“Very good, Scootaloo!” Twilight said as she watched her finishing reassembling her scooter. “You’ve come quite a long way since you and your friends started coming to learn new things.”
“Thanks, Twilight!” Scootaloo placed her screwdriver down after she tightened the last screw. She stood up and dusted herself off, then started pushing herself around the room. The back wheel felt a little wobbly, so she scooted back over to her tools to finish the job.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had come a long way since they had started spending time with Twilight. Scootaloo rarely had any issues fixing or upgrading her scooter, Sweetie Belle’s grasp of magic was growing everyday, and Apple Bloom was becoming quite the potion maker.
“Hey, Twilight!” Sweetie Belle called from the other side of the room. She stood next to a tall stack of books that towered over her, three times her size. “How’s this look?”
Twilight trotted over to inspect Sweetie Belle’s work. She had tasked the young filly with stacking thirty books in reverse alphabetical order as one of many exercises to help her practice her magical abilities. One must be able to levitate multiple objects at the same time, and this was how she had practiced herself when she was Sweetie Belle’s age. She looked at the top book and started reading, checking off each title in her head as she went down the stack.
“Oh! You missed a couple,” Twilight said with a soft chuckle. “See?” She pointed near the middle of the stack. “This one goes there, that one goes there! You just need to switch the order of these two, but you don’t need to move the middle one.”
Sweetie Belle nodded, then concentrated on the books. She lit her horn and used her magic to lift the first ten or so books straight up into the air, then rearranged the ones that were out of order. Sweat broke out on her forehead, and the light from her horn flickered for a brief moment. She struggled to maintain control of the books, but her horn’s light started to flicker. A moment later, all of the books in her magical grasp came crashing to the floor, knocking the ones at the bottom of the pile loose.
“Darn it, not again!” Sweetie Belle said with a huff. She sat down and crossed her forelegs, staring dejectedly at the pile of books around her.
“It’s okay, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight rubbed the filly’s back with a hoof. “Try again one more time, alright? I think that we should be wrapping up this session pretty soon.” Sweetie Belle nodded once, wiped her head with a hoof, then lit her horn again. Just as she was about to go check on Apple Bloom’s progress, she heard somepony knocking on the castle door just down the hall. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, girls,” she said as she trotted from the room.
Apple Bloom sat next to her chemistry set, slightly crestfallen. A few beakers lay on their burners, idly bubbling away as she waited for it all to come together. When she figured that enough time had passed, she poured a careful, predetermined amount of each liquid into a test tube, put a rubber cap on it, then shook it all up. Once it was evenly mixed, she carefully pried the cap off with her teeth, spit it out, then poured a few drops onto the waiting jar of dirt she had sitting beside her.
Apple Bloom expected there to be a big plume of smoke from what happened the first time she made a potion, but nothing happened this time. Wondering if she had made the potion wrong, she looked back at her directions that Twilight gave her an hour ago and ran down through the list, but as far she could tell, she had done everything right.
She turned back to her jar of dirt, and after a few more seconds of nothing happening, she raised an eyebrow. After several more seconds, she huffed and grabbed the test tube. After shaking it up again, she simply dumped the rest of the contents into the jar. Apple Bloom half expected the apple seeds to finally grow into a tree, but when nothing happened again, she rolled her eyes and chalked her experiment up as a failure.
Now slightly bored, she saw her other two friends still working on their own little projects, lost in their own worlds. Apple Bloom opened her mouth to say something then immediately closed it. She remembered that one of Twilight’s rules for Twilight Time was that distractions be kept to a minimum. Apple Bloom knew that Twilight was just down the hall, and she didn’t want to look like she was slacking off in front of the princess and her friends.
After checking that there was nothing happening with her jar of dirt, Apple Bloom looked about. They were in the castle’s library, a rather large room on the first floor. Books lined the walls in floor to ceiling shelves, save for the massive window at the far end of the room. Eventually, her gaze settled on a picture of Twilight’s family.
She figured it to be an older picture because Twilight didn’t have her wings in it. Her big brother stood over her, giving Twilight a noogie as their parents stood in the background, looking down upon their little ones with much love. Twilight had a large smile on her face, and it looked like she was trying her best to wrestle free from her brother’s grasp.
Ah wonder how different mah life would be if mah parents were still alive... Apple Bloom stepped up to the picture and took it off of the shelf. From what Applejack had told her, their parents had passed away in a freak accident while they were out doing business. She had begged her sister to tell her more about it, but Applejack was more stubborn than a wagon stuck in a mud pit with a broken axle.
As she looked at the picture, she thought back to the one memory she had of her mother. She was tucked into bed, a lone candle providing just enough light for the two of them. She was barely old enough to talk, and though she didn’t know everything that her mother said, she knew in her heart that she loved her very much. Apple Bloom remembered them sitting on her bed, all snuggled up against her mother’s side, her mother reading her a story before she fell asleep. She had been so tuckered out that she barely remembered her mother’s words, but there was one phrase that she remembered as clear as day.
“Goodnight, mah sweet little apple... Momma will always love you...” Apple Bloom whispered to herself. A sole tear shone in her eye, but she wiped it away. She wished she remembered what story her mother had read to her, but that particular piece of information had been forgotten long ago.
Apple Bloom carefully placed the picture back where she had grabbed it from, staring longingly at Twilight’s mother, wishing that her own mother was still around. She had always fantasized about doing everything with her, from the mundane, everyday activities to some really special moments, but what she really wished for was her mother giving her a goodnight kiss.
With a soft sigh, Apple Bloom turned around just in time to see her jar of dirt burst apart. As she watched on with wide eyes and an open mouth, an apple tree grew from just a baby to a full grown tree, its top branches brushing the top of the ceiling. Leaves burst forth, a beautiful and healthy green. Branches sprouted outwards in every direction, some even knocking a few books off of the upper shelves.
“Woah! That’s almost twice as big as the other trees back at your farm, Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo said as she trotted up to her.
“And look! It’s growing apples!” Sweetie Belle cried out, pointing upwards with a hoof.
Apple Bloom looked up, and much to her amazement, apples were indeed growing, several on each branch. A few dropped towards the ground only to be caught by a purple aura of magic.
“Well done, Apple Bloom!” Twilight said. “I never thought that the potion would yield such results, and in such a spectacular way!” She gasped, her eyes going wide. “Oh my gosh! You know what this means, right?”
Everypony shook their head.
Twilight frantically rushed about the room, whipping drawers open and flinging their contents all over the place. “Oh, why can’t I find a quill and parchment paper when I need them...” she muttered. “Apple Bloom! Do you remember the exact amounts of everything you did for your potion?”
“Uh... kinda?” Apple Bloom giggled nervously as she tried to remember what she had done. “A little bit of this, and... a little bit of that?” she asked tentatively.
“No, no... do you remember the exact amounts of what you mixed together?” Twilight asked, momentarily giving up on her frantic search for anything to write on.
“Hehe... about that...” Apple Bloom rubbed the back of her head as she looked anywhere but Twilight. “Ah was going to, but things kinda got out of hoof. Ah had to make sure that this wouldn’t boil over, that wouldn’t spill... ya know how it is, right?”
“I... suppose,” Twilight said, closing the last of the drawers in the room. “Well, I guess we’re done for the day, girls. Might as well have a few of these apples before we clean up, hm?” she asked with a cute giggle. She used her magic to levitate an apple to each of them, then they all bit into them at the same time.
It only took a couple of seconds before their faces all contorted into expressions of disgust.
“Ew, this is bad!” Apple Bloom said, spitting the half-chewed mush out of her mouth and onto the floor. Her friends quickly followed suit, tossing the bad apples onto the pile moments before Twilight levitated it all into the trash.
“Eeyuck! You said it, Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo said as she wiped her tongue with a hoof. “I hate to say it, but your apples kinda suck!” Sweetie Belle and Twilight giggled along with her.
“Heh, yeah... They kinda did...” Apple Bloom said, rubbing her foreleg nervously. She stared at the floor, not making a sound as her friends started throwing the bad apples at each other. Not wanting to join in on the fun, Apple Bloom went back to the picture of Twilight’s family. She looked at it again, then she looked up at her tree. “What if Ah could...” she whispered. Her eyes suddenly went wide as an idea quickly formed in her mind. “...bring back mah parents?”
“Alright, alright, that’s enough, little ones!” Twilight said, lighting her horn. She stopped everything in midair and vaporized it all, including the tree towering in her library and the rotten apple mush on the floor. “I think that’s enough for today, hm?”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nodded, Apple Bloom following suit a few moments later. They all helped Twilight clean up the room, and after waving goodbye, the three of them walked outside.
Apple Bloom’s friends were chatting with each other in front of her, lost in their own conversation. She looked up and was surprised to see that the sun had already been set, the moon starting to rise. The stars were barely out yet, but she still saw them peeking through the last bits of the light. Apple Bloom took a moment to fix her bow, then looked back at the castle.
She stopped, biting her lip. Apple Bloom knew that she needed the chemistry set that Twilight let her use every time that they came over for Twilight Time, but she wouldn’t be able to get back to it for another week, maybe more if Twilight had to reschedule. Even though that rarely happened, she couldn’t take any chances. She needed that chemistry set, same with all of the supplies that she used.
Her friends only walked forward a few steps before they realized that Apple Bloom wasn’t walking with them. They turned around, looking at her expectantly.
“Uh… Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked, her hoof raised to walk back to her friend. “Forget something at Twilight’s?” She raised an eyebrow as she waited for a response.
“Heh…” Apple Bloom chuckled nervously, glanced over both of her shoulders, then motioned her friends closer. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo glanced at each other, shrugged, and walked towards her. She put her legs around her friend’s and said, “Ah’m gonna need yer help with something…”
“What?? Why do you want to break into the castle?” Sweetie Belle whispered, her eyebrow cocked at Apple Bloom. Scootaloo nodded beside her, silently echoing her question. The three of them stood underneath the window to the room where they had Twilight Time earlier that day. It was the middle of the night, and there was no moonlight because of heavy cloud cover.
“Because I need to get the chemistry set and the supplies that go with it!” Apple Bloom whispered back. “Listen, this can’t wait. I don’t want to waste another week waiting for the next Twilight Time, and I want to show Twilight that I can perfect the potion that I was working on—”
“So... you’re doing this to impress Twilight?” Sweetie Belle asked, her voice cracking a little bit. “Why didn’t you just ask her for the chemistry set when we were still hanging out with her?”
“Ah want it to be a surprise,” Apple Bloom stated matter-of-factly. “So are you girls gonna help me or not?” It looked as if her friends weren’t sure, and to be honest, breaking into somepony’s home wasn’t something she’d do under normal circumstances. But these weren’t normal circumstances. No, she was going to perform a feat not done by anypony else in existence. Gotta keep it together, Apple Bloom... she thought, keeping the butterflies in her stomach in check.
Sweetie Belle shrugged uncertainly. “You’re gonna bring it all back, right?” Apple Bloom nodded. “Alright then, I guess I can help, so long as Twilight doesn’t find out we broke into her castle...”
“Done!” Apple Bloom said. She held up her hoof for a hoof bump. Sweetie Belle looked like she wasn’t about to do it, but a moment later, she did it anyways. “Scootaloo, are ya in?” she asked, the two of them holding the pose.
“Sure, I guess?” Scootaloo put her hoof on top. “Maybe we can get our cutie marks in-” Apple Bloom snickered, making her stop talking. “What?”
“If we had a bit for every time that one of us said that line we’d be freaking rich,” she said with a giggle.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Scootaloo said. “I was kinda joking anyways; who wants to get their cutie mark in breaking and entering?”
“Uhuh...” Sweetie Belle said with another giggle. “You really think getting a cutie mark in breaking and entering would be a good thing?”
Scootaloo playfully shoved her. “Hehe, whatever. So we gonna do this or what?”
“Sure, now’s as good a time as any,” Sweetie Belle said. “So here’s the plan... I’ll use my magic to somehow unlock the window from the inside. I’ve never done something like this before, so it might take me a few minutes as I-”
“Got it!” Scootaloo said with a triumphant smile.
“Wait, what?” Sweetie Belle asked. In the midst of her little speech, Scootaloo had pushed the wagon up to the window and had pushed it halfway open. “Oh... huh.” Her ears flicked back as she giggled softly. “You’d think a princess would keep their windows locked... right?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “Who cares? There’s like, never any crimes, so why would anypony lock anything? Help me up!” Her rear hooves scraped against the side of the castle as she tried to scramble inside. Apple Bloom stepped up and pushed Scootaloo inside, making her land unceremoniously with a soft oomph.
“You okay?” Sweetie Belle asked in a hushed whisper. She poked her muzzle over the windowsill and saw nothing but darkness inside.
“Yeah, I’m good!” Scootaloo whispered back. “Tell you what: I’m gonna grab the stuff, and you guys can load up the wagon. Sound good?”
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom whispered back, their tones, while hushed, were full of giddy excitement.
Scootaloo was gone for just a few minutes, and just as Apple Bloom was starting to worry, Scootaloo pushed the first of the beakers onto the windowsill.
“You guys ready?” Scootaloo asked. When her two friends nodded back, she passed the chemistry equipment into their hooves. It took a little less than a minute, and she jumped out of the window to land next to the full wagon. “Heh, good thing that Twilight and Spike live on the top floor of the castle... Oh, wait! How are we going to close the window?”
“I got it!” Sweetie Belle said. She lit her horn and started to push the window back down, though with some difficulty. The window made a rather loud screeching sound, something akin to somepony dragging a rusty nail on a chalkboard. The three of them winced, but instead of stopping, Sweetie Belle pushed even harder, shutting the window, the sound of it closing echoing through the empty street behind them.
They all froze in place, praying that they weren’t going to get caught. They looked at each in a hushed silence, their breaths coming in short pants. Sweetie Belle’s eye twitched. Several seconds passed in silence, and when nothing happened, Scootaloo latched the wagon back up to her scooter.
“Well, either Twilight’s a heavy sleeper or she didn’t hear that. Either way, let’s get the hay outta here!” Scootaloo stepped on her scooter and motioned for the other two to fit in the wagon. Once they were in, she dug her hoof into the ground, unfolded her wings, and they were off. “Where are we going again?”
“Sweet Apple Acres!” Apple Bloom yelled from behind.
“Okay!” Scootaloo put on another burst of speed, the three of them rocketing through the empty streets. Scootaloo went a little slower than usual because she didn’t want to have an accident and ruin the chemistry set, but they still made it to the barn in pretty good time.
Scootaloo opened the doors to the barn, pulled everyone inside, then closed the doors behind them. She pulled them towards the middle of the barn where a small table lay, then stopped. She helped unload the chemistry set, setting each piece on the table for her friend to set up.
Apple Bloom didn’t waste any time. Nothing would distract her from her task, not even her friends. She set the burners alight, grabbed the textbook full of notes and a few pieces of parchment, some writing utensils, and a few candles to give her light. As soon as everything was completed and set up properly, Apple Bloom went to work.
“Uh... Bloom?” Scootaloo asked. “You going to need our help for anything?”
Yes... No. Maybe?” Apple Bloom barely looked up from her notebook. “Just stick around for a while and we’ll see, okay?”“
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo glanced at each other and shrugged. They both had a feeling that something was up, but neither voiced their concerns. Moving over towards the bales of hay lining the wall, they tried to keep themselves busy, but boredom eventually set in.
“Hey, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo called out. Apple Bloom didn’t respond. Either she was so engrossed in her work or she chose to ignore her. “You going to need us anytime soon?” A shrug was all she got in return. “Uh... okay then.”
“So what do you want to do?” Sweetie Belle asked with a small yawn, giggling as she watched Scootaloo do the same. “Hehe, got ya...” She playfully shoved Scootaloo.
“Yeah, yeah...” Scootaloo giggled, returning the shove. “I’m getting kinda sleepy... What about you?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty tired too.” She yawned again, then settled down. The bale of hay that they were laying on wasn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep on, but it was better than the dirty barn floor. She lay her head down on her hooves and scooted closer to Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle felt her friend roll onto her back, so instead of sleeping with her head on her hooves, she laid her head on Scootaloo’s belly. She smiled and nuzzled her, silently thanking her for not pushing her off. Cracking an eye open, she saw her friend already fast asleep, her head propped up on another bale of hay. I wonder what Apple Bloom is doing... Eh, oh well... I guess she’s gonna tell us when she’s done...
Apple Bloom barely noticed her friends had fallen asleep, the fact barely registering in her mind. Her work was much too important for trivial things like that. Sleep could wait; her objective couldn’t. By the time that her friends had fallen asleep, she had already gone through four failed trials. Instead of dumping random amounts of her ingredients into the beaker, Apple Bloom measured each one out and wrote every little detail down just so that she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. She knew from earlier that day that dumping all of what she made was a terrible idea, so she made sure to be patient.
Experiment after experiment failed, one right after the other. The hours crept by, her friends softly snoozing in the background. Apple Bloom never gave up hope that she would succeed. Twilight had taught her well, and she felt confident enough in her abilities to give her the results she desired.
Ah’ve missed you so much, Mom and Dad... Apple Bloom thought. But we’ll all be together again soon!
Sweetie Belle awoke to the feeling of a hoof shaking her awake. She heard somepony’s voice talking in an excited manner, but she was still much too sleepy to make much sense of what was being said. Cracking an eye open, she saw Scootaloo stretch and smile sleepily at her.
“Sleep well?” Scootaloo asked her.
“Mhm.” Sweetie Belle nodded and lifted her head from Scootaloo’s belly. “Sorry for falling asleep on you like that,” she said sheepishly. “You were just so warm, and it felt-”
“Guys! Are ya even paying attention?” Apple Bloom cried out, annoyed that her friends were ignoring her.
“Wha? Huh?” Scootaloo asked, rolling over onto her stomach. She rubbed her eyes, the first rays of the sun peeking through the windows of the barn. “Oh, hey Apple Bloom. Get any sleep?”
“Nah, I didn’t, but you know what I did? Huh? Huh?! Go on, ask me!” Apple Bloom said, barely able to contain her excitement. She jumped up and down in place, a wide smile nearly splitting her face in half.
“Um... What did you do?” Scootaloo asked, rubbing the back of her head. Her ears flicked forward, ready to hear exactly what she was so excited about.
“Ah made a potion that can bring mah parents back tah life!” Apple Bloom said in a hushed whisper, her excited gaze flicking between her two friends.
Any sleepiness that Scootaloo felt quickly faded, much like an ice cube lost in the middle of the desert. “What?! What are you talking about?” She sat up in a flash, staring at her friend in shock.
“Ah spent the entire night workin’ on a potion that’ll bring mah parents back to life!” Apple Bloom said. “Ah got it sittin’ in a glass vial over there!” She pointed back to the table, now a complete mess, where a single vial sat near the edge. “Ah tested each version of the potion on some rotten apples, and even though Ah failed loads of times, Ah finally got it right! See?” She held up a bright red apple, its surface shining in the morning sunlight. “Ah already ate the other one, and it tasted perfectly fine!”
“Uh... you want to bring back your parents back to eat them?” Sweetie Belle asked, cocking an eyebrow at her friend.
“What? No, ew!” Apple Bloom took a step back and looked at her friend in disgust. “What makes you say that?”
Sweetie Belle stared at her, her face expressionless. “Really? You just... ugh. Never mind. I’m still too sleepy to deal with this...” she laid her head back down on her hooves, fully intent on going back to sleep.
“I get it... So you think that your potion would completely fix your parents after all these years? How long have they been gone? Nearly a decade or something like that?” Scootaloo hopped down from the bale of hay and sat in front of her friend. “Listen, I know you want your parents back, but you can’t just bring them back to life... It’s just not right.”
“The heck it ain’t!” Apple Bloom took a step back, glaring at Scootaloo. “What gives you the right to say what Ah can and can’t do?”
Scootaloo took a step forward and laid a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder only to have it swatted away. “Apple Bloom, listen... what would happen if you bring them back to life and the rejuvemathingy part doesn’t work? Do you really want the good memories of your parents ruined by seeing them as zombies?”
“They wouldn’t be zombies! They’d be perfectly normal, and happy to see me!” Apple Bloom screamed. “You wanna see? Ah’ll show you and prove ya wrong!” Without waiting for a response, she darted over to the table and grabbed the vial with her mouth, then ran outside.
“Apple Bloom, wait!” Scootaloo cried out. She tried to run after her, but the earth pony’s stamina was much greater than hers. Apple Bloom sped off with a speed that Scootaloo had never seen before, leaving her standing near the house.
With a heavy heart, Scootaloo knew what she had to do as she watched her friend run away. It was something she’d never thought of doing before, but the seriousness of the situation demanded that she take action.
She had to tattle on her friend.
Hoping that she wouldn’t be too late, Scootaloo ran up to the house and banged on the door. “Applejack! Applejack, wake up! It’s an emergency!” She rose up on her hind legs and pounded on the door with her two front hooves. Soon, she heard somepony trot downstairs. A sleepy-eyed Applejack yanked open the door a moment later.
“Uh... what is it, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, wiping her eyes with a hoof.”I wasn’t gonna get up for at least another hour...”
“It’s an emergency!” Scootaloo said, stomping her front hooves on the wood patio. “Apple Bloom made some potion last night and she’s gonna use to bring her parents back from the dead!”
Applejack smiled at her. “Hehe, is this another one of yer tricks? Are y’all trying to prank me or somethin’?”
“No!” Scootaloo yelled.
Applejack’s smile faded away. “So yer bein’ serious? You pinkie promise you ain’t yankin’ mah chain?”
“Yeah, I pinkie promise! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! She ran off that way!” Scootaloo said, pointing down the dirt path leading further into the farm.
Applejack straightened her hat out on her head. “Alright then. Stay here; Ah’ll go see if Ah can talk to her...” At that, she galloped away, speeding down the dirt path that Scootaloo had pointed out. She knew exactly where to go, and it wasn’t far. She prayed that she wasn’t too late.
Applejack took a shortcut and darted through a thick grove of trees, the branches tearing at her coat, though she paid them no mind. She emerged on the other side to find Apple Bloom standing over the grave plots, a vial of a bubbling potion held up between her two front hooves. However, she was still some distance away.
“Apple Bloom, stop!” she called out with an outstretched hoof. When she didn’t respond, Applejack pushed her hat down further on her head and galloped down the hill.
The sounds of hooves hitting the ground behind her made Apple Bloom falter. She turned around and spotted a large cloud of dust heading her way, no doubt somepony intent on stopping her. Apple Bloom set the vial beside her and turned around, ready to face one of her friends. She didn’t want to ruin her great friendship with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, but she figured that friends come and go, and she felt that she’d rather have her parents back rather than a couple friends that didn’t support her when she really needed them.
Though much to her surprise, instead of her friends showing up, it was her older sister instead. “Applejack!” she cried out, excited that she was here to witness her success. She ran up to her and hugged her foreleg, then nuzzled it affectionately. “Ah’m so glad you’re here! Ah’m gonna bring our parents back! Things are gonna be so much better!”
Great... so Scootaloo was telling the truth... Applejack thought. “Uh... What makes ya think ya can bring ‘em back?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Well, Ah’m not totally one hundred percent certain, but Ah’m pretty certain that this’ll bring them back!” Apple Bloom said, holding up the vial for Applejack to look at. “And Ah stopped by the garden on the way here, too! Ah picked some of the best flowers for Ma and Pa when they come back to us so that the first things they see are beautiful flowers!”
Applejack frowned then shook her head. She took her hat off and set it next to her. What to say... what to say... “Ya... Ya can’t do this, Apple Bloom. Ah won’t let ya,” she said, her voice cold and leaving no room for argument. Her ears flicked back as she saw her little sister’s smile falter.
“B-but why?” Apple Bloom asked with a whine. Her smile faded into a hurt expression. Her ears flicked back and her shoulders slumped. “Everything’s gonna work out, sis, I-I promise! Don’t you want Ma and Pa back too?” she asked, nearly yelling. Apple Bloom stared up at her sister, tears welling up in her eyes. She saw the hurt and pain in Applejack’s eyes, something that she had never seen before. Her lower lip started to tremble and it felt like she couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, so she looked down and hid her face behind a hoof.
Applejack took the vial from her sister's hoof and poured it on the road behind her, then tossed the empty vial down on the grass beside them. “Apple Bloom...” Applejack grabbed a fresh apple that was sitting a few steps away. “Ya see this here apple?” Her little sister nodded. Applejack set it down and grabbed a rotten apple. “And ya see this one?” she asked. “This here rotten apple is our parents and what they look like in the ground right now, lil’ one. There ain’t nothing we can do to stop it, and it’s just how life goes on.” She scooted closer to Apple Bloom and rubbed her back with a hoof. “Do ya really want to see our parents like this?” She held up the rotten apple in front of her little sister. “Or would you rather remember them whole, like this?” she asked softly, holding up the fresh apple.
“Ah would rather remember them the way they were... perfect,” she whispered, a small line of tears flowing down her face. She latched onto her sister’s leg and let the dam break. All her strength and resolve left her as she sobbed into her sister’s chest. “Ah just wanted to spend more time with our family...” she stuttered, her tears soaking into Applejack’s fur.
“Ah know, sis... me too...” Applejack laid down beside Apple Bloom, smiling gently as she rubbed her sister’s back. She laid a small kiss on her head, then nuzzled her cheek.
“Ah just don’t want to lose you too, Applejack...” Apple Bloom sobbed, burying her muzzle into her sister’s side.
Applejack pulled her sister close with a hoof then nuzzled her cheek again. “Don’t ya worry, lil’ sis… Ah’ll never leave you,” she said with a smile, her voice strong and confident. “We’re sisters fer life, and there ain’t nothin’ that’s gonna change that!” Her smile grew when Apple Bloom’s sobs died down a bit, and as she leaned against her side, she said, “And even though our parents might not be with us anymore, we still have each other… right?”
Apple Bloom looked up at her with a shaky smile, tears still in her eyes. “Right…” she muttered.
Applejack chuckled. “Aw, come on, now! Ya can do better than that! So am Ah right or am Ah right?!” She stood up and started walking circles around her sister, her tail flicking back and forth.
“Yer right,” Apple Bloom said again, her voice gaining strength. She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up on trembling legs.
“What was that? I don’t think I heard that clearly enough!”
“Yer right!” Apple Bloom yelled with a smile.
“Darn tootin’ Ah am! And you’d better not forget it, either!” Applejack said with a chuckle. “Now you remember that trip we had with mah friend Pinkie Pie? Apple Bloom nodded. “And that big uplifting number we all sang? What’d we say we all were?”
“We’re Apples forever…”
“And Apples together…” Applejack finished with a smile and a wink. “Apples to the core, sis.”
Apple Bloom smiled up at her big sister, a fresh line of tears in her eyes. Though, instead of tears of sadness, these were ones of happiness. “Ah love ya so much, Applejack,” she said, letting the tears fall. She stepped forward into her big sister’s waiting embrace and nuzzled her.
“Ah love you too, Apple Bloom,” Applejack replied, chuckling when she heard her sister yawn. “So you stayed up all night, hm?” She felt Apple Bloom nod. “Well, let’s get ya to bed then, alright?”
“Okay…” Apple Bloom said. “I could go for a little shut-eye… Mind if ya carry me? I’m plumb tuckered out…” she asked with a sheepish smile.
“Of course, lil’ sis!” Applejack said with a smile after she picked up her hat. She picked Apple Bloom up, placed her on her back, then trotted back towards the house. As they neared the barn, she felt a few taps on her neck. “What’s up?”
“Ah need to check on somethin’ real quick,” Apple Bloom said as she slid down to the ground. She trotted to the open barn door and peered inside, and instead of finding her friends and a large mess, she found that everything had been cleaned up. The chemistry set was gone, the table was back up against the wall, and everything was just as if she hadn’t turned the barn into a chemistry lab. “Huh… They must have cleaned it all up and brought it back to Twilight for me…” Ah’ll have to thank them later… she thought with a giggle.
“Ya comin’? Applejack called out.
“Yeah, I’m comin’!” Apple Bloom yelled back. She closed the barn door and made her way back towards her sister. They walked inside, side by side, and made their way into her bedroom. She hopped onto her bed then slid under the covers, though not before she fluffed her pillow until it was just the way she liked it. “Thanks, Applejack… for everything. I couldn’t ask for a better sister,” she said, a yawn forcing its way out.
Applejack chuckled, then tucked her in and laid a kiss on her head. “Goodnight, my sweet little
apple… Ah’ll always love you…”
