Spring's New Bloom

Chapters

The Sudden Stop
A Heart, Frozen
Tangled Limbs, Tangled Mind
Dusty Tomes

The Sudden Stop

It started with a stop. A truck blaring its horn at me as a too late warning, and suddenly I was gone. I flew through the void, an endlessly swirling abyss of stars surrounded me. I was surprised at how calm I felt about all this, to be quite honest. I was pretty sure that I'd died. I mean, I got hit by a semi truck right? That’s the sort of thing you don’t come back from, unless you’ve got way more luck than I’ve ever had. And at this point in my life I’d realized that I had barely any luck at all; not nearly enough to save me from a force of death of the caliber I just bore witness to.

As far as ominous swirling voids go, this one was pretty great in all honesty. If this was the afterlife, it could have been a lot worse. Stars, galaxies, and sparks of light coiled about me in a tapestry, and I was truly in awe at the majesty of colors. And then, I started to feel something else. A twinge pulsed in my head. I reached up to grasp at it, surprised at my lack of a physical body. If I didn't have any sort of physical form, then why did my head hurt? It actually started to hurt really bad now, a pulsing, pounding migraine. How did I have a headache if I had no head that could ache! I changed my mind, this afterlife sucked! It felt like I’d been punched in the head by a heavyweight boxer. I wanted to speak to whoever sent me here, because I had some serious compla-

And then everything went black. An explosion of new sensations hit me. I lie in cool, packed dirt. The air was cold against my...hair? It felt like my whole body was covered in a soft layer of hair. I had a physical form again, well that’s nice. But this damn headache I had was worse than ever, plus the side of my head actually felt sore now. Okay, I needed to open my eyes, assess the situation I’m in. Maybe I did actually survive being hit by that truck after all. I open my eyes, and squint as the bright sun dazzled me, high overhead. As my vision drew into full focus, I saw something else, something that made me want to laugh, scream, and cry at its sheer absurdity. There was an orange horse with a blonde mane standing over me. No, not a horse, a pony. And not just any pony, it’s Applejack.

Okay, I’ve gone utterly and completely insane. That’s good to know. Wait, no. Maybe I was not insane, maybe I’ve just got brain damage. I shook my head a few times, to try and clear my vision and perhaps shake away my brain damage? I’m fairly certain that’s not how brain damage works. Applejack remained standing over me, and she looked concerned. She opened her mouth.

“Ya alright there Sugarcube?”

Okay, yes. That was Applejack’s voice, that was something she would say to...to…I looked down at myself. That yellowish tan coat of fur. That pinkish red tail lying in the hard packed dirt, trotted over tens of thousands of times by many sets of hooves. I was

“Er, Apple Bloom? Say somethin’ sis, yer startin’ to worry me!”

I’m struck by sudden insecurity. I should say something, anything! Well not anything, but probably some sort of reassurance

“Uh, I’m fine Applejack!”

She narrowed her eyes and squinted at me. I blinked several times, wondering why what I said had just sounded so off. Yes I had Apple Bloom’s voice, I had spoken in her usual squeaky tone but something was wrong with it. What was it? Suddenly, it hit me! The accent! I had spoken without a single trace of Apple Bloom’s country accent. I really didn’t want to allow myself to speak that way, despite not having any doubt that I could replicate it pretty easily. I had grown up in a rural area myself, and had spent a long time practicing to NOT have much of a rural accent. Begrudgingly, I let myself slip into those old tones, and said

“Er, ah mean. Ah’m fine sis! Honest!”

I did not feel fine however. My head hurt, a lot. However, Applejack’s worried look quickly smoothed over into a sigh of relief. She shook her head, her curls flicking.

“Haha, oohwee, that was quite the tumble ya took there Apple Bloom! Ah knew ah shoulda asked Big Mac to tighten up that creaky wheel on the cart ‘fore we left,” she chuckled, and smiled down at me. “But it takes more ‘n that to get one of us Apples. Ya need me to help ya up, sis?” She asked me.

I nodded, and reached up with a...yeah, that was a hoof. Another twinge of pain shot through my face, and my headache pounded again, not to be denied. Applejack grabbed my hoof, and pulled me to my feet-correction, hooves. Why was I such a stickler for little details like this? Why was that ridiculous line of thinking troubling me even now? I shook my head again, my pinkish red mane brushing over my line of vision. I wobbled for a moment as I tried to take an experimental step forward, but found my footing rather quickly. It seemed that four legs were definitely more stable than two. I heard AJ say something from behind me.

“Aw darn! Ah’m sorry Apple Bloom, looks like yer bow’s done been ruined” I turned my head to look, and she was holding two pieces of dirty and torn pink fabric. It definitely looked like my...Apple Bloom’s ribbon. I felt my eyes water slightly, and I felt a little pang in my chest at that. Why did I care about some scrap of ribbon that wasn’t even mine.

“Now don’t cry Apple Bloom, Ah’ll pick ya up another bow while we’re in town, seein’ as it’s mah fault yours got ruined an’ all” she said, and reached over, casually wiping away a single tear that had run down my cheek. “Now help me fix this cart wheel, would ya?” she turned to trot over to a cart with some lumber, a saw, a hammer, and some nails inside it. Noticeably, the cart was missing one of its back wheels, which was lying in the dirt a few yards away. Okay, I had to do something. I couldn’t just stand around and wait for the world to stop being so insane, I had to interact.

I took a few hesitant steps in Applejack’s direction, as she hefted the wheel and started to roll it back towards the cart.
“Alright now. Ah’m gonna lift up the cart, and you push it into place, and then we’ll both shove it together. Ahright sis?” She said.

“Uhuh! You got it Applejack!”

I said, my voice dripping with a thick country accent. It sounded more like ‘Yew Gawt et Applejack’. I nearly blushed at the way I was talking, all my shame flaring right back up. Damnit, why did I have to be APPLE BLOOM of all ponies? She was the wrong gender, wrong age, and I certainly was not proud to be my least favorite member of the CMC. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Apple Bloom was cute and all, but she, along with the rest of the Apple Family, was just a reminder of the life that I hated. They might have been one of the examples of a good country family, but they still reminded me of mine, which was certainly not. That was definitely why Applejack episodes were both adored and hated at the same time by me. You are drawn towards that which troubles you, after all.

I hefted the wheel, surprised at how difficult it was to lift. I could’ve done such a thing easily with my old body, but Apple Bloom, despite her active lifestyle, was weaker than I used to be. AJ lifted the cart up, and I clumsily stumbled, and shoved the wheel onto its axle. Applejack dropped it, and trotted over. She placed her shoulder against the wheel, and following her lead, I did the same.

“Ready lil’ sis? Three...Two...One!”

She called out, and together, we shoved up against the wheel, ramming it. It shuddered and jumped back onto its axle with a creaking sound of wood grinding against wood.

“Again, fer good measure,” Applejack said with a little huff.

Together, we shoved it again, and it locked fully into place on its axle. The cart was repaired! I hadn’t done good old fashioned manual repairs like that in a long while. AJ wiped her brow, and pulled her hat down low. I took a moment to survey the landscape. There was the farmhouse and barn that looked to be a half mile away...we were on a dirt road, and there was snow on the ground. It was winter here too, huh? I could only hope that, like my old world, spring would be coming soon. The wind was a little chilly on my coat, but not that bad. Seemed the fur was a great insulator.

“Climb on in the cart, Apple Bloom. You’re still lookin’ just a mite dazed. ‘Sides, I should give ya a ride considerin’ it was mah fault ya got hit and all”

I felt a twinge of concern in my chest then, and I suddenly felt the urge to reassure my sister. I mean Apple Bloom’s sister.

“Aw, it ain’t yer fault sis, you couldn’ta known that old cart were so rickety!” I said, yet still took the offer to climb into the cart.

I wobbled on in, my legs shaking. I almost fell off, though I seemed to recall that Apple Bloom was clumsy. Well, that was one thing that I wouldn’t be changing any time soon. I flopped on into the cart, and reached up, brushing my mane out of my face with a hoof. Applejack attached herself again to the cart, and we started rolling.

“Alrighty Apple Bloom, get ready. I’m gonna have to double time it to make up for lost time to the Cakes. Yee haw!” She shouted, rearing up and starting to move at a run. Just before she did, I called out

“Applejack wai-”

And flopped over backward in the cart, flipping onto my back. I rolled over and righted myself, sitting up. I hopped up and put my forelegs...God, that was a weird sentence...I put my forelegs over the side of the cart, and looked out at all the scenery I saw before me. I couldn’t deny despite it being the tail end of winter, this world was beautiful. Trees lay bare of their leaves, snow covered the ground, my breath fogged before me. I turned my head to stare up front, seeing AJ galloping, a small smile on her face as she took us towards what I could only assume would be Ponyville. She had said we were going to the Cakes after all. Speaking of, why was there wood and tools in this cart? Were we doing some sort of construction work for them? I admittedly had wondered a few times what the Apple family did during the winter when they couldn’t grow and sell anything, I guess doing odd jobs and construction work just made sense.

I felt another twinge of pain run through my head, and as I instinctively put my hoof to my forehead, I smacked myself hard right in my sore area. I squeezed my eyes shut, tearing up from the pain. Ow, okay, note to self, hooves are a lot denser and sturdier than hands, have to be careful when touching your face with them. Great, my headache which was finally starting to fade was now back in full force. I grumbled and tapped my front hooves together, listening to the clicking sound they made. For a moment, I was curious as to what season I was in. If I was in a later season I might be in trouble, because I had never really watched past season five...I turned around and craned my head, looking at my flank. Okay good, it was blank, meaning Apple Bloom hadn’t earned her cutie mark yet. Therefore, I was at most near the beginning of season 5. This, at least, was a blessing. What was I thinking about earlier? Oh yeah! I had obviously gone completely insane. There was no way I was in Equestria, so I needed to go over many possibilities right now.

First possibility...I was currently dead and this was my dying brain’s attempt to make me happy in my final moments. The pros to this situation were uh, none actually. The cons were that I was dead, and if I did ‘wake up’ from this hallucination, all that would happen was that I would be dead.

Second possibility...I was utterly stark raving mad, probably locked up in an asylum somewhere rambling to myself about ponies. This one was a good bit better, because if I was able to shatter the illusion I was under, I might be able to once more have a normal life. The only difficulty was finding some way to smash this delusion that I was under.

Third possibility...I was in a coma or something. This one was hard to decide whether it was good or bad. I could maybe wake myself up by proving to my subconscious that what was happening here was absolutely not real in some way, although that could be very difficult. But even then, that might not actually wake me up, it could just cause this idyllic world to fall to pieces. If I did manage to dispel the dream I was trapped in, it might just become a nightmare instead. Plus, waking from a coma wasn’t like in the movies. I knew it was a long and difficult process, one that happens over time.

Fourth possibility - Oh wait, we were getting close to Ponyville! I could see the thatched roofs of the many buildings in town, and Applejack was slowing to a trot. I could smell...Wow, that made me dizzy. There was so much activity! Ponies trotting to and fro, some occasionally waving to AJ as we trotted more into the town center, market stalls set up...Although a good many of them were closed for the winter, it seemed. The dirt road had given way to a paved pathway, and my eyes were dazzled by the sun reflecting off the frozen river that normally wound its way through the town. AJ slowed down even more as what was obviously Sugarcube Corner came into view, and I could definitely see the problem, there was a hole in the roof! Applejack turned to face me and said

“Thanks again for comin’ out to help me with this Sugarcube, speakin’ of, how are ya feeling? Ya still got that troublesome expression on your face”

I shook my head. Of all ponies. I had to be paired with the one all about honesty. I stuttered out

“Oh, uh, ah’m f-fine Applejack! Ah’m fit as a fiddle!”

She chuckled, and as she unhitched herself, she said

“Oh Apple Bloom, ah can tell when you’re not feelin’ the best. Why don’t ya take it easy today, hmm? Ah can handle this all on mah own. You go run along now an’ find your friends. Alright?”

I blinked a few times. This could be the opportunity I needed to get away and go find something to help me shake myself out of this...whatever this was. I nodded, and I hopped up, nearly falling right out of the cart. I did manage to land on my feet, however, and I grinned. Finally, some self agency! I started walking away from Sugarcube Corner on my new legs, before realizing something. I had absolutely no clue where I was going or what I should try to do to help myself snap out of this.

Aha! The idea hit me like a stroke of lightning. Everything I encountered thus far had suggested I was Apple Bloom, yet I had not actually seen my face quite yet. So therefore, if I could just see my face in a mirror and find some flaw with it, some way to prove I was not actually a filly in Equestria named Apple Bloom, that might be the system shock I needed to snap back to reality. It was perfect! So now all I had to do was find a mirror. I tried to think, and I actually wasn't sure where one would be located. Surely if this was some kind of entrapment performed on me by my own brain, it might actually be difficult to locate something reflective, which would prove to me that I was trapped in this non reality.

Still, I thought to myself, and it hit me once more. The river! The frozen river would definitely be reflective enough to show me a picture of myself. I quickly began to trot through the streets of Ponyville, towards that river I had seen, and I squeezed my way between some buildings, accelerating now, and moving in a gallop. Four legs was actually pretty nice, to be honest. The movement was much steadier, and - wait, what was I thinking? If my suspicions were correct, I wouldn't be on four legs much longer! I skidded to a stop right in front of the frozen river, and looked down carefully.

What stared back at me was the face of that filly. Her petite muzzle, her big, almost oversized orange eyes, that pinkish red mane falling down in my face without a ribbon to tie it back...I was absolutely Apple Bloom, from the tip of my tail to the end of my muzzle. I sat down, and that face that had looked excited at first now stared back at me with a depressed, weary expression. This was my big idea, and it had been a bust. I felt my eyes pricking with tears, when suddenly from behind me, I heard two high pitched voices squealing in unison

"APPLE BLOOM!!!"

Oh damn it.

Author's Note

Well, here goes.

A Heart, Frozen

I whirled around suddenly, shocked at the sudden shout. I almost jumped out of my skin...fur? At those high pitched squeals. Fuck fuck fuck, yep. There they were, sprinting towards me. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, my...er, Apple Bloom’s best friends and of course, the other two members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Well it seemed like I was not going to have time to sit and sulk, because I was about to be...Wait Sweetie Belle was coming in too fast

“Sweetie Belle wai-!”

I was once again interrupted in my speech, and crashed into by an overly excited Sweetie Belle, being knocked down onto the frozen river on my back, Sweetie on top of me.

“Ow...Sorry Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle said, untangling herself and standing up. Scootaloo had thankfully managed to avoid crashing into the both of us, She’d skidded on the icy ground but had beat her wings, managing to counteract her movement just enough not to add to the pile. She may be called a chicken, but her wings definitely weren’t useless, at least in this scenario. I groaned, and once more tried to rise to my hooves, squeaking as I slipped and slid on the ice, before flopping onto my stomach. The ice was cold, and I mean COLD against my stomach. It felt like...Well it felt like pressing ice against your bare stomach is what it felt like. I shivered, my teeth chattering, as I took a deep breath and once more sloooowly rose to my hooves. Ah fuck, okay how should I react? What should I say, what should I-

“Hey Apple Bloom, what were you doing staring at all this ice anyway?” Scootaloo asked.

I responded by saying “Oh! Uh! Ah was just, um”

“Were you trying to get your cutie mark for ice skating? That’s a great idea! Why didn’t you tell us about it first?!” Piped Sweetie Belle.

Oh good God my headache was coming back again. Sweetie Belle’s voice in particular was not helping things, and I rubbed my temples with a hoof carefully.

Sweetie Belle took a closer look at the side of my head and squeaked once more “Youch! That’s a nasty bruise! I didn’t poke you with my horn did I?”

I had been busy trying to come up with a response to the question about ice skating, and she had already switched topics. Damn these girls were ADHD. “Oh! Uh! Nah, ya didn’t. Ah were just helpin’ Applejack out and ah got hit by the cart”

Scootaloo peered closer at the side of my head, bumping up in front of Sweetie, and whistled, her wings fluttering. “Woah! That’s a pretty gnarly bruise. That must’ve hurt!” She said, acting the part of Captain Obvious. Although now I began to get worried. It was irrational, but they might start to ask why I was being so slow with my responses. Was Apple Bloom the slow one of the CMC? I couldn’t exactly remember, I thought they were all pretty similar. I shook my head, and proclaimed

“Yeah! It did hurt when it happened, but Ah’m fine now! Anyway, Ice skatin’? I actually hadn’t even thought uh that!” Wait, if I hadn’t been trying to ice skate, what was I doing here then? Oh God my friends-yes, they were my friends, I was Apple Bloom currently and they were Apple Bloom’s friends therefore they were currently my friends-Would think I was weird, just sitting here staring at ice! “Ah was tryin’ ta think of things to do to earn mah cutie mark!” I quickly managed to spit out. “Ice skatin’ sounds like a darn good idea ta me too!”

Wait, why’d I say that? It had just come out naturally! Maybe I was getting into this whole ‘Acting like Apple Bloom’ thing a bit too much. I mean, yeah this might be fun to do, but it was a distraction from my goal of finding some way to wake myself up from this very pretty nightmare I was stuck in. Besides, I already knew that I...Apple Bloom, was a very clumsy filly. Trying to go ice skating, or earn a cutie mark in that seemed like it would only result in more pain and embarrassment. Still though, a break from all this worrying would be pretty nice..Maybe if I indulged a bit, I could relax and think about things differently; find a new way to work through this scenario I’d found myself dropped into.

“Well, what’re we waiting for then? Let’s go see Pinkie Pie! She’s got like...eight pairs of skates for some reason!” Scootaloo said, jumping and fluttering her wings in excitement.

“Wait, why does Pinkie have eight pairs uh skates?” I asked in complete confusion, pretty much already knowing the answer before the other two gave it to me

“She’s Pinkie Pie!” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said in unison.

“Yeah, ah shoulda seen that comin’’ I said, shaking my head. I shook myself, flinging off some of the icy water that had melted into my coat, and asked “Now how’re we s’posed to find Pinkie at this time uh day…”

It was then that for the second time that day I was almost shocked into yet another afterlife by someone appearing right behind me.

“SURPRISE!” A very loud, obnoxiously pink pony shouted from behind me. I squealed and jumped into the air, spinning around and flopping onto my stomach once more. Sure enough, there she was, right before us. Holy crap that was scary! It seemed like Pinkie’s reality defying powers weren’t just limited to the show, how had she gotten here so fast?

“Hey girls, how are you doing? Well I imagine you’re doing pretty good since you were talking about me! You might be wondering how I heard you talking about me! Well you see I was just bouncing around Ponyville when I decided to check on the river since it is part of my normal duties as part of Winter Wrap Up and seeing as how that’s three weeks away and all I thought that I should go ahead and check the river and think about how much fun it would be to break up the ice here in a few weeks and I thought-”Pinkie took a moment to take a deep breath “I thought that maybe I could get a few ice cubes because Gummy is teething right now and he likes to chew on ice cubes to help with his sore gums and I heard somepony mention my name and so I looked around and I saw you girls and I was like ‘Oh my gosh what if those fillies fall into the water!’ But then I remembered that the river is frozen right now and if I can walk on it that probably means that you girls wouldn’t fall into it and I heard you talking about me and asking about my skates, so I rushed back to Sugarcube Corner to get the skates and I ran all the way back and I said SURPRISE! And now I’m here and I got the skates!”

All three of us shared a similar expression of shock, as Pinkie Pie waggled her tail, and sure enough, three sets of skates were hanging off it, twelve skates in total. Jeez, Pinkie’s tail was strong. She whirled around and held them off, and as Scootaloo helped me to my feet, we each grabbed a set off her tail. I wasn’t used to holding things in my mouth, and was surprised at how easy the act was. I guess ponies were...evolved to hold things in their mouths easily, or something. The taste wasn’t as bad as I was thinking honestly, seeing as I was holding these skates by the strings tying them together.

“Uh, th...thanks Pinkie!” I chirped up, and rubbed the back of my neck, as I dropped the skates into the snow.

“Yeah, thanks Pinkie Pie!” Sweetie Belle said, clapping her hooves together and beaming. D’aww, that smile could melt even the coldest heart. Pinkie Pie nodded, and suddenly let out a gasp.

“WAIT! What was I doing? Oh right! I need to get ice cubes for Gummy! See you girls later!” She said, and disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

“Well, that was awfully nice uh her!” I said, now I was the one being Captain Obvious

“Well yeah, you know Pinkie Pie. She’s the element of laughter and stuff, she does her best to make ponies happy”

Oh right. I needed to get a grip, and get better at playing my role. This was not looking good for me, I needed to focus. Okay, just put one hoof into the skate, and then….wait a damn minute how did you tie a shoe with no hands? I snuck a glance over at Sweetie Belle, and she was using one hoof to manipulate the string while she held another in her mouth...That was...surprisingly simple, huh. Okay. I copied her movements, and soon enough I had one on! I simply had to repeat those actions three more times, and I had on four ice skates! Nice!

It was then that I looked out at the icy river, and gulped. I looked back at the other two fillies, and gulped again.

“Well...H...here goes!” I said, and took a careful step onto the ice.

Author's Note

Well here's the second chapter. I'm glad people liked the first! Also, this is now officially the largest piece of fiction I've ever written, wooo

Tangled Limbs, Tangled Mind

I slipped and fell upon the freezing ice immediately. I saw it coming rapidly, but had absolutely no way to stop the sequence of events I had set in motion. I witnessed my be-skated hooves hit the ice, immediately felt the change in friction, heard the cutting sound of the skate against the ice; felt my center of balance go awry, and sure enough, I fell right onto my stomach.
FUCK, was what I thought. THAT’S COLD. I felt my ears flatten against my head as I frowned, that was weird. I guess that was some kind of natural response from my body to my own annoyance? Being a pony was weird. So many little things, and I still had no idea how any of them worked. I groaned, and shook my head, my messy mane getting in my eyes. I saw why Apple Bloom wore a bow, this mop was very thick and unruly.

I heard giggling from behind me “Geez Apple Bloom, I wasn’t expecting you to wipe out so fast!” a particularly orange chicken said to me, as she skated around me, surprisingly agile on the ice.

I looked back, and saw Sweetie Belle wobbling, but staying up decently. I groaned. So of course I had become the clumsy one. I had been doomed to clumsiness in my old life, and it seemed I was in my new one as well. Well, it could just be my unfamiliarity with my new form, but even still, Apple Bloom had always been the clumsiest of the CMC, so I didn’t expect to ever truly become dexterous.

“Yeah Apple Bloom! It’s not-woooah!-That hard!” Squeaked Sweetie Belle, her legs wobbling as she slowly scrabbled across the ice.

My legs shook as I struggled to rise, my hooves wobbling back and forth, each inch feeling more like a mile as I slowly rose to all four hooves, victorious! Ha! I could do this!

“Yeah!” I squealed in jubilation, and leaped into the air, realizing my mistake a moment too late, before falling back down and all four of my legs splaying in different directions, as I tried and failed to keep my balance upon the ice. I slipped and fell on my stomach, and once more experienced the unforgiving frost of the frozen water. My teeth shattered, and my face flushed. I chuffed in annoyance yet again, and looked over seeing Sweetie Belle giggling.

“Golly Apple Bloom, I’ve never seen a pony so clumsy as you!” The little marshmallow filly tittered, and I felt myself infected by her good mood, a smile breaking out on my face. I started to laugh through my chattering, as I wobbled back to my hooves, as Scootaloo skated over to help steady me. Soon, all three of us were giggling.

“Yeah, I s’pose I am pretty clumsy, aren’t ah?” I finally said, and put on a serious expression, ready to try my best to actually work at this. I mean, I knew that I wouldn’t be getting my cutie mark for ice skating seeing as I was destined to eventually get it in season five, whenever that was in this timeframe, but it would still be fun to try and get better at ice skating alongside my friends! After all, any time I got to spend with them was a good time...Wait, no, hang on. I was thinking of myself as Apple Bloom again, and that was not a good thing. Every second I felt myself identifying with this filly whose body I inhabited was a distraction from my ultimate goal of finding some way to reach my old world again. This was not my home, these were not truly my friends. But...What if they could be? Ugh, that just raised more questions. Why did my life have to be so confusing all of a sudden? I just wanted to go home!

No no no, I couldn'’t let myself fall into that sort of thinking, that was the wrong thing to do. I needed to stop focusing so much on the negatives of my situation, and take a while to enjoy myself. I deserved this! Getting hit by a truck gives you the excuse to goof off a bit, after all. I took another step forward, and almost fell over a third time.

“Gah! How do ya work these darn things?” I asked, stamping my hoof onto the ice and coming dangerously close to falling once more.

“It’s easy, watch! Just put one hoof in front of the other…” Scootaloo said, demonstrating, and then said “Next, you just gotta push yourself along, kinda….at an angle!” She then demonstrated that fact, gracefully gliding along the ice. My eyes widened as I witnessed her natural skill, and was struck by the unfairness of it all. The way the girls got their cutie marks in the show simply was not good. It was a travesty, honestly. They each had such good skills in other things, but they were shoehorned into the role of all doing the same thing, which was utterly ridiculous. I shook my head, and tried to copy Scootaloo’s movements.

“One hoof...In front uh the other…” I said, and slowly did just so, placing it down, and gently kicking out, gasping as I started to glide forward. “Hahah! Ah’m doin’ it! Ah’m doin’ it!” I cheered, and tried to put my other hoof in front of the first one “Now just gotta keep goi-Woah!” I yelped, tripping myself up under my own hoof, and flopping down onto my face, my chin impacting the ice with a whump. “Ow…” Once again, my headache returned. Dammit that was getting annoying. I needed to stop injuring myself. I wondered how long it would take this dreadful headache to go awa-

I was back. I was back in my world. I saw my own body, lying in a hospital bed, I was floating above it. It wasn’t breathing, I was intubated. There were all manner of tubes stuck inside me, and I was looking...not good, to say the least. My vision panned down, and I saw that both of my legs were simply gone. My head was wrapped up tightly in layers of gauze, and blood was soaking through said gauze. Yet this body was not mine, I was not inhabiting it...But that was me! I knew that face, as torn and bandaged as it was. No, this couldn’t be me, this couldn’t be me. This was utterly impossible, there was no way that this could be happening. If I was in such bad shape, how was I even alive? How had I survived? Oh good God I had to wake up, was I awake? Was this real life? Was I completely separated from the husk that lay in the bed, barely tethered to this mortal coil, alive in only the barest sense of the word? I couldn’t take it, I couldn’t ta-

I was back. I was back in Equestria, and I was Apple Bloom again, my headache fading. Oh God, this was not good. No no no, this was not good at all. If what I had seen was true, that phantom nightmare vision was in any way correct, then...Something was very wrong. I was a physical wreck, in what seemed to be a brain dead coma. Fuckity fucking fuck. I wanted to cry, but-

“Er, Apple Bloom, you alright? You got that weird look on your face again”

I looked up, and both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were staring at me. Scootaloo offered a hoof to help me up, and I took it. I shakily clambered to stand, hiccuping. I was crying, I could feel tears running down my cheeks.

“Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked, her melodic voice full of concern. “You alright? You’re crying!”

“Ah, uh…” I mumbled, wiping my cheek. “Ah was jus’....” I had no way to express how I felt, I didn’t know what to say. They’d think I was crazy if I mentioned what had happened to me. I shook my head. My headache was completely gone for the moment, though admittedly that was replaced by my pounding heart and shaking limbs. God I felt like a wreck, I didn’t know what to do, what to say. My thoughts were a tornado, I was unable to focus on any single branching path, I didn’t know what to do.

“Apple Bloom? You look like you’re about to throw up. Are you sick or somethin’?” Scootaloo said, nudging me gently. Her wings flittered nervously and rapidly, and she coughed quietly.

“Ah jus’...uh...Ah don’t know, ah was jus’ reminded uh somethin sad. Ah don’ really wanna talk about it” I said, sniffling and hiccuping again.

“Is it your paren-mff!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, before Scootaloo quite literally put her hoof in the filly’s mouth.

“She said she doesn’t want to talk about it!” Scootaloo said, before removing said hoof from Sweetie Belle’s oral cavity. Sweetie nodded, and slowly leaned forward, resting her head on my shoulder, before pulling me into a hug. I was suddenly pressed into Sweetie’s soft fluff, with my head leaning against her shoulder. I sniffled and almost instinctively nuzzled in, squeezing my eyes shut tight. I felt another hoof placed on my back, probably Scoots. I let out another hiccup; oh great, I had the hiccups too. I drew in a deep and shaky breath, trying to calm myself down. Admittedly this was made easier by the fact that I was so encapsulated in that marshmallow coat. I rasped out

“Th...thank ya girls...Thank ya so much,” and heard Sweetie Belle say

“Well hey, what are friends for?” She said, and bumped her nose against my cheek. I laughed, and slowly pulled back after just a few more selfish moments of that hug. That felt amazing, and I wiped my cheeks off, my tears finally stopping. I let my breath out; I hadn’t even realized I was holding in a breath.

“Y’all are the best friends ah could ask for, ya know that?”

Scootaloo blushed and waved me off, while Sweetie gasped and seemed to swell with happiness.

“Anyway, Ah’m ready to get back to tryin’ this stuff!” I said, standing up again, feeling just a bit more sure of my limbs. The two of them nodded, and soon enough I was back to falling all over myself on the ice. I wouldn’t give up, not until I was at least somewhat competent at this whole skating thing. Time seemed to slip away after this, and I did feel myself getting somewhat better at this whole thing with time. Well, better is a subjective term. I didn’t ever get what could be called ‘good’ at skating, but I did manage to stop falling down every five seconds. Eventually, me and Sweetie Belle ended up just sitting back and watching Scootaloo doing all manner of tricks on the ice, and she was happy to show off her agility. Her and I watched as Scootaloo stood on two legs, and twirled around on the ice, before she raised one hoof and jumped into the air, landing yet again on two hooves, and twirling round and round, before dropping back down to all fours and skating in a figure eight, stopping in front of us and taking a bow.

“Yeah! Go Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle cheered, and I in turn said

“Wow Scootaloo! That were amazin’! I ain’t ever seen nopony do a trick like that before!”

Well, I’d seen Rainbowdash do some cooler things in the show, but there was no reason not to make Scootaloo feel better about herself. It was really a neat trick, far beyond anything I or Sweetie Belle were capable of doing. I felt true pride in this pegasus filly who was my friend, and yes she was my friend and...Oh God why was I going in circles again? These damn mental circles I kept running myself in were getting tiring. Were the Cutie Mark Crusaders my friends or not? Well, they were fun to be around, and I definitely seemed to fit in among them as well as Apple Bloom had, so that was a plus. But the potential that I was still technically alive threw a wrench into this mix. It made my life just that much more difficult. My body was broken beyond belief in the real world. I’d lost both legs, and any other damage that was there I couldn’t see. It made me want to scream with the quandary I was facing.

I took another deep breath. I could think about all this tomorrow, right now I needed to focus on the now.

“Thanks! It just comes natural, I guess” Scootaloo said braggadociously, with a smirk on her face. She definitely was similar to Rainbow Dash in quite a few ways, including her boastfulness. “But seriously you two, means a lot to me that you guys think that.” she said, blushing and trying to play it off. That Scootaloo always tried to act just like her hero, didn’t she?

“Wish ah was that good at skatin’,” I said, kicking the snow, and then followed with “But watchin’ you is fun Scoots! Ah wonder if ya got yer cutie mark for it, you should check!”

She proceeded to whirl around and look, and show her flank, which was blank. Well, yeah that made sense. Sweetie Belle checked hers, and sure enough she got nothing either, I didn’t even bother looking at mine.
Alright, what was next? I needed to go see Twilight! Yeah. Not only could seeing her help me figure out what season this was, but also she might be able to help me figure out my situation. I could ask her about...What would be a good story for why I was needing to know about different worlds? Well I could just pretend to be curious, but why would I be curious about such a thing? The sun was still high in the sky, based on it’s position it looked to be around 3ish in the afternoon? I was never that good at telling the time based on the sun, but that’s what it looked like to me. My thoughts rambled on too much, I noted to myself.

“Alright girls, ah needed to go see Twilight an’ ask her somethin’. Y’all wanna come?” I asked, before Scootaloo said

“Nah, the meeting of the Rainbowdash fan club is today, and I definitely gotta be there seeing as I’m the leader and all!

“I need to dry off, some snow and ice got in my coat and is melting. Water makes me feel funny. And Rarity wanted me to help her with looking for more fabrics, sorry Apple Bloom”

Huh, that actually worked out pretty well, that meant I wouldn’t have to hint at Twilight what I meant when asking about different worlds. Still needed to figure out a reason as to why I would be curious about such a thing though. Ah well, I’d figure out a reason along the way. Together, the girls and I dropped off the skates back at Pinkie Pie’s room in Sugarcube Corner (And Mrs. Cake told me to tell Applejack thanks again for fixing up the roof so quickly). Afterwards, we said our goodbyes for now, and I trotted into the town center. Ah right. Where was Twilight’s house?

Fuck. I wandered around looking for either...It was either the library or her sparkly castle, and I really hoped it wasn’t her castle, because that would mean we were season five or later, and if we were in that time, then that meant that I had virtually no knowledge of things to come beyond a few episodes. I hadn’t even watched the episode where the CMC got their cutie marks, so I really had no hope for how to proceed here assuming we followed the show. Oh God, if the castle was here I would-oh!

I almost ran right into the Golden Oak library, and rubbed my head. Thank God, thank Faust, thank Ganesh, whoever was up there. This meant we were at least season four or earlier. Now all I had to do was knock on the door...Knock on...the door...I sat in front of the door apprehensively. Shoot, what was a good reason for me to be curious about different worlds? What would help, come on think...It’s not like I was known as a particularly erudite filly, I wasn’t dumb, but I had no reason to be pondering such high concepts as alternate realities.

And then the door opened and Twilight ran right into me, her face buried in a book.

“Gah!” she said, as she flopped over me, once more today I was knocked to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Man, that had to be some kind of record for times knocked down in a day or something. “Oh my gosh! I am so, so sorry! Sometimes I get so absorbed in a book I just don’t look where I’m going and...oh, hi Apple Bloom!”

I huffed, and said “Hi Twilight” as I extricated myself from under Miss Sparkle, and stood up, dusting myself off. I did a quick lookover of her. She had wings. Aw dammit, that’s what I was worried about. Okay so she had wings, and the library was still here. So we were probably season four-ish. That was something I could work with, but it still wasn’t ideal. Aw well, better than the alternative. “Twilight, ah was lookin’ fer you actually!” I said, my voice cracking on the ‘you’ . Had I thought yet about how much it sucked to be a child again? Good god it was annoying to deal with stuff like that.

“Oh! Well what’d you need Apple Bloom? I was just busy with this book on royal etiquette. It’s not really my thing, but I figure I should know it just because, well, you know.” She said. The book she was holding was a large thick leather bound volume titled On the Pracktices of Equestrian Nobility, It looked absolutely riveting.

“Ah’m sure that’s a very interestin’ book an’ all Twilight, but ah was jus’ wonderin’ if you had any books on, or uh knew anythin’ about different worlds?”

What the fuck did I just say? Did I really just blurt that out without any sort of build up? Did I have a brain injury? Well obviously I did, but did I as Apple Bloom have some sort of brain issue? I couldn’t believe I’d just outright said that without even having an explanation as to why I wondered about such a thing.

Twilight’s shocked expression as she stood up told me everything I needed to know. Oh God I had fucked up. This was bad, this was very very bad. I needed to deflect, I needed to figure out what to say. I stood there frozen, staring at her. Oh god no, she looked horrified! She knew! She knew something was wrong with me! Oh n-

“Er...Apple Bloom, why don’t you come inside with me?” She asked calmly, her expression smoothing out.

“S-sure thang Twilight!” I said, my voice stuttering just a bit despite my efforts to speak smoothly.

I followed her inside the treehouse, and she closed the door behind us. It had not been closed for a single second when she whirled around, and stared directly at me

“How do you know about the crystal mirror?!” She almost shouted in amazement.

Oh. OHHH! She thought that was what I meant.

“Wha? Crystal Mirror? What’s that?” It honestly sucked that Equestria Girls was canon, but at least it provided a deflection from any suspicions she might’ve had.

“Oh! Uh! It’s nothing. Haha...It was just something that happened to me a few months ago, uh...But I might have a few books like that. I didn’t think you liked fantasy books Apple Bloom!” She said cheerfully, humming as she started pulling books out of the shelves.

“No, ah was wonderin’ more about uh, different worlds as like a concept! Like, the possibility of there bein’ different worlds”

“Really? Wow Apple Bloom, I didn’t have you pegged for interest in stuff like that!”

Well, that hurt. I mean, she wasn’t being mean, but was she indirectly saying she thought that wasn’t intellectual enough to want to know about that kind of stuff? Nah, I was sure she didnt mean anything by it.

“Well yeah! Do yah have any books on the subject? Ah’m uh, tryin’ ta broaden my horizons, and ah think that ah might even be able to get mah cutie mark for scientific pursuits!”

“Eee!” she said, clapping her hooves excitedly, her horn sparking up with its familiar purple aura as she started to pull books from the shelves. “Sure!” She said cheerfully “Like this one, and this one, and this one, ooh and this!” She said, levitating out and dropping several large and heavy books directly on top of me

“Twilight wait! Ah can’t carry that much!” I cried out, raising my hooves above me for protection as I was suddenly crushed by almost half my body weight in books, falling upon me with several whumps.

“Oops,” I heard Twilight say from under my book mountain.

Author's Note

Well, here's chapter three. Feedback is always appreciated, and I hope you're enjoying the story so far, whoever you are!

Dusty Tomes

Twilight helped me out from underneath the colossal cascade of books that had fallen on me. She levitated them off me, as I pushed some others out of the way. There was definitely more than I was expecting there to be. I did notice however, a particular lack of an aching sensation. The books striking my head had not triggered another headache for once. So hopefully that meant that my constantly cropping up cranial injury was finally going away.

“Sorry Apple Bloom, you know how excited I get whenever anypony demonstrates an interest in studying! I’m just so excited! Even if this is a more theoretical realm of study, it’s still a great thing to want to learn! Well, I say theoretical despite uh-Well, let’s just say that it’s more than just theory!” She says with a little chuckle.

“Well yeah, ah get that Twilight. But ah’m a little confused, what makes you say that this stuff is more than just a theory?” I asked, tilting my head. Hopefully, I could bait her into telling me about her own studies into other dimensions. I was sure that a pony like Twilight would be interested in that sort of thing, especially considering that she had gone to another one herself. Admittedly her situation had been very different than mine, but still. It was the thought that counted.

Ugh, it made me sick to be manipulating ponies like this, especially Twilight. She’d been one of my favorites. Admittedly I wouldn’t have minded as much being displaced into Twilight. Wait, yes I would. That would’ve been even worse, Twilight has much more pressure on her than Apple Bloom does, and I’d have to learn how to deal with wings and a horn, although magic and flight would be really neat. Wait, this whole displacement thing was weird. If I was truly in Equestria, what had happened to the consciousness of the Apple Bloom that had been here before me? Had she been knocked out of her own body? Had she been placed into mine? That was...Oh good God. I didn’t want to think about that, I had to focus. Hopefully, if she HAD been put into mine, I’d figure out how to switch us back soon. I couldn’t doom Apple Bloom to my broken form. So...Yeah, if I had to go back to my own destroyed body to save a sweet filly like Apple Bloom, I definitely would do so.

“Anyway, let me just organize this for you…” She says, arraying the nine books in total into neat rows. They were all very thick and rather musty, and-”Ooh, this one’s Deeply Hidden by Swept Marell...Her work is seen as somewhat radical these days, but I like it...Ah, and here’s one by Neighlem Hay! He’s one of the first to ever come up with the idea, and he wrote on it even before the reign of the princesses Celestia and Luna!” My eyes bulged at the size of the dusty tome, it was thicker than my hoof and I could practically smell the age of the book. It was titled On Thay Forme Bye Yer Wird. Twilight opened the book and I looked inside it, and...I could read maybe one out of every five words

“Twilight, ah...Ah can’t read this” I said sheepishly, blinking a few times.

“What do you mean Apple Bloom? It’s just fairly simple…” she looked at it, squinting. “Oh! It’s in Old Equestrian...Right, that wasn’t spoken since before the reign of the Princesses...Haha, um...Let me see if I can find a modern translation for you, I can barely read this one myself” she said, and began humming as she pulled a few more books from the shelves…”Aha! Here we are. This one is a more modern translation” She said, placing a book that was almost as thick as the original in front of me, and this one was titlted On the Idea of Other Worlds. Well, that was definitely easier to comprehend, thank God.

"So Apple Bloom, what got you interested in this idea in the first place?" Twilight asked me, and I blinked a few times, having a few moments of inner turmoil on what to say, before my mind snapped to a good idea

"Oh! Well ya see Twilight, ah had a really weird dream last night about a different world! It was so interestin', I found myself wanting to try and figure out all I could.

"Well alright then Apple Bloom! If that's the case, then this one" she tapped her hoof on the large book written by an author who had supposedly died thousands of years ago "is definitely the place to start. It might be a little advanced for your age, but I'm here to help with any confusion you might have on certain words. Also please be careful, even this modern translation is really old, so the book is somewhat delicate"

I opened the book, and instantly squinted. The pages looked to be made of...what was this material? Parchment? Yeah, this book was definitely old. I sneezed as I accidentally inhaled a nose full of dust...Let’s see, there was a foreword by the pony who had done the translation, which I skipped...and then there was the actual meat of the book. I managed to read almost an entire paragraph before I felt my eyes drooping, and let out a yawn. Oh wow. I had never read a book as boring as this one before. I honestly could not believe how dull and monotonous this author was. Neighlem Hay, whoever that pony was, took the idea of travel between different worlds and somehow managed to suck every single drop of excitement out of it.

It was a grueling read, and I found myself constantly having to ask Twilight for help with some of the words (Admittedly, she was eager to help. Still, I gave up after about forty pages or so, and rubbed my eyes. Twilight was busy organizing some books herself, and I rubbed my temples with a groan. “Twilight, why’s this book so darn...well, difficult! Why’d this here author have to make it so….borin’!” I asked, tapping the book with a hoof. I almost giggled at a joke that popped up within my mind, though frankly it was too stupid to even give a second thought…

“Really Apple Bloom, I’m sure it’s not that bad, I mean I bet this book is really...Exciting…” she said, squinting at the words on the page as she read along. I folded my hooves across my chest as I sat back on my haunches. She blinked a few times, and finally shook her head. “I, uh. Wow. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book this…” she coughed, and muttered something that sounded like ‘stodgy’ “Before. It definitely doesn’t seem like your kind of book, I’m surprised you didn’t need any more help than you did with some of this language, this is a very advanced read! You must be pretty smart for your age Apple Bloom…Unless you didn’t ask a question every time you didn’t know something,” She said, and looked at me awkwardly. I had another inner dilemma here for a moment. Did I lie and act like I was, well, dumber than I actually was? It might be what Twilight expected out of Apple Bloom, but I really didn’t want to do that. Fuck it, I thought, and decided that I would be honest.

“Oh no Twilight, I’m pretty good with words, at least in books. Some a this stuff is just a bit too crazy though.” I said, gesturing at some of the words that were overtly pompous in tone and diction. I was looking at loquaciousness in particular. Why on Earth would you ever use that word, ridiculous.

“Well I’m glad to hear that Apple Bloom! Always makes me happy to see young fillies such as yourself embracing knowledge! And I’d also like to say that-” There was a resounding crash from somewhere outside the treehouse, and both Twilight and I jumped. My heart pounded in my chest once more, and I was abnormally aware of my own heartbeat. My heart seemed to be stuttering for a moment, as though it were skipping a few beats. Oh holy crap, that must’ve startled me more than I realized. I was a nervous wreck, barely being held together by my knowledge of this character from a television show, and my own (admittedly subpar) acting skills. Thankfully certain mannerisms came easily to me, mannerisms I had never expected to find myself being thankful for. A certain cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow mane burst through the window of the library.

“Twilight! We kinda have a big problem, one that definitely needs your help!” Rainbow said, and pointed outside “Like…right now!” She said, waving her forehooves in the air for expression as she sat half in and half out of the library.

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she nodded “Er, right! Coming! Apple Bloom, why don’t you go ahead and take that book with you, just be careful with it! You can come back later and I’ll help you!” Twilight then proceeded to move at a brisk trot out of the library, and Rainbow vacated the premises much quicker, and I was left all by myself once more, and I looked down with a grimace at the book I was left with. Well, this was just great.

I left outside, seeing Twilight and Rainbow flying off into the distance. I shook my head, wondering what on Earth...Or rather what on Equestria the problem was this time. I held the book in my mouth as I began to look for a nice and quiet spot to read. I eventually found an open patio behind what looked to be a furniture store, and sat down at a bench, opening the book and flipping a few pages ahead, blowing some dust off. I began to read…

The purview of the concept of differing parallel planes of existence in regard to our own is an idea that has previously not been given much thought. I find it quite odd, personally speaking, that few before me have given thoughts to this fanciful and enthralling postulation. In fact, looking back upon the works of great Equestrian classicists, I have not found one solitary philosopher or mage before me that has entertained this notion. Therefore, it falls to me to break new ground, which is admittedly a field that I am not familiar with, due to my lineage as a Unicorn rather than that of an Earth Pony. I will perform this task to the very best of my ability, and…

Okay I get it, you’re an author that’s full of themselves. How many pages did this guy go on for? I checked. The entire chapter was nothing but him blustering on about how he was a genius for being the first to come up with this idea, or at least the first to put quill to parchment. I skipped right over to the next chapter, and flipped a few pages in…

When one is conceptualizing this proposition, one must consider the following. All things happen for a reason, all things must partake in a balance, legendary being of chaos Discord notwithstanding. And to speak on Discord, and invite great risk in doing so, for there are tales that speak of the lord of chaos being able to hear whenever he is being mentioned, though this author believes those tales to be false, one of the many legends of Discord state that he inhabits a realm that makes no sense. A warped fabric of ether that does not conform to any natural state of being, a weeping avulsion in the normal order of things. Despite this flagrant disregard for mundane law, that would make such a place the prime candidate for exploration within the inquiry of-

I was suddenly jerked from my reading by high pitched snickering and chortling. I looked up, and saw a pair of Earth Pony fillies. One was pink, wearing a tiara, that looked almost exactly like her cutie mark. The other was grey, with a mane and tail that were lighter grey colored, and she was wearing pearls and a pair of glasses. Both of them had a sneering, malicious grin on their faces.

Oh for fuck’s sake.

Author's Note

This one took a good bit longer to write, I've been in a slump for a while, and I can't promise that more (and maybe longer) waiting times for new chapters won't occur. Anyone who cares to read this does have my word, however that I will try for at least one or two chapters a month, even during my worst cases of writer's block.