BigBoss
After his first attack, Mayor Mare had taken actions immediate – gathering the rare information's available. The attacked stallions stood in a state of shock, as well as the few eye witnesses which had turned up yet. Maybe there was more, but those probably stood at home hiding.
Still, what she knew made little sense – the described creature was impossible and the pony's got into a fight with one another about how the creature looked in detail, so she could not rely on it to much. Worried about the possibility of another attack, she informed the only authority she could think of – but writing only what she knew for sure, which sadly wasn't to much.
Discord had appeared unnoticed on the roof of the main building, in the middle of Big Apple Acres.
The sun was about to set and pony's below him pulled in the daily harvest, in the middle of it was BigMacintosh, giving orders. "Carn over there, you buckers to the barracks" in his usual calm and deep voice. He almost didn't had recognized him, he lacked his horse collar, instead he had some kind of black formal west – sitting on him like a second skin, stretching over his bulky body.
"It seems the family got bigger" Discord said to him self, noticing a lot new faces.
As much as he knew, the Apple-Family used to work alone, making the harvest process tedious – but it was their way of living.
The farm provided apples for the entire region, partial delivering it all over Equestria with help of an old friend of GrannySmith -Filthy Rich. Filthy Rich was a gifted salespony, buying and reselling apples all over the land, having a established business with the family ever since.
When it was time for the zapp apple harvest – he even to the first charge, in exchange for a big pile of bits. A clean win-win situation for both sides.
He thought about getting down there and just ask right away, where to find Applejack...
Equestria was to big to find a single pony by chance, even for his kind of powers.
The obvious solution was to ask anypony down there, but as soon as they would see him, there would be mass hysteria like it happened before. Even if the world wasn't upside down, most pony's avoided him – afraid to get on his bad side... so he had to think of something more sneaky than that.
He snapped his fingers and got back on the ground, behind a bush line, taking a look on his self.
"Hooves, i cant image how they can stand them" he shuttered – since he had become an earth pony.
His fur was a brown gray mish mash, his tail turned out red and his mane was gray, only his eyes didn't had changed.
About to walk up to BigMac he came by a puddle of water, taking a look to admire himself as he – "You are some good looking boy" he thought to himself.
"Darn, i have to hurry..." as he noticed in the corner of his eye BigMac was about to walk of, so he didn't bother and moved along to catch up with him.
As he was about to ask the stallion his question, BigMac got into the family home and shut the door behind him.
"Oh come one" he cursed, knocking at the door a little to hard – hooves just could not replace his elegant lion paw. The door opened again and the red stallion took a look on him "What?"
"My good old friend BigMac, good to see you, i gotta little tinzy bitsy question for ya..." but before he could break it the question BigMac interrupted him "Its Sir MacIntosh for you and we ain't friends" the muscular stallion looked around and started shouting in Sweetie Belles direction, which was just done to give a few new workers instructions "Oy, Belle, get this rookie out of my face".
The stallion turned around and slammed the door shut.
"Who he thinks i am!? Just you wait till...!", he said to him self ready, backing off the door a few meters to knock it in, as a hoof tapped on his side "what?" he turned, to find a yellow filly on his side.
"Don't mind ma brotha, he didn't mean to" she said to him, giving a little smile.
It was the younger sister of Applejack – Apple Bloom looking at his unusual appearance "are you really a new worker?".
This was almost to easy, so he put on his best – lying to your face – smile and simply said "yes".
"Than you better should go to de barracks, you don't want to see my brotha mad" the filly said a lot nicer than her brother had.
"I'm in fact really new. Really really new." he said "Could you show me around?"
"Well i really should get in" a little unsure about it. He didn't looked dangerous, just a little awkward.
"Will just take a minute" giving her one more of his smiles.
Well, a few minutes would not be to much time, also she didn't really want go inside already... her brother seemed to be in a bad mood anyway, so she agreed.
The tour revealed quite a bit new information's to him.
First of all- none of the pony's he had seen so far was part of the family, they all had been outsourced workers, which came and left depending on the outstanding orders.
Hundreds of pony's came and left the farm each week, trying to earn a few extra bits – which also helped out the town, since there was new customers for all kind of things, stallions which got hotel rooms for longer stays or even settled down. Economy was flourishing in Ponyville.
The farm also had expanded. Sleeping barracks had been build, to provide more sleeping space.
They wasn't anything special, just ordinary sleeping rooms, providing cover from rain and cold to the hard working stallions. Those often would be used from stallions which would just stay over night – like the ones that pulled the applecarts from town to town.
As they got closer to the barracks, they walked by a big sign. "Property of Apple Inc. (c)" was written on it in bright red letters on a green background, showing juice apples and other goods around it.
"Whats Apple Inc.?" Discord asked casually, but already started to shift his attention to something else, since this investigation started to get boring already.
"Our company of course, my sister leads it ever since" making it sound like its common knowledge, but also a little proud "one day - i will got to Manehatten and lead it my self!"
"Manehatten you say..." finally, this was the clue, this was all he needed to know.
"Sure, you been there?"
Discord gave her a devilish smile "Not yet, ...but very soon".
This guy was odd and it started to add up really fast, giving her a howl new thought.
The filly stopped and looked at him "how it comes ya know the farm, but not about the company? Everypony does...".
A quite legit and sharp minded question for her standards he had to admit.
"I'm just here to earn some bits, bucking some carro- i mean apples" he replied, trying to get off-topic "so, when i can start doing that stuff?" waving his fore hooves a bit.
She almost could smell the fishy feeling that stallion was giving her... that guy not just looked odd, he also acted strange "Are you some kind of company spy?" giving him a close eye.
"What a question!" he thought to him self, holding back a giggle.
Her mind might was more focused, but still young and naive, because even if he was a spy, he sure would not tell her... which, to be honest, made it kinda amusing.
"Spy? Me? don't be ridiculous!" starting to pet the filly's head with a smile - this time more careful than he done on the door, but still in a quite stiff mechanic motion "you pony's and your imagination..." but she could not stand to get treated like a baby, so she backed off a few steps, giving her a howl new sight.
Discord now just had to get out of here, without causing any ruckus and he was on his way to – heading for Apple Inc. Headquarters - bringing him one step closer to his final goal!
Apple Bloom saw now what was going on - making her eyes go wide.
"What the hay?" she thought to her self - holding on to her breath.
Was he a changeling of some kind!? She had learned about them in history class, but much as she knew they would not just been a lot better actors, but also didn't look anything like this. Maybe she could get him somehow to blow his disguise in front of everypony...
She didn't want to let him walk of anywhere, especially not into the barracks: she wasn't allowed in there, so she had to hurry before he got out of her reach.
This gave her an great idea, which might would work! There was still an ace up her sleeve. Well- not her sleeve, but in the pocket she was carrying around... something able to convict this impostor once and for all "Ey, you forgot something!" pulling out an work pass.
This pass would enable the owner to use the regular train for free and even grand some small discount on local offers – a deal her big sister had arranged with the Mayor of Ponyville, in order to make the hard work look some more attractive.
"I bet you don't have ya work pass yet, you can have this one" she said, giving a familiar smile - he had used it himself a hundred times before... last time, when he had answered her first question.
About to give him the pass, she dropped it with an innocent "oops" and didn't bother to pick it up.
Discord took a look down "wont you pick it up?"
The filly shrugged "Wont you? Its yours after all" waiting for him to make his move.
If that was some kind of trick, it was quite a bad one and he sure would not fall for it.
So he picked up the ticket, but it was still laying on the ground.
"What the...?" he grumbled, trying it once more, but it still refused to get picked up.
For his third attempt, he sat down, using both hooves, but this cursed ticket seemed to have some magic spell on it, which made it unable to get picked up.
Now he lost his temper and threw him self flat onto the ground, trying to pick it up with his mouth and tongue, but his tongue was a lot shorter in pony form and the ground was rough.
The filly watched his desperate attempt of his, amused by the lack of basics skills.
"Problems?" she asked polite, with a winning smile, making him freeze in motion.
This made him realize, what he was doing right now, looking up from his miserable pose onto her big grin - so he got him self quickly up from the ground, trying to get the dust of his fur and tongue. "That ticket is cursed!" he declared, trying to justify his actions.
Apple Bloom just took a short glance to the ground and was able to pick it up with ease,
creating an awkward silence between them.
"So, you know?" he asked right away.
"Ye, i do..." she nodded slowly.
"What gave me away...? The mane...? The eyes...?" he frowned "...the ticket?"
"Actually, a little bit of everything, but..." the filly pointed her hoof right onto one of the big barrack windows, which got polished on a regular basis.
He turned around, starring at the reflection shown to him, ...which looked absolute normal.
There was not much to see: a few trees, another barrack, a small yellow filly with a big red ribbon and a magnificent looking draconequus right next to...
It almost knocked it out, when he realized his beginners mistake!
Off all the things he could had forgot, the one giving him away was the most obvious: his reflection!
Unlike everything else in Equestria, only his reflection had a life on his own, so he would had change it separate to his appearance in order to get his disguise work!
"Fooled by a filly" he said to him self in disbelieve, holding his hooves up his face – as well his paw and claw, if you counted in his reflection to this.
"You ain't an changeling, i know that much, but what are ya?" Apple Bloom asked- examine the odd creature with a half closed eye wandering between him and him - slowly backing off.
"Time to leave i guess" he said, letting go his charade.
He rose his hand and tried to snap - when he noticed there wasn't any fingers to do so, just hooves. Of course he could perform magic without snapping, but he had got used to his little show act so much, it really broke his focus if he was not able to.
His reflection had watched his miserable attempt and could not stop rolling over the floor – laughing at him to the point of tearing up, making Discord shouting at it "Veerrry funny ... and now cut it out already, we got work to do!".
The reflection still chuckled a little when it got up from the ground, trying to put on a serious face.
"You mind?" he asked, pointing his hooves in the vague direction of Manehatten.
His copy made a short motion of a nagging blabber mouth with his paw, but stopped as he received another angry glance of his master, making it give in and snap his fingers in order to zap him away.
As he had disappeared in a bright flash, the workers turned heads, but failed to find the source,
only a few had seen him disappear – rubbing their eyes in disbelieve or shaking their heads.
More and more worker came together – talking about what had just happened, calling their boss on the plan.
"Whats all the noise about" the red stallion walked slowly into the crowd which made respectful space for him, avoiding his sigh. The workers which had been a little longer on the farm knew what this meant and walked off, still there was a dozen standing and doing nothing but talk.
"Don't you got work to do?" he asked around.
One stallion was brave enough to speak up to him. "Sir, there was a light flash and...".
BigMac cut him off "No Reason to waste time. We got twenty carts on the list and they ain't ready yet".
The now the rest of the stallions got quite and got back to their works – or barracks, depending on their shifts and duty's.
Now only Apple Bloom was left. "What about you?" he asked her.
Apple Bloom didn't even know if it would be wise to bother him right now, so she decided to let it go for the moment - it would had sound crazy anyway, so she shook her head and walked off too.
Time passed by and the two remaining members of the Apple family sat to dinner.
Applejack was in Manehatten, leading the company and Granny Smith had retired on the other side of the town, getting looked after by a nurse.
So it was just the two of them left, the Apple Bloom and BigMacintosh.
Apple Bloom still had to think about the incident – it might been better to tell him now, who knew if that guy would return. Also if he would find out she had hold back information's, his temper could tilt, so she decided to speak up "BigMac..."
The stallion swallowed his bite and gave her a long sight, then continued to eat.
"Uhm. I know what the workers had seen earlier, i thought its ... important you might know".
He was still eating, didn't even bother to look up, which made it hard to tell if he was even listening.
She felt so nervous about it "There was a monster in disguise... the worker have seen it too".
This got his attention as he stopped eating.
Nearby was a mare waiting with them in the room – the housemaid.
Her fur was a gray which had a slight touch of white, her mane was blond and her eyes a sparkling red. On her flank you could see her cutiemark, looking like a feather duster – on top of all this she was wearing a maid costume, which was a simple elegant black with some white edges.
The maid noticed right away and moved next to him.
"Damsel, you may leave" he said calmly, which made the gray mare perform a small curtsy, doing so by making a short step with her left hoof, bowing the head respectfully – than leaving the room without a noise.
Now he spoke to her "don't say such things when there is staff around" raising his voice slightly.
The filly put her hooves on the table "but there was a monster, his reflection was wrong and he ... used some sort of magic and ..."
BigMac rose a hoof and Apple Bloom got silent.
"Don't say such things, its ain't good for the company, we cant risk a scandal" – making her sigh.
Since he had stopped bucking apples and left it to others, he had put all his energy in leading the farm, taking it way to serious by getting obsessed on any detail he could find.
It was like she would talk to a iron wall. No, in fact it was worse – he was way more stubborn than that. Iron can be bent, but BigMac never would give in to what she was saying.
After this they just continued their meal in utter silence, until ten minutes Damsel came back into the room.
"Sir, there are two delegated from Mayor Mare, who want to speak to you".
He could not stand to get interrupted while eating, but at least it seemed important.
After a short huff, he got up from the table, heading for the door, just to stop a moment next to the maid which was looking straight forward where he had sat before "thank you", making her blush.
Apple Bloom hated her so much. She was the only pony he was nice to. He bullied the workers and even if he didn't pick on herself, he still didn't treat her nice. What made her so special?
She didn't had time to think about it and run right passed her to catch up with her brother.
The two stallions on his front door didn't lost any time, but tried not to give to much away, since the last they needed was more panic "Good evening Mr. Macintosh, we are sorry to bother you, but had there been any ... irregular circumstances?"
The stallion looked both of them into the eyes "Nope".
The filly poked her brother on his flank, he knew what she wanted, but he would not give in and shook almost unnoticeable his head.
The blue stallion mumbled something to his fellow and tried it one more time "Are you sure Sir?"
BigMac took a deep breath and his calm face turned into a frown "I am..." followed by a deep whistle which had put a water boiler to shame, making two big muscular stallions appear a few seconds later "Escort our guests from my property".
The four pony's trot away, leaving the two of them behind in the door frame.
He gave her a last warning glance and got him self to bed – it had been enough trouble for one day.
Apple Bloom didn't bother to go anywhere, she just sat on the porch, until Damsel walked up to her.
The stars already had come out and the air had lost it warm touch, still a few stallions worked on the farm. She could see their lantern's in the distance, almost like a bunch big firefly's.
"What you want?" she said sore.
"Does the young Mrs. need anything?" she asked in her usual honey sweet voice.
The filly clenched her teeth "No, i don't need anything" – oh she could not stand her.
"May i'm allowed to speak open?" the maid tried, lowering her head in humbleness.
The filly waved off. "Whatever" ... right now, she couldn't stand her brother even more than her.
"Thank you, young Mrs." she said, once again with a nod, and sat her self next to the young filly.
The minutes passed by, but still the maid had not said anything.
She just hold her company, watching the busy firefly's doing her dance around the trees.
There wasn't anything else to do, except to get some rest for the next day and the filly sure could feel the drag on her mind as her eyelids got heavy and her anger dwindled away.
Damsel took her hoof and laid it around her, so she would not fall to the side.
"Young Mrs.?" checking if she was still up and she sure was. A little tired, but not asleep yet.
"I assume you got some hard feelings towards Mr. Macintosh... but you should know, he really cares about you young Mrs."
Apple Bloom rose her head, watching the mare talk as she observed the sky like she could count every single star there is "I know he may acts aloof at times, but that's not who he is."
"... but he is so often mad... half the time i don't even know why..."
"Young Mrs., your brother ain't mad at anypony, i assure you... but he has a big burden to carry, i fear even to big for his shoulders".
"...but he doesn't have to carry anything, the workers do!"
"I would like to show you something" the mare picked carefully an old photo out of her housemaids dress, putting it down in front of Apple Bloom, which showed her brother at work - and smiling at that.
Granny Smith often had shown her photos like this. It was sepia as all her old photos used to be.
The old mare never had let out a story to each single one.
"Wurking all day, like he knew nuthing else" Granny had told her "plouwing fields so fast yu neva seen! And bugging like a devil... making sure de delivery was always un time!".
The old mare loved to tell those story's, spending hours bragging about her memory's– showing photo by photo, hundreds of them. When ever BigMac was on a photo, he used to wear an horse collar.
In fact, when she was thinking about it- there was not a single one, when he had not had wore it, ...then again the BigMac she knew was always wearing his black west, making him look like a howl nother stallion.
"...but this was like forever ago." Apple Bloom clarified.
"Yes, indeed." Damsel nodded, before taking a last glance on the fullmoon above their heads "...we should get in now young Mrs."
The both of them got up and trot indoors. Damsel´s room was on the ground floor, Apple Blooms used to be on the first floor.
The maid had performed another curtsy to her, in order to dismiss herself and was about to go to her room, when Apple Bloom broke a final question.
"Where you got that photo from?"
Damsel turned to the filly "Somepony special".
The sun barely was up, but BigMac was already up and ate his breakfast – his last step before he would get out and give the workers the instructions for the day, being occupied it all day.
Usual he would sit there alone by him self, only one with him being Damsel, waiting patiently for him to make a request.
Occasionally they would talk about everyday things, during this morning ritual – the weather, new workers, some article in the news paper, ...nothing special, but today was utter silence hanging in the room.
BigMac just sat there, looking on his plate which he had barely took a bite from, so Damsel dared to ask "Sir, doesn't the meal please you?"
"Nope".
"Shall i bring you something else?"
The stallion shook his head slowly as he always did.
His eyes met the watch, hanging on the wall... it was almost time to get out. Work called.
"No, thanks."
The stallion got up, causing a dull -womp- as his weight came down on the floor, heading for the door.
"Sir..."
The stallion stopped in his tracks, but didn't bother to turn around, he knew what she was about to say and closed his eyes in order to listen carefully to what yet had to come.
"... the young Mrs. went to town early, ... i was told to wait, before i tell you"
His hoof came down like a sledgehammer, breaking the floorboards with ease, letting pieces fly everywhere, but he kept his voice as monotone als always "I release you from my services".
The maid gave a curtsy as she always did "I understand, Sir."
The door got swung open "I ain't your Sir anymore" walking out to the waiting stallions, three minutes late than usual.
Outside the main house sat about fifty stallions, all waiting for their boss to show up, talking to one another in confusion. He used to be the very punctual and asked everypony to do like him, so it was really odd when he was late, as he finally came out the stallions all cut the talk and stretched their backs straight like soldiers would on a parade.
"Foreman" he said dry, making three stallions step forward.
"You got the lead..."i go to town""
The three looked each other with a short glance, but didn't dare to speak up.
"Shall i get the chaise Sir?" an servant asked, without ever receiving an answer - as his master suddenly got him self into a run, like an avalanche would: starting off slow and inconsiderable, but soon gaining speed, pushing his massive body into a darn rapid gallop like so many years ago.
"Wow, that guy is fast" one of the foreman dropped, making the others agree astonished.
Damsel still stood, where he lad left her. Thinking what to do...
She had spend half her life working for him and could not image how to go on... this farm, this work was her life – and if this life had told her anything, than to neverever give up.
She would refuse until the sun would fall from the sky!
The maid left hasty the building, the stallions already started to split up as told, getting busy with plans, forming groups and gathering equipment. BigMacintosh was gone, he had an head start and she could not run all the way to the town, due to a lack of endurance.
"Please, somepony bring a chaise" she said, but was not heard over the ruckus going on so she tried again "Please, i need a chaise!"
A few stallion now took notice, also the servant from before.
"A chaise? You don't have access to a chaise, only foreman or higher got permission".
"I really need it, i have to go after Mr. Macintosh – immediately!".
The servant laughed at her "still wont raise your permission", giving his colleagues a rude wink "she should had worked a little harder on her promotion..." making them join in his laughter.
As he was about to turn his head back to the maid – all he could see was a hoof flying at his face, blowing him off his own, to land hard on his back in pain.
The laughter hat cut off, the servant was bending him self in pain, holding his face and bleeding nose "are you insane!?".
She stood above him, her ruby eyes burning "try me".
Apple Bloom was finally in town. It had took her longer than expected, ...Damsel would had told him already she figured – trying her best to reach town hall, which turned out to be problematic. A big crowed had gathered around it – as the Mayor Mare gave a speach.
"My fellow citizens... as you may already know, i have contacted Princess Celestia about the events in our beloved town." She paused here for moment, for the words to settle down.
"The Princess assured me about her support... and that she would come here, herself".
Now the crowed was full of conversations and mumbling. "The Princess comes here!?" "Celestia in our town!" "I have to brush my mane, i look awful" "Honey, we must bring the kids, they cant miss!" Mayor Mare continued her speech, but as most pony's she didn't bother to listen anymore. There was no time to waste.
The filly was not able to push trough the crowed as mares and stallions, filly's and colt walked back and forth like ants. Some of them left, but many more joined in, getting one another excited about the news. So she found her self trying angel after angel, but got only closer a few meters - as for shouting would had been useless, the crowed was to noisy for that.
"Darn, this way i never reach the mayor" so she tried to get around the other side - pushing head down between to chatting mares as she bumped into a stallion in her path "Uh, sorry", moving around him as the stallion grabbed her and pulled her backwards out of the crowd – pushing away mares and stallions alike, gaining curses and admonishing looks.
"What you think you doing?" the snorting stallion said calm.
It was BigMac! How he had got here so fast!? This didn't had went as she had figured it out.
"I- just ... i was..."
"You come with me and you are grounded for a week" he said final, picking her up like a dog would a young one, searching for the next cab there is.
Apple Bloom did her best to give him a fight, but it was no use, he was way to strong.
It was like in one of the old tales her granny had told her... about a brave knight who successfully fought by himself an Ursa Mayor ...but BigMac proved to her it was just a fable.
"Let go! Let me go!" There was nothing she could do then yell at him - since he didn't even blink as she repeatedly hit him when ever she could, swinging in his grip.
The stallion rose a hoof to wave over an cab as another chaise pulled over.
It was one of his, which would made the thing even easier as the side door opened and a gray mare stepped out, blocking his path. Apple Bloom got sat down and hold tight with his hoof, but unlike before she didn't bother to struggle.
"You?"
The mare gave a curtsy, respectfully greeting him, holding the pose, while her long blond hair swung in a soft breeze.
"You are not allowed to use my chaise"
"I had to come here, Sir" still bowed down, avoiding his sight.
His voice growled in anger "You are not my maid anymore."
Apple Blooms eyes got wide "he had fired her!? ... and it was her fault...!"
"Brother please! She just di-"
"Quiet! Both of you!" his breath got heavy "ain't here anypony listening to my orders anymore!?"
giving both a reproachful glance "... or don't you care about our farm?"
Damsel still refused to raise her self "We do Mr. Macintosh, ...but what about you?" as her ruby red eyes met his leaf greens "don't you care anymore for the everypony around you? There is more to the world than work! I thought i knew you better than this..."
Their eyes met and he tried to withstand her glance, but there was something about it, which made him avoid it first, looking to the side.
It was a wild mix out of sadness, caring and disappointment, making him feel guilty to the guts.
So this was the day he had to decide what was more important to him. Damsel and his sister, or the work he had sacrificed himself to on a daily basis, for all those years. He looked down to Apple Bloom, the filly had about the same expression like Damsel on her face, her lips trembling sadly, but maybe it was to late for him to make a change, he already gotten gone so far... to the point he barely knew who used to be, it would take a lot of effort to make the turn and he could not spend even more of his strength, not because he didn't want to, but there was none left.
To much pony's depended on him, being who he was right now.
Behind them the crowd started to get very excited, yelling and cheering towards the sky, praising the sudden arrival of her royal highness – Princess Celestia.
She was riding her royal chariot, which was pulled by four strong white pegasus stallions- flying trough the air gracefully, slowly going down and about to land near by.
The chariot sure was worthy a ruler of her carat. It was four wheeled- two of team showing her emblem: a sun with a smaller moon on the inside. It had a purple sating lounger ontop of it, which was crowned with elegant details all around. On the top of the backrest was a small flag with ornaments waving in the wind.
Apple Bloom grabbed his leg, holding it tight "Brother, we are there for you..."
It was one of the rare occasions he was able to see her like this, like her true self, ...just being a child, not some decal of an adult he had tried to push her into. She was way to young to get treated like this – she should be more often outside, playing with her friends, instead of working on the farm along the others, until sunset.
Damsel got close to him, pressing her chest against his, so his head was resting on her shoulder "...you can do it BigMac, you are the strongest stallion i know" as he felt the rhythm of her heart beat, knocking a little faster, than he had imaged it would.
He finally began to understood his horrible mistake. More than that. This mistake had spread like wild fire and would consume every single bit of happiness inside a pony, forming them into working machines like him self – and what good was work, if it was done without passion or pride and pony's at ur side you care for?
"You are right... both of you".
Since he was about a head bigger than Damsel, now he was the one to bow down, in order to give her a short kiss on the forehead which she really enjoyed.
They hold in for a moment, until his former maid, which just had turned into his special somepony, gave him a small nudge.
BigMac turned to his little sister "i'm sorry, for being so stubborn..." also giving her a big hug, trying to be careful.
"Ohw...." still it was quit a tight hug, giving her a hard time to get air, but she didn't mind. It was the first hug she ever got from him and enjoyed every single moment of it.
About a minute later he let the filly go - "huwf, you should train this" she told him.
"I sure will work hard on it" he said, giving a small playful grin, but receiving a serious glance from both of them in return "sorry".
This time the two girls giggled.
The four pegasus stood guard on the sides – while Mayor Mare was on the podium, delivering the frame for the topic, before princess Celestia would take over.
No matter where you search, you could only find four types of pony's in all of Equestria.
Earth pony's – owning big physical strength, giving the power to tame the land.
Unicorns – holding the gift of magic in their hooves, creating new miracles.
Pegasus – carrying big wings on their back, raising to the sky in order to control the weather.
The last kind was alicorn's.
There only existed two of them and princess Celestia was one of them, combining all of the three other pony types into a new one.
As an alicorn she also had another trade which none of the three former types called their own: she was immortal. Living for over a thousand years without aging and it was this time which had told her well: providing her wisdom and foresight – making her the perfect ruler.
There still was one last thing that made her even more unique than she already was,
she was the only pony able to raise the sun and moon with her magic – providing the eternal day and night shifts and balance to the world.
Celestia was elegant and pretty as you would image a princess. Her fur was snow-white and her mane a constant flow of pink, blue, green and blue hair, which seemed to float in a soft breeze all the time. Her eyes had a shimmering pink and she wore a crown with a big purple spinel in the middle, as well an elegant horse collar which also hold a purple spinel, both made out of the finest gold and covered in ornaments. On her hooves she had open shoes up to her ankles, which also had a golden touch. The most outstanding detail about her was her cutiemark – representing the sun itself, like it would emphasize her powers.
The princess got to the speakers desk.
"My dear citizens of Ponyville" her voice was clear and warm as sunshine, speaking in a graceful and calm manner "i got informed there was an attack on citizens of this town" pointing her hoof to the Mayor Mare and a small red dragon on her side "i will find the one responsible for this in order to protect you from his evil" as she paused for a moment, like she would share the pain of others "sadly, we got little information's right now, what or who really attacked... so if anypony can speak up, please do so now".
A few of the witnesses were in fact standing in the crowd, but didn't spoke up.
Some of them were afraid to get picked out by the monster, which might was still around – other simply had stage fright to speak up to Princess Celestia.
Everypony had heard about her ever since they was little... they knew she was the undoubted ruler over all Equestria, but only few here had seen her in person them self... at times even skipping howl generations of family's to be seen. So grandparents told their nieces and nephews about that day they got a glance on her, making her almost something like a myth.
Only one voice was to be heard "I seen him".
The princess shifted her attention to a young orange filly, standing on back of a big red stallion on the back of the pony mass.
Some pony's now started to mumble to one another, looking the small group.
"ain't that the Apples?" "What their farm got to do with the monster?" "He wanted to feed him some workers."
The princess got smoothly down from the modest podium with a slight flap of her wings, everything about her movements was gracefully, stepping towards the child.
The pony's all around moved back up to make space, bowing as she passed by.
As she got close, Apple Bloom jumped from BigMacs back and the trio bowed down as well.
"Your highness" the three said together.
The princess smiled "Please raise" her voice was majestic "so, you have seen the creature?"
Now Apple Bloom was the one who froze in place. At first her naive nature didn't let her think about it to much, but now – up close... her aura was overwhelming!
BigMac realized this giving the filly her a small nudge "Its alright, tell her...".
This might seemed like a small gesture, but was enough to make her go on, so the filly started to explain everything to the princess, also about his intention to go back to Manehatten.
Celestia did listen carefully, waiting for her to finish, before saying anything in return.
"Than its true,... Discord has returned" her warm voice now also caring a alarmed tone in it.
"Discord? Who is he?" the filly asked.
"He was an old foe of Equestria, until i defeated him and restored order..." the alicorn turned to one of their pegasus guards "we leave immediately".
This order was all he needed- collecting his comrades, landing the royal chariot nearby as she got onto it.
"Princess Celestia, please take care of my sister, she works in Manehatten" Apple Bloom said worried to her, as she gave the filly a last glance "I will defeat him once again and protect everypony from his evil doing - as well your sister, my child." her smile provided all the confidence you could ever ask for, making the Apple Bloom smile ...than the chariot rose from the ground and moments later was gone on the horizon.