Chapter 6

Dinner was… awkward.

You finished your food, thanked them for feeding you, and promptly got out of there before any more chaos could unfold. As you exit, however, tons of things are running through your head…

So you were right after all… Applebloom DOES like Anon…

…Wait, why are you concerned about this? It’s not like you like him, or anything…

But he’s still pretty awesome…

Dang it, Scoots, this isn’t the time to be thinking about that kind of stuff!

You need to get back home… To the treehouse…

You unfold your wings, leaping up into the air and hovering, albeit slowly, towards the treehouse as your mind swam through all sorts of different things…

Where did Applebloom go when she left? You hope she doesn’t get into too much trouble…

As you approach the treehouse, you can hear sobbing coming from nearby. You turn your head towards the sound, and that’s when you see her…

Applebloom’s a complete emotional wreck. Tears streaming down her face, she’s taken to curling up against a tree to bury her face in her hooves. In the moonlight, you can make out deep, ingrained hoof imprints in the bark. As your eyes wander lower on the tree, you see they become gradually less forceful and a lot more moistened.

You silently land and walk over to her; she hears your hoof-falls along the grass, and she turns to look at you, pain and anguish evident in her eyes.

Her voice is a bit quivered, but you can still hear her fiery spirit in it. “Wh… what d’ya want, Scootaloo? Ah’m not in th’ best mood t’ be doin’ anythin’ right ‘bout now…” she chokes out, hiccupping a bit as she collects herself.

“Applebloom…” You hate seeing your friend like this. Applebloom’s always been the strong, sturdy one, always having a shoulder for you to rest on. But now… now she doesn’t look like she can even support herself at this point…

“C’mon Applebloom, pull yourself together…” You try to act tough at this point, trying to put a smile on her face, but it doesn’t seem to be working too well…

“Look, Applebloom… why are ya acting like this? You never get so worked up like this from what I remember…”

“Yeah, well…” she glares up at you, “Maybe it’s hard work bein’ so supportive o’ ponies all the time! Havin’ t’ worry ‘bout their problems, an’ then when ah got some troubles m’self, nopony’s gonna be there fer me…” she goes back to sobbing, “Ah love ‘im, Scootaloo… what’s wrong with me?”

You bite your lip and hesitate a bit before responding. No, you don’t want to admit it to her, not here, not now…

“There’s nothing wrong with ya, Applebloom…” You sit down next to her, placing a hoof lightly on her back. “There’s a lotta stuff I don’t know, especially when it comes to your big sister and Anon butting heads at every turn, but… there’s gotta be some good reason for it beyond just not wanting to do… well, you know.”

Applebloom sniffles a bit, before rubbing her eyes with her hooves and sitting up. “There… there is,” she says, looking at the ground. “Anon and sis, they…” she pauses briefly, before continuing. “Th… they din’t exactly break up on the nicest o’ terms…”

Her voice is still quivering a bit, but you can tell it’s getting better. You keep your hoof on her shoulder all the same through this. “He… he an’ mah sis were like two seeds in an apple, but…” She shifts a bit, “Then he started hangin’ out with Rainbow Dash a lot…”

You don’t really understand the apple simile, but you can assume from what she was saying what happened…

“So she got jealous of Anon hanging around Rainbow all the time…?”

Applebloom nods, sniffling a bit. “It was real bad, Scoots… She confronted ‘im on it, and…” she pauses, “There was a lot of yelling, ah don’ think ah ever heard Big Mac’s voice ever be that loud…”

That sent a literal shiver up your spine. “So what… happened…?”

Applebloom shakes her head. “Ah… ah don’t wanna talk ‘bout it anymore, Scoots,” she says, turning to look at you. “Thanks fer bein’ there fer me, though. Yer a real friend, y’know?” she smiles weakly at you, the wet streaks on her cheeks still visible in the moonlight.

“Y-yeah, no problem.”

“…Hey, Scoots?”

“Yeah?”

“D’ya mind if ah come in an’ sleep in th’ treehouse tonight? Ah dunno if ah feel very comfortable sleepin’ in mah room tonight.”

You smile at her. “Sure. C’mon, it’s starting to get late.” You and Applebloom quickly make your way inside the treehouse, turning the light on so you’re not in complete darkness.

That light doesn’t last long, however; the two of you eventually find that you’ve exerted yourselves a lot more than you had realized. A hard day’s work, a hearty meal, some heavy emotional stuff going down afterwards, and the two of you decide to just go ahead and call it a day.

“Ya don’t mind if we share th’ same bed, right Scoots…?” Applebloom looks to you, smiling nervously. “There’s not really anywhere else t’ sleep an’ the floor ain’t exactly what most would call ‘comfortable’…”

You shake your head. “Of course not, Applebloom! C’mon, we’re both friends, after all!”

She smiles back at you, nodding before hopping up onto the bed. “Thanks Scoots, ah owe ya one,” she says, laying down on it, making sure that you have enough room to sleep as well.

You flip off the light, slipping under the covers.

“G’night, Scoots,” she mumbles out, and that’s the last you hear from her before she drifts off to sleep.

But that’s not when you fall asleep, though. Oh no, there’s just too much running through your head all at once to warrant a peaceful night’s sleep. So it looks like there was more to that then you knew…

First Applejack and Anon were together, and then they got broken up from his hanging out with Rainbow Dash, now Applebloom has a crush on him, and that’s creating a lot of tension between her and her sister, and all of this just because he wouldn’t go further with her sister…

…Gah! This is too much for you to handle… At least for tonight…

Maybe things will get better with time… probably best to just stay out of it for now…

Yeah… maybe…

Three months have passed since that night. Summer is nearing its end, and soon you’ll be starting work in Ponyville…

But... who do you work for? More importantly, how will you be able to balance hanging out with your friends, and work at the same time?

Something to consider when looking…

End Chapter 6

Author's Note

Sorry this is much shorter than previous chapters, but I at least wanted to get through the night and to the time skip, and this seemed like the most appropriate point at which to end this chapter. Give you a taste, but not the main course, if you will.

Stay tuned. After all, a lot can happen in three months' time...

~Wuten, the King of Spaghetti