//------------------------------// // Chapter Four // Story: Spoon // by Flame486 //------------------------------// Sunlight cascaded off of the window's glass onto Applejack's muzzle. The bright light was enough to take her out of her slumber. Applejack woke up with a yawn. Getting out of bed, she slowly got ready for the day, before coming downstairs for breakfast. It was the same as usual: pancakes with apple-flavored syrup, eggs, and a plain salad. She took the time to make breakfast before calling everypony together. She turned to Big Mac, "Hey Big Mac, can you wake up your sister? I've just about got these eggs ready." "Yep, sure." Big Mac said. Applejack turned back to her eggs. The past few days have been troubling, Applejack thought. First there was that doggone pony, Spoon. He seemed like such a crazy pony when I met him. First he said that the shapes were lyin'. How do squares and rectangles lie? Then he asked me to help him. I only agreed to get him to go away, but me and my darned loyalty... That night, I'd like to think I was just sleep-deprived. Too much time working in the fields. But there was too much going on. I really want to dismiss it as my imagination gone wild, but after what Apple Bloom said.. it's too much. This whole thing reeks, and I want to get to the bottom of it. "Sis, you 'bout done with those eggs?" "Huh?" Applejack said, her mind in a stupor. She almost hit head on the cupboard above her, suddenly being reminded of what she was doing. "Oh, right, the eggs." She carried the pan over to the table where Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom were sitting, and started giving an egg to each of them. "Uhm, sis? These eggs are really burned..." Apple Bloom said. Applejack just looked down at the pan skillet she had in her hoof. Apple Bloom was right; the eggs had been really burned. "Oh dagnabbit!" she said. "Oh, it's okay dearie. These are fine." Granny said with a comforting smile. Applejack sniffed, but nodded her head in agreement. After she had passed out the eggs, things were quiet for a bit until Granny asked, "So what's on your mind Applejack? Usually you're so diligent when it comes to making breakfast. Is something troubling you?" Applejack had mostly been poking at her egg until she was asked this. "Oh, ah ran into this pony the other day with this strange advice. He started carrying on about how shapes are lying to us, and Ah was jus' tryin' to be polite, but I tried it out later on and now ah have now idea what to think." "Advice? Oh Applejack, don't tell me he gave you drugs. I thought I drilled into all of y'all's heads not to accept stuff from strangers." "Oh um, no, he didn't give me drugs Granny, Ah swear." Applejack said with a weird look on her face. "Okay good, because Apple Bloom was telling me this wild story about how when ya got home you had some sorta light show going on in there. I was concerned that she dug into whatever this pony gave you." Apple Bloom started coughing up some of her salad at the mention of her name and then got a sheepish look on her face. "But Ah swear. There was a light show goin' on and everything Granny! And then afterwards, Applejack was just gone! Ah looked all over the house and the farm and she was nowhere to be seen! And then when the sun started to rise, there she was back in her bed!" This got Granny mad. "Ya mean to say that you left the house at night without us knowing?! Haven't we told you about how dangerous it is to go exploring at night?!" Granny was irate, but the deflection was off of Applejack. She felt kind of bad about getting Apple Bloom into trouble, but at the same time she was disappointed that she couldn't tell her family about what was going on. After everypony had finished their breakfasts, Big Mac offered to do the dishes. Usually Applejack would object, but just gave him a nod and then left. The day went by as usual again. She got a lot of her chores done up until noon, where she and Apple Bloom were to start selling some apples in the marketplace again. She started wheeling the cart up the hill, while Apple Bloom followed sullenly behind. "Ah still can't believe you ratted me out to Granny!" Apple Bloom said. "Oh no, don't get me involved in this Apple Bloom. I didn't say anything about it. Ah feel bad about it though, if that's what counts." She stopped rolling the cart, now at their usual spot in the Ponyville marketplace. She wiped the sweat from her brow before looking for potential customers. "I know." Apple Bloom said. "You know Ah was concerned about you, right? How would you react if you went to check on me in the middle of the night, and there was all this magic all over the place, and Ah was nowhere to be seen?" Applejack paused in her search of potential customers and thought about her sister's question. What would she do about it? "Don't even talk like that, little sister. I swear Ah'd never let that happen." Apple Bloom didn't see it though. "Well unfortunately for the two of us, that happened to you, and Ah was stuck dealing with the consequences." She put on a frown and didn't say anything else. Applejack didn't know what to say in response to that, and they say in silence for a while until they started getting customers. After about five ponies wanting to buy apples, she saw Spoon, his gray coat and lighter gray mane sticking out of the colorful crowd. He slowly started to move upward close to them, before stopping on a bench and just looking at them. Applejack took the hint. "Well, little sis, we've sure done a good job sellin' those apples! Unfortunately, Ah think we should probably take a break for the time being. Why don't you head on down to Sugar Cube Corner and grab a muffin or something?" She handed her little sister 10 bits. Apple Bloom looked at her and smiled with a bit of hope before taking the bits and running over to the bakery. She wandered over to Spoon's bench and took a seat on the opposite side of him. "Why, hello Spoon. Fancy meetin' you here." "Yes, yes, and a hello to you too. I'm sure you know why I'm here, understand the urgency?" Spoon said. Applejack winced, she knew it would come to this. "Yes. I understand everything. It wasn't a dream after all. It was another world. That 'Captain' are whatever his name is, he threw me back in here when Ah resisted him. So what is this place if not the real world?" Spoon chuckled. "The real world? I do not know. All I do know is the shapes are lying. The mathematical constants of this realm do not add up. How is it that a Princess can raise the entire sun every morning? The sun is ENORMOUS!" He shouted, "our entire planet wouldn't make up a billionth of it." This got Applejack mad. "Now listen. I don't care about your yammerin' about how shapes are lyin' or you feelin' like there's more out there, but if you insult the Princess again, we're done!" "Oh, ok, ok, take it easy now, little filly. I didn't mean anything by it," Spoon said nervously. "It's just, you feel it too, don't you? Your experiences in Sanctuary helped shape you. You know there's more to all this. Doesn't that make you curious? It's driving the heck out of me every passing day!" "Um, no I don't. I don't feel it. It was mighty strange running into that world, but Ah don't care about who lies in it, or what lies beyond our world. All Ah care about is mah family. They exist here, so that's good enough for me." This left Spoon stumped. He knew that she had a point, but the knowledge. The knowledge! "Applejack, you can't be serious. I understand the obligation of protecting your family, but you're willing to give up the secrets of the universe for your family?!" "Ah'm sorry, my mind's made up." Applejack closed her eyes and raised her head. "Then we have nothing else to talk about." Spoon said, before getting off his bench and walking away. Later on, after retrieving Apple Bloom and heading back to the farm, Applejack had another break and went to go see what Twilight up to. She knocked on her door. "Twilight? You home?" She looked concerned as the door opened. "Good gracious, girl. Is it too hard to close a latch?" Applejack wandered into her home. Inside, the library was dark. She couldn't find much of anything. Except for a stray light under one of the doors. Gotcha, She thought. Opening the door, the door itself creaked so loud that she thought the neighbors could hear it. She wandered through the doorway until she saw that it led to her basement. She heard Twilight's voice. It sounded like she was talking to somepony else. Applejack started walking down the basement stairs before calling out, "Hey Twilight you here? DId Spike get back from his vacat-- whoa!" - At that, Applejack slipped and started falling down the stairs. She was close to the bottom already, but it was still painful. - "Oowww." Twilight turned away from her writings to look over at the newly arrived Applejack. Rushing over to her she said, "Oh my Celestia, Applejack! Are you all right? Are you injured?" Applejack groaned before rolling onto her side and then standing up. "Thanks for the concern Twilight, but I'm fine." "Indeed, that was quite a fall." Said a voice. Applejack followed the voice back to the pony to find that it was none other than Grandmaster Spoon himself. "Are you sure you don't need medical attention?" Applejack just seethed quietly. "What in tarnation are y'all doing here?" "Oh, Twilight invited me down here," Spoon said. "She seems to be quite the educated young mare." Twilight blushed and then giggled. "Stop embarrassing me Grandmaster!" she said waving a hoof at him. Applejack just gawked. "Twilight, why are you sucking up to this guy? He's just a crazy ol' pony!" Twilight left her mouth agape for a second before responding, "Applejack, do you know who this is? This is Grandmaster Spoon! A famous chrono-wizard and professor at the University of Trottingham! He helped to solve the Inverted Goose phenomenon!" "'The Inverted Goose' phenomenon? What the heck is that?" Applejack asked. "Well essentially —" Twilight began. "We don't have time for that," Spoon said, "we need to exit the simulation! The Captain's forces are probably on their way as we speak!" "'The Captain's forces?' Where do you even get this stuff Spoon?" "Uuuughh! This is what I was trying to explain to you Applejack!" Twilight began. "The Inverted Goose phenomenon was a social experiment conducted at the University of Trottingham. Famous scientists in the field discovered that when you shine specific magical wavelengths onto a living creature, in this case a goose, then it will appear distorted. Many scientists tried and failed to explain it, until Grandmaster Spoon came along with his specialty in mathematics. He discovered that using a special type of chrono-magic, that it wasn't the magic around the goose being distorted, rather it was the goose itself. After that happened, a few months later, the Grandmaster had been ejected from the University of Trottingham. I'd always wondered why until I found this book!"She showed it to Applejack. "'The biography of Time in a Social Setting, by Mystic Spoon?'" Applejack read. Twilight continued, "This book helps to explain why he left. He didn't leave on his own, there was a split between the scientists. Led by the Creationists, the Grandmaster and other scientists believed that there was a whole new substance making up the goose. Meanwhile, the Foundationalists rejected that belief and stated that there must have been something wrong with the experiment itself. The book says that this conflict between the two groups created a scandal at the University which fired the most vocal parts of the two groups. Without the famous Chrono-wizard on their side, TU, or Trottingham University thought they could quell the problem." "And has it?" Applejack asked. "Well, there's still been some infighting, but nothing seriously vocal." Grandmaster Spoon said. "The Creationists and I believed that there must have been something making up the goose itself. Our research led to the theoretical substance dubbed Proton Particles, even though it was neither made of protons nor particles. The damned substance was named after our head researcher Proton Particle." "That—That's great... Spoon, but how does that relate to our problem at hoof?" Applejack stammered. "Well according to the book, 'After our countless research, we learned that if we ever could find out what the Proton Particles actually are, we could redeem ourselves in the eyes of the University.'" Twilight read. "We believed that these Proton Particles made up a single large structure, known as the Framework. Based on chrono-mathematics, I am convinced that some parts of this world are made up differently than others. For example, we learned that the goose wasn't real at all; it was just a uniquely coded mathematical construct that has only twelve command codes being directed from a uniquely-determined source. In fact, every non-sentient animal we conducted tests on had the same coded structure about it. It all led to a single relay point on the edge of the Everfree Forest, not to Ponyville. I mapped it out, it seems to be a small hollow stump filled with twelve snails." "...Is this guy for real, Twilight?" Applejack asked. "I know it sounds preposterous Applejack, but it fills in most of the problems with science. It fits so many different theories and interpretations! Seriously, I wouldn't be bothering you with this if I didn't think it was worth a look." Twilight said. Applejack sighed, "Alright. I suppose it deserves a look. Where is this magical stump, Spoon?" Spoon levitated out a map of Equestria, and drew a small circle on it. "It's right here Applejack. It's at the intersection between your East Orchard of apple trees at Sweet Apple Acres, and the Everfree Forest. Come on, time is of the essence!" "Hold on Grandmaster," Twilight asked. "If The Captain's ponies are truly on their way, and we're trying to remove ourselves from the simulation, how will we locate each other when we're in the other world?" Applejack wondered. Twilight did have a point. While in the other world, Ah could barely find anypony else in the whole darned place. How are we supposed to find each other? "With the Elements of Harmony. After speaking with you and Applejack, I am convinced that you're the real beings standing before me. You're not a hologram or an advanced intelligence guiding the system. Your deeds in the past have not been worthless. The two of you have power beyond most other ponies in the land. We should retrieve the magical artifacts post-haste!" Spoon declared. "Hold on, Spoon. If this is a matter of the Elements, then we should get everypony else here too. What about Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, or Fluttershy? They deserve to be in on the action too." Twilight said. "Have you not listened to anything I just said?! We cannot trust anypony! They may be your friends in this Twilight Sparkle, but short of conducting extensive tests on their psyches, we cannot know if they really are your friends and not extensive holograms!" —Twilight was about to interject before Spoon stopped her —"Think about it Ms. Sparkle. If your friends are just holograms, then that means the holograms are based off of a host-body. Fluttershy may not be real in this world, but her experiences certainly are in the real world. If she truly is trapped inside the simulation then, it would be your duty as a friend to free her as soon as possible!" Twilight realized he had a point and left her speechless. "Oh come on, Twilight. This is the most cockamamie thing I've ever heard! Don't tell me you're listening to this nonsense." Applejack exclaimed. Twilight took a few moments before gathering her thoughts. "As preposterous as it sounds Applejack, his thought-process is all there. Assuming the best, then this is nothing and we've all wasted a night of exploring. If it's the worst, well..." She let the thought continue before running out what to say. She didn't need to say any more. Applejack understood. "All right Twilight, I understand ya." She directed her attention at Spoon. "Spoon, what do we need to do?" "I'm glad you asked, young sapling," Spoon began. "First, we need to gather the Elements of Harmony, just the Element of Magic and the Element of Honesty; we should not gather the others on the off-chance they've been booby-trapped. Wearing the Elements will grant you the soul-link needed to find each other outside of the simulation—" "But what about you, Grandmaster? How will you be able to find us?" Twilight inquired. Spoon just smiled. "Do not worry young mare, for I still have a few tricks up these old bones. After you've gathered up the two Elements and have put them on, we need to find the focal point in the Everfree Forest. I shall cast a spell ritual which should disrupt the system long enough for the three of us to leave." He then paused and turned his attention to Applejack, "And on the off-chance that nothing happens, then we can all just go home and be content that we did everything in our power to do something, and I will never bother you again." Applejack's stomach twisted. She knew this was the best decision for them all; a choice to settle something in Spoon and still be able to return to her family. So then, why did she feel so bad about it? "Ah'm in, Spoon. Let's get started." By the time they left the library, the land had begun to get dark. Twilight looked up at the sky; it was already dusk. It was just early enough in the evening that the sun had set but the moon had slowly started moving up in the sky. Usually it was a good period for ponies to smile to their adoring marefriends, and promptly make out, but there was something different about this setting; something darker. Applejack felt a chill in her stomach, something was about to happen. "Come on you slowpokes! We're almost at the site!" Grandmaster Spoon yelled at the two of them who were crawling behind. Twilight and Applejack started to move into Spoon's direction with more haste than before. Slowly, the three of them moved across town, from Library, to the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, and then into the dark depths of the Everfree Forest. When they got a few trees in, they saw it. To the unobservant, it looked like a small stump on the ground. Now that Twilight had a better look at it though, it had far more details than that. Various mushrooms were sprouting on top of it, tiny spores had taken root on top of the stump itself. In the center of the top was a large hole. Peering inside, she detected the twelve snails that Spoon had mentioned. They looked dark and sickly, and looked more carnivorous than any other snail that she had ever seen before. She suddenly got disgusted and moved away from the center. Applejack broke the ice. "All right, Spoon we're here. What should we do now?" Spoon moved into position behind the stump itself, making the Elements into a a triangular pattern. He then pulled out a robe and a hat, similar to what Twilight wore for Nightmare Night, and put them on. He stood on his back legs and raised his front hooves into the air. "Elements of Sound, Water, and Air, we beseech thee! Gather your mighty strength so that we may destroy this stump before us!" Grandmaster Spoon cast the incantation as a barrage of magical energy surrounded them at once. Applejack felt the air around them start to vibrate. Her vision started to get blurry as she saw everything around her start jumping up and down in a fast voluntary manner. Despite this, she knew she felt perfectly fine. She saw the magic begin to affect the target on the ground. The stump began to vibrate as if hit, it set on fire briefly before shaking. Applejack swore it turned into a bright pink pipeline for an instant, before changing back to nothing. Eventually, the magic ceased and everything went back to normal. She peered at the stump. Everything was still intact. The snails looked like they had not been moved in the slightest. Grandmaster Spoon collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. Twilight ran over to meet him. Gasping for breath, he said, "My magic... It's not strong enough."— He paused for a moment before shaking his head. —"I can't create fast enough magic to penetrate the pipeline. If only we had more disruption, then we could get through this..." Twilight thought for a moment. "What do you mean by disruption?" The Grandmaster continued, "Just-just enough stuff going on, that the simulation couldn't stand it. It would be trying to overload everything happening at once that it would snap." A gear clicked in Applejack's head. "Spoon, I know just the pony." The bakery at Sugar Cube Corner was just about closing. Mrs. Cake looked at the clock. It was 7:56, just a few minutes to closing time. Her husband was moving a stack of flour into the back, while Pinkie Pie was cleaning the oven. With a broom in hoof, she thought all that was left was a bit of talking with her husband and then she could go to bed. That's when she heard the sound of the bell. The dreaded bell. She was so close to closing time. So close! Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and a strange light-gray stallion with a long white beard and mane walked in through the door. He was wearing Twilight's Nightmare Night costume; how strange. "Oh hello!" Mrs. Cake said, shutting her previous thoughts into a closet. "What can I get you dearies?" Twilight had a frantic look on her face. "Oh thanks for the help Mrs. Cake, but we're not here to order anything. May we speak with Pinkie Pie?" Suddenly Pinkie Pie disappeared from the back and jumped out of a nearby barrel. Mrs. Cake tried to keep up a calm demeanor, but inside she was exasperated. This close! I was this close to closing! Pinkie gawked at Twilight and Applejack with their Elements on. "WHAT?! Are the three of you having an Element party without me?" — Twilight was about to interject before Pinkie continued —"And you were going to rub it in my face weren't you?" In an instant, Pinkie's face changed from angry to all smiles. "No, that can't be it! Obviously the most obvious solution is that the three of you aren't any good at throwing parties so you came over to ask me for advice. Touche, Sparkle, touche. However, I'll only impart advice if I could join your party!" Twilight just hoof-smacked her face hitting her horn in the process. Her mind instantly got a little disoriented, forcing her to shake it away before continuing, "No Pinkie. We weren't having a party. We were conducting an important ritual, until we realized we couldn't do enough, so we were wondering if we could ask you to cause enough trouble for us." In an instant, the strange wizard pony turned his head to Twilight and began vehemently whispering in her ear. A few mumbles from her saying, "Uh huh, yeah, yeah, okay, no...no no... of course not. No..no Spoon we are going to do this our way." Twilight then turned back to Pinkie and said, "I'm sorry Pinkie. We should have included you in the first place." Pinkie jumped over to the group, somehow landing between Applejack, Spoon, and Twilight. She hugged the three of them, before turning to Spoon and saying, "Okay, Spooney! What should we do now?" Spoon just looked at Pinkie Pie with crazy eyes. "How do you know my name?! Are you in on it?!" Twilight just looked at him. "It's all right Spoon, it's just a Pinkie Pie thing. She knows everypony in Ponyville before they even know themselves." "Yeppers!" Pinkie Pie announced while pulling out a wallet with pictures. "You're Mystic Spoon, lives on 4379 Candycane Lane, related to the Spoon family? Ooooooh! And you're a Chrono-wizard? Wowie-wowow!" "Ah still haven't gotten a clear answer as to what a 'chrono-wizard' is yet." Applejack lamented. Still holding the wallet of pictures, Pinkie Pie leaned over at Applejack, "It's just a Unicorn that studies time, silly! I thought it would be obvious!" Applejack just glared at her in response. Twilight levitated Pinkie Pie back onto the ground, before saying, "All right everypony, let's get started!" Pinkie Pie had a look of disappointment, "But wait, my necklace. My necklace!" Twilight realized that they would need to return to the library to retrieve Pinkie's Element of Laughter. She looked at Spoon, who just said, "Don't look at me. You're the leader of this group now. I've been relegated to this group's magical adviser." Twilight looked like she wanted to protest, but instead calmed herself. She took a breath and said, All right everypony, let's move out!" The group of four ponies moved out the door and toward the direction of the library. Mrs. Cake sighed in relief, before looking at the oven and seeing all the grime and residue still on it. She got angry and yelled "Pinkie Pie, you still haven't finished your job yet!" In the distance, Mrs. Cake heard a yell, "SORRY!" She went back to sweeping. They returned to the library, picked up Pinkie Pie's Element and then proceeded back into the woods. Take two: the woods were dark and magical, and the sun was setting. The moon was higher in the sky and then Applejack felt a pit in her stomach begin to tell her that something was amiss. Twilight felt the same too. "And that was when they knew something was wrong," Pinkie Pie said. "Pinkie, who in the hay are you talking to?" Applejack asked. Pinkie smiled, "Oh, just reading off the lines of the narrator!" Applejack just looked at Twilight, who just lifted her hoof and did a circular motion around her ear. "Enough bickering! We must reach the stump before all is too late!" Spoon declared. "Wow, Spooney. You sure missed out on your morning coffee, didn't you?" Pinkie said. Spoon just glared at Pinkie Pie in response, without saying another word. Eventually, they all reached the stump. The stump was the same as before: carnivorous snails, mushrooms growing off the top of it, various unidentifiable spores atop it. Spoon got behind it and raised his hooves in the air, before looking at Pinkie Pie, "Pinkie, put your Element on." Pinkie looked over her shoulder at the Element of Laughter on her foreleg. She rolled her eyes and said, "Oh yeah!" She put the necklace around her neck. Spoon raised his hooves in the air, seeing the dark and foreboding thunder clouds above them. "Elements of Sound, Air, and Water, we beseech thee. Destroy this accursed stump before you!" The air began to vibrate once again. Applejack's vision was faulty as she began to see a double-image begin to jump up and down, up and down. She was getting dizzy following it. She looked at Twilight who looked like she was having about the same problem. She then looked over to her right at Pinkie Pie and thought she saw her vision going up and down, before realizing Pinkie was the one jumping up and down. She was balancing herself on a ball that Celestia knows where she got, while trying to balance a number of sticks on her hooves. Suddenly, there was a colorful show in front of her. The vibrating mist that Spoon had summoned started to penetrate the stump. It turned back into a bright pink pipeline, and Twilight started by joining in and making small fireworks with her horn. The simulation was about to crack. Applejack looked around at the Everfree Forest as the simulation began to change in an instant, changing into a metallic surface for miles on end, before changing back to normal. She heard a deep crack, as the ground around the four of them broke off and they all fell screaming into the pit itself. All except for Pinkie Pie who was screaming with joy.