Chapter Six: Then There Were Apples
or, ' ' Twilight's First Lesson
Twilight and Ace walked side-by-side down the long road that would lead them to the outskirts of town and onto the Apple family’s property, the Sweet Apple Acres.
“Can you tell me again how you know the Apple family?” Twilight asked, not wanting to walk the long way in silence, and taking the chance to maybe learn more about her new mentor.
“Of course. A number of years ago, the Apple family sent Granny Smith to my spell shop to buy a spell that would help protect their trees from any dangers that could present themselves from the nearby Everfree Forest. Never one to miss a chance to upgrade a spell, I added something to it that would make sure the trees provided a bountiful harvest each year as well, assuming the trees were properly cared for of course.
"However, such a spell wasn’t cheap, especially not when the spell had to work every year for an indefinite amount of time. Being a level 8 spell, it would have cost the Apple family one thousand bits to purchase the spell, but they just didn’t have the money.”
Twilight was leaning on every word, wanting to learn more about not just her new friend, Ace, but also about the history of Applejack’s family. “If they didn’t have the money, how did they afford the spell?”
Ace smiled before he continued, enjoying going through and reliving the memories as well.
“Well at the Dragon Eyes, we don’t like turning down a customer who is clearly in need, which is why we also accept trades in exchange for our spells. Granny Smith had about eighty bits to put down for the spell, which I took fifty of and sold her the spell.
"I told her that she could have the spell if she would instead let me have one of the trees in the orchard. ‘But we don’t have any way of bringing you the tree,’ she said, ‘how are we going to give you something we can’t move?’
"I laughed at the idea of moving something like a tree by carriage and could certainly see why she was at a loss. ‘Well tell you what Miss Smith, you bring me the apples that tree puts out every harvest, and we’ll call it even,’ I told her.
"To this day, every harvest season I get a nice big bushel of apples at the shop in the name of the Apple Family. That single tree has kept me fed for weeks each year, and every year I find more and more recipes involving apples.”
Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment even as she laughed. “So that’s how you knew the spell was still holding up then, you’ve been keeping track of the apples you’ve been getting each year.”
Ace nodded that this was true with a smile as they continued down the path.
“Each year I check the apples for any signs of the spell I sold the family ages past, and last year I noticed the spell was starting to weaken. It’s not the first time it’s happened, I normally just send a spell scroll and an activator to the Apple residence with instructions on how to renew the spell.
"This year I’ve decided I’d just drop in for a visit instead, being in the area and all.” Ace looked up at the sky as he spoke, “I don’t really get out much, usually just making the occasional house call for a spell, or going out to research some new topic of interest or making an appearance at some gathering.
"Sometimes I attend random towns for a holiday or festival. Normally, the peak of my day is when a new customer comes to the Dragon Eyes, as it’s really the only way I’ve met new ponies. It’s not that I’m anti-social or anything, I just don’t talk to many ponies.”
Twilight nodded as she realized just how familiar Ace’s situation was to how she acted before coming to Ponyville.
“What about your family? Do you have any brothers or sisters or anything?” Ace stopped looking at the clouds overhead as the question seemed to pain him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring back bad memories or anything.” Ace smiled a bit before he spoke, though the smile seemed somehow sadder than the pained look.
“No, no it’s fine. ‘Tis a perfectly normal question, after all. No, I don’t really have any blood relatives, though there are two mares I’d almost count as sisters. We don’t really talk much and I can’t even be certain they’d say the same about me.
"I’d like not to talk about it, if that’s alright with you.” Twilight hadn’t meant to dredge up a painful past, so she just let the subject drop as she thought of something else to talk about.
“Running a spell shop must be a lot of work for one Unicorn. Wouldn’t your misfires get in the way, anyways? They don’t seem to happen too often, but couldn’t you accidentally sell a spell that could get somepony hurt?”
The question had been bothering Twilight for some time now, and it seemed like as good of a time as any to bring it up. Ace shook his head before he replied.
“Running the shop is pretty simple, really. The only thing the shop needs to operate is me, the enchanted inkwells I make, quills and parchment. On occasion, I need to make a few spell activators, which are just hoofmade clay figures or sculptures that have been laced with residual magic.
"I don’t even need to be in the shop often, as I just put a perimeter spell around the shop and teleport back whenever I can sense a customer coming up the hill. As for the misfires, they can be troublesome for house calls, but otherwise they’re just an annoyance at best.
"Inscribing spell scrolls, levitation or telekinesis, and enchantments can never be misfired, so that isn’t a concern except for when I need to cast the spell directly. There are of course days where I don’t want to work the shop, such as when I was working on the Magic Immunity Experiment.
"However, that’s as simple as leaving a note on the door for ponies to write out where I can find them when I re-open the shop – hence the house calls.”
A cart came up on the road, causing Ace and Twilight to walk alongside of the road, rather than on it for a bit. “What do you normally do when you’re not tending to the shop? Do you live near the Dragon Eyes? What do you do for fun?” Ace laughed a bit at the last question before he continued to answer his inquisitive new student’s questions.
“Well I do live somewhat close to the shop, about seven miles in the opposite direction of Hoofsdale. As for how I occupy my time, usually by reading or crafting and practicing new spells, sometimes working on experiments in the workshop.
"I have a sort of hobby of collecting old things as well, but that’s more passive than active. Whenever the fancy strikes, I pick up a new skill or try out a new past time, the latest of which is training other Unicorns in the ways of magic.” He tossed an amused look to Twilight with the last bit, to which she smiled before they both laughed.
“Speaking of training in magic, are there any lessons we can discuss on the way to Sweet Apple Acres?” Twilight asked, eager to know what sort of teacher Ace would turn out to be.
“Maybe you could teach me that extrasensory spell; it seems like it would be really useful. How does it work?” Ace kept the amused smile as he nodded, starting the early lesson as they walked.
“Well it’s not a spell, really, much like levitation or telekinesis is a use for magic that is not a spell. Much like levitation is achieved through the channeling of our magic into an object so that we can control it, the extrasensory skill allows us to spread our magic around us, sort of like an aura, to feel our surroundings.
"If I had to keep either my sight or my extrasensory skill, I would keep the extrasensory magic as it allows me to see so much more than my eyes can, but make no mistake that sight is still important. Extrasensory magic allows me to always tell where everything around me is, though I cannot tell what color it all is.
"With my extrasensory magic, I can tell whether a tree is an Oak or a Yew without looking at it, or when a passing pony has the flu before they show any of the symptoms.
"As far as spells go, it’s pretty easy to learn to use it at will, but you’d need to learn to control your magic with your entire body, and not just your horn, before you can always have the sense.” Ace started to look around, as though he was looking for something, but not being able to find whatever it was.
“Here, let’s have you try and use extrasensory magic; no lesson better than practical application, after all.” He turned off of the road to sit under the shade of nearby tree, motioning for Twilight to sit in front of him. As she did, he closed his eyes before Twilight mimicked the gesture.
“Okay, the first thing you need to do is gather magic in your horn, like you’re using levitation magic. Once you can feel your horn glowing with the magic, let up just a bit and spread the magic all around you in a circle. As the magic passes over things, you’ll be able to see them, even with your eyes closed.”
Twilight did as Ace said, her horn glowing dimly before she let it flow freely from her horn, passing over Ace, the tree, the ground and the nearby road. In the blackness of her vision, she could see all around herself, like she was having an out of body experience.
As her magic passed over things, she could feel them throughout her body as if she was pressed against it. Anything her magic touched lit up with a purple color similar to her magic, and if she looked at it closely, it was as though she was reading a book about it.
The tree they sat under was a Yew, roughly one hundred and eighty seven years old. In its branches there was a nest, long ago abandoned by the yellow finches that had raised a family within. The roots of the tree passed underneath the road.
She could feel the ladybug that was thirteen meters to her right as it looked at her warily. The ladybug had just finished eating from a nearby blade of grass and was scanning the area for predators before it took flight and flew away. She could count the number of times it beat its wings each second, feeling the wind being displaced as the insect propelled itself through the air.
Then she turned her attention to Ace, aside from the hoof that was veiled from her magic by the pre-magic as well as the anti-magic stone laced cover.
He’s right, it really is debilitating not being able to feel something, and yet know it’s there… It feels as though his hoof has been cut off.
Above the severed limb, she could feel the glyphs and the deeper scar beneath them. The glyphs glowed as they danced and blurred in her vision the more she focused on them, but when she felt Ace as a whole, she could clearly make out the markings, even read them: ‘Hu sykel ouhtan.’
Twilight could feel the extrasensory magic that radiated from him as well, and she could tell that he was feeling her the same way she was feeling him… It made her feel uncomfortable, but at the same time she sort of… liked that he was watching her so closely. It even made her feel safe.
Twilight could feel her face flushing slowly, as though everything was moving in slow motion, when she heard – felt – Ace’s voice speaking slowly to her.
“Your observation of time is slower when you use your extrasensory magic, your mind literally works so quickly to understand the vast volume of information that you no longer perceive time the same way. Only a few seconds have passed since you closed your eyes, Twilight.”
Twilight was stunned, as it felt that Ace had been speaking for almost a minute alone. Just as she was about to open her eyes, she noticed that Ace’s glasses were glowing, somewhat like the glyphs on his missing hoof. She focused her magic on the glasses for a moment and she could tell they were enchanted with several enchantments.
Opening her eyes to see Ace’s eyes looking back into hers, her cheeks now fully flushed, she could do little more than just look into his sapphire irises that lied behind the enchanted lenses. Twilight was the first to break the silence in a whisper.
“So this is how things always look to you, all the time?” Ace nodded without breaking eye contact. “Surely it must get tiring, seeing the world move in slow motion, and all that information… Doesn’t it get overwhelming?”
Ace shrugged as he replied. “You get used to it after a year or two, and the headaches stop after a while, when your mind learns to process the information faster.”
Twilight thought there was more to it, thinking that the glasses must have helped in some way. Being as close as they were in this moment, she took the glasses in her magic – Ace immediately closing his left eye when the frames began to move, but making no effort to stop her.
Twilight turned the glasses around and slid them into place on her muzzle. She could see through the lenses perfectly, so they clearly weren’t prescription, but she could feel that they were different in other ways.
She knew one of the enchantments darkened the lenses in the presence of bright light, having seen them do as much the night she had met Ace, but there were several other enchantments as well.
“You look nice with sapphire eyes, Twilight, but you should stick to Amethyst. It suits you better.” Twilight looked puzzled for a moment before she realized that Ace still hadn’t opened his left eye, and his right seemed to be a somewhat dimmer shade of blue.
Ace's horn lit as he conjured a shard of glass in his magic. Turning it into a reflective mirror, Ace held it before Twilight so she could see herself more clearly.
Her eyes had indeed turned into the brilliant sapphire that normally shone is Ace’s gaze. The large black frames of the glasses were designed to always fully envelop his eyes, she now realized, because they had an illusion spell cast upon them that changed the wearer’s eyes to a bright sapphire blue.
Taking the mirror in her own magic and setting it aside, Twilight just had to ask, “Why? Is there something wrong with your eye?” Ace sat for a moment, just looking into Twilight’s now-sapphire eyes, his left eye still closed. Twilight started to feel like she was being a bit too nosy and personal with the pony she had just met.
Before Twilight could apologize, Ace spoke first. “Can you keep a secret, Twilight? A secret from everypony in Equestria, a secret from Princess Luna and Princess Celestia? Can you keep a secret from now until the day that they cremate my body and place my horn in the Canterlot Royal Archives?”
Ace continued to lock gazes with Twilight, looking no less fierce for the lack of his second eye. Twilight nodded nervously, not quite sure of what she was getting herself into. A few moments passed before Ace slowly slid his left eye open.
Twilight was surprised by the red and blue eyes that looked back at hers. Without realizing it, she had leaned closer to the red eye, examining the strange pattern of the pupil: the pupil started at the center of the eye, but spiraled out to the right, making a three-hundred-sixty degree spiral, ending near the top of the iris.
The deep red iris was much larger than anypony’s eye she had ever seen. Where most ponies had large pupils and small irises, Ace’s left eye seemed to consist entirely of iris with the pupil spiraling through the center of it instead of filling it outright. “This eye is one of the few links I still have to my blood-right heritage. It is the mark of an Al Bhed.”
Their muzzles almost touching, Twilight pulled her head away with a blush before she repeated the name of a race she was unfamiliar with. “Who, or what, are the Al Bhed?” Ace seemed hurt at the honest question, but answered all the same.
“The Al Bhed are a race of ponies who shun magic and instead create technology - tools and machines - to perform their tasks for them. Unicorns skilled in magic who have Al Bhed blood in their veins, even just a small amount, will always have one red eye with the signature spiral of the Al Bhed heritage.
"Unicorns not born with a vast amount of magical strength bear only the normal green Al Bhed eyes, sometimes one if they are half-bloods or none at all if they are less. Red-eyed Al Bhed Unicorns are shunned from the Al Bhed society as soon as their cutie mark develops.
"Some Unicorns have deliberately avoided finding their cutie mark, avoiding anything that would involve them using magic, just so they don’t have to leave the settlements, their homes and family.”
Twilight, feeling pained and sorry for the life Ace must have endured as a colt, took the glasses in her hooves and placed them back on his muzzle gently as he nodded his thanks.
“I’m… I’m sorry, I just saw the glasses were in enchanted with the extrasensory magic… I thought they helped you with your extrasensory magic, so I wanted to try them… I didn’t mean to-“
Ace put a hoof to her muzzle, “’Tis okay, the Al Bhed never did me any favor greater than letting me out into Equestria so I could explore my magic. If you want help with your magic, that is something I can do.”
Taking his hoof away from her muzzle, he pulled off the Raven Talon necklace, currently grasping the enchanted sapphire that boosted a pony’s magic strength and stamina, and draped it over her neck.
The sudden, unexpected burst of magic that flowed through Twilight caught her off guard, sending a single pulse of light through her horn as the excess magic was dispelled.
A look of ‘wow’ set on her face, Twilight could feel the magic pulsing through her much more swiftly, like she could cast a hundred spells without feeling tired. She rose a hoof to hold the necklace, looking it over in a new light.
“This… This must have cost a fortune, I can’t accept this, Ace.”
Ace rose a brow quizzically as he started to get up. “Of course not, I’m just letting you use it while we’re training. However, do not think that the jewelry is expensive simply because it is strong. I made the talon bit myself, wove the cord of the thong part from plant fibres, harvested that naturally cut spherical sapphire, and of course enchanted it myself.
"The way I see it, so long as you’re wearing that necklace, I have permission to make the lessons as rigorous as I see fit, and note that I always resort to practical application as my primary means of education. I trust you’ll be a good student, Twilight, and that is why I’m entrusting the necklace to you for the length of the course.
"Our lessons will continue later, but for now, we should make our way to Sweet Apple Acres.” Ace headed back to the road and waited for Twilight to join him at his side before he continued, again walking side-by-side on the narrow dirt road.
Twilight and Ace didn’t have much further to walk, arriving at the edge of the Apple property after just a few minutes. Approaching the property, Ace could feel the spell over the orchard.
“Twilight, why don’t you run on ahead and tell the Apples I’ll be paying them a visit in just a few minutes. I’m going to look around and make sure the spell has been working evenly through the whole area. Also, I’d like to meet the tree I’ve owned for years and never seen.”
Twilight hesitated for a moment like she was going to voice an argument, but seemed to decide that Ace could handle himself before nodding and heading towards the family house while Ace traveled amongst the trees of the orchard.
Being amongst the trees, Ace was in no hurry as he casually strolled, inspecting each individual tree he passed with both his eyes and his magic. Much as he had expected, each and every one of the trees was splendidly healthy, having been given special love and care by each working member of the local Apple family.
The few trees that had gotten sick showed no residual signs of illness or poor health, looking to all the world as though it never once was unwell, such was the caring affection the Apples had for their trees.
Continuing to follow the residual magic from the Floral Fortitude magic over the orchard, it didn’t take very long before Ace arrived in the middle of the orchard, standing before the largest tree in all of Sweet Apple Acres - the source of the magic that protected the crops not only from minor cases of illness, but also from the wandering foragers of the Everfree Forest – his tree.
Pressing his good hoof to the tree as he closed his eyes, he focused his magic on the large apple tree, reviewing the enchanted tree’s past. “You’ve done well, my friend, keeping your family safe. Let me help you myself, this time, no more messengers.”
Ace’s horn glowed, its black light spreading to wash over the magically-enlarged apple tree. After several moments, the leaves and apples of the tree glowed a bright gold as the spell took hold, Ace basking in the glow even as it began to fade.
Once the glow had faded completely, Ace pulled down a single apple from his tree, taking a casual bite as he just watched the branches sway in the light breeze.
“Now who do ya think you are, coming onto our property, casting yer magic and eatin’ our apples?” a southern-laced voice rang over the orchard from a few trees away, coming closer at a gallop as it went.
Ace turned to look at the orange coated, yellow-maned earth pony that was approaching him from behind. The pony rushed towards Ace, stopping only a couple of meters away as Ace finished his apple.
Dipping into the introductory bow that was his usual greeting, he introduced himself. “Ace Deus Fenrir is my name, but you may call me Ace if you wish.” Ace came out of the bow as he plucked another apple from his tree in his magic, taking another bite out of it, knowing that it would annoy the earth pony before him.
“You must be one of Granny Smith’s grandchildren. How is she, by the way?”
The freckled pony smiled for a moment as she replied, “Oh, granny’s doing great after the hip replacement, but-“ the smile faded from her face when Ace pulled the apple into another large bite, “wait a minute, don’t ya distract me! Just ‘cause you know granny, that don’t mean ya can come in here and eat all of our apples!”
Ace nodded earnestly as he replied, “Oh, I whole-heartedly agree, as there wouldn’t be much business for apples if anypony could just come and take them whenever they wanted,” he said as he finished his second apple before pulling down a third.
“Why, it would be pure chaos if somepony could just take another pony’s belongings. As we are creatures of order, there are of course laws that forbid such conduct,” he finished by taking a bite out of the apple, chewing with his mouth open to hide his laugh and foolish smile as he pushed the pony’s buttons.
The orange earth pony was visibly losing her cool as each second passed.
“Okay, ya listen her now mister city-stallion: if ya’ll take one more apple off’a any of our trees, ya’ll be rubbing yer flank all the way back to town when I buck ya off’a our property, got it?” Ace nodded, taking another bite out of the apple, chewing it slowly before he spoke.
“I do not understand why you’re getting so bent out of shape, Miss. This here is my tree, after all. The way you speak, one would think that I had been stealing from you this whole time.” Ace sat down as he took another bite from the apple, putting on an air of innocence an actor would adore.
The earth pony’s features changed from anger, to confusion, and back again before she spoke. “How do ya figure that, exactly? Every way I look at it, ya been plucking our apples since I’ve got here.” The orange pony’s hoof scraped against the ground once, lowering her head as though if Ace didn’t answer correctly, he was going to have a fight on his hooves.
Ace took the last bite from his third apple before he spoke, locking gazes with the pony he had knowingly pushed over the edge in the most casual of looks. “Because this tree is mine. Granny Smith traded it to me a long time ago in exchange for a spell to keep the orchard safe.
"Of course, I don’t expect you to take me at my word. Perhaps you’d like to take me to see Miss Smith so she can tell you all about the situation herself? It has been quite some time since I’ve met with the kind mare, and I would like to see her before I leave.”
The earth pony eased up in posture, but her eyes still dared the Unicorn to make one wrong move on her watch. “Maybe I would, but ya’ll best not try any funny business, or I’ll buck you clean back into town, ya’hear?”
Laughing, a lopsided grin on his face after having so much fun toying with a stranger so easily. “But of course, I couldn’t even dream of funny business if I wanted to.”
Falling into stride behind the angry pony, Ace made sure to match her pace, the angered mare looking over her shoulder every so often to make sure he was obeying her orders.