//------------------------------// // Chapter Six “Reassessing The Situation” // Story: Commutatus // by Xz Hacker //------------------------------// Chapter Six “Reassessing The Situation” About three hours after Applejack had fallen asleep her food arrived. “Applejack, wake up, your foods here,” Twilight said gently as she tried to slowly shake Applejack awake. “Oh, good I'ma starvin,” Applejack said as she dove into to the food, waking up almost instantly. After ten minutes Applejack was nearly finished with her food when Dr. Patella arrived. “How are you Applejack,” Dr. Patella asked, greeting who was quickly becoming her favorite patient. “Pretty good doc, I'ma bit worried over all this, but Twi here's been keeping me company, and I think I've calmed down a bit.” “Well lets see what we can find out with another scan. We need to make sure that you are actually growing wings before we get too far ahead of ourselves on this one.” Once again she pulled out the small device from her bag and began to fly around Applejack to get the image, this time focusing on the regions on her sides where the small joints seemed to be forming. After she finished she took a long look at the new results, and got a wide smile, “yes this is fairly conclusive, you are most definitely showing signs of growing wings, they appear to be rather large too, just based on the angle the joints seem to be forming. Twilight dared to venture what was on everyone’s mind, “you mean about the size of Celestia's or Luna's?” “Perhaps, but it is difficult to say exactly how big they will be, we will have to compare once they are fully grown.” Just then Celestia and Luna walked in the door. “Greetings Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said just shy of her royal speaking voice and rushed to give her a hug. “Hi Princess Luna,” Twilight said warmly, but caught a little off guard, “how have you been.” “Very well, thank thee for asking, but enough pleasantries, to the matter at hand,” Luna said and turned toward Applejack. “Yes, how are you Applejack,” Celestia asked warmly, but somehow more reserved than her normal self. “Fairly well Princess, but may I ask what all this is about?” “One moment Applejack,” Celestia turned towards Dr. Patella, “Dr. Patella, please divulge the results of your test.” “Of course princess,” Dr. Patella said and rushed to grab the imaging device from her bag, “the imaging results are quite conclusive, our friend Applejack here is definitely growing wing joints, and as you predicted they seem a considerable deal larger than normal wings.” “As I thought,” Celestia said, looking at Applejack, “it seems we have much to discuss. Dr. Patella, please take your leave, this may take a while, and I know how terribly busy you've been lately.” Dr. Patella stared for a moment wondering what the princess could mean, then she realized that it was a hint to leave, “of course princess, feel free to call anytime you need me.” At that, she hastily left. Once the doctor had left Celestia turned to her sister, “I'm not sure what to do dear sister, this is most unusual.” “We know dear sister, it seems we have made a grave mistake.” “I'm sorry but what are you talking about,” Twilight asked. “My faithful student, I'm afraid my sister and I have done something terrible. Let me explain. As you know, me and my sister are the only two alicorns,” Celestia saw the curious look Twilight gave, “you wonder about Cadence, forgive me , I never told you. Cadence was born a Unicorn, but she always wanted wings, so she sought out the most brilliant and talented Unicorn to ask for real working wings. When she came to Canterlot and asked the doctors here of what they could do, one took it as a personal challenge and tried his best to make her look like me and my sister. Of course her body is not as large as ours, and her magic, while strong, is not nearly as strong as ours.” Seeing Twilight satisfied, Celestia continued with her story, “my sister and I were born a little over two thousand years ago. For the longest time we wondered if another alicorn would ever appear, but lost hope after merely seven hundred years. We assumed we would be the only ones. Living so much longer than normal ponys, not to mention our appearance and our abilities, it wasn't long before we were hailed as royalty. Our magic was far stronger than any Unicorns had ever been, and our wings carried us far faster than any Pegasus had ever flown. We even cast a powerful spell that has held over the land for the past twelve centuries, that prevented weather from forming naturally, allowing the pegasi to easily manipulate the weather, unlike before when they had to battle the naturally occurring weather. We used the Elements to defeat Discord, and then eventually I used them on my sister,” she turned and gave an apologetic head bow to her sister, who in turn did the same. “The point is however, that we had never known of any kind other than our own intimately. So I'm afraid that while attempting to heal dear Applejack, we may have caused her to become as us.” Twilight and Applejack stared for a moment until Applejack finally spoke, “so you're saying that I'm becoming an alicorn like the both of you?” Both princesses nodded their head solemnly. Twilight could resist asking any longer, “well what is the problem, it seems to me like it's a good thing, now Applejack gets to fly and use magic.” Celestia addressed the question in an almost harsh tone, “yes but she will also live as long as us, do you know what it's like watching generation after generation of people you grow to love, grow old and die?” Luna walked up and placed her hoof on Celstia's back, “sister please, you are tired, let us speak with them while you go and get your rest.” Celestia merely nodded and made her way out of the room. Once she was gone Applejack began the round of questioning, “Princess was she saying that I will be immortal like you?” Luna gave a small frown, “we're afraid we are not able to answer that question young one, you see since we are the only ones, and we have lived thus far, we are not able to say if our life span is limited, or if it is infinite.” “Will my magic be as strong as yours?” “To be sure it will be stronger than most, how strong is also hard to say. We must wait to see as you develop along.” “Will I grow to be tall like you?” “Once again it remains to be seen, however if we were the betting sort, we would bet yes.” Just then Twilight noticed that Applejack was indeed already getting taller. She marveled at how fast the changes were happening, and assumed that would explain Applejack's excessive hunger lately. Applejack was still taking it all in. When Luna saw that there would be no more questions she began speaking, “we and our sister must speak at length about what is to be done. This is a most unusual situation, and some time will be needed in planning what to do.” Applejack sat up in realizing what she was being told, “you mean to say I can't go home?” Luna smiled warmly, “no young one, we are sure sister will be kind enough to let you stay at your own home while we debate on what to do.” A little relieved Applejack sat back down on the bed. Luna walked over and set down next to her and said in a much quieter tone then her usual, “the burden of the long life you will live is a tough one, but having others to live it out with makes it tolerable. While my sister and I were separated, we both went a little mad, but now we have each other once more, and if you are to join us in what we can only fathom to be eternity,” she paused and hugged Applejack, “we hereby welcome you as a dear friend.” Applejack smiled at Luna, “thank you kindly Princess.” “Now,” Luna said going back to her usual tone, “you two should get some sleep, and in the morning we shall send someone to tell you you are allowed to leave.” At that, Luna left, leaving Twilight and Applejack alone together with the huge news that they had both received. “What do ya think about all this Twi?” “Well at first I was happy for you, but hearing Celestia talk, it sounds like long life may not be all that its cracked up to be.” “I hear ya, I ain't never seen Celestia talk like that.” “Neither have I, and it worries me, but all we can do now is sleep and let the princesses talk about what to do.” “What do ya think they're gonna do Twilight?” “I'm not sure AJ, I'm really not sure.”