One Saturday, Wave and Sand decided to go on an outing to Sweet Apple Acres. The main reason for going was ostensibly to pick apples on the open to the public day, but Wave wanted to test his walking suit and shoes in a real-world environment that did not involve sand or a smooth floor. Walking in an apple orchard seemed to be a good test, in their minds. If Wave could manage to go the entire afternoon without falling more than twice, Sand would bake him an apple pie like their mother made, all for him. If he did fall more often, he was to fix her apple fritters for breakfast for a week. Wager made, they headed out. Rip and Blaise did not attend, Rip having to go to the hospital for tests after surgery, Blaise going to give him moral support.
At the farm, Wave and Sand explained what they wanted to do to both the farm manager, Applejack, and her sister Apple Bloom. They were given permission to do their testing, but Applejack insisted they sign a waiver absolving Sweet Apple Acres of any responsibility in case of ‘unfortunate circumstances’. Wave and Sand signed without hesitation. “After all, we do enjoy your apples, both here and back when we were in Canterlot,” Sand explained.
Applejack let out a big smile at those words. “Well, ah’m glad to hear those words, Sand Castle! Now, ah suggest y’all go to a far patch to pick apples, okay? That will give you privacy to try your suit without anyone commenting on your activities. Apple Bloom, take them there, please,” she directed.
“Sure thing, big sis! This way!” Apple Bloom led Wave and Sand to the back of the orchard, Wave in his wheelchair, which easily handled the rough ground. She led them to a grove where the apple trees stood a little shorter than the rest of the orchard, but still were high enough to give Wave a stretch picking them. “Now, ah’ll come back in an hour to check on you, okay?”
“Sounds good, Apple Bloom!” Sand said as Wave locked the wheels of his chair, moved the foot rests aside and stood up. Using tree branches for balance, Wave had little difficulty, but walking between trees did take attention. He used up his two free falls within ten minutes.
“One more and you’re cooking, brother!” Sand said with a smile as she watched Wave get back up.
“Got that right, sister,” Wave said, dusting off his hands and pants. “These boots are not giving me as much tactile feedback as lighter shoes do, and my balance is shot here on rough ground.”
“Well, we are here to practice, right? Come on, we have apples to pick!” Sand said as she selected another tree to pluck from.
“You got it, Sand.”
Together, they picked apples for another half hour, filling the basket they had brought along. For convenience, they had placed it on Wave’s chair. They were thinking about heading back to the main entrance when Sand spotted a tree with different colored apples on it, set off to the side. “I’m going to grab some of those, Wave,” she said as she sprinted over.
“Okay! Be careful!” Wave called back.
At the tree, Wave plucked four of the big greenish-yellow apples before heading back. Careful not to drop them, she did not watch where she was stepping and slipped in a puddle, falling hard against an electrical outlet box on the ground. There was a loud snap, a bright flash, and Sand Castle convulsed once, hard enough to shake free of the outlet before lying still.
“SAND!” Wave shouted as he made his best possible speed to where she lay, tripping twice and falling on the way there. He found her unconscious but unhurt, as far as he could tell. He tried to pick her up, but while he could move himself, lifting more than ten kilos or so was difficult. He settled on dragging her clear of the spot.
His bellow did attract attention, Applejack and two farm hands getting there before he got her back to the chair. “Now, what in tarnation happen heah?” Applejack demanded. Wave explained as the farm hands checked Sand over. She then sighed. “Ah thought we fixed that theah outlet box two days ago.”
“I saw the paperwork, AJ,” one of the farm hands said. “It was reported as fixed.”
“Looks lahk it wasn’t fixed raht,” Applejack grumbled as Sand opened her eyes, looking around some in confusion. “What happened?” she asked.
“You slipped in a puddle and fell into the outlet box, getting shocked. How do you feel?” Wave asked, taking her hand in his.
“A little blurred, but it’s fading fast. My feet feel cold,” she reported.
Everyone looked at her feet. The soles of both shoes had holes burned through them, at the heels. The skin they could see was red, but nothing more. “No wonder. Your shoes burned through,” one of the farmhands said.
“They don’t feel burned, just cold. I think I should go to the hospital to get this checked out. Want to take me there, Wave? No need to have the farm here go to the expense of calling an ambulance,” Sand suggested.
“Tell you what. Ah’ll carry you back to your car, and ah won’t charge you for the apples yuh picked. Sounds fair to you?” Applejack said, picking Sand up.
“Will you at least accept a five-buck tip?” Wave suggested as he slow-walked back to his wheelchair.
“Well, since yuh offered, ah can accept that.”
“Wow, you’re strong, Miss! I know I’m not the smallest tree in the orchard,” Sand said as Applejack picked her up. Her physique could be described as ‘well-padded’, but not fat. She followed Wave’s workout plans, too.
“Good clean farm living, all it is,” Applejack said as they came out of the orchard.
“I’m with the Equestrian City Building Inspector’s office. Keeps me busy, and I could not let my big brother get too far ahead of me!” Sand Castle laughed.
“Big brother?” Applejack said, taking a closer look at Wave Rider. “You went to Canterlot High, right?”
“We both did. We were at the Catastrophe, in the back. I graduated three years before, and Sand was a sophomore,” Wave explained.
Applejack snorted. “Thought the two of yuh looked familiar. Just could not place where.”
“You were playing bass guitar at the show, if I remember right,” Wave said as he unlocked the van, opening the side door.
“That ah did. Never did really stick with music, though. Runnin’ the farm was more important. Only Rainbow Dash stayed with it,” Applejack said as she put Sand down in the passenger seat.
“We met her at a rock and roll camp a few weeks ago,” Sand said. “She’s wonderful!”
“No, she’s awesome!” Wave added as he put the basket of apples in the van before getting back into the wheelchair and getting on the lift.
“Well, ah have to agree with that. Now, y’all promise to call me aftah you get her checked out, y’heah?” Applejack said to the two of them, waving a finger for emphasis.
“We promise!” the brother and sister chorused as Wave started the van.
Applejack reached into a pocket and pulled out a card, giving it to Wave. “Use this number. It’s mah direct line.”
Wave put the card in his shirt pocket, next to his phone. “Will do, Applejack! Now, we best get going!”
At the hospital, Sand was checked out and released within two hours, no obvious burns or damage being found. She still complained that her feet felt cold and was told to see her doctor the next day if symptoms persisted. The two went home, picking up a big pizza along the way. First thing they did was to call Applejack, leaving a message that all seems well, but would update as matters progressed. Then, Wave put the apples up as Sand had a slice of pizza.
“I don’t know about you, brother, but I’m feeling a bit tired after all that excitement. Once we’re done, I’m going to clean up and go to bed,” Sand told Wave at the table.
“No, sister,” Wave countered. “We finish, I clean up, and you go to bed. I’m going to spend a little time in the hot tub. All that walking about, and trying to carry you, strained my abs some.”
“I won’t argue,” Sand mumbled, finishing the slice, looking droopy.
“Now I know you’re not feeling yourself. Go to bed now, Sand. I’ll put the pie in the fridge and clean up. You nap. Or do I have to carry you?” Wave ordered. Sand did not reply, having fallen asleep right there at the table. He sighed, went to her, got her in his lap and brought her to the living room, letting her sprawl on the sofa. “Me through the hall, no problem. Her through the hall, no problem, me carry her sleeping form through hall while in wheelchair, big problem,” he muttered as he checked her over with what he knew of first aid. As far as he could tell, she was asleep.
Wave did as he said he would, cleaning up the dining room before going to soak in the hot tub, the hot swirling water soothing his aching muscles. He was getting nice and dozy himself when a scream tore through the house, a loud hoarse scream that trailed out breathlessly before resuming. Wave got himself out of the tub in record time, getting into his wheelchair wet and naked, heading for the living room as the screaming continued. He arrived to see Sand writhing on the couch some, sparks coming from her hair. “Sand! WAKE UP!” Wave bellowed. “I’m here!”
Sand stopped screaming as her eyes flew open, the sparks stopping. She stared at Wave, getting her breath back. “S..s..s..some…t.t.thing… hap..p..penned…” she stuttered.
“Easy, Sand. Catch your breath. Relax. Tell me what you think is happening,” Wave said in a soothing voice. He activated his force field before reaching out to her.
Sand took his hand in both of hers and breathed deep, getting her composure back. “Thanks, brother. That dream was scary,” she said in a shaky voice.
“What dream?” Wave asked.
“I dreamed that I became an electrical generator, able to power any device I’m touching and control it. I can also shock people too, by touch. Or burn out electrical gear. Or any of a lot of scary things!” Sand said as she wept a little, still frightened, grasping Wave’s hands like a drowning person holding on to a life preserver.
Wave leaned over in his wheelchair to hug Sand. “I don’t think it was a dream, Sand. When I got here, your hair was throwing sparks. Just get yourself calm and we’ll talk more, okay?”
Sand nodded, grasping Wave tightly, heedless of his being wet and naked. “O-o-o-okay…” she stammered before sitting upright enough to hug Wave without him threatening to fall on top of her. They stayed there, holding each other, for a few minutes before Sand began calming down, accepting her new reality. “If you can be a meta, I can be a meta.”
“All up to you what to do with it, like I do, like Rip does, like Blaise does. You don’t have to be a criminal. I’d rather you just be yourself. Now, can I dry off and dress before I drip where I shouldn’t?” Wave asked.
“You do that, brother. I’m going to sit here and think.”
When Wave returned, dried and dressed (okay, just a pair of shorts. At home, they were both casual about skin), he used the overhead straps to move himself from the chair to sit next to Sand. “I got you, you got me, we got each other, sister. Do we need anything more?” Wave said quietly.
“No, brother, no we don’t. I did find out one thing. Whatever it is I have, I have to ‘turn it on’ with mental effort, so you can turn your field off. It’s cold to the touch,” Sand said to him quietly.
Wave did so, and Sand clung to him for a while, letting her fright ebb. “Thank you for being you, Wave.”
“I can say the same, Sand.”
Once Sand calmed down, she got up and headed for the kitchen. “Where’s the rest of the pizza? In the fridge?” she called out.
“Yeah! Have at!” Wave called back. She did, pulling it out and gnawing on a slice, cold.
Wave, back in his wheelchair, rolled in to the dining room. “You hungry?” he asked. At her nod, he said, “Not unknown, especially when you use your talent. Energy has to come from somewhere, right?”
“Point made,” she mumbled around a mouthful. She swallowed, then asked Wave, “What should we do now?”
“Well, I know several people we should inform about what happened, namely Rip, Blaise and Doctor Sparkle. We should compare how your talent compares to Rip’s. We should also figure the extent of your talent, as in what CAN you do with it?” Wave advised.
Sand put the slice of pizza down, went to a cupboard that they kept tools in and pulled out an electric drill. Leaving the battery out, she quickly put in a big wood drill bit. Holding the drill, she made the drill operate. Pulling out a piece of scrap wood, she drilled a hole through it. “That’s interesting,” Wave commented. “Can you do that, say, with a flashlight?”
In response, Sand put the drill down, got a flashlight from a drawer, removed the battery and focused on it. The light came on, strong and steady. “Well, it works for DC power. Now for AC,” she said.
For that, she pulled a lamp down off a shelf and unplugged it. Just by holding the wire, she could power the lamp, having to use the switch to turn it on and off. “Yep, AC too.”
“Does that mean you swing both ways, sister?” Wave asked innocently before quickly ducking to avoid her backhand swing to his chops.
“I don’t do that, bro! Now, get your brain out of the gutter and think of what we can try next!” she snapped mock-angrily.
“Okay, sis.” Together, they went through many of the house appliances. She found that she could power anything she willed to power up, but touching the appliance is easier than trying to project. She powered everything from a dinky battery-powered night light all the way up to the kitchen stove. She still needed to use the controls on the device to operate it, though. Turned off is turned off, turned on is turned on. She could power a radio, but she could not use her power to change stations or volume. They did discover she had a time limit. After three hours of experimenting, she started ‘running down’, getting both tired and hungry. They stopped so she could demolish the rest of the pizza before she said she had a craving for lemons. Not having any, she drank half a bottle of lemon juice before she considered herself sated. “Running out of battery acid, sis?” Wave joked.
That was when they discovered she could project a low-power bolt that would act like a taser on someone. Wave also figured that the same shock would do a number on his walking suit. “Not nice, Wave…” Sand said quietly while Wave was twitching.
“Sorry…” he gasped when he could.
“Apology accepted, big brother. I’m going to bed. Don’t wake me,” she said before walking up the hall to her bedroom.
“I won’t,” he promised. He didn’t, but before going to bed he cleaned up again then did something he did not want to do just then but thought it would be worse for him if he waited until morning. He called Doctor Sparkle and dictated a brief report of the day’s events. Five minutes after hanging up, Twilight called him and started bombarding him with questions. He agreed to bring Sand Castle to the lab the next day, after noon.
At the lab, Twilight ran test after test on Sand Castle, trying to determine the extent of her power. By six, she had some conclusions and a lot of data to sift through. They did find that lemon juice, or eating a lemon or two, would give her a boost when she was tired. Twilight also found out that Sand Castle had a bit of a temper. When she pushed a little too hard, Sand tazed her. Twilight backed off on her testing. “I’ll give Wave some of my conclusions tomorrow. You report to work as normal, just don’t juice anything until we do some more studies,” she advised.
“Will do, Doctor Sparkle,” Sand Castle said. “Besides, after finding out that if I try to mess with a powered object, I will get a backfire, I’m not tempted to get too adventurous. I’m just glad that I can’t get shocked unless I DO try fiddling with a powered device!”
“You’re as smart as your brother, just in a different way. Go home and get some rest, both of you!” Twilight said, chasing the two out of her lab. When they were gone, she sat at her desk, calling up Spike and going over her findings.
“One problem I’ve spotted already, Twilight. Her blood chemistry has changed. The readings are a dead giveaway something has happened to her. Time to work out some protection for her,” Spike advised.
“I’ll see what I can do.”