“Aunt Apple Bloom?”
The voice startled Apple Bloom out of her thoughts, as she turned around to see who had spoken. “Oh, hey June. What’s up?”
“Do you mind Dell and I calling you Aunt?” The filly asked, lying down beside her.
“Of course not, I am your Aunt after all being your dad’s sister!” She chuckled. “Why do you ask?”
June hesitated a few seconds before responding. “Some of the kids over at school were commenting on how it's odd that I call you my Aunt since you are just a teenager, Del’s been getting the same comments from his kindergarten classes.”
Apple Bloom raised her eyebrows. “Really? Surely at least one of them has an Aunt or Uncle around my age, or a family member who had one at some point.”
June shook her head “Nope, just me and Del apparently.”
“Del and I you mean!” Apple Bloom corrected her.
June just rolled her eyes, her parents and Aunt Apple Bloom were also correcting her grammar. Del’s parents didn't seem to get on his case about grammar that much, although Aunt Apple Bloom still made a point to do so now and then, much to her Aunt Applejack’s annoyance.
“So why does this bother you anyway.” Apple Bloom asked her. “You do know it doesn't matter what other ponies think of you right?”
“I know, but I just…” She hesitated again before continuing “worry about fitting in.”
“Fitting in?” Apple Bloom repeated. “Since when have you cared about being popular?”
“I don't!” June said a bit more forcefully then she meant. “I just don't want to be the odd one out either.”
Apple Bloom wrapt a hoof around June “There's nothing wrong with being the odd one out, heck I've been one all my life really.”
June gave her Aunt a quizzical look “Really Aunt Apple Bloom, you?”
“No lie, my friends and I were the last in our class to get our cutie marks, and we were so completely obsessed over it that we formed our own little group, and spent a good many years trying our hooves at anything we could think of to obtain them.”
“You mean the Cutiemark Crusaders?” June asked
Apple Bloom smiled down at her “Yep, that's the one. We drove everypony crazy with all our weird antics we got up to trying to find our talents, heck we even once put every ponies most intimate secrets on our school newspaper, not some I recommend just FYI!”
“Wait, WHAT???!” June exclaimed.
“Eventually we got our marks, but even after that we remained totally alienated from the rest of our classmates. I was constantly thought of as that dumb farm pony, mostly by Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo was constantly harassed for not being able to fly, and Sweetie Belle was bullied constantly for being a bit too sensitive, and slightly slow on the uptake.”
“But every time I see you with others, you’re ALWAYS surrounded by other ponies.” June challenged.
“Yeah, by STALLIONS maybe. Kind of something that tends to happen when you get older, much to your fathers dislike of course. Can't count how many times I've brought a boy home only to have Big Mac breathing down his neck in a matter of seconds. Too bad he wasn't that way a lot with Applejack though, that would have been funny watching her tell him to back off her case.” Apple Bloom added giggling.
“Well you get all that attention because you are so pretty and talented….unlike me!” June stated glumly.
“What do you mean you’re not pretty or talented?” Apple Bloom asked
“Well you can do SO many things like building cool machines, repairing houses, making really awesome stuff with metal pipes and all that. I don't have anything unique I can do. Heck I can't even farm apples!!” June complained.
“June do you honestly think I was BORN with all those abilities? I'm only good at all that stuff because I've put a lot of TIME and EFFORT into perfecting them….Most of it unintentionally.”
“Huh?” June gave her another quizzical look.
Apple Bloom sighed “Just before you were born, we lost Granny Smith due to her having a heart attack. It was hard on everypony but even worse on me. Due to my parents dying just after I was born she was the only parental figure I ever had. After she passed away your father and Aunt Applejack tried to take her place as my parental figure, but that never set well with me. They were my brother and sister, not mom and dad, or even Granny Smith, and it felt like betrayal that they thought they could ever replace them. We got into several arguments, most of which ended with me shouting at them about how their not my parents and me running off. “
Apple Bloom sighed again, turning away from June before continuing. “Anyway around the same time Ponyville was hit with a really bad windstorm caused by a certain mail pony who thought she could direct the weather in Rainbow Dash’s place, and several building, homes, and structures where destroyed. Not to mention the train station was rendered unusable so no repair ponies from outside Ponyville could come to our aid, and all the Pegasus where stuck trying to control what was left of the storm after it left Ponyville. So I offered to help out given I was already known at being competent and quick with repair work. However given I was the ONLY pony in Ponyville that knew a thing or too about repair work, at least the only one not injured enough to work, I was stuck on my own, and asked to do things beyond just simple woodwork and carpet repair which at the time was my only specialty. I also had to learn wielding so I could help fix the train station, Architecture so I could help fully rebuild houses from the ground up rather then the repairing them, engineering to help get the power back up and running, and many others things I hadn't even attempted nor thought of attempting or improving at before!”
She turned back to face June “So yea I’ve got quite a few skills under my belt now, and I'm sort of well known for it. But all of it was hard won out of necessity to help out, and of course get myself away from Applejack and your father. None of it was just something I was born with. You yourself will eventually find something you are good at, probably something you already do just for fun that you haven’t even considered to be a skill, and other ponies will admire you for it. Heck one day you will even have boys galore following you home trying to get your attention, only to have your father chase them away barring a giant ax….Or Celestia forbid, a flamethrower. For now maybe you are the odd one out, but that does not make you any lesser of a pony then your peers. It just makes you unique. Maybe I’m just crazy, maybe we both are. But you know what? Some of the best ponies are there are crazy!” she added with a smile.
“You mean like Aunt Pinkie Pie?” June asked giggling.
“Exactly dahling!” Apple Bloom said, embracing June in a hug. “Now as for your original question” she added releasing June “You can most certainly call me Aunt if you want to, or if that actually makes you uncomfortable you and Del can just call me Apple Bloom. I’m ok with either one.”
“I’ll just keep calling you Aunt I guess, to Tartarus with the neigh Sayers” June said, pumping a hoof into the air.
“That a girl!!” Apple Bloom laughed. “Now, how about you, Del, and I all go over to Sugarcube Corner and grab us some milkshakes!!”
“But Aunt Applejack said we should just stay home today?” June reminded her.
Apple Bloom flashed her a grin. “Yea, but Applejack also believes in The Great Pumpkin, plus she’s not here. Go grab your brother, I’ll get the stroller ready!!”
June got to her hooves and ran into the house with lighting speed. Apple Bloom just laughed as she watched her go. Turning back to the two stone slabs she had been sitting in front of she whispered “Love ya Mom and Dad” before turning to follow June.
The End.
