Twisted

CHAPTER FOUR

Sweetie Belle's eyes opened slowly. She lifted her head, which was sticking a bit to the blanket on her bed. She rubbed some semi-dry blood off of her face and looked around her room. Her eyes landed on the broken mirror. The disapointed filly sighed slowly and pulled herself up slowly. Her stomach growled and rumbled in aching pain. She absolutely had to feed herself, no matter how much Rarity resented it. The filly got out of bed and walked slowly to the kitchen.

Rarity was in the other room, opening windows to let fresh air in. Somehow she was still sleepy and needed more light. Sadly, windows didn't provide. She tried to shout,

"IDEE-" sut she wound up nearly hacking up a lung part way through. She couldn't sing anymore, couldn't even sing-talk. Wouldn't have mattered, she no longer had her soft voice, but rather, a gravelly one. That was simply a side effect of stomach acid constantly barreling up her throat. Regardless, she yelled to Sweetie Belle,

"Sweetie Belle, I'm off to check up on Rainbow Dash's meal!"

Rarity trotted out the front door, humming a tune. It didn't take long for her to get across town, and when she arrived she saw the crushed boxes on the ground but thought nothing of it. She simply lacked the capacity to think anymore. Such were the pitfalls of sleep deprivation.

"Rainbow?" she yelled. No response. "Rainbow Dash?!" she yelled again, more commanding this time. Still no response. She gathered all her remaining mental faculties and managed to piece together Rainbow not responding. Oh well, perhaps it was time to stop by and see another friend. Perhaps Applejack would appreciate her company!

Applejack was still standing alone in the field, simply feeling time pass. The sun was suddenly high in the sky and the smell only grew worse as time passed.

"Applejack? Kin you wait a second?"

It was Apple Bloom. While it was true that the family had drifted apart and no longer interacted with each other quite the same way as they used to, deep down underneath all of their problems they wanted to fix things. She turned to acknowledge her sister, whose eyes appeared to be teary. Luckily today Applejack only felt energetic above all else.

"Well howdy, Applebloom, Ah thought you were havin' a nap. Ah can't talk for long, sugarcube, Ah'm mighty busy," her words were spouted with incredible speed and in a sporadic nature. With each syllable her figure shook and jerked. She was clearly on edge. But she was still, for the most part, herself. Her eyes darted back to the house then back to her sister. "Ya alraht hun?"

"Ah know you're always very busy. We kin work while we talk." Apple Bloom quickly dried her eyes before walking along with her sister who started walking towards a further section of apples. "Ah bin thinkin' as of late. Actually, Ah bin thinkin' a lot. Maybe a lil' too much, but Ah've come t' re'lize how much of a selfish pony Ah've binn lately. Bin worryin' too much 'bout myself an' not 'bout the fam'ly. But Ah've come t' re'lize what this is doin' t' ya," she tried not to stare at Applejack's bandages, and she did not look at her eyes, "Ah need t' help ya, Ah'm not a filly no more and Ah could be of some use t' ya on the orchards. Ah see that the more Ah help here, the less you'll have ta push yourself and ya won't have t' take those uppers no more."

Looking at the old family house, Apple Bloom felt a million more ideas come to life.

"Ah even know how t' fix the old house up a bit!" she grinned at her sister happily and skipped along beside her, "We kin get the crops back under control an' fix up the house. Big Mac ain't well enough yet fer apple-buckin', but he could always sell apples at our stand. Ah know he's been sorta scared t' head back t' town after Miss Cheerilee broke up with him, but he needs t' get out an' we need t' fix things an' make 'em right! Our friends are sufferin', Applejack. Ah saw you with Pinkie an' Ah re'lized jus' how much they need us. The Apple family has always been the heart of Ponyville, an' when Granny died Ponyville nearly died with her. Can we do this sis?"

Apple Bloom's eyes grew very large for a bit as she bit her bottom lip and nervously waited for her sister to reply. Applejack looked back her sister from their stroll. The words "can we do this sis?" rang in her ears. She knew she had to answer, but it wasn't as simple as yes or no.

"Ah know ya mean well Apple Bloom, but Ah jus' can't risk it. What if ya get hurt? Then here is us, bang! Straight back t' square one!"

There was no easy way to break this news to Apple Bloom, she wanted to make a difference with all of her heart. But Applejack just couldn't bring herself to throw her sister back into the firing line.

"Ah re'lize that we're fightin' an up hill battle. But Big Mac is gettin' better an' ah'm doin' fahn. And don't ya worry 'bout them uppers, they help me work." she had no problem breaking others truths to them. But honesty about her own state was just a little far out of her reach.

Applejack gritted her teeth and looked her sister square in the eye. She was unsure how Apple Bloom was going to retort, but she was sure this wasn't the end of their exchange. The thought now residing in the back of her sub-conscious. Maybe they could make it work. Maybe.

Apple Bloom cringed a little when her older sister looked her directly in the eyes. She wanted to turn away but she needed to show Applejack that she was serious.

"Ah made up mah mind big sis," she hated how her sibling looked. Her once bright green eyes were now barely noticeable with all the bloodshot seeping in. "Ah'm helpin' if ya want me or not. I kin apple-buck with ya fer a lil' bit, an' then take a good look at the family house. Ah don't want it t' fall on you and Big Mac. Ah've also bin makin' some extra bits sellin' mah inventions an' even worked on the old schoolhouse a few months ago."

After Cheerilee left Ponyville, Apple Bloom's Great Aunt Krabapple took over the small school. Unlike the previous teacher, she was much older, and nastier, but still a decent school-mistress. The earth pony was quite proud of herself once she was finished. The school looked like it used to when she and her friends attended. Her mood quickly soured when she caught sight of Rarity as she passed by.

"We kin apple-buck together, an' talk some more," Apple Bloom suggested, "the house looks awful, sis. Ah kin see about maybe havin' Rumble an' Lemon Daze over t' help me."

Applejack noticed her little sister had been seeing more of the young Pegasus stallion as of lately. She even caught the two together in her little work-hut a few weeks ago, but to the older earth pony's disappointment they were messing around with a series of 'gadgets' as opposed to messing around with each other.

"Have you seen any of your old friends?" Apple Bloom asked as they started to walk once more, "'Saw Rarity when Ah was workin' on the school and she looked bad. Ah know both Twahlaht an' Fluttershy have gone into full hermit mode an' I ain't seen Rainbow Dash either. Ah saw Pinkie lurkin' this mornin'. Not sure what t' make of that. She jus' looked all wahld, lahk an animal with rabies. Prolly should keep away from her for the tahm bein'."

She stopped for a moment.

"Applejack! Applejack, darling, where are you?"

"Big sis? Ya hear that?" her ears perked up a little as she looked around, "Ah think Ah hear Rarity callin' ya."

Sweetie Belle dug through the refrigerator, watching her bedraggled sister leave. There simply was nothing to eat, either because of Rarity's habits or the fact that Rarity had prepared the enormous breakfast for Rainbow Dash that morning. Finally Sweetie Belle found two puny apples, badly bruised, at the bottom of a drawer. She supposed that would suffice for the current moment, and she took a knife out of a nearby drawer. She sliced the bruises off best she could and threw them out, carrying the two apples back to her room and biting into them. They were very sour, but Sweetie Belle was too hungry to care. She layed down in bed again and picked up the latest Daring Do book from her nightstand: "The Tale of the Crimson Captor". It was a thrilling read, and the lavender maned filly was suddenly in a brand new world. Every world seemed better than her own. When she finished both apples she threw the cores out, closed her book, and trotted outside for a bit of fresh air. She wondered to herself if Princess Celestia still cared for the miserable ponies here. Especially Twilight Sparkle, her very own student. Considering the bad shape of everypony, she guessed not.