Family. Nothing is more important right? Applejack and fluttershy's twin daughters have nursed an intense hatred of each other for thirty years. When tragedy strikes can they put aside their hate
Thirty years have passed.
Applejack and Fluttershy's twin fillies are grown mares. For twenty five years they have hated each other. Apple Honey is the captain of the Manehatten Sharks, and has lead her team to victory after victory. Cloud Blossom lives in Canterlot, her natural skill with sculpting has secured her name in Equestria's art galleries. Both mares are rich and famous in their respective fields. Neither has seen the other in fifteen years. Both sacrificed a lot to get where they are today. Maybe too much. When tragedy strikes the family, can the sisters finally put aside their differences, or do some wounds run too deep to heal?
Cloud Blossom put down her hammer and chisel, turned her back on the half finished sculpture she had been working on for the better part of two weeks and examined the note again, for what had to have been the sixth time that day. It was a very short note, succinct and to the point, although her mom usually was. Then again, her momma Shy didn't usually send her mail via dragon, so Cloud assumed something was up back at home. She picked it up in her front hooves, flapping her wings gently to maintain her balance. Cloud had long ago learnt to work around her disability and for the most part it never bothered her, although there were times when she entirely forgot she didn't have a left hind leg, usually first thing in the morning. Thankfully, as she lived alone, nopony was around to see her sprawl unceremoniously onto the floor.
So, here she was in her work room, putting aside her latest masterpiece in favour of that note. Quickly she scanned it.
“Cloud Blossom,
Please come home to Ponyville at your earliest convenience, we need to see you and your sister urgently. I wouldn't write to you unless it was very important for you to come home. I won't go into details in a letter, you need to hear this in person.
Yes, your sister will be here too (hopefully), I know you two don't exactly get on together, and I understand why, but this has to stop sometime Blossom.
Please hurry, yours, Momma Fluttershy”
For the seventh time Cloud screwed up the note and threw it away to the corner of her work room, where it came to rest and found itself a home amidst marble and stone blocks, upcoming commissions for customers that she hadn't started work on yet . If there was a hint of a possibility her sister would be there too, then she didn’t want to be. If she never saw Apple Honey again it would be too soon. “Don't exactly get on”, her mom had wrote. Cloud sniggered to herself. “Now there was an understatement mom, I bucking hate her!” She thought with venom.
Cloud Blossom had hated her sister for as long as she could remember and the pegasus was very sure the feeling was mutual. It was the one and only thing they had ever agreed on. Since her cutie mark had appeared fifteen years ago and she had discovered her talent for sculpture she had left Ponyville and her family, especially her dratted sister behind. She had kept in contact with her mothers, Applejack and Fluttershy, by mail, in fact Cloud had kept every one of their hundreds of letters over the years. She had them all in her upstairs study.
Sighing inwardly Cloud picked up her hammer and chisel, they were her cutie mark, and her favourite tools to work with, and turned her attention back to the half finished work in front of her. She rested the chisel against the hard stone and tapped it twice with the hammer before putting them back down on the small table. Cloud sighed again. The note from her mom had distracted her, and she knew she’d get no more work done today. There was no point fighting it, and she refused to force her art. Her creativity had to flow naturally from her, otherwise it wouldn't be her best, and Cloud Blossom refused to ever sculpt less than her best. Her clients and critics in Canterlot, Manehatten and the rest of Equestria had come to expect the highest quality, and she had to deliver it every time.
Cloud Blossom caught sight of herself in the mirror then, and had to stifle a chuckle. She looked a mess, covered in stone dust and sweat from mane to tail, she could barely make out her pale green coat and fair blonde mane. Reaching behind her head she removed her dust mask and shook her mane out, showering the hardwood floor in pebbles, chippings and dust that had accumulated over the day's work. Her Aunt Rarity would have had a heart attack at the state of her. With a laugh at the thought of Rarity's reaction, “Darling, your mane!” she decided a very long, very hot bubble bath was in order. Flipping off the lights at the switch on the wall she plunged her work room into darkness and flew up the stairs to the first floor where she lived.
Reaching the bathroom Cloud went straight for the tub which was big enough to accommodate four full grown ponies, not that she ever entertained four fully grown ponies, or even one fully grown pony, but money had its privelidges. And this bath tub was her favourite, big enough for her to spread her aching wings and hooves without touching the sides, the bubble jets in the sides always managed to sooth away the days stress. Cloud fluttered her wings and landed front legs first into the bath before lowering herself to a seated position, tucking her wings away and used a hoof to turn on the water, setting it to a temperature just lower than the inside of an active volcano. Lathering herself up in shampoo and scented oils Cloud flipped off the water and activated the button for the bubble jets before dipping her head under the almost scalding hot water. She didn't think herself a particularly girly mare, but this luxury of hers was utter bliss. Bringing her head up Cloud took in a welcome lungful of air and spread her powerful wings under the water, allowing the jets to massage her feathers.
“Aaaaaahhh that's the spot, just there…hmmmm…” The stream of gentle bubbles caught her under her wings, just where they joined her barrel, then flowed over the feathers, easing the tired and sore flight muscles. True she never flew very great distances, but with only having one hind leg Cloud had grown accustomed to using her wings almost constantly to keep her balance, or to hover around her sculptures when working. She was steadier under wing power than she was on her hooves, and nine hours per day hovering about took their toll. By this time her back and wings were usually screaming for release. Cloud Blossom then folded her wings and rolled onto her back before spreading them again and pointed herself directly against the bubble flow.
“Oooooh yeeeeaaahhhhh…” Cloud felt her tight back muscles melt under the ministrations of the bubble jets. Right about now in her daily bathing routine images of a dusky massage mare would be taking the place of the jets in her mind, and she’d be giving herself over to her imaginary expertise. Today though, try as she might to summon the mare of her dreams to her dreams, Cloud Blossom found her thoughts directed once more to her mother's letter.
“Cloud Blossom,
Please come home to Ponyville at your earliest convenience, we need to see you and your sister urgently. I wouldn't write to you unless it was very important you come home. I won't go into details in a letter, you need to hear this in person.
Yes, your sister will be here too (hopefully), I know you two don't exactly get on together, and I understand why, but this has to stop sometime Blossom.
Please hurry, yours, Momma Fluttershy”
If her mom thought it was important enough to summon her back to her old home then of course she would go, but the thought of setting eyes on her sister again after all this time made her blood run cold despite the bath water. They hadn't seen each other for fifteen years, and they hadn't parted In the best of ways. “But, Momma Fluttershy did say it was urgent, and we are older now, we’re both thirty for Celestia's sake, maybe we can put this behind us after all...it would be nice to see Ponyville and my aunts again.”
With that Cloud Blossom pulled the plug in the bath tub, and with practised ease placed her two front hooves on the special non slip mat around the edge and hopped her hind leg out onto the mat, like many pegasi Cloud hated flapping her wings when they were soaking wet. Carefully, trying not to slip on three wet hooves, Cloud made her way over to the blow dryer mounted in the opposite wall. Second to the huge bath tub the blow dryer was her favourite indulgence. Balancing on two hooves she quickly pressed the button to activate the dryer and spread her wings wide, allowing the warm air to dry her feathers, before lowering her head to dry her white blonde mane. Turning her back to the dryer she held her wings open once more, drying the top side. “Aaaaah, dry wings are the best! I dunno how Aunt Dashie can stand to fly in thunderstorms.” Cloud wondered out loud to the empty bathroom before lifting her tail so the dryer could get everywhere. This was her favourite part of the dryer, feeling the pleasant warm air blow over her hind leg and marehood. It always made her giggle like a naughty dirty filly, and on especially lonely evenings the imaginary massage mare would be summoned to her fantasies again, her or the really attractive mailmare that Cloud had a very long standing crush on. Still, she wasn't in the mood just now, that letter was playing on her mind, and now she was properly dried off it needed a reply.
Flapping her wings gently she fluttered her way to her study, however instead of going to the writing desk Cloud made a beeline straight to her record player. Carefully with her teeth so as not to mark the disc she inserted her favourite, a collection of cello classics by Octavia. Her favourite song was the first to be played, ‘Le Carnaval des Animaux : XIII, The Swan’. Once the beautiful sound of the cello filled up her study Cloud made her way to the desk, and wrote her reply to her mothers.
“My Dearest Mothers,
I have some business to attend to here in Canterlot, then I shall be in Ponyville on the afternoon train this Friday.
Hoping this reply finds you both in good health, Yours, Cloud Blossom”
“There, that should do it.” Cloud thought to herself as she sealed the short reply in an envelope and addressed it to Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville. She was confident it would reach its destination even if she just wrote her mothers names on the envelope, they were so well known. Being a daughter of two of the Elements of Harmony had been both blessing and curse, on the one hoof Cloud had discovered certain doors had opened easier if you happened to casually drop a name here or there, but on the other you were always in their shadow, and it had taken a good long time for Cloud Blossom to be recognised for her art in her own right.
With that done Cloud fluttered her way over to the wine cabinet and sofa beside it. Extracting a bottle of red she poured herself a modest amount and settled onto the faux leather sofa while the third tune, ‘Cello Sonata in G minor : III Largo’, began to play to its solo audience. Cloud sipped her wine as the haunting sounds of the beautiful instrument bathed her ears, reflecting that Octavia played her cello like she used her hammer and chisel, with a natural style and skill that only the most dedicated professionals could match.
After she had drained the wine from the glass, Cloud Blossom found herself rather sleepy, probably she reasoned, due to the relaxing bath, the music and the wine. She was tempted to make her way to her bed, but decided against it. She was plenty warm and comfy enough where she was, so tucking her legs under her and tucking away her wings she lowered her head to the arm of the sofa, closed her deep blue eyes and fell peacefully asleep.
Little Cloud Blossom was so proud! She had done it, at long last she had done it! The little filly buzzed with excitement, almost bouncing on her three legs as she squealed at the top of her little lungs.
“I did it! Momma I did it! Did ya see? I did it!” While it was true her achievement wasn't that grand, to her it was the best thing ever! Finally at the age of five she had managed to cross the large living room at Sweet Apple Acres unaided and without face planting herself into the carpet. It had taken her two years longer than her twin sister but learning to cope with just three legs AND wings had been hard.
“Ah surely did sugarcube, you done made me mighty proud young’un.” Applejack beamed a huge smile down at her daughter before picking her up in her hooves and throwing her a foot into the air, making her squeal even louder with joy.
“So what?” A cross little voice squeaked up from the corner of the room where she had been playing with her toys, “ah been doin’ that fer years an’ ya don’ praise me like that.” As if to prove her point beyond all measure of doubt Apple Honey promptly jumped to all four hooves, sauntered over the room then buzzed her little wings and flew back over to her toys. “See? Easy!”
Cloud’s squeals immediately ceased, and her lip trembled on the verge of tears. “Momma, Honey making fun of me?” She couldn't understand, what had she done wrong that her sister wasn't happy for her?
Applejack shhh’d her daughter, intercepting her tears with practised ease, before turning a stern gaze on the burnt yellow pegasus on the floor. “Apple Honey, the first time y’all walked over the room ah was proud’a ya too. Ah still am proud’a ya both an’ ah always will be, but don't go bein’ mean to ya sis just ‘cause it takes her longer to do sumthin’.”
Apple Honey flicked her pink mane from her face, before muttering in a sulky tone loud enough to be heard, “yeah, all ‘cause of her dumb leg.”
This time no amount of comforting would hold back Cloud’s tears, the cruel jibe finding its mark on the little filly. Applejack’s eyes narrowed dangerously towards her other daughter, who didn't back down, simply stared back at her mother with a defiant smirk on her face. “Apple Honey ya apologise to ya sis right now!”
“Ah will NOT!” Honey punctuated the last word with a stomp of her hoof, “y’all always give her the attention over me!” And with that she stomped out the room and up the stairs to her bedroom.
“An’ stay up there till ya feel ready to say sorry!” Applejack hollered after the angry young pegasus.
Apple honey made it to the top of the stairs, but didn't go in her room, instead staying hidden around the corner of the upstairs landing. The little filly could hear her mother calming her sister downstairs, and the irritating whine of Cloud Blossom.
“Momma, why does Honey hate me?”
“She don't hate ya none sugarcube, she’s just riled up is all. Now ah’m proud’a ya, so cheer up y’hear little missy?” At this Cloud giggled, sounding happier.
Up the stairs Apple Honey cried her own tears, of course she was proud of her sister, but why couldn't her momma’s be proud of HER too? Why was it always ‘Cloud this’ and ‘Cloud that’? Why was she always in the shadow of her dumb sister and her dumber leg? It wasn't even there and it got more attention than she did! Her Momma Jack was wrong, she did hate her sister, but she didn't know why, and that made the hurt, confused filly hate her sister even more.
The timer was running down, there were four minutes left of the second half and victory was as good as theirs. Seventy six minutes had been played. Seventy six brutal minutes. The final had lived up to its promised expectations, not one of the thirteen players on either side would emerge unscathed. They all had cuts and bruises to show for their efforts.
Two minutes left, and Apple Honey began her third full length run of the pitch that game. Ball held firmly in her mouth she ducked and wove around the opposing team. She didn't care if her lungs were bursting from the effort, that her tired muscles were hurting, that her left wing was probably fractured, they didn't slow her in the slightest, the pain fuelled her adrenaline, making her that tiny bit faster, that little bit sharper. The opposing team captain, a unicorn, had been sent off for the illegal tackle, she hadn't even had the ball when his horn had slammed into her wing sending her sidelong into the pitch. Inhibitor rings or no, horns still hurt like Tartarus.
“Good job my wings are taped up” she thought to herself with a grin, all pegasi had their wings secured before the game started, makes it fairer for the earth pony players.
Ninety seconds left and Apple Honey was three quarters down the pitch nearing the opposing goal line, this would be her third and final try of the game. Her team didn't need it, they were ahead by twenty points, but Honey wanted to give the crowd a big finish, so she went for it.
“Yes!” Seventy seconds left and she dropped the ball in the middle of the scoring zone, earning her team, the Manehatten Sharks, another four points to add to the forty they already had, increasing their lead even more. All Honey had to do now was make the conversion. The referee placed the ball on the little mound, and Honey squared up to face the goalposts. She began her run up, galloping towards the ball and gave it a mighty swat with her foreleg, belting it through the air and straight between the two uprights of the goal for another two points.
The crowd, all seventy five thousand of them, erupted in noise, some cheered, most booed, Apple Honey didn't give a flying buck for any of them. Let the idiots make whatever noise they liked, all she cared about was the win. Her team, HER team, the Manehatten Sharks had won the Equestrian Rugby Super League final for the third time running, making nine years undefeated. The final score was forty six to the Baltimare Ravens’ measly twenty. Which probably explained the boos from the crowd seeing as this year the final was being played in Manehatten. The trophy was handed round, and reporters took photos for the papers while Apple Honey and her team, sweaty, bruised and bleeding, posed for them. Honey loved it, she lived for this part and revelled in the glory of another high profile win. Best team in Equestria three tournaments in a row? Buck yeah!
Hoisted on the shoulders of her team mates Apple Honey gave silent thanks to all those long training sessions with her Aunt Dash when she had been a filly. All those running of the leaves she had done with her Momma Jack and Aunt Dash had sculpted her body to its physical peak, and while her aunt was quicker in the sky, on the ground Honey left them both in her dust every time. Her smile faltered slightly. Thoughts of Ponyville, her old home, brought her mind back to the note she had received by dragon mail before the big game had started. Apple Honey had given it a quick look over but hadn't been too concerned with it, nothing, absolutely nothing broke her mind set before a game. Winning and being the best at whatever she put her mind to doing was everything to Apple Honey, if she couldn't be the best, the pegasus saw no point in doing it. Now the game was over, the victory secured and recognition assured, and the high adrenalin was wearing off, Honey allowed herself to drift back to the note she had received as her team carried her back to the spacious locker room and the much needed showers.
“Apple Honey,
Please come home to Ponyville at your earliest convenience, we need to see you and your sister urgently. I wouldn't write to you unless it was very important for you to come home. I won't go into details in a letter, you need to hear this in person.
Yes, your sister will be here too (hopefully), I know you two don't exactly get on together, and I understand why, but this has to stop sometime Honey.
Please hurry, yours, Momma Fluttershy”
“don't exactly get on…” Apple Honey had to suppress a laugh at that, her Mom certainly did have a flair for understatement. Didn't get on..hate was more like it, and Honey knew both her Moms knew it full well too. She also knew her Momma Fluttershy would never write or say such a thing to anypony. Indeed Honey doubted whether her Mom had the capacity within her to hate anything, she was so damn kind and gentle.
The team physio gave her wing the once over as she got down from her team mates shoulders, unstrapping her wings and allowing them to move freely for the first time after the eighth minute game. Her left wing did indeed have a hairline fracture along its leading edge. Nothing serious, certainly not requiring hospital attention. After her much needed shower the physio would bandage her up, advise her to refrain from flying for a day or two and she’d be right as rain.
Shower. The word ran through her fatigued brain like a welcome drug. “Must get to shower”. While the rest of the team had a large communal one they all shared, the perks of captaincy granted her her own shower just for her. Almost as big as the team shower Honey had plenty of room to stretch out her tired wings and muscles. Setting the temperature for the coldest setting she pressed her hoof against the button, and prepared herself for the icy water. The first blast of water came, and Honey gasped as it nearly took her breath away. She loved the icy shock of the cold water, it invigorated her as it washed away the mud, blood and sweat covering her coat. She stood in the flow of the cold water, watching transfixed as the filth of the game drained away from her body, revealing beneath the layer of mud a burnt yellow coat and close cropped dark pink mane and tail. She was almost a spit image of her Momma Fluttershy, except for being a few shades darker. Honey had chosen to crop her mane and tail as short as public decency would allow, barely enough to cover her ass, because as she pointed out, a lengthy mane and tail just gave the other team something to pull or trip you up with, so it had to go.
Now the first layer of filth had been washed away Honey turned up the heat a little to open her pores properly before lathering on her shampoo, taking her time to get the foaming soap everywhere, especially her cutie marks, a rugby ball inside a red apple. She winced a little as the heated water washed into her various cuts and bruises from the game, cleansing the wounds. The athletic pegasus spread her powerful wings under the water and despite her best efforts found herself thinking about the letter and her family in Ponyville.
True she hated her sister with a passion, and had done from as early as she could remember, which if Honey tried really hard was about the age of five, just before they had started old Cheerilee’s school. She could conjure the image in her mind's eye, that damned little filly had been so thrilled just for walking over the bloody living room! Yeah Honey got it, her sis had done something brilliant, and Honey was pleased for her, but the way her Momma Jack had carried on it was as if her sister had single hoofedly won all the Super Leagues. Honey spat in the shower at the hated memory.
That's when the jealousy and the resentment had first settled in her heart for her sister. Ever since then Apple Honey felt she had to work twice as hard to get half the recognition and attention lauded on her precious sister. Yeah she hadn't asked to be born disabled but as Honey had pointed out, she was quick to play on it, her ‘fragile little filly’ act fooled everypony else except her.
“Still,” she thought as she began towelling herself off after the shower,“ it sure would be nice to see the old place again, and to catch up with Momma Jack and Shy. Maybe ah could go after all. Couldn't hurt to visit, even if mah sis is there.”
Apple Honey didn't care a flying buck about not seeing her sister for fifteen years since that last awful fight they had had in the living room of Sweet Apple Acres. Their fights had always been spectacular, but this last one had been the last straw between them. Words had been exchanged, dreadful terrible words neither could take back and which neither wanted to take back. Ten years of hate had boiled over in that last fight, it had come to blows, as their fights always did, which lead to their most heated spat ever, which in turn had lead to them both leaving home that night.
No, Honey felt regret for not seeing her parents in at least four years. They had written to her, keeping up with her sports career, asking her over for visits, but Honey had always fobbed them off, she was always too busy. Shame bucked her in her guts then as Apple Honey got into her limo and the unicorn driver took her home to her Manehatten apartment. Too busy to see her own parents. What kind of Apple was she if her career came before family? As the car pulled away from the now empty stadium towards her place, Honey even thought it might be nice to see Cloud Blossom again after fifteen years. Very deep down in the darkest recesses of her heart she did love her sister, of course she did, they were family, but she also knew the minute they set eyes on each other their old argument would resurface, and old wounds would be reopened. No, it was better for all concerned if she and her sister didn't meet again, but at the same time Honey couldn't ignore her Mom. Especially now the Super League final had been played and won, there wouldn't be any games for at least four months, and they were little home games against local teams, nothing major.
By now the limo had stopped at her apartment, getting out she thanked her driver and gave the unicorn the week off on full pay, she could afford it and he was a good guy, if a little shy.
Opening the door to her three story place she was greeted by the wall of sound that told Honey her husband was home after one of his gigs. She’d been married to Baritone for seven years now, had first fallen in love with his music at one of his band's metal concerts when they had been touring Manehatten. Her parents and aunts had all made the wedding, in fact the only absent family member had been her sister, who was definitely not invited. In fact for the first few years of their marriage Baritone didn't know she had a sister, until her Momma Jack had mentioned Cloud in a visit four years ago. Bless him he was smart enough to know not to mention her around Apple Honey.
She crept down the hallway, she didn't really need the carpet to absorb the clopping of her hooves, there was no way Baritone would hear her approach over that noise. Carefully Apple Honey stuck her head around the door frame that lead to their den, and sure enough the light grey stallion was gyrating away to one of Dying Roses’ earliest number one hits “unbreakable souls”, his unruly dark blue mane and tail thrashing about his flanks, his cutie mark of a skull with a crossed microphone and pen in front of it being hidden and revealed as he ‘danced’ about, oblivious to his solo audience. Apple Honey leant against the doorframe, a wistful look in her eyes as she watched him perform.
“I could rut you all day long…” the thought came unbidden to her dirty mind, bringing with it memories of when they had done just that, their famous ‘day of six times’ still fresh in her mind. Making her mind up, Honey went to the well stocked kitchen and retrieved two lagers from the fridge. Creeping behind her husband she slapped one to his firm flank, announcing her presence and making him squeal like a filly all in one motion. Giggling herself Honey lowered the volume on the stereo system while Baritone attempted and failed to recover a bit of dignity from his wife's surprise assault.
Taking their beers and stifling his own giggles Baritone opened them before hoofing one back over to Honey. “Good game then I take it?” He asked while she chugged most of her bottle.
“Yup! The Rockets totally kicked their flanks! Forty six to twenty in the end! Ah scored four tries and conversions mahself, if ah say so all humble like.” Apple Honey’s triumphant tone wavered somewhat when she saw the frown on Baritone’s face. “What, what's up?”
“You mean to say you let the Ravens put twenty past you? Were you asleep Honey?” Baritone tried his best to keep his straight face but gave up half way through, giving in to his sniggers at Honey’s look of shock. Realising she had been ‘gotten’ and seeing as she had nothing soft to hoof to throw at him she merely stuck out her tongue and sunk the rest of her beer.
“Not funny Bari.” Although she said it with a grin. A thought occurred to her then, and seeing as her hubby was in a good mood now was as good a time as any. “Sweetie what you got planned for the next few weeks?”
“Headline tour of Baltimare next two weeks, then the Roses are supporting Vinyl Scratch in Las Pegasus the week after…”
“Oh…” Honey couldn't keep the disappointment from her voice.
“What's up babe?”
“Oh..nothing..it's ok, forget it.” Yeah, like he’ll buy that, nice one Honey.
“No, come on tell me what's up?” Baritone was worried now, it wasn't like Honey to be like this, all hesitant and nervous. He also knew better than to push, he was well aware of his wife's stubborn streak, it was as wide and prominent as her Momma Applejacks.
Reluctantly Apple Honey showed her husband the letter from her Momma Fluttershy. She watched as his blue eyes scanned the letter, when they reached the end she added, “and ah was thinking, ya know, of goin’, with you for moral support.”
“Sorry I can't, babe we need these tour dates.”
She understood of course, Baritone and his band needed these dates like she needed her games, and the last thing Honey wanted was for him to risk his livelihood, especially as they were finally starting to make it big. With a shrug Apple Honey flashed him what she hoped was a winning smile, “ah’ll be fine ah guess, ain't like ah’m goin’ to war, just a family get together.”
“With your family, what's the difference?”
"Oh har har. Very funny Mr. Comedian.” She retorted, flashing him a mock scowl. Very suddenly a huge yawn broke over her, and bed seemed a very good idea just then. Putting her empty bottle down, Honey turned to walk to the door, before stopping to look over her shoulder, giving Vocal her best ‘come hither’ look and swishing her short tail aside to tease him with a view of herself.
“Ah’m goin’ to bed, ya comin’?”
Baritone smirked at the view of his wife's finely toned athletic rear he was presented with, before answering, “dunno, depends what you intend on doing in bed,” to his love as she sashayed that finely toned athletic rear of hers out the den to their bedroom. By the time he had followed her, Honey was draped over the bed waiting for him. Jumping up onto the bed beside her he gave her a quick nuzzle. “So, you going, to Ponyville or what?”
“Yeah, ah guess ah will. Ah’ll write Momma Shy a letter tomorrow, let her know ah’m comin’ home fer a spell.”
"Okay, that's cool, now what about tonight?”
“Y’all have to see wontcha?” Apple Honey gave a devious smirk as she turned out the lights.
"Ow!” Cloud Blossom squealed in pain as the punch from her sister found its mark on her right cheek, the force of which sent her skidding backwards into bookshelf behind her. Books of varying sizes and weights began to rain down on her as the pale green pegasus struggled to her hooves.
“Had enough yet you three legged bitch?” Apple Honey stomped her left hoof on the hardwood floor, the one she had just used to slug her sister across her jaw, a glint of victory in her eyes and mirth on her muzzle as the books continued to hit Cloud, hampering her attempts to get back up.
“Yeah…ngh! Ow!” Cloud grimaced as a particularly hefty cookbook slammed into the back of her head, causing her sister to snigger in amusement as she tried to stand up. White rage flashed through Cloud’s mind, the one and only thing she couldn't stand was being laughed at. Nopony laughed at her. Flaring her wings Cloud Blossom launched herself into a flying spear tackle; “Don't bucking laugh at me you whorse!” She screamed as she rocketed towards her sister.
The last thing Apple Honey imagined Cloud would do was tackle her. Taken by surprise the force of the impact took the breath from the burnt yellow pegasus and bowled her over till she landed painfully on her back, Cloud straddled above her pinning her to the floor with her left hoof while aiming a punch of her own with her right, which hit just below Honey’s left eye.
“You had enough?” Cloud paused before delivering her second blow, giving her sister the opening she needed.
“You bucking wish.” Quick as a flash Apple Honey brought her left hind leg up and kicked Cloud at the base if her right wing where it met her body. Using the shift in her weight Apple Honey then forced both forehooves into Cloud’s chest, the double punch forcing her off her mounted position.
“Gaaah! Sweet bucking Celestia!” Cloud Blossom grunted and cursed as fresh pain flourished across her right flank, she wobbled on her three hooves as she felt her right wing hang limp at her side as it went numb from the force of Apple honey’s well aimed kick. Taking a pained breath through her aching chest, Cloud spat on the floor, “that was low, even for you…”
“No, this is low.” Apple Honey smirked at her sister, sensing victory was at hoof as she was still struggling to even stand now she had taken her wing away. She should have ended it then, they both knew Cloud Blossom was beaten without her wings, but seeing her hated enemy just spurred her on to finish it.
Apple Honey lowered her muzzle and took the floor rug in her mouth and pulled as hard as she could, whipping it from beneath her sister’s flailing hooves and sending her hard into the wooden floor on her left side, her three legs sticking out at all angles. Mercilessly Honey closed in to give a signature apple buck to her defenceless sister’s face.
Cloud Blossom’s eyes went wide as she knew what was coming, “H – Honey…please, I – I can't stand up…”
“Not mah problem…tripod.” Apple Honey turned with a sneer and planted her forelegs into the floor, preparing to finish this fight. Slowly she brought her hind legs to her belly, muscles coiling like a spring, ready to unleash the powerful kick. Just as Apple Honey was about to release the buck a scent stung the back of her nostrils. Disbelieving she glanced over her shoulder at her sister, confirming the smell. “Y’all went an’ pissed yahself, really?” An evil grin broke her face as she prepared the buck once more.
“Honey…don't, please!” Flailing in her puddled humiliation Cloud was crying now, tears flowing freely down her face as she braced herself for the blow that awaited her.
“Ah’m gonna send you face first into that puddle o’ yours…”
The expected buck never came, for just at that moment the big double doors burst open, revealing Applejack and Fluttershy framed in the open doorway, a terrible look of rage on both mares faces.
“Landsakes! What in tarnation is goin’ on in here?!”
~
“This is real nice Fluttershy thanks.” Applejack took a bite of her daisy and dandelion sandwich, reclining on the grass in the shade of her favourite apple tree.
"Oh it's no trouble, I thought you could use a break. You've been bucking all day.” Fluttershy placed her own half eaten sandwhich on the blanket next to her as she laud her head on her wife’s shoulder, giving it a gentle nuzzle.
“Well you're welcome all day long if you bring san’whiches like these sugarcube.” Applejack took another bite, relishing the taste as she closed her eyes, enjoying the cool breeze.
“I see. You just want me for my food…” Fluttershy stick out her tongue playfully as she took another delicate bite.
“Ah didn’ say that exactly, but now you mention it…hey!...hmm…” Applejack’s snarky retort was cut short as the yellow pegasus nipped her ear in that special way she knew the farmer liked.
“You were saying my dear?”
“As long as you keep doing that ah guess ah can keep you around.” Applejack rested her hoof on Fluttershy’s own as she leant in for a kiss.
Just then the peace of the afternoon was shattered by sounds of a fight. Even all the way up in the north field the two ponies could clearly hear the battle. As far away from the homestead as they were there could be heard shouted curses and the unmistakeable sounds of furniture being destroyed.
Applejack let out a deep sigh of frustration, “Celestia’s sake, they're at it again! How many’s that this week?”
“Um, four I think.”
“Right. And it's only Wednesday.” Huffing to herself at another interrupted afternoon, the orange mare got to her hooves, “c’mon Fluttershy, let's get to it before they kill each other this time.”
Nodding her agreement Fluttershy hastily stood and ran with her partner towards the house, Applejack got there first, her powerful long strides pulling her away from the yellow pegasus, who was panting to keep up. Sweaty and out of breath from the run, both mares hesitated at the closed doors, flinching at the noises that assaulted them from within the house. The next thing they heard stunned them both cold
“H – Honey…please, I – I can't stand up…” Cloud’s muffled whimper galvanised Applejack action, but the door wouldn't budge when she shoved it with a hoof.
“Please hurry Applejack, we need to get in there!” Fluttershy panicked, imagining all kinds of things on the other side of the door. Her turquoise eyes went wide when she heard Cloud Blossom next.
“Honey…don't, please!”
“That's it, ah’ve had it wi’ this infernal door. Stand back Shy.” Applejack wound up and bucked the doors hard, fracturing the wood and forcing the stubborn doors open, the force of the buck slamming the doors against the internal walls.
Applejack’s mouth hung open at the sight that greeted her. In the middle of a half destroyed living room, one daughter was flailing in tears amidst a puddle of she didn't like to guess what, while the other daughter was wound up to deliver the bucking of a lifetime. Clearly they had arrived just in the nick of time.
“Landsakes! What in tarnation is goin’ on in here?!” Rage had overcome her shock, and the outraged farmer advanced on Apple Honey, the younger mare flashing her mother an indignant look before slowly backing away.
Fluttershy flew straight to Cloud Blossom, her nose wrinkling as she caught the smell from the floor. “Cloud…Cloud, are you okay sweetie?” Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around her daughter’s midsection, helping her to stand and move away from the mess at her hooves. “What happened?”
“Honey…she pranked me, and made fun of my leg…” Cloud Blossom pointed an accusatory hoof at her sister before dissolving into tears.
“This true Honey?” Applejack asked, her eyes narrowing to dangerous slits.
“Yeah, so what? Apple Honey brazenly admitted it, staring her mother straight in the eyes. “Ain't mah fault if she ain't got no sense o’ humour.”
“Sense o’ humour? Sense o' humour?!” Applejack’s temper exploded as she extended a hoof towards Fluttershy and Cloud Blossom. “Y’all just about traumatised her you stupid filly!”
"Pfft she's fine!" Apple Honey shouted indignantly, before backing down once more as Applejack jabbed a hoof roughly to her chest. “Ow! Momma you're hurting!”
“That ain't nothin’ compared to what's coming to you.” Turning away from her daughter the farmer addressed her wife. “She gonna be alright Fluttershy or are we going to hospital…again?”
“Um…no, Cloud’ll be fine, I'm going to help her upstairs for a bath.” Fluttershy helped the still snivelling Cloud up the stairs, allowing her daughter to rest her weight upon her. “C’mon, up you get.”
“Th – thanks momma…” Cloud grunted with the slow effort of climbing the stairs. Normally she would have flown, but her wing was still hurting where her sister had kicked her.
Applejack turned her attention back to Apple Honey, who was just stood there, not a hint of remorse on her face at all. “Apologise.”
“What?” Apple Honey blinked twice, not believing what she'd just heard.
“Y’all heard me. Ah said ‘apologise’.”
“No. Ah ain't apologisin’, not to that.” The burnt yellow pegasus pointed her hoof in disgust at her sister struggling up the stairs.
“Apple Honey. Y’all treadin’ mighty thin ice here sugarcube. Now apologise to your sister or Celestia help me…”
“Ah said no!” Apple Honey interrupted her mother, her own temper getting the better of her as she stomped a hoof on the floor in anger. “Ah will not apologise an’ you can't make me!” She'd crossed the line, she knew she had but she was way past caring. She knew she was in for the spanking or grounding of a lifetime, perhaps both.
“Get out.” Fluttershy paused with Cloud at the top of the stairs, looking down at Apple Honey with pure disgust on her face.
"E - excuse me?" Apple Honey had expected her momma Applejack to scream and yell at her, but this? She had never expected to she that look on her other mother’s face, not ever.
“Get out of this house.” Fluttershy didn't raise her voice, not once. That above all else scared the young mare below her.
"But…you - you can't, it – it was a stupid prank, that's all!” Apple Honey desperately tried to plead with her momma Fluttershy, to no avail. The yellow pegasus simply turned her back on the scene below and ushered her distraught daughter into the nearby bathroom without a backwards glance.
"Momma please, it was just a stupid prank…you can't just throw me out…”
Applejack turned her back on her errant daughter, eyes cast to the floor and her ears slicked back. With a heavy sigh that matched her aching heart she simply said; “You heard your mother.”
“So, what, you're throwing me out over a dumb prank?” The pegasus couldn't believe where this was going…it was a harmless prank, right? Why hadn't she just apologised when asked?
“It ain't just the prank Apple Honey. It's everything. Ah didn't raise mah child to have a mean streak, but girl y’all got yahself one a mile wide.” Applejack kept her back to her daughter, she didn't trust herself not to start crying. “Four fights this week, six hospital visits for broken bones this year. Celestia knows ah’ve tried to reach you, but Honey ah’ve reached mah limit.”
“So that's it huh? We’re done?”
“You ain't welcome in this house no more. Right now you ain't even an Apple no more. Just, get out Apple Honey.”
"Fine! Buck y’all to Tartarus! Who needs ya?” With a final stomp of her hooves Apple Honey spread her wings and flew out of the homestead without looking back.
~
“Ponyville the next station to stop, mind your step when leaving the train.”
The Friendship Express pulled into Ponyville station, the conductors announcement of arrival shaking the pale green pegasus from her reverie. Drawing a hoof across her face she dried tears she didn't realise she had been crying. Her last memories of her sister hadn’t been the best, then again none of her memories of Apple Honey were very happy.
Swinging her saddle bags into position on her back she carefully made her way towards the exit of the train, noticing for the first time the steady rain beating down on the platform, hitting with such force it bounced up knee high. Almost immediately upon disembarking Cloud Blossom was soaked through to her skin, her straw blonde mane and tail plastered to her neck and flanks. Despite her caution Cloud felt her hind leg go from under her as her hoof slipped on the wet platform.
“Stupid bucking rain!” The pegasus stomped a forehoof in frustration as she was deposited unceremoniously on her ass. “Great. Just great. Soaking wet through, bruised flanks, now I'm gonna have to use these…” Cloud Blossom twitched her wings in irritation, “…just to get on my blasted hooves!” She really hated using wet wings, although she didn’t seem to gave much choice, given how nopony had offered to help her up.
“Cloud? Cloud Blossom?”
The unmistakeable voice she hadn't heard for fifteen years brought her grumble to an abrupt end. Turning her head in the direction of the voice she saw but her brain refused to believe what her eyes were telling her. She was here. Apple Honey was actually here, and of course she would be on her ass in the driving rain struggling just to get up. ‘Great. Just what I need. Well here we go already…’
“Hey, need a hoof?”
Cloud Blossom just sat there, rain bouncing off her stunned face, staring open mouthed at the burnt yellow hoof offered to her. Of all the things she had expected her sister to do, offer her help was way down on the list.
~
“So that's it huh? We’re done?”
“You ain't welcome in this house no more. Right now you ain't even an Apple no more. Just, get out Apple Honey.”
"Fine! Buck y’all to Tartarus! Who needs ya?” With a final stomp of her hooves Apple Honey spread her wings and flew out of the homestead without looking back.
Anger seethed through the young pegasus as she flew through the late afternoon sky. Wind whipped at her shirt cropped dark pink mane and tail, stinging her eyes. Apple Honey flew past a few clouds, muttering under her breath before she stopped, hovering in place as a stark realisation hit her hard. She hadn't the slightest idea where she was going, or for that matter what she would do once she got there, wherever there happened to be. Despondently she flopped onto the nearest cloud and attempted to weigh up her options.
It didn't take Apple Honey long to arrive at a pretty obvious conclusion. No matter which way she looked at it, she was bucked. Really, well and truly, spectacularly bucked.
“Stupid. Bucking. Family!” She punctuated each word with a stomp of her hoof to the cloud on which she was sat. Before she could stop them tears she didn't know she was holding in began to flow down Apple Honey’s face. Burying her face in the cloud she was laid on the pegasus allowed herself to properly cry for the first time in years. She was just thankful nopony could see her up here.
"Hey kid, you alright?”
Or so she thought.
"Kid, you in there?" Rainbow Dash hovered next to the lonely cloud, worry etched on her face.
"Leave me alone Aunt Dash…” Apple Honey didn't bother turning to face her Aunt, she knew who it was. There was no mistaking that raspy voice.
“Umm, nope! Now tell me what's up kid.”
“Ugh fine! They kicked me out okay? Now ya know can ya leave me alone?” Apple Honey tried to sink further into the cloud, to no avail.
“Shy and AJ kick you out, why?”
“Because, Ah played a dumb prank on my idiot sister, it got out o’ hand and we had a fight. A big one. Happy? Now can ah be alone?” Apple Honey sincerely wished the blue pegasus would just leave her the buck alone.
Rainbow fluttered closer to the cloud and placed a hoof on her niece’s shoulder. “Got anywhere to stay?”
‘Goddesses sake why can't she leave me be?’ Honey thought to herself before answering, “No, I don't…”
“C’mon then, you can crash in my spare room, ‘kay?” Rainbow tugged at her with her hooves, but when the younger pegasus showed no sign of moving the older mare flew under the cloud and aimed a double hoofed kick at the cloud, dissipating it instantly, forcing Apple Honey to her wings.
“Hey!...okay fine, ah’ll stay with you. Happy now?” Honey flashed her aunt a scowl.
“Ecstatic kid. House is this way. Try and keep up!” Rainbow Dash was gone in an instant, rainbow coloured contrail the only evidence of her passing.
~
“Ponyville the next station to stop, mind your step when leaving the train.”
‘Bucking rain!’ Apple Honey thought to herself with a stomp of a hoof as she disembarked the Friendship Express. The train ride from Manehatten had been a long one and the pegasus wasn’t in the best of moods.
‘Ah wanted to stretch mah wings too!’ Another frustrated stomp of a hoof on the platform.
No. She was starting to lose her temper and that wouldn't do her or anypony near her any good. Quickly she remembered her breathing exercises her anger therapist Doctor Sureheart had taught her. Ignoring the pounding rain and the puzzled looks from ponies passing by Apple Honey took a deep breath and released it slowly, counting backwards from ten. The mare repeated this process another four times until she felt her frustration wane, although by this time she was soaked to her skin, although her dark pink mane was too short to go in her eyes.
‘Guess ah better get outta this here rain,’ she thought to herself. Looking around for a shelter Apple Honey noticed a brief commotion a little ways off to her right. Turning to see what had happened she saw a very familiar pale green pegasus mare slip on her ass in the rain. Indecision froze the athletic pegasus. On the one hoof she wanted to go over and offer help, but on the other she didn't know how she’d be received. Fifteen years is a long time to just go and ask ‘hey, need a hoof?’
Then again, she really wanted to see Cloud Blossom again. It had been too long.
‘Buck it,’ she thought to herself, ‘time to put those years o’ therapy to the test ah guess.’
“Cloud? Cloud Blossom?”
Apple Honey made her way through the few ponies on the platform to her fallen sister. Standing there before the pale green pegasus with her sister struggling to stand up Apple Honey was uncomfortably reminded of the last time they had been in each other's company, and just how badly that had gone. ‘Not this time sugar, time to put things right.’
“So, need a hoof or what?” Apple Honey extended her hoof once more to her fallen sister.
Cloud Blossom looked at her sister’s hoof, fifteen years of pent up rage and hate boiling through her veins, not helped in the slightest by the driving rain stinging her blue eyes, bouncing off her coat. Humiliation at her current situation fuelled her anger, which seemed to ignite like a wildfire in her breast. Chief amongst the emotions warring within her for dominance was confusion. Offering her help in any happenstance was just, not like Apple Honey.
Anger beat confusion momentarily. Lifting her own left hoof Cloud Blossom reached out to her sibling, as if she were going to accept her offer of aid. As their hooves touched Cloud’s anger snapped, and instead of accepting the offered hoof Cloud viciously slapped it away.
“Get the buck away from me! I don't need nopony’s help, least of all yours!”
Apple Honey lowered her hoof, and biting back the retort she wanted to give, silently backed away a few steps, giving her sister a few feet of clear space on the platform.
“Nghh!” Cloud Blossom grunted as she spread her soaked wings and over the course of a few minutes struggled to her hooves. Pain flourished through her powerful wings as she wet feathers brushed against each other, but at least she was upright. Pushing her pain to the back of her mind she fluttered her wings to stabilise herself as she walked slowly and carefully towards her sister, not once taking her eyes off Apple Honey, glaring daggers as she moved.
“You, uh, you want to go to Sugarcube Corner? It's just over there…” Apple honey gestured with a hoof.
Cloud Blossom looked where her sister was pointing, the bakery was indeed not far away. Utter disgust at the thought of going anywhere with her sibling warred with her immediate need to get out of the appalling weather. ‘What's her game?’ The pegasus thought to herself.
“Sure. I could use a hot drink.”
Apple Honey fell into step beside her sister, slowing her pace to match her own. Carefully she tried to extend her right wing over Cloud in an effort to keep the worst of the rain away from her.
Cloud Blossom saw the movement on the edges of her peripheral vision, and visibly flinched at the touch of her sisters wing on her back. “What do you think you're doing?” She cried out as she stumbled from under the extended wing, using her own to brush it away.
“Just tryin’ to help…” Apple Honey flicked her ears back and lowered her head as she folded her wing back to her flank.
“Well don’t! Keep your wings to yourself.”
The rest of the walk to Sugarcube Corner was conducted in silence, Apple Honey kept her head down and her green eyes forward. Cloud Blossom on the other hoof kept shooting furtive glances at her sister while she walked, all the while using her wings to adjust her balance. The pain had become a dull ache. Right now she didn't really care she just wanted to be out of the rain. Apple Honey reached the door first, and pushing it with a hoof proceeded to hold it open for her sister to enter.
Cloud Blossom just stopped and looked at her disbelievingly. “Oh no. You first, sister.” She spat out the word ‘sister’ as if it was cursed, as if the very utterance would cause her unendurable pain. There was no way she was walking in ahead of Apple Honey, too many memories of doing so in the past and having her hindleg swiped from under her resurfaced, and she wasn't keen on repeating history.
Apple Honey merely shrugged her shoulders and walked on through the open door, and Cloud Blossom hastened to follow whilst it was slowly closing.
“Will you at least share a table with me?” Apple Honey asked over her shoulder as she made her way to an empty table near the counter. The familiar smells of freshly cooked pastries, cupcakes donuts and other baked products mixed with the aroma of just brewed coffee and hot chocolate to assault their senses with their tempting scents.
“Fine, whatever let's just sit down.” Cloud Blossom slid reluctantly into the seat opposite her sister, the heat in the bakery already starting to dry out her drenched coat and feathers.
“What can get you girls?...” Pinkie Pie’s question died on her lips as she noticed properly for the first time who was sitting in front of her. Her usual exuberant smile dimmed, her whole demeanour taking on a more serious aspect. “Now, I don't want any trouble in here ladies, understand?” She asked in a low tone only they could hear.
“Y’all no trouble from me Aunt Pinkie, ah promise.” Apple Honey assured the concerned pink mare before her.
"Likewise Auntie.” Cloud Blossom added quietly, looking at her sister, mistrust clearly written on her face.
“That's alright then! Now, what can Pinkie get you?” The bounce was immediately back in her mane and her voice.
“Two hot chocolates please.” Apple Honey ordered for the both of them.
“Okie dokie!” Pinkie Pie happily bounced off to the counter to fill their order, humming to herself as she went.
A heavy uncomfortable silence passed between the two siblings while they awaited their drinks. Neither knew what to say to the other. What should they say? What shouldn't they say? Finally, after many minutes looking anywhere other than at the pegasus mare in front of her Cloud Blossom broke the silence.
“W – would, would you have done it?” She asked quietly.
Apple Honey snapped her attention to her sister, and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Done what?”
“You know what I mean. Would you have done it?” Cloud's voice was still quiet, barely audible amidst the sounds in the bakery.
“Ah’m gonna have to ask you t’ be more specific sis.”
“I'll spell it out for you then. Fifteen years ago. Our last fight. If our Mother’s hadn't burst into the house when they did, would you have bucked me in the face?”
“Oh…” Apple Honey murmured quietly, more to herself then her sister, who was looking at her expectantly, obviously awaiting an answer. She dredged up those painful memories of that day, though the last thing she wanted to do was relive it once more. Her therapy sessions with Sureheart had been bad enough. However, she owed it to her sister to be fully honest, she deserved nothing less after all this time.
Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Apple Honey looked Cloud Blossom square in her blue eyes as she answered: “Yes. Yes, I would have bucked you. I’m…sorry…”
Before Cloud could answer her Pinkie walked over, carrying a tray with their drinks and two large chocolate donuts in her mouth and two thick towels on her back. Deftly the pink mare placed the tray on the table and offered them a towel each. “Here you are girls, donuts are on the house, as are the towels. Enjoy!”
Cloud Blossom stared at her steaming mug for a few long seconds, stunned by her sisters frank and honest answer. “You, you would have bucked me?” She asked in a voice barely more than a whisper.
“Yes.” Apple Honey blew on her hot chocolate and took a sip.
“You would have broken my jaw, or worse…”
“I know.” Another sip of her drink.
“Momma Shy should’ve had you arrested…” Cloud Blossom trailed off as her sister gave a bitter laugh, surprising her. ‘Have I said something funny?’ She thought, confused.
"Heh hehe, she did.”
Now it was Cloud's turn to be confused, “did what?” She asked as she took a sip of her own drink.
“Have me arrested.” Apple Honey laughed again at the look of disbelief on her sister’s face. “Two days after they kicked me out of Sweet Apple Acres, I was staying with Aunt Rainbow. She kept asking what had happened, I asked her to drop it, but she wouldn't leave it alone…”
“What happened?” Cloud interrupted, her curiosity overcoming her hate of the pony opposite her. Her Mothers had never told her this.
“I attacked her, Aunt Rainbow. In her kitchen. I went for her like I went for you.”
Cloud Blossom stared open mouthed at her sister. “You didn't…”
"I did. Happened like this..."
~
Rainbow Dash was one stressed pony. This evening she was stressed as she flew home to her cloud house. Work hadn't stressed her. Work was easy. Managing Ponyville’s weather was a piece of cake. Family. Now that was hard. The cyan pegasus took her time flying home. She desperately wanted to get home and relax, but she knew when she got home relaxing would be impossible, thanks to her niece.
These past two days had made Rainbow Dash really regret bearing the element of loyalty. Two days of a stroppy moody teenager moping about the house. Two days since Apple Honey's parents kicked her out of their house, and off Sweet Apple Acres. Two days of eternity.
Rainbow’s shoulders sagged as she landed at the door to her cloud house. Hoofing open the door she let herself in, dreaming of a nice warm shower. “Apple Honey! I'm back, you in?”
Rainbow Dash was greeted by no response, as was the way of her house intruder, ‘guest’ was too polite a word at this point. A cursory glance around her home betrayed signs of Apple Honey’s presence. The kitchen was filthy, the sink overflowing with dirty used dishes, work tops covered in the detritus of failed cooking experiments. The living room was in a similar state, cd’s and dvd’s scattered everywhere, her favourite Wonderbolts book used as a coaster, a coffee ring staining its formerly pristine cover.
‘I don't even want to think about the state of her room,’ Rainbow thought to herself dejectedly. Making her way to the bathroom, she still had her shower. She'd feel better after a hot shower. Thumping the on switch the pegasus almost jumped out of her fur and feathers. ‘Of course she's used all the hot water,’ she thought through clenched teeth. ‘Of course she has…’
One very cold shower later and a disgruntled weather manager was cleaning her kitchen for what felt like the umpteenth time just so she had somewhere to prepare her late tea that didn't pose a health hazard. A look through her fridge revealed a distinct lack of anything that she remotely felt like cooking. Sandwiches again then.
“Apple Honey!” Rainbow hollered from the kitchen.
“What now?” Came a muffled yell from her room.
“Tea’s done! Come and get it before it goes in the bin!” Rainbow stroked a hoof across her forehead, she didn't need to be yelling. She was fed up from working overtime, annoyed with her niece and in a generally frazzled mood altogether. This was not helping.
“Fine!” Apple Honey slammed her bedroom door unnecessarily, and proceeded to stomp down every step of the stairs. Without a word of thanks or even a glance at her aunt she began wolfing down the prepared daisy and daffodil sandwiches.
“So…” Rainbow began, putting her own barley, lettuce and tomato creation, “ya finally gonna tell me what happened the other day or what?”
“Or what.” Apple Honey replied curtly, still not deigning to grace her aunt with eye contact.
“Ya have to tell me at some point.” Rainbow sour mood was getting more so by the second. She really didn't have the patience for the teenager’s attitude anymore.
“No ah don't. Drop it.” Apple Honey felt her temper starting to rise, that familiar knotting sensation in her gut started to bloom. She really wished her aunt would leave her alone.
“Look,” Rainbow tried hard to keep the edge out of her voice, but ultimately failed. “I took you in, gave you a roof over ya head. Least ya can do is tell me what the hay happened!”
“Ah said. Drop it. Auntie…” Apple Honey muttered through clenched teeth, that old monster in her belly was wrestling with her, and she didn't want to give in to it, not here.
“Aw come on! I wanna help and I can't if ya don't talk to me!”
Finally Apple Honey turned to look at Rainbow, flashing her a look of pure malice that made the older pegasus flinch in her chair. “Why?” She spat at her aunt, “ah know you're only helpin’ so’s y’all can score points and maybe bang mah Mom!” ‘Yes!’ The monster within exulted at being let free at last.
Rainbow sat stunned at the table, mouth hanging wide. “What…wait, what…you…you take that back right now!”
“Ah won't! Ah see the way y’all stare at Momma Jack’s flanks when ya think nopony’s watchin’!” Apple Honey stood to leave the kitchen before being spun around by an angry Rainbow. “Get off ya sicko pervert!” ‘Yes!’ Her monster cried, ‘give her more!’
Rainbow backed off a few steps, breathing hard and heavy. “I'm letting that slide, on account you’re family…” she placed a cyan hoof on her niece’s shoulder to try and calm her down.
“Ah ain't ya family ya fillyfooler!” Apple Honey swatted Rainbow’s hoof away from her shoulder with her left hoof and wound up a punch that hit the older pegasus below her right eye, drawing a trickle of blood. Following through the blow Apple Honey brought her hoof back across Rainbow’s muzzle, this time catching her on her left side.
Stunned by the sudden impact Rainbow Dash staggered backwards, flapping her powerful wings to steady herself. “What…the buck…are you doing?!”
Apple Honey advanced on her aunt, "ya wouldn't leave it would ya? Now ah’ll make ya drop it afore ah drop y’all like ah dropped that useless sister o’ mine!” The younger pegasus aimed a buck at Rainbow's chest which she dodged, rolling to the side and taking to her wings.
“You're crazy Honey!” Rainbow hovered above her, out of hoof’s reach. Rainbow knew she was faster, but being raised on the Apple farm, Honey was stronger. She was also a pegasus, a fact Rainbow was painfully reminded of as Apple Honey landed a flying headbutt from below to her chest, knocking the air out of her. Wrapping her forelegs around Rainbow’s midsection Apple Honey dove downwards, driving her aunt back first through the kitchen table.
Rainbow staggered hesitantly to her hooves. ‘Let's see how she fights dirty’ she thought with a twisted grin, spitting a mouthful of blood onto her cloud floor.
Still grinning Rainbow launched herself straight at her target, pulling back her right hoof for a feigned punch. Inexperienced, Apple Honey took the bait and swung her right hoof to counter. As she did so Rainbow deflected her wings just slightly, rolling her toned athletic body to her left and under Honey’s outstretched right foreleg. As Rainbow passed under her opponents leg the cyan pegasus bought the knee of her right hind leg into Apple Honey’s chest, at the same time Rainbow adjusted her wings to rise above and behind her, bringing the elbow of her left foreleg down on the younger pegasus’s skull before she could react to Rainbow’s sudden change of direction. Pivoting as she landed Rainbow swivelled her hips and delivered a scintillating upper cut with her right foreleg to Apple Honey's jaw.
Apple Honey was unconscious on her hooves before she staggered and fell, slamming face first into her aunt’s kitchen floor.
~
“No way…” Cloud Blossom blinked twice, before taking a gulp of her now cold hot chocolate.
“Sure as ah’m sat her talking t’ ya sis, ah went for her good an’ proper.” Apple Honey finished her own drink, and glanced at her sister but didn't look her in the eyes.
"No, that I can believe, I just can't believe aunt Rainbow knocked you out.”
“Well she did at that. Ah may a’ been younger and stronger, but hay was she fast. Ah never saw that last combo comin’. Ah was out like a light afore ah hit the floor.”
Pinkie Pie appeared beside them just then, carrying another tray of hot drinks, and of course more free donuts in her mouth. Sliding the tray on the table the pink mare addressed the two siblings: “Everything alright girls?”
“Everythin’s jus’ fine aunt Pinkie, we jus’catchin’ up right sis?”
“Yeah…just catching up…” Truthfully Cloud Blossom didn't know what to think. Her parents had never told her about her sister assaulting aunt Rainbow, nor had they told her about Apple Honey’s subsequent arrest.
“Okie dokie lokie! I'll be serving if you need me.” With that Pinkie happily pranced off, still humming her little tune.
“So…w – what happened then?” Cloud Blossom stammered out despite herself, finally getting to know what had happened to her sister fifteen years ago.
Apple Honey’s face clouded, just for an instant, but it was long enough for her sister to notice and shrink back in sudden fear for what she might do next. To Cloud’s very great surprise her sister merely took a deep breath and held it before slowly releasing it.
"Well, the next thing ah remember after comin’ to was seein’ Momma Shy standin’ over me, that same disgusted look on her face as she had when she kicked me outta the house. She asked me but one question. ‘Why?’ Ah couldn't answer her.”
~
A hoof slapped Apple Honey into consciousness.
Looking for the source of the slap, and shaking her head to clear the fog Apple Honey saw her mother, Fluttershy standing before her. The young pegasus cowered before the stare of absolute and utter disgust and disappointment on her face. Gone was the kind and caring visage she had grown up with. This Fluttershy was the Fluttershy who had stared down dragons, tamed manticores and cockatrices. The look from her mother was almost palpable in it’s intensity.
“Why?”
Behind Fluttershy in the remnants of aunt Rainbow’s kitchen Apple Honey could see a couple of pegasi in armour she didn't know tending to her aunt’s wounds from their fight. Band aids covered her blue face where she had drawn blood with her punches, and bandages wound around her lower back abd the bases of her wings.
Apple Honey felt no remorse for what she had done. Her aunt had been asking for it, just like her sister had been asking for it. They had both got what they deserved, she had made sure of that.
“Apple Honey! I asked you why? Answer me!” Fluttershy roughly seized her chin and forced her daughter to look straight at her.
"Why? Because ah could, ‘Mother’,” Apple Honey spat the last word with as much venom as she could muster given her weakened jaw, “because ah could.”
Fluttershy dropped her hoof, letting go of her daughter. In utter contempt she turned her back on the young pegasus, flicking her muzzle with her pastel pink tail.
“She's all yours Twilight. Come see us after, won't you?” On her way out of the shattered kitchen Fluttershy paused and looked at the heavily bandaged Rainbow, “we’re sorry this happened to you Rainbow. Please stay with us while you recover.” With that the yellow mare spread her wings and left the cloud house without a backwards glance at her daughter.
Princess Twilight Sparkle entered the room then, clad in the full regalia of her station. Her calm demeanour betrayed not one ounce of emotion as her horn ignited, wrapping Apple Honey’s wings and hooves in lavender bands of pure power, immobilising her just as sure as if she'd been hoofcuffed. Her wings were secured to her flanks and her fore and hind hooves were hard tight against each other. She couldn’t move if she wanted to.
“A – aunt Twilight? W - what's goin’ on?” The full severity of what she had done hit her like a ton weight.
“ ‘Princess’ Twilight, my little pony.” There was no anger in her voice, just cold harsh authority. “Apple Honey, formerly of Sweet Apple Acres, it is my solemn duty as Princess of Equestria to place you under arrest…”
“N – no, you can't do this!” Apple Honey began to thrash wildly in her magical restraints, futilely attempting to free herself, panic showing for the first time.
Twilight simply flared her horn once more, creating a lavender bubble around the flailing teenage pegasus, holding her still. “…under arrest for the assault and causing grievous bodily harm to Miss Rainbow Dash, and causing criminal damage to the property of Miss Rainbow Dash. Do you have anything to say in your defence?”
A spark of her temper returned at that moment, and she spat at Twilight’s hooves. “Buck you, Princess.”
“Very well.” There was still no outward emotion from the Princess, she may as well have been discussing the weather. “You will be escorted from here to Clouldsdale, where you will spend one year in a Reform School for Delinquent Pegasus. Guards,” four fully armoured pegasus guards appeared at her command. “Take her in the chariot to Cloudsdale and hold her at the Reform School. If she resists you are authorised to use force Guard-Sergeant. I will follow shortly.”
Princess Twilight bent her knee to get muzzle to muzzle with her captive niece. “I’m sorry it came to this, I really am. Please, don't resist. The guards will use force.” With that Twilight levitated Apple Honey’s limp restrained form out of the main door of the cloud house to the waiting chariot, where she was immediately joined by the four guards who took up their positions, two to pull it and two to stand guard in the back with her.
"Well, Princess Twilight arrested me, but yeah, yeah she did. Ah was in Cloudsdale within th’ hour.” Apple Honey finished her second hot chocolate with a gulp and placed her empty mug back on the table, watching her sister’s reaction.
“And…this Reform School, you spent a year there?”
"More like three years actually. Th’ sentence kept bein’extended…”
“Extended? Why?”
"Why'd ya think sis? ‘Bad behaviour’ they called it, ah attacked a coupla’ guards, started fights wi’ other inmates, an’ had a general bad attitude.”
Cloud Blossom took a delicate bite out of her donut, savouring the taste of the chocolate and sprinkles, mulling over her next question. “What was it like?”
Apple Honey took her own donut, considering her answer carefully before deciding on the honest truth. After all she wasn't going to build bridges by lying. “It was…awful, honestly. Oh, not the conditions,” she said in response to Cloud’s questioning look, “th’ cells were decent enough ah guess, clean comfortable beds, writin’ desk an’ your own toilet, but a gilded cage is still a cage.”
The burnt yellow pegasus took another bite before continuing; “Th’ days were all th’ same. Sixteen hours in th’ cells, an hour in th’ dinin’ hall, two hours therapy sessions an’ five hours ‘free’ time.”
“Therapy? Therapy for what for exactly?”
"After the first six months inside, and after mah sentence was extended for th’ first time, ah was diagnosed with ‘Intermittent Explosive Disorder’, IED th’ doctors called it.”
Taking a bite out of her second donut Cloud Blossom considered what she'd been told. Certainly it sounded like manure to her. A convenient excuse her sister had concocted. “Well, I always thought you were mental.” The pale green pegasus said with a snicker.
Her snicker died on her lips as she noticed the glassy faraway look on her sister’s face. Apple Honey was also taking several large deep breaths, which Cloud had taken note of her sister doing more than once since they had met on the platform. Intrigued Cloud waved her hoof across her sister’s face, getting no response from the zoned pegasus.
Apple Honey allowed her eyes to slide out of focus, taking those long deep breaths just like Dr. Sureheart had taught her. ‘I'm in control. I'm in control. I'm in control.’ She told herself over and over as she held her breath. Breathing in she held it to the count of five and on the exhale visualised her stress leaving her body. She repeated this process until her little monster was silent, and she focused her eyes once more, as Cloud Blossom was waving her hoof across her face. Ignoring her irritating sibling Apple Honey closed her eyes and repeated her calming mantra once more. ‘I'm in control. I'm in control…’
“Apple Honey…sis? You in there?”
“Sorry, what?” She asked as she came back to herself to see her sister looking at her questioningly with a puzzled look on her face.
“You…kinda spaced out there…”
“Yeah. It's better ah take a moment to collect mahself and think about mah actions afore ah hurt somepony.”
"You...you were going to hurt me?" Unease settled in Cloud Blossom’s gut, maybe her sister was being genuine after all.
Apple Honey took another deep breath before answering, “After what y’all jus’ said th’ thought did cross mah mind, but no, ah ain't gonna hurt ya again. Ah hope ah don’ ever hurt ya again sis.”
"Can I ask, what was it you just did?”
“Sure sis. It was a relaxation trainin’ technique mah therapist Dr. Sureheart taught me, helps me ta stop lashin’ out for no real reason.”
“I – I’m sorry, I thought you were making it up. I shouldn't have said you were mental.” Cloud blushed a little, ashamed of her thoughtless outburst.
“It's okay, ah been called a lot worse. Th’ relaxation techniques help a lot.” Apple Honey placed a hoof on her sister's, and she was pleased to see Cloud didn't pull away from her, though she did flinch a little. “Ah’m on medication too, actually it's about time ah took ‘em, d’ya mind?”
"Of course not, go ahead.” Cloud Blossom gave her consent as her sister asked aunt Pinkie for a glass of water.
Apple Honey reached into her saddle bags and retrieved three medicine bottles. Laying them on the table in front of her she caught her sister’s eye and began to explain what they were for. Tapping them with a hoof she went along the line. “Fluvoxamine, that's an antidepressant. Sertraline, is a serotonin inhibitor and Lithium is a mood stabiliser.” Unscrewing each bottle she carefully tipped two pills from each bottle before rescrewing them. “Ah have ta take two of each twice daily.”
Cloud Blossom watched in silence as her swallowed her pills with the glass of water Pinkie had bought over.
Apple Honey placed her hoof back on the table; “Cloud, ah don' regret what ah did, ‘cause regrettin’ it won' change th’ past. Ah did hurt ya bad though, an’ ah’m sorry for that, ah truly am.”
Cloud Blossom took her sister’s hoof once again. “I accept your apology Honey. You did hurt me, a lot, and I am sorry but I can't forgive you for that.”
Apple Honey’s face fell at that, her tiny smile wiped away. “At least, not yet. Give me some time?”
"Deal." Apple Honey’s smile resurfaced like a reborn phoenix.
“Girls?” Pinkie Pie bounced up to the table, an expression on her face somewhere between happy and concerned, which given it was Pinkie she was able to pull off rather well.
“S’up Aunt Pinkie?” Apple Honey looked up from stowing her various meds back in her saddle bags, trying to read her Aunt’s expression.
"Nothing, I just wondered if you were done. I need the table, you know, for customers.”
“Aunt Pinkie? We’re the only two here, there’s nopony else.” Cloud Blossom began before her Aunt cut her off.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but have you been back to Sweet Apple Acres yet, either of you?” Pinkie proceeded to wipe down the table top while she spoke.
“No, it was bucketing down with rain when we got off the Express, so we ducked in here out the way.” Cloud Blossom explained, lifting her empty mug out of her Aunt’s way.
“Oh, well, it’s stopped raining, and I really think you should head on over there.” Pinkie’s ears slicked back against her head and her mane lost a good deal of its pouffiness as she spoke, a clear sign something was wrong.
Pinkie’s distress wasn’t lost on Apple Honey, the pegasus picked up on it straight away. “Aunt Pinkie, what’s up?”
Pinkie laughed a little too loud, flashing the sisters a smile just a little too wide. “What? No…nothing’s wrong, nothing at all. I just thought, you know, seeing as you’re here and all, you should maybe head on over, to…catch up?” Pinkie finished lamely, her too-wide smile still firmly in place, which didn’t convince her two customers.
Apple Honey shot her sister a look, which Cloud returned, with a flick of her eyebrows in Pinkie Pie’s direction. Nodding in silent reply Apple Honey turned to answer the troubled party planner. “No offence Aunt Pinkie, but that’s a load o’ horseapples an’ you know it. Now what’s goin’ on?”
“I really shouldn’t say, and it’d be best if you heard it from your parent’s first hoof. I…just, I – I’m so sorry!” With that Pinkie Pie abandoned the table top in a half cleaned state and fled behind the counter to the back of the shop, tears streaming down her face.
“Tartarus was that about?” Cloud Blossom wondered out loud, a look of surprise currently being mirrored by her sister.
“Buck knows, but she’s right though, it has stopped raining and we should get going.” Nodding in agreement Cloud edged her way out of the bench she was sat on and got herself on her hooves as Honey left a hooffull of bits on the counter to cover their hot chocolates. Side by side they made their way to the door, and this time Cloud Blossom accepted when her sister held the door open for her, though she still cast her a look on the way out.
“Cloud, do y’all mind if we call on Aunt Rainbow afore we head to Sweet Apple Acres?”
“No, I don’t mind, why’d you want to go there?
“Unfinished business ah guess. Jus’ somepony ah need t’ apologise to is all.” Apple Honey answered her sister, remembering the fight she had with her Aunt Rainbow and the destroyed kitchen that lead to her arrest. “Ah’d like t’ visit Princess Twilight too, if’n ya don’t mind, ah need t’ set that straight too.”
Cloud stopped walking and looked at her sister, an eyebrow raised, “got some bridge-building to do huh sis?”
Apple Honey blushed a little, admitting her former behaviour never sat very well with her, but amends needed to be made, like Doctor Sureheart kept telling her. ‘Well,’ she thought with a grin, ‘ah’ll have somethin’ interestin’ to tell her this week’. “Yeah, somethin’ like that.”
Cloud Blossom used a wing to shield her eyes from the sun as she scanned the heavens for their Aunt’s house. “Um, Honey?” She asked uncertainly, “where’s Aunt Dash’s house gone?”
Apple Honey snickered loudly, pointing with a hoof in the direction of the rather large and impressive crystal castle in the distance that served its dual purpose of town library and Aunt Twilight’s house. At this moment the castle had an immediate neighbour, namely a cloud house floating next to it. “Sis, ah’m gonna take a guess an’ say it’s over there, near Aunt Twi’s place. Guess they finally got together, Momma Shy said they’d started dating in one of her letters.”
Cloud Blossom grinned and blew a raspberry in reply for her sister’s snark. “Want to fly over? That is if you remember how, if all those rugby games haven’t turned you into an earth pony.” Cloud spread her wings and gave a few brief flaps, getting herself airborne.
“Hey!” Apple shouted, flapping her own wings and quickly catching up to fly beside her sister, “they only strap these up during the game y’know.”
“Oh I know, I just thought you’d forget, taking that many balls to the head and all.” Cloud sniggered at her own joke, completely missing Apple Honey’s eye twitching.
“Ha ha. Very funny, not.”
“So, you and Baritone huh? You two doing okay?” Cloud asked, changing the subject.
“Yeah, we’re doing jus’ fine…wait, how’d ya know about me an’ Bari?”
Cloud Blossom laughed at that, almost falling out the sky. “Please sister, you’re the captain of the most successful rugby team in fifty years, you’ve just won your third cup. Baritone is the singer with Dying Roses. You’re all over the gossip rags in Canterlot. Every other month or so you or your stallion are on the front covers, the press love you two.”
Apple Honey pulled a backflip out of sheer joy. “Yeah, we’re an awesome couple alright.”
“Does he know, you know, about your…?” Cloud Blossom tapped the side of her head, finishing off her question.
Apple Honey flashed her sister a ‘not very amused’ look. “You mean my mental disorder, IED?”
“Yeah…that...”
“O’ course he knows dumbass, and afore ya ask, ah’ve only let mah temper get th’ better o’ me once wi’ Bari, an’ it was entirely his fault.”
Cloud Blossom flashed her sister a surprised look at that. “You did? What caused it?”
“If’n ya don’ mind, ah’d rather not say.” With that she fell silent, flying a few seconds before turning to Cloud with a question of her own. “What about you?”
Looking straight ahead Cloud Blossom asked; “What about me?”
“Y’all got anypony? Ya must have some mare tucked away there in Canterlot.”
“As a matter of fact I don’t have anypony. There hasn’t been anypony for a while, thank you very much.”
Apple Honey sniggered to herself, “Y’all not gettin’ any then?” She asked with a smirk.
Cloud Blossom stopped in mid-flap, hovering in place, an outraged look on her face. “Whether I am or am not ‘getting any’ is none of your business!”
Apple Honey hovered next to her sister, barely containing her glee. “So that’s a no then ah take it, been a while has it sis?”
“I…no, I’m not saying…shut up! Just…shut up!”
“Hit a sore spot have ah? Shame nopony else has.” Apple Honey’s giggles gave way to outright laughter, her hooves wrapped around her sides.
“Oh yeah? And I suppose Baritone is being a good little unicorn around all those groupies while you’re here is he?” Cloud’s own anger blinded her, and she continued to lay on her verbal assault, entirely oblivious to the fact her sister wasn’t laughing anymore. “Bet there are plenty of teenage fillies lining up backstage to hit his sore spots after a performance!”
"Ow! What the hay?” Cloud exclaimed in pain as Apple Honey slammed her back first into a nearby tree trunk, her left forehoof pulled back for a punch and her muzzle twisted into a vicious snarl. “I’m sorry! Sis please, don’t hurt me, I’m sorry!” The pale green pegasus knew she’d gone too far. Cloud braced herself as much as she could for the punch she knew was coming.
Apple Honey smashed her hoof into the bark of the tree, mere inches from her scared sister’s face. A second and third time she punched the bark of the tree, splintering the wood and causing her hoof to bleed a trickle of blood. Finally calming herself the burnt yellow pegasus backed away from Cloud, still breathing heavily. With a deep breath and a tremendous amount of willpower she addressed her quaking sister. “Ah’m sorry…ah promised ah’d never hurt ya again, ah didn’, but ah came mighty close. This ain’t no game for me Cloud, right now ah wanna buck you through that tree so damn bad, but ah won’, but please sis, ah’m beggin’ ya, please don’ push mah buttons again. Ah’m tryin here, ah really am.”
Cloud Blossom laid a hoof on her sister’s shoulder, “no, I’m sorry. I never should have said that about Baritone.” Noticing the saddened look on her sibling’s face she asked, “Want to talk about it?”
Apple Honey dropped to the grass beside the tree, her head resting on her crossed forelegs. “Yes…no…maybe, I don’t know! Leave me the buck alone Cloud…” Her shoulders heaved as she began to sob noisily into her hooves, not really caring if her sister was watching her crumble or not.
Cloud landed next to her sister, draping a wing over her back and nuzzling her gently. “What is it Honey?”
“It’s, it’s nothing…leave it sis.”
“It’s obviously not nothing, come on, you can tell me.” Cloud Blossom tightened the grip of her wing, pulling Apple Honey into a hug while she continued to nuzzle her.
The burnt yellow pegasus continued to cry into her sisters nuzzle for a few moments, before finally bringing her sobbing under control enough to speak. “It – it was…a year ago now…” Apple Honey whispered through her halting sobs, “ah – ah came home after a game an’ found Bari in our bed with three fillies…they were, were…well y’all can guess what they were doin’. Ah don’ need ta spell it out for ya do ah?”
Cloud Blossom kissed her sister’s cheek softly. “I’m sorry Honey, I had no idea…”
“’Course ya didn’, th’ press didn’ get hold of it. As y’all can probably guess, ah lost mah shit when ah caught ‘em. Wasn’ pretty. Ah sent th’ earth pony an’ unicorn to th’ hospital. Would ‘a got th’ pegasus too if she hadn’ flown off. As for Vocal, he was only in intensive care for a month.”
“What happened? I assume you worked it out?”
“Not straight away. Took us a month or three, physio therapy for him, psychiatric for me. But yeah, we worked it out. Almost cost me my place on the Manehatten team, would’ve done too if the shrink hadn’t stepped in for me, said ah was ‘reasonably provoked’.”
“Well, you were, weren’t you? Even without IED I’d be pissed if I came home and saw that going on.” Cloud Blossom gently kissed her sister’s cheek again.
Apple Honey smiled despite herself as she rubbed her cheek with a hoof, “y’all wanna cut that out? Ya know ah’m not into mares, an’ ah’m really not into mah sister.”
“I’m not into my sister either, somepony just looked like she needed cheering up.” Cloud sniggered to herself, “perhaps you’d prefer a wing massage or a back rub, hmm?”
"Shut up you." Apple Honey stuck her tongue out at her sister, but, Cloud noticed, she didn’t attempt to pull away from her nuzzling. “Though ah wouldn’ say no to a preenin’ later if’n y’all are up to it?”
Cloud Blossom pulled away from her sister with a serious look on her face. “Right,” she began solemnly, “ground rules sis.”
“Ground rules?”
“Yes, ground rules. You don’t want me pushing your buttons, I don’t want to push your buttons. So, what’s off limits? What sets you off, as it were?”
Apple Honey raised a hoof to her chin, deep in thought; “That’s just it sis, anythin’ can ‘set me off’ as y’all so eloquently put it, but callin’ me ‘mental’ don’ help, nor does talk of Baritone an’ his groupies. Ah guess them’s th’ only off limits things.”
“Shame, fine flank like his could even change my mind.” Cloud quipped with a smile as she went back to nuzzling her sister.
“Ha!” Honey laughed at her sister’s joke, “you wish, take more’n your smile to take him away from these toned flanks.” She returned Cloud’s nuzzle, and in a quiet voice she said, “thanks sis.”
“Thanks? For what?”
“For listenin’, for understandin’ an’ for givin’ me a chance. Ah don’ deserve it after what ah did to ya.” Honey sniffed, fresh tears forming in her eyes.
Cloud Blossom lifted a hoof to her sister’s eyes, gently wiping away her tears. “Hey, none of that. I might’ve hated you when we were fillies, but you’re my sister Apple Honey, I never stopped loving you.”
Apple Honey lowered her voice to barely above a whisper, but Cloud still heard her. “Ah love ya too sis.”
Cloud spread her wings, using them to get to her hooves then hovering above her sister. “Come on, we still need to get to Aunt Twi’s place, unless you’d like to wallow a bit more?”
Honey grinned and joined her sister in the air. “Ah think ah’m done. Race ya to th’ castle?”
~
“C’mon Twi!” Rainbow Dash reclined on her little cloud, floating in Twilight’s library, blowing a lock of her unruly mane out of her eyes in boredom. Watching her marefriend work only entertained her for so long, and Twilight had been at the books for hours. Worse thing was they weren’t even the radical cool books like Daring Do. No, these were the sort of books Twi really liked, huge, old and dusty. With lots of weird words and diagrams that made Rainbow’s head spin when she looked at them. Egghead books.
Twilight Sparkle held such a book before her in her magical aura, making notes with a quill held in another magic bubble as she casually turned the old dusty pages. “No Rainbow!” The Princess answered, not moving her concentrated gaze from her work.
“But I’m bored!” The cyan pegasus whined, her head a forehoof while the other picked at the cloud she was laid on. “I wanna play. With you. Now.”
“No Rainbow, I’m busy.” Twilight huffed to herself, crossing out the line of notes she had just made and scribbling down a few more.
Rainbow Dash hopped from her cloud perch and fluttered to the ground, tip-hoofing around her marefriend, caressing Twilight’s flank with her wingtips, which caused her to scrub the quill into the parchment. Rainbow snickered, “I’ll let you do that thing you like, with your horn…” she trailed off seductively.
“Ugh!” Twilight sighed an exaggerated sigh and levitated over a new quill from storage and resumed her note-taking. “You can’t be that desperate, we did that earlier when you woke me up.”
“Yeah, but that was hours ago. This is now.” Rainbow continued to rub her marefriend’s flank with her wing, getting a shiver but no other response.
“I said I’m bus-aaaaagh!” Twilight squeaked in surprise as Rainbow trailed several quick kisses up the back of her neck and nipped her ear with a smirk.
“You’re what Egghead? Didn’t catch that last bit” Rainbow continued her assault, blowing gently in Twilight’s ear before kissing down her jawline.
"Don’t you…have…weather duty…to do?” Twilight panted as she fumbled her book in her magical hold, her concentration momentarily broken.
“Nah,” Rainbow flicked her tail over Twilight’s as she used her wingtip to tickle the other side of her neck to where she was now kissing, “sorted the rain earlier. Cloudchaser’s got the afternoon shift. I’m all yours babe.”
“Fine! Fine, you win.” Twilight slammed shut her copy of ‘Advanced Elemental Transfiguration and its Practical Use’ and levitated it to her desk along with the parchment and quill. “But I’m tying you up this time, sweetheart…”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Rainbow danced a four hoofed victory jig before flying off up the stairs of the crystal tree castle. “I’ll get the hoofcuffs!”
Twilight grinned to herself as Rainbow Dash zoomed off to their bedroom. ‘Advanced Elemental Transfiguration’ could afford to wait, compared to her beautiful marefriend, studying didn’t seem all that important. ‘Besides,’ she thought to herself, ‘I can always do it tomorrow…’ Twilight stopped herself with a giggle, she’d told herself that yesterday, and the day before that and…oh well. The Princess trotted out of the library and spread her own wings, preparing to follow Rainbow up the stairs when a loud knock at the main doors caught her attention.
“Rainbow, get back down here, we have company!” Twilight hollered up the stairs as she turned to go answer the door, her marefriend’s muffled reply echoing down the crystal staircase making her giggle.
“Oh, come on!!”
~
“Aaaand…that’s a win!” Cloud Blossom whooped with joy as she touched down on the cloud house a clear fifty feet ahead of her sister who was puffing deep breaths behind her.
Apple Honey landed next to the pale green pegasus, panting heavily. “How…the buck…did you…beat me?” She asked between deep breaths, “Y’all…ain’t no…athlete.”
“No,” Cloud replied, not even short of breath, “but I do use these,” she spread her powerful wings wide, “eight hours every day when I’m sculpting. I just have stronger wings than you.” She finished with a smirk.
“Ah wanna rematch, on th’ ground this time.” The burnt yellow pegasus folded away her sore aching wings, almost sighing with the relief.
“Well, you’d win that for sure, seeing as I only have three legs.” Cloud stuck her tongue out at her sister’s smirk, “tell you what, next time we race, you run and I’ll fly. Fair?”
“Deal.” Apple Honey spat on her hoof and extended it to Cloud, who looked at it like it was a nest full of poisonous vipers, before returning the gesture, spitting on her own hoof and bumping it against her sister’s.
“Must you be so filthy?” Cloud asked with a wince, rubbing her hoof on the cloud beneath her.
“Must ya be so prissy? Canterlot’s ruined ya sis.”
“It has not, a certain level of refinement is expected is all.” Cloud inspected her hoof to see if it was clean, “and spitting on one’s hooves is definitely not how deals are sealed…ruffian.”
“Uh-huh.” Apple Honey walked past her sister and knocked on the door of her Aunt’s house, getting no reply. “So, how come y’all ain’t got a mare then?”
“Why so interested?”
“Aunt Rainbow!” Apple Honey called through the keyhole, knocking again. “Ah jus’ am, humour me.”
“If you must know, when I’m done with eight or nine hours sculpting almost every day, and shaken the stone dust out of my mane and tail all I want to do is get in my bath and relax with some music and a glass of something red. Chasing mares doesn’t enter my equations.” Cloud replied wistfully, thinking of her bubble jet bath and the mail mare.
Apple Honey knocked again before shaking the locked door and giving up. “Ah don’ think she’s home.” She walked back and stood next to her sister. “Take some time off, for yaself ah mean.”
Cloud snickered, “Honey I’d love to, believe me, but when you’ve got thousand bit commissions booked up three months in advance for customers who expect their orders on time or earlier I can’t afford to. I’m pushing it coming here as it is.”
“Why’d ya come back then, if’n ya so busy?”
“Same reason as you I expect. When your mother sends you a letter asking you to come home urgently, you make the time, right? Cloud asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Sure as sunrise ya do. Ah can’ argue wi’ ya there ah guess.”
Cloud Blossom walked to the very edge of the cloud they were stood on and looked down at the crystal tree castle below. “Think she’s in there with Aunt Twilight?” She asked over her shoulder, noticing her sister wasn’t following. “What’s wrong?”
Apple Honey was stood a few feet behind her sister, nervously scuffing a hoof at the surface of the cloud, sending little puffs of it floating away. “It’s just, now ah’m here, ah don’ think ah wanna see ‘em after all.
Cloud looked at her incredulously; “You, you’re nervous?”
Honey scuffed up more bits of cloud, digging herself a hole she wished she could crawl into. Slicking her ears back she admitted, “No, ah’m…ah’m scared sis…”
“Scared, of what?”
“Of them, Aunt Rainbow and Twilight. Last time ah saw ‘em ah’d destroyed her kitchen an’ put Aunt Rainbow through her table, an’ Aunt Twilight arrested me. Yeah…ah’m scared.”
A few days ago Cloud Blossom would’ve given her last bit to hear her sister sound so defeated. Now she walked over to her and gave her a gentle nuzzle, draping a wing over her back in a feathery hug. “You don’t have to be scared, I’m with you this time. Come on, let’s fly down together.”
They did just that, at Cloud’s urging they glided down from Rainbow’s house to the doors of the castle, and Apple Honey, summoning what nerve she had left knocked loudly on the imposing structure. She was about to knock again when they heard Princess Twilight Sparkle’s muffled shout from within, “Rainbow, get back down here, we have company!”
Honey groaned audibly when she heard another, louder but still muffled shout of “Oh come on!” which was the unmistakeable sound of her Aunt Rainbow.
Cloud put her wing over her sister once more, giving her a reassuring nuzzle. “We’ll be fine, don’t worry.”
The option to worry or not was taken out of Honey’s hooves when the door was seized in a bubble of lavender magic and swung open to reveal Ponyville’s Princess. Twilight Sparkle just stood immobile, blinking a couple of times as she looked at the twin pegasi in front of her. Blinking once more she simply said, “Oh…hello girls.”
Finding her voice Apple Honey just managed a weak “Hey Aunt Twilight…can we, d’you mind if we come in?”
“Alright,” Rainbow Dash eyed the two pegasi warily, in particular her cerise eyes focused on the burnt yellow pony seated in front of her on the other side of the coffee table. “What the hay are ya doing here, and how long’s it gonna be before ya try putting me through this table?”
Apple Honey shifted uncomfortably in her chair, she hadn’t looked her Aunt Rainbow in the eyes since being let into the castle minutes earlier, and with her eyes firmly glued to the steaming mug of black coffee in front of her she felt no immediate need to do so again. She knew she deserved all the ire the cyan pegasus could throw at her, knowing it didn’t help her cope with it though, and she was glad her sister was there with her.
“Rainbow Dash, drink your coffee and let her speak.” Although Twilight’s tone was light and conversational, there was no mistaking the presence in her voice.
“Come off it Twi,” Rainbow snorted in contempt, pointing a hoof at Apple Honey. “Y’know she’s trouble, or have ya forgot what she did last time?
Twilight took a gentle sip of her earl grey tea as she looked over at her marefriend. “I haven’t forgotten…”
“Good, ‘cause neither has my back!” Rainbow made to slam her hoof onto the coffee table, but stopped herself at the last second from spilling her coffee onto the carpeted floor of the castle’s lounge. “Remember the back this psycho almost broke?!”
Rainbow was about to continue her verbal assault on her old attacker when she was cut off by Cloud Blossom, who had till now remained silent. She simply laid her left foreleg on her sister’s right and flashed her a smile. “Breathe sis,” She muttered quietly.
Twilight merely took another sip of her tea, watching Dash’s confusion with a tiny trace of amusement.
“Wait, what was that about?”
“Aunt Rainbow,” Cloud began, her reassuring hoof still in place over her sister’s, “You call my sister a psycho.” She paused to take a drink of her hot chocolate. “You’re right,” She stated bluntly, feeling her sister’s foreleg tense under her own. “She is a psycho.”
Rainbow Dash sat back in her chair, for once at a loss for words. “what d’ya mean?...”
“What I mean, Aunt Rainbow,” Cloud carried on, building up steam. “Is that Apple Honey has a psychotic mental illness called Intermittent Explosive Disorder, or IED. It doesn’t excuse what she’s done, but it does explain why she did the things she did.”
Rainbow snorted in her chair, “Yeah right Cloud, and I’m the king of the seaponies!”
Twilight levitated her teacup to the coffee table. “Why don’t you tell us about it Apple Honey?” she asked, staring a pointed look at Rainbow as she did so.
“Twi, you aren’t buyin’ this load of manure are ya?”
Twilight gave her marefriend a stare Fluttershy would’ve been proud of. “Dashie, I want you to listen to what she has to say, please.”
“Hmph!” Rainbow crossed her forelegs and slumped in her chair, looking for all the world like a chastised school filly. “Fine. Talk.”
~
“Enter.”
The door to the Doctor’s office opened to reveal two armoured unicorn guards flanking a securely bound pegasus. Both had their horns lit, one had the mare’s hindlegs bound together, her wings held tightly to her barrel and her forelegs held against her chest with glowing bands of yellow power. The other guard levitated her along in his blue aura.
“Couch please Shieldwall.”
The unicorn in question silently floated the struggling mare to the aforementioned couch, depositing her roughly on her back.
“Thank you. You may leave.”
The unicorn with the yellow aura around his horn shook his violet maned head. “Governor’s orders Doc, this one,” He indicated the still struggling pegasus with a disdainful look, “Is not to be seen without supervision and restraint.”
Without looking up from her notes, or even acknowledging the pegasus’s presence on her couch at all the Doctor addressed the guard; “Thank you, I am well aware of the prisoner’s history, and the Governor’s orders. You can maintain these spells,” She waved a hoof towards the bound mare, “From the other side of the door, yes?”
The unicorn guards nodded in unison.
“Then I am in no immediate danger am I Bastion?”
“No Doc but…”
“If you would be so kind then, please wait outside my office.” The two guards merely grunted and with a shrug of their powerful shoulders left the office, though their outlines could be seen through the frosted glass of the door.
After what seemed an eternity the Doctor finally looked up from her sheaf of notes to look over her angular glasses at the pegasus lying bound on her couch. Brushing a strand of her bubblegum pink mane out of her eyes with a white foreleg the earth pony spoke. “Good afternoon, Miss…Apple Honey, correct?”
“Buck you.”
“Hmm, a simple ‘yes’ would have sufficed.” She adjusted her glasses before continuing, “My name is Doctor Sureheart. Do you know why you’re here?”
"Buck off."
“Hmm. I see. Miss Honey, I have all afternoon, and neither of us are going anywhere anytime soon. Let’s make this pleasant shall we?”
“Buck…”
“Yes, yes…your favourite word I assume?” Doctor Sureheart interrupted her, a slight note of irritation edging her voice. “Now, I see from the notes I’ve been given you have already had some tests, medical and psychological, do you know why these tests were performed?”
Apple Honey stopped her fruitless struggle, instead turning her head away from the questioning mare beside her. “They sayin’ ah’m tapped in th’ head or somethin’.”
“Miss Honey, you are not ‘tapped in the head’, you have been diagnosed with a mental illness, namely Intermittent Explosive Disorder, which is why you have been referred to me, and why we have the pleasure of each other’s company.”
“So what, Same thing ain’t it?” Apple Honey asked sullenly, still looking away, currently the only defiant action available to her. “Y’all gonna ‘shrink’ me till ah’m cured an’ ah can go be a good little pony again?”
Doctor Sureheart shuffled her notes in her hooves, looking her patient over. “Your illness cannot be cured Miss Honey, however it can be managed. That is why we are here. To help you understand your aggressive violent behaviour, to recognise when you are about to have an episode and to teach you techniques through cognitive therapy to calm yourself down.” Once again Sureheart adjusted her glasses. “Could you at least do me the courtesy of looking at me?”
Apple Honey reluctantly turned her head to look at the serenely smiling earth pony Doctor, her shallow breathing barely keeping her temper in check. She couldn’t put a hoof on exactly when she’d started getting upset, but once her anger started it was like a wildfire, feeding itself until there was nothing left. Her body was giving her its signs, the tightening of her chest, the tingling in her hooves and worse the unending pressure at the front of her head, bearing like an unbearable weight on her skull.
“You would like to attack me right now, wouldn’t you Miss Honey?”
“Yeah, yeah ah would.”
“Why? Describe it for me if you please, every last detail.” Doctor Sureheart turned to a clean sheet of paper, pen in her mouth poised and ready.
“Ah, ah dunno why, jus’ y’all sat there judgin’ me, makin’ notes about me, that damn superior smile like y’all are better than me…” Apple Honey felt the pressure in her head become so intense it was painful. Breathing through it she continued; “Ah wanna take mah hoof and buck that smug grin ta th’ other side o’ ya face.”
“Hmm, I see.” Doctor Sureheart furiously scribbled her notes, already filling the clean page and starting another. “And the earth pony mare in the dining area, was she better than you too?” The psychiatrist asked, referencing the incident that had occurred at the end of Apple Honey’s first week in the Detention Centre.
“She…she cut in front o’ me in the dinner line,” The pain in her head and the tightness of her chest made it difficult to concentrate on the question in hoof. “Ngh!...the…the mare, she took the dessert ah wanted, took it knowin’ ah wanted it…”
“Miss Honey, are you in pain?”
“Uh huh…” Doctor Sureheart retrieved a bottle of painkillers from the drawer of her desk, emptying two onto her papers. Taking an empty glass she filled it with water from the nearby cooler and took it to her desk, dropping the two tablets in it.
Standing by the bound pegasus she held the glass in her right hoof. “Miss Honey. Bite at me in any way, I’ll have you sedated and this kindness will not be extended again, do you understand?”
Apple Honey nodded her head with a pitiful whimper, her eyes watering with the pain.
“Open up then.” The white mare poured the water and tablets down her throat, watching as her patient swallowed the painkillers. “Better?”
A look of concern passes across the Doctor’s face, “Miss Honey, does it always hurt that bad?”
“Only when ah can’ release it, it hurts more an’ more until ah let it go.”
"Hmm I see." Sureheart scrawled more notes across her paper, "Now, back to the earth pony mare. Your assault left her in the hospital for two weeks with a broken foreleg and several fractured ribs, it also got your sentence extended to two years. Do you feel any remorse for the attack?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She took what she knew ah wanted, ah gave her a warnin’, she ignored it. Her problem.”
“Hmm. Let’s move ahead to a month ago, to the pegasus stallion in the exercise yard. Tell me about that please.”
“Ah was doin’ weights, mindin’ mah business.” Apple Honey’s voice had taken a deadened, emotionless cadence which didn’t go unnoticed by the earth pony Doctor. “Stallion came over, made a few ‘unsavoury’ comments, about me, mah flanks and mah ass. Ah ignored him, best ah could, carried on wi’ mah weights.”
“Then what happened?” She asked quietly.
“Y’all know what happened…”
“I’d like you to tell me all the same.”
“Ah switched t’ a different set o’ weights, stallion came behind me, he…he…” Fresh tears welled in the corners of her eyes at the memory. “He mounted me. Ah screamed at him to get off, but he wouldn’, he jus’ laughed at me. Ah bucked him, ah defended mahself.”
“Miss Honey, self-defence is to be expected in such a situation, however,” Doctor Sureheart consulted her notes once more. “Your attack went beyond mere self-defence, didn’t it?”
Apple Honey rolled her head away again, utter disdain in her dead voice. “If y’all say so.”
“I do say so Miss Honey. Your first kick, your ‘bucking’ as you call it shattered his pelvis, making him unable to stand. What went beyond defence was you taking a fifty kilogram weight and shattering his right wing.”
“He deserved more.”
“And I’m sure he would’ve received more, had the pegasus guard not intervened. Tell me why you attacked the guard Miss Honey.”
“Ah dunno, ah was gone by that point. All ah felt was a wingtip on mah flank, ah just bucked out, ah wasn’ thinkin’.”
“You are aware you broke his jaw?”
“Shouldn’a got in mah way. A pegasus jus’ tried ta rape me, ah felt a wingtip on mah flank. Ah reacted.”
“Hmm. Your ‘reaction’ extended your sentence to five years Miss Honey.”
Apple Honey turned her cold expression back to the Doctor that sat beside her. “An’ ah’d do it again, in a heartbeat ah’d do it again.”
"Hmm I believe you Miss Honey.” Doctor Sureheart put aside her notes and pen. “From what you have told me today I can surmise your IED is triggered when you feel provoked, would you agree this is the case?”
“Y’all could say that Doc.”
“Now, as regards the treatment of your condition, I’m going to prescribe medication for you, a course of antidepressants, anti-anxiety agents and finally a mood stabilizer. These are fluoxetine, phenytoin and lithium respectively. These you’ll need to take twice daily for the rest of your life. I’m also recommending a course of psychotherapy, which will include cognitive restructuring and learning coping skills.”
“Um…D – doc S - sureheart?...”
For the first time in their session together Doctor Sureheart heard something other than a brash, abrasive, hot tempered young pegasus. She heard a frightened young mare. Brushing aside her pink mane and adjusting her glasses she briefly wondered how many ponies had seen this side to her patient. ‘Not many’ she safely concluded.
“Yes Miss Honey?”
"Will, will you be doin' the psychotherapy?”
“Would you like me to?”
“Yeah…yes please…”
“Why Miss Honey?”
“You’re nice, y’all gave me the painkillers. Ah, ah like you.”
Doctor Sureheart gave her the best smile she could; “Yes Miss Honey, if you are comfortable with it, I will be your therapist for these sessions.”
“Thank you.”
~
“Yeah right…” Rainbow Dash eyed Apple Honey, her forelegs still crossed in her chair. “Cute story and all, could’ve used a dragon and some world-ending peril though, throw in a last minute Princess rescue at the end.” The cyan pegasus added sarcastically.
Twilight drained her teacup, levitating the china to the coffee table. “Rainbow…” She began before her marefriend cut her off.
“I’m not buyin’ it Twi, and neither is my back. I’ve read better Daring Do fanfics than what I just heard.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight had finally had enough. While she only raised her voice a little, the authority in her tone was sufficient to quiet her partner. Apple Honey quelled at once in her chair, she’d heard that voice once before, and didn’t want to hear it again. “I know for a fact our niece is being truthful. Ever since I was forced to issue the arrest I have been in contact with the Governor of the Detention Centre, and with Doctor Sureheart, whom I have gotten to know quite well.” Twilight turned a furious eye to Rainbow, who shrank in her chair. “As it happens the good Doctor still sends me updates as and when she deems it necessary.”
“But…why…how come you never said anything then?” Rainbow spluttered.
“Confidentiality.” Twilight explained. “Doctor Sureheart only agreed to share her reports with me because I’m a Princess, a close friend of the family and the one who arrested my niece.” Her gaze still on the doubting pegasus she continued; “You owe somepony an apology Rainbow,” in a quieter voice she said, “We will discuss this later, when we’re alone.”
At some point during Apple Honey’s tale Cloud Blossom had scooted her chair next to her sister, pulling her into a life threatening hug that showed no immediate signs of being released. “Still going to call my sister a liar Aunt Rainbow?” She asked indignantly.
“Well, I’m not sayin’ I understand all of it, but I guess I do owe ya an apology.”
“No need Aunt Rainbow,” Apple Honey finally managed to pull herself from her sister’s neck crushing hug, welcoming the chance to breathe. “Ah really am sorry…”
Rainbow rubbed the part of her back between her shoulders and wings that had taken the brunt of the table. “For callin’ me a fillyfooling pervert, accusin’ me of banging your parents and for drivin’ me back first through my own kitchen table?”
“Yeah, ah’m sorry for all o’ that.”
Rainbow Dash cracked the faintest of smiles as she brushed aside a lock of her unruly multi coloured mane. “I suppose we can let it slide this time kid,” She pointed a hoof at the burnt yellow pegasus. “But I’m watching you, got it?”
“Ah got it, thanks Aunt Rainbow.”
~
Hours later the afternoon was early evening before Cloud Blossom and Apple Honey finally left the castle to head to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight Sparkle stretched out on her favourite reading couch, her copy of ‘Advanced Elemental Transfiguration’ held before her in her lavender aura while Rainbow busied herself tidying away the mugs and cups. The Princess pretended not to hear the jingle of the chains as she magically turned the page.
“I hope my little maid won’t forget to wipe the coffee table this time.” She said as casually as she could, stealing surreptitious glances at her marefriend’s flank as she swayed across the lounge.
“Twi, was the uniform really necessary?” Rainbow huffed as she carried over the cloth, hampered slightly by the hoofcuffs. The cuffs and the eighteen inch chain didn’t bother her too much, it was the spreader bar fastened to the leading edges of her wings keeping her from flying that worried her. The three clips on each wing didn’t hurt, they merely held her wings outstretched from her barrel, immobilising them.
Without looking Twilight reached over with her magic and swatted Rainbow’s cutie marks with whips of pure power, earning a surprised yelp from her ‘maid’. “I beg your pardon?”
“Mistress, was the uniform really necessary?” Rainbow took the cloth in her mouth and began to wipe down the coffee table.
Again, Twilight didn’t bother to look up from her book. “Of course, my staff should look the part, don’t you agree?”
“Mistress…did you have to bind my wings?”
“You were a very bad pony, doubting myself and Apple Honey like you did. I’d say the punishment fits the crime, wouldn’t you?”
“But…”
“I can always send you to the market, I’m sure there are supplies we need.”
“N – no Mistress…please don’t…I’ll behave.” The very thought of being sent out in her current bindings mortified the cyan pegasus beyond measure.
Twilight closed her book with a sultry smile, “Then get to cleaning. And the more thorough your cleaning is, the more thorough I’ll be when you’re finished.”
“Yes Mistress!” Rainbow was determined the coffee table would have a reflective surface by the time she was finished.
Twilight trotted over and playfully nipped the pegasus’s ear. “Thanks for listening earlier.”
Rainbow paused in her wiping; “Meh, she ain’t a bad kid, I’m just glad she’s getting the help she needs.”
Twilight gave Rainbow a little kiss. “Still big of you to let it go.” As she headed towards the stairs to the bedroom Twilight called over her shoulder, “Come up when you’re done, I’ll show my maid just how proud I am of her…”
“So, where to now?” Cloud Blossom asked her sister as they exited their Aunt Twilight’s crystal tree castle into the mid-afternoon sunshine. “You want to head home to Sweet Apple Acres or is there somepony else you need to say sorry to?” She added with a sly smile.
Apple Honey stuck her tongue and nudged her sister’s flank with a chuckle. “Ah wasn’ that bad…”
Cloud snorted; “I think you’ll find you were, oh sister of mine.”
“Fine sis,” the burnt yellow pegasus acquiesced with a shrug of her shoulders, “Ah guess ah was pretty bad. Ah still am, ya know that right?”
“I know that, and I know it’s not all your fault.” The pale green mare leant over to nuzzle her sister. “And we’re alright, okay?”
Apple Honey flicked her short pink mane from her eyes as she returned her sister’s nuzzle. “Ya mean it?”
“Course I mean it.”
“Thanks sis, an’ ah am sorry, for all th’ times ah called ya names, an’ well, th’ other stuff ah did too.”
Cloud Blossom stopped next to her sibling and gave her a stern glare. “Stop that. Stop it right now. Apologise to me just once more and so help me Apple Honey I shall slap you.” Cloud softened her expression with a gentle smile, “I’ve told you already. We’re fine. We will be fine.”
Apple Honey flashed Cloud a nervous smile. “Well, we don’ know why momma Shy asked us to come back here do we?”
“No, and nopony will tell us, if Aunt Pinkie is anything to go by. So?”
“Why don’t we get them some flowers?” Apple Honey suggested.
“Flowers?” Cloud giggled. “I never thought you were a ‘flowers’ kind of mare Honey.”
“I’m not as a rule, but think about it, if momma Shy has bad news then flowers will help. If it’s good news then flowers will make her feel even better. It’s a win win.” Apple Honey explained her reasoning to her sister, who listened with a smile on her muzzle.
“Good idea,” Cloud admitted, then frowned. “Isn’t Roseluck’s shop all the way back in Ponyville proper? I don’t feel like walking all the way back there now we’re out here.” Cloud spread her wings for balance as she stretched her hind leg with a wince.
Apple Honey picked up on her sister’s discomfort. “You hurtin’ sis?” She asked with concern.
“A little,” She said with a nod, “I don’t usually walk this much in a day, plus I had that tumble earlier at the station.”
“Yeah, ah remember,” Apple Honey giggled, recalling her sister’s unceremonious fall in the rain. “Um, sorry…” She quickly added at the severe glare from Cloud. “Gotta admit, it was a little funny sis.” She added with an apologetic smile.
“Okay, I guess it was a tiny bit funny.” Cloud Blossom reluctantly agreed, a grudging smile playing over her lips.
“Alright, well what about that shop over there?” Apple Honey pointed with a hoof to a shop a few hundred yards away from where they were at Twilight’s castle.
Cloud Blossom looked where her sister was pointing, reading the large shop sign. “Wildfire Rose’s Rarities? Yeah alright sis, we can give it a look.”
With that the sisters set off towards the flower shop, Apple Honey setting a steady pace on her hooves, Cloud Blossom flying a few feet above her. “So, third Super League Cup in a row huh?”
Apple Honey chuckled, swelling her chest with pride. “Eeyup, y’all watched th’ game?” She asked, a huge smirk on her muzzle.
“I watched the final, it was a close thing until the sixty fifth minute. I can’t believe that unicorn rammed you like that.”
The burnt yellow pegasus actually laughed at that. “It’s called a ‘tackle’ Cloud. Th’ other team are allowed t’ try and tackle us for th’ ball you know.” She giggled again. “Ah never pegged ya for a sports fan sis, did ya even know what was goin’ on?”
“Well of course I did, and I don’t need to know the intricacies of Rugby League to know you need to score more than your opponents to win.” Cloud sniffed dismissively, “You scored more, so you won right?”
“Uh huh,” Apple Honey snickered loud enough for the flying pegasus to hear her. “An’ th’ fact that lots of toned athletic mares were gallopin’ aroun’ for eighty minutes gettin’ all dirty an’ sweaty has nothin’ t’ do with it right sis?”
“I have absolutely no idea what you mean…” Cloud’s attempted denial was undermined somewhat by her rather prominent blush, which spread across her cheeks like a crimson wave.
“Riiiight,” The walking mare openly sniggered, “That blush o’ yours says otherwise Cloudy. Why ah bet when Mimic and Windwhistler scored that third try y’all had your hoof strummin’ away quicker than manure slidin’ off a shovel.”
“Apple Honey! Please!” Cloud’s blush threatened to spontaneously combust her in mid-air, as she hurriedly looked away from her sister.
“Ah notice y’all ain’t denyin’ it Cloudy.” Apple Honey gave a last snort of laughter before changing the subject. “What about y’all? Ah see ponies’re buyin’ up your sculptures so fast y’all would think Parasprites’re eatin’ ‘em.”
Cloud Blossom was so shocked at this she landed next to her sister. “How d’you know…”
“Baritone gets these arty magazines. Ah read ‘em. Turns out y’all are more popular than a stallion in estrus season.”
Cloud blushed again, though her blush didn’t stop her swelling her chest. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far…” She started before her sister cut her off.
“Ah would. Ah seen some o’ the stuff y’all have done. Now ah can’t say I get most o’ ‘em, y’all know ah never been very arty minded. Ah’ll tell ya what though, ah know good when ah see it, and girl, your stuff is really good.” Apple Honey hung a foreleg over her sister’s shoulder. “Maybe y’all could see your way clear to doin’ somethin’ for me?”
Cloud stopped walking, utterly stunned at what she’d just heard. “I…what?” She stuttered, “I-I’d love to, really I would!”
“Ah’d pay, ‘course…”
“You will not!” Cloud stomped a forehoof. “It’s a poor day if I can’t sculpt something for my own sister.” Cloud leant in close and kissed her sister’s cheek, “Think of it as fifteen years of Hearth’s Warming gifts.”
“Ah can live with that, thanks sis.” Apple Honey was about to say something further, about generosity being Aunt Rarity’s thing, when she realised throughout their conversation they had been stood outside the flower shop for a good ten minutes.
The flower shop was a two storey wooden building with a smaller storey attached to the right. Built in the tudor style it had pale green façade with bright white beams criss crossing it’s outside. The terracotta coloured sloping roof along with the grey stone chimneys completed the simple rustic feel of the place. Closer inspection of the outside showed the shop had been in a state of disrepair at some point in it’s past, but that clearly a loving hoof was now in residence.
Cloud Blossom glanced up at the shop sign. In the centre was a single red rose set against red and yellow burning flames. “Wildfire Rose indeed,” She mused out loud. “The owner’s cutie mark d’you think?” She asked her sister.
“Ah dunno,” Apple Honey answered with a shrug, “Maybe. C’mon, let’s see what they got.” The athletic mare hoofed open the door to the ringing of a little bell and the two sisters entered the shop, to be immediately assailed by the smell of the many varieties of flowers on the shelves.
“Be with you in a minute!” came a mare’s voice from somewhere they couldn’t see.
Looking around the shop’s interior the two pegasi could see a long counter opposite the door they had entered by, with a cash register and a ceiling high cooler behind it, full of pre-made arrangements of flowers. Rows of shelves lined the left and right walls. The right had familiar plants such as daffodils; daisies; buttercups; bluebells; roses and magnolias, whereas the left, marked ‘Rarities’, held a variety of flowers both sisters had never heard of before. All were brightly coloured and neatly arranged to show of each one to the customer.
A few moments later and a young looking earth pony mare trotted through the door marked ‘Nursery’, carrying a battered looking watering can in her mouth, which she placed on the counter with a smile. “Sorry about that, just feeding the babies.” She chirped happily, before addressing her customers. “Oh, right. Hello hello! Welcome to Rose’s Rarities, I’m Wildfire Rose, how can I help you today?”
“Mighty nice to meet ya Ms Wildfire,” Apple Honey held out her hoof, which the young mare happily bumped in greeting. “Me an’ mah sis are after some flowers for our momma, right sis?”
“Bwaaa…” Looking at the earth pony Cloud Blossom had suddenly found forming words very difficult. She had a chestnut brown coat, a long white mane and tail with a sky blue streak through both, and the biggest most beautiful blue eyes Cloud had ever seen.
“She’s gorgeous! I’ve never seen a mare so beautiful!” Cloud thought to herself, unfortunately her thoughts got detoured on the way to her mouth and no sound came out when she opened and closed it twice.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. Are you looking for anything in particular?” Wildfire Rose looked at them both expectantly, a wide smile on her muzzle.
“Even her voice is beautiful!” Fireworks and rainbows exploded in Cloud Blossom’s mind as she stared at the young mare in front of her. “I should say something. Say something you idiot!” Her mind berated her for not being able to speak. “Well…we, we’re…flowers! Need flowers!” Cloud managed to squeak out. “Oh smooth. Well done you.” She chided herself.
Wildfire Rose looked at the flustered pegasus for a moment, blinking twice. “Weeell, I have plenty of those for you to choose from,” She nervously smoothed her mane with a hoof, “This is a flower shop.” The earth pony started tossing her mane, twirling it with the hoof that had been smoothing it out.
“Sweet Celestia, now she’s playing with her mane!” Cloud Blossom’s wings shot out to either side of her body with an audible *poomf!*
“Excuse me, are you alright Miss?”
Apple Honey took one look at her sister, who was bright red in the face and sporting the most impressive wingboner she’d ever seen and burst out into peals of laughter. Noticing the confusion on the flower salesponies face the pegasus struggled without success to contain her giggles. “She’s just fine sugarcube, mah sis has just seen somethin’ she likes is all.”
“Oh, alrighty then,” Wildfire Rose perked up at the possibility of a sale presented itself on the horizon. “Is there a specific flower or arrangement I can interest you in?”
Apple Honey snorted more giggles, “No hun, ah think mah sis is more interested in the mare sellin’ th’ flowers than th’ flowers th’ mare’s sellin’, if y’all catch mah drift.” The pegasus offered a not so subtle wink at the earth pony and nodded at her sister, who was busy trying to get her wings to behave. “On that note Cloudy,” She said loudly to get her attention, “Ah need t’ go outside a sec, call Sureheart.”
Apple Honey’s statement just made it through Cloud’s haze. “W-what? You, you’re going outside, now?”
“Eeyup, ah’ve had a couple’a near misses today, an’ the Doc said t’ call her if ah needed her.” Apple Honey made her way out the door, “Don’ worry sis, y’all be just fine.” She called over her shoulder with a wolf whistle.
The shop door closed behind the exiting pegasus, leaving the ringing bell to break the awkward silence between the two equally blushing mares.
Unfortunately the bell could only ring so much before falling silent. Which inevitably it did. Once more a silence descended as the two mares forced smiles at each other across the shop floor. A pervasive, intrusive silence that seemed to stretch for eternity.
Eventually Cloud Blossom couldn’t take it anymore. “So…” She began uncertainly.
“So…” Wildfire Rose answered, her blue eyes looking anywhere other than at the pegasus in front of her.
“Soooo…” Cloud scuffed her hooves on the hardwood floorboards.
“Yeah…”
“Um…flowers?” Cloud offered lamely, deciding a change of topic was in order.
“You’re…interested…in me?” The earth pony seemed hesitant, although her smile looked a lot more natural.
“Um…maybe…” Cloud admitted in a tiny voice, not wanting to get her hopes up.
“Maybe?” Wildfire Rose cocked an eyebrow as the tiniest hint of a smirk ghosted across her lips.
“A little…okay yes, I am, a lot…”
“Oh…I don't know if I’ve ever really had any mares interested in me before.” The younger mare nervously ran a hoof through her white mane, smoothing out curls that weren’t there. “Or many stallions either really...” She added as she continued to play with her mane.
Seeing her chance Cloud Blossom took a deep breath and prepared to plunge down what was (sadly) a lesser travelled path. “Well, this mare’s interested in you.”
Wildfire Rose blushed heavily, the crimson glow lighting up her chestnut cheeks. “Um…you wanted flowers?”
“Oh…” Cloud tried unsuccessfully to keep the disappointment from her voice at the abrupt change in topic. “Yeah…yes we do, want flowers.”
“Rare ones or regular?”
“Oh, um…rare ones.” Cloud mumbled, not really paying much attention, certain that she’d blown whatever chance she may have had with this gorgeous mare.
Wildfire’s face lit up like a Heath’s Warming tree as she lead Cloud over to the left side of the shop to the “Rarities” display. “These here,” She pointed a hoof to the shelves, “Are some of the rarest flowers in Equestria. This Mountain Avens only grows in Ghastly Gorge. This,” She pointed out a delicate looking purple flower, “Is PasqueFlower. You’ll only find this in the Everfree Forest. This chequered looking flower is called Fritillary. It’s growing sites in Appleloosa are protected by law you know.”
Cloud Blossom um’d and ah’d absent mindedly through the descriptions of the rare flowers, not wanting to appear rude to the eager young pony. As an artist she could appreciate the beauty of the flowers, but beyond that she was lost. Just as she was about to politely request that they wrap this up so she could get out of the shop with a modicum of her dignity intact a particular rose caught her eye.
“Excuse me, but what’s that?” She asked, pointing a wingtip to the rose in question.
“That,” the chestnut mare began proudly, visibly swelling, “Is the rarest rose in the world. It’s called the Wildfire rose…”
“Wildfire rose?” Cloud interrupted her.
“Yes, it’s named after me because I created it. Took me years of cross cutting and breeding, but there it is.” Wildfire Rose reached out a foreleg and took her namesake in a hoof, turning the flower in the light to show it off. The yellow orange edged buds had opened into orange double blooms, accented by a glowing yellow reverse. Cloud breathed in the slight musky fragrance given off by the rose, and admired the thick velvety petals. “Isn’t she a beauty?”
“It’s the second most beautiful thing I’ve seen today.” Cloud’s mouth blurted out the words before her brain could stop them. “So much for dignity…”
“You…you really like me?
Cloud Blossom nodded. “I really do.”
“Well, I suppose we could, y’know, go on a date? The chestnut mare nervously tousled her white mane, reaching as far as the blue streak.
“R – really?” Cloud’s wings shot out again, erect at her sides. “Stupid wings…” She muttered under her breath.
“Really.” Rose giggled to herself, making a mental note to ask why her wings kept doing that. “Let’s get your order sorted, then we can talk date, ‘kay?”
“Yes…that’s a good idea.”
“So, what was it you wanted Miss Cloud?”
“Oh, I’m not really sure…” Cloud berated herself for not paying attention when the earth pony was telling her about the different flowers. How was she to know that stuff would be important? “Could you put together a basket with all of those flowers you mentioned to me?”
The earth pony mare actually stopped and looked at the pegasus as if she had four heads. Blinking twice she asked; “You want a basket, a basket made up of four of the rarest flowers in the land?”
“Is that wrong?” Cloud asked uncertainly.
“Not at all, customer is always right, as my mom says. Most ponies get a few regular varieties and a rare to show them off, but certainly you can have whatever you like.” Rose started to collect the four flowers from the rare shelves and placed them next to each other on the shop counter. “After all, you’re paying, right?” She asked with a giggle.
Cloud Blossom nodded as she watched her work, skilfully arranging the flowers in the basket until a few moments later she was finished.
“Um…that’ll be five thousand five hundred bits, please.” She asked, almost apologetically.
“No problem,” Cloud reached into her saddle bags and retrieved her card, offering it to the stunned mare, who swiped it against the cash register and gave it back to the pegasus with her reciept.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what do you do Miss Cloud?”
“I’m a sculptor, and it’s just Cloud, or Cloud Blossom if I’ve been naughty.” The pegasus answered as she securely stowed her card back in her bag.
“Oooh that’s a sweet name Cloud, are you local? I haven’t seen you or your sister around before.”
“You wouldn’t,” Cloud explained, “We haven’t been back in Ponyville for years. I live in Canterlot above my workshop, and my sister lives in Manehatten.”
“You’re a sculptor, if you don’t mind me asking, is that how you lost your leg?”
Cloud offered her a warm smile; “No I don’t mind you asking. I was born without my left hind leg, the umbilical cord wrapped around it while I was developing, and it atrophied.”
“Oh…I am sorry Cloud.”
“It’s alright, really.” The pegasus smiled as she leant her head and gave the younger mare a nuzzle, “Just no ‘tripod’ jokes, if you please.”
Wildfire Rose looked shocked. “I – I wouldn’t dream of it, I really wouldn’t.”
“Don’t worry about it, seriously. Now, where would you like to go on our date Wildfire?”
The earth pony tapped her chin with a hoof as she thought. “I know!” She chirped excitedly, “We can go to the Hay Burger!”
“The…Hay Burger?” A tiny wrinkle of disgust creased Cloud’s muzzle.
“You never been to a Hay Burger joint?” Wildfire asked incredulously, and when Cloud shook her head ‘no’ she fairly bounced with excitement. “Oh you’ll love it! They do hay burgers, horseshoe fries, sodas, and oooh Celestia their milkshakes are just gorgeous! Can we go there Cloud? Can we pleeeease?”
“Of course we can,” Cloud giggled in spite of her misgivings. It was hard not to, Wildfire Rose’s enthusiasm was infectious. “Do you work tomorrow?”
“Um…tomorrow’s Saturday…I close midday Saturday and close all day Sunday.”
“So I shall meet you here at two pm tomorrow afternoon? Then you can lead me to this delightful eatery.”
“You’re on Cloud!” Wildfire Rose bounced around the counter and scribbled something on a piece of paper before passing it to Cloud Blossom with a hoof. “My number. Anything comes up gimme a bell. I’ll flip the ‘closed’ sign but leave the door unlocked. Let yourself in if I don’t answer it.”
“Very well Wildfire,” Cloud gave her a quick peck on the cheek, which resulted in an instant blush and a giggle from the older mare, “I’ll see you here tomorrow at two.” Cloud then gave her other cheek a quick kiss, took the basket in her mouth and with a wave of a wing left the flower shop.
“Well, looks like somepony sure scored.” Apple Honey laughed as she noted the faraway look on her sister’s face. “First base already. Y’all work quick sis!”
“Oh hush you…”
“Y’all got her number?” Cloud nodded. “Y’all set up a date?” She nodded again, this time with a huge smile. “Then ah will not ‘hush’. Good luck sis.”
“Thanks Honey. Here, you carry this.” Cloud passed the flower basket to Apple Honey, who took it under a wing. “By the way, you owe me three thousand bits for your half.”
“What the dickens?!” Apple Honey almost dropped the basket in shock. “Ah never knew they made gold plated flowers afore.”
“They’re rare.” Cloud offered by way of explanation as she started to walk towards Sweet Apple Acres.
“Rare?” Apple Honey sniggered. “For that price ah hope they pick ‘emselves an’ jump into this here basket.”
“Hush, you know momma Shy will love them.”
“Eeyup. That she will sis, that she will. C’mon,” Apple Honey draped her other wing over her sister’s back as they walked side by side.
“Excuse me, Aunt Rarity, could you say that again please?” Cloud Blossom asked, disbelief in her voice.
Rarity took a delicate sip of her cinnamon flavoured tea from the cup held in her magic and carefully set it back on it’s saucer, taking the time to dab at her lips before repeating what she had just told her two nieces. “I said,” Rarity began, looking the two pegasi in the eyes, “Applejack, your mother, my friend, has stage two skin cancer darling. To be specific, basal cell carcinoma.”
“Eeyup, that’s what ah thought y’all said Aunt Rarity.” Apple Honey sat next to her sister, opposite her Aunt Rarity and Momma Fluttershy in the shade of the Zap apple trees, the table between them holding their chosen teas and coffee, the latter of which belonged to the athletic pegasus and remained untouched. “So…what’s that mean?”
“Is…is Momma Jackie going to be alright?” Cloud asked, “She isn’t, you know…going to…is she?” She trailed off, staring at her cooling cup of earl grey tea, not wanting to finish her sentence.
“Is mah Momma gonna die?”
“Apple Honey!” Rarity and Cloud both exclaimed in unison.
“What? Ah’m only askin’ what’s gonna happen now.”
“Girls please.” Fluttershy quietly silenced the three mares around the table. “First of all yes, Applejack has skin cancer. Second it’s not fatal. Your mother is going to make a full recovery from this illness. The doctor’s caught it early in stage two, a simple surgery and a skin graft is all that’s required.” Fluttershy took a sip of her rose tea, giving her daughters a warm smile.
“So that’s why you wrote us to come home Momma?”
Rarity giggled. “You have to admit Cloud Blossom dear it’s not the sort of thing one can put in a letter now is it?”
Fluttershy put her emptied cup on its saucer, and motioned to Rarity for a re-fill, which the unicorn happily obliged with her magic. “Yes it was Cloudy, and while I’m very pleased to see you both here, I must ask; there isn’t going to be any ‘unpleasantness’ between you is there?”
“No Momma.” Apple Honey reached over and hugged her sister tight. “We’ve had a chance to talk, properly ah mean. Ah promise there ain’t gonna be no more hassle.”
“Honey’s right Momma,” Cloud returned the hug as best she could. “We’re alright, really.”
Fluttershy fixed them both with her stare, attempting to discern any lie in her daughter’s faces. Finding none she relaxed with a sigh. “I’m so pleased you both finally came to your senses girls. It’s a shame it took you so long.”
“Well!” Rarity exclaimed, throwing her hooves up. “I’m no Pinkie but I’d say this calls for a celebration. Fluttershy darling may I?”
“Of course you may Rarity. Please can we keep it down though? Applejack does need her rest.”
“Certainly dear.” Rarity lit her horn, and floated a barrel of Sweet Apple cider from the nearby barn over to their table, along with four mugs. Once the mugs were filled with cider Rarity offered a toast. “To family.”
"Y'all wouldn't be startin' without me now would ya?" Applejack's voice carried from the bottom of the Zap Apple orchard.
Fluttershy looked at Rarity; "I thought I said be quiet?"
Rarity looked at Fluttershy; "I was being quiet darling, at least I thought I was..." The white unicorn trailed off under Fluttershy's stern gaze.
"Momma!" Cloud Blossom sprang from her seating pad and flew straight into Applejack's waiting hooves, pulling her mother into a tight hug.
Apple Honey couldn't help but giggle. "Ah wouldn' worry about it Aunt Rarity, y'all know Momma Jackie can hear cider sloshin' a mile away. Remember the time Aunt Rainbow tried helpin' herself to the hard stuff in th' cellar that time?"
"Ah yes. How could anypony forget that?" Rarity and Fluttershy both laughed at the happy memory. In fact the only pony who hadn't been happy was Rainbow Dash, after Applejack had made her work off the amount of cider the weather pony had "borrowed".
"Cloud!" Apple Honey called to her sister, "Loosen up ya grip sis, ah want mah Momma conscious when ah get to hug her after you!"
Cloud Blossom gave up her seating pad to Applejack, who took it with a smile. "Why thank you kindly sugarcube. Rarity, since y'all woke me up, would ya mind bringin' out another seat and a mug, if'n ya please?"
"It would be my pleasure Applejack." Rarity smiled, levitating out another seating pad and a mug as Fluttershy moved her pad next to her wife and gave her a huge squeeze.
"Now, where were y'all before ah so rudely interrupted?"
"Aunt Rarity was making a toast to family Momma." Cloud chirped happily, taking her new seat next to her sister.
"Well," Applejack smiled at her favourite group of mares, "Ah reckon ah can go for that." The farmer lifted her freshly filled mug to the middle of the table. "T' family!"
The other four mares pressed their mugs together, spilling cider over the table. "Family!"
Cloud Blossom turned to her sister and extended her mug to her. "To Sisters."
Apple Honey returned the gesture with a smile. “Sisters.”
"Well now..." Applejack fanned herself with her hat, a broad grin on her muzzle. "There's a sight these old eye's thought they'd never see. Though ah ain't gonna gripe for seein' it, it sure would'a been nice t' see it sooner."
"Momma, are ya gonna die?"
Applejack took a long drink of her cider, and looked her daughter square in the eyes as she answered; "No Honey, ah ain't gonna die. Ah just gotta go t' hospital, have an operation. Ah'll be buckin' these here trees six ways t' Sunday quicker than a rat up a drainpipe before ya know it."
"But what if something goes wrong?"
"It won' Cloud, ah know it won'."
"How can you be so sure Momma?"
Applejack took another drink, considering her answer. "Ah'll tell ya for why. Ah got th' best wife ah could wish t' ask for," The farmer gave Fluttershy a squeeze and a kiss, "Ah got four o' th' best friends in Equestria behind me," Applejack raised her mug to Rarity with a smile. "Ah got you two girls t' hold mah hoof," She nodded to Cloud Blossom and Apple Honey each in turn, "An' ah got ya brother an' sister up there in heaven watchin' over me too. Wi' all these ponies watchin' mah back ah can't not be alright now can ah?"
~
The moon had just been risen to the night sky, casting its pale light over the apple farm. Two mares sat side by side on the grass under an ancient apple tree, each with a wing draped over the other to ward off the chill, but mainly to hold one sister close to her sibling.
“How long are you staying for?” Cloud asked, breaking the comfortable silence.
“Ah’ll stay for th’ operation, then ah gotta get back t’ Manehatten. Get the Sharks in trainin’ for th’ local games comin’ up soon. How ‘bout you?”
Cloud smiled, thinking of her date tomorrow. “If all goes well with Rosie, I’ll be around more.”
“Oh…‘Rosie’ is it now?” Apple Honey sniggered, “Do ah need t’ give her th’ ‘don’ hurt my sis’ speech?”
“No thank you.” Cloud nuzzled her sister, “Although I appreciate the sentiment.”
Apple Honey looked out over the sleeping farm, bathed in the eerie glow of moonlight. “Funny ain’t it?”
“Hmm? What is?”
Apple Honey rested her head on her sister’s shoulder, “All them years we spent fightin’, hatin’ each other.” Tears ran down the burnt yellow pegasus’ cheek. “Ah’d love to have a few of ‘em back.”
Cloud Blossom felt the tears on her fur, and turned her head to kiss away her sibling’s tears. “Me too sis. Me too.”
