A mighty clunk of hoof meeting wood struck her ears with force, sending out sounds of weight and precision usually reserved for a calamity. The ruffle of leaves as impact bounced the tree's center gravity back and forth added to the collage of sound as the nature surrounding reacted to such a fierce blow. It might have been Earth-Chan's imagination, but she could swear that even the roots below vibrated with the rippling energy sent cascading through it's mass which in turn cause the very ground she stood on to shiver. As faint as the feeling was, the tingles she got from feeling the ground shift, even just a little bit, was all she needed to realize what magnitude of a kick that had actually been.
Within the split second the shivers arrived, the sounds stopped. While an impression had been made on Earth-Chan, nature seemed to resort back to normal just after a few seconds as if the kick hadn't even happened.
That is, before the first plop resounded. Looking to the source, a single apple had fallen from the tree. It looked crisp, swollen with juices, the very picture of ripe that captured Earth-Chan in a passionate stare. She wanted that one, but so soon did she step towards it another fell right next to it. And then another. The tree had only begun to react.
Plop.
More and more, the single apple was joined by an avalanche of others.
Plopplopplop, Plop fwop!
With nothing there to catch them, the apples pitter-pattered against the grass, flung by their own momentum they bounced against each other in the clustered pile that slowly began to form at the base of the tree.
It was unknown how long the apples fell. Forever felt like a good fall back word, but realistically, it had to be seconds. Everything happened so flawlessly, as if the kick was a natural occurrence that had been granted the authority to bend the tree to its will. The resilience that the tree proved to have was unlike anything Earth-Chan had ever imagined. What would have snapped or shattered one of her own trees in half back during Earth Prime Time only seemed to quake this seemingly indestructible wooden pillar.
Now that the apple storm had finally subsided, Earth-Chan walked over, moving past a very proud looking farm mare basking in a job well done. The blue mare inspected her friends work, picking up an apple out of the pile and looking it over.
"How ya like that? Little bit of earth pony finesse and years of practice." Still beaming with pride, AJ motioned to Pinkie Pie, who had witnessed the same spectacle as she did yet seemly glossed it over with a neutral Pinkie Pie smile. Spoiled to the beauty of a well placed kick. "Y'all should see what her sister can do with rocks."
Pinkie Pie seemed to enjoy the mention of her sister and nodded heavily at the praise. "Oh yeah! Mauds super duper strong, like woof, she hits like a brick. Then she can tell you what's in said brick!"
Still stuck on the apple in her hooves, Earth-Chan misses a little bit of Pinkie's sentence. Not meaning to ignore her, just suddenly hyper-focused. She loved apples. They were one of her favorite growths. She knew a thing or two about her apples and this... this was unbelievable. "I mean, most of these aren't even bruised! How did you manage to break every single stem?! And... And the heck does this have to do with the brown on my butt?"
Falling victim to her cravings, along with not having eaten all morning, Earth-Chan looked to Applejack for permission. The question was written all over her face, even as she gestured to the fruit in hoof. Applejack for her part stopped all that smug smiling and returned to a normal farm girl smirk as she nodded to her. She seemed to understand the mare's desires and sat on her rump in wait, possibly to see Earth-Chan's reaction to one of her home grown apples.
With permission given, something she was going to have to make a point of asking for from now on, the blue filly took another scan of her treat, finding the perfect spot to munch. Once she found what was deemed the roundest spot of the apple, she bite down and had herself a good chew.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Applejack's smirk grew as she saw her bite down. Her eyes moved as if scanning her face for any subtle hints to how it tasted.
She was disappointed when nothing happened.
The second bite came far too quickly for her tastes, but she dismissed her feelings to focus on the question at hoof. "Well, that there was just a taste of what a Cutie mark is all about. They're a little broad, but basically ah can kick that tree like that for three reasons..."
Applejack couldn't help but sigh as a third bite was taken without so much as a hum of delight. She wasn't out for compliments, but there was just a certain charm to hearing satisfaction from other ponies. It told her that all that work, days and weeks of nurturing and care, it all paid off. It told her she'd done a good job, like a good pony.
Everypon wanted their claim to being a good pony. It always manifested itself into different desires, different actions, and different words. But, no matter the path, everyone wanted to walk the route of a good pony. So, with that in mind, it just felt a tad upsetting to get no reaction at all. Heck, it almost seemed like she was getting sad. Who the hay gets sad from eating apples?! Her apples! How?!!
Letting out a breath, Applejack ignored what she figured to be a blatant insult for the sole purpose of keeping friendly. She could be reading it wrong, so that's what she banked on. "...First, Ah'm an Earth Pony. We're Earth Ponies. That means we've got our special connection with our hoofs to the ground below. Where Unicorns and Pegasi got deep connections to magical leylines and the sky respectively, we Earth Ponies are deeply connected to the earth around us. S'Why we're the growers and the muscle a lot of the time. We can use and explore the world around us a little better than other races just because that's how we're tuned. The strength behind mah kick was bigger because of the kind of pony that ah am."
"Yeah, being an Earth Pony is kind of awesome that way." A quick hoof bump was shared between her and Pinkie, small smiles exchanged before both looked back to Earth-Chan, who'd nearly finished her apple during the explanation. That was a little more comforting. At least she liked it enough to keep eating. Maybe she'd read to much into it. Maybe Earth-Chan was trying to focus on all this new information.
"Heh, second is the fact that Ah've been doing this for longer than Ah can frankly remember. Ah've got mahself so trained for this, Ah could close mah eyes and buck the right spot every time. It's a good work out too. S'got me a little bit more muscle in the legs than the average pony."
"It's true, her legs are crazy strong! This one time, she came up to these researcher ponies and saved them from getting smashed by a giant boulder! Pow! She caught it with her legs like it was nothing! Didn't even budge! You should have seen it!" Pinkie's face lit up as she animatedly described the scene, using her hooves to showcase the size of the boulder. As good as the praise felt, there was a slight problem with what Pinkie said.
"Pinkie, ya weren't there. Ah don't even remember tellin' ya any of that in the first place, how do ya know all the parts ya weren't around for?" Applejack looked at her friend in shock, having been certain she'd kept from boasting about what it took to get her artifact during the Shadow of Ponies debacle last week. It blew her mind sometimes when her friend talked so on point about impossible things like it was nothing. She new the rule about questioning it, but honestly, how could she not?
"Eh, lucky guess." Pinkie responded, smiling her signature goofy smile like it was no big deal. Applejack could never read that girl when she was like this.
"Right, well, where was ah again?"
"Three." Earth-Chan's answer was muffled with an apple. At some point she'd picked up a second apple and started on it, the first nowhere to be seen, evidently devoured whole by the obviously hungry mare. She made sure to smile in appreciation, both to show she was perfectly fine with her eating more and to relieve the anxiety built up from her own inner assumptions.
Still smiling, Pinkie Pie pushed to the back of her mind for later questioning, Applejack continued. "So, third and most importantly, mah cutie mark gives me a certain understanding of apples that others don't have. Now, these days it's more of a reflection of what ah already know, but the symbol itself gives off a magic that gives me uh... an inside look to apple related situations." Rubbing the back of her head, AJ struggled through this next part as she fumbled from thought to thought, trying to figure out a cohesive way to explain this.
"So, say this apple tree. It's so apple related it's not even funny. As apple as ya can get, right?" She smirked as she walked over to her tree and stroked it's trunk with an utmost sense of care.
"Just about any Earth Pony can buck it well enough to shake it's leaves and get a few apples to fall. Ain't too hard given enough practice. But, think of having instructions. Not how to buck, but just how the tree is. How it works. Sure ya can read up on plants like anypony else, but we're talkin' somethin' on another level. It uh... It's hard to explain. But, Ah can sort of sense each tree and the apples that grow on em. Not all the time, takes some focusin', but it's sort of like a sixth sense where ah can kick certain spots that other ponies might take a few bucks to find in one go. Ah can come up to every tree in this orchard and nail that sweet spot every single time. It's that sweet spot that makes all the apples fall instead of just a hoof full at a time."
Applejack had to take a second to collect herself. Lecturing was not her strong suit. It felt like she was botching this whole explanation up, but this was as best as she could describe it. At this point, she'd run out of examples and was simply continuing on memories from school from way back when and conversations with twilight about the subject.
"So it gives you a sort of clairvoyance for apple trees?" Earth-Chan asked, finishing her second apple and going for a third. Sheesh, somepony was hungry. Though, it was getting close to lunch.
"Clar- what?" AJ was an educated pony sure. She could read like most could, but sometimes ponies just decided to speak fancy for no other reason than to give off an appearance. What in all of Equestria did clairvoyance even mean?!
Pinkie Pie giggled beside her and gave the farm pony a nudge. "I'm thinking she's starting to get it AJ, way to go~"
She was just going to have to assume Pinkie knew certain words she didn't. Maybe she paid attention to a few more words in the dictionary than she did. Who knows. All the same, she was glad she at least hadn't confused the poor filly.
"Right, well then... Ah guess what Ah want to end on is kind of a guess on what your cutie mark stands for. Ah've looked at it a few times and Ah think Ah get it."
Earth-Chan held off on taking a bite of apple number three to retort. "What's the verdict, doc?"
Smirking at the joke, AJ shook her head. These ponies were just trying to one up each other in silliness. Earth-Chan had a ways to go, but AJ could appreciate her efforts to rival Pinkie Pie, as misguided as those efforts were.
"Heh, It's no secret, but ya've got a mound of dirt for a cutie mark. Or, more appropriately as mound of earth."
Earth-Chan sat on her rump and munched on apple number three, chewing quickly in excitement as new answers began to pour out in front of her. Her little blue and green speckled tail flickering back and forth against the grass.
"Ah don't know how well the dots connect, but mah guess is, you're an Earth Pony to the core. That there is probably a special talent for diggin' or shapin' the earth. Maybe you're like ah... Architect or somethin' of the like." It was satisfying to know that she remembered that word. Made her feel a whole lot better about Clairvoyance.
Pinkie was the quick to interrupt. With what else, but a nice round of giggles and laughs. "Hehe, AJ, I could have told her that."
She rolled her eyes at that and gave the pony a light poke in the shoulder with her hoof. "Ye, well Ah beat cha to it."
Returning to a more light-hearted mood, apple taste reactions all but forgotten, AJ moved towards another tree. This one had it's apples still, ready and waiting for the first harvest for this spring. It was almost time to get to work harvesting. Preparation had already gone underway. Some helping hooves were being hired as they spoke. Granny Smith and Applebloom both were hard at work setting up interviews with some new ponies. Others had returned for another season and were being given schedules by Macintosh. Applejack had come out here to start finding which few patches had ripened first. Having memorized the entire orchard by now, she need no pen and paper. Hard to hold em and walk anyway. She would remember which trees weren't Ripe, given that that was a smaller list to make, and would relay the message to Granny. She'd write down the tree numbers, make some notes, and file those a way for harvest day.
That all said, she was nearly done and had been on her way towards the house for a rest anyway. With that, it wasn't much of a bother to entertain some company on the farm for a minute before she hoped back to it. She wasn't about to forget all those numbers any time soon anyway.
With a swing of her head, she motioned for the others to come over to the new tree. Pinkie hopped on over while Earth-Chan tossed the core of her last apple to the side before walking up too.
Brushing her hoof against the bark of the new tree, she made a circle as if marking a spot and stepped back. Displaying it for both ponies to see.
"It's got less to do with cutie marks, but Ah couldn't help but notice ya had some gaps in your pony knowledge. Ah'm just guessin' ya aren't too well attuned to the whole pony scene given where ya came from. That makes quite a bit of sense actually. My granny once told me if ya raise a hawk with a bunch of Chickens, it'll grow up believe'n it's ah chicken and never fly. Seems to fit the bill with what ya've got goin' on. If ya haven't been around ponies all that much, then ya might not have been livin' like one either. For a lack of a better solution, Ah thought Ah'd give ya somethin' to do that'll help ya hone in yer Earth Pony magic. Itsa long shot, but no reason not to try, right?"
Earth-Chan tilted her head at what she said, obviously not catching on to the situation. She'd been a little vague maybe, but in her defense a lot of thinking had been done to come up with that explanation earlier, so mental exhaustion was more than a reasonable excuse.
"Sugarcube. Ah want ya to give this here tree a buck and see how it feels. Ya look like ya got some power in your legs. Shouldn't be too hard."
Pinkie Pie gasped, flagging her tail out and giving a quick hoof clap of approval. "Perfect! Bucking trees is as Earth Pony as you can get!"
Earth-Chan looked over to Pinkie and quirked a brow. "You can do it too?"
"Well ya! Not as good as AJ, but come on. You can't get more therapeutic than kicking the hay out of a tree. Think about it, you could work off all the stress of being a criminal, AND get in touch with your Earth Pony side. Win-Win!" Pinkie beamed a smile at Earth-Chan, sending good vibes and radiating confidence. It seemed infectious as Earth-Chan puffed out her chest and smirked.
"Well... Okay. I'll give it a whirl.... Not a criminal though." She snapped over at Pinkie before slowly approaching the tree and turning away from it, backing up a few more inches before squaring her hooves.
"If you say soooooo~" Pinkie sang aloud keeping herself from giggling again so not to drive Earth-Chan too far up the wall. AJ couldn't help but commend the mare on getting along with Pinkie for so long within the day. That usually took a lot more practice. Another good sign to trust this mare.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earth-Chan decided to take the hit and get the little pink menace back later with some jokes a her expense. She was saving up. She figured she had a few now. There would be revenge! Later though.
For now it was time to kick a tree. Not exactly something she'd expected to do today, but she could follow the logic behind it well enough. Plus, seeing AJ's kick made it seem all the more natural to give it a try. Not like she had the strength to deliver even half the kick that the farm pony had given earlier, and it was quite clear the tree could take it no matter the hit, so she felt pretty confident going in.
Giving out a soft breath, she looked over to her friends and smirked sheepishly. "Any tips on bucking a tree?"
Both looked at her in confusion, probably trying to deduce if she was serious or not. She was. Never had she ever thought of bucking something. Where would it have ever come up in all the millennia she's existed? No, she needed pointers. That was a little too revealing though. No normal pony would go this long without bucking. If she didn't word this correctly there would be more very pressing questions coming up. She was better though. She had some mistakes under her belt to learn from. This would be easy.
"Hehe, you know, so I don't sprain an ankle. Out of touch and all that." She'd latched onto that excuse quickly, feeling all too lucky to have had it delivered to her on a silver platter like that. Leave it to meeting new, honest ponies to help you get better at lying. As horrible of a sentiment as that was, Earth-Chan couldn't help but smile at the irony.
"Oh, right, just don't over extend. Keep yourself balanced. Make it quick. It's a snapping motion. Ya snap out, then immediately fold em back in under ya. If ya leave your hooves there for too long it'll throw yourself off balance. That and get ya stuck in a weird position."
"Okay.... um, how about any Earth Pony tips?" Earth-Chan would rather prolong this and get as much fundamentals as possible. Who knows, at this rate, the first kick might even actually hit the tree!
"Oh, hehe, that's easy! Just go with the flow girl~ Let your body kick the tree. Then put your muscle into it. Really drive into the kick. Think of it as you backing up your own Earth Pony battering ram with a torque of pony power. Imagine that and you'll be golden!" Pinkie's seriousness was hard to catch some times, but hidden under all that silly, there was some good advice in there.
Giving a nod of semi understanding, Earth-Chan readied herself and let out a soft hum as she gave it a heap of concentration.
"Okay... Ready..."
Taking a breath, leaning on her fore hooves just a bit, she reeled back her hind hooves and with a sharp exhale, she threw them out against the tree, hoping for the best.
There was a sudden tingle. She felt it. She accessed the tingle. The tingle was accepted. The tingle asked for exertion. Earth-Chan didn't see anything wrong with that. She gave the tingle what it wanted.... and then the tingle amplified.
Suddenly, this tingle fluctuated. It expanded quickly, then just as quickly retracted. It was focused. Err- Actively focusing. It kept expanding and retracting. The tingle was pulsing. It was drawing something in. The tingle was gaining energy.
Things had been taken out of Earth-Chan's hooves. This tingle had only deemed it necessary to ask for permission before doing whatever it pleased. It was hard to explain, but even with such an obnoxious tingle, she treasured it's existence. Like a friend all but forgotten. Come to catch up, like the years past never even happened. She welcomed this intrusion and continued to feed it with her careful exertion. It wasn't really all that physically draining, but it took focus. She focused the tingle til it tingled no more. Slowly it subsided. It was refocusing. It was leaving. It hadn't even said goodbye. It'd just gotten here. But, with the door suddenly open, Earth-Chan some how knew this tingle would be back. She knew it now. She would remember it. Remember what it felt like to accept this tingle and let it into her body.
With a crackle of energy, in the span of a second, Earth-Chan accepted magic into her being for the very first time.
Maybe, a little too much.
KARAAAAACK!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bright Star had been discussing with a fellow police mare about his little pony hunt today. He'd just reached the middle of explaining these recent events when a loud crackle exploded from out of nowhere. Followed by a shock wave of deafening sound and power. With a swivel of his head, Bright caught sight of something tumbling through the orchard on the hill. A plumb of dust and carnage made it hard to make out, but it seemed like a tree of all things had started to tumble down the hill. What first struck him was the fact that this wasn't just a log chopped and accidentally left to tumble. No, this was a full tree. Branches still full of little red dots of what could only be ripe apples. Second thing to stick out was that in the tree's wake was what could only be described as a wooden blood bath. Multiple apple trees seemed to be disheveled from the single tree's passing. Badly scraped and tipped heavily to the side from the force of the runaway tree.
His jaw was left dropped at the sight as the tree finally came to a stop. The mare beside him could only copy his expression in absolute shock as the dust finally started to dissipate. Loud shouts of panic and worry began to spread around the civilians close by. Several pegasi had quit participating in the pony hunt to go fly over and see if everything was alright.
What ever had just happened, it was an emergency. That notion didn't take long to set in. Both police ponies nodded to each other, their faces growing stern and serious. Without a word they began galloping in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.