her stupid gossip column and destroyed our private lives! She's the mastermind behind 'Gabby Gums'!" Diamond Tiara looked very afraid. "Because of her, I... I took my revenge out on the wrong fillies..." Rainbow Dash was trying to hold back tears. "We all... should have been more forgiving."

"Is this true, Diamond Tiara?!" Filthy Rich snapped. Diamond Tiara quivered and nodded her head. "Diamond Dazzle Tiara! I did not raise you to behave this way! It was bad enough when Twilight Sparkle told me of your disrespectful behavior towards other fillies and now you did this to three of them?! You really don't care about other ponies' feelings. That much is clear. What you've done and said is unforgivable! Now you march yourself right home while I think of a suitable punishment for everything you've done to Ponyville." The saddened Diamond Tiara turned around and did what her father told. But when nopony was looking, Rainbow Dash pushed a raincloud over Diamond Tiara's head and kicked it hard, pouring rain on her.

"Take that, Danger Tiara!" she roared. "I hope you've learned your lesson, you creep!" Soaking wet, Diamond Tiara ran home crying, but Rainbow Dash did not look sorry at all.

"Rainbow Dash," said Fluttershy, entering the scene after seeing what her friend did. "That wasn't very nice."

"She tricked us all," said Rainbow. "That one filly is the reason 'Gabby Gums' got Ponyville into that upheaval that ruined our private lives." But before Fluttershy could protest, she heard Applejack shouting at Filthy Rich.

"Why couldn't you keep that little filly of yours under control?!" she bellowed. Her mane and tail had lost their hair bands and were an absolute mess, her hat was somewhat tattered, her eyes were red and slightly swollen and her face was stained with tears from four days of crying.

"Applejack, stop it!" ordered Twilight, who was trying to calm Applejack down.

"I'm said I'm sorry!" said Filthy Rich. "I underestimated my own daughter. I didn't think she would be so cruel to everypony."

"This is all yer fault! You've raised a monster! Ah hope you're happy! And you can forget about any future business deals with Granny Smith!" Filthy Rich gasped. If Applejack was serious, it would mean the end of Barnyard Bargains! Applejack swiftly turned around and raised her rear hooves to kick Filthy Rich.

"STOP!" shrieked Fluttershy. And in a swift move, she swooped in and took the full brunt of Applejack's kick, saving Filthy Rich. Fluttershy tumbled to the ground from the impact of the kick and slid a few feet. She clutched her aching sides and whimpered. Applejack stared in horror.

"No! Fluttershy!" Applejack rushed to her side.

"I'm... I'm okay..." Fluttershy moaned, still clutching her sides in pain.

"Ah'm so sorry!" said Applejack, crying her eyes out. "What have ah done?!" Twilight came up to Applejack looking severely displeased. Applejack turned and saw Twilight glowering at her. "Ah'm sorry!"

"You should be," scolded Twilight as Rainbow Dash flew into the scene. "This is not the Applejack I know and love. You've gotten yourself so frantic that you've driven yourself to become somepony you're not. The reason Apple Bloom ran away is because she was bullied and you haven't shown enough awareness to her problem. As her sister, you need to take her worries more seriously. I thought Celestia taught all my friends this valuable lesson. Well, maybe I was wrong. Applejack, if you keep up with getting everypony involved in this silly search, Apple Bloom is not going to come home. I suggest you call off your search before anything else extreme happens. You have to find Apple Bloom yourself and have a heart-to-heart talk with her." Applejack was devastated.

"You're right, Twi... we should call off that search. Ah worried mahself too much. Look what ah nearly did... look what ah've done! Ah've hurt one of mah friends! Ah'm so, so sorry, Twi." Twilight nodded her head to approve Applejack's sincere apology and then left to find Mayor Mare. Fluttershy moaned as Rainbow Dash helped her to her feet and looked over at Applejack.

"No, Rainbow!" cried Applejack. "Don't say anythin' more to me! Ah can't take this anymore! Ah can't!"

"No, Applejack, it's okay," said Rainbow, coming to Applejack. "I don't wanna make you feel any worse than you already do. Just calm down and take some deep breaths. It's gonna be fine." Applejack threw her front hooves around Rainbow and cried on her shoulder.

"Oh, Rainbow!" she wept loudly. Rainbow stroked Applejack's mane, trying to comfort her, while Fluttershy tearfully looked on. Meanwhile, Twilight consulted with Mayor Mare to cancel the search for Apple Bloom.

"Are you sure about this, Twilight?" the Mayor asked.

"Yep," said Twilight. "I'm positive. At this point, Applejack needs to be the one to find her."

"But nopony knows where Apple Bloom is! Applejack doesn't have a clue where to start looking for her! She's been missing for five days now. The worst could have already happened because we've all been searching in circles!"

"I know. And I hate to think about it."

"This is terrible. I cannot believe that in our fair town of Ponyville, we are dealing with a serious issue that has been overlooked this whole time. Something must be done, but what?"

---

It started to get dark out in the San Palomino Desert, so Apple Bloom trudged back towards the cave. That's when a scrap of paper blowing in the wind got caught on her face. She pulled it off and looked at it. A picture of a pretty young filly was on it and Apple Bloom read the words on it.

"'We will always remember... Smiling Princess'. Huh... Who's Smilin' Princess?" Having not given it much thought, Apple Bloom made it back inside the cave and curled up on the red lump again. Maybe ah shouldn't have run away, she thought, as she drifted off to sleep.

Comments

[BenRG]

What this story gives us that is special is that it shows the characters as real with real feelings. Diamond Tiara isn't a parody but a spiteful, bigoted little girl of the sort that (unfortunately) does exist. Applejack is a very real, terrified elder sister and the like. That's what makes this a great bit of writing.

[xd77]

I just wanna kill Diamond Tiara, when is she ever gonna stop being a fucking asshole?!

[zerosuitfan91]

Really love the story so far. Diamond tiara is really my least favorite character on the show. Nopony deserves to be treated like that.

[Moon Glow]

*Holds a torch in one hand and a pitchfork in the other* Mob supplies! Get your Angry Mob supplies here!

[midnightwolfGX]

Filthy Rich didn't know about her daughter running the Foal Free Press as her own gossip column? Wow, no wonder she's a spoiled brat... he's WAY too lenient with her.

[Black Kyurem]

8523293
I don't know if he actually found out in the series canon.

[blackblood]

6123961
😆

[blackblood]

camo.derpicdn.net/54a3ddd1f1fbced7a631ff66c437f0e49460159a?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffc09.deviantart.net%2Ffs70%2Fi%2F2012%2F084%2Fd%2F9%2Fapplejack__stomping_mad_by_dizzykat28560-d4tuwh4.png

this reminds me on an apple sleep experiment.

[blackblood]

1827950
Probably never.

[Black Kyurem]

9088351
In the series, she "reformed" in Season 5 through a plot that was unfortunately extremely forced and contrived and raised far more questions than we can count.