A Year In Manehatten

“‘Ya just gotta listen to me!” Apple Bloom begged, “Applejack has gone all fancy! She’s destoryin’ our clubhouse, saying horrible things about ‘ma and ‘pa, she all thinks we’re country bumpkins, whatever the hay that means! She’s crazy!”

Granny Smith shook her head, her back turned on Apple Bloom as she busied herself fixing supper, “What in tarnation has gotten into you, child? That there’s your sister, ‘ah know better than anypony you love her more than you love anypony else, and as I said before, you are gonna do good at making her feel welcome AND accepted now that she’s back home.”

“But Granny, ‘ah-”

“I know you’re upset about the clubhouse dearie, yes, that wasn’t a very nice thing for her to do, destroying somethin’ of yours without your permission, and I know you’re upset AJ has gone all fancy, but well, darling, ponies change. Someday, you will as well.”

“Cursadin’ and being with your friends may be on your mind now, but who knows? In a few years, you might start thinkin’ only about stallions.” She turned, winking at her, having been a little girl herself once back in the day.
“What?!”

“But that’s not all. Perhaps you’ll do what your great great uncle applesauce did when he was about your age: Dye his mane black, get so many piercings that he was more metal than pony, listen to angry music, and be miserable all the time.” She chuckled.

“Granny! You ain’t listenin’ to me!” Apple Bloom snapped, “This isn’t just some typical phase, Applejack actually believes she’s a Manehattenet, but she ain’t! She’s an apple, and that thing out there ain’t an apple!”

“Now really, darling. How bad could she really be? I’m still there’s a smidge of the old Applejack still in there.” Granny Smith said, retreating from the stove to start lecturing her kin again, but just as she did, the door to the kitchen leading outside opened, and all at once their jaws hit the floor at the sight.

Applejack strutted in, not wearing a dress like she usually did now, instead wearing her usual jewelry. She hardly had anything flashy or fancy on her, except for that ridiculous manedo. She was almost nearly donning her natural look. There was one thing though that told Apple Bloom that she was far from natural, that she had done something horrible, awful, irreversible, forever rendering her a member of the Apple family no longer.

“Your cutie mark!!”

Apple Bloom gawked at her sister’s new blank flank, remembering those years ago when she too was a blank flank and constantly teased at school because of it. Getting her cutie mark was the best day of her life, and she knew that was yet another thing she had in common with her sister. Their cutie marks told a story of key moments of their life. Of family and friendship. Now that story was permanently gone, and in its place, a blank flank with stitches hardly even visible, she had to squint to see them!

“Oh great Celestia… What did ‘ya do?”

Applejack came closer, walking like a pony on a catwalk as she showed her blank flank, “‘Ah had it removed, of course! Cutie marks are so last year. Don’t I look so natural?”

“Oh dearie me!” Granny shouted, “Your freckles!”

Apple Bloom gasped one more time as she saw that her freckles were indeed also nowhere to be seen. Praying that she was using some really good makeup or something, Apple Bloom reached forward and rubbed her sister’s face, hoping to wipe that mess away, but no matter what she did, nothing came out.

“I had those removed too, darling. A strong chemical peel and some magic from a very talented unicorn. I hardly felt a thing.” She batted her eyes, “What do you think?”

Granny Smith answered by promptly fainting on the spot, and Apple Bloom too thought a nice nap on the floor would be a good way to cope with this situation. “Why did ‘ya do it?” Apple Bloom said through shock and fury, “Why did ‘ya remove your cutie mark? How could you ever do that?! Of all the foolish, stupid, nonsensical stunts you could’ve pulled, this is what you do?”

Applejack shrugged, “Oh relax, darling. It’ll come back. The surgery is still relatively new.”

Apple Bloom almost spat, “You will not ‘get another one,’ DARLING. Everypony gets ONE cutie mark, and that’s it. ‘Ah’m glad to see that our family means so little to you.” She turned away, the thought of even seeing her sister revolted her.

“Darling, me not having my cutie mark doesn’t mean I am not a part of this family anymore, that’s just silly. Abd besides, if I ever want it back, tattoos are always an option, I heard of this experimental treatment where the ink is applied magically so it never fades. I even-”

“SHUT YOUR TRAP!!” Apple Bloom yelled, nearly stepping on her comatose grandmother as she walked towards Applejack, her eyes balls of fire as she unleashed all of that pent-up anger at her sister, “Don’t ‘ya get it?! Our cutie marks are more than our special talents in this family. They’re marks. They’re the mark of a pony from the Apple family. With yours gone, you know what that means? You’re no longer a part of this family, you’re done. You’re the odd one out.”

Applejack’s brows furrowed in an emotion she never thought she would see again from her: Anger. “Well fine!” She turned around, hitting her with her tail. She cringed as she saw the spots on her flank where the cutie marks should have been, “If ‘ah’m honest, all of my friends in Manehatten told me to stay there forever, but do you know what ‘ah told them? No!

‘ah told them no!”

In her anger, her southern accent slowly crept back into her voice.

“...And what a mistake that was! Ya’ll are just a bunch of good-for-nothin’ country folk who live paycheck to paycheck, workin’ hard when you can have other ponies do it for ‘ya. Well, I’ll tell you what. This ain’t the place for me. I belong in Manehatten.”

“FINE!!” Apple Bloom screamed, “Then go back to Manehatten, see if we care!”

“Thank you for the invitation, I was going to do just that!” She muttered something under her breath as she walked towards the door.

“‘Ah beg your pardon?!”

“‘Ah said: ‘Stubborn blank flank!’”

Apple Bloom gasped, suddenly taken back to those times back in school when other ponies pointed and laughed at her for being a blank flank, egged on by those two bullies. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she’d hear it from AJ.

“Hmph.” Applejack turned her head as she walked outside. Slamming the door shut, she never returned again.

At last, Granny Smith came to. Any other pony would be worried if their elderly relative straight up just fainted, but Apple Bloom was not concerned, Granny Smith always fainted when something like that happened. It’s why they didn’t have a television anymore, “What happened? Where did she go?”

“She’s gone, granny…” Apple Bloom said dejectedly, “She said she’s goin’ back to Manehatten.”

“Oh dear…” Granny Smith shook her head, “This reminds me of the time your mother went through something similar.”

Apple Bloom perked up, excited at the prospect of a possible fix to this, her grandmother was a little strange, but she had been around the longest, maybe she had an idea that Apple Bloom didn’t, “What did you do?”

“Nothin.’ I just waited a week and she grew out of it when she started working on the orchard again. I guess that ain’t going to work here…”

Well, that’s helpful. Suddenly, Apple Bloom got an idea. She grew out of it when she started working on the orchard again… “That’s it!” Granny Smith jumped at her sudden proclamation, “We just need to teach her the apple family way again! There’s nothin’ in this world that gives AJ more joy than good, honest work. We just gotta show her that!”

Granny Smith thought about this for a moment or two, the dismay on her face replaced with determination when she concluded that it just might work, “By golly, child, you’re right. Come on, let’s go reteach that filly what it means to be an apple.”

“O-Oh! Now? But ‘ah got homework!”

“We ain’t got time! Just tell them the dog ate it, come on, let’s ride like the wind!”

Grabbing her cane, she prepared to take off, and with a deep breath, she veeeery slowly began stepping towards the door…