Fairy Tale
Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, there was a poor peasant girl named Apple Bloom who lived with her family in the countryside. They were the apple farmers in the village, and although they were peasants, they made a decent living for themselves, selling their high-quality apples and cider at the market. Because Apple Bloom and her family worked in the dirty fields all the time, they never wore fancy clothes. Apple Bloom wore little more than a tattered tunic with unpolished leather sandals.
All the farmers in the county paid tributes to the House of Rich, the landowners. They didn’t farm at all or do any work at all, but yet they lived in the big castle with the high stone walls and the massive iron gate. Queen Spoiled Rich’s only daughter, Princess Diamond, was Apple Bloom’s age and she would wear only the finest silk dresses. The Princess and her family would stand at their balcony, and wave at all the peasants who stood at the castle entrance and looked up.
Princess Diamond was just a “royal name”. No one knew her real name, yet she was considered a true "lady of quality". Apple Bloom used to give out fake names at market day so she could get more free samples at the candy shop, and then the shopkeepers would get mad at her. It wasn’t fair that Princess Diamond didn’t give out her real name, and yet she deserved to be called a lady of quality. Because Princess Diamond was a princess, she could get away with anything.
Peasant girls back then didn’t go to school normally. But Apple Bloom went to school because the village made a whole school just for Princess Diamond. A place where she could interact with boys and girls her age, but it was all fake because Princess Diamond’s parents paid to build the school, paid the teachers, paid for the books, paid for everything. So Princess Diamond would get good grades no matter what.
Apple Bloom would never be a lady of quality.
One day, after a day of fake school where Princess Diamond gave the best presentation in class (it was the best because the teacher said so), Princess Diamond invited Apple Bloom to her castle to spend the afternoon.
“Come to my castle tomorrow at four. Alone.”
“Really!? Me!?” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“Of course.” The Princess snorted. “You don’t need to get so worked up about it.”
“Are ya sure, ya want me? Apple Bloom? At yer castle? In person?”
“That’s what I said, didn’t I?”
“It’s me, y’know. Me, Apple Bloom. Apple farmer’s daughter.” She pointed her finger at her own face, in disbelief.
“Yes, it’s you, Apple Bloom. I know. I’m not blind.” The Princess quickly handed her a folded parchment with a gold wax seal. And with that she skipped away to the royal carriage that was waiting for her at the school gate.
Apple Bloom stood frozen for a minute, her finger still pointing at her own face like an idiot. Then, she opened the letter. It was in the royal letterhead, signed by the Princess and the Queen.
The Princess Diamond of the House of Rich cordially invites you, ____Apple Bloom______, to the Rich residence at ___four o’clock in the afternoon____ on the __fourteenth___ day of _____April____.
That’s when it hit her.
“EEEEEE!!!”
It was happening! This was actually happening!? Apple Bloom was so so excited that Princess Diamond wanted her! Her, in the castle!
First things first, she had to get a nice dress for her visit tomorrow. Her old Granny was starving but she didn’t go to the market to buy food before they closed down. She would get that dress, no matter what. Nothing mattered more than royal approval. If the royals liked Apple Bloom, they would give her family more land to farm apples, and then Granny Smith would have more income to buy more food than they would ever need.
So Apple Bloom was not selfish at all. She was doing the best thing for her family by getting a dress.
But she wasn’t a lady of quality.
It just so happened, Apple Bloom had a best friend named Sweetie Belle, a clumsy girl who was horrible at cooking but a great singer. Sweetie Belle’s sister was Rarity, the village’s seamstress. Rarity was poor herself, but she made all the Rich family’s dresses so she got to go to the castle sometimes to do fittings.
Apple Bloom went straight to the boutique after school. “Can you make a dress for me?” she asked, showing Rarity a sketch of a dress that she found in a library book.
“Why, I’d be happy to, dear, but…this is rather short notice, darling. I’m not sure if I can give this to you by tomorrow afternoon.”
“But I gotta gotta have this dress! Otherwise I won’t be a real lady like Princess Diamond!”
Rarity adjusted her glasses, and said to Apple Bloom, “Take my advice, dear. A dress is only beautiful as the lady who wears it.”
Apple Bloom turned her head back to see if there was anyone else in the room.
That was one thing that Apple Bloom never understood. Rarity was one of the few peasants who had the opportunity to dress like a lady of noble upbringing. Yet Rarity never wore any of the garments she sewed. Rarity herself wore an unflattering beige frock, with all her favorite pincushions strapped onto a specially designed sash. Apple Bloom found herself staring more at Rarity’s beautiful creations hung all around the shop, rather than Rarity herself.
Apple Bloom crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Rarity, this is real, real, serious, okay!? The Princess of Rich is invitin’ me! To her house! Do you even know how many times she done made fun o’ me fer wearin’ farmgirl clothes?”
“You mustn’t take her insults to heart, darling. But still…I’ll do this as a favor for you and your family. I’ll get started on it now. You might not want to stay. I’ll take at least a few hours.”
Apple Bloom stayed anyway. For about thirty minutes, at least, until she had to go buy food at the market before they closed—she suddenly thought about her starving Granny. Her worn shoes barely cushioned the weight of her feet running down the dirt road back toward the market.
What would Princess Diamond tell her, when she finally saw Apple Bloom in the dress of a fine noble lady?
You look just as respectable as me.
You look just as regal as me.
You look just like a noble lady.
But are you actually a noble lady?
Apple Bloom could never truly be a lady of quality.
Apple Bloom didn’t make it to the market in time the day before. The shops were just closing and all that was left was a pound of cornmeal. With it, she was able to cook enough dilute gruel to feed the family for dinner.
The next day, after school, she rushed to Rarity’s boutique to pick up the dress. She put it on so quickly, she almost tore the delicate fabric.
“Well, do you like it, darling?” Rarity repositioned the mirror in front of a fidgety Apple Bloom.
“Will Princess Diamond like it?”
“Darling, I have no idea, never met the girl. Though, it’s certainly in the same style as the dresses I make for the royal family. So I suppose the Princess would like it.”
“Then I like it. Thanks Rarity!” She left for the castle, grabbing a pair of high-heeled shoes from the display shelf on her way out.
An hour walk later, down the best paved road in the entire county, she stood at the tall iron gate with spikes on top, holding a basket of their signature apple jam that her older sister Applejack insisted that she bring as a gift. If it was any consolation, the wicker basket was wrapped in a delicate cloth and with a ribbon tied at the handle.
Did Princess Diamond know that she had an older sister and an older brother? And that her parents died of the plague, and that her grandmother took care of them now? Or that her late mother was a pear farmer and defector from the feudal lords across the river, an enemy to the house of Rich?
She would not mention her family to Princess Diamond.
Today she was a lady. And a true lady of quality did not have a family history like Apple Bloom’s.
She made her presence known to the guard. She handed him the letter. After some hushed words with his bosses, she was granted entry through the service entrance at the side.
After walking through a maze of corridors, with two stone-faced royal guards surrounding her at all times, she was silently left at the grand double-height foyer of the castle, which on its own was larger than her entire family’s house.
Apple Bloom looked to the right. There was the Princess, coming from another room she had not been in yet.
“Princess Diamond.” She tried to curtsy, but instead tripped on her heels.
Princess Diamond approached her guest, slowly circling her. Apple Bloom froze.
“Not bad,” the Princess said. “Not bad at all. At least there’s enough intellect in you to realize the type of dress code that’s expected of guests to the castle.” Princess Diamond wore a similar outfit to Apple Bloom. A long dress, with a wide hoop skirt that was at least three times the diameter of her waist. And a pointed hat, with a small tassel.
Their dresses were similar in shape; the color was what differentiated their social standing. Apple Bloom’s dress was red. Red linen was for daughters of merchants and artisans visiting as personal guests of royalty. White linen was for the daughters of clergy, and blue was for the daughters of knights.
Black and violet were reserved for royalty, which is what the Princess wore. Her dress was black silk, with golden lace trim at all the seams.
Apple Bloom dared not say how similar she looked to the Princess of Rich. Change the color of the dress, wear her hair the other way perhaps, and even she could become a princess.
Apple Bloom could be a princess.
Or maybe Princess Diamond was never a princess to begin with.
“Why’d you invite me, Princess?” Apple Bloom asked.
Princess Diamond scoffed. “You really need to ask? I thought I’d give a peasant like you the chance to experience the life of royalty for a few hours. You should at least show some gratitude. I’m quite surprised you obtained a dress that’s up to my high standards. How did a peasant like you even obtain such a fine garment?”
“Rarity done sewed this for me.”
“The royal tailor? Our tailor? Hmph. I’m quite surprised you even know her.”
“Well, y’see I’m friends with Sweetie Belle, and her sister is Rarity.”
“How does that even work? You’re not even royalty. How can you get a dress as nice as that?”
Apple Bloom raised a brow. “Well…she’s my friend’s sister.”
“You mean you can just be friends and you can get whatever you want? Why, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” She tried to give Apple Bloom a haughty look, but for a moment, Apple Bloom saw the bottom of Princess Diamond’s lip quiver. But then she saw her bite down, snort, and turn her nose up again.
“Come,” Princess Diamond beckoned. “Come quickly, unless you want to be late.”
The whole walk from the foyer to the inner courtyard of the castle, Princess Diamond spent criticizing Apple Bloom’s tailor-made garment. “Rarity obviously did a slipshot job with your dress. Just look at the horrible stitching along the back. One day and the red color’s already fading in the light. Hmph. Mine’s obviously better. It’s clear that Rarity gives me a higher quality dress because I’m a royal. You know, just because she’s your so-called friend doesn’t mean you get the same treatment as a royal.”
They reached the covered walkway that circled around the inner courtyard of the castle. The skirts on these dresses were so wide, Apple Bloom couldn’t see the shoes at her feet. Each step forward was like shuffling in the dark. The floor was immaculately polished marble, which was just as well, because one unseen raised tile or wooden plank and she would’ve tripped—and she wouldn’t even know what it was that made her fall.
But Apple Bloom could look straight down at the rustling under the skirt, listen to the sound of her heels clack against the marble floor, and imagine the steps.
Her head bobbed a little each time her skirt rustled.
One, two. One, two.
Princess Diamond walked slowly too. One step per second. Ten minutes, and they had barely made a half-circuit around the inner courtyard.
And that’s when Apple Bloom realized that she was actually slowing down for Princess Diamond. Not the other way round.
“Well? What do you think of our courtyard gardens? Don’t we do our hedges so perfectly?” Each one was cut by their army of gardeners into perfect spheres. Except for one, in the middle, which defied all laws of nature by being trimmed into a giant tiara.
“Well, it’s pretty, I guess,” Apple Bloom said.
The Princess frowned. “Just ‘pretty’?”
“Prettier than any flower garden I’ve ever seen.”
“What sort of flower garden has a peasant like you even seen?”
“Well, erm, in the springtime we get this real nice wisteria growin’ on the stone fence round our cottage. Sometimes there’s some blue, yellow, and white wildflowers that grow an’ it matches them real nicely.”
“You mean you don’t even trim the weeds?”
“Nah, I think it looks nicer when it grows a lil’ wild. Kinda like a fallow field, you know?”
The Princess remained oddly silent. Then suddenly, she humphed at Apple Bloom, and began ranting. “We have everything right here in the castle. Everything in the world you could possibly want. An immaculate bowling lawn, three dining halls, seventeen bedrooms, two tennis courts, a flower cutting room. There’s no reason why one should even have to leave the palace walls. A peasant like you would not understand.” She turned away from Apple Bloom, her face in a frown.
“So, you never seen a farm field in yer life before, huh?”
Silence.
They approached a narrow covered walkway which connected to another building. “Watch for the step.” The Princess’s courtesy was quickly followed by a sneer at Apple Bloom. “Peasants are so clumsy, they always don’t watch where they’re going.”
There was a small step up as they entered the bathhouse, overlooking the grass tennis courts on the castle grounds.
There was a closet in the bathhouse where there were at least seven sets of identical white tennis outfits hanging. “I doubt I have one that’ll even fit your figure. We royals keep a strict diet to maintain this form, you know.” Another sneer.
Apple Bloom measured herself with her eyes and she could tell that the Princess was lying.
Princess Diamond changed into her tennis outfit, while Apple Bloom was forced to wear the petticoat that she had underneath her dress.
Of course, Princess Diamond would choose the one sport Apple Bloom had the lowest possible skill in. Apple Bloom could run for miles with her dog Winona, she could wrestle in the mud with her male cousins and win…but this! Her eyes were smarting from the sun and wind. The ball came for her faster than she could blink. She flailed her right arm holding the racket, hoping it would somehow bounce…
THWOK
Somehow the ball made it across the court. The Princess snickered at her opponent as she lunged forward to hit the ball back. Apple Bloom exhaled. Her right hand outstretched, she propelled herself forward to reach for the ball…
THWOK
Apple Bloom tripped on her petticoat, and the off-white fabric was stained a brown dirt-color.
“Out,” Princess Diamond said as the ball bounced beyond the white lines.
After a few equally brief games, they retired to the marble benches at the sidelines, under the shade of a full-leaved oak tree. A servant rushed to them, holding a tray of water, chilled from the stockpile of ice from the winter that was kept in a special cellar. They wiped their sweat off with a towel.
“Whew, that was hard.” Apple Bloom needed to sit down. Her legs were already tired. And here she was, thinking only farmers did hard work! “You’re real good at tennis, Princess.”
“You really think so?” Princess Diamond frowned.
“Yeah.”
“Is this something you peasants say or something?” She held her racket against her chest, like a shield.
“Y’mean no one’s ever told you that you’re good?”
Silence.
After some hesitation, Princess Diamond said, in an unusually warm voice, “Thank you.”
They drank their chilled waters, in silence.
“Hey Apple Bloom,” Princess Diamond said.
“Yes, Princess?”
“Would you like to borrow my spare tennis outfit?”
As they played a few more tennis matches out on the court, Apple Bloom slowly improved her game. As it turned out, playing tennis wasn’t that different from running around catching falling apples.
Princess Diamond’s tennis whites fit Apple Bloom even better than she expected. The royal emblem embroidered on the breast of the shirt matching the color of her eyes. Apple Bloom didn’t expect that clothes worn by the wealthy could be so…comfortable. See, sometimes when she was little, her sister Applejack used to joke that the reason why the noble folk looked so serious all the time was cause of all the starch in their clothes that made them itchy.
After about ten more matches, they returned to the bathhouse, where a bath was waiting for each of them. Apple Bloom noticed their dresses were hanging neatly in the wardrobe, looking shinier and smelling better than they had when they left them. The fabric smelled of lavender soap and was washed in starch.
“Wait, who cleaned our clothes while we were gone?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I…I don’t know. One of the servants, I guess? It just happens all the time. Kinda like magic.”
“You got servants to do yer washin’ up?”
“I guess?” she muttered as she examined the dress for any starch stains. “That’s what I’ve always been told, but I’ve never actually seen their faces. The maids are trained to hide in a corner if I ever do see them.”
“You don’t even know their names?”
“No. I guess I don’t.” She continued to examine her dress for cleanliness.
“Don’t ya ever wonder how the world around ya works, Princess? The whole world inside and outside them castle walls?”
“Well. Maybe a little.” She looked up at the farmgirl’s eyes. "Like...I've always wanted to see how apple pie is made. How they get the lines on top to crisscross like that."
Apple Bloom smiled. "My sister and I can show ya that. Maybe you can come down an' see us sometime."
They helped each other change back into their dresses and high heel shoes, and they began to make their way out of the bathhouse, towards the drawing room in the main palace building. They walked just as slowly before, imagining the position of their feet hiding underneath the massive hoop skirts.
They reached the exit of the bathhouse. “After you,” Apple Bloom said. “Princess, watch out fer the step—”
It was too late.
The Princess lay flat on her stomach, the puffy black skirt compressed by the hard marble floor.
“You hurt?”
Princess Diamond started to get up. “I’m fin—” suddenly the color drained from her face.
Apple Bloom heard footsteps.
“It’s Mom,” Princess Diamond muttered.
Apple Bloom thought the Queen was coming to her daughter’s rescue. Like any decent mother would. Like any fine lady of noble upbringing would.
Instead she heard,
“Diamond! You clumsy fool! You tripped again!?” the Queen yelled, a perpetual frown on her face.
The Queen’s dress was even more regal than the royal black dress the Princess wore. Silk, black as night, with urine-yellow gold sashes and trim all around. And of course her crown, encrusted with blood-red sapphires. It was regal. The regal-est.
Sickeningly regal.
“Mother, I’m sorry—”
“Apologize to yourself! You’ve made a disgrace to yourself and the entire Rich family. In front of a peasant, some more!” The Queen scolded. “How many times have you failed at etiquette, at tennis, at walking in royal attire. You’re simply unteachable, I swear!”
“Mother, I’m sorry—”
“Now listen here, Yer Majesty. She’s just tryin’ her best. You shouldn’t get so mad at her. Aren’t ya glad at least yer kid’s not hurt?”
The Queen’s gaze darted towards Apple Bloom. “How dare you speak to a Queen like that!”
“How dare you speak to yer own flesh an’ blood like that!”
The Queen turned away from Apple Bloom again. “What insolent children these peasant women raise. What business do you have with my daughter anyway?” The Queen scolded. “Who even let you enter our castle?”
Princess Diamond panicked.
“S-she invited me,” Apple Bloom pointed to the Princess.
“Diamond!? Invited you!? She never told me of this. And my daughter tells me everything!”
Apple Bloom looked back at Princess Diamond, who was stooped slightly and hiding behind Apple Bloom. “No, I swear, Your Majesty, she did invite me—”
“GUARDS!!!” The Queen yelled.
Apple Bloom’s legs began to tremble under her skirt as she could see the tips of spears turn the corner. She turned back to Princess Diamond—
The Princess stooped silently.
The guards were getting closer.
Apple Bloom turned back.
The Princess trembled silently.
Apple Bloom turned back again.
The Princess was silent.
The guards were only ten feet away.
The Princess was silen—
“I did. I invited her, Mom.”
Apple Bloom breathed a sigh of relief.
The Queen’s eyes widened. “Excuse me!? You, you invited this peasant to our home!? Have you gone MAD!?”
“I invited her because…because she’s my friend.”
She stood beside the apple farmer’s daughter. “This is Apple Bloom. And she’s my friend. I gave her permission to enter. Guards…” she gestured for them to leave.
The Queen snorted. “I’ll leave you some time to think about the grave mistake you’ve made…”
“The grave mistake you’ve made.” Princess Diamond smirked. “I have more friends than you’ve ever had, Mom. Think about that.”
The Queen marched off, without another word. The two teenage girls stood in silence for a bit. A gentle breeze blew through the courtyard, and their hoop skirts gently swayed and tapped against each other.
Apple Bloom turned to her friend. “You mean the Queen never knew…?”
“She would’ve never approved,” Princess Diamond said.
“Then how…how did…?”
“I forged my mom’s signature on that letter. It’s not that hard to fake a few scribbles and dots with a dash right through the middle.” They both giggled.
After another awkward silence, another skirt-swaying breeze, Princess Diamond spoke. “Mom never lets me wear this dress because she says I look horrible in the royal colors. I just thought that maybe if I wore it…I’d impress you.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “I was tryin’ to impress you too, Princess. Guess we both did that fer nothin’.”
“Please. Call me Diamond. Diamond Tiara.”
“Alrighty then. Diamond Tiara it is.” Apple Bloom curtsied—this time she didn’t trip.
Diamond curtsied back at the farmgirl.
Maybe Apple Bloom was a true lady of quality. Maybe she wasn’t.
What she knew for sure, though, was that she had a new friend.
“Why…why did you invite me here, Diamond? The real reason.”
“Princesses need friends.”
“Why did you think I’d be a good friend for you?”
“Farmgirls have friends. Going to the school, I wondered why you all had friends while I didn’t. I thought you all knew some secret that we royalty didn’t. That’s why I invited you. To find out your secret. To find out the secret as to why you have friends and we don’t.”
“That’s so silly, Diamond.” Apple Bloom laughed. “There is no secret.”
“There isn’t?”
Apple Bloom grabbed Diamond’s delicate hand in her strong fingers. “Well…even if there were a secret to friendship. It looks like you just done discovered it for yerself.”