Magical Mystery Cure (my take)

by Phazon_Corrupted_Unicorn

Day 1: Applejack

Applejack left Twilight's home shortly after Rarity, heading back to the farm. She needed to get some work done and she'd already slept in much later than she wanted. As she trotted down the road to the farm she felt lighter, like something was off. She raised a hoof to her head and felt her hat sitting there, covering her horn. She knew that she'd have to explain all this to the rest of the family, but she wanted to avoid any unwanted questions on the way home. She didn’t know what having a horn and magic would do for her, what with working on a farm and all. There wasn’t much place for magic. Then again, Applejack thought, Twilight had helped her harvest the trees using magic a few years ago when she’d just arrived. Maybe there was something to this magic bit.

She crested the hill and spied the barn with Big Macintosh striding out the barn doors, hitched up to the plow. Applejack smiled as she watched him pull the plow over to one of their fields. It was a common misconception to think that the Apple family only grew apples on their farm. Really they would rent out several of their fields to local growers, such as Carrot Top, to grow much of their produce that they sold in the marketplace. There were also places for flowers to grow in abundance in all kinds. The Apple farm wasn't just there to provide apples for much of Equestria, it was also there to support and sustain Ponyville all on its own.

“Howdy sis!” a perky voice broke through Applejack’s thoughts. She looked around and saw a big red bow running up the road from the farm. Applebloom slid to a halt, smiling all the while. “Why ya comin’ home so late? Big Mac’s already to start plowing Carrot Top’s field.”

“Ah know, sugarcube, I saw.” Applejack patted Applebloom on the head and smiled back at her little sister, then she trotted down the hill, Applebloom following her. She could feel Applebloom’s eyes staring at her and she swallowed, then turned and asked, “What? Mah mane out of place?”

Applebloom jumped slightly at being discovered, then shook her head. “Nah, it’s just you’re wearing your hat more forward than usual, that’s all. Why?”

Applejack sighed, then leaned close. “Ah’m gonna explain it to tha whole fam’ly, but to satisfy your curiosity, Ah’ve got a horn.”

“YOU’VE GOT A WHAT?” Applebloom shouted. Applejack turned around and saw that Big Mac had stopped plowing and was now looking at them two on the hill.

“Huh, What’s tha?” a scratchy voice came from the barn as Granny Smith poked her head out one of the windows and looked around.

Applejack facehoofed, then sighed and trotted down the path, heading for the house. “Come on, sugarcube. Ah guess the cat’s out of the bag. Big Mac!” she shouted, making sure she had her brother’s attention, “Ah need ta talk to ya’ll in the house!”

It took a few minutes to walk the rest of the way home, but Applejack finally stepped inside the home. Granny Smith was sitting in her rocking chair while Big Mac sat in their father’s high back armchair. Applejack felt a twinge of sorrow as she stared at Big Mac, but shook it away before tears could come. It wouldn’t do to be crying over her parents now. Applebloom took a place on the floor, her eyes wide with wonder as Applejack sat on the couch and fingered the brim of her hat.

“There’s somethin’ Ah got ta tell ya’ll,” Applejack started, a little hesitant. How would they all react to her having a horn? Would they disown here? She couldn’t think of very many unicorns who worked on a farm, and none of them worked on their apple farm.

“Come on, Applejack! Ah want ta see it!” Applebloom cried, bringing a smile to Applejack’s face. Her sister never was the patient type. Unlike….Applejack shook her head to clear her thoughts. No, it wouldn’t do to think about her right now. She needed to focus on the task at hand.

Applejack slowly pulled her hat off her head, feeling the slight tingle as it rubbed against her horn and she winced at the unexpected feeling. Then she let her hat fall onto her lap as she heard a collective gasp from the other three earth ponies in the room.

“How did this happen?” Big Mac asked.

“Well,” Applejack began, then started talking.

“So you’re tellin’ me that Ah’ve got a sister that woke up this mornin’ with a horn?” Applebloom asked. Applejack nodded, then stared at the three of them.

“Ah need ya’ll to Pinkie Promise me that ya’ll ain’t gonna be spreadin’ this around town,” she stated, then watched as each of them Pinkie Swore, complete with actions. She nodded, content. “Now then, let’s get ta work. Ah’m late in startin’ the day and it didn’t help that Ah had a story ta tell.” She stood up and placed her hat back on her head, careful to obscure her horn from view. She trotted out the door, heading into the barn and pulling out the wagon they used for apple harvesting. It had half a dozen of baskets in it to catch the apples after they bucked the trees. The wagon they would fill up with apples and unload back at the barn.

She hitched herself to the wagon and started off toward one of the orchards that were due for harvesting. She grunted as she slid the yoke around her middle. Did it get heavier overnight? She didn’t remember it being this heavy before. But maybe she was just more tired than usual, she did wake up later in the day and she and the girls had a fight last night.

Her mind drifted back to that night as she remembered a few details. She smiled happily as she imagined the look on her face, that mare’s mane flowing and soft, then the image changed to that same mare with anger in her eyes. Applejack was sure that she too had been angry, she was sure of it, but it had been a side that she didn’t see much.

Applejack arrived at the orchard and started placing the baskets around the closest tree. She looked up at the sky and saw that Celestia’s sun was about half way. Applejack sighed, might as well start now. This was one of the smaller orchards, only several dozen trees here, but she wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.

She pulled the wagon off to one side into a central location, then walked back to the tree. She swung her hind legs around and, planting her front legs into the ground bracing them, she bucked the tree with all her might.

She felt the satisfying thud as her legs connected with the tree trunk, but what she didn’t expect was the slight jolt of pain that shot up her legs. She winced, but smiled as she heard dozens of thuds as the apples fell from the tree into the baskets. She turned around to start collecting the baskets, then frowned as she noticed that they were all half full. She looked up at the tree and was shocked to see half the apples still in the tree.

Well that’s never happened before, Applejack thought, then turned around and bucked the tree again. This time she heard the rest of the apples fall from the tree and land in the baskets. She nodded, then picked up one of the baskets in her mouth.

Or at least she tried to. She didn’t know how the apples could have gotten heavier since the last harvest, but she could barely lift the basket off the ground. She had to drag it over to the wagon, where she fussed and fretted with it, lifting it up off the ground and high enough to dump the apples into the wagon. She gasped in effort as she dropped the basket back on the ground, then plopped down on her hindquarters. She stared down at her hooves in shock.

When had she gotten so weak? She could usually lift whole baskets on her head with little effort, just this one had her gasping for breath. She pulled her conscience inside, searching for her magic.

It was genuinely argued among the top unicorn scholars about whether or not earth ponies actually had magic of their own. It was accepted that pegasi and unicorns each had their own type of magic, which were manifest through their control of the magical weave than encompassed their world like a spider web, or their affinity for weather control. But earth ponies it was harder to gauge. Did they help plants grow, or did the plants grow like that on their own because of the care the earth ponies gave them?

The only thing Applejack knew was that her magic helped her harvest the apple orchards, as well as made her stronger and faster. Their apple trees grew better when the apple family were tending them, much better than some of the other farms run by unicorns or pegasi.

As she reached inside to find her magic, she noticed a bit of a change. It wasn’t where it usually was, beside her stomach. This way it had full and quick access to her legs, where she needed it. She found it up near her brain. She poked and prodded it, finding it to be like a lake, full of orange glowing water. She dipped part of her conscience into it and felt something flow out through her. She felt her horn tingle slightly as it came alive in a hum of magic and she found herself gazing up at it at it radiated an orange aura.

She closed her eyes, sensing for a second the world around her. She could feel the baskets surrounding the tree, the individual apples in each basket. She felt the earth beneath her hooves, how it trembled slightly as it moved. She felt the presence of each living creature and plant around her, almost like they were introducing themselves for the first time. She could feel the thick weaves of magic that floated through the air and burrowed through the earth beneath her. She could feel the buzz of magic around her as she tapped into her own innate magic. She reached out, extending her magic just a bit toward one of the baskets full of apples. She felt it, it’s weight, the dimensions, the space it took up, how the passive magic of the world flowed around it and through it. She grabbed a hold of the basket and she opened her eyes to see the basket wrapped in an orange glow.

She smiled and tried to levitate it off the ground. She grunted in effort as the basket sat there, stubbornly refusing to move. She reached into her magic and pulled more out of her font, pushing it toward the basket. She strained with the effort and her horn grew brighter as more and more magic flowed through it.

“Come on, ya stubborn thing!” Applejack said through gritted teeth. Twilight had made this seem so easy, so why was she having so much trouble? Finally she’d had enough and she grabbed as much magic as she could and threw it at the basket. The basket quivered then, to her surprise, shot into the air like it had been fired out of Pinkie’s party cannon.

Applejack stood, wide eyed, as she watched the dozens of apple shoot into the sky, then crest and start to rain down on her. She cried out and tried to hide, but there wasn’t any shelter nearby. She watched as the apples fell closer and faster until she closed her eyes.

She heard the apples bounce off of something just above her head and thud onto the ground. She opened her eyes and saw a thin layer of orange glow that was stopping the apples from falling on her. She glanced up at her horn and saw it alight with magic, then she watched it dim and fade, the orange glow following.

So Ah can use magic subconsciously, she thought, but why not consciously?

She didn’t have much time to think about this as she looked up at the sky. She gasped as she saw the sun had moved farther than she’d expected.

“Ponyfeathers!” she shouted, dashing over to one of the baskets and dragged it over to the wagon. She didn’t have time to figure out how to use magic, so she’d just have to try her best with what she could do.

By the time the sun was setting, Applejack had barely finished with a dozen of the trees in the orchard. She looked back at the wagon and sighed as she saw that it was a fourth the way full with apples. She stomped the ground and snorted in frustration at her lack of speed. If she could just figure out how to use magic, then she’d be able to go much faster!

She sighed and gave up. That would be something else to do tomorrow. She needed to get back to the house and eat something, as her stomach chose that time to remind her that she hadn’t eaten anything all day by grumbling.

She slid back into the yoke and started to pull the cart. Alright, she thought as she grunted in effort at pulling the cart, now Ah know Ah’m a lot weaker than Ah was. She shook her head, a tear forming at the edge of her eye. Ah can’t believe that unicorns live like this all day! How could they not be able to live a whole basket of apples? Is this the life Ah’ll have to live, not able to really do much?

She struggled down the road, trying to pull the cart toward the barn, when she saw her brother come running up the road.

“Ah was worried about ya,” he stated, taking in the sight of his sister sweating harder than she’d ever had and the wagon not even half full of apples. He paused as she looked up at him, a tear running down her cheek.

“Big Mac! What’s gonna happen if Ah don’t return ta normal? Ah’m gonna be weak and unable to use magic to help and just be useless!” the tears started to flow and Big Mac nuzzled against his sister’s neck.

“Now listen here, Applejack. You’re gonna be fine. Ah’m sure Twilight’ll be able to help ya,” he assured her.

“But that’s the thing! Twilight ain’t even a unicorn now! The spell changed her too!” Applejack sniffed. Big Mac blinked in surprise. Twilight, the most powerful unicorn he knew wasn’t a unicorn? What kind of spell had she cast?

Applejack’s sniffles brought Big Mac out of his thoughts and into the present. He pulled her out of the yoke and laid her in the wagon. She blinked in surprise at his gestures and was about to protest when he shot her a glare. Then he slung the yoke onto his back and started pulling the wagon home, Applejack having given up and laid her head down on her forehooves.

They made it home after several minutes and Big Mac picked Applejack up out of the wagon after unhitching himself from it. He placed her on his back and walked into the house, past Applebloom and Granny Smith, up the stairs and into her room where he laid her on the bed. He turned to leave, but was interrupted by Applejack.

“Big Mac?” she asked and he turned to look at her. “What will happen if Ah don’t turn back?”

He thought about it for a bit, then smiled. “We’ll do the same thing we’ve always done. Make the best out of every situation we find ourselves in.”

Applejack smiled at that answer and rolled over to stare out the window as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Applejack sat there for several minutes, trying to figure out how this was all going to work out, but she was just too exhausted to think. Bucking the few trees that she had, as well as getting all the apples into the wagon, coupled with the stress of learning how to use new magic all combined together and she slid into welcome and restful sleep.

Author's Note:

Whee!!! A day in the life of Applejack, Ponyville's newest unicorn!!!

And my theory on pony magic, particularly Earth Pony magic.

Comments

[i_am_the_jam]

Excellent take on earth pony magic.

Some authors say that the magic is in their hooves and tails. On their tails, because normal horses don't have prehensile tails (the vertebrae only extend about 30 cm from the flank, the rest is pure hair).

[Phazon_Corrupted_Unicorn]

2558094
That's an interesting way of explaining it, however I think that for magic to have such an effect on earth ponies, it needs to be in a central location, that's why I chose the stomach area. It's able to flow easily to any point necessary with the least amount of effort.