//------------------------------//
// Spreading Her Wings 
// Story: What Your Heart Desires 
// by DbzOrDie 
//------------------------------//

Applejack was glad she was finally home. The walk home had been filled with tension. Every pony she met cast a stare at her wings and just continued to stare. A green unicorn even shouted something along the lines of 'can you give me hands?’. Needless to say, Applejack was perhaps more freaked out than everyone that met her. As soon as she had moved out of sight, she started running to Sweet Apple Acres.

Tense or not, Applejack still had a job to do. While Big Mac might've cleared all her work for the morning, she still had to put everything in place for bucking the East orchard in two days. She grabbed the first few baskets and went to put them under the trees.

After about an hour of working, she noticed Apple Bloom approaching from the side. Applejack slowed down her work and prepared her ears for the onslaught of questions that was sure to come.

"Sis, how come you have wings? Are you what they call a pegasister now? Can you still buck trees? What did granny say? Can I get wings too? Can I MPHMPH..."

Applejack had plugged Apple Bloom's mouth with her hoof. "Easy there, sugarcube. Take a big breath." AJ took her hoof of off Apple Bloom's mouth as she inhaled. "Now then, what did you wanna ask? One question at a time."

"What happened? You didn't have wings yesterday." Apple Bloom was hoping that there was a logical explanation for this. Surely, getting wings couldn't possibly be the thing she wanted most.

"I don't rightly know, sugarcube. I woke up like this, fully feathered and all." Applejack left out the part where she nearly bucked the legs from underneath her when she noticed her wings.

Realizing that the wings were likely an effect of the potion, she decided to ask for clarification. "Applejack, are you happy with those wings?"

"Of course I'm not happy!! These here wings don't do nothin' else but weigh down on my back and get in the way with work," responded AJ with anger in her voice. "Why? Do I look like I'm happy?!"

"No reason, just asking," Apple Bloom responded quickly. Looking for the right subject to divert the conversation, she asked, "I heard you were over at Twilight's. What did she say?"

Applejack took the bait without question. "She wanted to do some of them wacky experiments. She's tryin' to figure out how I got these wings." Applejack smiled at the thought of getting rid of her wings soon.

"Are you still connected to the Earth? Aren't you one of them pegasi now?" Apple Bloom asked. If AJ had lost her Earth magic, then hard times would surely befall Sweet Apple Acres.

"I think Twilight's machine said somethin' like, that I'm still putting out Earth pony magic, along with that magic that comes from them wings. I figure I'm an... uh... an Earth-pegasus now."

Applejack looked slighty happier. She hadn't paid attention to the fact that she could still feel the flow underneath the earth. The misery of having wings seemed lessened already.

"That's great, I bet you're all flyin' and bucking all day long."

"Well actually, sugarcube, about that..."

Before AJ could say anything else, a blue-colored dot rapidly approached from the sky and grinded to a halt right next to Applejack.

"Oh my gosh, Applejack, it is true. You really have wings now!" Rainbow Dash was shouting like a giddy schoolfilly. “This is so awesome. We can fly together, I could teach you some of my tricks... You could even bring your apples to me when I'm too lazy.”

"Uh... Dash, not to burst your bubble here, but... I ain’t flyin' anytime soon. I'm too heavy for these wings to get me of the ground." Applejack made a few flaps with her wings to prove her point.

Dash's face switched to confusion, then understanding.

"Of course, you wouldn't know about that, nobody taught you. I wonder if the same prinicples would apply," Dash muttered to herself. "AJ, tell you what? I'll teach you to fly. I won't let any potentional awesomness get wasted," Dash said with vigor

"Wait just a goldarn minute. How did ya even know I had wings? I haven't seen you all day."

"Oh, that. Scootaloo told me just a few minutes ago," Dash said with a wave of her hoof.

"Did she now?" AJ said as she silently muttered. "I wonder who else knew about this..."

As AJ looked to her left, all that remained was a filly shaped cloud caused by Apple Bloom running off.

Dash remained oblivious to the sudden absence of Apple Bloom.

"Yup, I taught her to fly as well, so getting you up in the sky should be a breeze. I can see that you've already had your awakening, so obviously you have access to Pegasi magic," Dash said whilst carefully inspecting AJ's wings. "Oh, this is going to be so awesome. I've always wanted to fly with some other pony that knows the thrill of a challenge."

Applejack thought it might be best not to mention that she was not that thrilled about having wings. Still, the prospect of spending an afternoon with Dash sounded like a really good time.

Applejack wanted to remind herself that she still had a lot of work to do, preparing the orchard, but as she saw Dash standing there, so excited to teach her, she just couldn't say no. "Alright, Rainbow, I guess you can teach me, if you really think you can get me in the air."

"Are you kidding, AJ? Getting you in the air will be easier than getting Pinkie to have fun. Especially with such an awesome teacher as me," Dash said with a grin.

"So then, where will you be givin' me my lessons? I reckon there 'aint a lot of space around the orchard to learn to fly."

Dash thought for a few seconds. "I got it, meet me at that big hill in the park in ten minutes. You know, the one where we sometimes hang out. I have to take care of a few things first." Wiith that, Dash flew off.

AJ's mind was already filling with visions of herself flying over the orchard, bucking trees twice as fast as she could run. Of course, Rainbow would be there, too, waiting for AJ to get done so they could go flying together. AJ bottled in her enthusiasm for now and left for the park.





"C'mon, Twilight, tell me what Applejack was here for."

"For the last time, Sweetie Belle, even if I wanted to, Applejack clearly wants to keep a lid on this. Now leave me alone. Processing this much data takes a lot of focus." Twilight's patience was running thin. Ever since Sweetie Belle had arrived, she'd been asking questions about Applejack non-stop.

"Maybe I can help? Rarity said the last time I helped, I did a good job," Sweetie Belle stated proudly.

Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Sorry, Sweetie Belle, there is nothing you can do to help here and I won't speak a word about Applejack."

Her face hanging in defeat, Sweetie Belle went back to the clubhouse to wait for the rest of the Crusaders. I sure hope they are having more luck than me.





When Applejack arrived at the hill, she saw Rainbow sitting there, waiting for her, with her coach cap on and Scootaloo by her side.

"Good, you're here. Do you mind that I brought Scoots with me? She really wanted to see how your first lesson would go." Rainbow gave Scootaloo a noogie as she said it.

"Uh sure, but I don't think she can expect much for my first try."

Scootaloo winced upon hearing this. Rainbow gave her a nuzzle as she responded, "Look, Applejack, you're exactly where Scootaloo was a few years ago. Inexperienced, unable to fly, and without any confidence."

Scootaloo returned the nuzzle as she followed up. "Whatever you think about wing-size and how they get you in the air is wrong. Some ponies from my class used to make me believe that as well. That I couldn't fly with these tiny wings." Scootaloo frowned at the mental trip down memory lane. She didn’t like to be reminded of her past problems with bullies.

Rainbow put her cap on Scootaloo, for which she looked grateful, and responded, "AJ, how the wings look hasn't got squat to do with getting in the air. If Scoots had had someone to teach her how to reach out to the magic in the air, then she would've been airborne ever since her first lesson. It's not a physical matter, AJ. It's a magical thing."

"What do you mean? All I see are these bulky wings and them bein' unable to get me in the air." AJ was still trying to process all that Rainbow was telling her.

"AJ, can you feel the wind around you?"

"'Course I can, it's quite windy outside, you know.”

Rainbow flashed a grin before continuing. "Now focus on your wings. Can you feel the wind there?"

Applejack spread her wings completely and concentrated on her wings. "Well, I feel the wind, but I feel somethin' else as well, somethin' that makes my wings all tingly."

"That, AJ, hold on to that!" Dash shouted. "You're feeling the magic that flows through the air. Only ponies with wings can feel it, and we use our wings to float on that magic stream."

Rainbow gave Scootaloo a small nudge, and Scootaloo continued on, "You have to try and grab that part of the air and bring it under your wings. Let it push you in the air with every flap you make."

Scootaloo moved away from Rainbow. "Here, I'll show you."

"Okay, this is how not to do it," said Scootaloo as she was making rapid flaps with her wings. "Now, the first time will be the hardest but you'll do fine, I'm sure. Just do what I do."

Scootaloo and AJ spread their wings to their fullest, and Scootaloo began flapping her wings without getting in the air yet. As AJ copied her, Scootaloo went on, "Focus on all the air you're pushing away. Search in that air for the part that feels as if it belongs with you. It'll give you that tingly feeling again."

Scootaloo gave one more flap and immediately she was in the air.

AJ closed her eyes in concentration as she searched the wind. She felt the tingly feeling spread, as if her whole wing was getting itchy. Her wings had nearly stopped moving when she suddenly gave one big flap. With this, she was able to levitate herself a few feet off the ground. Applejack opened her eyes and saw the ground was farther away from her than usual.

"I'm doin' it, I'm doin' it!" Applejack cheered, until she stopped her wings and fell back to the ground.

"You remind me of my first time," said Scootaloo as she looked at AJ with pride.

Rainbow gave Scootaloo a hug as she said, "Couldn't have done it better myself, Scoots. I bet someday you'll be a teacher in flight school."

Rainbow turned to Applejack, who was sitting on the ground from exhaustion, and said, "That was awesome, you'll be flying at top speeds in no time."

Applejack wheezed and panted as she got her breathing back under control. "I didn't know that flying could be so tiresome."

"AJ, you've had those wings for what, a day? And you learned to move them and to fly with them all in that same day. Even I would be tired after a session like that."

Applejack stared at Rainbow with disbelief so Rainbow went on. "Tomorrow, you should be able to fly as if you've always been able to fly. I guess your body just needs get used to feeling the air."

"I'm lookin' forward to it. But if you don't mind, I gotta go. I'm supposed to meet Twilight soon.”

"That's cool, Scoots and I still have to practice our tricks anyway. See you tomorrow?"

"Definitely, I can't wait to get flyin'. See y'all later." With a short wave, she left and headed towards the library.





It was near dinnertime when Rarity finally got home. Seeing that every animal was taken care of, she gave Angel a small pat on the head and made her way to the kitchen where Fluttershy was cooking.

"Hmm, to come home to that smell, you definitely know how to spoil a mare," Rarity said as she pulled Fluttershy in for a kiss. "Can I ask you something, darling? Why are you wearing that big, green sweater?"

"Um, it was chilly inside?" Fluttershy tried her best to not look Rarity in the eyes and focus on her cooking.

"Dear, it's as if Celestia herself put the sun in our house. There's something you're not telling me. Is it a stain? A smudge? A mark that's hard to remove?!" Rarity began inspecting Fluttershy's sweater for any traces of dirt.

Fluttershy quickly pulled away. "Oh no, I'm j-just... sick. Yes, that's it, I have a cold."

"Fluttershy, darling, do you remember what our wedding vows were?"

"Uh, to love eachother, to care for eachother... to stay truthful to eachother-"

"Darling, what you're doing now isn't very truthful, is it? Franky, I'm appalled that you think you have to hide things from me," Rarity said with mock drama in her voice. "It's okay, you can trust me. Whatever you think is so horrible that you need to hide it from me, I'll deal with it."

Fluttershy gave a small sigh and pulled the sweater off.

"Fluttershy, where are your wings?!! Your weapons of elegance, your feathery tools of delight! What happened?!"

Fluttershy cringed upon hearing Rarity, who was freaking out, raise her voice. She knew Rarity was fond of her wings, she feared something like this would happen.

Rarity noticed Fluttershy's saddened look and quickly recomposed herself. "I mean, Fluttershy dear, what happened?"

"I don't know, I woke up today like this. But it's okay, I don't mind."

"Okay? How could this possibly be okay? Someone just stole your wings."

"I didn't just lose my wings, I think I've been turned into an Earth pony. I'm more connected with my animals and the trees than I ever was," Fluttershy said with a big smile.

Rarity flashed a smile of her own, seeing how happy her wife was. "But your ensemble, I'm certain nothing of it would fit anymore, which means..." Rarity's eyes widened with realization. "I get to design you an entire new wardrobe!"

At seeing the nervous look on Fluttershy's look, Rarity loosened up. "Let's keep it at making a new sweater that properly hides your lack of wings, for now."

"I'll help you with it, it's the least I can do for how generous you are." Fluttershy gave Rarity a peck on the cheek and they went to have dinner.





Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were moping around at the clubhouse. Both of them had been unable to gather much information about AJ. What they did know was that AJ wasn't thrilled with having wings, and Twilight was doing some important tests that made her irritated. They hoped that at least Scootaloo would have more success.

A fluttering sound come from outside, before the door of the clubhoue was pushed open by the orange pegasus. "You guys, you won't believe how awesome my day has been!"

"Well, as awesome as that sounds, we kinda wanna know about Applejack first. I'm gettin' a bit worried 'bout her," Apple Bloom said gently.

"But first, younglings, let me regale you with my tale of epicness." Under the questioning glares of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, she added, "What? I heard Twilight use those words one time."

The other crusaders just shrugged and listened intentively to Scootaloo.

"Okay, so I went to tell Dash about AJ's wings. As soon as I told her, she started shouting awesome things, and did a small dance of joy, an awesome dance, and went off to find her. Then she came back a while later as I was flying and told me she was gonna teach Applejack how to fly. She asked if I wanted to come and I said yes, of course."

"MY SISTER WANTED TO FLY?!" Apple Bloom was utterly surprised. Earlier, it looked as if AJ was gonna tear her wings out if they got more in the way.

"I'm getting to that. So, we got to the hill and there was AJ, waiting eagerly to start flying lessons. You know how Rainbow once promised that she'd find somepony that I could teach to fly, for when I want to be a teacher later on? Well, that's when it happened." Scootaloo gave a proud smile. "Dash gave her the basics and then she gave me the sign that I should go on with the explanation. I taught your sister to fly, Apple Bloom." Scootaloo finished enthusiastically.

Apple Bloom's eyes went wide. "Wait, so my sister can fly now?"

"That's what I just said, isn't it? She looked really happy as well."

"Happy? My sister hates those wings," Apple bloom said defensively.

“That's not what I saw, though she didn't look as happy when we started the lesson. Finally getting in the air must've been a load of her mind."

Sweetie Belle took word. "Crusaders, I believe this calls for more investigating. Applejack first hated her wings and couldn't fly, now she can fly and looks happy. We must get to the bottom of this if we want to be good detectives."

The other two crusaders agreed and went to there respective homes to prepare themselves for another day of investigating.





It was nearly dark as Applejack arrived at the library. Her stomach kindly reminded her that she still hadn't eaten something all day.

Applejack knocked on the door and waited for Twilight to open the door. As Applejack moved to knock a second time, the door slowly swung open.

Twilight emerged from the door opening with a way too big smile on her face. "Oh hey Applejack, what brings you here?"

"Well, you told me to come back in the evenin' to see about how to remove my wings, so here I am," Applejack said with a proud smile. Being on time for appointments always did make Applejack feel as if ponies depended on her and she had not let them down.

Twilight nervously swallowed and stepped to the side. "Oh, that? Please do come inside. It's awefully chilly tonight, isn't it?

"Uh, kinda, I guess? But I'm fine with just- And you're not listenin' to me anymore," Applejack said to herself as Twilight had already rushed back inside.

Applejack stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She turned back around and saw Twilight sitting on the couch, her big smile having already wavered a bit.

"Okay, Twi, I'm inside. So, what have ya found out? I bet you solved it minutes after I left, didn't you?" Applejack said with a teasing grin.

Twilight slowly let her face go back to a neutral expression. "Well...I-I-I did find... Oh hey, is that Pinkie over there?" Twilight said as she pointed to the window.

Unbeknowst to Applejack, Twilight used that very moment to use her telekinesis to pull on the 'Emergency Pinkie Pie' rope that she had hidden behind one of the curtains.

Pinkie jumped out of the bushes outside and pushed her face on the glass. "Hey, Applejack, Apples, Applie, Jackie! Look at what I can do with my tongue," Pinkie said after which she made an effort to try and touch her nose with her tongue.

Applejack slowly blinked, confused as to why Pinkie suddenly had appeared to show her that.
Pinkie was trying her hardest to distract Applejack as Twilight made gestures to Pinkie to show that she was doing an amazing job.

Applejack snapped out of the confusion-induced trance and stepped to the window. "I'm sorry Pinkie, but I aint got time for this now," she said as she moved the curtains in front of the window.

Pinkie flashed her best pair of puppy dog eyes but Applejack continued closing the window anyway. "Sorry, Pinks, but I got experience with Winona and Apple Bloom."

Applejack turned back to Twilight. "So, you were sayin'? About my wings?"

Twilight mentally scolded herself for thinking that would work. It was unlikely that Pinkie would've been able to distract AJ for a few hours anyway. "Uh, yes, about your wings. I-I... I'm hungry, are you hungry? I'll make us something to eat."

Twilight quickly teleported to the kitchen as Applejack stood there looking at the spot where she was seated. It was obvious that Twilight was hiding something. Applejack planned to immediately confront her when she came back. She sat down and waited.

When ten minutes have passed, Twilight finally returned with a pair of daisy sandwiches levitating behind her. "You want one?" Twilight asked as she loudly ate her own.

Applejack jumped back up. "I don't want a big, delicious, fresh daisy sandwich. I want answer-answ... bah fine, give me one," AJ said as her stomach grumbled loudly.

Twilight levitated the sandwich over to Applejack and watched with joy to see Applejack greedily eat it.

Soon, nothing else but crumbs remained and Applejack sighed in satisfaction. "Phoewie, that hit the spot." Applejack then turned directly at Twilight. "But I'm still expectin' answers about my wings."

Twilight inwardly screamed at the injustice of the food distraction not working but she accepted that she couldn't get around it.

"Applejack," she started. "The magical test... it came back negative. I have no idea what made them, or if they have dangerous side-effects, or how to remove them, even. They are exactly the same as normal wings, minus the flying part of course," Twilight added with a slight grin.

"I wouldn't be so sure about the flyin' part," Applejack said as she got up and stepped to an open spot in the room. She rapidly began flapping her wings.

Applejack closed her eyes in concentration as she searched for the small streams of magic in the air. Finding the streams for the second time was a lot easier than the first. Twilight watched in anticipation until AJ slowly started rising.

Applejack's face relaxed and her eyes opened. She tilted her herself a bit forward and slowly flew towards Twilight. She stopped above the couch and let herself fall on it right next to her.

“I reckon I can hold on to these wings for just a while longer,” Applejack said with a slight grin.

"Applejack, you flew? How? Why even bother? I thought you were searching for a way to get rid of them."

"I was lookin' to get rid of em alright, but then Rainbow went and offered to teach me. And...you know," Applejack finished with a flap of her wings.

"But how did Rainbow teach you? The book didn't mention anything about the process," Twilight said as she grabbed it from the shelf.

"Now, I don't claim to be an expert, but it has somethin' to do with the magic in the air." AJ gently grabbed the book from Twilight's telekenisis and put it back down. "Maybe Cloudsdale has some books on the subject."

"Then I must visit the National Cloudsdale Library someday," Twilight said as she grabbed a quill and her notebook. "And could you perhaps demonstrate flying one more time so I can take notes?"

Applejack sighed and got to work.

AJ stayed throughout the evening, demonstrating her flying abilities more than once, until she nearly couldn't stay awake. After they exchanged their goodbyes, AJ made her way back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Muttering a few 'good evenin's' to Granny Smith and Big Mac and continuing on before they had a chance to question her wings, she retired to her bedroom, completely exhausted from today’s events.

Her dreams however, were still quite eventful, filled with visions of flying with a vague blue shape.