What a fully grown Earth stallion would want with a nerdy doll like Smartypants, Twilight Sparkle would never understand. Spell or not, that was still her childhood doll, and she wanted it back.
Twilight Sparkle knocked on the Apple family’s front door, and Applebloom answered. The filly looked up, and gave a smile.
“Oh, hey Twilight! What brings you ‘round here? Applejack ain’t here,” the filly said. Her hair wasn’t tied up in a ribbon, unusually, and it was wild at the top, probably in the middle of brushing her hair. The identifying mane garment was laying around the back of her neck. Twilight shook her head.
“Actually, I’m here to see Big Macintosh. Is he around?”
Applebloom raised her eyebrow.
“He still has my doll,” Twilight sighed, and Applebloom snickered.
“He does? What would he want with that old ugly thang?” Applebloom wondered, “Ah, uh, Ah mean that-“
“Don’t even try saving that one,” Twilight advised, squinting, “Where is he?”
“Ah think he’s up in his room. Come to think of it, he’s been up there a lot in the last coupla days…Come on in, I’ll go an’ git him fer yah.”
Twilight Sparkle took a step inside, and looked around, realizing she’d never actually been inside Applejack’s home before. To her surprise, it was rather neat. There was an armoire with glass doors showing off a nice set of china. There were family photos everywhere. She was pretty sure their sitting room was built out of portraits of family members. The dining room table was absolutely huge, and spotless to boot. Somepony here liked keeping things neat and clean. Definitely not Applejack, anyway. That said, everything seemed to be practical. A lot of the things sitting around were completely unknown to Twilight, but were likely used more often than she would think.
Twilight was studying a strange tool that she was doing her best to try and understand its function, when she realized that somepony was standing next to her. Twilight rotated her head slowly, listening to Granny Smith’s laborious breathing right in her ear. It was, honestly, kind of gross to listen to, but she wore a pleasant smile anyway.
“It’s a nut cracker,” Granny Smith croaked. Oh, god, why did Twilight Sparkle think of Granny Smith’s voice like that…What a morbid thing to think…
“A what?”
Granny Smith picked up the V-shaped metal object, picked out a walnut, held the object in her mouth while squeezing the walnut, and bit down. The walnut cracked under the pressure, producing the nuts inside. Granny Smith discarded the walnut shell into a separate bowl, and then munched on the nuts after replacing the nutcracker.
“We Earth Ponies don’t have fancy magic or wings to solve our problems, so we find other ways, like nutcrackers,” Granny Smith explained, “Potholders, even harnesses were invented by Earth ponies, down to the simple wheel so that we could live up to the standards of everypony else. Though the things I’ve seen Unicorns do with wheels and gears and pulleys, that’s something else. The mechanics behind coil watches were invented by Earth ponies, but the mechanics are too small for all but the most precise of tools.”
Granny Smith smiled.
“Mah pa thought that Earth Pony ingenuity made us better than everypony else, but Ah’ve seen the same kahnna creativity from all kindsa folk, ponies and beyond.”
Twilight Sparkle realized that Granny Smith was elderly-Not that she hadn’t realized that she was old, but she never thought of the kind of wisdom she could learn from Granny Smith.
“I’d love to hear about it sometime!”
“Oh, well, then why don’t you stay for some warm cider? I’ll start the kettle.” the old mare started hobbling towards the kitchen.
“Oh, you don’t have-“
“Nonsense! Any friend of Applejack is welcome here!” Granny Smith declared.
“Well, in that case, let me help you.” Twilight Sparkle insisted, “You take a seat.”
“Oh, whah, thank ye dear!” Granny Smith took a seat at the small table in the kitchen. Twilight Sparkle found the kettle and the cider easily enough. Granny Smith pointed out to the cups, and Twilight pulled out four, knowing that Big Macintosh and Applebloom were going to come downstairs eventually. She started the stove, and realized it was a gas stove. Twilight lowered her horn to the stove.
“Twilight-“
Twilight sent out a light spark, and the stove ignited with a pleasant ‘Poof!’ noise. Granny Smith seemed like she was about to duck for cover.
“What? You thought I was going to blow up the house?” Twilight giggled, “Not all of my magic goes completely overboard. I’ve learned control.”
Granny Smith relaxed, “O’ course, dear. Applejack’s told me just how powerful y’are. Enough to catch the Princess’s attention! You gotsta tell me about that!”
Twilight poured the cider into the kettle carefully, and set it on the stove.
“I’d love to!”
Twilight started telling Granny Smith the story of how she got her cutie mark. She’d just gotten to the point where they’d wheeled out Spike’s egg, when she noticed that Applebloom and Big Macintosh still hadn’t come downstairs.
“Granny Smith, I would hate to impose, but I was really hoping to get my old doll back, and I haven’t heard Applebloom since she went to go speak with Big Macintosh about it. Would you mind if I went upstairs and see what’s going on?”
“Oh, not at all! Big Macintosh has kept himself holed up in his room for way too long anyway. Mah, such manners!”
Twilight climbed the stairs, calling for Applebloom. The yellow Filly appeared at the top of the stairs, looking very annoyed. Her hair had been tied up in the ribbon now.
“He jus’ won’t come out, no matter what I do or say! I kicked down his door usuing my ka-ra-tae, and he picked me up bah the ribbon an’ tossed me out! Somethin’ weird is goin’ on here, Twalahght!”
“Well, let me try,” Twilight offered, and Applebloom led her to Mac’s bedroom door.
“Big Macintosh? It’s Twilight Sparkle. May I come in?”
There was a long pause. Twilight listened as Big Macintosh rushed around his bedroom, tripping over stuff.
“U-yup,” she finally heard, and Twilight opened the door. The room was totaled. The bed was tossed and the bookshelf had fallen over, scattering all of Big Macintosh’s technical books all over the place. Twilight Sparkle took a glance at one of the books: Livestock Peoples’ Rights. Another was Growing Organic. All of the books, it seemed, were related to farming, which made sense.
“So, uh, what brings you ‘round here, Twilight?” Big Macintosh asked. He stood straight and stiff, pursing his lips.
“Well, I was hoping to get my doll back, Big Macintosh. I saw you run off with it the other day. I’ve had Smartypants since I was a filly…”
“Ah, uh, Ah ain’t got no doll,” Big Macintosh insisted.
“Yes y’do!” Applebloom said, “Ah saw you playin’ with it last ni-“
Big Macintosh shoved his hoof into Applebloom’s mouth, smiling sheepishly at Twilight. The unicorn was not impressed.
“Come on, Big Macintosh, cough it up. Where’s Smartypants?”
“Ah told you, there ain’t no doll here,” he declared once again. His eyes darted to his closet, which had been closed and locked shut. She didn’t even have to follow his gaze to know that’s where he’d stashed the doll. Applebloom tried yelling through the sizable hoof in her mouth. Twilight sighed.
“Fine. Whatever. Eventually, you’re going to get bored with it, and I’ll be back for it. Applebloom and I are having hot cider with Granny Smith. You are welcome to join us,” she told him, and stormed out of the room, followed by Applebloom, closing the door behind them. She paused, listening through the door. Big Macintosh paused, and started thumping around. She heard him talking affectionately, but couldn’t make out what exactly he was saying. She sighed loudly, and stormed down the stairs. If Big Macintosh wanted to obsess over that old rag of a doll, that was his problem. Twilight Sparkle was having plenty of fun with Granny Smith and Applebloom! Still, it nagged at her that Macintosh was still obsessing over the doll…Was the spell still in it? Celestia had been pretty thorough…
Twilight and Applebloom sat downstairs with Granny Smith, sipping warmed cider. Talking to, and listening to, Granny Smith eased her concerns, and she was able to push them out of the back of her mind.
Eventually, Applejack returned from the stand in town, and was delighted to see Twilight, and offered to have her over for dinner.
“After all, you’ve spent all day here anyway, keepin’ mah kin company when I couldn’t, and Big Macintosh, well, won’t…”
“Oh, I couldn’t, I’ve imposed enough as it is-“
“Nonsense!” Granny Smith spoke before Applejack could, “We’d love to have you. Just help with the dishes, and we’ll call it even.”
Twilight accepted the offer, and mostly just kept out of the way while Applejack and Granny Smith started baking. To her surprise, it wasn’t all apples, but included a variety of vegetables ranging from corn to potatoes and vegetables she’d never heard of. She had been sure Okra was a talk show host…
When they were finished cooking, it was a feast to behold, to be sure. Twilight did have a few tasks to help out, and found that they had a lot of food storage containers like mason jars. She also thought of all the storage facilities they had on the farm, and asked Applejack about it.
“Well, y’see, we grow most of our own food right here on the farm. We don’t go to the grocery store, since we’re the ones who supply them!”
Applejack opened up the pantry, revealing a large number of mason jars and containers.
“Y’see, we can’t be cookin’ every night ‘cuz there’s so much work to be done. So we’ll cook once, maybe twice a week, then we eat the leftovers till it’s gone!”
“And Ah have the same lunch every day every week cuz of it,” Applebloom harrumphed.
Applejack rolled her eyes with a smile, then checked the pot; it was done, so she trotted up to the bottom of the stairs and yelled, “Big Macintosh, it’s tahm for supper!”
There was no response.
“Ah SAID, it’s DINNERTAHM! Soup’s on! Come on, Big Macintosh, we got company over!”
Still nothing.
“Fahn!” she huffed, and went back to the kitchen. Twilight was setting all the utensils and plates down.
“Should I set the table for Big Macintosh, too? I mean, he might come down later…”
“Yeah, might as well. If nothin’ else we can keep the plate out fer him so he knows what he missed,” Applejack said, and went to help set the table. As per usual with the Apple family, dinner was fantastic. Granny Smith kept their attention with different stories about people she’d met, places they’d been. Eventually, it was well past sundown, and Applebloom had fallen asleep on the couch. Twilight took that as her cue to go home.
She realized that she’d left Spike at home without telling him she was going to be gone, and galloped home, where she found Rarity stepping out of the library.
“Rarity! What are you doing here?”
“Well, when you never came home, Spike came looking for you, and I roped him into doing a few chores for me,” Rarity admitted, “He fell asleep while helping Sweetie Bell with her singing practice, so I brought him home for you. I hope you don’t mind me letting myself in…”
“Oh, not at all, thank you for looking after him for me! I went to Applejack’s to get, uh, get something one of them had borrowed, and ended up staying all day there,” Twilight laughed. Rarity nodded.
“Yes, Granny Smith makes the best hot cider, doesn’t she?”
“I didn’t want to say anything while I was there, but I know what you mean, it was DELICIOUS!” Twilight agreed, “Anyway, thank you SO much for looking after Spike. I’ve got to do some reading before I go to bed myself. Oh, I am going to be swamped tomorrow…”
“It was no problem, he more than made up for it with all his help. Have a nice night!” Rarity skipped away, and Twilight did everything she could do to be quiet as she crept back into the library and started doing some of her reading. Big Macintosh’s behavior nagged at Twilight in the back of her mind, and she couldn’t keep her concentration.
“Owlicious? Could you get me the book on side effects of spells?” she asked of the bird, and it obediently swooped over, and brought back the book. Twilight ended up reading that book for waaay longer than she intended, but something did catch her eye. It wasn’t an effect of a spell, like most of the maladies listed there, but rather a condition: Magic addiction. Some ponies would develop a dependency when exposed to strong magic if they weren’t normally around it, and their behavior slowly became obsessive.
As she slipped into bed, Twilight wondered what she would have done in years past before she’d met her friends. She couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of her becoming convinced that every single action Big Macintosh took was somehow linked to an addiction that wasn’t there. Still, his behavior was extraordinarily odd, and as she drifted off to sleep, Twilight really hoped that she hadn’t done something to seriously hurt Big Macintosh…