//------------------------------// // Mind Over Magic // Story: Applecorn // by tokyooranges //------------------------------// Applejack raced through the orchard along its familiar, well worn paths, her heart pounding hard. She didn't want to think about what had just happened, what she'd just done. She wanted to get away from everypony else. She had just injured one of her best friends, even though she was just trying to help. 'But Ah don't need help.' She thought to herself. 'You do. You know you can't just block off everypony. They want to help you.' A small voice at the back of her head said. Applejack slowed to a walk as she approached the old clubhouse. The place made her feel a little more at ease. She had always come here whenever she felt down or had a fight with Big Mac as a filly. As soon as she crossed the threshold of the clubhouse, a wave of exhaustion hit her and felt wobbly on her hooves. She slid down, lying on the rough wooden floor, feeling her eyelids begin to droop. A nap seemed like a good idea. She wouldn't have to think about anything. 'Perhaps when Ah wake up Ah'll find out this was all just a nightmare.' She thought before she let herself slip into blissful unconsciousness. -- -- -- -- “I found her!” Pinkie Pie cried, bouncing up the ramp of the clubhouse and sticking her head inside the doorway. “Real subtle,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned. “She’s probably going to run again.” “Nope, she’s asleep, which is oddly convenient.” The party pony said, looking back at the four mares just below her. “She’s probably worn out, I mean she just did magic for the first time without meaning to and I can’t imagine being able to get a good rest while growing wings and a horn in a single night. Also, she’s been worrying about all of this and she barely ate anything at breakfast.” Pinkie rambled. Rainbow sighed as they walked up the ramp and filed inside the clubhouse, careful not to step on the alicorn who was sleeping just inside the doorway. Applejack lay sprawled on the floor, hooves akimbo and her stetson tilted to one side of her face. She was snoring lightly with a small scowl on her face. "Oh my." Rarity said in a hushed voice, taking in her friend's appearance. "There isn't any spell that can do this is there Twilight?" The purple unicorn shook her head, "Nothing that I know of. There are no spells that can give a pony feathered wings, or the ability to use unicorn magic." "Well, the princesses are alicorns, they may know something about this." Rarity said, "I do not think it would hurt to write them a letter dear." Her horn ignited in a pale blue aura as she levitated a blank piece of paper from the large, untidy pile, on a small table and a quill, floating them towards Twilight. "Well, yes." Twilight said hesitantly, "But, it wouldn't feel right doing this without Applejack knowing about it. It's kind of like we're going behind her back." "Well then let's wake her up!" Pinkie said, hopping over to the sleeping alicorn. "Hey Applejack! Wake up!" She cried, her head inches from Applejack's ear. "Gah!" Applejack cried. Her eyes flew open and she scrambled to her hooves, her wings flaring up and almost hitting Pinkie Pie in the face. "What the hay?" Still disoriented, she looked at her five friends as they formed a semicircle around her. She was relieved to see that Fluttershy was standing, though she could see the beginnings of a large bruise near her flank. "See, she's awake." Pinkie said brightly. Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes, quickly growing irritated. "Don't you know when somepony wants to be left alone?" "But, we're worried about you." Pinkie said, somewhat subdued. "Ah don't need worryin' about by nopony." The farm pony said. Her wings flopped down to her sides again, causing her to wince as they scraped the walls of the clubhouse. "But, we are your friends Applejack. Even if you say you don't need to be worried about, we have every right to be." Rarity said. "You would be concerned for one of us if the shoe were on the other hoof, would you not?" She met Applejack's glare with her own imperious gaze. The farm pony merely snorted. 'She's right you know.' the small voice at the back of her head said. "We were going to write the princesses about this to see if they know anything. Twilight wanted you to be awake so she didn't feel like we were going behind your back so I went and woke you up and here we are." Pinkie said, bouncing on her hooves. "Do what you like." Applejack said in a hollow voice. "Just get out and leave me alone, Ah need some time to think." "A-alright AJ." Twilight said, "We'll leave you be, but we're going to be nearby just in case." She picked up the paper and pen from where Rarity had dropped them and walked outside, followed by the other four mares. Applejack sighed and was about to shut the door when a cyan hoof stopped it before it could close. "You can't shut us out forever AJ." Rainbow dash said, her rose colored eyes showing genuine worry. "Go." Applejack said, a hard edge to her voice. "Just saying." The pegasus said as she removed her hoof from the doorway as the door snapped shut. Twilight was sitting in the grassy clearing below the clubhouse at a small picnic table, deep in concentration as the quill skated across the paper at the whim of her mental dictation. Dear Princess Celestia, Something has happened to our friend, Applejack. We're not sure quite how, or why, but it seems as though she has transformed into an alicorn. Is there anything you or Princess Luna may know about this? Your faithful and very concerned student, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight rolled up the paper and sealed it. "Hey Rainbow," She called to the cyan pegasus who was gliding just above the orchard, venting her frustrations by doing a few aerobatic maneuvers. "Yeah Twilight?" She replied, hovering in the air and looking down at the unicorn. "Could you get this to Spike, so he can send it to the princess?" "No problem." Rainbow Dash said, gliding down, landing next to Twilight. "Be back in t-" She was cut off by Pinkie Pie "Ten seconds flat?" "That's my line." The rainbow maned pegasus said, rolling her eyes. She took the scroll in her mouth and took off. Moments later was a loud thud as she crashed into a blonde maned, gray pegasus, sending them both to the ground. Derpy Hooves quickly got off of Rainbow, first checking to make sure her mailbag was secure and none of her packages were damaged before she checked on the cyan pegasus. "Sorry Rainbow Dash." She said, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof. Rainbow coughed, as she got to her hooves, "Ith okay Derpy." She said around the scroll in her mouth, briefly amazed that she managed to hang on to it. "I could deliver that llama-" The wall eyed mare shook her head, "No, letter, for you if you want, it's the least I could do after crashing into you." Derpy said. "Uh, sure why not." Dash said. "It needs to get to spike at the library as soon as possible, let him know it needs to be sent to The princess." "No problem." The mailmare said, tucking the letter into her mailbag. She pulled out a box and gave it to Rainbow before saluting and taking off in the direction of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash opened the box, inside were six blueberry muffins. "Sister, what art thou doing?" Princess Luna asked watching her sister levitate several buckets into the air with a look of heavy skepticism. "Well, you see dear sister," Celestia said, a wry smile on her face, "The guards seem to think I'm getting stale with my pranks. At least the ones that have been here for a while. Perhaps after a thousand years they might be right. So I got to thinking last night and I came up with this beauty." She gestured to a complex structure suspended above them, looking quite pleased with herself. Luna frowned, it looked more like a Rube Goldmane machine than anything to do with the practical jokes that her elder sister so loved. "How does this... contraption work pray tell?" She said drily. "I'm glad you asked little sister." Celestia said. "Tomorrow morning when the guards assemble for their morning assembly, it's going to be a little bit damper than they had expected. When the general steps up to the podium to address the guards he'll hit a switch that will have buckets of water dumping on everypony's heads. They won't even see it coming because I'll cast a spell on everything to make it invisible." Luna sighed, "Should thou really be setting up elaborate pranks when thou hast to hold court soon?" Celestia clicked her tongue, "Oh Woona, you're no fun." The lunar princess rolled her eyes at the moniker from her fillyhood. "Thou bore the Element of Laughter, not I, Celly." "True, but you still need to loosen up a bi-" Celestia paused, there was a faint pop accompanied by the acrid tang of dragon fire. A scroll appeared in front of her. She caught it with the golden aura of her telekinesis and unrolled it. Her eyes quickly flickered across the page and her expression quickly turned from one of whimsical delight to deep concern. "What is it?" Luna asked. Celestia didn't respond as she vanished the strange contraption. "I hope this isn't what I believe it to be." She said more to herself than to Luna. "Could you hold court in my place, there is something I need to investigate." "I-but, uh, what is going on? Holding court unsupervised?" Luna stammered,it took her a moment to realize that Celestia had already teleported away. She sighed, knowing that things were bound to end disastrously for her. "But Rarity!" Sweetie belle cried. "We need to get in to the clubhouse!" "Yeah!" Scootaloo added. "The sooner we can get our stuff, the sooner we can get our cutie marks! I can feel it, this is definitely gonna be the day!" "Well, um," Fluttershy said, hovering next to Rarity. "We're using it for... something." "Yeah! Something top secret!" Pinkie said, bouncing out from behind a bush. "Top secret eh?" Scootaloo said, narrowing her eyes. "Is Applejack in there right now?" Applebloom asked, looking at Pinkie and biting her lower lip. The pink party pony nodded.Suddenly there was a bright flash behind them as Princess Celestia appeared. "Hiya Princess!" Pinkie said brightly. "Hello Pinkie Pie." Celestia replied. There was a flash of red-violet light as Twilight teleported in front of them. "P-Princess!" She cried, "How- but- why? You didn't need to come all the way here!" The purple unicorn spluttered. "True, I could have sent you a letter Twilight, but, this is something I had to confirm for myself. Could we please go inside so we can discuss this?" "Uh, Yes princess." Twilight said. Applebloom gasped, but quickly turned it into a cough when she caught Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's glances. "Ah- Ah guess if the princess needs to use the clubhouse there's not much we can do about it. Let's uh, try frog catchin' again." she said to her two companions. "Sounds fun, or at least much safer than sky diving." Sweetie Belle said brightly. "Fine, whatever." Scootaloo sighed, following the two fillies back into the orchard. They stopped behind a tree near the clubhouse. "Applebloom." Sweetie Belle said, looking at her friend, "What's wrong? You've been acting odd since this morning." "Yeah. Why's the princess need our clubhouse anyway?" Scootaloo added. "Well. uh," Applebloom hesitated, "This morning Ah went upstairs to get Applejack for breakfast because she was sleeping in. But when Ah got up there, Applejack had these wing and a horn, like one of the princesses and there were feathers everywhere. She thought they were a joke or something, but Pinkie came over and spooked Applejack and they flew right up, like yours do Scoots, which means they have to be real. Ah'm scared that she's gonna be taken away to rule in Canterlot. Sweet Apple Acres isn't Sweet Apple Acres without Applejack. Ah don't want her to leave, ever." Applebloom said this all very quickly and was tearing up when she finished. "Hey, It's okay." Sweetie Belle said, putting a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "We'll keep her here, even if nopony else can." "Well, I don't want to get all mushy about it, but we're your friends. Crusaders, we've got a new mission!" Scootaloo said holding out one hoof. Sweetie Belle put her hoof on top of Scootaloo's and Applebloom put hers on top of the unicorn's. Cutie Mark Crusaders - Sister Rescuers! They cried in unison before dashing back to the clubhouse. -- -- -- -- "Ah thought Ah told you to leave me alone." Applejack said, glaring at her friends as they entered the clubhouse, her eyes rested on the princess. "Why'd you tell her to come over here? Ah thought you were just writin' her a letter." "I came over of my own accord Applejack." The princess said, nonplussed with the farm pony's rudeness. "I had to confirm what Twilight Sparkle had told me in her letter." "Do- do you know how this happened." Fluttershy said, her mane obscuring most of her face. "II do. I feared this would happen one day." Celestia said solemnly. "What do you mean?" Rarity said. "Yeah, what's going on here?" Rainbow Dash cried. Celestia looked around at the six ponies, her eyes finally resting on Applejack. " In extremely rare cases, when a pony with powerful magic is exposed to a powerful artifact such as the Elements of Harmony, their magic will react with the magic in the artifact and begin to mutate. It will reach a point where the pony develops the characteristics of other pony races, the end result being what is known as an alicorn." "Ah don't have powerful magic though." Applejack said, "Ah'm just an earth pony." "But you do." Celestia replied, shaking her head, "Earth pony magic is the most subtle and hardest to measure of the three pony magics, but your magic is the strongest i have seen in an earth pony in several centuries. It is roughly on the same scale as Twilight Sparkle's magic." Applejack stared at the princess in disbelief. It can't be true can it? Ah'm just an apple farmer. She thought to herself. An apple farmer who can go over a week without sleep while bucking half of the orchard by herself. Not even Big Mac can do that. A small voice at the back of her head said. That was just a fluke. Probably. She argued. What about the trolley car you stopped with your back legs? Her conscience argued back. Ah'm strong is all, Ah've been bucking apple trees since Ah was Applebloom's age. The same apple trees that she can barely rattle. "Alright, maybe Ah do have strong magic. But why me? It makes about as much sense as bucking unripe zap apples." She said after several moments. "Chance. It could have easily happened to either of you." Applejack's frown deepened. "Ah thought this would have a lot more complicated of an explanation. Like Ah was destined to be the next ruler of Equestria or something like that." "That is not to be the case." Celestia said, looking at the newest alicorn. Her stubborn frown, defensive stance and the vulnerable look in her eyes reminded her of Luna "Has this happened before Princess?" Twilight asked. Celestia nodded, "Four times that we know of. The first two were Luna and myself, after we defeated Discord. Luna was a pegasus and I, a unicorn." "Um, what about the other two?" Fluttershy asked. Celestia dipped her head, "They are dead." "How? I thought alicorns were immortal." Twilight stammered. She glanced over at Applejack who had dropped to her haunches and seemed to have turned pale beneath her bright orange coat. "We are, to an extent, we can be mortally wounded, but that would take more power than anypony could muster. However, newly transformed alicorns, no matter how powerful they were before the change, are not able to handle the influx of new magic and their power becomes unstable. This causes it to leak out at random moments, at first it is mostly harmless, but slowly these leaks will become stronger and eventually, they will end up releasing all of the energy in their body, effectively killing them." Applejack's eyes widened in fear. "So, Ah'm going to die?" she said, her voice quavering. "Not necessarily. With early enough training you won't have to, we had no knowledge of the other two before it was too late to help them. Which is why I would like to ask you to come to Canterlot, for a year at the most, to learn to tame your new magic." "No!" Came a voice from outside, Applebloom scrabbled through the window, followed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Judging by the looks on their faces they had heard most of the conversation. "You're not taking mah sister anywhere! Ah'm not gonna let you! Nor are Big mac, or Granny Smith or the rest of the Apple Family!" Applebloom cried, she galloped between Applejack and the princess, standing protectively in front of her sister, despite her small stature. "You don't need to, Ah'm sure Twilight could help Applejack with her magic and Rainbow Dash can teach her to fly!" Celestia looked taken aback for the briefest of moments before looking up at Applejack. The farm pony was just as surprised, but not as good as hiding it. after a moment she smiled. "Ah'm afraid Ah must decline Princess, though it is kind of you to offer. Ah can't leave the farm. Besides, Like Applebloom said, Ah've got mah friends to help me through this. Guess it just took mah little sister for me to get it through mah thick skull." Celestia looked at Applejack for several long moments, her expression unreadable. "If that is what you want to do, I doubt I can stop you." She said. There was a trace of something like regret on her face. "I will then give the orders to Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash to teach you in the arts of magic and flight respectively." "You don't have to give any orders Princess, we would have done so regardless." Rainbow Dash said sheepishly. Celestia smiled, her kindly mask reappearing. "I must be getting back to Canterlot," She said, "I left Luna in charge of court today and I fear that things have probably gone very awry by this time." "Don't worry Princess Celestia," Twilight said, earnestly, "We'll keep you up to date on what's happening here." "Thank you Twilight." Celestia said, disappearing in a flash of sunlight. Celestia teleported just outside of the throne room, loud noises could be heard through the thick stone walls and heavy wooden doors. The solar princess smiled, pushing open the door to see Luna standing in front of the throne, using her Royal Canterlot Voice on a young merchant pony. "PLEASE, TELL US WHAT THOU WOULDST LIKE US TO DO FOR THEE. WE WISH ONLY TO SERVE OUR LOYAL SUBJECTS." Luna shouted. Judging by her strained smile, she was clearly trying to be friendly, but nerves and her general social awkwardness were getting in the way. "Voice, Luna." Celestia said kindly. The lunar princess jumped and looked over at Celestia. OH! SIS-ter. she said, quickly adjusting the volume of her voice. "I uh," "It's alright, much better than last time, nothing's broken." Celestia said, she turned to the few ponies who still remained, whether it was out of bravery or fear that they would be sent to the moon, (where had ponies even gotten the crazy notion from?) and said, "I'm afraid we will have to call this session to a premature close. On the account of an important matter which has recently come up." The ponies seemed relieved to be allowed to leave and the throne room quickly emptied. "Why didst thou have to leave so suddenly?" Luna asked after the last pony left. "There is a new alicorn." She said. Luna looked sharply at her sister. "Who? Is it Twilight Sparkle?" "No. It is one of her friends, the earth pony, Applejack." "Didst thou bring her here?" Luna asked, looking around, expecting to see the pony with her sister. "No, she will learn to control her powers through her friends." Celestia said. Luna frowned, "Is this wise?" "I can only hope. If I forced her, that would only be counterproductive." Luna nodded, "I guess that thou art right, I just hope this will not become a death sentence for another innocent pony."