Chapter 20
Author's Note: Written by Samaru163 and Tricondon.
Chapter 20
Cassie
It’s so peaceful here.
I closed my eyes as I walked, letting the cool breeze blow my hair - sorry, my mane - back, and basked in the sun. Ahead of me I could hear Jake and Twilight talking about something, though I was too far away to make most of it out.
We had decided to morph the ponies again and walk over to Applejack’s farm. We weren’t too afraid of being spotted this time, though; Rainbow was spending the night at Fluttershy’s, since she couldn’t fly at the moment, and Rarity and Pinkie had both gone back into town. Neither one seemed much like talking at the moment. I could understand Rarity’s dilemma; seeing a family member get infested could not have been easy for her. As it was, it was only the eight of us walking to the farm, though we had split up into two groups of four and were some distance apart.
After some more walking in complete silence I noticed that the dark, old growth trees of Everfree had been replaced with massive fields of smaller and younger trees. Even from a distance I could see the ripe red fruits growing on their branches. Further beyond the sea of trees was an all too familiar site; a large, well-kept barn and farmhouse.
“Well, here we are. Welcome t’ Sweet Apple Acres!” Applejack said proudly. Beside me I heard Marco suppress a groan.
“This has to be the largest apple orchard I’ve ever seen,” I said. “How do you maintain it?”
“It’s not that hard. Me and mah big brother do most of the work bucking apples and selling them t’ ponies. Sometimes mah granny and little sister help out as well.”
“Oh, lovely. What’s to stop them from inspecting the barn while we’re here?” Marco asked pointedly.
“Ah’ll tell ‘em not to. Ah know Big Mac’s not the sort to go snoopin’ around if you ask him not to. Applebloom’s mighty curious, though. Ah’ll need to get Big Mac to help me keep her under control, but we should do just fine.”
“Come on Marco, at least we’re still not sleeping in the forest anymore,” Rachel said in both a cheerful and slightly teasing manner.
“Oh joy. ‘Cause everyone knows sleeping in a pile of hay is far better than the cold hard ground,” Marco sarcastically replied.
“Sounds like someone’s worried about getting their mane ruined,” Rachel said jokingly. Marco shot her a dirty look.
I shook my head and turned to Applejack, ignoring the other two as they continued to bicker. “So Applejack, I’ve been meaning to ask you. What’s with the apples on your, er, your flank?”
“Yah mean my Cutie Mark?” Applejack asked. “What of it?”
“Well, why do you have them? Who branded you?”
Applejack looked at me with total confusion for a moment before laughing. “That’s right, y'all aren’t from here. Well a Cutie Mark is-”
“Oh, Applejack, can I please explain it?” Twilight asked enthusiastically.
“Go ahead, Twi.”
Twilight was practically beaming with excitement as she looked to the six of us. “A Cutie Mark is the mark that identifies what a pony’s special talent is. It only reveals itself when the pony figures out his or her talent is. Each one is unique not just to their abilities, but also their personalities.”
“So, what? You can tell by looking at a pony what their hobby is? Not much use,” Tobias said.
“I think that’s really cool,” I pitched in. “You can get a great idea of a perso, er, pony before meeting them. Wonder what mine would be.”
“Can you even get one, since you’re not really ponies?” Twilight inquired. I shrugged.
“I don’t know. You’re the first species we’ve come across that has this sort of identification.”
“The lack of a mark on us suggests that these identifying symbols are not tied to DNA,” Ax put in. I gave a small yell, since he had popped up in front of me without my noticing.
“Ax, how did you do that?”
“Do what, Cassie?” he asked curiously. Beside me Applejack started laughing.
“Ha, you’re actin’ more like Pinkie every day, Ax.”
I suddenly found myself laughing as well, causing Ax to look at the two of us questioningly.
“I fail to see what is so funny. Unny.”
That just made Applejack and myself laugh harder.
“So everyone knows the ground rules, right?” Jake addressed to us.
“We stay in the barn, bored out of our skulls, and don’t cause any trouble,” Marco replied dryly.
“And I’ll be sleeping over at Applejack’s, to help her keep Applebloom out of trouble,” Twilight explained. “And you don’t have to be bored Marco, you and Prince Jake could use this time to work on your magic.”
I found myself getting excited by the idea. I mean, it was cool to see Twilight cast her magic, especially with all the different spells she had at her disposal. If we could learn how to do that also who knows how much it’d help against the Yeerks. This got me imagining Jake and Marco in pony morph going against a squad of Hork Bajir, and I suppressed a small laugh.
“Ah, so you would teach us how your species is able to perform those amazing feats of deception?” Ax said enthusiastically.
“Well, no. Not you, Ax. Only Prince Jake and Marco can, since they’re the only unicorns at the moment.”
Ax giggled in response. “I’ve witnessed Pinkie perform these feats as well, though not quite as well as you have Twilight.”
“Pinkie’s sort of an...exception,” Twilight said without a moment’s thought. “I’d think you’d know that since you are her, sort of.”
“I have so far been unable to recreate Pinkie’s feats on my own, and I regret that I have missed my opportunity to have her teach me for the day.”
“Ah’m sure she’ll be around tomorrow, so ya can ask her then,” Applejack said encouragingly.
“Well, let’s not waste any more time!” Marco jumped in, his voice full of excitement. “Finally, this frou-frou look will have its uses!” Behind me I could hear Rachel struggling to keep from bursting out in laughter.
“Alright, you seven can go get yerselves set up in the barn,” Applejack said, waving in the direction of the bright red structure. “Ah’m gonna go see where Applebloom and Big Mac are. Ah’ll catch up with you later.”
I felt really calm and happy looking at Applejack’s barn. It made me feel like I was back on Earth, tending to the sick and injured animals my parents looked after. I wondered how they were doing. By now the Chee would have sent doubles to take our place; still, the thought of them made me a little sad. One problem at a time, Cassie, I told myself. First we do what we can for Twilight and her friends, and then we find a way back home.
Twilight opened the door for us and we walked inside. To my surprise, the barn interior looked just like a barn would back on Earth; to be honest, I’m not really sure what I expected. The only difference was that it was filled with large wooden barrels rather than bales of hay. Curious, I walked over and tapped one of them with a hoof; a dull sound echoed back, but all that told me was that the barrel wasn’t empty.
“I call this section,” Marco said, rushing over to the back of the barn and drawing a border around himself. Ax and Twilight watched this with me and let out tiny giggles.
Once we were all settled in Twilight suggested that Jake and Marco begin their magic training. The three of them made their way to the center of the barn and Twilight cleared all miscellaneous items, with the exception of a water pail and wooden stool. The rest of us decided to stand back as far as we could.
“Prince Jake, you want to start?” Twilight asked with a slight bow. Jake let out a low groan and looked towards the pail. “Concentrate on your horn now, feel it like it’s an extra limb.”
Jake closed his eyes and began concentrating. His face scrunched up in determination, and after a moment cold sweat was sliding down his face. But his horn remained the same through all of this, not lighting up once.
“Take it slow, you don’t want to hurt yourself,” Twilight said. “Don’t try to force it, either. Feel your way, like you would in a dark room.”
Jake closed his eyes again, mumbling to himself. Even Ax had stopped bouncing around the room and was watching intently. I gave a shout of surprise as Jake’s horn began to glow, then shrieked in fear as the pail flew straight at me. I dove to the ground and winced as I heard the pail smash into the wall behind me.
Unsteadily I rose and looked around. “I, uh, I think I’ll take a walk outside.”
I made my way across the barn as quickly as possible. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jake mouth I’m sorry and Marco was trying his best not to laugh. I scoffed and headed outside, nudging the door open with my nose.
The sun was low in the sky, bathing the countryside in a deep crimson. Despite all that had happened I smiled as I headed away from the barn, looking around at the farm. Apple trees dotted every hill I could see, and a fair number of them had bright crisp red apples hanging from their branches. In the distance I could make out another bright rosy-red barn, much larger than ours. Even from a distance I noticed several windows and even what looked like a normal door.
I thought I saw movement nearby, so I elected to avoid getting too close for the moment, and instead walked away from the other barn. A cool breeze was blowing, and I stopped walking for a moment, letting the feeling of the cool air wash over me.
My stomach chose that time to grumble loudly, and I realized that it had been some time since any of us had had a decent meal. The idea of eating the grass was unappealing to me, even though I was technically a horse, but that fact aside I was surrounded by apple trees. I walked up to the nearest tree and stopped, uncertain of how to continue. The lowest branches were still too high up for me to reach even if I’d demorphed, and I was unable to spot anything to help give me a boost.
“Well, Applejack’s gotta get the apples down by herself somehow,” I reasoned. I furrowed my brow and reared up on my hind legs, balancing myself on the tree. I shook my body, trying to direct the energy into my hooves, but the tree was far too sturdy to shake.
A little embarrassed, I dropped down to all fours again. I leered up at the apples, just tantalizingly out of reach. I snorted in anger and stomped a hoof on the ground.
“How does a creature with no arms or ladders get apples out of an apple tree in the first place?” I asked the tree. It didn’t reply, almost like it was mocking me. I kicked the tree with one of my front legs and glanced up. The apples still remained stuck to the branches. I growled in frustration and turned around, planning to walk away from the tree. “Stupid tree,” I mumbled and kicked it with my hind legs, taking some grim satisfaction from the feeling of my hooves connecting with the bark.
The next feeling I got was the sensation of something small and round bouncing off my head. I gave a cry of alarm and jumped back, my eyes on the skies for a possible attacker, but the sky was empty save for a few clouds floating around. I then turned my attention to the ground and spied the object in question, a bright red, shiny apple.
“I guess that answers that question,” I said, turning back to the tree with a smug smile. The tree remained as stoic and silent as ever, as if in agreement with my thoughts. Smiling some more I picked the apple up in my mouth and walked off through the orchard.
I settled underneath a lone tree atop a hill - one of the few trees that was not an apple tree - and enjoyed my snack, watching the sun set over the horizon. If you ignore the talking ponies, this world is really reminiscent of Earth I mused to myself as the moon came into view. As the stars began to dot the sky, I began thinking about the Princess we’d met. Had they noticed we hadn’t arrived by now, and would she come and see us again? Or worse, what if she thought we were against her, and came storming into town with ponies ready to fight?
“Applejack? What’re you doin’ out here?”
The voice came suddenly and without warning, and I nearly choked on my apple as I inhaled for a scream. I whipped my head around to look at the speaker: a tiny yellow pony with a large pink bow tied into her bright red mane. She certainly looked much younger than Applejack.
“Why’re y’all by yourself Applejack? And what happened t’ yer hat?” she persisted in asking. I belatedly realized that this tiny pony must be Applebloom; apparently Applejack didn’t do a good job of keeping an eye on the curious girl. I smiled at her, hoping I didn’t look as nervous as I felt.
“Oh, ah, I left my hat back at the barn,” I said with a nervous smile. The little pony cocked her head at me curiously and looked like she was inspecting me.
“Yer talkin’ different today. Are ya feelin’ ok?”
“Um, well now that you mention it, my throat has been feeling a little dry.” I made as much of a convincing cough into my hoof as I could. “Must be this blasted heat.”
“Ah haven’t noticed any changes lately,” she looked at me again. “Why’s your hair down?”
“B-because I just felt like wearing it differently, that’s all.” She really didn’t look convinced in the slightest.
“Somethin’s goin on, isn’t it?” she asked with an inquiring look in her eyes. “Do you have a very special somepony that yer waitin’ for?” she asked intensely, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice.
“N-no,” I said a bit quicker than I’d meant to. “I’m just thinking.”
“Whatcha thinkin’ about?”
“A lot of things. Nothing that involves you,” I said lightly, hoping to dissuade her from asking further questions. But from the look on her face she had even more questions on her mind than before.
“Ah ain't a baby, Applejack. Ah can help ya with what yer thinking,” she insisted.
“It isn’t about your age,” I said reassuringly. “It’s just, complicated.”
“Complicated how?” Applebloom asked. “Is there a problem with the farm? Is something wrong with the apple trees? Is Big Mac-” she cut off in the middle of her questions, gawking at me. Her expression became more accusing, and I curiously followed her gaze. She was looking at my flank, and I looked back at her oddly. “Applejack, where’s yer Cutie Mark?”
I felt my heart nearly skip a beat as the little filly’s gaze grew more inquisitive by the second.
“Oh, um, well Twilight was performing a spell to, um, help me with my throat. But it didn’t quite work out and my cutie mark ended up being covered.” Slowly I began to shift my positioning in case I needed to run.
Applebloom’s expression grew darker as she brought her face up to mine.
“Yer not Applejack, are you?”
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Oh BUCK!
Is she a controller?! Dun Dun dun!
Whelp, this can only end in disaster and hilarity. And possibly tree sap.
So um. Why did they think it was a good idea for the mane six to go to AJ's house when they were all seen in the yeerk pool?
images.memegenerator.net/instances/260x260/9194400.jpg
OH Ballz ruuuuuuuuun. Cassie is in trouble, oh no.
Oh boy. Let's hope she's just suspicious of changelings and not a controller. That'd end badly
GRAB HER AND HOLD HER FOR THREE DAYS!
its the only way to know for sure...
She's a controller, isn't she . . .
1063008 I agree, why on Earth are they all walking to the barn when they were just spotted at he yerk pool! And the split up? WTF? But a good chapter none the less.
1067751
Not to be overly technical... but... they're not on Earth... lol
1062853
called it.
AB this Cassie is a controller
1067668
Not necessarily. Apple Bloom knows her family, and she isn't stupid. If she thought someone/thing/pony were pretending to be her sister, she'd not be happy.
Obviously Cassie needs to grab her, take her to the barn, let Twilight detect if there's a Yeerk in her head.
If so, use the same method as on Spike, memory spell to eradicate the whole event from her mind.
If not, memory spell to erase the memory of the Mane Six doubles.
1067436
No. Take off and nuke the site from orbit. THAT'S the only way to be sure.
Woo! Alien reference ftw!
"Get away from her you BITCH!' Applebloom screamed!
*Cackles*
1087628 not with Yeerks you don't want to kill the host
Applebloom’s expression grew darker as she brought her face up to mine.
“Yer not Applejack, are you?”
Two words: Uh oh.
3678913 Technically Uh is not really a word. Soooo. One word Uh Oh!