//------------------------------// // Baking, Cooking? How do you do that with hooves? // Story: Harmony of the moon // by Alchemystudent //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Baking, cooking? How do you do that with hooves?          Applejack slept peacefully in her bed, allowing the morning light to shine through the windows of her house. It’s not that she was one for sleeping in (unlike a certain rainbow-maned friend of hers) but on a day like today, she enjoyed waking up to the sweet smell of pancakes on the grittle being cooked, “AW DARN IT!” a voice screamed from the downstairs. Shooting up from her bed, the orange mare perked her ears at the loud sounds coming from the downstairs. Trotting over to a hat rack, she got on her hat and then put her hair into its normal ponytail. Walking to the doorway of her room, she took one quick look back at a photo of a mare and a stallion standing with a little orange filly on the mare’s back, her leg up in the air looking like she was riding, “ Mornin, maw and paw,” she then smiled and turned to walk out the door. As she walked down the stairs, she could hear the loud noises increase as she got nearer to the kitchen. “This is freaking impossible,” said the green pegasus as she tried in vain to stir the batter in the bowl, a little yellow filly watching on in amazement, “Just how on earth are you supposed to make anything with these hooves?” The little yellow filly continued to watch on in amazement, “ That’s because you’re doing it wrong,” Applebloom said as she got on a stool next to Makoto, “ You’re supposed to use your mouth. Like this,” she then grabbed the ladle with her mouth and begin to slowly stir the bowl. “Wouldn’t that hurt your teeth?” Thought Makoto as Applejack walked into the room. “Mako, you’re mah guest. You don't need to making breakfast for us,” Applejack said as she sat down at the table. “Oh, I know,” Mako said, putting her mouth to the ladle and stirring it, “but I have been making my own breakfast for a while now and I wanted to thank you guys for letting me stay here,” She said before going back to stirring the bowl, then trying to pour the batter. Applebloom immediately came to the rescue and helped Makoto pour it onto the grill and letting the pancakes fry. “Y’know, maybe you might have a little easier time if you used your wings,” Applejack said as the pancakes cooked. Makoto’s eyes shot up in shock and fear as she turned her head over her shoulder and looked at the feathered appendage, “MY wings,” a nervous chuckle escaped her mouth. “Yeah, thats what Fluttershy sometimes does when she makes me breakfast,” Applebloom said as she helped to serve the pancakes. “Of course... ,” Makoto said as she sat down to eat with her new companions. An hour later, Applejack was out in the field bucking some nearby apple trees. As she watched the apples fall into their individual buckets, she began to hear some grunts and fight sounds coming from a few yards away. Adjusting her hat, she walked over to where the noise was coming from. Getting a little closer, she watched as Applebloom leapt at and kicked Makoto’s outstretched hoof, “Very good, you’re getting better.” “Thanks,” Applebloom said, panting a little before wiping her brow with her yellow hoof, “Ya know, Rainbow gave me a few lessons before but Ah kind of lost interest for while. Ah never thought it could be this enjoyable. It’s almost as fun as buckin.” “Hey, if you can help me with cooking, I’ll help you more with martial arts,” Makoto said as she began to get a drink. Apple Bloom's eyes shot up in happiness, “Do you think I could get a baking fighting cutie mark? Or how about a cutie mark thats a fighting chef like on them cooking competitions hat Big Mac sometimes takes me to?” “A cutie...mark,” Makoto asked, looking to her side at her flank, while lifting up the wing as fast as she could. “Yeah, its something that appears on your flank when you find your special ability and your best talent,” the young yellow filly walked to the side of Makoto, “Like that weird backwards four thang that you got. What’s that supposed to mean anyway?” “Uh, it means,” Makoto stammered for a bit, not really sure if she should tell Applebloom that she was a superhero in her spare time. “Apple Bloom, don't you have something important to do,” Applejack said walking  next to the green pegasus, “Like meeting up with your friends?” “Oh my gosh! You’re right,” Applebloom said as she turned to run, “We got a letter from Babs this morning and we all agreed to read it together! Gotogonowbye!” Applejack chuckled as the little filly ran off into the distance with a dust cloud trailing behind her, “She’s a great little filly, though hard-headed at times.” “I can see that,” Makoto sighed, “Kind of wish I had one,” she said as she looked down a little, remembering someone important. “Hey, want to walk around the field and help me buck some trees. You can consider it paying your rent,” The blonde mare said, nudging her head towards the orchard. “Sure,” Makoto said, loving the idea of being around so many trees. Throughout most the morning, the two ponies began to buck the trees throughout the orchard. Until they had started to kick near an old tree. their kicks had shaken  it just enough to cause it to fall over, “ Makoto, look out!” Applejack yelled. Makoto looked up to watch as the tree began to fall towards her. Without thinking, she leapt up high into the sky out of the way of the fallen tree, wings flapping in the breeze. Looking at her outstretched wings, she let out a shriek of fear and landed back down on the ground, “I’m not in the air, I’m not in the air, I’m safe I’m safe,” Makoto chanted as she wrapped her hooves around herself, keeping her wings tucked in tight. “Sugarcube, whoa there, its going to be ok. You got out of the way, you can calm down now,” Applejack said as she patted the shoulder of the green pegasus. Trembling, she looked up at the orange mare, taking a deep breath to relax herself before getting up, “Y...yeah, I got out of the way. I’m safe now, right.” “You ok?” Turning away from Applejack, she sighed, “I’m sorry, its a fear I have,” running a green hoof through her brown hair, “Ever since I was a little filly, I had this fear of flying. My mom and dad...they died during a flight, and I had to watch.” Applejack eyes closed and the opened again as she nodded in understanding, “So thats why you were acting so funny around Rainbow earlier. She thought that you had something against her,” Applejack held her friend a little closer, “IT all right. Ah know something about losing parents myself. Maw died protection Applebloom when she was a baby and Paw died a few months before her.”  In silence Applejack hugged her friend close, sitting there for a few moments, “ Now come on, lets work through that little incident with a bit of ol fashion work!” Nodding, Makoto got back up and began to help her friend in her chores. A few days later, saw Makoto making the apples a huge selection of food with ease. And it was with this, that Makoto, slowly found her own place in the world. The Canterlot music hall was abuzz with lively music coming from within. Two musicians were on the stage tuning up their instruments with a practice place session, one a light green mare with a lyre cutie mark and the other a sea green mare with a trident cutie mark. The two were playing their best with a song that the sea green mare had made, “Great arent they,” asked a white mare with a candy cutie mark. “Yeah, they are,” A yellow pegasus said as she watched the show, drinking a soda. On her flank was a cutie mark of a trident with the middle prong taken out. “What's that song,” Asked the white earth pony. “Searching for Friends,” Said the pegasus, a sorrowful tone in her voice.