Twilight woke up slowly, confused. She felt weirdly uncomfortable, despite sleeping in her own comfy bed. Her wings felt sore… wait, wings? Wings! She had wings!
And then she remembered. Star Swirl’s unfinished spell, saving her friends, and the crazy – and amazing – time spent preparing for coronation. Rarity almost fainted when Twilight appointed her as an official Royal Organizer for the wedding, with all of her friends helping.
And Twilight was now an alicorn. A Princess of Equestria! It was so amazing! And scary! She still took a moment each morning to calm herself after a short panic. It felt like she would never get used to this feeling.
Twilight rose up… and lost balance, tripped, and fell on the floor. Her wing caught a glass of water and threw it to the floor as well, sound of breaking glass echoing in the library alongside Twilight’s groan. Behold, the Princess of Falling on Her Face, she thought with annoyance while trying to get up. At least nopony was here to see that…
“Are you alright, Twilight?” Spike asked sleepily. “Did you fall again?”
“No! Yes! …Maybe?” The alicorn answered sheepishly, getting up and using her magic to clean the spilled water and glass. At least her unicorn powers, while magnified by her ascension, were still under her control.
“Maybe we should just move your bed so you have more space?” Spike proposed once again.
“No, there’s no need! I just need a little practice, that’s all!” Twilight answered, throwing the glass into the trash can with just a little bit too much force. Fortunately the sturdy container only shook a little, and didn’t seem damaged.
Spike looked at the trash can and then at Twilight, who avoided any eye contact. Her unicorn powers were still mostly under control; she had slight problems with magic when she was startled or distracted, but fortunately no bad incidents happened.
In fact, it felt like a second adolescence, and she really disliked it. She already went through that phase of having to be really careful with her powers, and now she had to do it again! Fortunately, her control over magic was better with every passing day. “What’s the schedule for today, Spike?” She asked. Schedules and plans were something that never failed to calm her. After all, with everything planned and prepared, there was no place for nasty surprises!
“Breakfast, pegasi training with Rainbow Dash, dinner, earth pony training with Applejack…”
“Wait, what?” Twilight took the schedule and looked over it. “There must be a mistake! Spike, when did you write this?”
“Two days ago? You are supposed to focus on training your pegasi and earth pony magic, remember?” The dragon asked, confused. “You still can’t fly, and…”
“I know I can’t fly, Spike.” Twilight answered, with the piece of paper still floating in front of her. “But how is Applejack supposed to help? She’s an earth pony!”
“Aren’t you also an earth pony now?” Her assistant pointed out.
“Yes, but that's not the point! Earth ponies have no magic! What can I learn from Applejack?”
“Twilight, are you alright? You’re really mean right now.” Spike was now visibly worried.
The alicorn sighed. “I'm sorry, Spike, it's just... I already have to focus on controlling my magic and learning to fly or use the pegasi weather magic. I don't have time to spend farming or whatever it is Applejack wants to teach me. I have actual magic to learn!”
“… remember Pinkie Sense?”
“That’s different. I’ve never seen an earth pony use magic like that, aside from Pinkie.” Twilight protested, trotting downstairs and toward the door. “I don’t mind spending time with Applejack, but I have more important things to do right now.”
“Twilight, you’re much stronger then you were before.”
“Of course, but that doesn't mean I need training to control it! I just need to be careful, that’s all.”
Spike pointed out to a small dent in the wall next to her bed. “You had a nightmare and almost broke the wall when you kicked it.”
“It was an accident!”
“You ran into the wall…”
“I wasn’t looking where I was going!”
“Twilight, you broke the door handle in the guest room in Canterlot!”
“They fixed it, and it doesn't count. It was the first day!” Twilight protested, now slightly agitated. “Seriously, Spike, stop worrying. Everything will be fi…!”
She opened the doors widely mid-sentence, and in her agitated state she forgot to control her newfound strength. The doors almost broke in half; unfortunately, they were made of solid and sturdy wood, and the hinges gave out first. The door-shaped projectile flew out, and Twilight heard a scream moments before the door crashed into something.
“Oh no!” The alicorn run out of her library, frantically looking for the source of the scream. To her immense relief, there wasn't a crushed body anywhere. The doors hit the ground, barely missing a very startled Lyra Heartstrings. The projectile made an impressive gash in the ground, falling apart at the end. “Are you alright?”
“I, yes, I think so?” The unicorn answered, pale and shaking. She was looking at the door that barely missed her, then at Twilight, then back at the door, and back at Twilight. “I’m… gonna go see Bon Bon. Bye!” The unicorn bolted away as fast as she could, leaving Twilight alone next to the pieces of wood that still somewhat resembled a door.
At least there wasn't a stampede of ponies running away, although everypony gave her a wide berth. They knew from experience that once Bearers get up to their antics, things tended to get weird.
“You know, Spike, maybe I should actually ask Applejack for help.” Twilight said, her eyes not leaving the crushed door. An idle part of her mind helpfully calculated the force of these doors hitting a pony, and came to a conclusion that doors at high speeds could be very lethal, indeed.
Twilight skittishly followed Applejack through the outskirts of Ponyville. The earth pony leading her was surprisingly quiet, and the silence was starting to get on her nerves. Was she in that much trouble? “Look, Applejack, I’m sorry.” She tried to apologize. “I promise, I’ll be more careful, I was just distracted!”
Her friend sighed and shook her head. “Ahm not angry with ya, sugarcube. Ahm disappointed with mahself,” the answer was heavily accented and felt just a little bit different than what Twilight was used to. “I’m just tryin’ to remember if I’m doin’ this tha right way.”
“Doing what?” Twilight asked, feeling a little better now that she knew her friend wasn't actually angry.
“You’ll see. We’re close by now.” The earth pony answered, looking ahead. They were approaching a big boulder, higher then both of them combined. “Perfect.”
“Perfect?” Twilight asked, but her friend ignored her for now, trotting ahead. Applejack stood facing the stone, with just enough space between her and a stone for another pony to face her.
“Come here, sugarcube.” Confused, Twilight did so, facing her friend with stone just behind her. “Now, buck that rock.”
Why? Twilight wanted to ask, but in the end she just mentally shrugged and bucked. The rock, of course, didn’t move at all. “Like that?”
“Nah, not like that. Imagine you’re in ya home, reading a nice book, and suddenly somethin’ surprises ya. A shelf is falling on ya.”
“Applejack, that’s absurd! Shelves do not…” Twilight tried to protest.
“BUCK IT NOW!” Applejack suddenly shouted in her face, startling the alicorn. Twilight, startled, bucked the rock with all her strength. A crushing sound could be heard behind her, and she felt stone fragments pelting her. “Tha’s what I thought. Look behind ya, sugarcube.”
Twilight wanted to demand an explanation for this sudden scare, but the moment she looked behind her, she forgot it in shock and focused more on the massive rock. It was split in the middle, with multiple stone fragments lying around. The place she bucked was slightly crushed, and it was the source of the sudden split; she somehow bucked the rock in half.
“How’re your legs, Twilight?” Applejack asked, and only then did the pain broke through the shock and the alicorn promptly fell down. “Thought so. We usually have this talk with foals, ya know.”
“What… what?” Twilight asked, her back legs hurting profoundly. “What just happened?”
“Ya were startled by Rainbow Dash who flew into the library, and ya bucked her hard.” When Twilight suddenly tensed and looked at the rock in fear, Applejack added: “This time it’s just a rock. Next time? It can be her.”
“What are you saying, Applejack? You’re scaring me.” Twilight whimpered, pain, shock and fear mixed in her voice.
The earth pony shook her head and sat down close to her friend. “Ahm sorry Twilight, but ya needed to see what ya can do now. Now ya know why ya need to learn how to use your strength.”
“Is… this is scary.” Twilight admitted, looking at the shattered stone with disbelief. “Can any earth pony do that? I had no idea!”
“Can every unicorn do magic like ya can, sugarcube?” Applejack answered. “Everypony is different, ya know.”
“How do we not have more accidents involving earth ponies? If you can do that…” Twilight pointed at the rock.
Applejack chuckled, and seeing the lack of understanding on Twilight’s face she almost laughed. “Ahm sorry, sugarcube, but, ya just mixed our cutie marks, remember?” The alicorn grew a little red on her face. “And ya are scared by somepony being able to buck a rock? If anything, Ah should be scared of ya unicorns!”
“That’s not the same!” Twilight argued. “Filly unicorns are taught to strictly control their powers and… never use them to hurt…” She slowly closed her mouth as the realization dawned on her.
“And what do ya think the earth ponies do? Ah taught Apple Bloom mahself.” Applejack said, still smiling. “Don’t worry, ya can learn to control this.”
“Are there any books about it?” Twilight asked hopefully.
Applejack’s chuckle was her only answer, and the newest Princess of Equestria had a bad feeling that learning the earth pony way was sadly not something she could get just from reading books.