Front Page Dreams and Little Daughters
A Little Bit Undetermined
They say that ponies find their inspiration in different ways. I found mine in a jar of peanut butter and a town known for its mushroom industry. Weird right? Well, that's nothing on the weird scale in my life so far. Up until I was three, my bedroom was a hayloft. Ever since then, it's been the back part of a wagon. My dad's side of the family owns the best and biggest apple orchard in all of Equestria. That's what my dad used to tell me about our orchard. His side of the family is absolutely huge! Whenever they have a family reunion it's this gigantic event. I don't really know anything about my mom's side of the family though. She used to be a teacher and got her cutie mark for helping fillies grow. My parents fell in love thanks to three of her very special students. Sadly, that love didn't last long. They had me though. But I only knew my dad for three years before he left. His grandma, at the time, was going through some surgery. He's a very stick-with-your-family kind of guy. But, when he heard Granny wasn't doing so well, he up and left for Saddle Arabia. My auntie Applejack said he couldn't take the stress. This is where it gets fuzzy, I was only three but when my dad left, my mom's life shattered.
All I remember is a lot of apples screaming at her and trying to talk sense into her as she threw her life away. In one week, she had engineered a motor powered wagon and had gathered up everything that belonged to us. She through most of my dad's stuff off of the roof and into the pig pen. I was three when I got my last glimpse of the apple orchard as I dazedly waved goodbye to everything I had ever known. Not really knowing why the only thing I saw was sad faces and the only thing I heard where Cheerilee's tears.
My yellow hoof scraped the bottom of the jar as I trotted over to the crate that usually held my favorite food. I peeked over the side and groaned when I saw that it contained no peanut butter. I hopelessly returned to my jar but couldn't scrape out anything.
"Mom!" I called, over the sound of the engine. "We're out of peanut butter." I trotted to the front of the wagon and pulled myself into the passenger seat. My mother sighed and turned to me as I showed her the last empty jar.
"Didn't we just get some last month?" She asked desperately.
"Yeah, but I ate all ten jars mom!" I giggled a bit. My mother smiled exasperated and handed me a map.
"Find the nearest town where we can pull over and get to a store."
I opened the map and let it tumble out around me as I scoured it for a town. "Aha!" I called. "Hands. There's a town called Hands in five miles. According to this map, they have a grocery and a hotel! And it's by the great lake!"
"Perfect." My mom's voice came out muffled from behind the map. "We can get peanut butter and stay the night."
"How about two nights?" I asked.
"Sweetie, it says here that Hands is known for its mushroom industry. Do you really want to stay here for your thirteenth birthday?" My mom threw her hooves in the air as I nodded silently.
"Come on mom, you've dragged me through a lot worse than this in the past ten years," I muttered. My mom fumed for a moment and then made a sharp turn onto the road with the sign that read "WELCOME TO HANDS! MUSHROOM CAPITAL OF EQUESTRIA!" My mom grumbled under her breath the whole five miles until we got to Hands.
The town was small, so we found the Handstand hotel pretty easily. It wasn't awful at all. In fact, the hotel was really nice. We checked into a room and as soon as we got to ours, I flopped down on the bed and picked up the "Hands area guide." I read all about everything about Hands and the surrounding area for about a half an hour before my stomach reminded me what we came for. My mom was in the shower, so I grabbed a handful of bits that she had left out for me and left a note.
"Apple Lilly!" My mom opened the shower door.
"UUUUUUUGGGH!" I groaned.
"You have to tell me when you're leaving." She said, clearly irritated.
"Fine. I'm leaving." I grunted. Then, I remembered something from the packet."Hey, mom, did you know that Hands is only a half an hour drive away from Ponyville?"
My mom looked up and glared daggers at me. I stepped away. "Never. We will never. Go. Back." With that, she slammed the shower door leaving me very confused as I trotted out of our room.
Hands Grocery was having a sale on everything mushroom. I avoided that whole section of bombarding fungi as I walked in. I picked up a basket and started trotting around the overly air-conditioned store. I, of course, loaded up on peanut butter. and walked to the checkout counter. A smiling purple mare with an up did silver mane scanned my jars of peanut butter. I smiled back shyly as I handed her the money. I was about to leave when I realized that I had some bits left. I smiled to myself and trotted outside in the direction of a candy shop that I had seen on my way over.
Hands Candy Shop wasn't very crowded when I walked in but the candy crowded the shelves and bulk bins making my mouth water as I jingled my few bits. I was standing in the doorway as my green eyes scanned the shelves of the store. I was about to move when I fell over. Well, actually, I was run into. I tumbled to the ground and my basket of peanut butter spilled all over the entryway. For a second, I couldn't see anything but then it all came into focus again. When it did, I saw a gray mare standing over me. Her silvery gray hair was tied off in a side braid and her purple eyes looked down at me questioningly through some pale blue glasses that she had pushed down onto her nose. She stuck out a gray hoof to me and I gladly took it.
"Thanks," I mumbled.
"Uh. Yeah. Sorry. And oh yeah you're welcome and stuff." She said with a slight eye roll. "What's with all the peanut butter?" She asked as she put a few jars back in my basket. I just shook my head. She sighed.
"Thanks again," I mumbled, again.
"Sure thing kiddo. Hey, what's your name?"
"I'm Apple Lilly."
"An apple huh?" She looked at me skeptically and scoffed. "So you must know Apple Bloom?"
"How do you know my aunt?" I asked leaning in. She did look about her age. Maybe 19 or 20ish. She laughed.
"Name's Silver Spoon," she said with a smile. I didn't know what it was, but I felt like I recognized the name but it didn't seem to match the personality.
