Looped

1.

I closed my eyes and sighed. It felt like a boulder was dropped on my chest. "Right. I- I don't know how I done forgot."

"Don't you worry Applejack," she told me in her usual scratchy voice. There was a moment of silence before she turned her whole body, facing me. "You don't have to do your chores today. Jus' skip those theyer and go take your shower, we can afford a break."

"Thanks Granny. Guess I'll get onto that."

My family wasn't so fond of my parents. A few months after Applebloom was born, they left Granny Smith to care for us. They cut off all contact with us, no one has seen them since.

I guess, if I ever did try to look for them, my first guess would be that they'd be in Manhattan.

I took a shower, ate some breakfast, and went off to school. When I had made it to my locker, about to enter the combination, I heard my girlfriend call me from across the hallway.

Everyone heard us, but I couldn't be more glad to see her.

"AJ!" she shouted, moving a strand of her rainbow hair behind her ear. A grin formed on my face as I ran over to pull her into a hug.

"Jesus, what got you all so 'huggy'?" Dash asked, awkwardly patting my back. I let go of the hug, we just looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds.

"Shit, you got me. What'd I do?"

"It's my mom's birthday today," I announced.

Her expression changed. She obviously didn't know what to say, so she settled for hugging me again. "I'm so sorry."

"It's been twelve years. I haven't seen both of them since."

Everyone knew how much of a sensitive topic it was for me. Whenever it was mentioned, the whole room would go quiet and I'd feel a mix of emotions. Mostly anger.

How dare my parents leave Granny without any explanation. With their three children. They didn't leave no contact with us, no nothing. Granny busted her ass off just to make sure we grew up alright.

"Hey," a high-pitched voice chirped behind me. I jumped, releasing the hug, spinning around. Pinkie was next to Sunset, laughing.

Quickly, Pinkie's smile faded. "Listen, I know what day it is for you. Who'd I be if I didn't remember every single important date to my cousin?"

It was actually unknown if Pinkie and I were related - secretly I hoped not since I knew about her younger sister's crush on my older brother. I didn't know if I should feel bad for Marble or not, since Big Mac was getting married next week to Sugar Belle.

"Anyway, I stayed up all night making some cupcakes for you," she announced, a big smile plastered on her face.

"They looked really good," Sunset commented. Sunset and Pinkie were both neighbors, Sunset had just moved from Las Vegas right before the school year started.

"Thank you Pinkie," I said smiling. "I do appreciate all the work you put into just for us."

"Of course!" the Pinkette chirped. Before she skipped to her locker, she took a second to look at Dash. Dash wrapped her arm around me and gave Pinkie some expression, which made Pinkie blush. Sunset tugged at her arm, the both of them walking to her locker.