The ponies here seemed nice. Yes some of them didn't actually like my appearance per se, but as far as I observed, they were relatively friendly and kind. While the weirdness of this place creeped me out a little bit, being not used to such energy from my home in Canterlot, I thought it was still a good experience for me to learn more about ponies in more remote or quiet places like this little village.
After cleaning myself up, being covered in dirt from this rainbow tomboy mare, I decided to take a longer walk through the road circling the entire village since I had to find a good place to enter the forest and I wanted to check out more of this place anyway.
That led me to an open path and a sign which indicated an orchard of some kind. And while it was on the other side of the town, not even touching the forest I was interested in, I still thought it would be nice to check it out. I always wondered how ponies managed to grow so many fruits and vegetables without chemicals. Even if the population here is much smaller than on Earth, it's still impressive without farm equipment such as tractors.
I couldn't tell where I would end up, other than an orchard that was on the sign, but very quickly I discovered that the beaten path led to a vast open field filled with apple trees and a farmhouse connected to a barn in the middle of it.
Upon closer inspection, the apples on those trees seemed almost too perfect to be actually real. But the smell lingering in the air and the rustling of the leaves that shook the trees and the apples seemed to tell me otherwise. It was incredible that something so bright and big could be produced by those small trees, either it was magic like always, or the trees themselves were of a special variety. I bet someone on Earth would pay a hefty price for the seeds of those trees.
Moving past them I felt like I could literally lose myself in those colors and the sheer quantity of the fruits. There had to be countless ponies helping to pick them up in the season, which could also mean that most ponies in the town were actually part-timers here as well.
While I was focused on the fruits and amazing scenery before me, I didn't acknowledge that someone was staring at me just beside the fence. And as finally saw the shape move towards me, I spun my head to see what it was.
"Mornin'. I take it you are lost, miss...?" A rather country accent greeted my ears as I eyed the mare in front of me.
She had stunning orange fur, a bright blond mane, and a cowboy hat on top of her head. Her eyes were adored with an emerald hue which made her stand out already as one of the most stunning mares I laid my eyes on. However, that wasn't all. Frakles gave her an accent of those country girls back home, and not only did she have a rather big frame for a pony, but she also had incredibly big muscles, especially so in her hind hooves and lower torso.
Normally I could not see anything past that if a pony were speaking directly in front of me, but this mare had a backside that not only allowed me a glimpse of her rather... Impressive features, but also of her cutie marks. Three bright red apples on each side.
I considered myself tall for an unicorn mare, but in that moment I felt rather small compared to the size of the mare in front of me. And while I still believed that I shouldn't think of romance just yet, at that moment, I decided that I wanted a bigger partner.
"Hey? Are ya' there?" She asked a second time.
"Ugh... Sorry, spaced out a little there." I said, catching myself in the act of staring at her.
"What can I do for ya'?" She asked, smiling and leaning on one of the wooden posts around the gate of the farm.
"Umm, nothing really. I was just admiring the scenery, sorry if it's private property, I didn't know." I said, a little bit shyly. It was actually the first time in my life that I was intimidated by someone else.
...
Okay, Second time.
She giggled a bit and corrected her hat. "Nah' Sugar cube, it's a free road, you can be on it. The apple orchard is off limits though. So I woudn' recommend going past the fence, I might not do anything to ya' but Granny Smith... Well..." She once again giggled.
"Let's say the last pony that she got sneakin' in the orchard was in need of a shower... or two." She explained, giving me a friendly look.
"I... See... Well, I wasn't going to barge anywhere, just sightseeing. I'm from Canterlot, and those views aren't exactly... common there." I replied. Noticing that when I said Canterlot, the ears of the mare in front of me perked up.
I sense something is off.
"Did ya' say Canterlot?" She asked, a bit dumbfounded.
"Ugh... Yeeessss?" I replied questioning, not sure if she was going in a friendly direction.
"And... Ya' really wanted to see apple orchards? Seems... Excessive for somepony from there. I imagined ya' folk would be more interested in... I don't know, property or taxes?" She replied, making me smile and hard to laugh.
When I finally understood where she was coming from, I replied in the best way I could.
"Well now, reckon a fella like me might come off as slicker than a hard workin' pony to ya, but let me tell ya plain and simple, Canterlot ain't nothin' but a fancy facade fit for them city slickers and highfalutin' folk." I replied, giving my best impression of Scarlet when she is angry at someone and activates her Irehoof genes.
The mare in front of me stood there, in complete silence, her eyes frozen at me as she simply couldn't accept the fact that I said something in a language so close to hers.
Then, in this silence, I heard a harsh laugh and a very low tone from the farm window.
"Got ya' good Applejack!" A red stallion smirked in the window as apparently not only saw us talk but heard our exchange.
The mare, Applejack it seems, finally broke, and smirked, pulling her hat down a little bit in exchange for the stallion.
"Yep. That was a good one. There's no plain' with ya' is there?" She smiled at me.
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself, my friend Scarlet is from Irehoof and she is speaking very similar to you. I hope that wasn't offensive." I replied, giving the mare a simple nod.
"Nah, I'm glad ya' aren't some 'city slicker' and you can appreciate the beauty of the full apple harvest. Ugh, hey, sorry, the name' Applejack. Sorry for not introducing myself' earlier." She presented me her hoof for a friendly shake which I immediately took.
"Nice to meet you. And don't worry. My name is Aurora Moonlight." I answered, making sure to grip her hoof well to test if her strength was really what her appearance told me.
It turned out to be more than that when she smirked, almost crushing my hoof in the 'friendly' hoofshake.
"Well! I like ya'! Seems like we have ourselves a very nice neighbor!" She announced as the stallion in the window nodded. "That there is my brother Big Mac. Granny is in the cellar at the moment, and Apple bloom is in school, but come later and we can greet you properly." She exclaimed. She might thought that I was going to move in.
"I'm sorry, I'm not really settling in Ponyville, just... Visiting. But, ugh... Do you know anything about the-" I was just about to ask about the Everfree as I could hear an older mare shout from behind the barn.
"Apppleeejacccck! Come' here! Big Mac fell down the stairs... Again!" The voice almost rang in my head as Applejack grunted.
"Comin'." She replied to the older mare in the distance.
"Well shucks, Aurora, hate to say it, but looks like I gotta lend a hoof to my brother. Real sorry you ain't stickin' around, but who knows, maybe we will see each other again. 'Til then." She cocked her hat again, turning around and going up the small hill.
My attempt to answer was completely crushed by the sight of her 'other side' trotting up the path, giving my imagination a lot to look at and think about when I started to move back to the main road again...
As I traveled down the path, not really sure where it would lead me next, I started to wonder once again about my future in this world. It seems that interactions with ponies seem to trigger that in me.
What seemed to happen now, was a feeling of hope circling in my body. Maybe, just maybe, ponies didn't care what I looked like. And I can find ponies like Applejack or Rainbow Dash who don't immediately dash away or say things like 'Interesting color of the fur you have there'.
I still didn't know what caused this reaction, but from what I could see, it was mostly negative reactions from unicorns, casual from pegasi, and positive or neutral from earth ponies. Applejack didn't seem bothered by my fur and eyes, while Rainbow Dash simply didn't care. There were exceptions, of course, the mare in the sugar cube corner or this weird... Pinkie Pie? I think that was her name?
Maybe it's just that some ponies are kind and some have bad experiences with ponies that have dark fur or mane. I could speculate endlessly actually, but looking back I don't think it's as bad as it was when I was a filly.
"Hmmm... Maybe it's because I have a different vibe around me now?" I asked myself as I trotted down the small bridge that connected to a large open field and touched the clock tower.
It could be the fact that I took my mother's advice to heart and I don't bother now what ponies think of me. But could that really change how I look in the eyes of others?
...
I been so caught up in thoughts that I didn't notice the path end. Just when I brushed my hooves on the fresh grass, I noticed I was rather far from Ponyville and the main road. In front of me laid a single home, which honestly looked more like a cottage of sorts, supporting numerous birdhouses, creeks, and holes in the small hill it sat upon. Which made me think of some remote homes of those cat ladies and weirdos everyone avoided on Earth. Not that I didn't appreciate the scenery and the overall design of the place, it just seemed incredibly lonely being so far from Ponyville and other necessities.
From what I could however see, was a shadow dancing in the middle of the room of the cottage, the window bind made me unable to see what actually it was, but from what I could see... It...
... It was a bear.
'Bears... Weren't sentient here either... Right?' I asked myself as I recalled the lessons about animals and 'non-animals'.
I could see the shadow bend over and rotate its head a couple of times, making me stare at its antics in curiosity. Then something horrible happened.
The bear vanished, and in its place, the shadow of some kind of pegasus came place, quickly after however, the bear returned, opening his mount at the shadow flying in the air in the cottage, the shadow drawing a sharp object to defend itself from the attack of the monster.
"OH SHIT!" I instantly came to action, running as fast as I could to the front door and pushing on it hard, making the old wooden plank creak in agony as I literally blew it off the hinges.
I rushed inside, seeing the beast in front of what seemed a confused and scared little pegasus, holding something in her hoof. The bear was looking at me with its small eyes, which told me that it was surprised to see me.
Without any word, I grabbed the mare quickly by her torso and instantly dashed to safety placing her on my back while blocking the door with my magic by using the leftover door to slam into place once again.
I ran with the mare on my back as fast as I could, she didn't even say anything, most likely the shock of the encounter made her speechless.
As I finally made some progress from the cottage, I pulled into a bushy area and placed the poor mare on the ground gently, which made her squeal a little bit.
"Huh... Huhh... A-Are... Are you... Okay?" I coughed out, trying to see if anything was running at us, luckily the bear seemed to not follow us.
"..." I didn't hear an answer, and that meant something might been amiss.
I quickly drew my head back to the mare who was still shocked and gaping at me, her eyes wide and her body frozen in place.
"Are you hurt anywhere? I don't see any blood..." I said, giving the mare a run down.
*Squeee* She simply squealed once again.
"I see... Well, don't worry, I'm sure the bear didn't follow us. You can relax now." I replied, giving her a small smile, which made the mare cry for some reason.
"Ugh... Are you alright?" I asked, still looking if the bear wasn't around.
"M-M-M-Mo..." She started to say, my head cocked to hear better, which made me realize that this motion was passed down on me like any other pony in history.
"MONSTER!" She screamed in panic as she pointed a hoof at me. Making herself more and more small in the bush we were hiding in.
"Hey! Hey! It's okay! I'm not a monster! Just a pony! Pony!" I replied, trying to calm the mare down as much as I could as she shouted over and over.
"Be quiet or this bear will find us!" I replied, seeing that the bear in question was following the path I escaped with her.
"Harry! Harry!" She changed her shouts from the 'monster'.
"You are not Ron for the love of..." I heard growling behind me.
...
'Fuck.'
Being pinned to the ground by a bear? Check. That bucket list is getting longer and I'm not even writing anything in it.
"And! That's what you have for trying to ponynap me! You bad! Bad monster!" The yellow pegasus constantly bombarded me with those comments as she hovered behind the mass of the bear who was pinning me to the ground using his butt.
"For the last time. I'm not a monster. I'm a pony. I might look different, but I'm not a..." I sigh. "You know what, I don't care. I just wanted to save you. I didn't know that this... Ugh... What it was again... Harry?" The bear nodded. "That Harry was your friend. I mean... I never seen a pony have a bear as a friend." I replied, making the mare slow down and pull down to the ground.
Lucky me. Trying to save a mare from a bear turns out into this. Luckily it seems like they are not violent.
"S-S-So... Y-You weren't going to ponynap me?" She asked, still behind the bear.
"No. As I said, I was only trying to help. I made a mistake, sorry, I just saw a bear, and I thought you were in danger." I replied, noticing that my forelegs stopped feeling.
'If I get out of this situation, I'll never help any mare during a bear attack again.' I thought as Harry scratched his belly.
"S-So... D-Do you promise to... Not harm me if I let you g-g-go?" She asked, moving past the bear.
"I promise." I replied, making the mare look at the bear and nod.
Harry stood up. And I could feel the blood coming back to my legs.
"Ugh..." I grunted as I pulled myself up. Noticing that the bear stood just beside the mare.
"W-What were you doing h-here then?" She asked, standing on the side of the bear.
"I was a bit lost, to be honest. Sorry about the whole situation." I replied, stretching my legs and making the yellow pegasus wince.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything. I know what I look like, but I have no ill intentions." I reassured her, which seemed to partially work, but she still didn't dare to look me straight in the eyes.
"Okay... I see I'm making you uncomfortable, so I leave." I replied, starting to move in the opposite direction to her and the bear.
"W-wait..." She said quietly. Making me spin around and look at her.
"T-T-Thank... Y-you... For... Being concerned..." She said, hiding behind Harry who just shrugged.
I smiled and nodded, thinking that that was all.
"A-And... Ummm... C-Can... You f-fix... My d-door?" She asked. Still hiding behind the giant.
"Oh... Yeah, sorry." I replied, moving very slowly after them, to reach the cottage again.
It thankfully was a quick fix, and the door was only broken into two pieces, which could be easily mended using a simple version of the spell 'Reconstruct', which I used many times before on the furniture or broken props for my training area.
If it was broken into splinters, I wouldn't be able to do anything, but since I had not used almost any magic today, it was as easy as holding a small stone in the air.
After a quick flash of light and reattachment of the hinges to the wall, I mounted the door back. Nodding to the bear behind me, and the yellow mare standing on top of the nearby cloud.
'I never seen one on a cloud before... So that's how it looks like...' I thought as the mare flew a bit lower.
"T-Thank you..." She replied, as Hanry the bear opened the door and closed it to test it several times.
I decided that since I was back in square one with the mare I might at least try to ask her about the...
'No... Maybe that isn't a good idea... Seeing how shy and scared she was during the incident.' I told myself as I pulled back from the door and reached the path once again.
"No problem... ugh...?" I replied, hoping I could at least get her name.
"F-Fluttershy..." She replied weakly.
"Fluttershy... My name is Aurora. And... Umm... I will go now. Sorry once again." I bowed and moved past the cottage bounds and into the main road again.
So that happened...
Thanks
Oh she’s taking Twilight’s place already.
First off,
Well that meeting with Fluttershy could have gone smoother but it did end with Fluttershy knowing that Aurora has good intentions and doesn't mean her any harm. Fluttershy actually speaking to Aurora, even if she is afraid of her, is a win in my eyes.
Two chapters in a week?
Nice!
Apple Bloom is two words.
Hand? She doesn't have hands.
growling
Fun fact: Black is not the absence of colors it is all other colors mixed together. So technically you can say that you are the most colorful as you have EVERY COLOR
Aurora when she noticed Applejack :
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Replace is likely to be too strong of a word. It's more likely that Aurora will share a spot with Twilight, or serve as a contrast to her.
Keep in mind that she was planned to be a monster by some group we don't know a whole lot about yet- though we do know that her uncle was in on it. It's only because of Aurora's insistence on being good that she's come this far, and it's only a matter of time before they'll try to twist her towards darker acts. It's entirely possible that Nightmare Moon will take an interest in her because of that, or even for Nightmare to be a part of the plan.
11854988
That's white, actually. Black is produced when no light is reflected, grey being a gradient between black and white. This is why Space is black, the space between stars and nebula don't reflect or refract light.
11854971
Corrected. Thank you!
11854978
Sorry! Autocorrect. Fixing right now.
School schmool. Who needs it, Aurora. Quit and take that librarian job. Good town with good neighbors, housing, a job where you can keep studying magic. What more do you need?
aurora trying to make up for her mistake good step she understands actions have consequences what you do or accept means a lot to others than a simple apology good boundaries are important I hope the next meeting goes better!
Thanks for the chapter!
she's interacting with the mane 5 before twillight. whell..... that woud be a big wrench thowed into celestia's plan if she's became the element of magic instead of twi. *hint hint*
I ship it! And you can't stop me!
11854988
11855069
Technically you are both right.
In regard to the color theory of wavelengths white is created when adding all colors of light together. White light is made up of all the wavelengths of visible color in a rainbow spectrum (which can be extracted by shining white light through a prism). In this sense, black is an absence of those wavelengths (the absence of light).
However, when it comes to the color theory of pigments, the opposite is true. This makes sense since pigments absorb and reflect light instead of creating it and so act with inverted principles. Black can be created by mixing all other colored pigments (green, orange, blue, red etc) together in the right way (although brown is the most typical mixed-pigment creation). However, unlike every other pigment, white can only be made with the absence of all non-white colored pigments. Mixing any combination of pigments with white will always make it less white.
Nice chapter.
Do you plan to explore the MC's past as human in future chapters or is it not relevant to the story for now?
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I plan to make it at least relevant.
Do note that "ugh" is usually meant to convey disgust. You probably want just "uh". I have noticed this a couple times throughout the story.
11855858
Yeah sorry, in Polish, it's a bit different, and it influenced me. I most likely used this countless times.
Another great chapter can't wait to see aurora finally venture into the everfree but that seems to be a few chapters away.
moar good kushđź‘Ť
also
isn't it Hefty?
11856230
Will correct.
Nice to see Aurora has good taste in mares
Earth ponies are the best!
Damn, binged the whole thing in one afternoon
Overall? Good shit. In my opinion, one of the better fics on this site
I. Crave. MORE!!! This is sooooo good!
Its 4:00 am and english is not my first language but anyway, let’s put into words what my schizophrenia have tell me.
First great history 10/10 IGN you have archived more not only plot but development and character connection with the lector in less chapters than some histories that i read.
Talking about the story i have some questions like how the protagonist being a human in his past life will affect the story, she will become a villan? The element of magic? Or something in between secretly or not so secretly arming a revolution agains celestia with the support or obstacle of the mane 6. Also when nightmare moon have been defeated and revealed to be luna, she may put the pieces in her mind and figuring out celestia’s plan? Or maybe she will see it as something dangerous (going more on the villan side). Or maybe she will mess up the plan by making her and twilight unable to become the element of magic or just unable to use the elements, unable to stop nightmare moon (that thought come to mind when thinking on her cutie mark but again im just delirious at this point). She can became Luna student even! There are so many ways this story can go! And this only makes me more excited to continue reading! There are more i like to comment but i think i should rest.
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Yes.
Without spoilers that the only thing I can say.
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static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Batman-Beyond-Meme-Feature-Image-1-1.jpg
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Yes. :D
Very, very nice story.
Y’know, I really want you to turn Aurora into the new Element of Magic/Princess of Friendship just to make it a big “F*** You!” towards Celestia and Twilight. It’ll also be hilarious if the outcome i’m requesting you, really did happen
A protege is a student or apprentice. A prodigy is someone who is instinctively good at something.
18 + 6 does not equal 26
There's no such language as 'Irish', so either the filly was 'speaking with an Irish accent' or 'speaking Gaelic', which seems unlikely.
Also, there are at least two distinct Irish accents, but I'd understand the character not knowing that.
If Aurora dislocated her hoof then she'd need major chirurgery. 'Dislocated' is when a bone comes out of the socket, and while I'm not sure how that would happen with a hoof I doubt that it would be as clean as a dislocating shoulder. I suspect you meant 'sprained her ankle'.
11880727
I understand, thanks for the information.
I can't verify/correct everything, but I try.
FBI, OPEN UP
Freckles.