"No one ever saw the young couple again, but it is believed that on the night of a full moon, you can still hear their terrified screams echo into the night!" Scootaloo waved her arms around in a threatening manner.
"...That was a terrible ghost story!" said Sweetie Belle.
"Oh, like your story was better, Sweetie Belle," said Scootaloo.
"Hey! Even you would admit that an endless tea party would be scary!" said Sweetie Belle.
"I meant ghost scary Sweetie Belle, not regular scary!" said Scootaloo.
“Girls!” said Apple Bloom, “Your stories were both terrible! Not even scary at all!”
“Well why don’t YOU try to do better?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Okay, I will,” said Apple Bloom. “Once upon a time, in a town much like Ponyville, there lived a filly, much like me…”
“But Granny Smith, I don’t wanna go to the eye doctor! My sight’s just fine, and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with my eyes!”
“Now you listen here, young’in. I’ve seen you walk into a few walls, and you always squint when you look at your homework. Now back in my day, we didn’t have no money for eye doctors, nor eye doctors to go to! Now be grateful and go get your checkup.”
Apple Bloom groaned, but obliged, and she and Granny Smith headed off to Doctor Spectacles’ office in Ponyville. After sitting in the waiting room, the Doctor called Apple Bloom into his office.
She sat down and took the eye exam. The first two rows, she did well on. However, she began to have difficulties around the third row, and by row four, she couldn’t tell what the letters were anymore.
“The second letter on row four, please,” asked Doctor Spectacles.
“Hmm…” said Apple Bloom, squinting at the chart on the wall. “Can I have a hint?”
Doctor Spectacles chuckled. “No, because I need you to tell me.”
“Uh, is it Q? Or, no, it’s O. Wait, that ain’t right…”
“It’s a G, miss Apple Bloom. ”
“Aw, shucks! Can I try again?”
“Well, you could, but I don’t think your results would change much. You are definitely in need of some visual correction.”
“Some what now?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Visual correction. Glasses.”
“Glasses? But what if ponies pick on me and call me four eyes?”
“You watch too many cartoons about stereotypical bullies,” The doctor chuckled. “Glasses are designed to be much more appealing than they were many years ago. Sometimes, they can even be worn as a fashion statement. You can get a pair with lenses so small that you barely even notice them. You can pick whatever color or size frames you want, thin or thick, and we can even get you an adorable pair of pink frames to match your bow!” he motioned towards the pink bow which Apple Bloom always wore atop her head.
“Oh, well I guess that ain’t as bad as I thought,” said Apple Bloom. “If it stops me from runnin’ into walls and such, I’ll do it. So let’s get my pink, thin rim, small lens glasses.”
“Very well. Let’s talk to your parents and we can get payment sorted out.”
“Five hundred bits?” Granny Smith’s mane stood on end. “That’s highway robbery!”
“I’m sorry, Miss Smith, but for Apple Bloom’s visual problems, there’s a very particular sort of glasses that we need to get her. For the style that she wanted, they would have to be custom made, and that costs a fair bit of money.”
“Can’t you make it cheaper?” Granny Smith asked. “It already cost us a hoof and a hindquarter to even have this appointment.”
“Hmm,” said Doctor Spectacles, “Let me go and check in the donation bin.”
He walked out of the exam room, leaving Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. A few minutes later, he returned with a pair of glasses.
The frames on the glasses were at least a quarter-inch thick. They were dark black, as well. The lenses themselves were perfectly circular and two inches in diameter. They also had a terrible glare on them, along with a few scratches..
Apple Bloom recoiled in shock. “Y’er kiddin’, right?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Bloom, but these glasses are the only ones that I had in stock which matched your particular vision needs. They are old and outdated, yes, but a mare who died donated these to us, so they’re free.”
“It’s alright, Apple Bloom,” said Granny Smith. “They’re only temporary. We’ll save our bits up, and before you know it, you’ll have a new pair of glasses just like you want ‘em.
Apple Bloom gulped and grabbed the glasses, placing them on her snout. The world instantly became much clearer, as if a thick fog had been lifted. She smiled. Maybe these glasses wouldn’t be so bad.
The next day, Apple Bloom trotted off to Ponyville Elementary, wearing her new glasses. A few ponies along the road gave her funny looks, but she figured that this was just because they were used to her having no glasses.
She walked in the front door of Ponyville Elementary. Cheerilee had yet to arrive, and the fillies and colts were there waiting for her.
Apple Bloom walked over to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
“What happened to you?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“You look like the biggest nerd on the planet,” said Scootaloo. She grunted as Sweetie Belle kicked her.
“But it’s true!” said Scootaloo.
“Don’t listen to her, you look--” Sweetie Belle chuckled and held back a guffaw, “--great.”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “What great friends you two are,” she groaned.
Apple Bloom walked over to her seat as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo giggled behind her back.
“Hey! You gotsth thsome glathsses justh like mine!”
Apple Bloom turned around to see Twist grinning at her.
“Oh, hey, Twist,” said Apple Bloom. “Yeah, these ain’t nothin’ special. Just some temporary ones until my folks can afford some real--”
“Wow, look at those lame rims!”
Apple Bloom and Twist turned around to see Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara looking at them with giant smirks on their faces.
“Look at these dorks. They’re like twins in how dorky they are,” said Diamond Tiara.
“Lame-o twin powers, activate!” said Silver Spoon.
“Hey, you have glasses too, Silver Spoon,” said Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, but not ugly ones like those,” said Silver Spoon, “Because my parents can afford good-looking ones for me.”
Apple Bloom blushed, turning away.
”The pink one. Kill the pink one.”
“Uh, Twist? Was that you who said that?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Wasth what me? I didn’t say anything. You musth be hearing thingsth!” said Twist.
“Eh, whatever,” said Apple Bloom. Cheerilee walked into the classroom, and the students took their seats. Apple Bloom sat down next to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
Cheerilee wrote on the board with chalk, and spoke. “So, today we’re going to be talking about fractions. Now, you can add together fractions of numbers with common--”
“She must pay for what she did to me.”
Apple Bloom jerked her head up. She knew that she wasn’t hearing things. But what could it be?
She continued to sit in class and listen, but she kept hearing the voice. Finally, she raised her hoof.
“Miss Cheerilee? May I go to the bathroom?”
“Certainly, Apple Bloom.”
Apple Bloom went out into the hallway, and into the bathroom. She stared into the mirror, gazing at herself wearing the large pair of glasses.
“What are you?” Apple Bloom demanded, pointing at her reflection with her hoof.
“I’m the spirit which inhabits these glasses. My name is Shining Sunrise, and I was once engaged to Filthy Rich. Perhaps you know him.”
“Yeah, ain’t he Diamond Tiara’s father?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Yes,” said the voice. “I was engaged to marry him. He and I were so in love, but Diamond Tiara did not like me, and did not want us to be married.”
“But why?” asked Apple Bloom.
“I believed that Filthy Rich needed to be tougher on Diamond Tiara and not allow her to be so spoiled. She saw me as a threat. For this reason, she murdered me.”
“Well that ain’t good,” said Apple Bloom. “But killin’ Diamond Tiara for that? Killin’s never the answer. I mean, I don’t like her either, but shouldn’t we go to the police or somethin’...”
“There is no evidence. She pushed me out in front of a moving train. Everypony thought that I tripped. The only way for her to get justice is for you to kill her. Otherwise, she may kill again.”
Apple Bloom’s hooves quivered as she shook. Diamond Tiara, a murderer? She was an awful bully, but was she really capable of taking a life?
No, she couldn’t believe it. Apple Bloom shook her head and reached her hooves up to her eyes, removing the pair of glasses.
“Get someone else to do your dirty work,” said Apple Bloom. She brought up her hoof and was about to stomp on the glasses, but then she heard the voice again.
”You know that your granny wouldn’t want you to do that, Apple Bloom. Do you want to walk into walls?”
Apple Bloom flinched, and realized that the voice was right.
”You know what must be done. Now go and do it,” said the voice. Apple Bloom walked out of the bathroom and back to class. She sat down in her seat as Cheerilee finished up her lesson.
“So, much like popular culture, you have to simplify your fraction to the least common denominator. Then you can more easily work with them and add them together and impress them with how flashy you are. Now, I’ve talked too much. Time for recess.”
The students all walked out of the rear door of the schoolhouse and into the playground.. Apple Bloom felt herself fall as Diamond Tiara pushed her into the dirt.
“Four-eyed blank flank!” Diamond Tiara yelled. Silver Spoon chuckled.
”If you kill her, you will never be bullied again. Your problems will be solved.”
“Hey, leave her alone!” Scootaloo said, stomping her hoof.
“You mess with her, you mess with us!” Sweetie Belle said, her horn sparking.
“Oh, and what are you three poor losers going to do? Throw your rags at me? Give me a break,” said Diamond Tiara.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked off towards their favorite part of the playground.
“Don’t listen to her, Apple Bloom,” said Sweetie Belle. “Soon enough, you’ll get your custom made glasses and they’ll be adorable!”
“Yeah!” added Scootaloo.
“Hm,” said Apple Bloom. “Hey, girls?”
They both looked at her.
“I have something I have to tell you about.”
“What is it?” they both asked in unison.
“They’ll never believe you.”
“Uh…” Apple Bloom started. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both leaned forward in anticipation.
“Applejack has a dog, did ya know that?”
Scootaloo laughed. “Yeah, of course we know Wynona!”
“You’re so silly,” added Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom nervously chuckled.
As Apple Bloom walked home from school, she walked across the train tracks on her way. She heard the sound of an oncoming train, and the whistle pierced the air.
“This is the same spot you know, the same spot where I was killed.”
Apple Bloom looked nervously around the area. She certainly didn’t want the ghost to tell her in vivid detail about her death.
“Oh look, there she is,” the voice sneered. Applebloom’s glasses seemed to move ever so slightly to look up at the train station. Diamond Tiara was sitting on a bench looking bored; she didn’t even notice Applebloom walk past.
“It would be so easy to just push her off onto tracks.”
Applebloom’s head started to spin, it’s right, she thought. No one was around the train and she could see no sign of Filthy Rich coming. It was the perfect moment.
Applebloom quickly walked onto the platform and sneaked over to Diamond Tiara. All it would take would be one little push, or maybe a big shove, to send the little pink filly flying onto the train tracks. Then no more bullying, no more tears, no more pain. Applebloom took her position behind the bench and was ready to give a mighty shove.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing there, little filly?” Applebloom’s heart nearly burst out of her chest. They knew! They knew! Quickly she ran off the train station, glasses wobbling around her eyes. Even though Applebloom could not hear the words of the voice screaming at her, she knew that she was very angry. She resolved to not stop until she reached Sweet Apple Acres. If she even made it that far.
Back on the train station, a very confused conductor watched the small earth pony filly run off. “Wonder why she was so upset,” he pondered out loud before turning to the bigger problem. Somehow, a small filly had managed to get herself inside the ticket office and was now running amok. He signed, wishing for once that he had gotten some security cameras.
Applebloom had come home nearly in tears and promptly locked herself in her room hoping that this was all just some silly dream. After splashing water on her face three times, though, she seriously started to think that she was insane. No normal pony would have this happen to them, right?
Applebloom set the glasses down on her dresser, not even daring to look at them.
She had realized when she took them off that her brain had become less foggy; Shining Sunrise’s thoughts were slowly seeping into her head and there was nothing she could do about it.
If she didn’t wear the glasses, she would look like an idiot, bumping into walls and squinting all the time. If she did wear the glasses, she would have to listen to the constant thoughts of a dead pony. Neither option seemed pleasant.
Applebloom’s mind spun through other options. She could say that she lost the glasses, or that somepony pushed her and they broke. She could always just raise the money for new glasses herself, maybe. Each new idea seemed dumber than the last, with no clear solution coming to mind.
After an hour of thinking Applebloom had had enough, she knew that the only way the voice would go away is if she did what it wanted her to do. Slowly, she put the glasses back on.
“Hello, Shining Sunrise,” she said. She waited for a voice, but all she heard was silence.
“Well, I know I screwed up back at the train station, but if you give me one more chance, I promise you that you’ll have your revenge.” Still no voice, for a moment Applebloom was hopeful that this was all a dream, maybe she was just dreaming.
Then reality took hold.
“Excellent, my dear. Don’t worry. I shall guide your hooves; together we shall take our revenge.
It was the dead of the night. Applebloom had no need to fear the darkness, after all, she had someone to talk to.
“Where do I need to go, Ms. Sunrise?” she asked.
“Just be at the train station, dear. Diamond will be there.”
“Wow, how do ya know that?” Applebloom asked in wonder.
The voice chuckled, “Ghosts have a better sense of your world then most ponies. I can sense her there.”
Applebloom smiled, slowly warming up to the voice in her head. Her brain only became a little foggy this time.
They stayed silent for the rest of the way until finally the train station was in sight. Sure enough, Diamond Tiara was there sleeping on the bench Applebloom had seen her on earlier.
Her father must’ve not come to pick her up yet. Now would be an even better time than before. Applebloom boarded the platform brimming with confidence.
Apple Bloom crept up behind Diamond Tiara, inching ever closer to her.
When she was right behind her, Apple Bloom held up her hooves…
“Diamond Tiara!”
Apple Bloom turned around to see Filthy Rich running up towards them. Diamond Tiara’s eyes flew open, her body trying to get itself out of sleep mode.
“What are you doing, Apple Bloom? Are you trying to push my daughter into the tracks? You know she could die!”
“You mean just like Shining Sunrise?” asked Apple Bloom.
Filthy Rich looked away. Diamond Tiara’s jaw dropped.
“How did you know about that?” asked Filthy Rich.
“These were her glasses.”
“But… those were given anonymously! How would you know?” asked Filthy Rich.
“She’s been hauntin’ ‘em, and she keeps tellin’ me to kill Diamond Tiara!”
”You fool. How dare you tell him…”
“Sunrise?” asked Filthy Rich. He reached over to Apple Bloom and removed the glasses from her face.
“You can hear me?”
“Of course I can. Why are you telling Apple Bloom to kill my daughter?”
“Because, she killed me.”
Diamond Tiara hid her face, turning back towards the train. The train stopped, and the door opened. Ponies started to file out of the train.
“Let’s have this discussion in private,” said Filthy Rich.
Diamond Tiara, Filthy Rich, and Apple Bloom stood inside of Filthy Rich’s house. They sat around a table, with the glasses on the table.
“Diamond Tiara… is this true? Did you really kill my fiancee?” asked Filthy Rich.
“No! She’s lying!” said Diamond Tiara, slamming her hoof onto the table.
“Why would she make it up?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Yes, why would she?” asked Filthy Rich.
Diamond Tiara turned to her father. “Because, Daddy, she’s a liar! She wants us to not be as close as we are. She wanted for you to push me away and not give me all the things I wanted! She always thought I was spoiled!”
“‘Cause you kinda are,” said Apple Bloom.
“So she wants you dead? That makes no sense. Wanting you to not be spoiled would be good for you. I’m not always going to be around to give you everything you want. Even my money won’t be enough to sustain you forever. She wanted the best for you. Why would she lie to me?”
A tear appeared in Diamond Tiara’s eye.
“Diamond Tiara?” said Apple Bloom.
She burst out crying and sobbing. “Okay, fine, I did it! I didn’t think that she’d die, though. I just wanted to break her leg or something and teach her that nopony can stand between my daddy and me!”
She continued sobbing. Filthy Rich remained silent for several moments. Finally, he spoke.
“Listen, Sunrise. I know you are upset at Diamond Tiara, but killing her won’t bring you back. She didn’t mean for you to die. And the best way to prevent her from killing again is to get her professional help. If you really love her, then you will leave these glasses, leave Apple Bloom alone, and rest in peace.”
A silence settled over the room, causing Diamond Tiara to bite her hoof unconsciously. After a few minutes, the voice spoke.
“If you ensure that Diamond Tiara is kept from killing anypony else, I will go.”
“I will,” Filthy Rich promised.
“Then I will leave.”
The glasses briefly glowed white as a smoky essence departed from them. Nopony spoke for about five minutes.
Finally, Filthy Rich turned towards Diamond Tiara.
“Diamond Tiara,” he said, “Let’s go.”
“What?!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “You’re just going to end it on that?”
Applebloom paused, “Well that is the end; everyone is safe and both parties learned a valuable lesson.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
“I still think my endless tea party story was scarier,” Sweetie Belle remarked.
“Well, whatever. At least you don’t actually need glasses; that would make you totally look like a dork!” Scootaloo snickered.
Applebloom laughed back, “Yeah, they would wouldn’t they?” The three shared a giggle then began to plan future cutie mark expeditions.
“So I was thinking maybe egg juggling--oh!” Scootaloo exclaimed, looking at the clock. “Sorry guys, my mom’s expecting me home by five.”
“Is it really five? Darn, I have to go to,” Sweetie Belle signed before turning back to Apple Bloom. “We’ll be back here tomorrow, right?”
Applebloom nodded, “Don’t worry girls, I’ll sort through the list tonight.”
One last round of goodbyes and both of them were off, leaving Apple Bloom all alone in the clubhouse. Squinting at the words, she realized that she probably needed to use them to see anything.
“Darn, why do the words gotta be so small?” She reached for a loose floorboard and pried it open revealing a pair of unsightly glasses. Applebloom put them on and resumed reading.
“Idea number two, cutie mark crusaders de, dem,”
Demimonde.
“Oh yah, thanks!” Applebloom replied. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Demimondeists!”
A voice chuckled softly before retreating back, happy to listen to the young filly read.
Author's Note
Thanks to url=[]CartsBeforeHorses for collabing with me on this story as well as editing it.
