Dear Cuz'

by theNDinspector

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Babs Seed, Apple Bloom, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 23519

Babs Seed writes to her cousin about her life in Manehattan and the advancement of the Cutie Mark Crusaders there. Will things turn out as well at she hopes?

After her "eventful" visit, Babs Seed writes to her cousin, Apple Bloom, about her life back home in Manehattan. Life in the "Big Apple" is very different from that of the quaint little town of Ponyville, and even the group known as "The Cutie Mark Crusaders" has some difficulties getting off the ground in the big city.

Author's Note: Due to the nature of this story being a series of letters, it will probably always remain in the "Incomplete" status. I will keep writing it until I either run out of ideas or if the site ever shuts down (which I hope never happens).

Published 2014-05-16 04:50:03 UTC
Last updated 2015-05-15 16:50:03 UTC

Bullies in the Park

Dear Apple Bloom,

I…I don’t know how it happened…I stood up to them…I hit him…I don’t believe it.

~~~

Sorry, I guess I should start from the beginning.

So my big sis’ and I go to the park, like I said. It wasn’t too bad. It was a nice day, and I didn’t see of the bullies around. So I played with the other colts and fillies on the playground while my sis’ was on a bench, pretending to read, while some stallions were playing hoofball in the field.

I was on the swings when I saw it. There were two foals, a colt and filly that were probably only a couple of years younger than me, and they were crying. Those two jerks I mentioned, Rough House and Black Eye, were there too. I didn’t know what they were doing, but I knew it wasn’t anything good, knowing those two.

I was scared, at first. I thought that I would just stay on the swing, and do nothing. But I could still see the looks on those foals’ faces. I couldn’t stand for it any more. So I got off and trotted over.

They noticed me when I called. “Well, if it isn’t the Blank Flank.” Rough House had said. I told him to stop it and that they should stop messing with those foals. “What are you going to do about it, Blank Flank?” Black Eye said.

They kept on teasing me and said how I was just useless and that I couldn’t do anything. Soon they started shoving me and pushing me around and it would only get worse. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I punched Black Eye in his stupid face, and jumped onto Rough House. We were hitting each other for a bit until my sister and a couple of other adults came to break us up.

My sister tried to apologize to the other adults, and took me home. She wasn’t happy. She told Mom and Dad when they got home. They weren’t happy either. I tried to tell them that they were bullies and messing with two foals. They still were angry with me. Mom said that I shouldn’t hit other ponies, no matter who they are. Dad made me apologize to the bullies as well. I wasn’t really sorry, but I had to anyway. I gave Black Eye a black eye and really roughed up Rough House.

I’m grounded now, of course. I still can’t believe that I actually stood up to those jerks. I don’t want to fight again, like I did. But maybe I can actually stand up to them. I don’t have to take their bullying any more. I can’t wait to see their sorry faces when we meet again and see how they react.

Your cousin,

Babs, who now stands up to bullies!

Reunion Aftermath

Aaaargh! I’m beat, Apple Bloom!

I mean, reunion was great, and all, but raising that barn took it all out of me. I’ve been lying around the apartment for weeks now, not able to do anything! Sis’ says that it’s only been two days, and that I should stop exaggerating. But it sure feels like weeks!

It was great seeing you again. Too bad Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo couldn’t be there at all, but we still had fun. Although, the reunion was kind of awful at the beginning, with Applejack having us do all those crazy activities all the time. I’m still dizzy from running ‘round those trees. I’m also surprised that it took the destruction of your barn to make things interesting and fun again and so we could actually hang out. I will definitely never forget those few days we’ve spent together.

I still can’t believe how fast we were able to put that barn up. A couple of days!?! Most of the buildings I see getting built ‘round here usually take weeks or months to be done. Dad says that sometimes they can take years. I think somepony needs to tell him to stop exaggerating.

Anyways, I’m still really tired. I haven’t been able to really organize the Cutie Mark Crusaders yet. Maybe next week, if I don’t die!

Babs

p.s. I’ll stop exaggerating now.

Gangs?

Dear Apple Bloom,

This might be the end of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Manehattan. One day during recess, Roller, Rocky and I were planning our next crusade, when a teacher came and took us to the principal’s office. I didn’t think we did anything wrong, but there we were in front of the principal, our teacher and some cop pony. None of them looked very happy.

The principal finally spoke, saying how disappointed he was with us. I was confused. Why would he be disappointed with us? The cop then said something about gangs, how dangerous they were, and that young fillies and colts should stay away from them.

I asked what in Equestria they were talking about, and our teacher said that she’s noticed the three of us together in secret, discussing things about a gang. I finally understood that they were talking about the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I tried to tell them that we weren’t in a gang. They wouldn’t listen to me. I guess I shouted and screamed, because then we were sent home. Apparently we’re suspended from school now.

This whole thing made me mad! When my parents picked me up, they didn’t look happy either. They wanted to know why I was in a gang. I told them that I wasn’t, and that the Cutie Mark Crusaders wasn’t a gang! It was group or club that helped young fillies and colts get their cutie marks. I even think I was crying at this point too.

Thankfully, my parents believed me. They told me not to worry, and that they would go and talk with the principal and the school board about everything. I don’t know how a piece of wood at school is going to help, but at least they can get it through the principal’s thick head that we’re not a gang!

I don’t know what’s going to happen now. We might never get our cutie marks!

Your cousin,

Babs

One Strange Day

Dear Babs,

You can’t see it right now, but I’m sticking my tongue out at you. Okay, actually I have a pencil in my mouth, writing this letter, but when I’m done I’ll stick my tongue out at you! Anyways, that’s great that the Cutie Mark Crusaders is expanding so much there. You really are doing a great job Babs.

Sorry about not replying sooner when you first wrote about being suspended, and all. I agree that it was pretty dumb, as well as the whole color thing with the capes. Seriously, what’s wrong with red? It’s just a color, like blue and green!

When your letter about the trouble with school arrived, there were some weird things happening in Ponyville. First, I woke up to find that Applejack wasn’t on the farm at all. Instead, Pinkie Pie was there with Applejack’s cutie mark. It was totally strange, her hair was all flat and she was talking real funny, well funnier than is normal for Pinkie Pie. I never thought I would ever say that. But that wasn’t the strangest part. She actually thought that she was Applejack, or that it was her job to do what Applejack did since it was what her cutie mark was telling her. But that still wasn’t the strangest thing.

There was also something strange happening with the weather. The clouds were arranged like a checker board. There was wind, snow, rain and tornadoes, all at the same time! That wasn’t the strangest thing either. Apparently Rarity, Sweetie Belle’s sister, was also affected, and she thought she was Rainbow Dash, the pony that Scootaloo looks up to. Apparently all of my sister’s friends switched places, except for Twilight. I don’t think you met Twilight when you were here. She’s the town librarian, and saved Ponyville from both Nightmare Moon and Discord, along with my sister and their friends. So Twilight managed to fix everything and put things back to normal with my sister and her friends, though I’m still not sure how it happened to begin with. And that still wasn’t the strangest part!

The strangest part happened later that evening. There was a bright flash in the sky, and something that looked like Twilight’s cutie mark came down. Then Twilight comes out with wings! She’s normally a unicorn, but now she also has wings! Princess Celestia was there too, and she bowed to Twilight. Then everypony in town did the same. Apparently Twilight is a princess now!

Then over the next few days, we were in Canterlot for Twilight’s ~~corni~~ ~~corol~~ crown thingy. So when I finally got to read your letter, the other one about how everything was fixed with the Cutie Mark Crusaders arrived, so I couldn’t write anything to comfort you. I’m sorry. I will also try to write back more often because the other times I was either busy with chores, crusading or the reunion.

I also think you would make a great role model, Babs. You are a great pony with great ideas. You stood up for others, although Applejack still says that you shouldn’t go fighting ponies unless it’s absolutely necessary. Don’t worry about what you did here in Ponyville, it’s in the past. Besides, we all make mistakes. You, me, Applejack and even Twilight have made mistakes, and she’s a princess now!

I can’t wait to hear from you and hear what the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Manehattan do to get their cutie marks. I love hearing from you, Babs. I can’t wait to when we can see each other again.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

p.s. There, I stuck my tongue out at you!

Whoa

Dear Apple Bloom,

I don’t know what to say to that. That really is weird. Now that I think about it, I remember hearing about all of that, well at least the part about the new princess. Dad first read it in the newspaper, saying how it certainly changed things. Then they made an announcement about it in school. I admit that I didn’t understand what was going on at the time. I think that everypony had just gotten used to Princess Luna being back, and now there’s another princess!

We couldn’t go to the coronation, that’s what Mom calls it, since they had both taken their vacation time, or something. That would have been really cool to see up close. All we got were some pictures in the newspaper. Apparently there’s also talk about a “film” or “documentary” coming out about the event, but I have no idea what that is.

Thanks for what you said, it really helped. I guess I can be a role model to these two foals, if they really want me to. I still don’t think I’m really anything special like Applejack, Rainbow Dash, or even Princess Twilight, but I guess I can do it. I’ll definitely keep you posted on what we do and when we get our cutie marks.

Your cousin,

Babs

Challenge Accepted

Dear Apple Bloom,

Oh, IT IS ON! We actually had the same thing happen this week with another representative from the Equestria Games. I can’t remember his name though. Anyways, we will also be going to the Chrystal Empire this weekend, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders will be doing our own routine that I’m sure will blow you away!

It took us a long time to figure out what to do our routine on since Manehattan is a huge place with so many things about it that we couldn’t possibly put it into a short little routine. Then Rocky Road thought that we should do it based off of superheroes from comics that were based in Manehattan. We all thought it was great.

Then he listed off all of the really popular heroes that were in Manehattan. There are so many! Seriously, it seems as if every other superhero lives here, including that Spider-Pony I mentioned a while back. I know that Manehattan is a really big place, but do we need that many superheroes? Don’t comic writers know that there are other places in Equestria where they could have their heroes work in, or at least make up a city?

Anyways, our routine is great with all of us dressing as various superheroes. I cannot recall their names to save my life though. It would be perfect if Roller would stop coughing during it, but it is still pretty good. I can’t wait for you to see it in a couple of days, and I’m excited to see yours as well. But there can only be ONE superior, flag-carrying routine, and it will be US!

Your cousin,

Babs

Regrets

Dear Babs,

Well, we get to represent Ponyville in the Equestria Games this year. Scootaloo’s original idea succeeded. We didn’t see you there at all, though. We saw a lot of routines for Manehattan, but none of them were the one which you described. What happened? Is everything okay?

Even though we won for Ponyville, I still can’t help but feel guilty. Do you remember the letter I wrote about our routine and how Diamond Tiara couldn’t bring us down? Well, it seems that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon managed to find a way to bring us down once again, or at least one of us. She said that our routine couldn’t possibly be considered to win since we had a pegasus who couldn’t fly. She was talking about Scootaloo.

I guess I never really noticed it before, but I have never seen Scootaloo do much more than hover for a few seconds. She’s never actually flown. Sweetie Belle and I didn’t think it mattered since she would still be our friend no matter what, but Scootaloo really took this hard. Then she convinced herself that in order for our routine to work she had to fly in it. I don’t know how long she kept trying, since both Sweetie Belle and I left to go home since we were tired and hungry and had to go to the Chrystal Empire early the next morning.

She didn’t succeed. When we were waiting for her at the train station the next morning, she came up to us and said she wouldn’t go and that she was the weak link holding us back. Sweetie Belle tried to tell her that it wasn’t true, but then I said that if Scootaloo was going to quit, then we didn’t want her or need her. I can’t believe I said that!

Later, on the train, Rainbow Dash admitted that our routine was her favorite, especially with Scootaloo going through the hoop on her scooter. Then she wondered where Scootaloo was. When we told her that she stayed home because she felt she couldn’t do the routine without flying, Rainbow Dash asked why we didn’t stop her, since we were her friends. She stopped the train, and the three of us got off, with Diamond Tiara mocking us again, but I felt that we kind of deserved it this time.

We found Scootaloo in her room at home, crying. I’ve never seen that before either. She was hurt really bad, and I helped cause it! We apologized and refused to do the routine without her. She was still sad and asked Rainbow Dash what would happen if her wings never grew. Rainbow Dash said whether if she flew or not, she was still awesome in her own way and nothing could change that. Scootaloo seemed to lighten up at that, although I still can’t help but wonder if there is more to this than I can understand.

Anyways, Sweetie Bell and I got on some skis and Scootaloo pulled us all the way to the Chrystal Empire on her scooter. At least I’m pretty sure we did. It certainly looked like we traveled all of the way there being pulled by Scootaloo. She really has great endurance. And, of course, we won as I mentioned before.

I feel like such a terrible friend. I’ve been failing at everything lately! First, I don’t respond to your letters at all, especially the one where everything was falling apart over there and you needed my help the most. And now this happens! I must be the worst pony ever! I don’t even deserve to be in the Cutie Mark Crusaders or even be their friend! I guess I’m the one they would be better off without.

The pony who doesn’t deserve to be your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Advice from a Friend

Dear Apple Bloom,

Right after I had sent my last letter, I realized that I hadn’t finished reading yours. I didn’t continue after reading the part about you know who, and you already know the rest. So I finished it, and I don’t know what to think.

I can’t say that I’m happy. Those were really some terrible things that you said and did. I’m shocked. Why would you say that to your friend, especially since she was already hurt?

I’m also sad, though. Is this really something to leave the Cutie Mark Crusaders for, or even your friends? Honestly, right now you’re sounding a lot like how Scootaloo did when she told you that she wouldn’t go to the Chrystal Empire. Don’t leave your friends over something stupid!

You once told me that we all make mistakes, but we also must make up for them. I know you apologized, but it sounds like you still need to talk things over. Please talk with Scootaloo! It seems that both of you need to understand things about each other. I can’t stand the thought of you being upset and alone. Do it for them, do it for me and do it for you.

Your cousin and friend, and always will be,

Babs

Reconciliation

Dear Babs,

Thanks for the letter and everything. You really are the best cousin ever. I did talk with both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle about leaving the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were both shocked and begged me not to go. Then Scootaloo asked why I would do that. I told her everything I felt and that what I did was so bad that she deserved a better friend than me.

Scootaloo was a lot like you, though. She told that what I said did hurt, but she wanted to move past that and be friends again. I did too, and she forgave me. I hugged her. Scootaloo said that it was totally sappy, but I didn’t care. I have the bestest friends in the whole world!

Then I asked something else that was bothering me, about what “not flying” meant to Scootaloo. She was quiet for a moment, and then said she would tell us if we made a Pinkie Pie Promise not to tell anypony else. A Pinkie Pie Promise is a promise that you can never ever break, or you will lose a friend forever. Scootaloo did say that it was okay for me to tell you, but you can’t tell anypony else either.

Scootaloo said that she didn’t really understand everything that “not flying” could mean, but she did hear what her parents said whenever they thought that she couldn’t hear them. They said things about how she might not be considered a pegasus or that she would be exiled from her own kind, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Scootaloo didn’t like the idea of not being considered a pegasus, so she finally asked her parents about it. They took her to a ~~pedle~~ ~~piadina~~ ~~pedia~~ pee-dee-a-trih-shun in Cloudsdale. Basically it was some sort of doctor for colts and fillies. The doctor said that it was odd that a pegasus-filly at her age wasn’t able to do some basic flying yet, but not unheard of. He couldn’t find anything wrong with Scootaloo to say that she would never fly, but he does want her to come back for regular check-ups and flight exercises at least once a month.

I still don’t understand everything about this and neither does Scootaloo, but at least we understand each other and are friends now, no matter what. Again, thanks for everything Babs. You are a lot like Applejack. I know I can always count on you.

Your grateful cousin,

Apple Bloom

Chaos and Pie

Dear Babs,

I see you got a taste of the randomness that is Pinkie Pie. She always does that whenever somepony is about to make a Pinkie Pie Promise just so they know how serious it is. I’m sorry about pulling the rug from under you on that, but thanks for keeping Scootaloo’s secret safe.

Speaking about Pinkie Pie, I actually learned that she might me a cousin of mine. I guess that means that she’s probably yours too, now that I think about it. I say she might be because the ~~geneable~~ ~~genie~~ family tree record was kind of smudged at the part where she was connected. So we all travelled to cousin Goldie Delicious’ place, since she had all the records on the family, along with a ton of other stuff. And cats, lots and lots of cats.

But even she couldn’t confirm that Pinkie Pie was our cousin. Applejack, however, decided that it didn’t matter what the paper might have said. We had all gone through so much on that trip that she was just like family to us anyways.

That was really weird what you said about that pony in the park, but I think I understand what’s going on. Not too long after we started the club, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and I kept hearing ponies say something about the “curse of the crusaders.” There were also a few that would run and hide whenever the three of us were around. It really confused us.

I asked Applejack what was going on, but she wouldn’t tell me. I kept asking and I finally got it out of her. She said that it had to do with our crusades in trying to earn our cutie marks and how they would often go terribly wrong. In fact, they would go so wrong that some ponies thought it was some kind of curse, even when we somehow manage to do incredible things, and yet we still didn’t get our cutie marks in them.

I kind of understood what she said. It started out with the school talent show, where we put on a musical performance. Everything fell apart on stage, despite the work we did, and yet we got an award for “Best Comedic Act.” We still didn’t our cutie marks, even after trying out various bits of comedy afterwards. Then there was chicken herding. I’m not sure how to explain what happened there with Fluttershy, the animal caretaker in Ponyville, but we quickly found out that it wasn’t our special talent either. Zip-lining didn’t end very well either, along with taffy-making. We were covered in sticky goo for days, no matter how much we washed up.

I’m not sure what the big deal is though, since I saw a lot of things fall apart for many other ponies in town. There was this incident with Twilight long before she became a princess. It involved her old doll and she was trying to get us to want it, which we didn’t. But then she did something and soon everypony wanted it and half the town was fighting for that doll. It took Princess Celestia herself to solve the problem. Recently Twilight turned Fluttershy into a bat-pony while trying to ride the orchard of vampire fruit bats. We ended up isolating a part of the orchard for those bats after they got Fluttershy back to normal. And Sweetie Belle’s sister, Rarity, seems to have a panic attack nearly every other week.

Even our trip to visit Goldie Delicious didn’t go as planned at all. The cart broke on the way. The other things we built to get there also broke. Pretty soon all of us were arguing, but Pinkie Pie still brought us together in the end. So this whole curse thing doesn’t affect only the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I’m not sure how else to explain it.

Anyways, I’m glad to hear that you’re doing well and trying to earn your cutie marks. Be sure to tell us when any of you do.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Date Night?

Dear Apple Bloom,

Well that definitely explains a lot of those weird things that happened that day, but I still don’t understand just how this Pinkie Pie ended up in my dresser and then just disappear.

I can’t tell just how much nerd stuff I got after sharing your last letter to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. When I mentioned the part where that one pony became part bat, Rocky Road went completely off the wagon and talked about another superhero. This time it was one named Batstallion. I actually know about him, he’s pretty cool. Also he works in a city that isn’t Manehattan. FINNALY! However, there were a ton of things that I didn’t know about him that Rocky did, but I can’t repeat any of what he said at all. There was just way too much.

As for our cutie marks, we’ve had no luck yet. We keep on trying a lot of things. There are a lot of tourists in Manehattan, so we decided to try being Cutie Mark Crusader Photographers. It didn’t turn out well. I’m not sure how, but I somehow keep getting my hoof into the picture. I guess I was better than the Patch twins though. They didn’t even take the lens cap off. And we still didn’t get any cutie marks.

Roller wasn’t with us at all then for some reason. Something seems a little weird with her. Don’t get me wrong, we love having her around. She’s awesome! But there always seem to be moments where she’s quiet and seems a bit sad. I asked her what’s wrong, but she always says nothing and continues on. I hope everything is okay, like she says. It just seems a little weird.

I can’t really call our latest activity a crusade since it was just me and Rocky Road. Both Tomato and Flower Patch were sick, and Rolling Blaze didn’t show up at all. So Rocky and I went to the movies with my sister watching us. That was a mistake, because now she keeps bugging me about how I like Rocky and that we were on a date.

That’s dumb! I mean, he’s a good friend and all, but liking him like that? That’s just gross! I don’t even know what a date is. I thought it had something to do with what day it was, like when you have to turn in your homework or something. My sister is really annoying sometimes!

Anyways, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are doing pretty good so far. The principal and teachers haven’t given us any trouble. Although having them watching us and being in our meetings is a little weird, but we have to let them do it. Well, at least we are all friends and we can hang out at home without them there.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Babs

Love Potions

Dear Babs,

I know you can’t tell, but I’m actually struggling to write this letter because I’m laughing too hard. Are you sure you don’t have a crush on Rocky Road? What movie did you go see? Was it a romantic one?

Oh, I’m only teasing, but if you really do like like him, then that’s fine. Just be sure not to use a love potion on him. That would be bad. Trust me, I know.

Last Hearts and Hooves Day, we tried to get a special somepony for our teacher, Ms. Cheerilee. After looking over all the stallions in town, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo decided that my brother, Big Mac, was the perfect stallion. I wasn’t sure it would work since my brother has always been a bit shy, but we found a way.

We ran into Twilight who had a book about the holiday, including a love potion that made it famous. Giving what happened later, we are now no longer allowed to check out that book, or any others with potions, without Twilight looking through every single page first. We’re also not allowed to look at anything in regards to the silver mines outside of town, but that’s a different story.

What happened was that after we managed to give the love potion to Ms. Cheerilee and Big Mac, we were excited. Then they wouldn’t get away from each other. They started saying gross things and ignoring their responsibilities. We soon found out that it was more of a Love Poison we gave them. If we hadn’t found a cure soon, then I was sure all of Equestria would be filled with starving and uneducated ponies. That last part might have been an exaggeration, but it was still pretty serious.

We found out the only way to break the enchantment was to keep them away for an entire hour. It seemed simple enough, but it was hard to keep them away for that time. So after wrecking Rarity’s shop, completely moving another pony’s home, and digging a giant hole in the middle of Ponyville, we finally managed to keep them away and not get married. Yeah, I forgot to mention that the way in which we got them apart for that hour was so they could get ready to get married. It never happened of course. Although, it seemed as if we had failed as they continued to spend time with each other after that. But they do separate and do their jobs, so I guess all is back to normal. It’s just weird whenever I see them together.

Anyways, if you do fall for this colt, please do it the old-fashioned way, as Granny likes to call it. I hope all goes well for you and Rocky.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Blaze of Glory

Dear Apple Bloom,

You are so lucky right now that there are two things keeping me from pouncing on you. The first is that you are in Ponyville and I can’t take a train without my parents or some “unaccompanied minor” stuff. The other reason is that I have too much on my mind because of something that just happened today. Rolling Blaze got her cutie mark! As amazing as that is, it was what happened afterwards that I’m still thinking about. It’s so hard to describe what had happened. I guess I should start at the beginning.

I guess it actually started a long time ago, but where we came in was last week after my time with Rocky at the movies. We learned that Roller was practicing at the skate park. She had been practicing for an upcoming skate tournament, which happened today. This was why she had been away from so many of our crusades. Well, part of the reason anyway, but I’ll get to that.

I thought it was pretty awesome and didn’t care that she had been blowing us off for a while. Roller is very good, from what I could tell, and we encouraged her to practice. We even skated a bit. I’ve gotten a lot better, but Rocky still has some problems.

The funny thing was that when the time for the competition came around, Roller got really nervous. She almost ran away, but we stopped her. She said something about Pony Hawk being there. I remember hearing that name and that he’s a great skater and a pegasus. Apparently he is Roller’s idol, she wanted to meet him, but then thought that he would hate her for some reason. We told her that she would be fine and he couldn’t possibly “hate” her.

So Rocky, the Patch twins, their father and I sat in the stands. Pony Hawk opened the competition by doing some of his signature moves on his skateboard. It’s interesting that he’s a pegasus, yet he doesn’t use his wings most of the time on the skateboard, but he can still do amazing things that I can’t even describe. Apparently he was a “celebrity judge” and announced this as a “Junior Skaters Competition.”

There were two categories divided by age and Roller was stuck in the younger one by only so much. She clearly had it in the bag. Most of the other fillies and colts weren’t that much better than me, to be honest. Obviously, she won in that part.

The older division had a lot better skaters, probably because they had more experience. None of them were quite as good as Pony Hawk, but they were still pretty cool. Soon that was over and some colt whose name I can’t remember won that part.

Then came a showdown between the two winners, Rolling Blaze and this colt. They moved over the huge half-pipe to do one last ride. Apparently the colt won the coin toss and got to go first. He was very good. In the end, he got an almost perfect score from the judges.

Now it was Roller’s turn. She went to the edge of the platform on her roller blades and went down. Something went wrong and she wiped out before she reached the bottom. She was okay and the judges didn’t pass a score and let her try again. I couldn’t see very well, but I was sure that she was nervous again. I was just praying that she would calm down and go through with it.

My prayers must have been answered because she went off that second time and did amazing. It was the best performance I’ve ever seen her do. And I swear that I saw a glimmer of light that didn’t come from the sun while she hung in the air during one of her passes.

It was very close, but the colt won in the end. That made me sad, but I saw Pony Hawk walk right up to Roller and talked with her. She was so excited after that. She later told us that he said that she did great and he wanted her to win, but the other two judges thought otherwise. He encouraged her to keep practicing and maybe one day she could beat him.

That was also when Roller noticed her cutie mark. It was a pair of roller blades leaving a fire trail. She was so excited. She practically bounced her way out of the park while we walked back home. It was adorable how Tomato and Flower Patch kept trying to figure out what her cutie mark meant. Then Tomato asked if this meant she couldn’t be in the Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore. That’s when it all happened.

It took us a moment to realize that Roller wasn’t with us anymore. I looked back and saw that she had frozen on the spot. Then she started crying, and I mean the “raining cats and dogs” kind of crying. We asked her what was wrong, but we couldn’t understand what she was saying.

Finally the Patches’ dad managed to calm Roller down and asked again what was wrong. She told us about how she never really had any friends and that things were not good at home. Her dad left her family when she was young. So Roller’s mom had to do all the work and was away most of the time. Even when she was home, her mom was always distant and acted funny, and not in the “ha ha” way. When that happened, Roller had to look after her younger brother. That was the other reason she had been avoiding us so much these past couple of weeks. I had no idea. None of us did. How long has she been holding this in?

Rolling Blaze also told us how alone she always felt and not even other ponies at the skate park could understand, especially since she was still a blank-flank. Then she met us and had the chance to belong somewhere with other fillies and colts without cutie marks, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. But now that she had her cutie mark she would have to leave and be alone again. She didn’t want to leave.

I didn’t know what to do. Nopony else did either. I thought that she would have to leave too, since she found her special talent. I had thought that the Cutie Mark Crusaders was to help ponies that didn’t have their cutie marks. How could we help a pony who found her special talent? I started to cry too.

Then I thought of something. I wasn’t just going to abandon her. Roller was more than just a crusader, she was my friend. She was our friend. I told her that she never had to go and that we would always stick beside her. She could stay and help us with our cutie marks if she wanted to. We would also try and help her any way we could.

Roller sniffed a bit and then hugged me. I was surprised to see this from her, but giving what had just happened I hugged back. She whispered “thank you” and finally let go. Then everypony else came up and we had a crusader group hug. Mr. Patch also said something about getting a friend of his to look into her situation. He hoped that it might make her situation better. I don’t know how his friend could help exactly, but I do know that I will never leave Roller or push her away.

And that’s what happened today. I never expected any of that to happen when I woke up this morning. I know that Roller has her cutie mark now, but I think that maybe the Cutie Mark Crusaders can have ponies in it that already know their special talents. Maybe you could do that Cuz. I noticed that one red-maned filly with the glasses and heart shaped cutie mark made of candy canes while I was in Ponyville the first time. She always seemed to be lonely and looked at you three when you were around. Maybe you could invite her to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Things are definitely going to be weird now, but I think we can handle it. The search for our cutie marks isn’t the only thing that keeps us together.

Your Cousin,

Babs

p.s. I can’t believe how long this letter is! It took me five pages and I had to sharpen my pencil seven tim___
Make that eight times.

Author's Note

My goodness, will this ever end?

I've always intended to write this chapter, but I never anticipated it being the twentieth chapter. Part of the reason for that is due to the fact that I was initially on the fence on whether or not to include the letters from Apple Bloom. I was thinking that maybe I would do it as a bonus one day, but thanks to one of my readers leaving a comment demanding a response from Apple Bloom, I finally did it and I'm glad I did. It certainly added a whole new and interesting dynamic to this story and led to some great moments--particularly the chapters centered around one of my favorite episodes of MLP:FiM, "Flight to the Finish."

So this is a milestone for me; my first story to have twenty chapters and is currently (at the time of this writing) my longest story in terms of words. Now, another story of mine will soon pass it in word length and might possibly reach the "twenty chapters mark" too, but this is the first. So to all those who have stuck with this story up to this point, thank you. You are awesome!

Here's to more chapters to come.

Walk of Shame

Dear Babs,

That is so awesome how Roller got her cutie mark! I wish I was there to see it, because it certainly sounded pretty darn cool. By the way, you wouldn’t believe how excited Scootaloo got when you mentioned Pony Hawk. It seems like she can talk about him for days.

It was really sweet what you said to Roller when she was upset too. I never realized just how alone a pony could feel. I mean, I though I was alone when it looked like I was the only pony without a cutie mark once Twist got hers. Then I met Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. But it’s nothing like what Roller went through. So that was awesome what you did for Roller and letting her stay, even with a cutie mark. I would certainly never turn my back on a friend…well, now I wouldn’t.

As for letting Twist into the Cutie Mark Crusaders…yeah, we ran into a bit of a problem.

You see, over the past few weeks we’ve been hanging out at Princess Twilight’s place where she would teach us stuff. I was working on potions, Scootaloo was trying to put a unicycle back together and Sweetie Belle was practicing her magic. We called it Twilight Time.

It was fine on its own, but then Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came into the mix. One day at the playground, Diamond Tiara had her butler do some tricks for her and she took the credit, and everypony cheered. I was disgusted, and so were my friends. Scootaloo said that we could be the big shots and do it by ourselves.

Then Diamond Tiara came over and gave us a hard time since they were going to Manehattan to hang out with some celebrity and would invite us if Rarity had any plans on taking Sweetie Belle there, which she didn’t. Then Sweetie Belle said we didn’t need to hang out with a celebrity since we already spent time with Twilight. That got Diamond Tiara’s and Silver Spoon’s attention and they started becoming nice to us and would do things if we let them come along to see the princess. I didn’t think it was a good idea at first, but Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle talked me into it, and it was pretty good to have Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to treat us nice for a change. So they came along. It was awkward, but it wasn’t too bad.

Then Diamond Tiara told everypony at school what we were doing and that they could all have a chance to meet with Princess Twilight. It didn’t seem right to do, but Sweetie Belle said she could handle it. So we had lunch with Twilight and the fillies and colts got to see Twilight. She ended up giving autographs and thanked us for inviting her to eat at a place she normally doesn’t hang out at. Then ponies thought that Twilight thought things were cool based on what we did.

We were then invited to Pip’s lemonade stand opening and got some free lemonade. We also got our hooves shined and my bow bedazzled. I didn’t like just taking this for free, so I offered to pay, but they wouldn’t accept it. Then Diamond Tiarra invited us to her place for a pool party. It was just the three of us with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, everypony else was kept out. Again, it felt wrong. Diamond Tiara asked to come to Twilight’s place again, but we forgot to ask and it didn’t seem possible to take everypony. We also wanted that time for ourselves. Then they all started to get angry and shouted “Twilight Time!”

We got out of there and ran to Twilight’s place to try and explain, but some colts on scooters beat us and we were surrounded. They knocked and Twilight came to see nearly all of the school on her doorstep. We tried to explain, but Twilight was willing to let everypony in if we were willing to share our time with others.

So it seemed like we were safe, but then Twilight asked what everypony wanted to learn. Pip said that he wanted to learn how to be a Cutie Mark Crusader so that he could be cool and have ponies do favors for him. We were so busted. Twilight asked if this was truly how we thought of our time. We honestly came so we could learn, but then Diamond Tiara put us on the spot so we could prove it.

We didn’t have our stuff, and no time to practice over the past week. Sweetie Belle said she could handle it and so we improvised. Obviously, it blew up in our faces, not to mention the apple I poured a potion on grew ginormous and actually exploded. Diamond Tiara then mocked us saying that we didn’t come here to learn at all. Twilight turned the tables and said that they didn’t either.

So everypony left and we apologized and gave Twilight some parting gifts. We thought we would never come back, but she decided to give us a chance. So we got to stay and learn some more. I can’t believe just how friendly she is, but she does bear the element of friendship. We also got to eat after cleaning up. I think I’ll be avoiding nachos for a while.

The point is that things are very complicated between us and the other colts and fillies. Most of them hate us now, and others are still too eager to try and get in on Twilight Time. Twist was forgiving, but I’m not sure if I can invite her to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders after what happened. She's made some other friends though, so I’m happy for her.

Maybe things will calm down again soon and we can expand our club, but for now it’s just the three of us in Ponyville and the five of you in Manehattan. At least we have each other.

Your Cousin,

Apple Bloom

Another Voice

Dear Babs,

Thank you for your last letter and what you shared with me. I guess your right and I should look on the positive side of things. It seems that we’ve both had our share of difficult times, but we now have our friends to lean on to.

Speaking of friends, there is another reason why I’m writing this letter. Like I mentioned before, Scootaloo got really excited when you told us about how Roller loved skating and got to meat Pony Hawk. She wouldn’t shut up about him. It was almost like Rainbow Dash.

Anyways, she’s been wanting to talk with Roller for some time now, but the only address we have is yours. So Scootaloo begged me to mail it over to you and then you could give it to Roller. I agreed to help and hopefully you’ll understand. So can you please give this other letter to Roller, and get Scootaloo off my back? Thanks.

Your Cousin,

Apple Bloom

Middlepony

Dear Apple Bloom,

Well, I did as you asked and gave Scootaloo’s letter to Roller. And now she gave me a letter to mail over to you to give to Scootaloo. How in Equestria did we become the middleponies?

Your Cousin,

Babes

Pen Pals

Dear Scootaloo,

You need to calm down a bit there. I really don’t know you that well besides what Babs has told me. From what she says, you’re pretty awesome too. I’d certainly like to know you better.

I’d also like to see how you ride that scooter around, that’s not very common in the parks here. Mainly it’s just blades, boards and the occasional bike. I also get what you mean about balancing on a skateboard. I can do it for a bit, but I’m much more comfortable with my blades.

I love going to the skate park. I especially love the drop-in. You have to deal with a lot of other ponies in there, but that just makes it more fun and challenging. I’m not all that good at the half-pipe, and that’s probably what got me in the end of that competition. Still, I had a great time there, got my cutie mark and got to meet my idol.

It was a dream come true to meet Pony Hawk. I didn’t get to spend too much time with him since he’s a celebrity and all. Plus, I didn’t win the competition, so most of the attention was focused on the other pony that won. He was really cool though and I like how he thought that I was the best and that I could beat him one day. I’m not so sure about that with all that he’s done, but I’ll certainly try.

I’d like to keep writing you, but honestly don’t think our friends would like us hijacking their letter system. I’ll include my address, but there might be another problem with that. You probably don’t know this, but we’ve had a social worker come to our house a lot lately after I ~~cried~~ talked to the Twins’ dad about my Mom. She’s trying to pull her act together, but it’s also possible that my brother and I might be taken away and live in somepony else’s home. I’d really hate it, but it could still happen. Don’t worry about me though.

If you could send me your address, that’d be great too. I hope to hear from you soon Scootaloo.

A friend,

Roller

Ideas

Dear Apple Bloom,

That is so cool! I really hope you get to stay home alone. I’ve never stayed home alone. I’m always with one of my parents or my sister. In fact, my sister often foalsits me whenever my folks are out. It’s not bad, but I can tell that she’d really rather do something else. I often hear her chatting with her friends about some of the colts at school. That’s just gross! Can you believe that?

I have no idea what you could do that would be pretty awesome. I know that I would like to walk all over the furniture and eat as much ice cream as I wanted. Too bad I can’t reach the freezer even when I stand on a chair.

I’m sure you can think of some awesome things anyway, like what you do with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Best of luck to ya.

Your Cousin,

Babs

Big Girl

Dear Babs,

The first thing you’ll notice is that I got my pencils back. Yeah! They’re so much easier to write with! Plus it doesn’t taste like wax in my mouth.

I should probably tell you what happened. So after Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo came over, we talked about what I could do to get Applejack off of my back. It was then that I noticed that she still hadn’t made her pie deliveries yet. So I decided to do it for her and prove that I was a big girl and look after myself. Then Scootaloo pointed out the one problem with that plan, mainly that Applejack was always checking up on me and would realize that I’m gone. But she had a great idea that they would each wear one of my bows and take turns pretending to be me sleeping in bed. It was perfect!

So I jump out my window on the hay bales that Applejack stacked out there so I wouldn’t fall. I have to admit, that one was actually helpful since it allowed me to get down from the second floor of the house. I hitched myself to the wagon and started on my way to deliver Applejack’s pies.

Granny Smith wasn’t kidding when she said the routes were long and dangerous. I was walking for hours and found myself in some fiery swamp. But the worst part was that some strange creature came up to me. This thing was scary. It had three heads. One was a tiger and the other a goat. Its tail was a snake and it also had a head on it. It also kept arguing with itself, and called each of the heads sisters. It was like it couldn’t stand itself, but it still managed to decide to come after me. I have no idea what this thing was, but it wanted to eat both the pies and me. I tried to run away, but fires kept shooting up everywhere. I managed to hide the pie cart away safely, but this thing wasn’t going to let me go. I thought I was done for.

Then Applejack jumps in out of nowhere wearing some sort of fireproof boots. Suddenly the creature went after her and she gave it the runaround. She pulled out some strange flute which put the snake head to sleep. Then she somehow pulled a chair out of her saddlebags and stuffs it into the tiger head’s mouth. But the tiger head broke the chair and the creature chased after her. Yet she managed to trap it as the snake head got stuck in a branch and the tiger head’s teeth were embedded into a tree. AJ then threw some ricotta cheese into the goat head’s mouth left.

Applejack than came over to me and was happy that I was alive, but then mad that I had snuck out on my own in this dangerous situation. Looking back on it now, it was very dumb. I did have one surprise for her though. I went and got the cart from its hiding place and AJ was shocked that I managed to pull it all the way here through the fire swamp and past the monster by myself. She figured that since I did all that, maybe she didn’t need to look after me so much anymore and would let me stay on my own in the future.

We delivered the pies to the town with some very interesting folks and didn’t get back to the farm until the next day. Granny Smith and Big Mac beat us home and they weren’t too happy with everything both of us did.

I got grounded for about a month, and I hear that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle did too. Granny also wasn’t very happy with Applejack for babyproofing the whole house and not trusting in me to look after myself. She even wacked her on the head with a wooden spoon for tying down the rocking chair so it couldn’t move. I wonder if Applejack can still get grounded. Anyways, she unbabyproofed everything and now everything is back to normal, although Applejack does look at me like I’m a big girl now. That’s all I ever wanted!

So that’s the story of what happened. I’m just glad that I’m still around to even tell you about all this. I hope to hear from you soon like always.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

p.s. I asked Applejack what that monster was exactly and she said it was a “ki-mare-a.” At least that’s how it sounded.

p.p.s. I asked Big Mac to look it up and this is how it’s spelled “chimera.” It almost reminds me of that cockatrice that Fluttershy stared down once, causing it to stop turning her into stone. That was awesome! I wish you could have seen that.

Amazement

Dear Apple Bloom,

Wow, just wow. That’s amazing! You faced off against a chimera! I have no idea what to say. I know it was very dangerous and Applejack was the one to fight it, but all I can think of is all the colts at school who wish to be knights and go on epic quests to fight dragons or other strange creatures, and you’ve already done that. Rocky is one of those colts, but usually with some sort of superhero thing to it. The funny thing though is that he’s afraid of dogs. Not the big dogs, although that would make some sense, but chiwawa’s. I’m pretty sure that’s how you spell that. Anyways, he’ll always deny it, but I see him freeze up every time we walk past one in the park, on the street or anywhere. I mean come on, sure they are annoying and can be startling the first time they bark at you, but he could totally take it on if he put his mind to it like all those superheroes he reads about. ~~I do have to admit that it is kind of cute whenever he does get scared, but that doesn’t mean anything.~~

I also can’t believe that your sister babyproofed the entire house. She’s even worse than my sister. The things she usually worries about though are that I don’t mess with things in the kitchen or touch any of her stuff. I still do just to annoy her, particularly her diary. You will not believe some of the stuff she puts in there. Most of it is the same as when she talks to her friends, mainly colts, but there are other things. Apparently she writes poetry, at least that’s what she calls it. Most of it doesn’t even rhyme. How can it be a poem if it doesn’t rhyme? There are also some other secrets in there, but she always seems to take it away before I get to dig up any good dirt on her.

Anyways, I’m glad you’re okay and that everything worked out, even if it was a pain in the flank getting there. I hope it works better next time. Also, you need to tell me about that cockatrice! You cannot just leave me hanging like that!!!

Your cousin,

Babs

Stare Down

Dear Babs,

Really, I haven’t told you about the cockatrice? Well, I guess I better do that now because it’s an awesome story!

It all started way back when Sweetie Belle, Scoot’s and I first started the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We were planning on a sleepover at Sweetie Belle’s sister’s place, but Rarity got some work to do at the last minute. I think it had something to do with some fabric that Sweetie Belle used to make our crusader capes and Rarity freaked out. I don’t know why she would though. They were a lot better than Sweetie Belle’s costumes for our talent show.

So our sleepover was nearly cancelled, but then Fluttershy offered to take us in for the night. At first it was neat, but Fluttershy didn’t want to do some cool, awesome things, but rather play "the quiet game" or sing lullabies. That last one wasn’t too bad, even after Sweetie Belle decided to join in. So we were all in bed, but we just weren’t ready to sleep. It was then that we noticed that one of Fluttershy’s chickens had walked away from the coup despite her having put them all to their nests earlier. So we decided to go after it.

That chicken went pretty far, all the way into the Everfree Forest. We were all trying to call for the chicken…now that I think about it, that was when I basically called Scootaloo a chicken since she couldn’t…anyways, we were looking all over for the chicken. Then Fluttershy catches up to us and is panicking about something called a cockatrice. She said it had the head of a chicken and the body of a snake. At the time, it sounded more silly than it did scary. So we went on, ignoring Fluttershy’s worries.

Then we saw a chicken head and thought it was the lost chicken. It wasn’t. It was actually the cockatrice and it was pretty creepy. It not only had the head of a chicken and a snake-like body, but it also had wings. It actually reminded me more of a dragon than anything. A dragon with a chicken head and chicken feet. Then it screeched like nothing else I’ve ever heard. Fluttershy told us to not look in its eyes or we’d turn to stone. She then told us to run, so we did, and tripped over the stone body of Twilight, back before she was a princess. She apparently got caught by the cockatrice. This was too much and we all started screaming.

Then the cockatrice caught up with us and Fluttershy ordered us to get behind her, which we did. Then she did something I will never forget. She looked into the cockatrices eyes and started scolding it. I heard Granny Smith and Applejack talk like that a few times, and I’m sure my mum would’ve if she were still around.

Right before our eyes, we could see Fluttershy turn into stone, but she continued to stare at it. Then came "The Stare." I’m not sure was it is, but Fluttershy can make animals to do what she wants as she stares at them. It’s pretty intense and I wish I could describe it better, but I honestly can’t. Then suddenly the cockatrice’s will broke, and so did the stone on Fluttershy’s hind legs. Then it turned Twilight and Flutershy’s chicken back to normal and simply left. It looked ashamed of everything. I was shocked. So after that, we listened to Fluttershy. Some ponies in town think of her as a push-over, and most of the time she probably is, but if you poke at her nest in a certain way then she will pounce hard.

So that’s the story of the cockatrice. Sorry that I didn’t tell you about it earlier, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. As always, I hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Decisions, Decisions

Dear Apple Bloom,

Wow, that’s sounds pretty intense. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about that when I was visiting, but then we were busy either fighting or apologizing. At least we had fun and became friends during the second half of my visit.

You’ve given me a great idea though. I should have a sleepover with the Cutie Mark Crusaders here. That would be so fun. I don’t know where we’re gonna do it though. We could do it at Rocky’s, ~~but I feel really weird around him~~ he has too many comic books. Roller never lets us over at her house because of her mom. There’s also the Patch Twins, but they’re a lot younger than us so they like a lot of things for foals. We could always do my place, but then we’d have to deal with my sister too. She’s such a pain! She’s also going to joke about having a colt around when there is nothing between us whatsoever.

I guess I’ll bring it up at the next Crusader meeting. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Your cousin,

Babs

What?

Dear Apple Bloom,

How in Equestria did you go to Canterlot by yourselves? That’s impossible! I tried to get on the train to Ponyville that one time when you told me about Diamond Tiara and what she said about Scootaloo, but they wouldn’t even let me past the ticket counter. How did you get all the way to Canterlot without an adult? And you got to see Sapphire Shores in person? Geez, I wish I was you!

I don’t know how you do it Apple Bloom, but you are just amazing. Nopony I know is quite like you, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. I can’t even get away with taking my sister’s diary out of her room for very long.

Anyways, it’s always great hearing from you, so I can’t wait to hear the next amazing thing you do is.

Your cousin,

Babs

WHAT!?!

Dear Apple Bloom,

The Chrystal Empire! Seriously? I mean, I know that you somehow rode all the way there on Scootaloo’s scooter for the flag carrying tryouts, but you did that on a train with no adult pony too? That’s like a completely different country! Sort of, those geography and history lessons were rather confusing. There’s this word in my notebook, but it makes no sense to me. Apparently the Chrystal Empire is a “principality” according to my teacher. I thought it was just an empire. What the hay is a principality? Oh my brain hurts!

Anyways, we decided to do the sleepover at the Tomato and Flower Patch’s place. They were really excited about it and wanted it there, so we decided to do it this weekend. I don’t want to have to do a bunch of foal stuff, but I guess it won’t be so bad with friends. I’ll let you know how it goes, obviously.

I thought you knew my sister’s name. I guess I was wrong. Anyways, her full name is Sunflower Seed, but I usually just call her Flo. Now that I think about it, it can be quite confusing since I have a friend named Flower. Weird, but that’s what I’ve always known her by. So it’s Flo.

I hope you get ungrounded soon.

Your cousin,

Babs

Anticipation

Dear Babs,

Wow, so that’s your mysterious sister. Well it’s good to finally know her name and nickname. Isn’t it funny how we always come up with nicknames for each other in family? Applejack is AJ, Macintosh is Big Mac, and Applejack is always calling everypony Sugarcube to make them feel like family.

Yeah, going to the Chrystal Empire for the first time like that was pretty interesting, even if we didn’t get to see much more than the snow globes in the gift shop. We did get to see a lot more of it during the flag carrying tryouts. I can’t wait for the Equestria Games coming up in a few weeks. I’ve never got to see them with my own eyes before, so this will be fun. I think I should be off the hook by then, hopefully.

Good luck with the sleepover.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

More than a Sleepover

Dear Apple Bloom,

Oh my gosh, I have so many things to tell you that I don’t know where to start!

So we finally had the sleepover at the Patch Twins’ home this weekend. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. We played a lot of games like hide and seek and all that. For some reason, me and Rocky kept either finding each other or hiding in the same spot.

We tried to come up with a list of what we could do to get our cutie marks, but we just kept having too much fun playing around. Both Tomato and Flower have a ton of stuffed plushies around that were so cute and cuddly that I could just die there and be happy. Please don’t tell anypony about that.

Unfortunately Roller couldn’t stay for the night, but she managed to have dinner with us before she had to go home. The rest of us stayed though and had a great time. It was then that we made an interesting discovery.

I was looking at some pictures on the walls and found two familiar faces from some of my dad’s pictures. It was of my great-grandparents on my dad’s side, and they’re also Tomato’s and Flower’s great-grandparents too. That means that we’re cousins! True, its distant cousins of some type, but still related. To make things weirder is that they also have relatives in Ponyville, three aunts who run a flower shop, or something. So now the Twins are calling me “Cuz” just like I do to you, and I actually like it.

It seems that this who crusading business has become a family thing. We’ve certainly come a long way from fruit parade floats and me defending those foals in the park.

So that was my weekend. I still need to talk about it with my dad when he gets home, but that is just amazing. I can’t wait for the Equestria Game’s too. I don’t think I can be there personally, but Flo says that there might be some way that we can see your routine, so that should be exciting.

Your cousin,

Babs

The Best Policy

Dear Babs,

This weekend has been really odd. You see, Granny and I did the swim meet and won. That was awesome. Then Granny went on talking about that tonic stuff again and so did Flim and Flam. It still felt odd that we were supporting something of theirs.

Next thing I know, Granny Smith starts climbing the high dive to jump into a pan of water and break her old record. Before she could make it to the water however, Applejack lassoed her leg and then lowered her to the ground. Granny was pretty mad about it, but then Applejack did something that was really strange for her. She told all of us that she lied about the tonic and that it didn’t have those healing powers that Flim and Flam said it had. Nopony believed her, but then that other pony we saw who wore those costumes said she was right, that tonic really didn’t do anything. It did seem to boost Granny’s confidence, but Applejack wasn’t going to have anything more to do with the Flim Flam brothers and there tonic.

I couldn’t believe it. My sister has always been honest with everypony. She’s the Element of Honesty for petesake. And she lied to me about there being nothing wrong with the tonic. I’m not sure how to feel about this. I know she’s my sister, but she has never lied to me before.

Some ponies were downright angry, but we were all just confused. AJ apologized to us and hoped to earn our trust back again in the future and promised to always be honest with us. She also apologized to each of us and told me that being honest really is the most important thing to keeping other ponies’s trust. I’m glad that she apologized and all, but I’m still not sure how to think about her now. I feel like she let me down somehow. I just don’t get it. Maybe I’ll forget about it sometime in the future, but for now it’s just weird.

Anyways it’s great to hear from you. I had no idea you had a thing for foxes. That’s pretty cool, although it seems that Granny isn’t too keen on them. Something about stealing geese and food from the cellar. I’m not sure what she’s talking about because we don’t even have geese on the farm, but that is Granny Smith for ya. Hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Forgiveness

Dear Babs,

Thank you for your last letter. I never knew just how much you went through when we first met. You’re also right about Applejack. The funny thing is that even though she is just my sister, she really has been there for me as long as I can remember. She was the one that raised me, along with Granny and Big Mac. I never even got to know my parents since I was a foal when they passed. If anything, AJ has been my mother, which I guess is what made it hurt even worse when she lied to me.

I kept avoiding Applejack for a while, even going out with the Crusaders more often just to get away from her. One of the only times we were together was during breakfast, lunch or dinner. Even then, I just wouldn’t talk to her much at all.

Last evening, Applejack found me outside on the porch and asked what was wrong. I didn’t say anything, but she figured it out pretty quickly. She said that she always tries to do her best and brought up how one applebucking season she tried to work the entire orchard by herself along with helping all her friends. It didn’t turn out too well until she finally admitted that she needed help.

I knew this story, but didn’t see what it had to do with anything since she hadn’t lied back then. Then Applejack said that she isn’t perfect, but ponies had been putting her on a pedestal and expected a lot from her without realizing that she is just a pony like everypony else.

That really got me thinking. I was thinking of Applejack being perfect and that she couldn’t mess up, even though there were many times where I saw that it wasn’t true at all. Maybe she wasn’t the most perfect sister at times, but she was still my sister. I still didn’t like the lying bit, and neither was she, but she did feel that it was what would make Granny happy at the time. It was wrong, but like AJ said, she would work hard to regain everypony’s trust again. I guess that last night was my turn, so I forgave her. It felt good to let all of that anger go.

Applejack also said that she would be going to the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange and asked if I wanted anything. I wanted to go with her, but she said that I had school. So I didn’t really care to get anything since I couldn’t be there to see what they had. AJ left early this morning and should be back sometime tonight. I honestly don’t know what she is going to get with all that old stuff she took. She did say something about pies though. Oh well, I guess I’ll see later.

Thank you for everything Babs, it really means a lot. Hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Opening Ceremonies

Dear Apple Bloom,

I know that you won’t be getting this for a while, but I just can’t wait that long. I saw you! I wasn’t at the Crystal Empire, but I still saw you!

How, you may ask? Do you remember what I said a couple of weeks ago about how Manehattan was doing a lot of things for the Equestria Games, particularly in Time Square? Well, apparently they were putting up these large screens that could show what was happening at the Crystal Empire at any time. I’m not sure how it works, but it must be some sort of magic.

Since we couldn’t go to the Crystal Empire, my dad took Flo and me to Time Square so we could see the opening ceremonies of the Games. We got to see all the athletes from every town. Everypony cheered for Manehattan when they were announced and it was very interesting seeing the griffons when we saw them on screen. But I was waiting for Ponyville, and they finally showed you. I was so excited that I almost fell off my dad’s neck since he was holding me up. It was awesome seeing you and Sweetie Belle shout “Ponyville Forever” and then Scootaloo riding through that hoop on her scooter. Your routine was a bit shorter than what you described. I didn’t hear anything about the three pony races in Equestria living in harmony together and all that jazz. I still enjoyed seeing you though.

Then we got to see the torch get lit. It seemed to take forever with that dragon. Was it the same dragon I saw at Ponyville? It certainly looked like him. Ponies in Time Square were really getting annoyed after a few minutes, but then he finally did it, and there were tons of streamers and confetti flying all over Time Square. It was amazing!

I hope you have fun up there, it certainly looked like it. I wish I could be there, but I can’t. Please tell me all about what you did when you get back. I’m waiting.

Your cousin,

Babs

The Equestria Games

Dear Babs,

I just got back from the Crystal Empire and found your letter. I didn’t know that everypony in Manehattan would be able to see it. I wonder if other ponies in Equestria could see it too.

I’m so glad that you got to see our routine, but we did have to cut it short. There were so many other cities competing this year, including the Griffon Kingdom, that there just wasn’t time to do the whole thing for everyone. So we all had to cut to the chase. This really annoyed Scootaloo and I don’t blame her. She worked hard on that whole thing and we put so much time into it. It wasn’t for nothin though since between a lot of the events, they set up areas where fans could go and learn more about the teams, and we got to do the full routine there.

As for the rest of the opening ceremonies, that dragon was Spike that you saw. He got real nervous though which was odd for him. But there were a ton of ponies there watching him and he’s also a hero in the Crystal Empire for defeating some shadow king that my sister and her friends helped out when the place reappeared. All the locals keep calling him the “great and honorable something or whatsits.” I guess it put a lot of pressure on the poor guy because he couldn’t light the torch at all. Then Princess Twilight secretly helped out.

After she told him about it, he got pretty depressed and was determined to contribute something to the games. One time after the relay race, Spike tried to sing the Cloudsdale Anthem. It was bad. After that, Spike just hid himself away and we couldn’t get him out at all. The only one who could do anything to get anything out of him was Twilight, but even that was difficult.

For the rest of us, we had a great time. I had no idea how many different games and events there were in this whole thing. I lost track somewhere around twelve, and that was only the first day. There was the relay race like I said earlier, ponies throwing frisbee’s, spears and metal balls, swimming, ~~jima~~, ~~gimni~~, ponies swinging on various bars and so much more.

There was this one race with ponies jumping over little fences called hurdles. I asked Applejack why she wasn’t in it since I see her do that stuff all the time when she prepares for the rodeo. She said that she was asked, but had to turn it down since there was so much work to be done on the farm this year and couldn’t find the time. I’d have loved to see her do it though, and I’m sure we could have picked up the slack.

Outside of the games and stuff, we actually got to see a lot more of the Crystal Empire. Before this past week, all I had ever really seen was the train station and the stadium. We got to walk around the streets and the market. We even had a room in the Crystal Palace thanks to my sister and her friends and their relationship with the Princesses. We even got to see the Crystal Heart. I’ve never seen such an awesome thing in any rock before, but this was awesome.

The last event had a bunch of ponies shooting ice arrows at a target. I was told that Ponyville didn’t have a competitor in this event and all I could think of was Archer. Archer is this blue earth pony in my class who has a bow n’ arrow cutie mark. The funny thing is that a lot of ponies keep thinking she’s Scootaloo for some reason. Anyways, I remember that she couldn’t display her talent in the classroom because of some school rule, so we all had to go so a “range” in order to see her use a bow and shoot the center of a target that was ten feet away. I’m sure she would have loved to been in this event. Maybe in the future.

So while we’re watching, one of the contestants slipped and shot and arrow into the sky and hit a cloud. Suddenly, it started growing all of these ice spikes and fell towards the stadium. It was big and could have destroyed much of it and hurt a lot of ponies. All the pegasi and griffons went to stop it, but it was just too heavy. None of the unicorns could help due to a security spell-blocking spell thing and obviously us earth ponies couldn’t do anything until would have hit the ground which wouldn’t have helped anything at all.

Then Spike comes in and breaths the largest thing of fire I’ve ever seen him do and completely melted the ice cloud. Spike saved the day once again in the Crystal Empire and was a great help to all of us. I guess he really does live up to that praise the crystal ponies give him. Later he got to light the fireworks for the closing ceremonies. I forget the exact medal count, but I think Ponyville got the most, followed by Cloudsdale.

So we had a great time at the Equestria Games. I never had so much fun in my life. I can’t believe how tired I am right now though since most of what I did was just sit there and watch. Oh well. I can’t wait to hear from you.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

How Far We've Come (50th Chapter Special)

Dear Babs,

Did ponies really say that about Ponyville? That’s just mean. I’d like to show them a thing or two for calling us hicks! And to think that I thought that ponies in Manehattan were so important. Not that there’s anything wrong with you or anything. I should probably move on now.

I’m glad you enjoyed everything, even though you couldn’t come. It really was a hoot being there. I didn’t get much there beyond a couple of Ponyville flags to wave in the stands and a neat hat with crystals on it. Sweetie Belle finally got one of those snow globes from the train station that she wanted so much and Scootaloo is rocking some sunglasses that look like Rainbow Dash’s. Those were her words by the way, I have no idea what rocks have to do with sunglasses. But the best part was just being there with friends.

It is amazing how far we’ve come since we first met, Babs. I still remember when Applejack first told me that you’d be coming over from Manehattan and I was worried about what I would wear just so I could impress you. Funny how I didn’t need to worry about that at all, and sure the visit didn’t start off the way we wanted, but I’m glad we became such great friends. Then you made many new friends in Manehattan and started the Cutie Mark Crusaders there. All the while me and my friends were able to do all sorts of things here in Ponyville and at the Crystal Empire.

It’s so great to have somepony like you to talk to about all these things, so thank you for that. I hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Author's Note

I'll be honest, I am utterly amazed that I've made it this far. I know I've said in the story description that I would continue to write this story as long as I could, but I never thought that I would actually get up to fifty chapters focused solely on two seasons of MLP:FiM (or one-and-a-half, depending on who you ask :unsuresweetie:).

We truly have come a long way since the beginning of this story. Babs was still a lonely, depressed filly returning home that had many problems even after making friends with the CMC. She struggled a lot, but she found those who would stand with her and she them. They still have a lot to face, like any child does in life, but now they have found great joy.

Then we have Apple Bloom. I've found a lot of interesting stories not only inside the episodes she's in, but also outside of them and how she reacts and feels about things that she does and what happens around her. The inclusion of her letters have really made this story what it is now. Communication has always been key to our relationships and we can grow closer even if we are far apart.

My greatest experience with this story, however, has been you--the fans and dedicated readers. I'm grateful to you: whether if you comment in nearly every chapter, a few of them, or just read along. You help drive this story and play a much bigger role than you might realize.

Remember what I said about the Apple Bloom chapters? Those might not have happened if someone hadn't asked for it in the comments in the seventh chapter. That comment finally pushed me off the fence and got me to write Apple Bloom's letters much sooner than I would have, and I'm so glad that I did. Imagine Babs' reaction to Diamond Tiarra's bullying of Scootaloo's potential flight disability without the context of Apple Bloom's letter? It'd be very weird, wouldn't it? :applejackunsure:

This story would have died long ago if it wasn't for that comment. And you still drive the story by posting your comments that put things forward that I might not have realized or help me to explore something I hadn't thought of before. So keep reading and commenting: you just might help the story if you do. :raritywink: Back in the Twentieth chapter I had said that you were awesome if you had stuck with me for that long. Now here at fifty chapters, if you are still here, and haven't been deterred by the shear number of chapters, than you are perhaps some of the greatest fans that anyone could ever hope to ask for. :pinkiesad2:

Now that I've gone a bit sappy there, I must state that I will most likely be taking a break during Season 5. This is so I can get a feel of the crusader episodes--and potential damage control should Babs actually return to the show--and figure out where I want to go with this story. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We still have the Season 4 Finale to deal with, and I think you will enjoy it. I won't spoil too much just yet, but I will say that it's going to involve a story-telling device that I have rarely seen on this site--if ever. That's all you're going to get for now. :trollestia:

Until then, enjoy the Season 5 Premier, and I'll see you next time.

Side B

Dear Babs,

I’m honestly not sure how to put this. I think the best thing is to listen to the caset tape first before you continue on.

I’m sure you’ve heard that last bit with all the explosions and everything. What happened was that some giant monster thing attacked. He had pony legs but had some strange body thing where his head would normally be. His name was Tirek and he was like some vampire thing that could suck out the magic in a pony.

We saw him fighting with Princess Twilight before that last explosion which did a lot of damage to the countryside. We must have run all the way to town, where we saw tons of ponies laying on the ground with blurry eyes and no cutie marks, and these were adults that I know have cutie marks since I’ve seen many of them.

This made no sense until I saw the giant monster thing came back and picked me, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo up in his magic and did something that caused some kind of magic to leave all of us. I never felt more scared in my life, even when facing that chimera. He said something about it not even being a nibble after all that Alicorn magic he got, and then just left us on the ground and turned to the Everfree Forest. I tried to get up, but I just couldn’t move. I was so tired.

I thought I was never going to move again until suddenly something warm came over me and I could feel stronger again. I got up, and so did everypony else, and they had their cutie marks again. I didn’t since I didn’t have one to lose.

There were these lights up in the sky going everywhere that I could see. It was beautiful. Then when it was over, all of Ponyville started to shake. When it was over, we all looked and there was this giant thing just outside of Ponyville.

We all went to get a closer look and saw that it was a castle. It was almost as big as the one in the Crystal Empire, and was made of crystal too. It came after Twilight, Applejack and the rest of their friends defeated Tirek with some sort of rainbow power. So Princess Twilight has her own castle now. It’s cool and all, but it’s definately going to take some getting used to.

So that’s what happened in that tape. Did anything like that happen to you at all, because I hear that Tirek did this all over the place? I hope you’re ok.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

New Real Estate

Dear Babs,

I’m so glad that you are well. I was afraid that Tirek got you to, but he didn’t. It was so scary. I don’t think I’ve slept well since then. I guess it’s getting better now, but I often wake up in the middle of the night feeling as though I just bucked all the apple trees on the farm.

A lot of things have changed around Ponyville. Like I said last time, Twilight now has this castle just outside of town. It’s really pointy and dark at times and really takes some getting used to since it was just meadows there before. Applejack said it came from a magical box that she and her friends opened. This same box also gave them rainbow powers, or something like it, and that’s how they defeated Tirek.

Another big change is that the library is gone. Tirek blew it up and that was one of the explosions you heard on the tape. All that’s left is a burnt stump. Not too many ponies used the library but it’s really sad to see it like this. Nopony seems to be more effected than Twilight though. She can often be seen staring at it for a long time when she thinks nopony is looking. She also tries to avoid her own castle. I can’t tell you how many times she’s tried to help out on the farm. She really hasn’t been taking care of herself either. Her mane is often a wreck and it reminds me too much of a time where she tried to force this ugly doll on me and my friends. At least now she seems so much kinder.

Anyways, I’m glad to hear you’re ok. Did I say that already? Oh well. I hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

p.s. Ha ha, I knew it!

Birthday Cards (Anniversary Special)

Happy Birthday-versary
to you, Babs Seed, today.
I can’t believe this story’s
a year old time sure flies
doesn’t it well it seems like
only yesterday when it started!
But now it’s a year old today, hey!

Love,

Pinkie Pie

Dear Babs Seed,

I’m not entirely sure why, but your cousin Apple Bloom was really insistent that I write to you wishing you a happy birthday. She does talk a lot about you, so even though we never actually met when you visited last year I feel almost as if I know you.

I’m glad to hear that you are making such great friends and that you are learning a lot from each other in the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I would also just like to say that getting your cutie mark is something personal to you. I keep trying to tell Apple Bloom and her friends this, but they don’t seem to grasp it.

Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Your fai
Your Princess of Friendship,

Twilight Sparkle

Hey Bad Seed,

Apple Bloom told me that your birthday’s coming up. I hope you have a great day, and maybe even have a romantic date with Rocky.

Happy Birthday!

xoxoxo

Sweetie Belle

Sup Babs,

So you’re another year older? Cool. Have a happy birthday and make sure you do some awesome things.

Scootaloo

Happy birthday young’n.

I remember when I was around your age we first moved into Sweet Apple Acres. It wasn’t easy startin from scratch, especially so late in the season. But we managed it thanks to a discovery I made when I

Sorry, I fell asleep there. Now I can’t remember what I was talking about. Consarn these old eyes! Well happy birthday. It was a real hoot havin you around.

Love,

Granny Smith

Happy birthday Babs,

Big Mac

Howdy Sugercube,

Gosh, it seems like only yesterday when your folks called me up to ask about sending you over here for a couple of weeks and now it’s your birthday. Well congratulations and I hope you have a great day.

I also want to thank you for writing to lil Apple Bloom. She really seems to run herself ragged harder than a bull at the rodeo over not having her cutie mark yet. It’s definitely frustrating for her, but she gets so excited every time she gets a letter from you. You’ve also helped pull her up out of the dumps a few times. I try to be there for her as much as I can, but you really seem to have an impact on her. So don’t you quit now, you hear.

Happy birthday Babs.

Applejack

Dear Babs,

Sorry, I couldn’t come up for your birthday. I tried, but Applejack said that we couldn’t, that it was too late and that it would mess with school. Yet she got to go on a trip somewhere in Equestria out of nowhere. What gives?

Anyways, I did the next best thing and got everypony I could think of that you met to write you a birthday letter. Everypony except Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon that is. I hope that’s all right because I didn’t even want to think about asking them. I’m not sure if they would have even if I tried. They still seem angry about how you forced them into the mud before you left the first time you were here.

Happy birthday Cuz.

Apple Bloom

p.s. We got you a plush fox toy. We tried to make one at first, but it didn’t turn out well. It ended up with five legs and was so large in places and smaller in others that it made Discord look normal. No toy making cutie marks.

Author's Note

So it's been a full year since I first published this story! Has it seriously been that long? It honestly does feel like it was yesterday at times. Yet there's over fifty chapters and I'm still going (my apologies to anyone who might be losing their sanity at this point). :pinkiecrazy:

I decided to celebrate this occasion by making it Babs birthday, even though her birthday could be at any time and it really wouldn't matter (unless one of the upcoming episodes actually is her birthday :twilightoops:). I just thought it'd be a great way to commemorate this occasion and make it relevant to the "plot" of this series of letters.

Funnily enough, my own birthday was two days ago (at the time this chapter was posted). So it's kind of like my own little present to me which I share with all of you. :twilightsmile:

Happy Anniversary!

p.s. Pinkie Pie's letter is my little tweak of her "Happy Monthiversary" song from Baby Cakes. Now you can read it again with that in mind...unless you already figured it out. :pinkiegasp:

Back Home

Dear Apple Bloom,

Well, I’m back home now, and I miss you already. It certainly was an eventful couple of weeks, wasn’t it? I’m still very sorry about what I did to you and your friends that first week. I’m definitely not like that at all. I’m actually very shy, but I guess you knew that already. We had so much fun that I’m now afraid being back home.

It was great to see Mom and Dad again, and even my big sis’. I talked to her about the bullying and calling me a “blank flank” all the time. Mom and Dad talked to her too, while I was gone. She sorry for what she’s said about me and wants to be friends again. I’m glad that I have a sister to turn to again. So you can tell Applejack that things are good between us.

Now, I’m just afraid of the bullies from school. School’s out for the summer, but I still see them in our neighborhood and at the park. The two biggest bullies are a real jerk named Rough House, and his stupid friend, Black Eye. Mom wants me to go to the park tomorrow with my sister, but I know they’ll be there and my sis’ will be too busy looking at the stallions to be of any help.

I don’t know if you knew this, but other than you guys, I don’t have any friends, even before everypony in my class started getting their cutie marks. The few friends I’ve had had moved away over the years, and then there’s you guys, and you’re in Ponyville. I know I said I’d start up the Cutie Mark Crusaders here in Manehattan, but now, I’m not sure if I can do it. I’ll try though.

Your cousin,

Babs Seed

Reunion!

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!

I can’t believe it! Mom and Dad just told me that we’re going to the Apple Family Reunion this year! Isn’t that great? We get to see each other again! This is going to be so awesome!

I’ve never gone to the Apple Family Reunion before. Mom says that she hasn’t been able to go since before I was even born. But both Mom and Dad got time off from work, so we all get to go to Ponyville next month!

This will be so awesome! We get to hang out and do some more of that crusadin’ stuff. I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do at reunion. Am I supposed to bring something, or do something in particular? I guess my big sis’ can help me with that.

I’m so excited that I don’t know what to say. I’ve made a new friend, though. His name is Rocky Road, he just moved into our building last week. He kind of looks like ice cream, with his chocolate brown coat with little white spots and a white and brown swirly mane. I guess that’s why he has that name. Also, he’s a blank flank, like me! I haven’t asked him yet if he wants to be in the Cutie Mark Crusaders, though. I guess I’ll mention it to him tomorrow.

I can’t wait to see you again. It already feels like this month is taking forever!

Your impatient cousin,

Babs

CMC: Manehattan

Dear Apple Bloom,

I just realized that I didn't get the chance to tell you about my two new friends at school, who are also blank flanks. I know I mentioned them, but then we got so busy with all of Applejack’s activities at reunion and then rebuilding the barn, that I didn't get a chance to really talk about them before I left.

I already mentioned Rocky Road, the colt that kind of looks like ice cream. He’s pretty chill. He’s really into comic books, and stuff, but the way he describes them makes it sound awesome. He really made the Power Ponies come to life, almost as if they were actually there. He also talks about some superhero that has spider-like powers. It sounded interesting, but it just didn't seem like my kind of thing. Anyways, Rocky Road was all for the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The other one is a filly named Rolling Blaze, but she calls herself Roller. We met her when we went over to the skate park to try and get our cutie marks in roller skating, skateboarding and other stuff. That’s when we saw this dark orange blur, with a yellow mane, totally dominating the skate park. She is also really cool. She reminds me of Scootaloo, except that she’s an earth pony, and not a pegasus. In fact, so is Rocky Road.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I've seen very many pegasi around Manehattan. The few that I know of in school already have their cutie marks. I also don’t think I have ever seen a unicorn at all in my new school, or even my old one. Yet, there were so many of both back in Ponyville. That’s really weird. I wonder why both places seem to be so different.

Anyways, Rolling Blaze was also very interested in the Cutie Mark Crusaders. This is going to be so awesome! The Cutie Mark Crusaders is now in Manehattan! Between the three of us, I think we’ll get our cutie marks in no time!

Your excited cousin,

Babs

School Club

Dear Apple Bloom,

Well, it took a few days, but my parents finally managed to convince the principal, and that piece of wood at the school, that we weren’t forming a gang. The principal and our teacher apologized for the misunderstanding and we can now return to school. I used to think that suspension was kind of a stupid punishment since it forced kids to not have to go to school. But I couldn’t escape from my parents that whole time, so I couldn’t do anything I wanted to. Plus it was a stupid thing to get suspended for anyways.

We were also allowed to keep the Cutie Mark Crusaders running, but under certain rules. The first was that we had to organize it as an “official school club.” The next was that we have to have a teacher present at our meetings at school and an adult with us during our activities. The last one was really silly, but still annoying. We can’t wear the crusading capes while on school grounds. It has something to do with the color red being associated with gangs. I thought we established that it wasn’t a gang! And what’s wrong with red?

It’s not all bad, I suppose, because I have no idea how to make those capes. I don’t know how Sweetie Belle made them, especially the gold lining on the inside, but the best I can really do is get a red blanket and tape the Cutie Mark Crusader picture to it. I’m actually taking a “home ed” class this year, but so far I’ve managed to sew everything but the fabric.

I’m just happy that we can still go crusading for our special talents. This week, we had a booth during the school club drive, where students could look around and join a club. Most of them laughed at us, since they already had their cutie marks, or just simply ignored us.

There were two foals who were interested though. They were the same foals that were being taunted by those two bullies in the park during the summer that I stood up to. They are earth-pony twins, a red colt with a green mane named Tomato Patch, and a yellow filly with a purple mane named Flower Patch. They thanked me for what I did and they look up to me now. At least somepony understands what I did! Although, I don’t think I’m a good role model. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, like that first week in Ponyville. They’re still a lot of fun to have around, and just as excited as we are. Now we have five crusaders in Manehattan! It looks like you have some catching up to do in Ponyville.

Your cousin,

Babs

p.s. Nan nana na na!

Apple Bloom's Challenge

Dear Babs,

We had an amazing day at school. There was a guest from the Equestria Games named Ms. Harshwhinny. Both she and Rainbow Dash told us that we all had the opportunity to represent Ponyville for the Games by doing a flag-carrying routine about what makes our town special. Then this weekend, we get to go to the Chrystal Empire to do our routines and see who will represent Ponyville.

Obviously Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and I are working together. It took us a moment to figure out what made Ponyville special, but then Scootaloo came up with the awesome idea that it was a place where earth-ponies, unicorns and pegasi all lived together and were friends. It’s perfect! We’ve managed to put something together this evening and we get to show it to Rainbow Dash tomorrow after school, since she’s our coach. It’s going to be so awesome that not even Diamond Tiara can ruin it. We’ve even stood up to her, and her usual taunt of “blank flanks” didn’t even work. Nothing can stop us!

` Maybe we will meet each other again at the Chrystal Empire, since I’m sure that Manehattan will be in the games as well. I’m sure that you and the Cutie Mark Crusaders will come up with something awesome! What do you say? Shall we see which of us has the better routine? I’m sure that ours will kick your flanks! Anyways, I hope to see you this weekend.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Fury of a Crusader

DIAMOND TIARA SAID WHAT ABOUT SCOOTALOO? Why that little. Why I oughta come down there and mrgh ARRRRGH!

~~~

Sorry about the short outburst there, Apple Bloom, and the sudden stop. I got so angry about you know who and just couldn’t think straight. After reading that part of your letter made me so mad that I actually went to the train station to get the next train heading for Ponyville. I wasn’t going to let any insult to my friends go unanswered!

So I was at the station, trying to get a ticket, but the moron in the booth wouldn’t give me one. He said that they didn’t sell tickets to foals. I’m not a foal! I didn’t understand what the problem was. I traveled on the train before, by myself, twice. Then two other ponies came and took me to another room where my parents later picked me up. They weren’t happy.

When we got home, they sent me to my room, where they had a long talk with me. They said that I shouldn’t run off on my own like that and asked what I was thinking. I told them what had happened to Scootaloo and that I was going to Ponyville to stand up for her, but the train ponies wouldn’t let me. They said that it was good that I wanted to support my friends, but I couldn’t just run off to do so, particularly in the way that I was going to do to that little brat!

I asked why the pony in the ticket booth wouldn’t give me a ticket when I had traveled on the train before. My Dad explained that when they had sent me to Ponyville over the summer, they bought an “Unaccompanied Minor” pass and both of my tickets. As I was on the train there was somepony watching over me to make sure I didn’t get into trouble and that I got to my destination safely. I don’t remember anypony doing that at all. But there was this weird pony with a strange hat, uniform and pocket-watch that was always following me. It was creepy.

Anyways, I’ve been grounded again, and just after I had gotten better too! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I got sick over the weekend. All of the Cutie Mark Crusaders did. Apparently Roller had more than just a cough, and it affected all of us the day we were supposed to go to the Chrystal Empire. That’s why you didn’t see us there. It really sucked! I was looking forward to it and seeing you again, as well as introduce you to my new friends personally. Oh well, it will have to wait for another time. I guess that means you win our little competition. We’ll get you next time, though!

Your cousin,

Babs

Curse of the Crusaders

Dear Apple Bloom,

Wow, that sounds serious. I’m glad you and Scootaloo made up, but I’m not sure how I feel about getting pushed into this promise without me knowing so. I’ll still keep it, even though I have no idea what a Pinkie Pie Promise really is.

Do you want to know something funny? When I read the part in the letter about the Pinkie Pie Promise and how serious it was, something pink popped out of my dresser drawer shouting “FOREVEEEER!” And then it disappeared. It really freaked me out. I immediately looked in the drawer, but nothing was in there that shouldn’t have been. I have no idea how it happened, but I took it as a sign to not reveal what Scootaloo had said.

Enough about that, you probably want to hear about us Cutie Mark Crusaders here in Manehattan. We’ve gone on quite a few crusades. Roller had us go to the skate park, which was a ton of fun, even if the rest of us fell down a lot. Rocky Road had us help his father serve ice cream one time. I think some of us ate more of the ice cream than we actually served though. So his father might not let us do that again anytime soon. They were both very fun, but we didn’t get out cutie marks.

I really wanted to go to Central Park, but I couldn’t think of a reason for us to do a crusade there, which is weird because it is so big and there are plenty of things to do. Then both Tomato and Flower Patch came up with the idea to help their aunt walk dogs, since she’s an animal caretaker, or something. To be honest, they were more interested in playing with the dogs than actually caring for them. Rocky, Roller and I had to do that part, which meant we also had to clean up after the dogs. It was gross! But it was still fun, even though we still didn’t get our cutie marks.

Also something really weird happened in the park while we were there. When we started to walk the dogs and did the Cutie Mark Crusaders cheer about being dog-walkers, some pony in the park went nuts. She shouted something about “the curse of the crusaders” and that they were here in Manehattan too. Then she ran off screaming, telling everypony to run for their lives. A lot of ponies stared, but otherwise just ignored her.

It was really odd, but it got me thinking. Other than us, the only other Cutie Mark Crusaders are you guys in Ponyville. I didn’t get a good look at her so I couldn’t describe who it was, but I guess she must have been from Ponyville too. Do you have any idea what she was talking about? We would really like to know.

Anyways, we are all doing great here, and I hope the same for you.

Your cousin,

Babs

Frame of Reference

Dear Apple Bloom,

Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I thought it would’ve been neat if you could get more members in the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Ponyville. Hopefully things can calm down again soon.

I imagine that you’re probably trying to hide yourselves from everypony after all that. I definitely understand that feeling. Back at my old school, I always wanted to just disappear and avoid everypony, especially bullies like Rough House and Black Eye. It was like living in Tartarus, all the name calling and being pushed around. What was worse was that everypony at school seemed to join them. I was easy pickings for them. I had my head shoved down several toilets, backed against the wall only to lose my lunch money and just being tortured in so many ways. It was miserable!

I’m so glad that I’m going to a new school now where all my friends are and none of those other jerks. I can now get up from bed and not dread the day ahead. I know it sounds weird, but I actually look forward to school so I can see Rocky and Roller. The Patch twins are in kindergarten, so they’re only at school for half of the day and kept separate from the rest of us. It’s kind of weird that way. I miss having to only be at school for half the normal time.

Anyways, just don’t get too down on yourself Apple Bloom. I’m sure things will pass soon enough. It’s not like the world is going to end anytime soon or anything. Just stick by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and you should be fine.

As always, I hope to hear from you soon.

Your Cousin,

Babs

Author's Note

Yay, Babs is back! Sorry about the long wait and that this chapter may seem a bit short compared to the last two, but when have letters ever had a consistent length?

Common Ground

Dear Roller,

I know this may seem weird, but I really wanted to write to you. Hopefully Apple Bloom and Babs can get this too you.

My name’s Scootaloo. I know we’ve never met, but I was hoping to be friends and all. I mean we’re both in the Cutie Mark Crusaders and love skating too. By the way, congrats on getting your cutie mark, that’s so awesome! Now if only I could get mine.

It’s so cool that you got to meet Pony Hawk. I can’t tell you how jealous I am. He’s like the second most awesome pony I know. The first is Rainbow Dash, but you probably don’t know her since she’s here in Ponyville, and is awesome for completely different reasons. She’s the best flyer ever and will one day be in the Wonderbolts. I hope I can do that one day.

Pony Hawk is pretty amazing too. I still can’t believe that he managed to do the 900 not too long ago! I can’t even do that on my scooter. It’s amazing what he can do. I tried to ride a skateboard once, but it was so awkward standing on my hind legs with nothing else to support me. I fell over a lot, so I think I’ll stick with my scooter. Yet Pony Hawk can keep his balance on a skateboard like it’s nothing and does so many tricks without the help of his wings. I don’t get how he does it.

So what was it like hanging out with him? What was the competition like? What do you like most to do in the skate park? Can we be friends, even if we’ve never met?

I hope to hear from you soon.

A fellow sister, friend, confidant, ally, bosom buddy, gal pal, comforter, chum of chums, ~~compadres~~
Okay, I really need to revise this soon.
And fellow crusader,

Scootaloo

Home Alone

Dear Babs,

You’re not going to believe this, but something really exciting could possibly happen. I might get to stay home alone for the first time. It’s pie delivering time and both Big Mac and Applejack are running late. They have to make their cart runs soon, but that means that neither of them can stay at home. Granny Smith is going to visit with some family next week too.

I guess they could always get me a babysitter or I can stay at Fluttershy’s or Sweetie Belle’s place for the day and it wouldn’t be so bad. But I’m a big girl now. I can look after myself. I’ll even promise to be extra careful and won’t bring down the barn again. The less I say about that the better. Let’s just say that we didn’t get our cutie marks in grabbing a greased pig.

Oh, I really hope they say yes. I swear that I won’t ask for anything else for the rest of the year…except to get my cutie mark, but there’s nothing they can do about that. Who knows, maybe I’ll earn my cutie mark by running the farm by myself. Wouldn’t that be something?

Anyways, I hope things are going well for you and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Do you have any ideas about what to do being home alone? Hope to hear from you soon.

Your Cousin,

Apple Bloom

Baby Sister

Dear Babs,

I’m sorry about writing this letter in purple, but Applejack is driving me crazy. She babyproofed everything around here! She even took all my pencils saying that I could poke my eye out. All I managed to find was this old crayon in my closet.

This day started out so wonderful too. I got to stay home alone while Big Mac and AJ made their pie deliveries and Granny Smith went to visit Great Aunt Pineapple. Everything seemed to be going great. I did every single chore on the list Applejack gave me and was wondering what I would finally do by myself.

Then Applejack comes home to check and caused me to make a mess of the kitchen. She went on about how she won’t let her baby sister stay home alone. I’m not a baby! I can take care of myself! But she still wouldn’t leave.

That wasn’t all though. She put a pillow on the rake, kept putting a helmet on my head and tied a net in the trees to catch all the apples. Who does that? She didn’t want anything to fall on me, but apples aren’t that hard. Besides, how can I suddenly discover what my special talent would be if an apple doesn’t fall on my head just like that one guy who discovered gravity or something?

This is going too far. I don’t need Applejack to look over me. I’m a big girl now!

Maybe I can get Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to help. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do, but anything’s got to be better than this.

Talk with you later.

Apple Bloom

Taste in Music

Dear Babs,

That sounds like a great idea. I really hope your sleepover works out. Maybe you can come up with some amazing ideas to get your cutie marks! There’s something I must ask though. You and Rocky, is there something going on between you two? It really seems that you like him, just saying.

I need to tell you something interesting with Sweetie Belle from this past week. You see, she got mad at Rarity for making our costumes for a play she wrote “too good.” I honestly don’t know what she was talking about, I thought that they were fine, but Sweetie Belle said that Rarity stole her spotlight. Because of this, she decided to ruin some weird headdress thing that her sister was making for Sapphire Shores and her new tour. I guess I should mention that Sweetie Belle’s sister works for Sapphire Shores. That makes me a friend to a sister of the fashion designer of my favorite singer!

So Sweetie Belle ruins this hat thingy, but felt bad about it and wanted to fix it so that it wouldn’t embarrass Rarity, thus ruining her future to where she would go nuts in checking and rechecking, getting mocked on stage by Sapphire Shores, Rarity doing more rechecking, then Fluttershy knocking on Rarity’s door asking for a dress only for Rarity to say she doesn’t do that anymore, and then Rarity sitting alone in a messy shop filled with cobwebs and spiders. I’m not making this up! This was all Sweetie Belle talked about on the train ride over to Canterlot in order to catch up to Rarity. I didn’t even have this dream and yet I can still remember it.

The funny thing though was that Sweetie Belle has practically never heard any of Sapphire Shore’s music. How has somepony not heard She Deserves It or even Get Your Pony On? That’s like her best song! Seriously, I live on a farm, and I know these songs. Sweetie’s sister works for Sapphire Shores, so how does she not know music that ponies listen to? But no, Sweetie Belle like show tunes instead. Sure, they’re fine, but she needs to get out more or something.

Anyways, we got to Canterlot, managed to get past the annoying guard and Sweetie Bell fixed the hat. But the important thing was that I got Sapphire Shores to sign my bow! Oh boy, the others in class are going to be so jealous, especially Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon! I can just see the looks on their faces now when I walk into class tomorrow. It’s going to be priceless.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Your Cousin,

Apple Bloom

You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

Dear Babs,

Well, I wouldn’t say that we got off entirely with our trip to Canterlot. Rarity told everypony and I did get grounded again. Maybe next time I won’t think about helping her, no matter how much Sweetie Belle makes that sad puppy dog face of hers. Oh well, I can’t do anything about it now. But I did still get my bow signed by Sapphire Shores…worth it!

Now that I think about it, I can’t believe how we managed to get to Canterlot by ourselves in the first place. I mean, there was that one time when we went to the Crystal Empire with Spike since we had to look over animals with him in order to find Fluttershy’s bunny. I always guessed it was because he was a dragon and counted as an adult, except I’m told that he is actually younger than us by about a year or so. Twilight also keeps calling him a baby dragon, but he does a lot of things that adult ponies do. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. Maybe the train ponies don’t worry about that too much here or something. I don’t know what to tell you.

By the way, you keep mentioning your sister, but I have no idea what her name is. Maybe you told me one time and I forgot. I know I could probably ask Applejack, but I want to hear it from you. Also, any headway on that sleepover? Hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Miracle Juice

Dear Babs,

Wow, that’s surprising. I had no idea that Tomato and Flower would be your cousins. I kinda reminds me of when I found out that Pinkie Pie was our cousin, sort of. I think I told you about that already though. Anyways, that’s pretty awesome that you all might be related. I don’t think they are my cousins since it’s your dad’s side and all, but being a Crusader is kind of like family.

So what did Roller have to leave for? And what was your favorite plushy? Come on, you got to tell me cuase this is something I’ve never seen in you before.

I can’t wait for the Equestria Games either, but that still about a month away. It’s taking forever! At least my family has been able to pass the time by going swimming in the river. It’s so fun, but Granny never joined us since she was afraid of the water because of some accident she had way back as a divepony. I didn’t even know about that! But then something changed.

You see, after swimming last weekend, there was some event going on that a bunch of hurt ponies were going to. We were all curious to see what it was and found that Flim and Flam had come back in town. I don’t think I told you about them, but we nearly lost the farm during cider season due to a competition. It turned out that their cider was pretty bad though, so we won anyway. So after that it was really weird seeing them back again.

They were selling some tonic that could cure all kinds of things. I thought it was pretty amazing, but Applejack didn’t think so and that something was wrong. Then Granny Smith starts swimming again after drinking some of that tonic. It seemed fine to me, but AJ still didn’t believe it. So we went back, to find the same pony we saw being cured last time walking out saying he was cured again. We tried to confront him, but he got away. We split up to find him, but I all I found was Applejack with the Flim Flam Brothers saying that there seemed to be nothing wrong with the tonic after all. So if it didn’t bother her, then it doesn’t bother me.

So the tonic Granny got does seem to work and she can swim really good. I mean really good. There’s even a swim meet coming up and after a while, I convinced Granny to go with me. It’s going to be so awesome!

I better go now so that Granny and I can practice our rootine. See ya later.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

Foxy

Dear Apple Bloom,

That’s awesome how you’re doing that swimming thing with your grandma and that she isn’t afraid anymore, but I don’t really know about that tonic stuff. Dad always told me not to believe everything I hear or see, especially from salesponies, and that stuff seems weird no matter what Applejack says. I’m also not sure if you should trust ponies that nearly took your home. This just seems like bad news everywhere. But if it’s not hurting her any, then I guess its fine. I don’t really know

As for the plushys, and you better not tell anypony about this, but Tomato and Flower had this really big one of a cute red fox. I don’t know why, but I really love foxes. Those things are just so cute. Yeah, they’re not like other pets that are better for a home like a cat or dog, but I just can’t help it. I want one so bad! I almost took their plushy with me, but I didn’t.

As for Roller, well I caught up with her at school. She said that she had to watch her little brother again, but wouldn’t say anything beyond that. Instead she kept changing the subject whenever I asked. She really liked to focus on Rocky and me much like Flo once did, which was really weird. Then she decided to make fun of him a little, something about an Aquastallion in comics. I don’t really know about this guy, but I’m not sure how Rocky would react to what Roller kept saying.

I’m actually kind of worried for Roller because things don’t seem to be going well. I’m not sure how those ponies work that have been going to her house lately, and I have never been there, so I have no idea what is going on. I hope it turns out okay. I don’t want her to be sad again.

Anyways, good luck at the swim meet. It sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe you’ll get your cutie mark out of it.

Your cousin,

Babs

Sisterly Bond

Dear Apple Bloom,

Congradulations on winning the swim competition, cuz. That’s pretty awesome, but you didn’t say if you got your cutie mark out of it. I guess not because I think you would have said something about it if you did.

I kinda figured that those salesponies had some tricks going on, there always seems to be something like that going on here in Manehattan. But hearing about what Applejack said was surprising. Even though I don’t know her as well as you do, I could tell that she was honest. But it always seemed odd that somepony could be like that since my sister lies sometimes, and we both know about how things went when I first came over and visited you. It seemed strange that a pony could be so perfect like that. It definitely changes things a bit with what happened. I don’t think you should let it get to you though.

I’ll tell you a secret. When I came over I was jealous of what you and Applejack had along with everything else. Your sister really cared for you and I could tell that she wouldn’t do anything to harm you on purpose. Me, on the other hoof, I had Flo who used to bully me about not having a cutie mark and that hurt a lot. You never had that problem, and you have friends to back you up too. I didn’t at the time.

I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t give up on Applejack. You really have something great. Don’t forget that.

Anyways, I always look forward to hearing from you. So till next time.

Your cousin,

Babs

All the Hype

Dear Apple Bloom,

That’s great that you made up with Applejack. Like I said, I just couldn’t even see you two being apart for too long. I know she can be annoying at times like when you said she babyproofed everything in the house, but I could not believe that you would just hate her. It didn’t seem like you. So I’m glad everything is okay now, but what did AJ end up getting at Rainbow Falls?

Anyways, there is not much happening here. I guess the Manehattan team is getting ready for the Equestria Games in a couple of weeks. I see it all the time in the newspaper and hear about it on the radio. It’s also all everypony talks about in school. It even seems that they’re doing something in Time Square. That’s the main square in Manehattan where everypony goes, especially during New Year’s to see the Crystal Ball drop at midnight. I’m not sure what they’re doing, but Flo seems excited about it. You’d almost think that we were hosting the Equestria Games, but it’s in the Crystal Empire. Oh well.

Anyways, I hope to hear from you soon and hope you have fun up in the Crystal Empire during the games.

Your Cousin,

Babs

At the Fair

Dear Babs,

Yeah, I can’t wait for the Equestria Games either. Here in Ponyville, we have a ton of ponies getting ready like Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Bulk, Thunderlane and some other ponies I don’t really know very well. Even me and the crusaders have been working on our routine a lot, but there is only so many times we can do it. I still like it, and I don’t want to say it’s boring, but we must have done it hundreds of times. Just one more week until the games.

I was glad for the Foal and Filly Fair the other day. Well I was excited about it already, but it really put something different in our day that would have been another practice run. It was great though. There were tons of activities, games and even a puppet show. We thought about doing a booth for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but we ran out of time to do it with all the practicing we’ve been doing. Besides, Sweetie Belle hung out with her parents, my sister took me around and Scootaloo was off with Rainbow Dash. Even if we did do something though, I don’t think we would have gotten many new crusaders, not with the Filly Scouts and their cookie campane. I’m not sure what it is about those fillies in the green hats and red neckerchiefs, but they always seem to draw ponies in with their cookies and we can’t compete with that. We’ve tried making cookies before, but that didn’t turn out well, much like my attempt to make cupcakes with Pinkie Pie.

The really interesting thing though was what happened the next day. All of a sudden things started changing all around Ponyville. Our apple cart turned all fancylike with gold sides and jewels. Then buildings and plants were turned into crystal, a birthday party to some fancy party and the roads into gold. I’m not sure how ponies in that Eldorado city legend could see because it was bright and shiny. I’m still seeing spots in my eyes. With all this fancy stuff, I was just thinking that Sweetie Belle’s sister might like to see this. Rarity is always complaining about the drab state of Ponyville and that it should have a makeover or something, but she was nowhere to be seen. It was weird. Anyways, Twilight fixed everything along with Princess Luna and Princess Cadence.

So it was an interesting weekend. But next week is going to be even better. We’ll actually get to go to the Crystal Empire properly for once, and not just be at the train station or tired after riding all the way there to do our tryout. Things are going to get busy so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to write to you for the rest of the week or while I’m there, but I’ll try to tell you about everything once I get back. I wish you could be there.

Your cousin,

Apple Bloom

p.s. Applejack came back from Rainbow Falls with an old pie tin. As if we didn’t already have enough!

The Sports Page

Dear Apple Bloom,

I’m so jealous that you got to see the whole thing at the Crystal Empire. Even with the magic screens at Time Square, I couldn’t see everything. Dad just couldn’t go there every day, and it wasn’t an area where he wanted us to be alone at. But I’m pretty sure Flo must have snuck out a few times to go over there because there is no way she could have been that quiet in her room for so long.

So we kept tabs on the Equestria Games by listening to the radio and the newspaper. It’s not exactly the same thing as watching it, but I got to see what was going on. I still think the best part was seeing you at the beginning, but the rest was pretty fun too. I really enjoyed listening to the various races and how those announcer ponies on the radio seemed to act so crazy and excited. It pumped me up! Maybe I can get a cutie mark in something like that, racing or talking about it, because it seemed so fun.

I really hoped Manehattan would have done better in the Games. I mean it was no surprise how well Cloudsdale did because they have the Wonderbolts and all, but it seemed that Manehattan would at least be up there. Nopony expected much out of Ponyville though. Everywhere I went ponies in school, the radio and newspaper kept talking down about it since the beginning of the games. It really bugged me. Imagine the looks on their faces when Ponyville came out on top with the medal count. I don’t think I’ve seen that many jaws drop since well ever. That’ll show em for thinking of Ponyville as some out of the way hick town.

Well, I’m glad you’re back now and that you had a great time. I wish I could have been there with ya, but it just didn’t work out. Did you get anything from the Crystal Empire? Hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Babs

Side A

Dear Apple Bloom,

This letter is a bit different than normal, and I’m sure you’ve noticed the plastic thing inside of it. I’m told it’s a caset tape. That confused me for a bit since it didn’t stick to anything like tape does, but there is this ribbon inside of it that can record your voice and you can play it back if you have a recorder for it.

So me and my friends here in Manehattan recorded something for you and I hope you enjoy it. Also, you can record on both sides. All you have to do is turn the tape over and hit the record button, so you can send us something back. That would be really cool if you did.

Anyways, Mom is about to take us to the theater tonight, but promised that we could go to the post office and send this over. Hopefully we can get that one-day service I keep hearing so much about. I hope to actually hear from you soon.

Your cousin,

Babs

Author's Note

For those of you readers not in the know, the title of this chapter is a reference to a nifty device called a cassette tape:

I remember when these were still very common when I was a kid, then they got replaced with CD's, much like how video cassettes were replaced by DVD's, and how both CD's and DVD's are seeming to be replaced by digital download now. It was pretty fun, especially if you had a tape player that could play it at high speeds, thus making the recording sound like a bunch of chipmunks. :rainbowlaugh: Oh those were good times.

Closing Curtain

Dear Apple Bloom,

Wow, I’m not sure what to say to all that. Did you seriously have the magic ripped out of you? I’m glad you’re ok. Thing is that I think I was close to having the same thing happen to me. Remember how I told you that I was going to the theater last time? Well, when we got there, the police had the whole place blocked off. None of us could tell what was going on until they started wheeling out a ton of unicorns and putting them in ambulances. Mom feared the worst, but the cops said they were all right. None of them looked like it, but I guess they were alive at least.

Nopony knew what happened though, and the cops wouldn’t say. That is until after what happened in Ponyville. After reading your letter, I managed to put it together that this Tirek jerk got in and stole all that unicorn magic and then somehow got away immediately afterwards.

Mom was pretty annoying afterwards. She wouldn’t let us out of the house without her or Dad looking over our shoulders, even after Tirek was sent back to wherever he came from. She’s only just letting up on that now.

There’re still a couple of things that I don’t understand though. What were those explosions, and why does Twilight have a castle now? Didn’t she have some tree house library thing? I know she’s a princess and all, but she didn’t seem to do anything princess-like for the longest time.

Anyways, I’m glad to have heard from you and that you’re all ok. That’s some pretty scary stuff.

Your cousin,

Babs

p.s. Thanks for standing up for me in that tape recording. The thing is I think I actually am starting to like Rocky. Well, I always liked him, but well, I don’t really know. It’s kinda weird.

Tourists Traps

Dear Apple Bloom,

Yes, I’m fine up here. Things certainly got busy again in Manehattan after that whole Tirek incident. There’s security everywhere in school and other places around the city. I don’t know what they think they can stop if something like Tirek ever happens again though.

Sound like a lot is happening down in Ponyville. A whole new castle? And I thought things got weird when the Crystal Empire came back. I bet a lot of tourists are coming down there now. You can definitely take some of ours, they’re everywhere up here. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard ponies ask where Centrot Park or the Statue of Harmony is.

Other than all that, nothings been happening up here. But my birthday is coming up. I’m definitely inviting all of my friends. I’d also like for you, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to come up, but I understand if you can’t. I know it’s a very long trip and I bet you already spent most of your bits on your trip to Canterlot that one time.

Anyways, it’s great to hear from you and that everything is sort of normal again where you live. Hope to hear from you soon.

Your cousin,
Babs