For Twilight, it was nice to be back in Ponyville with a good book, a fire courtesy of Spike, her favorite blanket, and a daisy sandwich. They had just gotten back five days ago from Canterlot and the award ceremony where they were given praise and declared publicly as Equestria saviors. Spike had asked and ensured that he was not mentioned at the proceedings and did not receive a medal for it. The girls had all argued but he stood firm saying that if not for him they may have been able to win sooner. Even Discord chipped in saying that he would have cheated with or without Spike but it didn’t do anything to change the dragon’s mind.
Ever since they got back, he had been going way out of his way to help everypony that had even the littlest of jobs and while they all appreciated his help, Twilight knew that this was more out of guilt than want to help. She had to force him to take a day to rest when he nearly fainted at Sweet Apple Acres. She felt bad as she cast a sleep spell over him but it was for his own good. She was taken out of her thoughts as a knock came to the library’s door. She groaned a bit as she had to leave her comfortable state but she had a duty and she would do it.
“Hello! I’m sorry but the library is closed today is there- oh Sundance! What brings you here?” Twilight had seen the pony around town and heard about her from Spike but never really talked to her other than the occasional greeting. The pony had grown out her mane more and wore her blue ribbon around her neck while having gotten a nice blue bow tied to the base of her tail.
“H-hello Miss Sparkle, I’m sorry to bother you but I was hoping Spike was around? I was going to ask him for some help with something.” Twilight bit her lip as she knew that Spike wouldn’t wake for several hours at the least and she couldn’t wake him if she wanted.
“Well he’s asleep and I don’t think he’ll be waking up yet…”
“Oh, well I guess that’s understandable. I heard he’s been helping a lot of ponies lately… when he wakes can you tell him I need him. It’s important.” Twilight watched the girl start to walk away but groaned as she felt the need to help her, especially since this is a bit her fault. She took a glance back at her perfect setup before sighing and calling out to the pony.
“Wait! Umm, since he is resting and if it’s that important maybe I can help?” Sundance seemed to think about it for a moment before rushing back to Twilight and hugging her while jumping and shaking the girl.
“Really?! Thank you Miss Sparkle!! I really really appreciate this!” Twilight groaned a bit as her face was muffled by Sundance’s chest and the hug was keeping air from entering her lungs. Sundance let her go once her face was turning as purple as her hair. “Oops… sorry!” Twilight was gasping and held up a hoof as she recovered and sighed, knowing how Spike felt now when she would get overly excited.
“Just Twilight is fine and any friend of Spike’s is a friend of mine so don’t mention it. So what am I helping you with again?”
“Oh right, the job hehe. Well, I wanted Spike to take me to Sweet Apple Acres to introduce me to Granny Smith Apple. She’s one of the only living ponies who had been here when the town was founded and the only one that actually stayed with the Pear family leaving town some years ago for some reason. I want to ask her if she remembers my great grandmother...“ Twilight was becoming much more interested when the talk of Ponyville history came up. She was the local librarian after all and there were scarce records of the town’s past.
“I see well why not just ask them yourself? The Apples are all nice and would be happy to help you.”
“That’s what Mayor Mare told me but it didn’t feel right to just go introduce myself to strangers… I saw that Spike was friends with the family and hoped he would help but you are their friend too so you can introduce me.”
“So your great grandmother was one of the town’s founders? What was her name? How did you find out that she was a founder?” Sundance stopped and smiled while looking up and pointed at the statue in front of them. It was one of the town’s main landmarks, a statue of a mare smiling and standing on a ball. Twilight had seen the statue since the first day she arrived in town but through her research, she had never found out who the statue depicted or why the statue was so important.
“My great grandmother was part of the party that settled this land and I only managed to find out my relation to her when my mom passed and left me all our family’s history. Inside of a journal written by my grandmother, she wrote of living in a small town before moving to Manechester. I found a picture of my great grandmother and couldn’t find the town until the day that I saw Ponyville in the news with the Summer Sun Festival and saw the statue. I knew that I had found the town I was looking for and came as quick as I could.”
“The festival… that was the first day that I moved to town. I was given a job from the princess herself to study friendship and the magic behind it.”
“That sounds like a strange study… do you send her letters or write reports or something?”
“Yep, I send one every month and have yet to miss a deadline.”
“So Mis- Twilight how do you know the Apple family?”
“Oh, I’m great friends with Apple Siblings, namely Applejack. We’ve been through a lot together with the rest of my friends since I met them. Hard to think back and remember all the years I spent alone… thinking that books were all I needed. I wish I had listened to the princess’s advice earlier about friends. I thought I didn’t need any, after all, the princess didn’t.”
“You wanted to be just like her, that’s not a bad thing but the princess has a reason for not wanting friends. I mean all she had was her royal pet until Princess Luna returned.”
“Philomena?”
“She’s a phoenix, right? Those creatures are some of the rare creatures that are known to have the possibility of living forever, like Dragons and Alicorns but they hunted and dragons are known to be a common enemy to them. She decided to take on such a pet maybe because she’d never have to worry about it leaving her. Being alone for hundreds of years… no pony should have to deal with that. It’s hard to lose something and when you’re basically a goddess you can’t afford to lose.” Twilight thought about that and about her friends, Spike, and her brother being with Princess Cadence. The two had always liked each other since they were young but Cadence was an alicorn and would come to outlive her brother maybe thousands of times. She was the goddess of love, however, so if there was one pony who would have no control over her heart it would be her. “We’re here.”
Twilight looked up at Sweet Apple Acres and sniffed in the sweet aroma of the apples and what smelled like an Apple family apple pie. Waving at Applejack as she was taking a break from her applebucking and stretching, she welcomed Sundance to the farm. Twilight explained the reason they were there was to talk to Granny Smith and Applejack was happy to help them but warned them that her granny had a tendency to ramble. Granny Smith had pulled out a second pie when they entered the kitchen. “Granny ya got some guests, one is the granddaughter of somepony ya may have known a long time ago.”
“Ah knew a lot of ponies back in my day, ya need to be more clear.” She looked at Sundance and began to giggle before trotting to her. “Now there’s a face Ah never thought Ah’d see again… ya look just like ya grandmother.” Sundance blushed and smiled sheepishly.
“Great Grandmother actually.”
“Great Grandmother?! Applejack! Ya didn’t tell me I had gotten old!” Applejack looked up as she had cut a piece of pie and was about to take a bite. “Nevermind me, so dear what brings ya to me today?”
“Mayor Mare told me that you would be the only one that may still remember what my great grandmother was like.” Granny Smith smiled and walked to her rocking chair and closed her eyes as she thought back to her younger days.
. . .
Gran Smith Apple had just reached the age of six when her parents were given the chance to join an expedition that was leaving Canterlot to start up a new town. Ever since Princess Celestia had moved to Canterlot around five hundred years before, the small mountain town had turned into Equestria’s capital city where more and more nobles and rich ponies would begin to make their home. The princess had come to listen to the small but passionate ponies that disliked the growing status of their town and was willing to give them guards and bits to go and find a better place where they could rebuild. They agreed and went on to attract some of Canterlot’s most influential families, namely the Apples and the Rich. Gran insisted on accompanying her parents on their journey despite the dangers that they could be facing.
The group of explorers ventured through the dangerous Evergreen Forest with the royal guards they were given fighting back the more monstrous creatures of the forest. Their trip had taken a turn when they were caught in the winter snow and forced the group to clear out space where they could brave the season. Gran did her best to help her parents and the other adults build their shelter but she was left to the only teenager that was on the trip as she had agreed to babysit the foals. Her name was Sunsparkle and she had a white coat with a short mane that was made of several shades of pink. She was the bright spot no matter how bad things got, she would always be dancing on her yellow ball and help keep spirits up with her jokes and kindness.
Winter was harsh and long but by the end, they all were much closer than before. They had been stuck together all season and had learned to work together as a village, as a community. They all decided that they would grow their village there and after getting rid of the snow, an action they called Winter Wrap-up, their first course of action was to grow food as their storage was running low and nearing empty with each passing day. They worked with the pegasus to get rid of the clouds and cleared more of the forest before preparing the ground for planting.
In all that time, Gran had grown to become best friends with Sunsparkle and they wanted to help in any way they could. Gran had decided that the seeds weren’t going to be ready by the time that they would need and seeing that the Evergreen was here, there must be food in there that they could use. The two prepared for a trip and entered the forest, several hours in they had only managed to find seeds and nuts but nothing sustainable enough. They traveled deep into the woods and even befriended some of the local animals as they found them still hibernating and woke them before sharing their food with them. The animals grabbed and pulled at Gran’s leg making a motion to follow them and stay quiet.
They followed the animals into a darker part of the forest. They were nervous but trusted in their little friends and they were led into a cave where a bit of sunlight had broken into the cave and was illuminating a strange blue tree that held rainbow-colored apples in its heights.
“Wow… I’ve never seen apples like those before!” Gran rushed forward despite Sunsparkle calling out to her and when she reached the tree she was shocked and sent back.
“This tree isn’t natural, it’s some kind of magic… hey, can you little fellas help us get down some of the apples? We really need them for our families and friends…” The animals nodded and helped Gran up before they all touched the tree and after a minute of being shocked the tree accepted them and they nodded at the ponies. The two stepped to the tree and slowly reached out to touch it, as they did they felt as though they were being judged but as nothing happened they shared a smile and whispered a soft thank you to the tree as it seemed to glow.
. . .
“Wait!” Granny Smith opened her eyes from her blast from the past to see pages of notes floating around Twilight as Sundance and Applejack were listening and eating some pie. The CMC had also arrived and sat down to listen to the story. “So what are the Zap Apples? What was that tree and where did they come from?”
“Well, to be honest, Ah never figured that out even when Ah went back to see the tree again. When Ah got to the cave, all that was left was a crater. The seeds Ah planted here at the farm grow and produce Zap Apples but they don’t weren’t as big as the ones I saw that day and the trees ain’t blue but knowing that won’t satisfy you Twilight I have a theory.” Twilight smiled wide and wiggled her arms and legs excitedly.
“Ooh I love theories!”
“Ah often gave thought to the Zap Apples and their origin as Ah had never seen anythin like them since. That was until Ah met your friend Rainbow Dash. Applejack told me about her sonic rainboom and Ah gave that some thought before asking Fluttershy about what she knew. The rainboom was not created by Rainbow Dash, it is a very rare ability that even master flyers can’t always do. It is a spectacle to see but also burst and spreads the magic that is naturally in the air.”
“You mean the theory that magic lives in the very earth? I read about it, it says that the earth’s core is magic itself and so the planet radiates magic.” Granny nodded with a smile.
“Pegasus use the magic in the air and their wings help their connection to it, without wings you can’t touch clouds like they can.”
“And Unicorns use magic from our own souls and bodies and control it from our horns.”
“Earth ponies are special as we ain’t got no wings or horns, we gain our own magic from the earth under our hooves. It grants us more strength and like Applebloom could show you, more nature-based skills with her building and potion making hobbies. The Zap Apple tree we saw that day is much like an alicorn Ah think. It was a fusion of magics. The roots and the sentience the tree had were from the earth, Ah believe the tree judged us by reading the animals’ feelings and trust in us like a unicorn would, and the actual apples being struck by the after effects of a sonic rainboom. That’s what Ah think at least, was that enough for ya whippersnapper?” Twilight didn’t answer as she was writing and Granny Smith leaned back and finished her tale.
. . .
Sunsparkle gave Gran a boost and watched her climb on the tree and start collecting the apples when something growled behind them. Sunsparkle turned as three timberwolves were at the cave entrance and sniffing at the ground. “That’s why you wanted us to be quiet… we’re in their territory…” The animals nodded and seemed sad as they had led them into this but Sunsparkle smiled at them and nuzzled them before spinning her ball on her hoof. “It’s okay, I’m getting you all home. Sun told Gran to hurry as she began to walk to the entrance, the wolves beginning to enter. “We’ve invaded your land and taken parts of it, I’m sorry about that but we have ponies that we care about and they need us back. I can’t let you hurt us here.”
One wolf jumped at her, Gran screamed at her, but when it swiped it found nothing in its claws. Sun was in the air after jumping on her ball and kicked it into the wolf’s face before it bounced back to her and she landed on it with a smile. The other wolves attacked with Sun spinning and dancing on the ball, gracefully dodging with her dance before jumping and bucking one in the face and using the ball to smash its chest. She smiled until she was blindsided and knocked off by the third wolf and the first was getting back up. Sun frowned and got back on her ball and looked around before smiling and rolling to a rockpit and began to run on the ball, shooting rocks at the wolves like bullets.
The first wolf was hit in the head and hid while the third kept running towards her, but fell before it reached her due to all the rocks in its throat. Sun huffed as she was getting tired as the first wolf attacked only for it to be crushed by a tree falling on it. Sun stared at the tree in shock when she heard giggling and turned to see Gran with a proud smile. “D-did you just…”
“Don’t mess with the Apple family or their friends, our bucking talents are legendary hehe. Let’s get home.” Sun nodded and the two went home, adding waking animals to the winter wrap up and zap apple jelly made was so good and plentiful that it helped the village last until their crops began to grow. The village wanted to make a statue to Gran seeing that she was the one that had the apples when they came back but she refused and insisted on a statue made of Sunsparkle on her ball.
. . .
“So that is why there is a statue of your great granny here, Ah thought that since she was the protector that she deserved it.” Sundance wiped her eyes, having teared up at hearing how her ancestor had been and hugged the old mare in thanks. “Ahh dear, your waterworks are gonna make me more wrinkly than Ah already am!” Granny Smith joked while holding the girl. Twilight and Sundance waved goodbye as they promised to come back and Granny promised to tell the story of Sunsparkle meeting the one that she would eventually marry, the first pony to ever move to Ponyville and the one that made the Golden Oak Library. The CMC began to question if they should try getting cutie marks in monster hunting but Sweetie Belle mentioned that they already had beaten monsters during the Canterlot Invasion and had gotten nothing.
“I learned so much about Ponyville history! The reason they left Canterlot, the struggles they had, the zap apples, and even some theories! I never thought about all the knowledge I could learn here!”
“I’m just glad I now know what kind of pony she was… makes me feel proud to be myself.” Twilight looked at her and put her notes away before smiling softly and nudging the girl. “I think you always should have been proud of yourself, I mean who else would go so far to find out their family? I bet that they are proud of you, wherever they are.” Sundance touched her ribbon and cried a bit before hugging Twilight and thanking her over and over for her help. They separated at the statue as Twilight thought she needed alone time with it and she walked to the library, smiling at the sweet smell coming from inside. “Oh Spike, you were supposed to stay in bed.”
. . .
That night, deep under the library, a chest glowed and hummed as the time was approaching when its knowledge would be used again...