Mavis opened her eyes the same as any other day. Everything was unusually quiet. No birdsong. No sounds of machinery. The air wasn’t as stuffy as her shed typically was. Then her memories of the previous day came flooding back and she rolled over seemingly out of her control, falling off of the bed onto her side.
“Ah!” she cried upon hitting the floor, before following up with, “oooow...”
She lay on the floor for a few minutes in too much pain to attempt to move anything and on the verge of crying. It felt like a truckload of rocks had slammed into her side with how much it hurt. Pony bodies weren’t any more durable than engine frames, it seemed. She mustered up the courage to try hoisting herself up, but a sharp spike of pain shot through her making her cry out again.
A single tear ran down Mavis’ face. She stayed as still as possible, afraid of feeling more pain. She stayed that way for several minutes, her eyes looking under the bed. Through the fear clouding her mind she noticed lots of dust littering the space underneath the bed. That wasn’t good, she was positive. Dust was the people equivalent of soot for steam engines. Mavis’ assumption was confirmed as she took in a whiff of air to breathe, feeling something tickle the inside of her nose. She opened her mouth, eyes closing as she felt a great sneeze building up before releasing it in a mighty achoo!
Mavis recovered from the sneeze with a groan. Something was dripping down from her nose, and looking down at the floor revealed a streak of some slimy stuff that had, apparently, come out of her nostrils. She reached a hoof up to wipe her face clean, only to gawk when the stuff stuck to the fur of her leg. She remembered Applejack’s instructions to use the shower whenever she got dirty, but that meant getting up.
At first, Mavis was reluctant but quickly realized she had to get up eventually. She started with her front left hoof, planting it firmly on the ground, following up with her right front hoof. Gritting her teeth, she twisted her entire body to straighten out. To her surprise and even greater relief, the pain in her side wasn’t as bad as before. She pushed through it easily, straightening out and using her rear hooves to stand herself up.
She smiled in triumph before turning and making her way to the door. She opened it and peeked her head outside. None of the Apple family was in the hall, but she heard the distant sounds of metallic clatter coming from downstairs. They must’ve been preparing breakfast then, which meant she needed to shower before she could join them. She made her way down the hall to the bathroom, opening it to find no one inside.
She pulled aside the shower curtains, stepped inside, and closed them. Everything she needed to clean herself was here: water, soap, shampoo, and a scrub brush. She could do this. She turned the nozzle, fumbling with it a little before managing to push it over to ‘Warm’. The water came rushing fast, startling her for a moment, but she quickly settled down and got to work scrubbing herself clean. The soap and suds felt extra soft against her pony body compared to her engine frame. She did as Applejack instructed, lathering the scrub brush with soap and scrubbing one body part at a time before rinsing and repeating the process. Reaching parts of her back proved to be extra difficult, forcing her to put the scrub brush in her mouth and use it that way, which put a little strain in her neck that she wasn’t happy with. Her mane proved to be easier to scrub with shampoo; there was something about lathering it with her hooves that rekindled her happiness, and she spent a little extra time doing it as a result.
Once her entire body was clean she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing an unused towel off the rack and beginning to dry herself off. Quickly. The sudden change in temperature between the steamy hot shower and the bathroom made her teeth chatter. She rubbed the towel over every part of her body, drying them off as best she could. Her mane and tail took extra time, and once she was done Mavis took a brief look in the mirror, frowning at the sight of how messy they were. A little voice in the back of her mind told her it made her look undignified, but Applejack had never told her anything about keeping it straight last night.
Mentally shrugging, Mavis stepped out into the hall and started for the stairs. Sizzling sounds reached her ears and a strange scent reached her nostrils. She took a whiff and smiled at how pleasant it was. She came down the rest of the way with a little more spring in her step and turned into the kitchen. Applejack was standing at the ‘stove’, flipping round little foodstuffs into the air before they landed back into a circular black pan. Mavis still hadn’t learned the names of many of these devices people used in their day to day lives, and there were probably too many for her to learn all their names anyway. The rest of the Apple family was sitting around at the table, Granny Smith reading a newspaper and Big Mac and Apple Bloom sitting patiently, waiting for breakfast.
She stepped forward, and Apple Bloom turned around. “Oh, hiya Mavis!” she said.
Applejack turned around to look at her, as did everyone else. “Heavy sleeper are ya?” she said with a laugh. “Was jus’ about ta have Apple Bloom head on up to fetch you ‘fore we heard the water runnin’? Did you have a good night’s sleep?”
Mavis nodded. “I did,” she said simply.
“Go on and take a seat, Mavis,” Applejack told her, “breakfast is almost ready.”
Mavis took the only unoccupied seat right between Apple Bloom and Granny Smith and straight across from Big Mac. The red stallion was looking out the nearest window, so at first, Mavis didn’t think much of it. Then, as Applejack was bringing the food over Mavis saw his gaze briefly flicker over to her, only to quickly dart away upon noticing she was looking right at him. A strange feeling she couldn’t comprehend rose in Mavis’ chest to her slight alarm, but before she could voice her concern, Applejack set the food on the table.
“Eat up, everypony!” she announced, taking her own seat. “Hope you like these flapjacks, Mavis.”
Mavis opened her mouth to respond, to try to voice her concern, but couldn’t. A brief glance to Big Mac showed he’d shifted his gaze away from the window onto his food, seemingly paying her no attention whatsoever. Mavis narrowed her eyes, thinking this was some kind of trick, but Big Mac just started digging into his food. The strange feeling in her had subsided, so Mavis just rolled her eyes and looked at the food being served.
The ‘flapjacks’ were flat and light brown, smelled delicious, and were easy to eat judging from everyone else. She grabbed the flat object used to serve the flapjacks in her mouth and stacked a few onto her plate. Everyone else was using the smaller, metallic objects next to their plates to break off chunks of the food and stuff them into their mouths, occasionally taking gulps of the orange liquid in their glasses all the while. Mavis grabbed her own metallic objects and tried copying their methods. She was surprised by how easy it was to keep a firm grip as she cut off a piece of flapjack, bringing it to her mouth. She chewed for a moment, judging the taste. It was different from the cupcakes from last night; she didn’t feel a burst of pleasure in her mouth, more like a simple, calm satisfaction. She took another bite, savouring the taste and swallowing.
“Want some syrup, Mavis?” Applejack asked through a mouthful of food, holding up a small canister. “It’ll make them taste better if you want?”
Mavis nodded.
Applejack leaned over and dumped a strange, sticky liquid all over her flapjacks. Mavis scrunched her face, thinking the ‘syrup’ looked unappealing.
Applejack must’ve noticed her expression, as she said, “Trust me, you’ll love it,” before returning to her own plate.
Mavis looked down at the now syrup-laden flapjacks, unsure whether Applejack was being truthful. She and the rest of her family were eating their food with syrup just fine, though, so maybe she could too. She cut off a syrup-laden chunk of food and stuck it in her mouth. All at once her mouth burst with pleasure, very similar to the cupcakes from last night. Mavis chewed and swallowed at Express speed. She began breaking off bigger and bigger chunks of her food, practically shoveling them into her mouth and barely giving herself any time to breathe. The world around her was wiped from existence as all her attention focused on the rapidly shrinking flapjacks on her plate. Syrup smeared her lips and even the tip of her muzzle. Small chunks of food flew around her onto the table and floor.
Finally, the plate was cleared. Mavis leaned back in her chair, letting out a contented sigh. “That was good,” she said, closing her eyes.
There was silence for a couple of seconds before the entire room burst into laughter, making Mavis jump and nearly fall out of her chair. She looked around to see that everyone, with the exception of Big Mac — who seemed to be trying to hold back his laughter — was doubled over in their chairs, laughing uncontrollably. Mavis blinked, unsure what was happening at first before remembering last night, how Applejack’s friends laughed at her for making a mess of her face by eating the cupcake. She quickly grabbed the napkin next to her plate and began wiping away the syrup from her face. This proved to be an issue as, rather than coming off as the cupcake did, parts of the napkin tore away and stuck to her face with the syrup. Mavis scowled, putting the napkin back down and using her hooves to try to wipe her face clean.
Applejack was the first to calm down, wiping some tears out of her eyes. “I’m glad I forgot to teach ya table manners! I haven’t laughed so much in a while!”
Mavis scowled and tried wiping her face harder, to no avail.
“Wait, wait,” Apple Bloom said, coming out of her laughter, “she don’t know table manners? Is that right, Mavis?”
Mavis didn’t respond, trying to free her hoof from her sticky muzzle, growling with the effort.
“Oh yeah, that reminds me, I still gotta tell y’all some things about Mavis,” Applejack said, and the rest of her family turned their attention to her, all while Mavis continued trying to scrub the syrup out of her coat.
“You all remember that one time we got visited by royalty from another world?” The Apples nodded. “Mavis also comes from another world, but Twilight turned her into a pony so she could work on the farm.”
“Wow, really!?” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Is that really true, Mavis?”
Mavis paused her efforts to respond with a simple, “Yes.” So Applejack hadn’t told her family about where she came from. She noticed Big Mac’s expression deflate when she answered. The same strange feeling from before shot through her chest, but Mavis was too preoccupied with cleaning her face to give it much thought.
“If ye weren’t a pony then what were ya girl?” Granny Smith asked.
“Now hold on, Granny,” Applejack cut in, “I’m only tellin’ y’all so you can help Mavis fend off curious ponyfolk, not to be curious ponyfolk yourselves. What Mavis was originally is confidential because we don’t wanna have everypony houndin’ her with questions.”
“Oh, sorry,” Apple Bloom said with a sad face.
Mavis waved a dismissive hoof. On a whim, she moved her tongue up to her muzzle and licked at the syrup. To her surprise and relief, this seemed to do the job, as part of the syrup came off on her tongue. She began lapping away at all the syrup splotches covering her face, only stopping after a few moments when she thought she heard her name being called.
“What?” she asked, turning to everyone.
“I asked you what kinda work you did before coming here?” Apple Bloom said.
“I worked in a quarry.”
“Really? Pinkie Pie’s sister Maud does too. You love rocks?”
“Not really. I just move them around where they need to be.” She was careful not to use words that would directly expose her identity as an engine. Being hounded with questions didn’t sound fun at all. “Sometimes I move other things like coal and slate. I like the work; it makes me feel important.”
“I hear you, girl,” Apple Bloom said before looking at Applejack disgruntled. “I wish somepony would trust me with important things more often.”
“Hey, I let you take over for me when I left for a month to go to Elibe, remember?” Applejack replied in protest.
“Yeah, and that was it,” Apple Bloom replied back.
Mavis continued licking the syrup off of her face. Once she was finished with that, she reached over and gulped down her entire drink at once. She wanted to start the day’s work as soon as possible, and since ponies relied on food to make them strong, she’d need as much as she could get to make sure she performed well.
The Apple siblings argued for a few more minutes before Granny Smith told them to ‘pipe down’ and finish their food. The rest of the meal passed without much talking. Every now and then Mavis would catch Big Mac looking at her from the corner of her eyes, and each and every time he would immediately shy his gaze away. A part of her was wondering if Big Mac was sick in a way that only people got, but realized if that was the case, then one of the other Apples would’ve said something. She decided it wasn’t worth thinking about, at least right now.
Once breakfast was over the dishes were cleared from the table and Apple Bloom and Granny Smith brought them over to the sink to begin washing them. Applejack and Big Mac led an excited Mavis outside to show her around the farm and orchard. She didn’t know what to expect, never having seen a farm on Sodor before. She did like how spacious everything was judging from last night.
Applejack and Big Mac quickly showed her all the places around the farm she would be frequenting over the next week: the chicken coup, the pig pens, the barn, the Apples’ personal garden where they grew their own food, and finally the vast apple orchard. All the little farm animals seemed to be wary of Mavis, judging by how they backed away in their pens upon seeing her. Mavis felt annoyed by this, but Applejack assured her they’d come around after she showed she meant them no harm.
Harvesting apples from the orchard was the most important aspect of working on Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack explained, as it was where the Apple family’s ‘finances’ came from. Mavis’ excitement continuously rose as she was led into a section of trees closest to the barn. They stopped a small distance away from the treeline in front of a particularly wide tree. Applejack stepped up to the tree and faced Mavis.
“Here’s how we harvest our apples,” she said. She raised her hind legs and, almost too fast to see, shot them at the tree’s trunk. The resulting strike visibly shook the tree and a few seconds later a whole bushel of apples fell to the ground. “Give it a try, Mavis.”
Mavis made an ‘o’ with her mouth, admiring the technique. “Okay.” She walked over next to Applejack and turned around. The beating in her chest was picking up again, but she ignored it. She furrowed her eyebrows in concentration before shooting out her hooves as best she could to imitate Applejack. They hit hard, but the tree didn’t visibly shake. Mavis waited eagerly for apples to fall down, but none did. Frowning, she struck the tree again, harder. Nothing happened again. She scowled and hit the tree with all the force as she could muster, but still, nothing came down.
“Grrrraaaaaagh!” Mavis wailed.
Applejack laughed then said, “It ain’t easy fer a first timer.”
Mavis growled at the tree. She tried again and again, pounding the tree as hard as she would when shunting trucks. Harder, even. The amount of force she was applying probably would have been enough to snap a truck’s brakes apart, but all she ever managed to knock down were a couple of leaves. Soon her legs were aching too hard for her to stand, forcing her to slump over on her forehooves. Her tongue hang out and she panted heavily as exhaustion overtook her. Even as a pony she could be overworked, it seemed.
Big Mac came over and knelt down so they were eye level with each other. “You okay, Mavis?” he asked.
Mavis nodded. Big Mac reached a hoof down and she accepted it, levering herself to stand back up. She spent the next couple minutes waiting for her strength to come back and her legs to stop aching.
“Why couldn’t I do it?” she asked once her breath came back.
“Might be ‘cause ya ain’t attuned to your new earth pony magic,” he suggested. “Can you feel it in yer hooves?”
Mavis looked down at her hooves. She tried moving one, thinking that it might help her understand what Big Mac was talking about. Nothing seemed unusual.
“This body still feels strange to me,” she said. “What does it feel like?”
“Not really sure how to describe it in words,” Big Mac said with a shrug. “It’s about as plain as movin’ limbs fer me, so I guess ya just gotta grow into it.”
Hearing that didn’t lift Mavis’ spirits at all. She cast her gaze downward in disappointment, only to perk up when she felt Big Mac’s hoof on her withers. She lifted her gaze to look at his smiling face.
“Let’s go do some other chores in the meantime, okay?” he suggested. “Maybe you’ll feel yer magic by then.”
The funny feeling in her chest came back and warmth started building in her cheeks. Her body felt stiff under his soft, kind gaze. The beating in her chest was picking up yet again. She managed to open her mouth a little, but no words came out. All these sensations coming at once terrified her. What if she was the one who was sick?
Big Mac took his hoof off of her and all at once Mavis felt everything return to normal. “Y-yes,” she said. “That sounds good.”
“I’ll help her around the farm, then,” Applejack said, trotting over to them. “Why don’t you gather today’s stock, Big Mac?”
“You sure, sis?” he replied. “You’re almost as good at applebuckin’ as me.”
“‘Almost’, huh?” Applejack replied with a cheeky grin. “Wouldn’t that make you better-suited fer the job, then?”
“Yeah, but I—”
“I want Applejack to help me!” Mavis said suddenly.
Both siblings flinched at her sudden outburst. They looked at her questioningly, but Mavis didn’t care.
“Well, if that’s what you want, Sugarcube,” Applejack said before turning toward the farm. “Let’s giddy on up quick and get the chores done so we can get to the market fast.”
“Of course,” Mavis said, and followed after her. She spared a single glance back at Big Mac, seeing him looking sad before turning around and heading out of sight behind a tree. The strange sensations always happened around him, so she would have to stay away from him as much as possible to avoid getting sick.
The better part of the morning was spent with Applejack bringing Mavis back to all of the places she’d shown her earlier, except this time actually doing all the things she’d mentioned. The animals were about as welcoming to her as they’d been before, but a little food given from Mavis’ own hoof was enough to warm them up to her a little.
Feeding the pigs proved easy, but Mavis blanched at how messy her hooves got having to trudge through the pig pen to dump the food in the slough. Only Applejack’s promise of a good outdoor shower kept her from complaining too much. Extracting eggs from the chicken coup was an interesting if uncomfortably cramped task. Having to burrow her way into the small coup and delicately collect the newly laid eggs was tricky for her to try since she still hadn’t mastered the use of her new hooves yet. Applejack took care of the bulk of the collecting, but Mavis was still required to collect a fair amount. She managed fine enough, but there were a couple of times where she nearly dropped an egg, making her feel guilty when Applejack had to tell her to be careful. Planting new seeds in the Apples’ personal crop was a simple matter, but Mavis was annoyed again by how dirty it got her hooves.
All the while she worked, Mavis kept thinking about what Big Mac said about ‘not being attuned’ to her new magic. She wondered if it was anything like the instincts she had for moving her body, where she just needed to want it bad enough for the control to make itself known. She considered asking Applejack for help a number of times but decided against it. She preferred to figure it out on her own.
The sun was hanging high overhead by the time they were done with their chores. Mavis was the happiest she’d been in days when Applejack brought her over to the garden hose and showed her how to rinse herself off. Feeling the water spray over her hooves, washing the mud and gunk away was a pleasantly familiar sensation. Working in a quarry tended to get her sideplates especially dirty, and she’d always love it when the workmen sprayed her clean, making her feel fresh and important. Anything that helped remind her of Sodor was wholly welcome to her.
“Can I try hitting the tree again?” she asked Applejack once they’d both finished cleaning themselves off.
“You wanna try applebucking again, huh? Sure. Big Mac’s probably done by now, but a little more practice for ya ain’t a bad idea.”
They hurried away from the barn and made their way back to the orchard. They found Big Mac a little further ways in than where they’d left him, finishing up a column of apple trees. He stepped up to the last tree in the column and turned around, shooting a single hind leg out to strike the trunk. An entire bushel of apples showered down around him and he began picking them up in his teeth and dropping them into a nearby wooden bucket.
Mavis’ jaw dropped, amazed at how utterly easy Big Mac had brought down the apples. A part of her was jealous, but another, bigger part of her admired how strong he was, how easy he made such hard work look. Then the funny feeling in her chest came back and her cheeks started heating up again. Mavis opened her mouth with the intent to cry out, but all that came out was a choked gasp.
“Something wrong, Mavis?”
Mavis shook her head a little too rapidly. “I-I’m fine,” she lied. She seriously considered asking Applejack for help again, but if she really was sick than that would mean she’d have to go to the Works or whatever the equivalent was for ponies, and that would mean she couldn’t prove herself to be reliable and useful to the Fat Controller.
“If you say so,” Applejack said with a shrug. “So, ya think you can bring down some apples?”
“I’ll try,” Mavis said, feeling her resolve return to her.
She approached the nearest tree and turned around. Over and over in her head, she repeated to herself how much she wanted to use the magic. Something poked up from the depths of her mind, a presence different from her previous instincts. This had a more definite shape, something like a flowing river coursing through her. It was strange, yet comforting. She focused on that river, trying to connect to it. It traveled the length of her body, gathering in her hooves. She raised them and, with all her strength, struck out at the tree.
The tree shook under the force of her blow. A few leaves fell from the branches. Mavis turned her head around, excitedly searching for any fallen apples. She saw nothing. But before she could feel sad her attention was diverted by something smacking her on the head.
“Ow!” she said before reaching a hoof up to rub the spot that was hit.
“Well hot dang, Mavis!” Applejack said with glee. “Ya did it!”
Mavis looked at her confused for a moment before looking to where the other mare was pointing with her hoof. Her eyes widened and her muzzle split into a broad smile. The pain in her head was instantly forgotten at the sight of a single, bright red apple lying on the ground by her hooves.
“I did it!” she cried with joy. She picked up the apple in her hooves and stared at it. This was the first step toward her redemption, and now that she could make use of her magic, the rest of the journey would surely be a breeze.
“Well, good to see you’ve got the hang of it, at least a little,” Applejack said. She walked over to a full bucket under a nearby tree and lifted it up onto her back. “We can practice more later. Right now we gotta get our stock washed up and brought to the marketplace. Ya wanna come with me into town to help?”
“That sounds great,” Mavis replied
“Then grab a bucket and let’s head back,” Applejack said, turning in the direction of the barn.
Mavis quickly grabbed a bucket from another tree and hoisted it onto her back, struggling a bit under the thing’s surprisingly immense weight. Balancing it on her back proved a bit easier than craning it with her neck, but it put a horrid strain on her for the entire trip back down to the barn. It was a reminder that she hadn’t mastered her new earth pony magic just yet.
They reached the barn in a few minutes’ time and returned to the garden hose where they began working to spray clean all of the apples. According to Applejack, food wasn’t good to eat if it got dirty, but only some foods, like apples, could be washed off without going bad. Diesel oil could potentially go bad, too— yet another interesting similarity between ponies’ and engines’ ways of life.
Once all the apples were washed off they made their way around the barn towards the front gate where the supply cart was. Mavis smiled. The day had been going well so far in regards to her ability to contribute to the Apple family’s workload. She only needed to learn how to better utilize her magic and she’d be well on her way to earning her redemption in the Fat Controller’s eyes. Her gloom from the previous day was well and truly gone; she was now in good spirits.
She and Applejack turned a corner and all the joy was instantly sapped out of her. Her eyes fell on the pony hitched to the supply cart, a sinking feeling settling in her stomach.
Big Mac.