Applebloom is upset. Her best friends can fly and do magic, and she's stuck at the ground with nothing but four hooves. She looks for support from the most unexpected ponies - but pretty much the only ones who should be able to relate to her.
Until an accident forces her to put her ego aside.
(Note: this story takes place about two years after the show-storyline. It's also not related to "Flight to the Finish".)
The soft rays of the sun broke through the cloudy sky. It wasn't quite a beautiful morning, but at least it didn't rain and the wind had calmed down a little. The streets of Ponyville were quiet and muddy, and nopony actually wanted to step outside. Some of them had to, though.
'Naaaaah! Ah don't wanna go to school!' Applebloom tossed her saddlebag in the corner of her bedroom. 'School's stupid.'
'Whatcha talkin' bout?' her sister asked in surprise. The yellow filly never had any trouble going to school, then why today? 'Is it the weather?' Applejack continued, when her sister didn't answer.
Applebloom shook her head. 'Weather's fine,' she muttered, after dropping herself on her bed. She buried her face in her pale pink pillow and sighed.
Applejack walked to the corner and picked up her sis' saddlebag. Sweetie Belle had tried to stitch the CMC-logo on it, and failed miserably. 'Iph ih Cheewiwee?' AJ asked with the bag in her mouth. Of course, Cheerilee was the nicest happiest teacher a pony could have, and according to Rarity she had been this way since she was just a filly, but you could never be too sure.
The filly didn't want to answer. It was unusual for Applebloom to be in such a bad mood, she was used to getting up early and tended to be pretty eager to go to school.
'Wha's happening?' Big Mac entered the room, his mane messy and his eyes half-closed. 'Ya'll know I'm havin' a day off, could you be, y' know, quiet?'
'Ah'm sorry, Mac,' Applejack said, still confused. 'Ah'm 'fraid our lil' sister is goin' through an early stage of puber-tay.' She said the last word with a Canterlot accent, implying that it was a rich pony's problem and not something that belonged on a farm.
Mac shook his head. 'Applebloom is way too young to have this puber-tay thing, y' know that.' He walked up to his little sister, who was still in bed smothering herself with the pillow. 'Wha's wrong now, sissy?'
His "sissy" groaned, and from under the pillow she muttered, 'Ah jus' don't wanna go t' school. Ah'm goin' tomorrow, but not t'day.'
'T'morrow is Saturday, y'know. But if you wanna go to school on a Saturday that's fine with me,' Applejack replied.
'Don't ya wanna show off your cutie mark?' Mac asked. Applebloom had gotten her cutie mark about a week ago, right after Babs got hers. It was a bright red apple with two white flowers on top of it. She had no idea what it had to do with her talent - which seemed to be fixing broken things - but it was a mark on her flank so it was good enough. Babs got her cutie mark for growing bonsai apple trees on her balcony, which actually produced small apples.
'It's old already, everypony has seen it,' Applebloom told her brother. Good, she was the first Ponyville Crusader who got her flankmark, but a week's old is a week's old. 'Ya can't keep an apple for a week or it begins to rot.'
'Well, those bullies are still showin' off theirs,' Big Mac tried. 'Y'know, Rich Filly and Silver Spork.'
Despite her anger and frustration with who-knows-what, Applebloom laughed at her brother's awful joke. 'Spork makes a good nickname for 'er,' she said, but realized she almost felt happy. She curled up on her bed and groaned again. 'What-ever. Ah'm not goin'.'
'Applebloom...' AJ started, and she sounded a little angry. No, not angry, rather annoyed. It was way past normal breakfast time and Applejack was getting hungry.
'Y'know an apple has a core, right?' Big Macingtosh said, and he yawned. 'Y' should stop convincing her t' go t' school and find out why she refuses instead. If ya can't find it out t'day, then t'morrow. Or after t'morrow.' He turned around, and with his tail facing the other two ponies, he mumbled, 'Ah'm goin' back t' bed, be a little quiet on the stairs, would ya?'
***
Applebloom won and had the day off. Well, not exactly, since Applejack made her do half of her chores and told her to do her homework too. Apart from that, Applebloom also had to help Granny Smith making apple pies for Mac's upcoming birthday.
'Granny?' Applebloom asked, while playing with the pile of apples on the table. 'Why is yer cutie mark an apple pie, and not a zap apple?'
She had to repeat this question, before Granny answered, 'Ah was the only pony who could make apple pie without burnin' it. That's why your siblings still ask...' Granny dozed off and Applebloom softly poked her on her shoulder. The green pony shook her head. 'Ah! They always ask me for apple pie.'
'Still doesn't make much sense t' me, honestly,' Applebloom protested. 'Your special talent is... well, zap apples!' 'Zap apples are rare,' Granny replied. 'Apple pie is not. Ya wouldn't wanna 'ave a cutie mark nopony understands?' 'Then how's my cutie mark an apple?' Applebloom asked. The filly was kneading the dough for the pies, it was so much her whole forelegs disappeared in the bowl, and she occasionally nibbled it off her knees.
Granny Smith squinted, and seemed to think about her granddaughter's useful and intelligent question. Then she shrugged and muttered something about cinnamon, before carelessly slicing apples again.
Applebloom groaned and she angrily beat up the dough. 'It's fine now, it's mixed.' She jumped off her stool and licked off her hooves. It didn't taste as well as it should, and with dirty hooves and all she walked into the living room.
'Hey, whatcha doin' in that kitchen?' Mac, who was enjoying his free day repairing the old plow he had, pretended not to know about the pies.
Applebloom sighed and dropped herself on the sofa. 'Y'know darn well wha's happenin' in that kitchen,' she muttered, and then leaned back and closed her eyes.
For Mac it was still quite a mistery why Applebloom behaved like she did, but he just assumed it would pass. Maybe she felt uncomfortable as the only Ponyville Crusader with a cutie mark - althoug the other two just saw this as extra motivation. But maybe, maybe he should try to find out what was wrong.
It was foggy outside. Not normal foggy, but extremely foggy. Although it was Saturday and usually the day that Applejack could get the most work done, she had decided to stay inside. It was of no use to start bucking appletrees in this fog.
Applebloom didn't have anything to do. Tomorrow was Big Macingtosh' birthday, but because of the weather it wouldn't be entirely safe to ask any family over, so it would be just a day like the others.
Somepony knocked on Applebloom's bedroom window. Hold on, that wasn't possible, her bedroom was on the second floor...
Applebloom jumped off her bed and carefully opened the curtain covering the small window. Two glimmering purple eyes stared back at her, and an orange hoof drew a silly face in the condensed water on the glass.
'Scootaloo!' Applebloom yelped in surprise, and quickly opened the window to let her friend in. The orange pony had pretty much mastered the art of flying, although her wings were still kind of small. But months of hard training with Rainbow Dash had paid off and Scoots was able to get around without any trouble.
She landed on Applebloom's bedroom floor and shook the dew off her wings. 'Hey Apple!' she said. 'Why weren't you at school yesterday?'
'Why didn't ya knock on the front door?' Applebloom asked in return.
'Nopony opened the door, so I thought I should try your window,' Scootaloo explained. 'Sweetie and I-- hold on.' She stuck her head out of the open window. 'Sweetie Belle?'
A dim green light was visible through the thick fog. It had the colour of Sweetie Belle's eyes. 'Still here!' a soft voice said. 'Why don't you guys open the door?'
Scootaloo raced out of the bedroom, down the stairs, followed by Applebloom. The two of them reached the front door at the exact same moment, and for a second they were hoof-fighting for the door knob.
It was Applebloom who pulled the door open. 'Hey Sweetie Belle, good t' see ya do have manners...' She glared at Scootaloo, who grinned shyly.
Sweetie Belle's horn stopped glowing, and she stepped inside the warm barn. 'Ack, my mane is ruined,' she muttered. When the years passed, Sweetie started to act a little more like her big sister. Of course, she wasn't as terrified of mud as Rarity, and squatted bugs without hesitation, but it took her half an hour to brush her mane in the morning.
Applebloom giggled. 'Nah, it looks fine. If ya want, I can fetch mah brush from mah room?'
Sweetie shook her head. 'You're right, it's fine,' she said, and smiled. She was taller than Applebloom and Scootaloo, although Babs was the tallest of them all. Even if you'd count the horn, the brown pony could easily look down on her.
'Why are ya guys here?' Applebloom asked, as the trio walked to the living room. 'Ah mean, with the fog and all... Ah sure hope Scoots didn't ride her scooter...'
Again, Scootaloo looked away and grinned. 'Maybe, maybe not?' she said. Of course she knew it was dangerous, but Scoots assumed that just like Rainbow Dash, she either had to live for danger or not live at all. Besides, nothing went wrong.
'We're here because we wanna know why you weren't at school yesterday,' Sweetie Belle explained, before Applebloom could lash out at Scoots. 'I mean, you're never really ill or anything...' Sweetie placed a hoof on her yellow friend's forehead. 'Nope, not even warm.'
The three fillies, or rather young mares now, had taken seats around the wooden table in the living room of the Apples. It wasn't a big room, but it had a sofa and a table and framed pictures on the wall. Bloom could never wish for anything bigger or better, not even when Diamond and Silver were bragging about their mansions. They didn't have anything like the cozy happy house she lived in.
Scootaloo stretched her wings and rubbed them a little. 'Gotta go fast,' she muttered. 'But not too fast, it's still killing my wings.'
Sweetie Belle had never liked Scoot's attitude towards problems, nor did she now. 'Scootaloo,' the unicorn said, and rolled her eyes.
'Right.' Scootaloo quickly hid her wings and sat back on the creaky wooden ranch chair. 'Now, what's up with you?'
Applebloom shook her head, her messy mane falling in front of her eyes. 'It doesn't matter to ya'll, honestly,' she muttered, hoping to keep her secret a secret for her friends. They didn't have to know this, they'd either feel guilty or just laugh at her. Bloom shook her head again and said, 'Ya guys want somethin' t' drink?'
'Please,' Sweetie Belle said with a small nod. 'And I'm sure Scootaloo does want something to drink too, right?'
Scootaloo, who was not thirsty at all, nodded eagerly as she got Sweetie's hint. When Bloom had disappeared into the kitchen and made noises with cups and bottles, Scootaloo leaned over the table and muttered, 'She's right, farmponies never get ill.'
'I know,' Sweetie Belle replied, and squinted. 'Do you think it has to do with... you know, that thing?'
The two fell silent for a moment, remembering when they found out about the thing. They didn't have a clue, all those years ago, when they hopped over the path leading to their friend's house. It was odd that she had not been at the clubhouse all day, and Sweetie and Scootaloo had gotten a bit worried.
The look on Applejack's face when she opened the upper half of the barn door would be in the fillies' minds forever. Her eyes, usually so bright and green, looked grayish and smaller for some reason. She had bags under her eyes, something that rarely happens to ponies since they have fur and all, but these were clearly visible. The corners of her mouth were hanging on her knees and her mane was an awful mess.
'Uhm, Ah don't think it's a good idea t' go see Applebloom t'day, young fillies,' Applejack had said, and she sniffed. 'She'll be back at school soon, no worries. But t'day is not really the best day for a visit.'
After Applejack had closed the door, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had waited on the doorstep for a moment, being baffled and half-paralyzed by the sight of the usually iron pony. Their silence didn't last long, sadly, when they heard Big Macintosh' voice yelling something like, 'Of course they're not, ya know that darn well, sissy.'
This was followed by a bang, and the sound of breaking glass. They heard Granny Smith say some really naughty words the fillies never hoped to hear, so after looking at each other, Sweetie and Scoots decided it would be for the best to run for their lives.
Before they could say anything else, Applebloom returned from the kitchen. She balanced a tray with some cups on her back, walking slowly so the drinks wouldn't fall over.
Sweetie's horn lit up and the tray levitated over to the table. 'There,' the unicorn said. 'Much easier.' She lifted a cup with her magic and looked inside it. 'Oeh, is this your family's apple cider?'
Applebloom snorted as she saw the green veil of magic dancing around the cup. Sweetie Belle was definitely showing off way too much, and it annoyed her to bits that she did. Applebloom saw the cup dancing in front of her eyes, although in reality it was levitating above the table, heading towards Sweetie Belle's mouth. Scootaloo grabbed a cup as well, fortunately leaving her wings folded neatly against her back. If Scoots would open her wings and rub them again, Bloom would totally freak out.
She sat down on her creaky chair and played with the small bow in her braid. She found herself too old for a huge bow on the back of her head, so Sweetie Belle had made her a new one - a smaller one, in the colour of the flowers on her flank. It suited her well.
'What's wrong, Applebloom?' the unicorn pony asked, putting down her cup.
Bloom sighed again, unsure if she should tell it or not. Of course, these two ponies were her friends after all, but why? She couldn't fly fast like Scootaloo - heck, she couldn't even keep her balance on the old blue scooter! Nor could she levitate anything with just willpower, or write with a quill. Sweetie Belle's magic was the same kind as Rarity's: levitation. Moving objects through empty space by just thinking about it, pointing a bony horn and making it glow.
'Hey, daydreamer!' Scootaloo poked Applebloom in her side. The earth pony snapped out of her daze and blinked, being a little confused.
'Applebloom,' Sweetie Belle said, sounding a little worried. 'You're not telling us anything. Is it... you know, the thing?' Bloom shook her head. 'T'has nothing t' do with the thang,' she replied. It was true, it had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.
'Then what is it?' The Pegasus had emptied her cup already, even though she wasn't thirsty at all. Everything for the act. 'Wanna talk to Cheerilee about it?' Sweetie offered.
'Unhappy with your cutie mark?' Scootaloo said.
'Problems at home?'
'Problems at school?'
'Problems with... puberty?'
The questions came faster than Macintosh could pull the plow. Applebloom covered her ears with her hooves and shouted, 'IT'S NOT IMPORTANT!'
She then jumped up and stormed up the stairs.
After a moment of silence, Scoots muttered, 'Can I have her cider?'