The Hardest Part of Growing Up
Howdy! Mah name's Applebloom. Ah'm the President of the Ponyville branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, an' Ah live with mah brother, sister, and granny on our farm, Sweet Apple Acres. But, ya prolly knew that already. Lemme tell ya somethin' ya don't know. Ah, like most foals mah age, thought Ah knew everythin'. Ah thought that Ah could handle every challenge life could throw at me. Ah thought Ah was all grown up.
Ah was wrong
And Ah learned that in prolly the hardest way Ah could. Ah'm gonna tell y'all a story. A story about love an' loss, but mostly about growin' up.
***
It was Saturday evenin', an' Applejack was helpin' Granny Smith fix supper. Big Mac was still out the south field, the one near the road, with Fluttershy. She'd been there since Ah got back from crusadin' a few hours before. She'd told me that some 'a the Vampire Fruit Bats from our reserve had wandered out an' gotten themselves confused inta thinkin' that field was the reserve and refused to leave. Ah still had some time to kill before supper'd be ready, so Ah brought some paper down from mah room an' started writin' in the kitchen.
Ah love writin' a whole lot. Not enough to try to get a cutie mark outta it, but enough to work really hard at it. Applejack loves writin', and Granny told me that Mama did too. Ah don't really remember Mama an' Daddy too much. They went to live with angels when Ah was a baby. It doesn't bother me too much; it makes it easier on them to watch over us.
Anyway, Ah'm gettin' off topic.
Ah was workin' on a story Ah'd started a while back, about an orphan who'd gotten separated from her family an' didn't realize she was a princess. Winona, who'd been layin' underneath mah hooves, got up with a stretch an' a yawn an' walked over to the door an' scratched on it. Applejack walked away from the stove to let 'er out.
"All right girl, now don't ya be too long. It's gettin' dark." she'd said. Winona gave 'er happy pantin' grin an' trotted out the door.
Everythin' was purdy quiet after that. Ah was makin' good time on the chapter Ah was writin', an' Applejack an' Granny had supper 'bout done. It was then that Fluttershy knocked at the door. Ah wasn't payin' much attention; Ah only heard Applejack's half of the conversation.
"Oh hey, 'Shy. Thanks fer helpin' the bats. Come on inside an' fix ya a plate." there was a pause. "Okay, suit yerself." another pause. "What's up?" a third, longer pause, then mah sister's panicked voice. "WHAT!? Applebloom, stay in the house! I'll be right back!" then she was gone.
Ah looked at Granny. "Whaddya think that was about?"
"Ah dunno. Clear off yer stuff an' set the table."
A few minutes later, Big Mac came inside. He whispered somethin' to Granny, an' Ah heard 'er gasp. Then, he turned to me.
"Applebloom, ya need to come with me fer a minute."
Ah was more than confused by this point. "Okay, just lemme finish settin' the table fer-"
"Nnope, ya need to come on now."
Ah stared at 'im fer a second before settin' down the plate Ah was carryin' and followed 'im out the door. We walked in silence fer a few minutes, headed towards to road. As we got closer, Ah could see the lanterns hangin' off the front of a wagon on the side of the road. At ferst, Ah though there'd been a wreck, but Ah didn't see another wagon. Ah turned to mah brother.
"What happened?" Ah asked.
He turned to me with a serious look, the kind he gives me when Ah come home with a bad report card, or after a meetin' with Miz Cheerilee.
"Winona's been hit. Ah won't lie to ya; it's purdy bad. Ah figgered yer old enough to experience this."
At ferst, Ah let the tears fall, but then Ah stopped mahself. A few months ago, me, Sweetie Belle, an' Scootaloo volunteered at Ponyville's vet clinic tryin' to git our cutie marks, an' the vet told us to never cry in front of the animals, 'cuz ya'd only scare 'em. So Ah dried up an' put on a brave face.
Ah almost cracked when Ah saw 'er.
She wasn't bleedin', but she was bad hurt. She was layin' on 'her side on the side of the road. Her mouth was open a 'lil bit, an' her tongue was hangin' out. 'Er eyes were wide an' dilated, an' she wasn't blinkin'. Fluttershy and Applejack were knelt beside 'er and Carrot Top, who'd been the one that hit 'er, was explainin' what'd happened.
Basically, Winona'd run out under 'er back wheel, and she'd turned around when she realized she'd hit somethin'. Big Mac and Fluttershy, who'd just finished up with the bats, came runnin' when they heard Winona yelp. Fluttershy and Applejack got up when Ah got there. Ah sat down by Winona and started whisperin'.
Ah'll never forget how her face lit up; how she tried 'er best to crawl into mah lap. Ah jest sat there, rubbin' 'er and tellin' 'er she'd be okay.
"Think we could git 'er to the clinic?" Ah heard Applejack ask. Fluttershy started to answer, but Ah cut in.
"Clinic'd be closed by now."
Everypony was quiet for a few moments, and Carrot Top apologized once again. Ah turned to 'er, still pettin' Winona.
"It ain't yer fault. She ran under a back wheel. Like ya said, ya never saw 'er. Ya coulda just kept on yer way, but ya turned around to see what happened. Ya coulda left an' never even thought about it, but ya didn't."
Again, everypony was quiet for a few moments. This time, however, Fluttershy broke the silence.
"There's an animal hospital in Canterlot. It's open for twenty-four hours."
"How long would it take me to git us up there if Ah'm hooked to the wagon?" Applejack said.
"If you gallop, forty-five minutes."
An' that's what we did. Applejack hitched herself to the smaller wagon, and Ah sat in the wagon bed with Winona. The ride felt like an eternity. Ah spent the entire time rubbin' Winona; talkin' to 'er, singin' to 'er, makin' sure she didn't get to hot er cold. Every now an' then, Winona'd whimper and toss 'er head, er try an' lick mah hoof. By some miracle, we made it to Canterlot in forty minutes. Winona tucked 'er nose under mah hip as we pulled up in front of the animal hospital. In the light bleeding out of the windows of the square building, Ah got a good look at Winona.
It was then that Ah noticed she wasn't breathing.
We got 'er inside, and a nurse took her to the back, saying somethin' 'bout tryin' revival. The brave front Ah'd forced all night broke as soon as those doors closed. Ah fell in a chair, sobbin', shakin', blubberin', the whole nine yards. Me an' Applejack sat there, clinging to each other, praying. After several minutes, the vet came out.
During the Crusaders time as vet volunteers, an old cat had been brought in. He'd had a heart attack, an' it was the ferst emergency call we'd gotten to help with. Unfortunately, the old cat's heart couldn't take it, an' he'd passed in front of us on the operating table. Thanks to that experience, Ah knew what it meant when the vet came out, but nothin' coulda prepared me fer what she said.
"I'm so sorry...she was too far gone..." she went on to tell us that 'er pelvis had shattered, 'er spine had been completely severed, an' she'd died from internal bleedin'. She said that there was nothin' anypony coulda done.
"Do you want to bury her, or do you want to have her cremated?" Applejack turned to me, letting me answer.
"Ah wanna bring 'er home."
We left 'er body at the hospital 'till we could get 'er grave ready. We buried 'er by the lake as Celestia lowered the Sun on Monday.
***
Ah did a lotta growin' up that night, an' Ah know now that Ah got a lot more growin' up to do. An' Ah learned a very important lesson; one that ain't taught in school. Somethin' that can only be learned by hooves-on experience:
The hardest thing about growin' up, is learnin' to say goodbye.
THE END
Author's Note
This one-shot is dedicated to my sweet Charlie, 6/XX/10-2/28/15.
I know that I'm not the first to write a "Winona dies" story. I know I won't be the last. I wrote this story based on what happened the night that my Charlie died.
My mom had let the dogs outside. It was already dark, so we didn't put them on a leash. A little while later, Yoshi came back, and, as usual, Charlie was taking longer. My mom ran out after getting a call from my aunt, and my uncle came for me a few minutes later. Everything happened pretty much the same as in the story.
I did not write this story for the pity and sympathy of random people on the internet. I wrote it to beg everyone who reads it to keep your pet on a leash. I don't care if your pet never chases cars, or how fast they are, or how dark or hot or cold it is, or how little traffic you have. One day, they will get it. Please, please, please, PLEASE either keep them in a fence or on a leash. I wish I did. You don't realize how easy it is to lose them until you do.
