Correction (a MLP AU)

Part 3: Rooting the Bloody Apple Acres: Chapter 5

[Apple Bloom's POV]

Today is the day. The day I both anxiously awaited and dreaded in the same breath.

Zapp Apple Market day, otherwise known as the day everything went wrong.

I offer to help out with bringing out the Zapp Apple Jam. I am still an Apple, issues from my time aside, and any hooves that could help with hauling the large amounts of Zapp Apple Jam from the barn would clearly be appreciated. It would also help me keep an eye out for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Even my younger self offers to help, oblivious to my cautious glances around us.

I freeze after the fifth trip to collect Zapp Apple Jam, realizing that there were more jars than I ever remembered having.

Where did all of these jars come from?

I hear a soft cough right behind me as Apple Jack cleared her throat. Turning to her in confusion, I notice the gleam of pride in her eyes. She waits as I glance between her and the jars for a few moments before making the connection.

"Ya got more Zapp Apples for tha jam?" her nod made me excited. There is actually a chance that the future will be averted.

Ah ta not loyal to tha farm?

I feel my smile drop as the words began again, looping around my mind with their darkness. No matter how hard I struggle, it felt as though waves of guilt rushed through me, shrouding my mind in darkness. I sink further into it until I feel a hoof tap my leg.

"Ahm, ahlder Apple Bloom?" I look down to see younger me, her eyes studying me. I try to smile, but judging from her expression, I think it came off as more of a grimace.

She ignores it, luckily.

"Ah was wunderin'," she rubs her front hoof, a nervous look on her face. I nod encouragingly, silently pressing her on. "Ah ya- Ah ya afraid of Apple Jack?"

I was about to answer when the whole question struck me, making me freeze. My mind runs over the words again as I glanced at Apple Jack.

I remember the lack of mercy in her eyes. The way that she had bruised me, forcing me to help her plant more of the Blood Apple trees, the way she brutally murdered everypony...

Yeah, she scared me sometimes, but was I truly afraid of her?

Ah ya not loyal to tha Apple Farm?

The truth is I had never truly been afraid of her. Even after everything she had said and done to me and everypony else. Sure, there were times when she would injure me like crazy, but I was never truly scared of her.

Scared for myself? Yes.

"Nah," I shake my head, surprised at the discovery. "Honestly, sis never scared me."

I was never scared of her.

I was scared of myself.

I was scared that, when push came to shove, I would run away like a coward, abandoning everypony to fix the mess. I was scared that I could not trust myself to be reliable when everypony needed me to be.

I was scared that I would betray them.

"No, you won't," Starlight pulls me from my reverie, startling me something fierce.

I guess I spoke out loud, didn't I?

"Now everything makes sense," she shakes her head, her mane following the movement. "Your trauma is not the same as Absentia or Flurry. You knew that you would survive because, even in insanity, she cared for you. The damage for you was never fear of her, was it?"