Learning the Earth Pony way
“Now, first things first.” said the Applebloom, firmly. She didn't often get to take on the position of instructor, and she was determined to make the most of it. “You got to do everything I say.”
“Yes, ma'am.” Twilight, as of recently Princess Twilight, nodded smartly.
“Even if it's no' always obvious why Ah tell ya ta do something.” continued Applebloom.
“Yes, ma'am.” said Twilight.
Applebloom smiled widely at the thought of her as-yet untouched math homework.
“And if there's anything I don't understand even after you explain it,” continued Twilight, “I'll make sure to discuss it very thoroughly with your sister afterwards. I'm sure she'd be able to help me work it out.”
Applebloom frowned. Getting Twilight to do her homework would be nice, but it would be next to useless if she was unable to get away with it afterwards.
“Right. Well. Lesson one.” said Applebloom. “Stand up on all four hooves. Put 'em a little apart, like this, for stability.”
Twilight copied Applebloom's stance.
“Good. Now, shut down any fancy unicorn magic ya got goin'. An' any fancy pegasus magic, too. An' then shut yer eyes.”
“Done.” said Twilight.
“Good. Now. Jus' stand there for a bit. No peeking. Try ta ignore everythin' that you hear, 'cept ma voice. Listen ta yer hooves. Jus' see what ya can see. Yer in the middle o' Sweet Apple Acres south-western orchard, so there are a couple things ya should be able ta pick up.”
Twilight concentrated on her new Earth pony magic.
“I feel... there's...large things. Things, just sitting there. In rows. One hundred and forty-four in a grid pattern, surrounding me, then a gap, then another hundred and forty-four over that way -” Twilight pointed with her horn - “I'm guessing those things are the apple trees?”
“Er... yep.” said Applebloom. She'd never been able to pick up more than the nearest few dozen trees at once. Applejack could pick up on an entire field, and Big Mac repeatedly claimed that he could pick up the entire farm if he stood in the centre and concentrated. Applebloom privately wondered, sometimes, if this particular claim was just a little exaggerated.
“There are several more fields as well.” continued Twilight, still without opening her eyes. “Interspersed among them are a variety of smaller – objects – a sort of general low-level haze which I'd guess is grass, together with occasional other objects, distributed somewhat randomly. Other plants, I'm guessing?”
“What does inter- int-”
“Interspersed?”
“Yeah, what does that mean?”
“Mixed in.” said Twilight, promptly.
“Right. New rule, Yer not allowed ta use words that yer teacher don't know. See anythin' else?” Applebloom walked quietly around Twilight.
“Yes. Some of the objects – quite nearby – are vanishing and reappearing. In a fairly distinctive pattern. Your hooves, I'm guessing?”
“Yep.” said Applebloom. “Ah'm puttin' jus' a teeny tiny trickle o' Earth Pony magic through 'em ta make 'em show up. When Ah start showin' you how ta make things grow better, yer gonna need ta do the same.”
Twilight nodded. “And there's a couple of fairly bright spikes that just appeared briefly.” she added. “They do that fairly regularly. One over there -” she nodded over her shoulder - “and one a bit further, down that way. I'm guessing that's Applejack and Big Mac, harvesting the apples?”
“Yer doin' a whole lot of guessin'.” said Applebloom. “Stop it. Ah can't teach ya if ya go an' guess it all a'fore Ah got a chance ta tell ya. An' if Ah can't teach ya, then Ah can't get ma cutie mark in teachin'. So stop guessin' an' listen up.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Applebloom frowned at Twilight for a bit, then realised that this would be ineffective as long as the alicorn kept her eyes closed.
“The trees around here,” said Applebloom at last, trying to remember exactly what Applejack had told her about them. “are among the finest, healthiest trees in all o' Equestria. Take a good look at 'em, ya'll never see a healthier tree. Ya should be able ta feel their health. Trees that ain't so healthy, they'll be kinda faded. Dimmer. Harder ta read. Next week, once Applebucking season is over, ma sister will be takin' us inta the Everfree Forest. Ta find some less healthy trees we can take a look at. F'now, jus' look at the healthy ones. Take a good look, and remember what they look like. If ya ever see a tree on this farm that don't look like that, ya tell me or Big Mac at once, ya hear?”
“Not Applejack?” asked Twilight.
“Or Applejack.” said Applebloom.
“There's a whole field, that looks very different.” said Twilight. “Over that way. More... varied. Like it's... spinning? On the spot? I don't know how to describe it. There's something about them that feels more like unicorn magic, only not quite...”
“You can feel 'em from way over here?” asked Applebloom, incredulous.
“Um, yes. Shouldn't I? What are they?”
“Zap apple trees.” replied Applebloom, promptly. “They're supposed ta look different. Now, as ya learn more about lookin' at trees, ya'll find that different species o' trees are all a little different. Work with 'em long enough, an' ya'll even learn ta recognise individual trees.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Right. Now...” Applebloom took a few steps forward, and then stopped. “Look right between ma hooves. Not with yer eyes. No peeking. With yer Earth Pony magic. D'ya see that plant? Sorta... spiky?”
Twilight concentrated on her hooves for a bit.
“Yes, I see it. It's kind of... small?”
“It's a dandelion.” said Applebloom. “Now, Earth Pony magic can be used ta make plants grow quicker. You gotta be real careful about when you use it, 'cos it – um – drains the nutrients outta the soil, an' it's bad for the plant if ya do it too much. That's why you practice on a dandelion, 'kay?”
“Got it.” said Twilight.
“Right. So, look at that dandelion. Watch it real close. Now, in a minute you're gonna need ta send a pulse o' magic inta it.” Applebloom thought back, again, to what Applejack had told her. “Now, if ya only send out a little bit o' Earth Pony magic, it's not gonna do anything, even to a little dandelion like this one. So don't hold back. Be generous. Just zap it with a great big jolt o' magic, an' see how much ya can make it grow.”
“Okay.” said Twilight. “Here goes...”
* * *
Twilight sat slumped on Applejack's couch.
“It's hardly yer fault, sugarcube.” said Applejack, pacing back and forth across the wooden floor.
“Eeyup.” agreed Big Mac.
“Ya did exactly what ma sister said ta do.”
“Eeeyup.”
“Ah'm sorry, sis.” said Applebloom. “Ah tol' 'er exactly what ya tol' me.”
“Ah got no doubt o' that, sis.” said Applejack. “But ya gotta remember, yer a little filly, an' Twilight's an alicorn. When ya tell 'er ta be generous...”
“I'm really sorry.” said Twilight. “If Rainbow Dash hadn't been passing at the time...”
“That,” said Rainbow Dash from her position near the door, “was awesome! I've never seen anyone launched into the air by a dandelion before!”
Twilight slumped a bit more.
“Oh, don't worry, Twilight!” said Dash. “If I wasn't there, you'd've caught Applebloom in your magic, no trouble!”
“'Sides,” added Applebloom, “Ah've fallen way further when we were doin' Cutie Mark Crusader Abseilers. Ah'd've bin fiiiiine.”
“Though,” said Applejack, “if yer already makin' things grow, then Ah don' think there's much else ma sis can teach ya anymore. Tell ya what, tomorrow Ah'll take both o' ya out ta the Everfree ta 'ave a look at some less-than-healthy trees, okay? Zap apple harvest's done, so Ah got time now.”
“Yes...” agreed Twilight, “...that's probably for the best.”
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Nice, nice. Gives a good cover of Earth-pony magic, very believable and makes sense. Good job. Maybe do another with RD covering flying and weather manipulation, would like to see how you think they do it.
Love your depiction of earth pony magic. I wonder, if a dozen earth ponies all stomped on one edge of a field at the same time, could they "flip" the soil, tilling it instantly?
I have never seen such detailed description of Earth Pony magic, hell most seem to want to ignore that Earth Ponies have magic of their own. You did good with this, you did real good.
Excellent. I'm glad others are picking up on earth pony magic too.
It is also my theory that in "Hearth's Warming Eve", when AJ held up that clump of dirt and a plant grew from it, that was not a stage prop, but an actual use of earth pony magic.
A bit on the short side but the flow of the story is nice. The little time jump at the end is also a good touch and the whole thing feels like it matches the tone of the show quite well. Also, I'm very glad to see a nice description of what exactly Earth ponies can do with their inherent magic. Very vivid descriptions that do well in giving the reader a good idea of what makes them so special.
Well done.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAH LAUNCHED BY A DANDELION! I can't take it XD
Pretty good, have a thumb up !
I just realized how dirty that can sound... I regret nothing
3195446
Flight lessons:
CRASH! bang wallop thump shatter tinkle tinkle tinkle
3195715
That is a very good question. My headcanon says 'no'; I see Earth pony magic as a form of life magic. It can only affect living things; healing, encouraging growth, that sort of thing (and since Earth ponies are living things, they can use that on themselves to improve their strength and speed to some degree). Magically ploughing seems more telekinesis, which would fall under unicorn magic.
Besides, Big Mac's been known to pull a plough, and he doesn't seem the sort of fellow to waste effort needlessly.
3195921>>3197680>>3198454
Thank you.
It is comments like these - and the thumbs-ups that I get - that tell me that I have little to no idea of what makes a popular story. I honestly did not expect this story to get such a high ratio of thumbs-ups to views.
3196939
That fits. Though I'd imagine that she'd need to have had a seed hidden in the hooffull of soil in order to do that.
3198514
You're welcome, as I said no one has gone that in depth into Earth Pony magic.
Applebloom was just so cute in this, and the description into earth pony magic was well thought out.
Oh, just thought of something. If plants feel different from each depending on species, what would plants like marijuana feel like you think?
3198514
I think a story's popularity has a lot to do with dumb luck. Get a few views and thumbs up early on and you end up in the "popular stories" list, then more readers come to give it a try, bumping it up...
Why that particular story gets a thumbs up ? It's a relatively original topic (I think I've seen the subject of earth pony magic only two or three times in all the fics I've read), the writing is pleasant to read, it was amusing and I'm in a good mood because it's Friday evening. Weekend ! Woo !
(sorry to all the folks in the wrong time-zone)
3198614
I don't think we have the right adjectives. If we were to ask Applejack, she might say that it's swaunkier than an apple tree but craunchier than a grapevine... the problem comes in when trying to define those words. It would be a bit like trying to describe colour to a blind man...
3198625
You raise some excellent points. I can eliminate a lot of the luck effects by dividing by the number of views (at 26 upvotes over 136 views this is, proportionally speaking, my most popular story so far; narrowly beating Changeling, which has around six times the upvotes but close to seven times the views). However, this does nothing to resolve the "I'm feeling good 'cos it's the weekend" effect.
poor Twilight! she tries SO hard and manages on the first time more times than not but... there are the times like this that show what she is REALLY capable of
Pretty cute. Short, but cute.
Heh, A well written little story.
Nice. I was wondering how strong Twilight's earth pony magic is after she became an alicorn, considering that with unicorn magic she can levitate 40 tons of weight.
But I didn't expected this. Well done.
Will you consider writing next chapter, or at least a sequel?
3835361
I did consider writing two sequels - one for each of the other Cutie Mark Crusaders as they try to get their alicorn-teaching cutie marks. (Sweetie Belle would be at a definate disadvantage - Twilght already knows far, far more about unicorn magic than Sweetie does).
They're both still on the list of 'stories I'd like to write at some point'. There's quite a few other stories on that list as well.
3836207
With Sweetie Bell you can do it other way around where Twilight teach her how to use magic.
There are many comics in devian art where Twilight try to do this, and every time Sweetie Belle set something on fire, even rock.
3837345
But how will that give Sweetie her alicorn-teaching cutie mark?
(I have to wonder how useful such a special talent will be. I mean, there's not that many alicorns around to get taught, after all...)
3838074
I think with Applebloom it works the best because she knew someone what Twilight didn't.
With other crusaders it won't work because:
Scootaloo cannot fly and Dash already trained Twilight in fling, while Sweetie Belle know nothing about magic.
With Scootaloo you can go on with teaching Twilight how to use a scooter, but with Sweetie Belle it will work only if Twilight will teach her instead, because from my point of view, Sweetie does not have much to offer outside of singing.
3838339
There's ways around both of those problems.
Maybe I should prove it by actually writing one of those sequels...
Twilight + giant dandelion =
Sometimes it pays to second guess your teacher....
3865834
3866140
Sometimes it does, indeed.
You should totally make a squeal to this
, just saying 
3903571
So noted.
Well, I saw that coming. Totally adorable though!
Thank goodness Applebloom had her practice on something nice and soft like a dandelion. Imagine if she'd jumped in with all four hooves and gave her an apple seed to work with...
4257465
...ouch. That would probably not have ended well... though I'd expect a tree to grow more slowly, so perhaps Applebloom would merely suddenly find herself surrounded by branches instead of launched through the air.
Complete? Complete!?!?! The fic has hardly even begun and now it is over. This needs to be at least ten times longer.
Hah, I do love Earth ponies being given proper magic... now we just need it in the show proper, like this. I could see something like this being a funny episode, actually. Totally in character.
This was a fun read. I can definitely see something like this happen in the show.
Now I want to see an episode actually explain Earth Pony magic, but I'm afraid that far too many headcanons would be damaged if that happened...
Also, now I have to look up the word "Abseilers."
EDIT: Ah, so that's what it is... Yay for learning something new every day!
4577960
Well, 'complete' does not mean I can't have a sequel one day.
4653341
4689788
Well, they could just go with something along the lines of 'Earth ponies can do X', without saying whether or not they are unable or unable to do Y, Z and/or Q.
...though I don't think they're going to be making any attempt to explain Pinkie anytime soon.
4692944 Well, if you ask me, Pinkie Pie does not need to be explained. At all. "She's just being Pinkie Pie" already explains EVERYTHING.
4693430
But is it possible to explain Earth ponies in the show without someone immediately attempting to apply the explanation to Pinkie?
4693452 Uh, you've got me there... There's always someone.
Nicely done. I really liked your take on earth pony magic. Apple Bloom's accent was a little thick, but she was still understandable.
Well, that was a cute little story, with a nice take on Earth Pony magic
That should be a episode.
Applebloom: "Be generous. Just zap it with a great big jolt o' magic"
Me: oh where's my popcorn this gonna be goood!!
Aww.. poor AB. She tried at least. Very amusing and nicely done. It felt a bit rushed and perhaps spreading it out more and talking more about the sensations and such would've added to this. Honestly though, this was adorable. I love Bloom's voice, you captured her perfectly.
Now to figure out what uses a thrifty earth-pony family can find for a really big dandelion.
6764603
You know... that's a very good question...
Maybe they can hollow it out and make a house in it?
6768434
use the seeds as parachutes?
the leaves as parasails/boats/unbrella's?
6764603
Leave it up to the CMC?
7511828
...ouch. I can't imagine that ending well for anypony concerned.
This felt so natural to read. It was like a scene strait out of the show. Nicely done.
7734797
Thanks!
I 've been expecting Twilight to get Earthpony magic lessons since her ascension.
Maybe in season 7.