Living in Equestria

"What's on yer mind, Mason." Applejack shook her head a bit, clearing some of the gloom on her face from the recollection of her past.

I suddenly found my throat was dry and could feel my cheeks burning at the question I was forming.

"How do you feel about... herding?" I tried to ask as nonchalantly as possible. I winced at how awkward this was, but I didn't even want to go upstairs and see Apple Bloom again until this was done, not after learning so much about them. The cider running through my veins had given me just enough courage to do it, too.

"Well that's a bit outta the blue, ain't it?" her face perked up confused at the oddity of the question. "Where'd ya hear about somethin like that?"

"Scootaloo..." I said in a not-so-confidant voice.

Applejack was a smart. Maybe not book smart like Twilight, but she possessed the instincts of somepony wise beyond their years from her experiences in life. Hell, if Rainbow Dash had guessed it then it should've been pretty obvious. So I really wasn't that surprised when I watched her face transform from a questioning one to an open mouthed, wide eyed realization in a slow, dawning slide.

"Scootaloo?" she whispered, only her lips moved when she spoke, her eyes remained focused on my own.

I had to look away from that penetrating stare. It was more than I could handle to muster any sort of affirmation while her gaze bore into me. I looked down into my mug and muttered the single syllable to confirm her question. She didn't say anything for a moment, the ticking of the grandfather clock in the great room was loud in the pregnant silence, counting by the seconds that hung in the air between us.

"She ain't got but two best friends in the whole world and that would mean..." she said quietly. I brought my eyes back up to her face to find she'd gotten a distant, vacant look. "...my Apple Bloom."

"Yeah..." this time I tried to hold my eyes to hers. It was all out on the table now and hopefully me being open and honest with her would help things.

"I..." was all she said at first. Then her face twisted in anger, her lip came up in an ugly snarl and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Get out" she growled.

"W- What?" I stammered, my heart leaping in fear at her transformation.

"Get outta mah barn and take that no good trouble makin' filly with ya! she yelled at me, her fury rising as she placed her front hooves on the table, bouncing the empty mugs. "I gave ya both food, shelter and a home ta call yer own and you two repay me by wanting to fiddle 'round with mah Apple Bloom!!?"

"Applejack... wait, let me..." I felt like I was going to vomit as I tried to calm her down but she didn't let me speak.

"There ain't nuthin ta wait for! I don't need mah Apple Bloom mixed up in some herd! Who do ya think ya are coming 'round here with ideas like that?!?"

"Look, this isn't...! Please, just listen..." she cut me off again.

"There ain't no words yer gonna say ta make this better so save yer breath. Yer gonna need it for walkin! Now GET OUT!!"

"What in Equestria is goin on in here? Why ya yellin at Mason, Applejack?"

It was Apple Bloom's voice coming from the doorway beside Scootaloo who was looking worried and confused.

"Scootaloo... You listen ta me good, filly! I always liked ya but I'm sorry, you can't stay here no more!! You and Mason are just a heap o trouble just waitin ta happen and I don't want my Apple Bloom hangin 'round you ever again, ya hear me!? she turned her anger towards the pair. "And if I catch you two within sight of each other I'm gonna ground you for the rest of yer life, you mark my words Apple Bloom!"

"WHAT??!" they both said in unison.

"You get to yer room Apple Bloom, right now! Mason, Scootaloo, I want you OUT!!"

"You can't tell me what ta do, Applejack! I ain't no little filly no more!" Apple Bloom lowered her head in defiance.

"Don't you sass me, girl... now GO!"

"NO!" Apple Bloom held her ground. "Tell me why?! Why ya bein this way!?"

Applejack reared up in frustration, landing heavy and moving towards her sister with quick deliberate steps. Scootaloo in fear scampered out of the way to my side, pressing against me wide eyed at the confrontation taking place. The two siblings were nose to nose, their eyes locked in a battle of stubborn wills that neither were willing to back down from.

"So help me, I will tan your hide if you don't mind me! After everything I taught you this is how you end up? Lettin yerself get mixed up in a filly's herd!?"

Apple Bloom blinked at her sister's knowledge, but only for a split second did she let it show that Applejack had touched a nerve and then came back swinging. "Yeah, so WHAT?! At least I ain't gettin knocked up!" she shot back at her older sister.

The statement hit Applejack so hard that she looked like she'd been slapped. "Wha- What did you say?" she stammered in disbelief.

"You heard me! So what if I wanna be with Scootaloo and Mason?! It ain't like I'm gonna come home after ruttin with some strange pony and try ta hide it like you did!!" the anger was still in her voice, but there was a quality to it that ran deeper than just defiance. A heartbeat of quiet shock pulsed through the room.

"Apple Bloom... Why... why would ya say something like that ta me?" The fire had gone out in Applejack like a bucket of water poured on a lit match. She took a step back from her younger sister, staring in shocked disbelief at what she was hearing.

"'Cause!! You're always on mah back about everything! I can't even go to tha bathroom without ya right behind me wonderin what I'm doin an I'm tired of it, sis! I know ya feel bad about what happened with Ma and Pa but don't try n make up for it by controlling mah life so much that I can't even be mahself!" Apple Bloom's voice started to quiver. "Scootaloo and Mason are my friends, they wouldn't do nuthin' to hurt me... you kin see that, right?" she pleaded with her sister, tears forming in her eyes.

Applejack sat down on her flank like she'd been pushed. Her shoulders slumped beneath the flowing blond mane that had become wild and tangled in her agitation. She didn't say anything, only the sounds of Apple Bloom's sniffles were heard while the older sibling searched for her words.

"Ya... ya never told me ya knew about my foal...." Applejack finally said. Her voice was empty and hollow.

"Granny told me a long time ago..." she said with the last of her defiant tone crumbling into tears. "Granny knows I'm old enough ta know about life... why don't you?"

"Apple Bloom... I... " her head sagged. "I don't know if I kin let ya go... yer always gonna be that little filly ta me..."

"But I'm not no more..." she took a step towards her sister. "... and I wanna be with Scoots and Mason. If ya can't let me then... then I'm gonna have ta leave too."

Applejack gave a heaving sigh, her anger was gone and her resistance had caved in from her sister's revelations.

"Then I reckon this is somethin I can't stop from happenin. If that's the way ya truly feel Apple Bloom, then... then I guess I should be glad it's with your friends rather than some colt out there with nothin but his own needs on his mind..." She turned her face to us, her eyes were heavy with emotion and wet with tears. When she spoke, it was with metered slowness.

"I'm sorry, ya'll... I guess I got a bit carried away. Scoot... if yer feeling that urge then I should be happy fer ya. It's every mare's dream to get that feelin with their special somepony." her voice was quiet, deflated. "There's plenty worse things that could happen, I guess. Mason, you gotta good heart... as good as any stallion out there. I know you don't mean no harm to anypony... I take back my words callin ya troublemakers."

She stood up and looked between Scootaloo and I and then to Apple Bloom. "I... I need some time ta myself, ya'll... if you'll excuse me..." she said in a quivering voice that was uncharacteristic of her and turned to leave, picking her hat up off the table on the way out. She'd only just gained the grass outside when Apple Bloom ran after her.

"Wait.. sis! I'm sorry!" she cried out, following after and catching her on the front yard. We watched through the window as they stood face to face for a moment, and then embraced tightly. Even from inside I could hear Applejack's sobs before they walked off together into the apple trees to talk.

"What brought all that on?" Scootaloo finally broke the silence.

I took a deep breath, realizing that it might not be over for me yet. "Because I told Applejack about us and Apple Bloom..."

"Oh..." she looked down and then returned her gaze to mine. "Whatdya do that for? Did you want Applejack to go ballistic?"

I sat down on the bench of the table facing her, the cider was making my head hurt now and the argument that had just played out in front of us had taken all the fun out of it.

"I told her because I thought she should know."

Scootaloo gave that crinkled nose look of confusion again that made her the cutest thing I'd ever seen. "But why? It's none of her business what we do!"

"It kinda is, Scoots! Imagine how Applejack would have been if she found out by accident or something?"

"I don't care!" she threw a hoof in the air "I'm just trying to help Apple Bloom! It's got nothing to do with her! Now it's all messed up and Applejack is involved and it's all 'cause a you!"

"Don't you care about Applejack's feelings?"

"Well, yeah... buuuut... she's got nothing to do with this! That's what I'm trying to tell you!"

"No, I'm trying to tell you that it does!" I was starting to get irritated that she wasn't listening to me.

"Eerrrg! What do you know! You're just a dumb human who can't keep his mouth shut! All you've done is ruin it!"

"Ruin it?! What are you talking about?"

"It's never gonna happen now that Applejack knows about it! She'll never let Apple Bloom out of her sight!!"

"Wouldn't you rather have it happen so that nopony got in trouble?!?"

"Nopony WOULD have gotten in trouble if you woulda just kept your mouth shut!" she was bristling now, her short mane and purple tail were puffing out.

"Can we not argue about this? What's done is done... Let's just drop it." I didn't want to argue anymore. There had been enough of that already today.

"Oh I'll drop it alright!" she yelled. "All I wanted to do was help my friends and you couldn't even let me do that without screwin it up so as far as I'm concerned... you're DROPPED!"

"What?!" I couldn't believe she was saying that. Not after everything that had happened...

"I'm sorry... You want and explanation? I thought you wanted to drop this..."

"What's the matter with you Scootaloo? You've never acted like this before!"

"Well you've never done anything this stupid before!"

"You know what...!!" I began and barely stopped myself in time. I wanted to tell her she was the stupid one. I wanted to tell her how crazy she was being right now. I wanted to tell her a lot of things. But couldn't do it... I couldn't stop thinking of how alone and hurt she had been the first night she had come to me after her father had come home. How if she lost Applejack, Apple Bloom and myself... she really had no where else to go. I couldn't understand why she was being this way when she had so much to lose.

She stood in front of me, breathing heavy through her nose and glaring.

"What's a matter! You finally learn to shut that trap of yours?!" she gave me an angry, malignant smile.

I didn't say another word. I was hurt, frustrated and nothing good would come of me sitting here anymore. When I stood up, she jumped back and crouched down as if I was coming at her. I turned and walked out the door, leaving her standing there waiting for something. It wasn't until I was a good distance into the yard with watery eyes that heard her yelling behind me.

"Yeah! Go on! Screw my life up and then walk away... JUST LIKE EVERYPONY ELSE!!"

________________________________________________________

"Sis?..." Apple Bloom walked beside her sister in the orchards. "I really didn't mean that stuff... I was mad. You know how I get sometimes..." she trailed off, not needing to give a description.

"I know, Sugarcube. I guess I'm more angry at myself than anythin'. I shoulda told ya about my foal a long time ago... you deserved ta know. It's not right ta keep secrets from family."

"Can I ask ya something?"

"'Course..."

"Do ya miss it... yer foal, I mean. Do ya ever think about what it would be like if it was here?" it was the one question Apple Bloom had always wanted to ask her sister ever since she'd found out the truth from Granny.

Applejack gave a thoughtful smile. "Ya know what... I do, Apple Bloom. I wonder about it a lot. Especially when I'm out here in these trees workin and I see you runnin round playin with yer freinds. Why... sometimes I kin imagine it runnin 'long behind ya'll tryin ta keep up." She turned that smile to her younger sister. "But that's not the way it worked out, I'm afraid. And I guess I'll have that ta think about the rest o my life."

"I'm really sorry, Applejack... that was really mean of me ta say back there."

"Ahh don't be... And maybe I deserved it after tryin ta wrangle ya all these years. I keep fergetin ya ain't that same filly I rocked ta sleep every night after Ma and Pa were gone. You're a young mare now, you should be able ta make yer own decisions and own up to em just like I did."

They walked in silence for a while, looping around the end of one field and starting back on the next. They were sisters who had survived a horrible loss with each other for company and that meant they couldn't stay mad at each other for long. It had only taken that one look and a tight hug to set them right again, but they still had plenty to talk about.

"Are ya still gonna make Mason and Scootaloo leave?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Naw... I guess should be so lucky that my sister has a friend like Scootaloo ta share that experience with for the first time... it is your first time, right?" she shot a sideways look.

"Yeah..." Apple Bloom said, looking down at the ground she was walking over. She didn't think it was the time to bring up the bathroom incident.

"Alright then, you go on and do what you will. I meant it when I said that Mason's a good pony. He'd never hurt you or anypony else and I honestly believe that." She gave her sister a coy smile. "Do ya like him?" she asked.

"Sure do! Wish I'da hung back with him instead a Scootaloo that day we found him, now that I think about it."

"Aww, that wouldn'ta made no difference. You saw what happened in that dark ol place in the forest. That's true love right there, kiddo. Those two were meant ta be together, otherwise we wouldn't be having his conversation right now!"

"I guess yer right. Still... I kin wish, can't I?"

"That'll prolly make it even better when it happens. They say there's a magic involved with it, you know that?"

"Nuh uh" Apple Bloom shook her head.

"Yep. I knew a filly in school who got the herdin urge with her special somepony. I wasn't close enough to her, but her best friend told me all about it. Plum drove that poor filly madder than a hornet's nest every day till it happened... like it was a powerful itch she couldn't scratch. Why, I bet Scootaloo's feelin tha same way."

"Yeah... she's always talkin' bout it. So much so I jus wanna get it over with now so she'll stop!"

"Yup... sounds 'bout right. Say... is Sweetie Belle in on this too?"

"Yeah."

"Whooeee.. tell ya what. Why don't ya'll let me talk ta Rarity first? Somethin tells me it'll come out better that way. Mason's a good pony n all.. but he ain't worth squat when it comes ta dealin with stuff like this!"

They had reached the clearing in front of the barn. The long shadows of the setting sun laid out on the grass and dirt surrounding the barn where they saw Scootaloo, laying on her side alone.

"What's she doin out here like that?" Applejack asked. But she was talking to thin air. Apple Bloom had already taken off at a loping, awkward trot, dragging her cast to her friend's side.

"Scootaloo? You alright?" she asked, poking a hoof against the orange pony's backside.

She didn't roll over... she only cried Mason's name several times before dissolving into sobs.