It was hot. Hotter than yesterday. Hotter than the day before that.
Friday had been hot. Saturday was blazing.
Applebloom walked down the sweltering streets of Ponyville, the sun beating down on her. She saw other ponies try to beat the heat in various ways. Bon-Bon and Lyra were sitting under a large beach umbrella, drinking glasses of chilled iced tea as they fanned themselves. Berry Punch and Pina Colada were playing in a sprinkler, the water helping them cool down. Sea Swirl was filling up water balloons (with a rather devious look on her face.)
Applebloom wished she had a sprinkler, or iced tea, or a water balloon (even if it was in her face). Sadly, she had none. The sun blazed her skin and made her yellow coat soaked through with sweat. As she passed by Sugar Cube Corners, she remembered that they were selling snow cones. Sadly, she had no bits. Just that thought made her even more angry.
"Hey, Applebloom!"
"WHAT? !" shouted Applebloom, angrily. She half-expected Big Macintosh coming behind her to order her back to her room. Instead, she saw her two friends, Sweetie Belle the Unicorn, and Scootaloo the Pegasus, both taken aback at her outrage.
"Oh," Applejack muttered. "Oh, boy. Ah'm sorry girls. Ah didn't mean ta yell atcha."
"Nah, it's okay," said Scootaloo, recovering quickly. "Anyways, we heard the big news!"
"What big news?" asked Applebloom.
"That you gave that Diamond Tiara a black eye!" said Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah!" cheered Scootaloo. "Way to go! That'll teach her to mess with us!"
Applebloom sighed. "Ah guess so..."
Sweetie Belle looked at her friend. "You okay?" she asked, concerned.
Applebloom shook her head. "Nope, Ah'm not," she said, as she trotted away.
"H-hey!" shouted Scootaloo. "Why not?" Diamond Tiara was askin' for it! Someone should've bucked her in the face first semester!"
"Yeah," Applebloom muttered. "She did deserve it. But Ah'm the one gettin' into trouble for it!"
"What? !" Scootaloo was enraged. "You can't get into trouble for that! She was bullying you!"
"I dunno..." muttered Sweetie Belle.
"What? !" snapped Applebloom and Scootaloo in unison.
Sweetie Belle sighed. "I... Don't know... You really seemed kind of... mean... when you were hitting Diamond Tiara."
"Mean?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "So what? She deserved it! She's been kicking us around for months!"
"No, she's been teasing us," said Sweetie. "She's always teased us. That's all she's ever done."
"Yeah, and we're sick of it!" shouted Scootaloo. "Let her be the target for once, I say!"
Thankfully, Rarity had been Sweetie Belle's influence throughout most of her life, rather than Scootaloo, who had admired the more aggressive Rainbow Dash. "But if Applebloom is hitting fillies, how does that make her any different than Diamond Tiara?"
"What?" Scootaloo looked shocked. "That's ridiculous! Did you hear that...? Applebloom?"
The yellow filly was trotting unhappily away. 'Hey!" shouted Scootaloo, speeding after her. "What's the matter? So what if you got expelled for day or two?"
"More like two whole weeks!" said a bitter Applebloom.
"Two whole weeks? !" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, shocked. "B-but that means..."
"...You'll miss the Summer VacationPalooza!" finished Scootaloo.
"Exactly," Applebloom said, glumly. "It ain't fair!"
"Yeah!" agreed both her friends.
"And my dumb big brother says Ah'm grounded too!" Applebloom said, unhappily. "It ain't fair! He ain't mah pappy or mah mama! He can't ground me!"
"Wow..." said a sympathetic Scootaloo. "I know how you feel. Getting grounded is never fun."
Sweetie Belle sighed. "But Big Macintosh is older than ya... and he is the one who's in charge, right?"
"What?" Applebloom shouted. "No way! He ain't in charge! If anyone's in charge, it's Granny Smith!"
"Yeah, but isn't your Granny kind of... Senile?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"H-hey!" said Applebloom, unhappily.
Sweetie Belle winced. "Sorry... But I know how you feel. Rarity keeps acting all high and mighty too, and sometimes she wants to ground me too."
"Well, she can't!" said Applebloom. "She doesn't have the right tah ground ya! And Big Macintosh don't have the right to ground me!"
Sweetie and Scootaloo nodded. "Right!" they said.
Applebloom gave a smile. "Well, forget about him," she said. "Let's get us some ice cream! It's boiling out here!"
"Great!" said Scootaloo. "And then we can go down to the swimming hole!"
"Yeah, great idea!" Sweetie Belle said. "We can get our cutie marks there!"
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS LIFE GUARDS!" the three girls cheered.
"Or maybe we'll be Cutie Mark Crusader Swimmers?" offered Sweetie Belle.
"Or Cutie Mark Crusaders Chicken Fighters!" cheered Scootaloo.
"Well, let's all find out!" said Applebloom.
They ran off laughing, Applebloom at the lead.
That was one of the good things about friends. They always agree with you.
Even when you're dead wrong.
"Ah'm tellin' ya, Twilight! It ain't just some sibling fight! They were really made with each other!"
Twilight Sparkle, unicorn prodigy, rolled her eyes. "Applejack, come on!" she said. "There's no way it can be that bad!"
"But is is!" said Applejack. "And Ah need yer help to set things right!"
The two mares were inside the Ponyville Library. Twilight had been reading through a rather large directory of spells before Applejack had come in, begging for her help. Spike, Twilight's dragon partner, was in Canterlot, at the royal doctor's office. He had been having trouble breathing fire as of late, and was getting an exam.
"Applejack, come on!" Twilight repeated. "Every brother and sister in the world has had a fight at least once! Even me and Shining Armor have had a feud or two!"
"B-but-!" Applejack tried to say.
"Look," Twilight said. "Big Macintosh or Applebloom will probably apologize today or tomorrow. They'll work it out together! Don't worry about it!"
"Twilight..." said Applejack, her voice low. "Applebloom said... She said she hated Macintosh."
Twilight froze. I hate you. Those were some pretty searing words, especially when said by a child. "Oh..."
"Big Macintosh... He didn't say much... Hay, he never says much... but Ah could tell it hurt him," Applebloom said. "Ah think this is more than just some feud over the last piece o' the pie."
"Oh, my..." Twilight said, placing her book down onto her table via telekinesis. "Maybe I should have a talk with Applebloom."
That's all Ah ask," Applejack said, gratefully.
Big Macintosh was a hard worker. It's what he was good at.
He had gotten his own mark at a young age, while workin' hard in the orchards, mere days after his parents' passing. His hard work had paid off for him. He was the largest stallion in Ponyville, and the strongest too.
Still, even he could get hurt. Especially by words.
Ah hate you!
Big Macintosh gritted his teeth as he pulled the rusty old plow across the field. He tried not to feel bad about it. It wasn't his fault that Applebloom had anger issues. She was old enough to know not to hit other ponies, and she should definatly know not to use that kind of language.
The red worhorse tried to convince himself that he didn't feel bad about Applebloom's searing words. But they made him feel unhappy, and more than a little bit angry.
He felt... underappreciated. Big Macintosh had sacrificed a good deal when the Apple Siblings parents passed on. He had dropped out of school, began to wake up at the crack of dawn to work, and had helped raise his sisters to be mature, reasonable mares.
So, why one earth would Applebloom ever consider-?
"INCOMING!"
Big Macintosh's eyes widened. He flung himself to the ground as a grey and yellow blurr shot over head, slamming into the dirt with a grunt.
Big Macintosh stood up and sighed, before trotting over to the fallen pony. It was a female pegasus with two topaz eyes, each looking in the other direction. The infamous Derpy Hooves, mail mare extraordinaire.
"Hiya, Big Mac," said Derpy. "Gimme a hoof?"
"Eeyup," Macintosh said, hauling the mare to her feet.
Derpy shook the dirt of her coat of fur. "Whooo..." she muttered. "That was probably my best landing yet! Anyways, here's your letter!" she said, giving him a letter.
Macintosh quickly looked through his stack of mail. Mostly bills, sadly.
"So, did you make up yet?"
Macintosh looked up at Derpy, confused.
"Everypony's heard about your argument with Applebloom," Derpy explained. "So did you two make up yet?"
"Eenope." Macintosh walked back to his plow, eager to get back to work.
"Really?" Derpy trotted after him. "Why not?"
Big Macintosh didn't want to answer. It wasn't really Derpy's business, after all.
"Come on," Derpy said. "You can tell me."
"Applebloom ain't gonna apologize," Macintosh said.
"Then you should apologize," said Derpy, chuckling. "See? Simple!"
"It ain't simple!" Macintosh said, harsher than he had intended. "Ah didn't do anything wrong! Why should I apologize?"
"Because you yelled at her," Derpy said, nonchalantly.
Macintosh froze. He had yelled at her. "S-so?"
"Well..." Derpy said. "It's no fun getting yelled at, y'know. Especially by someone older than you."
Macintosh nodded slowly. "...Eeyup."
"And it's no fun getting teased either!" said Derpy. "Believe me. I know. Besides, Dinky told me all about how those fillies were treating her, you know. I think just about anyone would've given them the ol' one-two!" She made some boxing gestures with her forelegs.
"That don't excuse her behaviour," Macintosh said. "Hittin' is hittin', no matter how the other filly's actin'."
Derpy shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, I guess so," she said. "But still, ya gotta look at it from your sister's POV!"
"POV?" repeated Macintosh. He was a little out of date with the lingo, or whatever it was called.
"Point of view!" laughed Derpy. "I mean, think about it! It's boiling outside, and stuffy inside, the bugs are all biting and then two girls who don't like you start calling you names! Sounds like torture!"
Macintosh was silent. He hadn't thought of that. He felt like an idiot.
"Look, I'm not your parent... because if I was, it'd be really weird," Derpy said. "Just... just try to say sorry. Who knows? She might open up!"
Macintosh nodded. "...Eeyup..."
Derpy gave him a salute. "Atta boy! Now get to it! I got to finish my route and go home! Dinky's waiting for me! We're goin' to the beach!" she cheered, flying off.
Big Macintosh stood there.
He hadn't thought about what Applebloom felt.
He hadn't thought about it at all.
He an apple tree and angry buck. Stupid, stupid! he thought, angrily.
Applebloom was his sister. And when she called him all those names, and said those things... it did hurt him. He hid his sorrow underneath rage. Her words had hurt him.
Because he loved her.
Macintosh sighed and put the plow back into the shed. He said good bye to Granny, and walked off to Ponyville.
He had to find Applebloom.
Author's Note: Another chapter finished! Whoo!
Well, Applebloom's still in the wrong, but Big Macintosh has come to his senses and wants to have a chatsy with his little sister. Will they work it out? Or will things stay the same?
Find out next time!
And, for this updates question, here's a stumper for you!
Do you think Dinky Doo is really Derpy Hooves/Ditzy Doo's daughter? Tell me!