Apprentices

“Okay, Crazybloom, you’re free to go” Nightmare said as she opened the door to let the filly out. “I hope this whole day in the Hall of Whispers has taught you to never hurt a colleague ever again”

Applebloom stumbled out, traumatized from the effects of being inside the room. She wobbled from fear before she finally regained her ability to walk properly again. When she finally was able to re-adjust herself, she found that Babs Seed was just there, waiting for her. Her cousin knew she was still disoriented by the punishment, so she ran over to her and gave her a hug. When Applebloom finally regained her hooves, she hugged back.

“Are you okay?” Babs asked as she pulled away.

“If by scared out of my horseshoes is okay” Applebloom replied.

They both shared a hearty giggle for a moment. “How’s Bunny?”

“Shaky, she’s at her house with the gang. Spike’s comforting her”

Applebloom nodded, looking down. She knew that she attacked Bunny out of illusion. She Turned herself and could’ve hurt her if it weren’t for the trainers. She knew that Bunny feared almost nothing, but the look in Bunny’s state was no acting. Maybe she saw the terror in her eyes and that was what dazed her.

“Listen, it wasn’t your fault” Babs Seed said. “You were in a sim, and she saw what you did”

“I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me”

“Don’t say that”

“I know she practically hates me”

“She’s a Servant, she’ll forgive you”

“I’m a monster! I Turned myself in an attempt to kill her, and Servants hate anything evil! SHE HATES ME! WHY DO YOU EVEN BOTHER?!”

Babs Seed knew her cousin would act like this. She took the blame for Bunny after a fiasco. She knew that Bunny always hated evil and Apprentices may be one of them. She knew that, in their group, Applebloom was now the only one who was an Apprentice. She didn’t want her cousin to be alone.

“I don’t want that you would feel alone to that” Babs said, before pulling out a vial of red.

Applebloom looked in utter shock. “What’s that?”

“Victim’s Blood, particularly the one I was given like the others”

“What are you doing?”

Babs tipped off the cap. “You’re my cousin; I don’t want you to feel lonely”

“Babs, put that down!”

“So long as we’re cousins”

“NO! DON’T!”

But it was too late. Babs Seed drank down the vial of Victim’s Blood before Applebloom could stop her. She then displayed the first signs of being an Apprentice: the black eyes. They only stayed for a few seconds, and went back to normal.

“Why?”

“Because you’re my cousin, and you always will be”

Applebloom nodded, smiling. “Now we’re the same”

“Let’s go and see Bunny”

________________________________________

“Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed” Spike whispered into Bunny’s ear as he pet her. The young alien had already fallen asleep on his lap. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were in the living room with them, just talking about how their sisters would react. Well, Sweetie Belle was just talking about getting through with the fact that Applebloom was the first and was now worrying about who would be next. Scootaloo kept thinking about the colt she met back at training, named Orion. They didn’t bother to ask Spike how their friend was doing, he just sang Fluttershy’s lullaby to calm her.

“How do you think she is?” Sweetie asked.

Scootaloo was caught up in a daydream. “Hmm? Oh, right!”

“Shh! You’ll wake her up!”

“Sorry”

“How can you think of somepony you met when one of your friends is in punishment, the other is scared to death, and another is MIA?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just…Orion is just so…”

“Dreamy?”

Scootaloo nodded.

“Flu…Flutters…where are you?” Bunny mumbled in her sleep.

“Shh, it’s alright, Bunny” Spike whispered to her as he pet her. “We’ll find Fluttershy”

Suddenly, they heard somepony knock on the door. Spike gestured for either Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle to go as he tried to keep Bunny calm.

“I’ll get it” Scootaloo whispered as she left for the front door, leaving Sweetie Belle with Spike.

“Yes?” Scootaloo called out as she opened the door. Her expression was shocked when she saw Applebloom and Babs Seed.

“Hey, Scootaloo, is Bunny here?” Babs asked.

“Yeah, this is her house afterall. In fact, Spike and Sweetie Belle are here too”

“Great, can we?” Babs asked, only to be blocked by Scootaloo.

“She’s asleep, and I don’t think she wants to see Applebloom right now”

“Why?” Applebloom asked.

“You’re an Apprentice now, her Servant Gene might trigger around you”

“Would she still do that if there was another one accompanying her?” Babs asked.

Scootaloo looked over to Babs. “What did you do?”

Babs then pulled out the empty vial. “My cousin and I are in this together”

Scootaloo hesitated for a bit. As if one Apprentice wasn’t enough, now there’s two? Her day just got a whole lot worse, but a try was better than nothing. She backed up to let the fillies in.

________________________________________

“It’s really sweet of you to sing Fluttershy’s lullaby to soothe her” Sweetie Belle commented as Bunny slept in Spike’s lap.

“She’s my best friend”

“Are you hers too?”

“Yep”

The two were interrupted when they heard hoofsteps enter the living room. They looked to see that it was Scootaloo, with Babs and Applebloom. Applebloom had a look of remorse in her eyes. When the filly saw the alien sleeping, she felt like she was about to cry.

“I assume you want to talk to her?” Spike asked.

Applebloom nodded. “Please?”

Spike nodded before shaking Bunny gently. “Bunny? Wake up. Somepony wants to see you”

The alien began to stir as she opened her eyes. When she finally regained her sight, she looked up to see the face of the baby dragon. “Yes, Spike?”

“Applebloom wants to talk to you, is that okay?”

Bunny nodded without hesitation. She immediately got off and stood infront of Applebloom.

“Bunny, I’m sorry about yesterday. I was just…” the filly got cut off when the alien hugged her.

“They said to forgive you” Bunny whispered.

“But, aren’t Apprentices evil?”

“Some are exemptions”

Applebloom smiled as she hugged back. “Thank you”

Bunny then sniffed the air. “Is somepony else Turned?”

Babs scratched her head. “Yeah, I had to make sure she didn’t feel insecure”