It was still dark. No alarm clock rang. Deep in her head, however, Applejack knew the day was starting. Opening her eyes, she reached for where her phone sat beside her bed and tapped the panel.
5:11 A.M.
Stretching, Applejack turned and climbed out of her bed. The room was still dark, mostly, with only her phone's time display giving a little light. She walked barefoot to her door and flicked the light on.
Having not heard clopping hooves, Applejack smiled. "Guess it wears off just like all the other times." She chuckled a little. "Felt amazin', though. Stronger'n a hundred horses." She slept naked as the day she was born, and ran her hands up from her hips, into her waist, then up to the swell of her breasts and to her neck.
The strength of her magic was not an on-or-off thing like Rainbow Dash's speed was. It pulsed in Applejack's veins like her blood. It rushed up into her from the ground. She didn't have a magic switch, she could just keep leaning more and more strength into a job until she overcame it.
Or, as Applejack was doing, she could pick up clothing and start getting dressed. She picked a bra that would let her do work and not jostle her girls around, boxer shorts (because panties were what you wore if you thought someone else would see them), and some woolen socks. Jeans, a shirt, and her boots followed up and had her dressed for the day ahead.
Living on a working farm meant you had your showers at night—you didn't bring pig-slop to bed with you. Applejack reached to tie her hair up and closed her eyes to focus on what her hands were doing. Done with tying her hair up and back, Applejack reached for just one more thing: her stetson.
Dressed as appropriately for basic farm work as she was going to get, Applejack turned her light off and made her way out of her room in the dark. She'd grown up in the house, she knew the one squeaky floorboard that told her she was two steps from the top of the stairs. Her hand reached out just so, caught the banister, and she guided herself down to the kitchen.
"Granny won't be too long with breakfast, but Ah wanna get started before then." Talking to yourself was a way of life on a farm, which is why Applejack didn't think twice about it as she turned the light on, grabbed an apple from the basket, and headed outside into the cool, predawn air.
The morning chores only took Applejack three hours. The chickens and pigs needed water and feed, and their cows needed some water, too. Applejack was walking through the nearest apple orchard when McIntosh found her.
"Breakfast's ready!" McIntosh knew Applejack's favorite spot on the whole farm was the trees. He walked out to her when she didn't seem to acknowledge him.
Applejack barely even acknowledged McIntosh, instead watching the way the breeze tickled the trees' leaves. "Ah heard ya."
McIntosh let out a sigh. He walked closer to where Applejack stood, found a worthy apple tree, and sat down against the base of it. "We've actually got a few minutes."
"Ah figured. You wanna talk." It wasn't a question, Applejack knew how her brother acted when something was on his mind. Turning to find her own tree, she settled down and planted her rear on the ground.
"You know you can take a break from all this." McIntosh didn't need to state what "this" was, it was obvious to both of them he meant the farm. "Ah can run it; just like Da and Ma did."
Applejack wasn't prepared for the conversation, but she had her usual argument. "What're you mean? Ah love working on the farm. This is what Ah want to do with—"
"And the farm'll go under, eventually." Turning, McIntosh met Applejack's startled eyes. "Ya know I'm not the best with numbers, but even I can tell the farm's makin' just enough ta keep going. We can handle one bad year, but if we get two…"
"Then why don't I run the farm and you go off an' do somethin' to help?" Applejack didn't want to meet McIntosh's eyes.
"Applejack?" Waiting for his sister to look back at him, McIntosh repeated her name twice before she did. "Yer smarter than me." It was hard to admit, even to Applejack, but results were what mattered. "You got As across the board. I scraped through with a bunch of Cs and a D for math. If anyone's gonna work out a way to save the farm, it'll be you."
"Ah only got As because of Twilight's coaching." The words caused Applejack to choke—she knew they weren't true, but she wanted to make her brother feel better. "We got an offer last night." The truth for a lie, it was the best way out of a bad place and Applejack knew it.
"After the concert a guy from the college came up to us. He knows—he thinks he knows—about magic, and offered us all scholarships in whatever we want if we participate in some trainin' things. He sounded real excited about it. What do you think?" Applejack watched her brother's eyes go distant for a moment.
McIntosh cleared his throat. "I think you need to work out what can help us most. Someone with the business know-how would be great, but is there somethin' else you want to do? An' bein' free is good."
Applejack nodded. "How long's the farm got, do ya think?"
"I give it around ten years at most. Less if we have a bad year. A lot less if we have two of em."
Closing her eyes, Applejack listened to the wind in the trees, and the inaudible music of the trees themselves. She lifted her left arm up, adjusted it and swung her elbow back. Two apples fell from the tree, shaken loose by Applejack's carefully placed impact and her magic. She tossed one to McIntosh. "Then Ah think Ah got an idea."
Without thinking twice McIntosh bit into the apple he'd been thrown. The flesh was crisp, and inside was the juiciest apple he'd ever tasted. He held it up again, while chewing on the first bite, and saw a slight sheen of multiple colors to it. He refocused his eyes from the apple to Applejack. "OH?"
"Principa—" Applejack cut herself off. "Miss Celestia gave us some things to look through. The college offers combined business and science courses."
"Science?" McIntosh grinned a little at his sister.
"Apple Bloom ain't the only one of us interested in it. Ah'll study biology. If'n Ah have t' do business, then Ah might as well learn some more about what we're dealin' with." Applejack bit her own apple and let the sounds of the waking orchard dominate for a while.
Brother and sister kept their mouths busy eating until the two apples were nothing but cores.
Applejack was first to stand up. Her long legs braced and she pushed up and back—her strength carefully limited to not harm the poor tree. When her brother stood up, Applejack walked forward and caught him in a hug. "But ya gotta promise to keep the farm goin'. Ah can come back fer breaks."
McIntosh hugged back, squeezing Applejack just as much as she squeezed him.
"Big Mac? AJ?!" Apple Bloom didn't bother leaving the house. She stood in the doorway, shouting. "Breakfast's ready!"
Letting go, Applejack couldn't help but chuckle. "She's got a set of lungs like yours."
"I'm gonna tell her, too. We're in this together, Applejack." McIntosh walked back to the house beside Applejack; neither of them leading and neither following. It wasn't until they reached the door and—giving Applejack the lead to enter—McIntosh watched her take her hat off to adjust her hair.
"Uh, Applejack?"
"What's up, Big Mac?" Applejack set her stetson back, firmly on her head. She felt the hat press down like always, felt it catch both her pony ears and hide them underneath its brim.
"I know you went all-out with your friends last night, but shouldn't you be back to normal today?" As he spoke, McIntosh watched Applejack pull her hat back up and feel her ears.
Untying her hair, Applejack felt it spill down her back to her ankles: the length it got when she was ponied up. "What the buck…?"
Sunset Shimmer checked her phone again. Twilight had sent her the address, and it seemed like the right place. A kiss landed on her cheek, and she turned to look at Pinkie Pie sitting beside her.
A lot of people felt happier when they saw Pinkie Pie—she just had that effect—but to Sunset there was more. Pinkie Pie, unlike everyone else in Sunset Shimmer's life, could control what Sunset saw when they touched.
Contact telepathy was pretty amazing, but not being able to control if and when it happened sucked pretty hard. The slightest touch could show Sunset what someone was thinking about, or not, and more often than not it tended to be something private that she didn't want to know about. Pinkie Pie, however, was different. When Sunset Shimmer touched Pinkie Pie, there was no doubt about the telepathy: if Pinkie Pie wanted it to happen, it would happen.
"Are you two going to suck face all day, or is this going somewhere? Also, what's up with the ears and wings? I thought you could control all this?" Limestone was sitting in the back of Pinkie Pie's very pink four-wheel-drive. The ride had been bumpy, and she was her usual grumpy self, but there was something about Pinkie Pie when she was around Sunset that made Limestone hate the world just a little less.
Wiggling her ears—sitting prominently on her head—Pinkie Pie giggled. "Well, I could start licking her. Maybe move down from her neck to her—"
"Pinkie!" Sunset covered her face with one hand. On her back her wings stood proud and seeming to flicker in the breeze (the Jeep didn't have a top, Pinkie Pie didn't believe in bad weather). "This is where Twilight said to meet. That's where her brother's living." She pointed at the house across the street.
"This doesn't look like the usual army fare. He must've either bought it or is leasing." Squinting a little, Limestone froze as her training took hold. Spinning around, she reached for a sidearm that wasn't there.
"Hey. This is the right place?" Rainbow Dash slowed back down from her rocket-like pace to walk the last few feet to Pinkie Pie's car.
Limestone cursed, quite elaborately, and glared at Rainbow Dash. "How many of you are there? What's your deal, Road Runner?"
"More like The Flash, but I'm pretty sure I can't go much faster than a car." Sticking her tongue out, Rainbow Dash ruffled the wings on her back. It felt good to have them, better to be able to keep them, but she thought it odd they hadn't gone away overnight. "What's up? You two are ponied up too?"
"You call it pony up? That's so lame." Jumping out of the back of the Jeep, Limestone looked at Rainbow Dash. "You're hitting the gym, right? Saw you there with your boyfriend."
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Just want to get a little more stamina, bit of muscle." As she spoke, Rainbow looked at Limestone with a critical eye. The woman didn't have huge, bulging muscles like a bodybuilder, but whenever she tensed up there was a definite swell in her arms. "Who're you?"
"Gaze into the eyes of Limestone Pie… Huh. Normally I have something bad-ass to say there, but nothing's coming up. My little sis said you lot helped save the world a few times, so you're cool by me." Limestone thrust out her hand to shake with Rainbow Dash.
Shaking hands with Limestone Pie did nothing except prove to Rainbow Dash that Limestone would be a bad person to be in a fight with unless they were on the same side. Her grip was firm and uncompromising, but she didn't try to crush Rainbow's hand. "How many more sisters does Pinkie have? I've met Maud, and she's mentioned Marble."
"Don't get me started on Marble. I was going to bring her today and show her how awesome it is to have a little self confidence, but the little rat's sleeping in!" Limestone held a hand up to Pinkie. "I don't care if she was really tired, or any of that crap. She should be up with the sun every day!"
What sounded like a gunshot rang through the morning air. Limestone spun around to face another threat, only to see an old, beat-up van pulling in across the street. The pink haired girl behind the steering wheel seemed to shrink in on herself a little. But Limestone noticed something particular about her. "Another one with wings? Can you all fly?!"
Applejack opened the side door of the van—from the inside—and jumped out into the clear air. The smell of animals followed her, as did a canine that outweighed her. "Ah don't care, Fluttershy, Bridget is too big to ride around without a carrier."
After Bridget gave a little grumble, Fluttershy froze. "Of course I won't. You get to ride in my car whenever you want, but you should probably sit up front." Climbing all the way out of the van, Fluttershy closed the door. Of course there was only one seat left in her car, which was fine by Fluttershy (it meant there was more room for pets).
"That's Applejack, Fluttershy, and Bridget." Rainbow Dash couldn't stop a little blush as she mentioned Fluttershy's name—the previous night, and its repeat performance in the morning, was still fresh in Rainbow's memories. "Applejack's really strong, Fluttershy can talk to animals and understand them, and Bridget is the coolest wolf you'll ever meet."
Limestone jerked as if hit. "Wolf?!"
Fluttershy had only to put her hand out low and she felt Bridget's shoulders brush her palm. Confidence filled her that she sorely needed. Having to brave the world without looking normal was worse than anything else Fluttershy could think of right then. "I-I could get a new car if I could raise some money. Oh, I could get a summer job."
"Y'all workin' at the shelter in your spare time, sugarcube. Look, if ya bring it up to the farm sometime this week I'll give it a hose out for ya." Applejack walked across the road and waved at her friends. "Howdy everybody. Uh, isn't that the right house?" She pointed back toward the house Fluttershy had parked in front of. She also noticed all her close friends were ponied up still.
"Limestone,"—Pinkie Pie gestured to her sister—"said we should pull up over here for safety reasons." She rolled her eyes. "I think she just doesn't want to catch navy cooties."
"It's not cooties. I just don't like him." Limestone almost broke a smile at the idea of everyone in the navy having cooties. Her squad—when she got back on duty—were going to crack up at that one.
"Twilight said she'd already be here—it's her brother after all—but that just leaves Rarity." Rainbow Dash had already been to the gym for the morning, and her legs felt all kinds of wobbly. Short Track had gotten her to run a hundred miles on a bigger treadmill.
Applejack, having just caught the end of the conversation, couldn't help but comment. "An' we all know Rarity likes to be fashionably late." Which of course heralded Rarity's little eco-car pulling into the street. "See?"
As Rarity's car drew closer, everyone could see a second figure in the passenger seat of the car.
"Sonata?" Sunset Shimmer's eyebrow rose.
Rainbow Dash smiled a little wider. Sonata looked worried, while Rarity had her dominant face on. "She was dealing with something pretty hard last night. I bet Rarity helped her."
Pulling up behind Pinkie Pie's Jeep, Rarity parked her little car, climbed out, and walked around to Sonata's side. Sonata had opened her own door, but waited for Rarity's hand. "Come on. You're safe with me and with my friends." Like her friends, Rarity still had her pony ears out, although she was glad she had lost the hooves, tail, and horn.
"I know it's just…" Sonata let Rarity's hand guide her from the car. The weight around her neck seemed to tingle whenever she saw someone who could be affected by it. Spicy triggered it, as well as Limestone Pie. "Who's that?"
"I assume it's Pinkie's sister, Limestone." Hugging Sonata to her side, Rarity started walking toward her friends. She had made a detour to her parents' house and picked up some clothes. Her parents were out and Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be seen either. "Is this all of us?"
There was an almost magnetic force pulling at Rainbow Dash. She could see the need for friendship in Sonata Dusk's eyes, and with the ease of being the human representative of loyalty, she walked forward. "You doing okay?"
Sonata Dusk looked to Rarity first, then back to Rainbow Dash. "Yeah. Probably some stuff I should tell all of you." As she spoke, she felt Rarity tighten her grip. Comforting as it was, she knew her girlfriend needed some space today. "It's okay, Rarity, I'm here for you today."
"Here for me?" Rarity only loosened her arm until Sonata gripped it again. "What do you mean?"
Nodding, Sonata giggled a little. "Pinkie Pie brought her big sister, you brought a few thousand year old monster on a short leash."
"You're not a monster, Sonata. Well, not to anything that isn't a taco or burrito." Turning to face the rest of their group, Rainbow Dash took the leader role (at least so far as movement went). "Come on, everyone, let's go see what Twilight's brother is trying to pull."