A Year In Manehatten

After lunch, Applejack excused herself to go and unpack. She went to her room and didn’t come back until supper time, where she quietly ate her food and talked about her time in Manehatten, reminiscing about the memories she made there. Apple Bloom didn’t listen to a single word, she didn’t care what this imposter had to say. She had convinced herself that this pony was not her sister. Maybe she was a changeling, or maybe she was playing a prank on her like she originally thought, whatever it was, it wasn’t very funny.

When she did decide to listen, she was greeted with tales of going to parties, wine tastings, living in a fancy home, walking into a boutique and walking out of there with countless dresses, makeovers, spa visits, skincare routines, dieting, even the idea of a potential cutie mark removal surgery to give her a more natural look, which according to her, was a fashion craze at that moment, having one’s cutie mark removed.

Every word she heard further convinced her that Applejack was a changed mare. Granny Smith was very interested, but that was nothing new, she’d listen to any of her children, and Big Mac didn’t contribute much other than a nod every time she turned her head in his direction. Finally, dinner was over, and usually around this time of night, the family would remain together for an hour more, doing something fun together like just talking or playing a game. Fortunately for Apple Bloom, Applejack decided to excuse herself to get ready for bed, which Granny Smith happily agreed with, seeing as she had quite a long trip. Normally, Apple Bloom herself liked to stay up a little bit longer than she was allowed to in secret to draw, but tonight she couldn’t wait to get to bed. The sooner she went to bed, the sooner she would find out whether or not this was just a bad dream or a horrible new reality where her sister she loved was gone and replaced with this city mare.

As she laid her tired head on the soft pillow, her body under the covers, her eyes met a photo of her and Applejack on her wall. It was a picture of them together during cider season. She remembered that day, it was the day they had almost lost their farm and their home after those two businessponies came by with a giant hunk of junk that would make cider in seconds, effectively making the family unnecessary.

Apple Bloom reached her hoof out and turned off the lamp, turning her back towards the picture and casting it out of her mind. Though she was angry, Apple Bloom truly hoped that when she woke up tomorrow, they would go back to the train station, and the country mare would get off that train like she was supposed to…

The next morning, Apple Bloom woke up not to Applejack nudging her awake to get ready for school, but to nothing at all. Sunlight shone in her eyes, and Apple Bloom woke up from a dreamless sleep. Covering her head with the blanket, she enjoyed one last moment of warmth and safety in bed. In a minute, Applejack would come in and wake her up. Might as well get up.

Apple Bloom yawned, pushing the protective covers off of her, her head turning to the clock like usual. When she saw the time, however, her eyes almost popped out of her head with how wide she raised her brows.

9:42! She was late! Applejack must’ve forgotten!!

Her mane still a mess from her rest, Apple Bloom hurried out of bed and downstairs to the dining room, however instead of finding some breakfast she hoped to quickly inhale before leaving, she found…

“Apple Bloom, sweetheart! There you are!”

Apple Bloom found the dining room filled with Applejack and three unfamiliar mares, all around AJ’s age, and dressed similarly to them as well. One of them was a white unicorn with a mane so long that Apple Bloom knew it couldn’t be natural. The other was a pegasus the color of earth. She was lithe and skinny, thin as a promise.

“What’s this all about, sis?” Apple Bloom asked, ignoring the company as she made her way to the pantry for some cereal.

“Oh, nothing much, just a little get-together.” Applejack said, smiling at her as she left the pantry, “This is Beauty Mark, and this is Glorious.” She pointed to the unicorn and the pegasus respectively. They both gave her cheerful little smiles. Apple Bloom uncomfortably made her way towards her saddlebag left by the door, taking the box of cereal with her.

“Very nice to meet ya’ll!” Apple Bloom said, picking up her saddlebag, trying to sound as genuine as possible, “But ‘ah got to go to school, so if ‘ya don’t mind…”

“Ya’ll.” Beauty Mark giggled, mimicking her accent, “isn’t she just adorable.”

“I know, right? I don’t know where she gets it from.” Applejack said.

Apple Bloom frowned, glaring daggers at her, “That ain’t true and you know it! You had an accent too, y’know! It used to be so bad ‘ya got angry when ponies couldn’t understand ya!”

Her friends looked at Applejack, who smiled as she waved a hoof, “Oh, she’s talking about the days when I worked and dressed like a beatnik.”

Beauty Mark chuckled “Work?”

“I know!” Said Applejack, “I have no idea what I was thinking! It was probably my parents.”

“You really should have left a lot sooner, darling. Don’t your parents know how unbecoming it is for a mare to work?”

As they all laughed, Apple Bloom made her escape, bringing the box of cereal with her, thankful she had packed extra snacks for lunch the previous night…

Apple Bloom got lucky. She had a substitute teacher that day, and this one didn’t seem to be very interested in actually teaching. The teacher hardly even looked up from her book as she walked inside the classroom. Nonchalantly walking to her desk, she sat down at her seat sighing in relief.

The two young ponies sitting next to her, her very best friends who had all earned their cutie marks together, scooted closer to her so they could carry out a conversation without making too much noise. Apple Bloom didn’t even notice them when one of them spoke.

“What's goin’ on? Why are you so late?” Sweetie Belle asked in a whisper. The unicorn had changed her appearance somewhat as well. She wore golden studded earrings in each ear, and small curved brown glasses after she found out she was far-sighted, which led to bullying and a friendship lesson when she first got them. “You’ve never been late before! You know how strict your sister is about being punctual.”

“You said it. You’re lucky we have a sub today. That old stallion would have your tail off if you showed up late without an excuse.” Said Scootaloo, the pegasus of the pack. Nothing much changed about her, except she was fairly skinnier in comparison to the other two ponies. Her wings had grown larger as well, but she could still not fly. Ponies were certain she would never fly.

Apple Bloom sighed, placing her saddlebag on the desk. She had been longing to collect her thoughts for so long, that she found she was actually glad to be at school. With her two friends waiting for a simple explanation, she almost wanted to hide what was going on, but these were her friends. She never kept secrets from them. So with all of them gathered together, Apple Bloom told them everything that happened.

To nobody’s surprise, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were dumbfounded. They knew Applejack well, lots of ponies did, and to hear she had changed like this was boggling to them! It didn’t feel good to relieve it all again, but in the end, Apple Bloom was glad to get it off her chest.

“Maybe she’ll get over it?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“‘Ah don’t think so.” Apple Bloom said, her head sitting defeated on the desk, “She really thinks she’s some… Fancy-Schmancy tea-drinkin’ pretty mare. She’s forgotten everythin’ about bein’ honest and loyal, she’s forgotten all about her family or about how we live, just this mornin’ I found her in the dining room chattin’ it away! They’re probably still there right now!”

“Maybe she’s under a magic spell or something?” Scootaloo suggested.

“I doubt it. If I was living in a different place for that long, I’d probably pick up some things too.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yeah. Like, if I stayed at your place, Apple Bloom, and did all the stuff you did, buck apples, do farm pony stuff, and talk in an accent for a while, some of that would probably stick with me.” Scootaloo’s eyes glowed.

“Why do so many folks have problems with my accent!! I don’t got no accent!!” Apple Bloom glanced at both of her friends, realizing she had said that far too loud. The substitute didn’t seem to mind, having decided to take a nap while they were supposed to be teaching. Apple Bloom put her head on the desk, and Sweetie Belle put her hoof around her, nudging her cheek.

“I’m sorry, Apple Bloom. That must be really hard for you. I know how much you love Applejack.”

“‘Ah hate it.” She muttered. “‘Ah hate it that my family don’t seem to care, they all pretend it’s normal but it ain’t!”

Scootaloo looked away, unsure of what to say, meanwhile, Sweetie Belle kept offering comforting words. Sweetie Belle always knew what to say to her friends whenever they were feeling down, but today even Apple Bloom didn’t want to hear what to say. Nothing she said would ever bring her sister back to who she was before. If only she knew more magic, but even then, it felt to Apple Bloom that no matter what she did, her sister would never return. When her friends realized that Apple Bloom was not in the mood to talk, they left her alone, hoping that all she needed was to be left alone.

The school day dragged on as it usually did. Another teacher found their substitute still napping, and they were promptly escorted out of the classroom, and the students were sent home early for the day. Apple Bloom walked home with her friends, and it was during that time they started to talk about other things, leaving Apple Bloom’s problem behind. It was just the distraction she needed, and when they reached the orchard, Apple Bloom was far less bummed out than before. It was a nice day, and the little ponies had a day to do whatever they wanted. Who could ever ask for more?

Hurrying behind the barn and deep into the rows of apple trees, the girls spotted their clubhouse in the distance. Back when they were little, they had restored it to a base of operations for when they were on their crusade for their marks. With their blank-flank cards revoked, their secret society wasn’t needed anymore, but the clubhouse remained. It was their escape, their home away from home (and for one of them, pretty much their only home.) As they neared, however, Sweetie Belle stopped. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were slowly walking ahead, focusing on each other as they happily joked around, completely missing the sight in front of them.

“Our clubhouse!” Sweetie Belle shrieked.

“Huh?” Apple Bloom finally looked up, gasping as she saw the construction ponies dismantling the treehouse bit by bit, two of them hauling out all of their stuff, and standing on a blanket, watching them work, was none other than… “What in tarnation are you doin’?!”

Dropping her saddlebag as quick as a flash, Apple Bloom raced over, her friends galloping behind them. At the sight of the unfamiliar mares, the construction ponies stopped just as one of them, a unicorn, tore off a chunk of the roof with his magic, placing it down on the grass.

“What the hay are you doin’!? This is our clubhouse, ya can’t tear it down!!” Apple Bloom yelled, turning to her sister, “Get them to stop, sis!”

Applejack looked at her with utter confusion, like she had completely forgotten all the sleepovers Apple Bloom and her friends had there, or those long hot summer days they had spent planning intricate schemes to try and find their special talents. “Whatever for?” She said, “Surely you don’t have a use for it anymore, you aren’t little fillies anymore!”

“We are still fillies! I only just started middle school a few weeks ago!” Apple Bloom protested.

As the conversation evolved into an argument, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked on in shock. Not at the argument, but at the sight of the pony before her. AB was right. She was a changed pony.

“O-Oh wow.” Sweetie Belle said.

“H-How do you even get your mane to look like that?” Scootaloo asked, leaning over to Sweetie Belle to whisper: “Do ya think she could put stuff in there?”

“What do ya even need with our clubhouse? What use could you ever get from here?!” Apple Bloom shouted.

Applejack shrugged, “I was thinking of turning it into a little lounge. All this nature and sun is dreadful, a nice place out here would improve this dreadful wasteland quite a bit, wouldn’t you say?”

“We’ll don’t!” Apple Bloom said, “This is our clubhouse! You gave it to us! You played in it when you were our age!”

Applejack snorted, “And what a right proper mistake that was. Honestly. What got into me as a child? In fact, why was I cursed by country bumpkins as parents? I should’ve been sent to Manehatten when I belong.”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!” Apple Bloom cried. Noticing her cue to step in. Sweetie Belle used her magic to grab her friend’s ponytail to hold her back to buy her some time to wrap her hooves around her to restrain her.

“Apple Bloom, take it easy!” Sweetie Belle said, fighting to pull the earth pony away to keep her from attacking her sister.

“Ya take that back!! You take that back about ‘ma and ‘pa, you-you snooty little-” Sweetie Belle’s hoof covered her mouth before she could say anything more that she may regret. As she was dragged away by her two friends, Applejack merely watched in confusion, like she had no idea what she had done that was so bad, and that only made Apple Bloom’s anger worse. Not Sweetie Belle’s iron grip keeping her from bucking her sister all the way to the Crystal Empire, but the fact that her sister’s brain was so clouded by the Manehatten ways that she couldn’t even see the thing she knew she valued the most.

With her sister out of sight, and her anger mostly spent, extinguished like a candle out of wax, Apple Bloom escorted her friends back to her home and into her bedroom. All sitting in a circle on Apple Bloom’s bed, they all tried to mend their friend’s mood.

“I know!” Scootaloo said, “Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner and eat until we throw up!”

“You’re not helping, Scootaloo.” Sweetie Belle said, using her magic to float a tissue toward Apple Bloom’s teary eyes, “Could you find us a new box of tissues? This one is starting to run out.”

Scootaloo nodded, Apple Bloom looked up, watching the blurry figure of Scootaloo race out the door which had been left open a crack. Apple Bloom blinked the tears from her eyes, and said in a shaky voice: “S-Sweetie Belle?”

“Yes?”

“...Ah’m awfully sorry she tore down our clubhouse.” She sobbed.

Sweetie Belle gasped, her body instinctively coming closer to comfort her friend, “Oh, Apple Bloom. You know we don’t care about the clubhouse. Right now we care about you.”

She shook her head, “B-But all our best memories and stuff. We made it all there… We got our cutie marks thanks to the work we did here! And now it’s gone… Ah’m so sorry…”

“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle scolded, “That clubhouse doesn’t matter. Sure, it was pretty cool, I’ll admit, but our friendship is more important! Look!” She pointed at her cutie mark, “This is a reflection of everything we’ve ever done together! The clubhouse is just an object, this cutie mark is forever, okay?”

She gave her the biggest hug she could give, squeezing tightly as if she were trying to wring the sadness out of her. Apple Bloom cried in her arms, feeling guilt… but also relief. Relief that her friends once again had her back… She didn’t deserve them, they were too good for a pony like her…

Sweetie Belle pulled away, wiping her tears away with a hoof, “Don’t be sad, Apple Bloom. We’re going to find a way out of this together, okay?”

Apple Bloom nodded, holding Sweetie’s hoof, filled with the newfound hope that maybe they could fix this problem, just the three of them.

“Oh bother.” Suddenly the door creaked open, and Scootaloo came back in, a box of tissues on her head, “I leave you alone for two minutes and you’re both holding hooves? Great.” Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie Belle with a smile as Scootaloo stuck out her tongue.