Apple Bloom absently rolled a pencil back and forth atop her desk. Bored with the lesson and having mentally checked out hours ago, she found herself zoning out, staring over at Scootaloo. Rumble covertly tilted a paper on his desk to show Scootaloo something. She covered her mouth, sniggering while Cheerilee continued her lecture excitedly. If they weren't careful, they were going to get moved apart, thought Apple Bloom.

She had never really thought about boys but now that Scootaloo had a coltfriend, it kind of looked fun. She could see herself hanging out with someone like Rumble. Her awareness suddenly returned as she caught the two making eyes at one another. She turned away, mildly curious about their special moments but mostly just uncomfortable interloping with them.

Apple Bloom went through the motions of a school day's worth of work like the c student she was and now she was closing in on dismissal. Suddenly she became aware of a strange stallion just waiting patiently at the back of the classroom. He was a cobalt colored earth pony wearing glasses and packing a hard plastic case on his back.

"Alright, everypony," chimed Cheerilee. "I have a surprise for you." She pointed to the door, prompting everyone to turn curiously in their seats. "This is Mr. Lens Flare. He's an old classmate of mine who works as a professional photographer in Manehattan now. I invited him to come share some of his photos and work experience with all of you."

"Thank you," said the stallion as he made his way around the desks. He carefully loaded a full slide carousel onto a projector while Cheerilee drew the curtains over all the windows.

How weird, thought Apple Bloom. Oh well. Looking at pictures or really anything was better than traditional class.

"So my name is Lens Flare. I've been a professional photographer for almost eight years but it's been a passion of mine since I could remember. I started out helping my dad in his portrait studio so it's not that surprising that portraiture is where I started when I became a professional."

Apple Bloom watched a sequence of studio pony portraits click by and sighed. They were good but not the sort of thing that grabbed her attention.

"After a few years, I started branching into commercial and travel photography for a couple of different publications in the city."

The next series of photos was urban, depicting life in Manehattan and other big cities. There were beautiful, picturesque places, statues, fountains, tall buildings and parks but there were also dingy allies, breadlines, graffiti and decay. This made Apple Bloom think. The fact that someone would take a nicely composed picture of something that most ponies would find ordinary or even ugly and make them look at it again in a different way was intriguing.

As he moved on to the next section, the next image to pop up was a night photograph of an illuminated cactus before a backdrop of swirling circular lines in the sky.

"Woah," breathed Apple Bloom. "How- how do ya take a photo like that?" she blurted while simultaneously raising her hoof.

"Oh, you mean the star trails?" he laughed. "That's what's called a timelapse photo, or a photo that is exposed over a longer period of time to capture movement or magnify brightness. It works really well for capturing the path of moving lights in the dark. I used a flash to light up the cactus. The streaks are the path that the stars take as our planet spins." He began cycling forward in the slides rapidly. "I have another one where I did light painting… Ah, here." He stopped on another night photo that looked like it was also in the desert. A series of beautiful multicolored streaks in the air made a recognizable outline of Princess Celestia.

"I call it my 'earth pony magic.' In this one we used different colored flashlights to draw a picture in the air using the same principle. You'll notice a lot of these are in the desert. That's my favorite location to shoot. The night sky is amazing and I love the stark emptiness but also the red rock formations."

The images were all so crisp and well composed but it was the ones that had a clever idea or perspective that gave her pause. She'd always thought of photography as just a way of recording something, a face or an event. One could save memories and then years later see them again exactly like they were. It had never occurred to her that the medium could be used with such avant guarde creativity.

Apple Bloom continued watching the presentation, enthralled until the very end. Then Miss Cheerilee took over again, standing in the glow of the projection.

"That was really amazing, thank you, Lens. One last thing before we go, let's have a show of hooves, who'd be interested in taking a photography class where you learn how to use a camera, take black and white photos and… um." She turned to Lens for direction.

Lens jumped in. "And you'd learn how to develop your own film and make your own photo prints in a darkroom."

Apple Bloom exuberantly raised her hoof and looked about the room, hoping to see genuine interest from the rest of the class. There was excited murmuring from nearly all of the students but mild commitment. She was saddened to see that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo did not raise their hooves but surprised to see that Rumble and Silver Spoon did. She counted seven hooves in all.

"Okay," said Cheerilee cautiously, turning to the photographer who nodded back at her in approval. She cleared her throat. "The other thing is that you also have to supply your own camera." The teacher smiled weakly knowing that could be a big deal breaker.

Twist sighed and dropped her hoof. Apple Bloom wavered with disappointment but suddenly remembered the camera in the attic. No one ever used it. She must have been able to borrow it for a class if not just have it outright. With renewed assurance, she raised her hoof even higher.

Lens nodded again. "Alright. I can commit to coming to Ponyville every Friday and teaching here for an hour after regular school. I'll be doing mostly labs and technical help while Your Teacher, Miss Cheerilee will handle most of the basic teaching and direction."

"I'll do my best," laughed Cheerilee nervously.

"I'll set up the dark room here and we can start next week," continued Lens. "Since it's such a small class and I actually get a nice tax break for doing this, I should also be able to supply everything you need, including the film. We'll see. You just make sure to bring the camera."

"Thank you for coming and giving us this opportunity, Lens Flare. That's all for today, class."

---

Apple Bloom burst through the front door of the farm house and clattered up the stairs all the way to the attic where the coveted device was waiting for her. She brought the little single lens reflex camera into the kitchen where Applejack was washing dishes in the sink.

"Applejack, they're doin' a photography class at school and I wanna do it."

"Is it gonna cost?" asked Applejack skeptically, keeping her eyes on her work.

"Ah don't think so."

"They givin' you a camera?"

Apple Bloom held up the abandoned device from the attic, waiting for her sister to look at her. "Could Ah, use the old camera from the attic?"

Applejack finally turned to face her. "Oh, that thing," she sighed. "Granny gave that ta daddy fer his weddin' anniversary. If ya wanna use it, go ask Granny."

Apple Bloom frowned in frustration. She hadn't been able to have any sort of conversation with Granny since her stroke. How would she be able to get her to consent to do something? "But Granny barely talks or even knows yer there at all," she argued.

Applejack's eyes narrowed. "Don't be disrespectful. She's still with us and as far as Ah see it, it's her camera. You ain't usin' it without her permission."

Apple Bloom's scowl deepened as she turned away. She didn't see how this would work but she had to at least try. Otherwise she could forget about taking that class. She poked her head into the family room where Granny Smith was sitting motionlessly in her rocker, eyes fixed on the floor.

"Granny?" called Apple Bloom weakly as she padded up to her uneasily. The mare didn't move, nor did her eyes shift away from oblivion. "Granny?" she asked again, the uncanniness of her semi presence was quickly wearing on the filly's nerves. It was all she could do to not turn and flee. Was she really still in there somewhere? "Could Ah borrow daddy's camera?" She waited for a response that she knew wouldn't come. Then she held up the camera as a visual aid hoping against hope to jar her from her stupor. "'Member, this one?"

Apple Bloom's jaw went slack in surprise as Granny's eyes flicked over to the camera. Tho old mare's orbs widened in terror and she began shaking her head, no, her whole body, side to side in protest.

Granny reached out a trembling hoof. "Ah- ahh- ah- ah-"

Afraid, Apple Bloom tucked the camera behind herself and began backing away. All the while, Granny shook and vocalized with unclear but seemingly disapproving vigor. The filly returned to the kitchen where her sister was still washing dishes.

"She said it was okay," reported Apple Bloom, trembling slightly from the disturbing confrontation.

Applejack shut off the water and turned to look her straight in the eye. "She 'said?'"

"Well, she nodded it was okay," clarified Apple Bloom nervously.

Applejack stared into her and she could feel the back of her neck begin to heat up in apprehension. After what seemed like an eternity, AJ finally spoke again.

"Alright then," she grunted, snatching a dish rag from the counter to dry with. "Be careful with it. Go get yer chores done."

That night, after the drudgery of her chores, Apple Bloom stayed up past her bedtime to fiddle with the camera in the light of her lamp. She wanted to familiarize herself with the widgets and dials on the device but so far very few of them made sense. She could focus the lens and identify the big shutter button even though it didn't do anything when she pressed it. She hoped it wasn't broken or something.

She was ejected from her thoughts as her dog, Winona let out a low, meandering growl. Curious, Apple Bloom scooted over to the edge of the bed to look down at Winona. She was still curled into a ball on her pillow bed but also growling at seemingly nothing in particular.

"Shush, Winona," she whispered. The dog looked up at her and immediately ceased. Must have been a dream, thought Apple Bloom.

The filly rolled back to the other side of her bed and set the camera carefully on her nightstand. Then she blew out the lamp and settled in under the covers to watch the thin whisps of smoke as they slithered up to the ceiling in the soft blue glow of her window. As her eyes closed, she could hear Applejack crying softly in her room, a sound she was becoming more used to.

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