A Timely Encounter

by Bob From Bottles

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Apple Bloom
Length: 5383

A trio of ponies visit Apple Bloom in order to reveal her future. The encounter, however, does not go as planned.

A trio of ponies visit Apple Bloom in order to reveal her future. The encounter, however, does not go as planned.

Published 2014-06-18 00:30:05 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-18 00:30:05 UTC

A Timely Encounter

A sudden impact to her chin alerted Apple Bloom to the fact that she had nodded off again. She slowly blinked her eyes open but didn’t bother to lift her face up from the apple stand. Out before her, she could see the same boring marketplace, the same boring lack of customers, and the same boring sun that had still barely risen above the horizon. She groaned and briefly entertained the thought of letting unconsciousness claim her once more, but then she remembered the previous night.

An attempt to get her allowance raised had led to an argument about the value of a bit. For reasons she couldn’t remember, Apple Bloom had thought it was a good idea to boast that she knew enough about money and could run the apple stand all by herself. The wide smirk from her sister was answer enough that her bluff had been called.

Her sister was probably laughing right now about coming up with the brand new ‘morning shift’ just in case somepony decided they wanted an apple for their breakfast.

With a sigh, Apple Bloom pushed herself upright. If her sister could stay awake after getting up at the crack of dawn, then she could too. She only had a few more hours to go before she could finally tell her sister, “I toldja so.” That would make all her suffering worthwhile.

She put on a welcoming smile and waited, but after a few more minutes of nopony entering the marketplace besides a few other ponies setting up stalls, she dropped her elbows onto the stand and rested her face on her hooves. A yawn escaped her mouth despite her best efforts to hold it in. Muttering to herself, she sank down further and hoped something would happen soon before she fell back asleep.

It was then that the wind picked up and gusted across the square. Apple Bloom could feel her bow being whipped about, so she held it down to keep it from coming loose. Several merchants cried out as their signs clattered or wares fell to the ground.

When the wind finally slowed to a breeze, Apple Bloom hopped to the ground in order to check if any of the apples had fallen from their bushels. As luck would have it, only a single apple had rolled away. She smiled as she bent down to pick it up. While she may not be able to sell the bruised apple, there was nothing stopping her from eating it herself. After all, good food shouldn’t go to waste. However, before she could bite into her snack, something smacked into the side of her face.

Apple Bloom fell to her haunches with a startled yell. She searched for what had struck her and noticed a large amount of papers, leaves, and other small objects being pushed about by the wind. What she found strange about the debris was how they were all swirling around to come together into a miniature tornado. As she stared, the tornado spun faster and faster until the objects inside appeared to be nothing more than a blur of color. Then, from within the tornado, a ball of light appeared and began to grow in size.

Apple Bloom stumbled as she quickly rose to all fours. She took a step back, then decided it was a better idea to retreat a few more steps. Something strange was definitely happening; she just wished she knew if it was the type of strange that required running for help or not. She glanced around the marketplace to check what the other merchants were doing about the glowing tornado. Unfortunately, the few other ponies in the market were all facing away in order to clean up the mess the earlier gust of wind had caused. Apple Bloom gulped and decided this was something her sister was better equipped to deal with. Just as she was about to gallop off, the sphere of light flared brightly and vanished.

The debris stopped swirling and gently fell, forming a circle on the ground. Apple Bloom’s mouth hung open as she stared at the center of the circle. She closed her eyes, rubbed them vigorously, then opened them again. However, the ponies were still there; three mares now stood where the sphere of light had been.

The mares each wore silvery, full-body suits, leaving little exposed except their heads and tails. The saddlebags on their sides bulged with unknown contents and were also made from the same silver fabric. The trio observed their surroundings by slowly turning in place while speaking in hushed tones. Occasionally, one of them would indicate something in the distance and the others would look that way. Their whispering grew louder and more frantic, until Apple Bloom could begin to make out their all-too-familiar voices. Then, one of them noticed Apple Bloom standing there with her jaw dropped.

“Look! This is the right place!” the earth pony mare with a red mane and yellow coat said, pointing at Apple Bloom.

The mares approached, and Apple Bloom found herself rooted in place, still not believing what she was seeing.

“See?” the white-coated unicorn exclaimed. Her pink-and-purple mane bounced up and down as she added a few hops to her trot. “I told you I could pinpoint her with the spell.”

“Yeah, but it only took you a dozen tries,” the purple-maned, orange-coated pegasus said with a friendly jab.

Apple Bloom stared into eyes the exact same shade of orange as her own. “Y-y... you’re…” She swallowed hard. No matter how many times she blinked, the truth still stood in front of her. “You’re me!”

The older Apple Bloom smiled. “That’s right, little me. I’m you from the future. Pretty neat, huh?” She nodded to the unicorn, a Sweetie Belle from the future, and asked, “Ready?”

Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed briefly, then she nodded back. “We’re good. Nopony should pay attention to us for a while.”

A thousand questions sprang to Apple Bloom’s mind, but she was too shocked to say anything besides, “Wow… we become time travelers? Those future suits are so cool.”

The future version of Scootaloo held a hoof to her forehead. “Every single time period we’ve been in and that’s always the first thing out of everypony’s mouth. No. The suits aren’t special.”

“They’re just the latest fashion in our time,” Sweetie Belle added.

“And yes,” future Apple Bloom deadpanned, “they are hot, uncomfortable, and an absolute pain to put on or take off. But everypony in our time wears them anyway. Because nopony really understands the fashion industry, including the fashion industry themselves.” Future Apple Bloom’s expression softened. “Sorry. You just have no idea how many times we’ve been asked that. But enough about us. We’re actually here today because of you, Apple Bloom.”

“Me?” Apple Bloom felt a smile growing until it threatened to take over her face. She could think of only one reason why she would travel back in time to see herself. “Is this for what I think it is?”

“You got it, little me. Right now is probably what’ll be the single most important moment in your life, 'cause I’m goin’ to tell you what your special talent is.”

Apple Bloom felt her legs shaking and found it difficult to breathe. She kept gasping for air but still felt light-headed. Her future self must have sensed her distress, since she sat down, pulled Apple Bloom close, and gave her a quick hug.

“Hey now,” future Apple Bloom said softly. “I know you’re excited, but you gotta calm down. If you pass out, then all my work has been for nothing. You hear?”

Apple Bloom nodded quickly. “And Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?” she blurted out. “You can tell me their special talents too?”

“Sure,” Scootaloo said.

“I don’t see why not,” Sweetie Belle agreed.

Future Apple Bloom laughed. “Alright, alright, but me first! Now then…” She placed a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder and directed her to sit down. “This may come as a shock to you, but if you think about it, you’ll realize it makes a whole lotta sense. Apple Bloom, your special talent is playing fleedleball.”

Apple Bloom felt her smile waver a bit, but she forced it to remain strong. She really hoped more explanation was coming, because right now, she wasn’t sure what to say.

Her future self’s smile, however, completely vanished. Her ears drooped and her mouth worked as if she were trying to speak. Finally, she looked back to her companions and asked, “She looks confused. Why does she look confused?”

“Well…” Apple Bloom said softly, gaining back the attention of her future self. “It’s just that… what’s fleedleball?”

Future Apple Bloom flinched back as if she had been burned. “W-what do you mean ‘what’s fleedleball?’” She stood up and backed away, her eyes darting about wildly. “I-it’s Equestria’s national pastime. The three of us played it every day during recess. It’s, it’s… the game! You know. With the oblong ball! You have to hit it against score posts before getting it in the other team’s goal. You have to know what fleedleball is.” She gave a nervous laugh, and the corner of her mouth kept twitching upwards. “Y-you remember now? Right?”

“Careful, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. “You’re getting tense. Remember your breathing exercises.”

“I’m sorry,” Apple Bloom said, shying away. A lump had formed in her throat, and she found that she could no longer bring herself to make eye contact with any of the future mares. “I… it’s just that, well, I’ve never heard of any sport like that before.”

“Uh oh,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Uh oh?” Future Apple Bloom blinked and looked over her shoulder at Sweetie Belle, who had her face buried in a thick book. “What ‘uh oh?’”

Sweetie Belle levitated the book away from her face, opened her mouth to say something, and then slowly lowered her gaze to the cobblestones underhoof. “Well... you know how I’ve been saying this old encyclopedia I brought along has been changing? Events moving around, names being different, and things like that?” She scuffed her hoof against the ground a few more times as she chewed her lower lip. “I could be wrong, but I think we might have reached a point where all the history lessons we took in school can now be considered completely useless.”

When future Apple Bloom only continued to stare at her, Sweetie Belle coughed and continued. “Our actions in the past may be the direct cause of this version of Apple Bloom not knowing what fleedleball is. Remember after the third or fourth time jump? When Scootaloo said she was hungry?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Scootaloo interrupted. “I don’t see how me eating some flowers could change anything about fleedleball.”

“Ordinarily, no. But keep in mind how far back in time we were. And also keep in mind how that cliff you were eating the flowers from collapsed after you stepped off it.” Sweetie Belle flipped the encyclopedia around to show her friends, then lowered it when she noticed the younger Apple Bloom was craning her neck to see. “It says here that the trade route along the Gaskin Trail was blocked after a landslide. It happened right before winter, so it couldn’t be cleared until after spring. That one event is said to have delayed the settling of Equestria's western shores for over a year.”

She snapped the book shut and cleared her throat. “Now,” she said as she started to pace, “the rest of this won’t be in the book, since it didn’t happen in this timeline, but here’s my best guess to what we changed. If ponies didn’t travel west because of the blocked trail, then many of them probably choose to live elsewhere. This means that Wispy Willows was—oh!” She nodded down to Apple Bloom. “Wispy Willows created fleedleball, since you didn’t know. Anyway, like I was saying, this means that Wispy Willows was likely born some place else. Which means that she may have never experienced whatever it was that led to her to coming up with the sport in the first place.”

“Which means?” future Apple Bloom asked, her face drained of color.

Sweetie Belle sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Apple Bloom, but I think our meddling with time and space has caused fleedleball to have never existed.”

Future Apple Bloom’s ear twitched and her breaths came out in short giggles. Scootaloo quickly ran to her side and slung a foreleg over her shoulder. Sensing that she needed to help her future counterpart, Apple Bloom stood by Scootaloo and gently patted her future self’s foreleg.

“Easy there,” Scootaloo said, squeezing tightly, “there’s no need to freak out. Just breathe slowly and—”

“Not freak out? Not freak out?” future Apple Bloom wailed. She slipped out from under Scootaloo’s grip and stomped a hoof. “Scootaloo, I have a cutie mark for a sport that no longer exists. This is a perfect time to freak out!”

“Well, if you think about it,” Sweetie Belle said from behind her book, “the erasure of fleedleball is kind of mild when compared to what else we’ve changed.” She started flipping through the pages, stopping every so often. “For example, Equestria’s capital is now Canterlot rather than Everfree. Hmm… oh! Dragons never went extinct. That’s interesting. Let’s see… I’m not finding anything about our hundred-year war with the Crystal Empire, or any mention of the Empire at all really. So that’s kinda good. Maybe? And also, Scootaloo is now a pegasus.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “I doubt it says that in there.”

“You’re right,” Sweetie Belle agreed, putting her book back in her saddlebag. “I figured that out by looking at your back.”

“Huh? What are you—whoa!” Scootaloo jumped as her wings flapped open, clipping both Apple Blooms. She hadn’t seemed to notice the cries of protest since her eyes were locked on one of her wings as it twitched up and down. “These are going to take some getting used to.”

“Seriously. How have you not noticed that until now?” Sweetie Belle shook her head, then turned to future Apple Bloom. “And those are only some of the big changes. There are probably millions of little things that are all different now. Like… well, for starters, like how this Apple Bloom wears a bow in her mane. Or how, despite this apparently being my hometown, none of it looks familiar to me.” She stayed silent for a few seconds as her ears lost their perkiness. “Does the sudden realization of how we may have irrevocably broken the rest of history make you feel any better about fleedleball? Because, to be honest, I think I’m starting to freak myself out.”

Future Apple Bloom collapsed onto the ground, and buried her head under her forelegs. After a moment, she gave a muffled “Great, we failed even harder than we normally do. My cutie mark’s messed up, history is messed up, and now we can’t prevent this Apple Bloom’s life from getting messed up either.”

“What do you mean?” Apple Bloom asked, placing a hoof gently on her future self. “What do you mean ‘messed up?’ Does something happen to me?”

Her future version unburied her head and met Apple Bloom’s eyes, then turned to Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle scrunched up her eyes and asked, “Do you think we should tell her?”

Future Apple Bloom remained still for a long time before finally getting up and nodding. “Yes. She’s me... sorta. So, the way I figure it, if history ends up repeatin’ itself, then at least maybe this Apple Bloom will have a better life.” She took in a long breath and gave an equally long sigh. “Okay, Apple Bloom, I need to admit, I haven’t been completely honest with why we came back in time.”

“So, it wasn’t to get me my cutie mark?” Apple Bloom asked, her ears dropping.

“Not exactly. That was just the simplest solution to our problem.” Future Apple Bloom looked up and scratched the back of her head. “I guess… well, I guess I should just come out and say it. I didn’t get my cutie mark for a long time. And I mean a long time. We’re talkin’ ages. I think I musta set a world record for the oldest pony without a cutie mark. I was goin’ to all sorts of doctors and magicians, and nopony could tell me why I hadn’t got my cutie mark yet. So… I got frustrated and freaked out a little.”

“Only a little?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Okay, so I freaked out a lot.”

Scootaloo finally turned her attention away from her new wings and asked, “Only a lot?”

“Alright, fine!” Future Apple Bloom threw her hooves in the air. “I made a lot of questionable choices, terrorized many ponies that hadn’t deserved it, did hard time in prison, and to top it all off, I never amounted to anything. When I finally got my cutie mark, it should have been the happiest moment of my life, but instead, I just felt empty inside 'cause I had alienated myself from those I had loved the most.”

She finished her tale in a slump and hung her head. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo slowly sat down next to her and pressed against her sides.

“And yet,” Sweetie Belle said, “we still found a way to forgive you in the end.”

Future Apple Bloom sniffed and smiled. “Thank you.”

“I notice you left out the part about the black mane dye,” Scootaloo added.

Future Apple Bloom snorted a short laugh. “Come on, Scootaloo. There are some things even my past self doesn’t need to hear about.”

Apple Bloom watched the mares and smiled. Their friendship had survived so much. It helped her feel a little better knowing that some parts of her future would not turn out so terrible after all. However, with having listened to their warning, she began to wonder if there really was anything to worry about at all.

“So, if I’m understandin’ this right,” Apple Bloom said slowly, letting her thoughts fall into place, “what you’re sayin’ is that, even if it takes a while, I still get my cutie mark eventually, so I shouldn't freak out if it takes longer than normal?”

The three mares stared at one another for some time. Finally, they looked back to Apple Bloom and nodded as one.

Apple Bloom nodded back. “Alright, then. I promise not to freak out and shut out everypony around me. There. Did that fix the future?”

“Well,” Sweetie Belle said, “with how much we’ve changed history, and considering how you have likely lived a largely different life from our Apple Bloom, I’m not certain if our warning was still needed. Or if it would have done any good. So, maybe…”

“I guess so?” future Apple Bloom offered with a shrug.

“Ha ha!” Scootaloo shouted, raising a hoof in a victory pose. “Our mission was a success after all!” She then caught the looks her friends were giving her and deflated somewhat. “You know… kind of.” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m just glad this trip is finally over. Do we still have a future to return home to, or should we be finding an inn to crash at for a few days?”

Sweetie Belle suddenly squeaked and stood up. “The Grand Magician!”

The others shot to their hooves and quickly looked around, shouting variations of “where?”

“No!” Sweetie Belle shook her head. “I mean she’ll be waiting for us when we get back!” She started breathing rapidly and held a hoof to her head. “Why didn’t I think of this sooner? I’m going to get in so much trouble. I’ll be lucky if she only dismisses me as her student.”

“Hold on,” Scootaloo said. “Didn’t we change all of history?”

Future Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. I bet she vanished just like fleedleball did.”

Sweetie Belle stomped her hoof and grunted. “Did neither of you listen to any of my explanation on how time travel works? We’ll return to a timeline that supports our existence based on the current timeline I cast the spell from. Which meeeaans that the Grand Magician has to be there, since she was the one who created this spell in the first place!”

“Um, excuse me?” Apple Bloom said, then flinched as the three mares looked at her faster than she was expecting. “I know this is time travel stuff, so I probably don’t understand, but who or... or I guess, what is this Grand Magician?”

Sweetie Belle stared at Apple Bloom as if she had just started speaking gibberish, but the other two mares’ faces had lit up.

“H-hold on,” Sweetie Belle said, raising a hoof, “it’s probably just a change of term or something. The Grand Magician is the name given to the magical adviser of our Princess.”

“She’s also the meanest, most cold-hearted pony ever,” Scootaloo interrupted.

Sweetie Belle nodded. “And you’re not the one studying under her. She’s always insulting me and telling ponies what a failure I am! The only reason she even has me as a student is because she’d lose her position if she doesn’t have at least one pupil.” She growled, then took a few calming breaths. “Thankfully, Princess Celestia keeps her in check. I would have quit years ago if it wasn’t for her.” She gasped and looked at Apple Bloom. “Please tell me you still have Princess Celestia as your ruler. I really hope we didn’t erase her. She was the nice one.”

“Yeah, Princess Celestia is still here,” Apple Bloom said. “She’s really friendly too. So is Princess Luna! Sometimes she visits me if I’m having a nightmare and chases it away.” Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Scootaloo whisper something to the older Apple Bloom, who only shrugged in response. “But I haven’t heard of either of them having a magical adviser or that Grand Magician thing.”

Scootaloo jumped into the air and shouted her approval. She pranced around the group, half-humming, half-singing a song to herself. With a final twirl, she came to a stop in front of Sweetie Belle. “We did it! I don’t care how bad the rest of time is. We erased the Grand Magician from existence!”

Sweetie Belle stumbled in place and had a haunted look to her eyes. “But… but that’s... that’s not possible! The paradox it would have caused alone would—”

“Face it, little miss historian,” Scootaloo said with a smirk. “Who was the first Grand Magician in history?”

“Star Swirl the Bearded.”

“And who was it that traveled back in time and accidentally interrupted Mr. Bearded before he could finish his so-called ‘greatest spell ever?’”

“You,” Sweetie Belle said flatly.

“That’s right! You were so mad at me when I did that. Timeline this and great consequences that. But no finished spell means no promotion to Grand Magician, which means no tradition of having a Grand Magician, which means that Twilight Sparkle is gone forever!”

“Oh! Twilight still exists.” This time, Apple Bloom was ready for the quick turns and didn’t flinch a bit. “Except, she’s not like your Grand Magician. She was the personal student of Princess Celestia, but then she graduated and became a Princess herself.”

Apple Bloom smiled proudly, glad she finally knew something about history the other mares didn’t. However, the other mares didn’t seem too pleased with the news. Their ears had fallen flat and their mouths hung open.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle?” future Apple Bloom said softly, turning to Scootaloo.

“That is so, so much worse,” Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom blinked, wondering what was so bad about Twilight becoming a Princess, then she realized that they hadn’t understood her properly. She tried to explain further, but Scootaloo and her future self were talking to each other too rapidly for Apple Bloom to get a word in edgewise, and Sweetie Belle kept staring off into the distance with one eye twitching.

“But then… then we…” Sweetie Belle finally said, rocking unsteadily and holding a hoof to her forehead. Then she froze, lowered her hoof, and looked straight forward. “We can’t go back. I refuse to go back!”

“Sweetie Belle?” her friends said together.

“No!” Sweetie Belle swiped a hoof out in front of her. “It was bad enough when she would threaten to have me banished. Now she can actually do it! I refuse to go back.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “But, we can’t just stay in the past forever, can we? What about the time river and its pair of ducks you keep blabbing about?”

With a huff, Sweetie Belle turned up her chin. “If our meddling with time hasn’t caused the destruction of the universe yet, then I think we’ll be fine.”

“You know, maybe stayin’ in the past won’t be so bad,” future Apple Bloom said as she rubbed her chin. “I mean, I was hopin’ changin’ history would give me a fresh start anyway, and I was just thinkin’, if fleedleball doesn’t exist, then there’s no reason I couldn’t be the one to invent it.”

Sweetie Belle turned a hoof towards Apple Bloom and glanced at Scootaloo. “You see? The past was practically made for us.”

Scootaloo hmmed and twisted her lips. “With how crazy this past is, I bet I wouldn’t even recognize the present anymore. So... I guess I can give this a shot. For now, at least. Hey! Since I’m a pegasus, I bet I could join the Aerial Aces. My moves were amazing enough on the ground, but in the air, I bet I’d be spectacular!” She quickly looked down at Apple Bloom. “Please tell me they still exist. The high-flying, pegasus stunt team?”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah, we have somethin’ like that. 'Cept they’re called The Wonderbolts.”

“Awesome,” Scootaloo said with a smile. “Now I just need to figure out how my wings work so I can fly.”

Holding a hoof out before her, Sweetie Belle announced, “Then it’s settled. We stay in the past and avoid the wrath of the future Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

The other two touched their hooves to Sweetie Belle’s and agreed. They started chatting about what they’d need to do to blend in with the locals. Their first decision was to ditch their clothes as soon as possible. Apple Bloom tried to chime in to let them know once more that she thought Twilight was a really nice pony, but she didn’t think they were listening, so she shut her mouth and decided they'd eventually figure out the truth for themselves. Finally, the trio turned to address Apple Bloom.

“Sorry things didn’t work out for you, little me,” future Apple Bloom said. “I’d tell you what Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle’s special talents are, but your friends are probably different from my friends.”

Apple Bloom tried to hide her disappointment with a smile. “Yeah. I guess we’ll just keep doin’ what we’ve been doin’. Will I ever see you again?”

Future Apple Bloom frowned and shook her head. “It’ll be for the best if we avoided each other. Would cause too many questions otherwise. Which reminds me.” She turned to Sweetie Belle. “You need to do that thing.”

“Oh! Right.” Sweetie Belle stepped forward and a spark of magic ignited on the tip of her horn. “It was nice meeting you, Apple Bloom. Er, even though I already know you. Well, not you you, but—wait, let me start over.”

“How about we just say ‘goodbye?’” Scootaloo suggested.

After some giggles and Sweetie Belle recomposing herself, the three of them did just that. Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed brighter, and Apple Bloom felt her body getting warm, like she had been wrapped in a thick, comfortable blanket. She yawned and tried her hardest to say something more, but her mouth didn’t seem to want to work. She had so many more questions for them, even if their future was so much different than what her own would be, she wanted to learn more.

“Apple Bloom!” a voice yelled from nearby.

Apple Bloom jerked upright. Her stool rocked dangerously backwards, but a quick scrambling with her forelegs got her to fall back towards the apple stand instead of onto the ground. She shook her head, wondering how she had moved back to her seat when she had been standing just moments ago. She looked out at the marketplace, now much busier since the sun had risen past the rooftops. Then, she noticed the ponies standing nearby. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the same age as they normally were, both looked at her with uncertain smiles. However, Applejack towered behind them with a scowl on her face.

“Is this what bein’ financially responsible means to you? Lazin’ about on the job?” Applejack asked.

“Sis! I’m sorry. I… I… I don’t know how I fell asleep. I was—” Apple Bloom caught herself before she could talk about her encounter. As far as she could tell, the future Sweetie Belle must have cast a sleeping spell on her. Of course, that was assuming the whole thing hadn’t all been a dream in the first place. Regardless of what had happened, a tale of mares from the future wasn’t going to calm her sister down. She dropped her eyes to the apple stand and hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

Her sister huffed, then reached forward to lift Apple Bloom’s chin. “I’m sorry too.”

Apple Bloom blinked, but before she could ask why, her sister continued.

“After I left you out here all alone, I started thinking that maybe I overreacted some. It ain’t right gettin’ a filly up before the sun and havin’ her work when she ain’t used to it. Then when your friends came lookin’ for you, well, I knew I made a mistake and just felt awful. I’ve have some time to think, and maybe it is time we raised your allowance.”

Apple Bloom didn’t know how to respond. She had expected an earful, not an apology. She supposed she needed to start by saying “thank you,” so she did.

Applejack smiled as she came around the stand and hugged Apple Bloom. “Say now,” she said as she pulled back, “would you look at that.”

After following her sister’s gaze, Apple Bloom gasped. The sales-money box was filled nearly to the halfway mark. She looked to the bushels of apples and found that a significant chunk of them were gone.

“Well, shoot. It looks like my sister can outsell me in her sleep.” Applejack tipped her hat at Apple Bloom. “Maybe I oughta have you out here every mornin’.”

Apple Bloom quickly opened her mouth to object, but her voice died out when her sister started laughing.

“Alright, I can tell by that look on your face that that’s a ‘no.’ Don’t fret none. You don’t need to run the apple stand if’n you don’t want to. Now, why don’t you three go have some fun, and I’ll finish up here.”

Apple Bloom hopped off her stool and fell into line with her friends as they crossed the market. She glanced back at her sister behind the stand and then to the spot where the tornado had been. The debris no longer cluttered the ground.

“Something the matter?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Naw,” Apple Bloom said with a shake of her head. “Just thinkin’ about this mornin’.”

“You did an awesome job selling those apples,” Scootaloo said, then slowed for a moment to check Apple Bloom’s flank. “You should have got your cutie mark for that. I would have freaked out if I did all that work and got nothing to show for it. How’d you outsell your sister anyway?”

“Er, well, you see...” Apple Bloom bit her lip and decided to move the subject away from her mysterious apple-selling skills. “More importantly, I learned a lesson today. None of us should ever freak out about our cutie marks. Otherwise, we may end up with manes dyed black.”

“Huh?” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow as she looked sidelong at Apple Bloom. “How’d you learn that lesson?”

“Uh... never mind,” Apple Bloom said. “Let’s just go enjoy ourselves and worry about the future when we get there.”