I DON’T OWN MY LITTLE PONY OR GEMCRAFT THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS AND THIS IS A NON PROFIT STORY THAT I AM USING BOTH FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.
Chapter 2
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Ponyville Library
8:23 a.m.
The light of the sun seeped through the windows of the Ponyville Library which slowly illuminated the silent and still library in a soft vibrant yellow. To most people or should I say ponies that visit this library every so often they would find this setting quite tranquil and serene. Although for a certain purple pony who just performed another all-nighter last night and is also slightly sleep deprived she finds that looking at the back of her eyelids would be a more tranquil setting to her than the beautiful, golden light of the sun.
“Ugh… five more minutes,” Twilight grumbles as she raises a hoof to cover her eyes from the sun in hopes of returning to a peaceful sleep.
But the light of the sun only grew in intensity as time progressed and finally after a minute or two it forced the purple mare to finally getting up.
“Fine. Fine. I’m awake.” Twilight says groggily as she pushed herself up off the floor where she was sleeping. “*sigh* I could really go for some coffee right now.”
And as if on cue Spike enters the room from the kitchen with a cup of coffee for Twilight.
“Ask and you shall receive.” Spike says with a small smile on his face while handing it to her.
Twilight smiles and gladly accepts the cup from Spike by using her magic while saying “Thank you Spike.”
“Hey what number one assistant would I be if I didn’t help you with things?” Spike says proudly.
She took a few sips of the hot, dark liquid and felt it slowly warm up her slightly sore body. She took a few more sips before looking towards Spike and gave him an embarrassed smile before saying “Sorry I guess I overdid it last night as well. Guess I broke that Pinkie Promise right?”
“Well that’ll depend are you too tired to start the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration today?” Spike asks her.
Twilight looks at him with a confident smile and says “No I still have enough energy to begin the preparations for the celebration.”
“Then I guess you didn’t break the promise entirely then so no harm done then.” Spike says as he began heading back towards the kitchen.
Just before Spike left the room Twilight then asks “Uh Spike before you leave what is the first preparation project we have to do today Spike?”
“Hmmm let me see…” Spike says as he pulls out a scroll and begins to read it out loud “First we have to go see Applejack about the food preparations at Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Huh wasn’t that the first thing we did for the Summer Sun Celebration last year?” Twilight asks him with memories coming back to her about how she first came to Ponyville and how she met her friends.
“Yeah in fact I think that most of the projects we did last year are in the same order as this year only this time they are not all crammed into one day but spread out throughout the week. Weird.” Spike says with a hint of surprise.
“Hmmm guess it’s just only coincidence I guess.” Twilight replies “At least this time we won’t have to worry about Nightmare Moon though.”
“Yeah that is a good thought to know but now let’s get to the matter at hand, or hoof in your case, do you want to start heading towards Sweet Apple acres right now and get started with the preparations?” Spike asks.
“Sure Spike, but first we have to write a letter to Princess Celestia first.” Twilight replies.
“Sure no problem!” Spike says while pulling out a quill and parchment, but turns back giving Twilight a curious look “But why? Didn’t we just send a friendship report just two days ago?”
“Well it’s just that last night I felt two strange magical disturbances just right after you went to bed.” Twilight explains.
“Oh… well is it anything to be worried about?” Spike asks nervously.
“Hmmm well it’s just that both happened kind of quickly and at the same time so I don’t really know yet, but if both made a disturbance that even I can feel then this event needs investigating and hopefully the Princess felt it as well so she should have some clue as to what it was.” Twilight replies as she began looking out the window as if she expects too see something pop up at anytime that was related to the disturbance.
“Huh I guess you're right about that. Well let’s get this letter on it’s way and head over to Sweet Apple Acres then!” Spike says with a hint of enthusiasm in the last part.
“Right. Ahem! Dear Princess Celestia,” began Twilight.
“It is in my knowledge that last night at somewhere between 10:00 and 10:30 P.M. there were two strange magical disturbances that happened at the same time and I was curious as to what they are. The main reason I am sending this letter to you is in hopes of that you may have some understanding as to what it was that caused these disturbances and to fill me in with some of the details. Any information would be greatly appreciated as I would like to look into the matter. That is all that I have to report at the moment and I hope to see you at the Summer Sun Celebration this year without having any problems like last year’s. Sincerely, Your Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight finishes. “Did you get all that Spike?”
“Yep! You almost tripped me up on that phenomena word but I managed.” Spike says just before rolling the parchment up and letting loose a small, green puff of fire at it to send it to Princess Celestia.
Twilight then puts on her saddle bags and says “Good now let’s head over to Applejack’s shall we Spike?”
“Sure thing sister.” Spike says as he jumps onto her back.
Twilight smiles and uses her magic to open the door, but before she finally exited out of the library a thought entered her mind:
‘I have a feeling that today is going to be a great day!’
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40 minutes earlier
Sweet Apple Acres
Today is going to be a bad day for me.
“Ugggggghhh…” was all I could say or should I say groan in my current state as I lay on the ground with sores all over my body but after a moment I did manage to say something else “Why do I feel like the time I drank too much at one of the parties I went to back at the wizard acadamy? Ughhhhh… gotta get up.”
I slowly began to sit myself upriight after a moment or two and looked around. Apparently I was in an orchard of some kind. I looked up at the trees to see that apples grew from them. Then my stomach began growling.
“Ugh yeah yeah quiet down I’ll feed you soon, but first how the hell did I end up here?” I said to myself and my growling stomach until memories of what happened began entering my mind.
“Oh that’s right I decided to use a Gem bomb as a way to banish that Shadow bitch thing and I got banished as well, but if this is what it feels like to get banished I hope I never get banished again!” I said as I slowly got up “Now then time to do an inspection of my body.”
“Fingers. Check.”
“Hands. Check.”
“Arms. Check.”
“Body. Check.”
“Legs. Check.”
“Feet. Check.”
“Beautiful face. Double check.”
“Ability to craft magical gems of untold power?” I say as I focused my mana and a small glow began to erupt in my hands and after a second or two a Grade 1 Bloodbound gem was sitting in my hand which I quickly pocketed it in one of my robe’s pockets. “Hmmm check, but mana is incredibly low at the moment and I can only create grade 1 gems. Man I miss my old mana pool. Oh well I better fix this by eating some of these apples to replenish my body's mana supply.”
I then began climbing up one of the trees that was near me. Thank god that the tree I was climbing had some low branches I could grab and pull myself up, otherwise it would be too strenuous for me. When I finally climbed up to a suitable height I settled and balanced myself on the branch that I was on and plucked one of the apples from the tree. I know stealing is wrong but I don’t have the time or the energy to go looking for the one who owns this orchard.
“Well cheers to another job well done and living on for another day! Go me!” I said as I took a big bite out of the apple.
This apple wasn’t good.
This apple wasn’t even great.
“THIS APPLE IS THE BEST DAMN APPLE I HAVE EVER TASTED!” I exclaimed as I took another huge bite out of it and not long after finishing it I grabbed another and began eating it. “I guess this must be my lucky day then!”
I may soon regret this statement.
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Meanwhile at the barn of Sweet Apple Acres
The sun was shining brightly as a rooster began to crow signaling the time for the Apple family to begin their work for the day. Although a certain orange earth pony was already wide awake. Her name was Applejack and she was about to begin her rounds around the apple orchard to inspect how ripe the apples are at the moment in preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration in about a week and maybe even buck a few to get a head start on the food preparations.
“Mmmm-hmm it sure is a good mornin’ for some apple-bucking!” Applejack says enthusiastically as she trots through the apple orchard.
And it was indeed a good morning to be outside. The wind was crisp, cool, and the sun only helped amplify the morning which slowly bathed Appljack’s coat with a warm, but soft glow. Enough to where the orange earth pony began to whistle a nice soft tune to express her enjoyment of the morning. Everything was… perfect.
*BOP!*
At least until a random apple core landed on her head.
“Ow! What the hay was that?” Applejack asks to no one as she looks around.
Her eyes grow wide as she saw apple cores strewn about the bottom of the tree she was at she then looked up to see some big figure up in the tree happily eating some of the Apple Family’s crop.
More specifically her fruits of her labor.
Without asking or even telling her first.
“Blasted varmints.” Applejack says through her clenched teeth as she turned around prepared to buck the tree “NO VARMINT EATS MY CROPS WITHOUT POLIETLY ASKING FIRST!”
She then very roughly bucked the tree that the figure was in.
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I was busy eating another apple when suddenly I hear a shout from below me that sort of snapped me out of my apple eating marathon/trance.
“NO VARMINT EATS MY CROPS WITHOUT POLIETLY ASKING FIRST!”
I then feel a powerful strike hit the tree that I was in and I ungracefully fell from it nearly breaking my neck in the process as I landed on the ground.
Whoever did this was going to pay dearly.
“HEY WHATS THE BIG IDEA TO KNOCK SOME GUY OUT OF A TREE YOU IDIO-“ I yell as I looked around for someone.
All that there was, was a small colorful orange horse with some sort of strange hat on its head and some apples painted on its flank. To say the least I was a little disturbed to see no other human around and only this pony in front of me with a surprised look on its face. But what really had me worried was the fact the pony dropped the surprised look almost immediately and was now GLARING at me. This situation both peaked my curiosity and fear at the same time, but mostly my curiosity. So I did what any other wizard would have done.
“Uh what are you and by chance were you the one that knocked me out of the tree?” I asked it.
“I should be asking you that first question you varmint and why were you eating my apple crop?!” it said in a weird accent I couldn’t place my finger on but from the sound of the voice she was female. How horses are able to farm apples from tree did make wonder though.
Although what intrigued me more was that we could speak the same language with no problems since we were both from different dimensions to begin with…, but I’ll figure that reason out later cause right now I am caught between a rock and a very angry female sentient horse.
Guess I’ll have to pull some of my smooth moves on her. Hopefully it also works on sentient horses
“I’m sorry ma’am I truly am I just woke up in your orchard this morning and the first thing I saw was these apples and I was hungry. I would have asked first if it wasn’t for the fact that no one was around. So please I am willing to repay you by giving you this gem I have.” As I tell her this I pull out the gem I created earlier for her to see. “So what do you say this gem should cover the costs right?”
The orange horse looked at it sternly until eventually she says “Nah, we don’t take gems we only take bits as currency here in fact this gem looks like it’s fake because I have never seen a gem with that shape and color before. Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?” She begins looking at me with anger slowly growing in her eyes.
Normally I would try to act as cool and collect as I can be but when someone insults a man’s craft, or more specifically my gemcrafting abilities, that’s like the equivalence of getting slapped in the face!
“FAKE! THIS IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PURE BLOODBOUND GEMCRAFTING RIGHT HERE LADY! SO SCREW YOU! I AIN’T PAYING YOU A SINGLE COIN OR BIT OR WHATEVER FOR THOSE APPLES IF YOU ARE GOING TO INSULT ME LIKE THAT!” I yelled at her without really thinking.
I would sorely regret that action as the orange horse began glaring daggers at me.
I felt a strange sense of dread some over me as she angrily glared at me and I knew I would probably get my ass handed to me in my current state if I tried to fight her, even if I was at full strength I normally fight from a tower not on foot. So I did what every other coward would do at times like these: Run.
“Hey look there is bear trying to steal some of your apples!” I yelled and pointed in some random direction.
She wasn’t impressed to say the least.
“You are gonna have to do better than that to pull one over me, varmint.” She says to me and began advancing towards me.
“Uh um… aw damn it!” I yelled as I threw my Bloodbound gem towards the ground making it explode upon impact into a cloud of red dust. I used this to begin my escape.
I began running in some random direction. Any direction would do as long as I got as far away from that angry sentient horse! Although with my athletic ability I’ll be lucky if I can get just 20 yards away from her before she catches up and if I remember correctly horses are faster than humans.
I look over my shoulder to see that she was indeed chasing after me and obviously even more peeved after the stunt I just pulled on her. I needed to buy myself some more time and more distance from her.
‘Think Zekeal think! How do you slow down an enemy that is faster than you without using gems?’ I thought to myself when the answer popped into my mind.
“Make them go the long way around!” I exclaim as I focused some of my mana into my hand and turned around and yelled “Wall arise!”
And just like that a stone wall suddenly appeared between me and the orange horse.
“That’ll slow you down!” I exclaimed cockily as I turned and kept running away.
“Ohhhh now you done made me even madder varmint! DON’T THINK CHEAP TRICKS WILL SLOW ME DOWN!” I heard the orange horse yell as she quickly ran around the wall that I just made and kept chasing after me with renewed vigor.
I was amazed at her persistence at trying to catch me. Hell she would probably give the monsters back home a run for their money! But enough reminiscing on the past I gotta make more walls.
As I kept running I kept creating stone walls to block the orange horse’s path which kept her at a safe distance from me, but still she didn’t let up on the chase. To make matters worse I was slowly running out of mana from my current reserves in my body. Dammit how big is this orchard to begin with and when does it end!?
And as if my prayers were answered in that moment I saw the exit of the orchard not too far ahead, but the orange horse was right on my heels. So in one final act to escape her I waited till she was mere feet from me when I used the last bit of my mana to erect a single wall only three times as big across compared to the walls I was currently creating to slow down her.
To say the least it took her by surprise. At least that’s what I could conclude when I heard an audible THUMP come from the other side of the wall as she slammed into the wall while yelling what I thought was a curse "Ah horseapples!" Although I beleived that won’t keep her down for long, but this gave me enough time to run out of the orchard and I decided to add insult to injury by doing what I do best.
Be a smartass.
“Ha! That’s what you get you annoying horse! Remember my name and remember it well cause you were just bested by the best horse! I am the wizard Zekeal Grendale! Remember it!” I yelled out to her mockingly while enjoying every minute of it.
Things were finally looking up for me.
*WHAM!*
Or maybe I should just keep my big trap shut.
“Woah!” I yelled out as I hit something in full run tripping over it and landing face first into the ground.
“Ah! W-what was that Spike?” said a voice that was indeed female.
“I-I don’t know Twilight! Sort of looked like a scarecrow that was alive!” said a voice young but male.
I push myself off the ground and turned around to see another horse this time having a purple mane and coat, a horn was on her forehead which I concluded that she was a unicorn, and has what looks like a star on her flank. To the right of her was a purple lizard with green spikes on his head, spine, and tail. Today just gets more interesting by the minute.
Unfortunately there was no time for questions. I had to get away from here.
“Twilight! Don’t just stand there! Help me catch that varmint! He has been picking at my crops and won’t pay for them!” yells an all too familiar angry orange horse galloping towards me.
“Uh,” was all I could say as I quickly got up and began to run as fast as I can and escape.
At least that’s what I thought was until I suddenly felt my body grow stiff and I was unable to move for some reason. But hey at least I could still move my head.
I looked around to see that a purple aura was surrounding most of my body. I traced the aura back to the purple unicorn whose horn was glowing the same purple aura that was around me.
Wait so they can use magic here as well here!? How can this get any worse?
“Thanks Twilight!”
I spoke too soon. As I was suddenly face to face with an all too familiar orange face.
“So what have you got to say for yourself, varmint?” She asks coldly with a slight scowl.
All I could come up at this time was this phrase:
“Uh is it too late to say I’m sorry?” I ask sheepishly while chuckling nervously soon after.
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End of Chapter 2
Well here it is another exciting chapter of My Little Gemcraft! I think it was a good idea for me to update this early or maybe it might be a bad idea since there might be a few grammatical errors in it and the fact that I may have made Applejack’s personality a little too out of character and also the fact that this is going to be a HiE story. But besides my anxiety over this I still had fun writing this chapter and I would like to thank the people who are tracking this story of mine and all those who gave me a thumbs up… wait a minute since when did FIM: Ficition become Youtube with its ratings from stars to thumbs!?
My reaction to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc a.k.a. my small mental break down
Zekeal: Uh right anyway since that the author is currently… “occupied” for the moment, and I do use that term lightly he just wanted to finish up by saying thanks for taking your time to read this story. Also we hope you enjoyed this chapter as well and are excited for the next chapters to follow. So anyway this is Zekeal and Registered Anonymous signing off, check ya’ll later!