Apple Bloom: A Story of a Filly
By Random Soul
Here we are again: Personal Story Day.
It was a day set aside for all students to get a chance to talk about themselves at the start of a new year that, in a way, allows them to be brought closer to the rest of the class to give them a taste of one's personality and character, starting with the topic of where they grew up and how they were brought up. It is typically a day designed for introducing yourself to the new students in the class every year, and has become a tradition of sorts.
Every year, this topic is held. Typically, this is a topic that the snotty little ''diamond'' of the class, Diamond Tiara, gets first dibs on shooting her hoof in the air from her seat in the class and strutting her way to the front to speak, as if she's the main priority at the school.
You were sat there at your desk, snuggled between the two other desks on either side of you, occupied by your two friends for life, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. The two of you have been through some rather body-cleaving scrapes together and lived to tell the tale, all for which of getting your cutie marks, an ambition which you all hold so dear. It is also the reason that the three of you decided to form your own type of club - The Cutie Mark Crusaders.
It's the source of your existence to figure out your true identities and being able to discover yourself and the world you live in. The sky is the limit and the blood flowing through your veins is what carries that ambition and inspiration to plant your seeds and rise.
You shared a rather tired mind, long grown bored from hearing the rant of the pink-coated pest now speaking in front of your class. Your friends both shared the mutual expressions, Scootaloo having fallen asleep and Sweetie Belle forcing herself to stay awake, less she encounter the wrath of the teacher, Miss Cheerilee.
Miss Cheerilee was a nice teacher, but if you managed to disrupt the class in any way that is bad enough to net a detention, off comes the sweet and welcoming smile and out comes the cleaver.
It was a wonder that such a nice-spirited teacher such as herself could put up with the countless amount of bigotry that spews out of Diamond's mouth.
There were times that you and your friends had unfortunately had some nasty encounters with the filly and her equal counterpart puppet, Silver Spoon, and although you may have given her the chance to be a friend and a nice pony once, that one and only simple request was eradicated when she decided to mentally scar Scootaloo with those nasty and unforgivable taunts of her being a pegasus that can't fly.
Even to this day, Scootaloo still carries that hurt and pain with her, no matter how hard she tried to bottle it and lock it away in her mental safe. You could only sympathize for her.
''And that's why I'm the luckiest pony ever to be alive!'' The pink, diamond tiara wearing filly said with a beaming smile that might as well be worn by a jester as she took a bow. Only a few ponies in the room brought themselves to give her a round of undeserved applause. She gave a sickeningly sweet smile to Cheerilee as she took her leave from the front and back to her seat beside her companion, Silver Spoon, that was the one doing most of the applauding.
Oh, how you wished that somepony in the room happened to have some tomatoes on hoof to lob at her mug. You chuckled a little at the thought, unluckily catching the ears of Miss Cheerilee, whom heard your laughter from her desk, your disadvantage being that you were sat on the front row of the classroom.
''Apple Bloom!'' She hollered, her voice crisp with authority. ''Do you mind explaining what you find so funny to the class?'' She asked with a raised brow, her frown strict on deadpan mode.
You noticed out of the corner of your eye that Scootaloo had snapped awake at some point during the teacher's shouting, her sleepy gaze watching you, and you could also feel the eyes of every student in the class bearing down on the back of your skull from all directions, adding very unwanted tension into the moment as you struggled what to respond with.
''Uh...no?'' You eventually came out with, feeling embarrassed and small under the growing deadpan expression from your teacher's face. ''Nothing, Miss Cheerilee.'' You finished, forcing your voice to remain as straight as possible.
She paused her expression as she looked you up and down, deciding not to push on the matter. ''Well, since that all students are now focused on you, would you like to take your turn next, Apple Bloom?'' She asked, and a bubble found its way into your throat. With a soft gulp, you managed to push it back down.
At the back of the classroom, you could hear the all too familiar snicker that you knew belonged to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. It was so tormenting that it should belong in a nightmare. Unfortunately for you and Sweetie and Scootaloo, just the fact that you were studying in the same school as Diamond Tiara was a living nightmare in itself.
''AB, go.'' Scootaloo whispered quietly to you in an encouraging manner, as if to boost your personal morale. You sighed inwardly, silently thanking her as you picked yourself from your seat, heading to the front of the classroom, positioning yourself between the chalk board on the wall behind you and the rows of desks in front of you, now with only one unoccupied out of the twelve in the room.
You glanced over to Cheerilee whom was sat behind her desk on her chair, giving you an encouraging motion with her eyes, a thankfully patient and much more lenient than before, the stern and authoritative emotion replaced by comfort and her usual radiance.
Next, you glanced over to your friends, seeing them watch you with anticipation as the rest of the class remained quiet. You knew that from this point on, only you and your mind could determine the outcome of this moment.
Well, there's no turnin' back now, AB. Just gotta suck it up and go with the flow.
Your mouth opened as if to start, but was cut off by the voice of none other than the tiara-wearing demon.
''Oh, come on! Some of us important ponies in the room have plans to attend to after school! At this rate, we'll be here all night!'' She complained in her mocking tone, throwing her hooves up in the air and slumping in her seat. Silver joined in on her laughter as the rest of the room remained quiet, some even rolling their eyes in clear annoyance of the disrupting and attention-seeking brat.
''Diamond Tiara! Another outburst like that, and I'll keep both you and Silver Spoon behind for detention after class is over! Understood?'' Cheerilee snapped, glaring at the two fillies, whom groaned in retaliation to the promise of an unwanted detention. The pair of them nodded in agreement. ''You may carry on, Apple Bloom.''
Thank Celestia that somepony said something. You thought inwardly, masking your satisfaction with concentration and pushing aside the negatives in your mind.
''My name's Apple Bloom, and Ah'm twelve years old. Ah live on my family's apple farm outside of Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres with my older sister, Applejack, my big brother, Big Macintosh and grandmother, Granny Smith.''
A bead of cold sweat made its way down your forehead. You brushed it away with a hoof, lightly flicking your red hair as you did so.
At least Ah got that established and out of the way...
''Ah don't exactly know where to begin with my story or what ya'll want to know about me in particular, but Ah suppose Ah'll start at the beginning, or at least from where I remember the most.'' You took in a breath of fresh air to replenish your lungs, feeling more comforted by the rejuvenating feeling of cool air circulating throughout your body and putting it at ease.
''Now, Ah'm a farm filly. By that, Ah mean that Ah've pretty much spent the entirety of my life on a farm where my family produces the best apples in all of Equestria. From zap apple jam to cider to apple pies, we make it all. Why, if'n me and the family had no apples to harvest all year 'round, Ah reckon that we'd be out of business before any of us could say ''Licketysplit''.'' You mused, thoughts of Flim and Flam threatening to take over your farm floating behind your eyes.
Shaking off the feeling, you continued with your story. ''Ah don't suppose I know what Ah wanna do when Ah get older. Whether Ah'd be still living at the farm and bringing in the harvest or moving out and making my own life. There are plenty of jobs out there that are looking for new bakers and such all the time, but Ah don't think the baker's life is the right life for me, or at least not yet, so to speak.''
''Applejack and Granny Smith have always been there for me when Ah needed them, and that goes especially since Ah was a baby. Big Mac would watch over me, too, but if he was workin' out in the fields and roundin' up the harvest or crops or herdin' the animals through the fields with my dog, Winona, AJ and Granny would be the ones looking out for me.''
''Apple Bloom?'' A hoof shot up from the back of the room. It was a light grey hoof, belonging to one of the two clowns of the class, Snips. He was a goofy and childish colt by nature of his character and a little on the chubby side. His anticipation was written clear on his face for his chance to ask you a question.
''Y-Yes, Snips?'' You asked, uncertain to what he may want to ask. Because of his notoriety in class as the joker or clown, his question could possibly or most likely be something ridiculous, such as asking what the thoughts of a tree were.
''You said that it was mostly Applejack or Granny Smith that took care of you, but you never mentioned anything about your parents.'' He asked with curious haste. Surprisingly, the question caused a bit of muttering amongst some of the other students in the room, and a new found curiosity surfaced on the faces of every student, including Sweetie and Scootaloo. Heck, even Cheerilee held some interest for the topic.
You'd be a liar if you tried to convince yourself that you yourself wasn't surprised by the question. Honestly, you didn't actually know your parents. Of course, it's not the easiest thing to lay out on the table because of its touchy nature as a question. It's not every day that someone brings up a question or request on your parents without knowing that they weren't around anymore. As a matter of fact, that's all you knew about them.
They were not around anymore. As in they are dead.
It hurt to admit, but there was absolutely no point in forcing a smile and living in complete and utter denial to the facts of reality and the negatives that come on its plate.
You caught glimpse of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. She looked as if she was going to say something, but wisely kept her trap shut. You could feel a slight pang of anger well in your gut, almost as if it was daring her to open her mouth. Behind your eyes, you could feel the start of a warm feeling, one that you knew all too well from your experience with said fillies at the back of the room, called tears. They were welling and on standby.
You wanted to walk out of the room and ignore your responsibility for this pep talk with the class to allow them a step inside to your inner being and forget about it.
Truth be told, you didn't know anything about your parents, other than the fact that they were the ones that left the accessories to you and your siblings to hold possession over. You had your Mother's pink ribbon, Applejack your Father's cowpony hat and Big Mac his harness.
You knew that Applejack passed it down to you when you were a baby directly from your Mother, but you never really knew what happened to them. All that you knew in your own memory from Applejack and Granny Smith was that whatever happened to them, the event that took their lives, is what they refer to as ''The Accident''. No matter how hard you may press on the stubborn personality and nerves of steel of your sister, she won't crack.
It's more than obvious that she cries internally whenever her thoughts switch to the day your family suffered the tragic loss of your parents. Big Mac was no different on controlling his emotions, as you knew that it was all transferred into his hooves when he bucks the apple trees in the orchard, hoping to vent what he can of his pain away. On the other hoof, Granny Smith holds an emotion behind her eyes that you couldn't quite place. It wasn't there before, but it currently exists, and without a doubt, it looked painful.
A lump of ice formed in your throat as you tried to think up a response to Snips's question, and the anticipation from the rest of the school children was overwhelming for your mind to bear upon to function normally. The flanks of every student was practically hanging from the edge of their seats.
''Well...uh...'' You started lamely. Darn, why couldn't he asked somethin' simple? Such as ''How do you make the perfect apple pies?'', or something. ''..Ah don't really know what to tell ya'll. Ah never knew mah parents. All that Ah know is that somethin' happened when Ah was still a baby, and that AJ refers to it as ''The Accident''. So, to answer your question, Ah don't really know what happened.''
A warmth trickled down your cheek, akin to the feeling of pins and needles itching at your skin, and you hardly even realized that you were crying. A faint but visible tear was oozing its way from your tear duct and rolling down your left cheek before hanging from the bottom of your jaw line in a bell and eventually dripping to the floor with a plop.
You felt upset, to say the least. Somehow, despite not knowing your own parents, the sting from the blows of reality was something that you knew would leave you in a state of morning for a very long time. There was simply no way of dodging the bullet whenever the subject of your parents was brought up.
A coldness overtook the warm tears as a tissue was lightly touched against your cheek by the hoof of Cheerilee, who was now standing beside you with a comforting gaze behind her light green eyes and reassuring smile. You silently thanked her and accepted the tissue, wiping away your tears and attempting to regain your composure.
When you looked up again to face the class, you caught glimpse of guilt etched onto Snips's face, whom was now failing miserably in hiding himself behind his desk out of embarrassment. Well, it wasn't entirely his fault. It's not like he knew about it or anything. Heck, nopony knew the truth, not even you, so how could he?
''You don't have to carry on if you don't want to, Apple Bloom. You're more than welcome to take your seat, if you'd like to.'' Miss Cheerilee offered, but you simply shook your head in negative back-channeling response.
''N-No, no. Ah'm alright, Miss Cheerilee. Ah jus' need a moment.'' You said calmly, wiping away what tears you could and fighting your emotions to stay centered and collected. ''Ah'm sorry, every pony. It's not a topic Ah like to discuss.'' You said with a sniffle, placing the tissue in a nearby bin next to Cheerilee's desk. ''Does anypony have any more questions?''
You scanned the room, noticing the sudden wave of silence surpassing the usual atmosphere of the room. It was so quiet that even a tumbleweed would find it to be a lovely home.
No hooves arose and all of the pairs of eyes belonging to the other students, including Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's held traces of sympathy and even guilt. You looked to Sweetie and Scootaloo. They both shook their heads in a dismissive manner, clearly not with any questions on deck.
''In that case, Ah thank ya'll for listenin'.'' You said with a smile, heading back to your seat as the entire class applauded.
Miss Cheerilee took your place and faced the class, her expression that of a smile and a proud radiance behind her eyes as she directed them towards you. ''Thank you very much for that inside to yourself, Apple Bloom. I know that wasn't an easy thing to open up to without any preparation.'' She said, to which a small but noticeable blush began to make its way onto your creamy cheeks. ''Now, then class, I do appreciate you all listening to your classmates and their personal stories, and I do hope we manage to get through the rest of the year as we have done today. With new students in our class, it is important that you all do your part to make them all feel welcome and secure at our school.'' Miss Cheerilee said with a kind smile as she looked out over her class, not a single student making a peep. ''Class is dismissed. I will see you all after recess is over.''
And as if on cue, the bell that signaled the start of recess rang out across the classroom. With the promise of a replenishing breath of fresh air in the gap reserved for schoolwork, the school children zipped out of the classroom, not wasting a single, precious second to spare as they did so, the room becoming empty and dead silent within seconds.
Miss Cheerilee rolled her eyes at the sight and gave a soft chuckle. ''Well, that's definitely a new record for the books.''
