Saturday, May 28, 2016

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Be kind to your behind.

Morning

Most of the girls are still asleep when I wake up. I head downstairs to round up some breakfast.

I find Apple Bloom in the kitchen, frying some sausage. I can smell biscuits...

She looks up at me. "Hey," she says. "Ah'm makin' enough for a few people, thought somebody else might be up soon. You want some?"

I smile. "Thanks, I appreciate it." I tilt my head. "I didn't know you could cook."

She shrugs. "Ah can't, really. Them biscuits is canned." She gestures at the sausage. "This here's easy enough, you jes' cut it an' flip it over."

"True."

I help Apple Bloom finish making breakfast, scrambling some eggs while she tends the sausage. Once everything's ready, we fix plates for ourselves, then head into the dining room.

Apple Bloom looks pretty down...

"You okay?" I ask.

She sighs. "Ah remember all of it," she says. "Ah had a talk with Applejack. She told me everything. Ah...Ah remember that whole mess from mah birthday."

I wince. "Apple Bloom..."

She shakes her head. "That ain't whut's botherin' me, though. Well, not really. It's...Ah hate that Applejack's got all that t' mess with on top of everything else. Ah hate that when we're already goin' through so much, we got this weird monster stuff t' put up with too." She looks at her plate. "Ah hate that mah friends an' family all gotta suffer for no reason."

She lets out a long, tired sigh.

"Ah hate...mah cousin Babs."

I grimace. "I...I heard about Babs," I say. "Sil told me she's...she's turned bad."

Apple Bloom shakes her head. "More like she was already bad," she says. "Ah guess. Ah always thought somethin' was wrong with Babs. Ah talked with Applejack about it. She don't know much about Babs, but Ah think...Ah think we don't got much t' do with her side of th' family." She picks at her eggs. "Thing is, Diamond Tiara just shoots off her mouth. Babs...she hits."

I sit back. "She hasn't...?"

"Me? No. Not yet." Apple Bloom frowns. "She got in it with Scootaloo after school th' other day, but th' teachers weren't around, so she got away with it."

"You have to tell someone," I say.

Apple Bloom snorts. "Yeah, 'cuz that's workin' out so well for y'all with Sunset Shimmer."

Ouch. I wince. "Point. Still..."

Apple Bloom shakes her head. "Two more weeks, then Ah ain't gotta worry 'bout Babs fer th' rest of th' summer. Besides, ain't nobody gonna have time t' do no bullyin' an' crap next week, right?"

"True."

She breaks open a biscuit and butters it listlessly. "Ah jes'...Ah wish Ah'd known movin' t' th' city was gonna be th' way it's been," she says. "Ah thought it'd be fun an' excitin'...Ah didn't know it'd be..."

"Life isn't easy, Apple Bloom. The older you get, the less easy it gets."

"Ah know..."

We finish our breakfast in silence.

Daytime

At ten, everybody is in the lounge. We have snacks and drinks and we're all set to watch the nationals matches on cable.

The matches go on for hours, and we cheer every time they show a Canterlot match. We cheer harder whenever we see Pinkie Pie on the screen. When they're not focusing on Canterlot, everyone takes bathroom breaks or refreshes their drinks and snacks or just talks or reads.

At the end of the day, Canterlot High School plays in the championship match...

We all erupt in a massive victory cheer as Canterlot takes the cup!

Evening

While we're cleaning up the lounge after watching tennis all day, Pinkie texts us. She's exhausted, but happy. She also tells us her sister Maud came out to cheer her on.

Pinkie will be home tomorrow evening...

The Cakes call and tell us they'll help us prepare a huge victory party for Pinkie tomorrow.

The rest of us are too wired up from Canterlot's win, so we have our own little impromptu party. Apple Bloom has cheered up since this morning and is having a good time.

By the time we're all ready to hit the hay, we've eaten all the junk food in the dorm. I have a feeling nobody's getting up before noon tomorrow...