Plot Bunny Theater: Stupid Earth Pony Tricks 2 · 7:24pm Dec 22nd, 2019
After that impressive demonstration, Dash and Twilight were both even more eager to explore the rest of the convention! So the Mane 6 split up to look around. But not before talking to Maude Pie and Cloudy Quartz.
Twilight: "Miss Pie, I just want to say your skill with Earth magic is impressive! I had heard of incredible Earth Pony magic but I'd never imagined you and Maude could have been so proficient! Especially the act of concentration and dissolution! And that control over the bedrock! And the friction control!"
Dash: "IT WAS SO AWESOME! It's like how pegasi control the air density around their wings when they accelerate!"
Cloudy Quartz Pie: *Surprised, but pleasantly so* "Yes actually. Maintaining density control is a primary practice of the art. Mastering that is the first lesson many Earth benders must master. Maud mastered it very quickly."
Maud: "It helps to listen to the Earth. It will tell you exactly what you need to do if you quiet your mind enough."
Pinkie: "Hee! I was good at that too but nowhere near as good as Maud!"
Twilight, Cloudy and Maud soon get into very technical discussions of the mechanics of the magic, and while Rainbow Dash can keep up on certain things given her expertise as a weather control officer, she soon grows a bit bored and decides to follow Applejack around.
Dash: "Sooo... How come you've never invited me to these conventions? This is so cool!"
Applejack: *deadpan* "Ah did. Several times. Yeh always turned it down. Thought it'd be boring."
Dash: *blush* "... Okay, so... I wasn't being as awesome as I could have been at that time. BUT STILL! This is so amazing! What do you show off?"
Applejack: "Well, a few things. Mostly it's t' sell apples, but Big Mac shows off his strength techniques while rasslin'."
Dash: *grins* "In mud, I hope?"
Applejack: "Eeyup... But we also demonstrate our growin' techniques. And Granny comes here to do some demonstrations too."
Dash: "Demonstrations? Of what? I mean, I know the Zap Apples have a few magical rituals to them, but didn't you want to keep that a secret?"
Applejack: "Not quite..."
They soon made it to the Apple Family stall, where Granny was talking with a pale white mare with beautiful blonde mane in two ponytails, brown eyes, and a blue diamond on her forehead. The mare was very beautiful, and had the cutie mark of a slug curling around a rod. A pale pony with a black mane in a black kimono was at her side, a piglet in pearls on her back.
Granny: *chuckles* "Howdy Golden Braid! Howdy Quiet! Heard you was in town!"
Golden Braid: "Just for the medical conference. Then it's off to Las Pegasus! I'm feeling lucky this time, I can feel it!"
Quiet: *sighs* "Honestly Lady Braid, half your debtors are in Las Pegasus!"
Golden Braid: *chuckles* "They've never been able to get me faster than a day or so. Plenty of time to win enough money to keep them happy."
Granny: "Yer gonna hang yerself with that line, ya know!"
Golden Braid: "We could go together! Make a weekend out of it, hm? Just like the old days?"
Applejack: "Howdy Granny! Howdy Lady Braid! Howdy Miss Quiet!"
Golden Braid: *laughs and hugs Applejack* "Applejack! You've gotten so big and beautiful! And I hear you're a hero!"
Applejack: "Still not gonna give you a loan."
Golden Braid: "You're gonna be like that, huh... Hm? Oh! Hello! Rainbow Dash, right?" *She grinned* "Pleasure to meet you too!"
Dash: "Oh, hey! I see my reputation precedes me! So, who are you?"
Golden Braid: "I'm Golden Braid-I'm a friend of the Apple Family's!"
Granny: *laughs* "We were foalhood friends!"
Dash: *Gawks* "Wait, what?! Foalhood?!" *She pointed at Golden Braid, who looked only a little older than Applejack, and pointed to Granny Smith* "That's impossible! There's no way you could be THAT old, lady!" *Turns to Applejack* "Come on! This is a prank on me, fess up!"
Applejack: *chuckles* "Nope! Lady Braid is really that old."
Dash: "But... But... How...?!"
Granny: "Golden Braid is one o' the greatest pony healers ever!"
Quiet: *Beams* "Exactly! She helped revolutionize healthcare a hundred and fifty years ago!"
Dash: "SHE'S THAT OLD?! WAIT!" *She pointed at Granny Smith* "YOU'RE THAT OLD?!"
Granny: *Chuckles* "Sure am!"
Dash: "But... How... Explain?"
Golden Braid: *sighs* "Pegasi schooling standards must be incredibly terrible nowadays. Here, I'll demonstrate. Granny?"
Granny pulled up a small apple cutting knife with her hoof, and gently sliced a line across her cheek. A bit of blood leaked out. Applejack winced, but Granny just looked at Golden Braid expectantly.
Golden Braid: "All right..." *She held up a hoof and pressed it onto Granny Smith's cheek* "You see, Earth ponies can draw upon the life energy of the Earth beneath us. Then we can channel that energy into other creatures to heal them. Earth ponies in particular can use that energy to extend their life spans, and prevent themselves from succumbing to old age."
Granny Smith sighed happily as her cut sealed up, vanishing like she'd never hurt herself. She beamed at Golden Braid, and then looked over at Dash and Applejack.
Granny: "Lahk this..."
She pressed her hooves against her own cheeks, and grimaced. In an instant, her wrinkles vanished, her withered form filled out, and standing before them was a young mare-No older than Applejack or Dash herself! Dash's jaw dropped, as Granny stretched out and groaned happily.
Dash: *Eyes wide* "HOLY HAYBALES!"
Granny: *in a sultry, warm voice* "Ahhh... Now that's the stuff! Thanks fer that, Braid!"
Golden Braid: *warm smile* "Not a problem, Granny. I just wish it could last-"
Granny almost immediately reverted back to her aged form, like a balloon deflating.
Golden Braid: "-longer."
Granny: "When ah was around mah nineties... Ah shoot, maybe mah hundredth birthday? Ah couldn't really keep up anymore. It's lahk flexin' a muscle and holdin' it. It gits harder and harder t' do the older ya git-Save fer this cheater!"
Golden Braid: "Skinflint! In any event, it takes a lot of training to maintain it indefinitely. I refined the family techniques and figured out how to stay in this form all the time. But it's not something everypony can learn."
Dash: "Wait, so this is why Nurse Redheart is so touchy feely when she's treating me? Huh!"
Golden Braid: *beams* "Exactly! She's one of my students too. She's very good. But decided not to follow me around like Quiet."
Quiet: *sighs, mutters* "That's because the job involves keeping you out of trouble more than learning anything."
Golden Braid: *Glares* "What was that?"
Quiet: "Oh, nothing!"
Dash: "So... Wait. If Earth ponies can move life energy into other ponies, can they also pull it back out?"
Golden Braid: *nods* "Unfortunately, yes. There have always been a few Earth ponies who drained other ponies for their life energy-In order to stave off old age, live forever, or just because they loved it. Energy vamponies, ugh."
Dash: "You're joking... You're not joking."
Granny: "In fact..." *She loomed over Dash* "Ah'm feelin'... A mite peckish fer yer youth!"
Dash: "UWAAAAHHHH!"
Dash tried to fly off, only for Applejack to hold her back.
Applejack: "Feed mah granny, Daaaash!"
Dash: "AAHHH!"
Everypony all laughed. Dash blushed, and glared.
Dash: "Oh I'm going to get you all back for this. Just you wait!"
- - -
Golden Braid is an expy of Tsunade from "Naruto" of course. "Tsunade" means "A mooring rope" in Japanese, so "Golden Braid" sounded like a good pony name for her. Shizune of course means "quiet", so that explains her name. Golden Braid's cutie mark is the Rod of Asclepius, a worldwide symbol of medicine and healing. Who has ideas for Earth energy vamponies?
Headcannon: Tirek (and by extension his race) are to Earth ponies what Vamponies are to Pegasi. Changelings are the 'dark reflection' counterpart to Alicorns, and Sirens are the counterpoint to Sea Ponies, but I'm not sure what the Unicorn 'evil counterpart' would be. Maybe just straight-up amoral but unusually powerful unicorns like Sombra and Cozy Glow?
Edit: Oooh, another idea: Twilight is technically an "evil" unicorn (in that she seems to lack empathy pretty often early on), and Celestia is well-aware of this but wants to redeem her into something to benefit Equestria, rather than generate another threat?
Check out Jim Butcher's different Vampire Courts from his Dresden Files series. May find some inspiration there.
5173353
True. Any thoughts on the snippet premise and maybe ways to expand on it? I need more ideas for booths to visit at the con. And perhaps more expies.
And yes: Pony!Tsunade did make sure she had an enormous, firm, round plot.
Getting some All Might vibes.
5173351
Cozy's a Pegasus, my dude.
Just this one pony called Old English. His victims wake up in an alley, hangover headache, dehydrated, all their money gone, and physically five years older. If he was felling Charitable, they've also been doused with cheap Booze.
5173351
Powerful Unicorns that don't die, can become Liches or Wraiths depending on power, and level of OCD.
Fortunately Twilight managed her ascension at a very early relative age.
5173428
Indeed. Actual vamponies among Earth ponies would probably keep to themselves and change their identities over several centuries. Not be the rich and social type. They might even have a cult with them, thralls they keep loyal by feeding them more life energy.
Taking it from the Earth requires kind of "digesting" the magic into a useful form. But a vampony learned how to drain it from other ponies straight up. The skill is rare, but not impossible to learn.
Applejack: "The same as Big Mac. Also in the mud."
Dash: "Yeesh."
I wonder if Aloe and Lotus Blossom, the Earth ponies running the Ponyville Spa, use a weaker version of this healing art to relax and restore their customers?
5173971
Yes! That was the intention.
5174029
Hah! Now I like to think that if anyone tried to start trouble with those two lovely ladies, they'd just use their training to take you down with a pressure point strike or the like. No need for any of the showy violence that Dash loves, just one quick movement and you're laying there temporarily paralyzed.
5174091
Indeed! I'm working on the next part. This will involve Earth Pony alchemy...