Chapter: Ew

The very next morning, Apple Bloom got a letter from her adoring cousin, Babs Seed. The letter said to meet her at the train station for a surprise. A rather energetic Apple Bloom shouted, "Applejack! Ah'm headin' out! Her voice bounced around the house and back at her, but no response. "Hello?!" "Hmm." There was a note taped to the door, "Apple Bloom, we head out to make a delivery which will take the whole day, breakfast is in the cabinet, lunch and dinner are in the fridge. And please, try not to hurt yourself. Love, Applejack." Apple Bloom scoffed in that way that kids do when you treat them like a baby.

Apple Bloom was in town when Sweetie Belle met her halfway to the train station, "Hi there Apple Bloom," her voice cracked.

"Hey Squeaky Belle, how ya doin,'" Apple Bloom was slightly startled at her appearance.

"Did my voice squeak again, wait, where you going?"

"The train station, Babs is gonna be there."

"Really?!" "Can I invite some friends to come meet her?" Before Apple Bloom could answer, her friend already dashed off. Apple Bloom just rolled her eyes and continued walking.

Waiting at the train station, were the birthday party attendees.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Apple Bloom was really confused.

Scootaloo only answered, "Never mind that." "This is gonna be the first time we see her in so long, and Spike, Rumble, and Dinky get to meet her," Scootaloo had a black eye.

        "What happened to yur eye?"

        Scootaloo looked down at the ground with a totally different tone in her voice, "Nothing," even Apple Bloom knew she was lying about it, "Alright, just checkin'."

A train arrived just on schedule, "The 10:00 AM train, Babs is on this train,"  Apple Bloom muttered. The train doors opened and a brownish orange filly with an apple seed for a cutie mark was the first one out of it. "Babs!" The CMC shouted with delight. Apple Bloom opened up with, "It's been a long time since we've seen each other, and you have your cutie mark." "Is that what you wanted to show me, is it?" Apple Bloom was clearly very excited. Babs finally responded, "Close ya eyes."

"There's more?!" "Boy, I can't wait to see-" She felt an intrusion on her muzzle and in her mouth. She instinctively opened her eyes to see Babs Seed up in her face with lightly shut eyes. Apple Bloom's iris and pupils shrunk tremendously, and her face went from mellow yellow to flaming red. She glanced over at her friends whose jaws were dropped. Rumble whispered, "Aren't they cousins?" Scootaloo answered the question with a, "Yeah."

Apple Bloom pushed Babs away, "Did I do something wrong?"

"Uh, yeah, you just kissed yur cousin!"

"I thought you would be into that so I thought-"

"I would be into that?" "Babs, I love you, but not like this"

"But I thought we could be closer than platonic, ya know."

Apple Bloom turned and galloped away. "Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle started chasing after her.  There was an awkward moment of silence when Dinky tried to lighten the mood, "Maybe you can kiss me that passionately?"

       Scootaloo rushed over to Apple Bloom's place to check on her. She quietly, like a chicken, crept into Apple Bloom's doorway to see a crying Apple Bloom and a comforting Sweetie Belle, "Let it out." "Everything will be okay."

       "Ah don't get it, why now?"

       "Why does it bother you so?" Sweetie Belle tried to sound as trusting as possible.

       "She looks kinda like Scootaloo, right?" "And ah know I didn't have a chance with Scootaloo, so ah developed a teensy crush on Babs," The teary filly felt weird saying all of this out loud, even to Sweetie Belle.

       "But the crush is gone?" Scootaloo said that a little louder than anticipated because her two friends' super sensitive hearing caught onto her prescence.

       A southern voice practically cried out in terror, "Scootaloo!" "What're you doin' here?!" Sweetie Belle got up and started stomping in her direction, "Yeah, what are you doing here," it was obvious Sweetie Belle wasn't asking. Scootaloo started to run, but Sweetie Belle grabbed her tail with magic.

       Scootaloo knew she was going to get it. Sweetie Belle closed the door to Apple Bloom's room and dragged Scootaloo outside. "Whatever you do, please make it quick!"

       "Why are you here?!" The pissed off marshmallow asked.

       "I came to cheer her up"

       "Why?!" "All you do is mess things up!" "Whenever you try to help, you mess up!"

       Scootaloo actually started to cry because that is the exact kind of thing her mother would say to her, "I..." she ran away from the farm. The wind in her face stung her fresh black eye, but she didn't care, she knew she wanted to be away from those who make her feel secure in the world.

       Scootaloo walked around Ponyville. She didn't do anything, she just took a long walk around. When she decided to go home, it was dark.

       Scootaloo arrived at her front door to find it was locked, so she tried other ground entrances, but they were locked too. She tried knocking, nothing. She tried again and yelled, "Okay mom, this isn't funny anymore!" Nothing. She started pounding on the door and shouted, "Mom open the freaking door!!" Still nothing. Scootaloo started crying and screamed, "MOM, OPEN THE DOOR, DAMMIT!!!" Silence in the house. Scootaloo didn't know what else to do but sob. Her best friends did not want her in their lives right now, Rumble lived in the skies, Twilight doesn't let anyone in the library at night, and she didn't know where Dinky lived. So she lay on her side and cried herself to sleep on the cold dirt at the front door. A cyan pegasus flew down and picked up the filly. She was shaking. The pegasus flew away, grasping her in a way that should keep her warm.