Once again, he found himself dragging his hooves through the dirt on the paths outside of Ponyville, taking the same path that he had all those years ago, when he first met the Apple family. Only this time, the cart that he brought along already had its load.
He had sent more carts before him over the previous months, and the precious cargo had been all squared away after delivery. The load in this last one was no more precious than the ones before.
As he passed by Sweet Apple Acres, a loud squealing came from right next to him. As he turned towards the source of the sound, he saw several books flying into the cart behind him. He then saw Applebloom with a huge smile across her face. “Ah knew you’d come back soon! AJ weren’t so sure, though.”
“You seen Mac anywhere?”
“Yeah, he sprained his side the other day, applebuckin’. Doc said he should rest, ‘cuz he could do worse if he tries buckin’ again before it’s healed.”
Frank rolled his eyes. “He would do that. Honestly, does he ever take a break?”
Applebloom jumped into the cart as Frank began pulling. “No, not really. Hey, on the topic of books, we gotta new pony in town!”
“Oh really? What’s their name?”
“Twilight Sparkle, but AJ calls her Twilight. Fer short, ya know?”
“Hmmm…” I know I’ve heard that name before. “Where’s she from?”
“She’s Celestia’s assistant.”
“Hmm…” Frank pretended not to know who she was, but inwardly he couldn’t help but think Ah. As long as she doesn’t turn my glasses purple again.
His birthday came about a week and a half later, in early June.
He woke to find Applebloom moving towards his bed with a bucket of water held haphazardly over her head. Peeking in the door was Big Macintosh, who was suppressing laughter. Neither had noticed Frank wake up. This being the case, he chose to turn their prank back on them.
Applebloom was getting closer, but awkwardly- it was a difficult task to balance the bucket on her head. She managed to get to a decent position to soak him… the bucket was held high over her head, and she was about to dump it on him when he bolted upright.
“You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“Wha-” The surprise caused the bucket to slip out of her hooves, and it promptly landed upside down next to Applebloom, soaking her from head to hoof. Big Macintosh couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. “Dang it!”
“How did you two get into my house?” An expression, combination annoyance and worry, crossed his face.
“Well, it would help if you locked your door.”
“And if ya didn’t keep the spare under the flowerpot.” Applebloom spun the keyring around her hoof.
Frank laughed nervously and facehoofed. “Point taken. I’ll have to create a magical security system, then I can let in only those who I want to. And I’ll only have to open and close the door.”
Both Big Macintosh and Applebloom were a little confused as to how that could work, but they shrugged it off, but not before Big Macintosh added, “If you figure that out, maybe you could do it to the farm? It would keep them thieves out of dem apples.”
“I don’t think that it would be possible, except for the Princesses. It would most likely be too large to be sustainable.”
“Could ya stop with the big words? Cause ah’m gonna need to take Frank to get his present.” While pulling Frank, she secretly winked at Big Macintosh. He returned the wink, knowing that the other 2 Cutie Mark Crusaders were hiding in the kitchen, waiting for Applebloom to drag Frank out.
“But what about Breakfast?”
“Don’t worry, ah’ve got it waiting.”
After a pit stop at Sweet Apple Acres for a quick bite to eat, the pair continued, with Applebloom leading the way. As they got closer to Everfree Forest, Frank started to get a little worried. “Are you sure that we need to go in there?”
“Relax, ah know what ah’m doing.”
It would only be once the house appeared that Frank got what Applebloom was doing. Somewhat. What she had planned was a mystery to him.
Applebloom knocked, and the door was quickly opened by a pony-shaped figure. she beckoned for him to follow her in, and so he did. What awaited him was a total shock.
Ingredients (he presumed) hung from the ceiling and the walls, and there were several cabinets chock full of more.
Out appeared Zecora and Applebloom. “Now, friend of young Applebloom, what is it that gives you gloom?”
“My-my horn…” he stammered.
Zecora laughed. “Worry not, young Stablehaus, son of James. I can make your horn nearly the same.” She began to pull ingredients out, throwing them into the pot as she went along. Each was absorbed into the mixture with a multicolored flash. Frank was sure it was about to overflow, but it then began to bubble nicely. “The kettle will boil, and we will fix with some toil.” She then handed him a flask of the bubbling mixture. “Drink this.”
While Frank eagerly gulped down the medicine, Applebloom decided to read the warning. “Do not operate power tools while drinking potion. May induce drowsiness, hunger, temporary dementia, and/or explosive magic discharge. But what if he’s, ya know, an alicorn?”
“He is what?! Then we may be in for some bruises and cuts.”
Frank was about to open his mouth to speak when his horn glowed a bright gold light. Somehow, standing up on his hind legs, Frank began to glow- all the same golden color as his horn. Applebloom and Zecora ducked behind an overturned table, hoping that it would reduce their likelihood of injury.
Frank continued to glow gold until a strong beam of magic flowed out of his horn. After bouncing off of a mirror, it streaked through the forest, down the road, and into the town library, where it proceeded to knock all the books off of the shelf, Burying Twilight Sparkle and Spike in a landslide of books. Other than knocking books off of their shelves, nothing happened, which was a LOT better than what Zecora had expected.
Frank was walking on air the whole way home. Literally and figuratively. Even with Applebloom on his back.
But the surprise continued- when he got to his house and entered, he found Big Macintosh, Cheerilee, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all hiding in wait. Well, they weren’t hiding anymore, because they had jumped out to surprise him.
Frank smiled and muttered to himself, “Best birthday, ever.”