Chapter Seven: The Pink Panther
“…and this one here was Applejack’s first Zap Apple harvest. She was so excited, she must have tried to buck those trees at least ten times a day before they were ready, getting zapped each time.” Granny Smith laughed as she smiled at Twilight Sparkle, pointing out the picture in the Apple family photo album.
“Why, one of the times she got zapped so hard, she almost came back in through the window! I ain’t never heard Big Mac laugh so hard at his sister. Oh, he tried his best to hide it, but the look she gave him told that she wasn’t too happy at her big brother.”
Twilight looked over the pictures, having heard the story a number of times before, but still smiling – which wasn’t hard, as it was always fun to hear about Applejack and her family.
The little yellow filly next to Twilight was enjoyed the story even more than she was, “Sis really got zapped all the way back to the house, granny?” Applebloom asked, leaning from the arm of the couch she and Twilight sat on to get a better look at the well-aged album.
“Ee-yup,” Big MacIntosh replied from the other side of Granny’s rocking chair, a smile on his face as he looked at the picture. The four ponies started to laugh at the mental image that went with a filly-sized Applejack trying to buck the magical trees by herself, only to be sent flying by the hexed trees electrical properties.
The laughing was ended abruptly, the front door to the house slamming open as a rather furious-looking orange earth pony stormed into the house. “Granny, we need to talk!”
The four ponies looked concernedly at the mare, Applebloom breaking the silence when nopony said anything for a moment.
“Calm down big sis, we were just laughing ‘cause it was funny, and it happened a long time ago, anyways.” Applejack’s features twitched for a moment, as if seeing her little sister started to calm her down, but didn’t quite cut it.
“Long time ago or not, I’d still like to know why this pony shows up out of nowhere claiming one of our best trees ain’t even ours! Granny, he says you gave him the tree! What in tarnation were you thinking giving out trees to strangers?!”
Granny, never one to take any gruff, batted the orange pony over the head with her cane when she started to invade her personal space. Applejack, covering her head with her hooves as she backed up, visibly cooled, though still running over at a simmer.
“Don’t you come in here and start yelling at your granny like that, show some respect in front of our guest. Now what snake crawled up your hoof and got ya on th’ flank ta put ya up hollerin’?” Granny shook the cane at her, losing her control over her accent as she started to boil up her own temper.
Still rubbing her head after the unexpected blow, she pointed a hoof to the front door, which still sat open as a dark-coated Unicorn walked through the doorway, looking around the room a moment before smiling and nodding to Applebloom and Big Mac.
Lowering himself with a hoof on his chest, he introduced himself, “Ace Deus Fenrir, call me Ace. I’m a friend of Granny and Twilight.”
Twilight looked around the room as Applebloom and Big Mac mimicked the bow and introduced themselves as well, - much to Applejack’s dismay – while Granny’s jaw went slack as she stared at the polite pony.
As locked up as she was, the precious picture book fell to the ground… or rather it would have if Twilight hadn’t caught the book with her magic to set it on the couch.
“Applebloom dear, go get granny her pill. I think I’m seeing things again.”
Ace smiled a stupid grin that oddly fit him as he walked forward and warmly embraced the elder pony, a tear falling down her cheek. Pulling away after several moments, Ace nodded his head to the aged green mare as he smiled.
“Nope, it’s me in the flesh, Miss Smith. I came to make sure you were taking good care of my tree, and I was not disappointed in the least.”
Granny was at a loss for words as she just stared at the Unicorn she clearly knew, Applejack shrinking down to make herself as small as she could after the way she treated one of her granny’s friends.
“Ace, you… you haven’t aged a day since then, have you? You still look like a twenty-something colt and I’m just an ol’ bag o’ bones…”
Ace wiped the rolling tear away from her face as he shook his head softly. “Now don’t say that, Miss Smith. Not only have you raised this great farm right up out of the ground, and kept true to your word in taking care of my tree for me, but you’ve even managed to raise an amazing family along the way, though one of your granddaughter’s still has yet to properly introduce herself.”
Ace sent an amused grin to Applejack, who was standing in the doorway, unsure of whether it would be best to leave while nopony was looking, or to stand quietly and hope for the best.
Now out of options, she looked sheepishly at the Unicorn and held out a hoof as she introduced herself, “My name’s Applejack, and I guess I owe you an apology mister Fenrir. I wouldn’t have treated ya that way if I had known it really was your tree.”
Ace gladly shook the offered hoof with a smile, “Please, just call me Ace; somepony might think I’m a wolf in pony’s clothing if you call me Fenrir.”
Twilight seemed to be the only one who got the joke, her expression unchanged while Big Mac and Applebloom exchanged a look and a shrug.
“As for the apology, I’ll accept it though I don’t think I deserve it. As far as I’m concerned, I’m more at fault for knowingly setting you off on your own property. I won’t lie though, it was terribly good fun.”
Applejack put a little more strength than needed into the handshake after the last comment, but Ace hardly seemed to notice as he continued to smile. Meanwhile, Granny leaned over in her chair to pick up the photo album off the couch, turning to a page near the start of the book.
“What are you looking for, granny?” Applebloom tilted her head as she got up on the arm of the couch to look at the album more clearly, the other ponies starting to look as well.
Turning back a few more pages, she found what she was looking for with a ‘Here it is!’ as she held the book up and pointed out a black-and-white picture taken in front of a store, the sign of which pictured a dragon that was facing the photo as well as the two ponies standing in front of the stop.
The two ponies were shaking hooves, one exactly like Ace, and the opposite a mare in her early years. “This here is when we passed by Ace’s shop, and when we told him we were looking for a place to lay up roots, he sold us a spell that’d keep the hungry beasts in the Everfree Forest outta our manes.
"This ‘ere photo was taken as proof o’ the deal to plant one tree that’d belong to Ace when it got full grown.” Granny Smith set the album back in her lap as she continued the story.
“We put those seeds in the ground with a hope and a prayer, and as soon as they sprung up we put that spell on those li’l ol’ saplings, and just a few months later they were puttin’ out apples every year. Each year that tree would put out more apples’n any other tree we ever planted, and we barrel’d ‘em up and shipped them every year.
"Up ‘till today, Ace ‘ere never even set hoof on the farm, I don’t reckon.”
Ace put a hoof behind his head at the mention of his absence. “Right, sorry about that.” Setting his hoof back on the ground, he nodded to the Apple family.
“I knew you’d all take good care of the tree though, and I can certainly say I wasn’t wrong. Those apples kept me fed more than I’d care to admit, and they certainly afforded me a lot of opportunity to try my hoof at cooking, to be sure.”
Granny’s features set with a look of pride at the mention of how well her family handled the farm, but before she could say anything on the matter, Twilight was staring at the still open photo album, looking at the picture of Ace and ‘Filly Smith’ standing side by side. Looking at Ace, he inwardly cringed at the question he knew was coming.
“Ace, just how old are you? Now that I think about it, you said you wrote that book, Everything Known about Anti-Magic Stone as well. If all of this is true, then you should be even older than Granny Smith, and yet you still look like you’re twenty-something like she said… What are you hiding?”
Ace started to wear a look of desperation as he bowed his head to the Apples. “It was nice seeing you again Miss Smith, and a pleasure to meet your family as well. Farewell-“ speaking in double time, he moved twice as fast as he turned and ran through the open doorway and towards the road back into town.
Shocked for only long enough for him to beat her outside, Twilight hopped to her hooves and started after the dark pony, voicing only a quick ‘Got to go,’ to the Apple family before she left.
Ace was easily faster than her, but with no cover between the house and the road to town, Twilight could easily keep her eyes on him at all times. After a few moments of running, however, Twilight started to put a bit of magic into her horn so she could flash-teleport in front of him.
Attuned to his extrasensory magic, however, Ace could easily tell what she was planning, and flashed himself away before she could even set the location of her own spell. Skidding to a halt where Ace had disappeared, Twilight closed her eyes and used the magic still in her horn to fuel an extrasensory spell.
The darkness of the back of her eyelids lit up with a purple outline that covered her surroundings as she turned her magical focus on where Ace was just a moment ago. Just as she had hoped, doing this had an effect, which was bringing out a cloud of residual magic from Ace’s flash.
From that small sample of leftover-magic, she could feel where he had went, seeing it in her magical sight as the center of Sweet Apple Acres, sitting in the shade of a taller-than-most apple tree. Lighting up her horn without opening her eyes, she flashed herself in front of Ace with a burst of light, opening her eyes with a sense of prideful accomplishment.
Ace let out a low whistle as the lenses of his glasses readjusted after darkening to block out the bright light as Twilight appeared only half a meter in front of him.
“You really are a good student, and a quick study too. I’m going to have to be really careful with what I teach you, aren’t I?” Ace let out a short chuckle, hoping but doubting he’d be able to change the subject so easily.
“I have two really great teachers, but neither of them seem to think they can trust me. Why is it such a big deal to tell your student your age? What’s the big deal if you’re older than you look?” Twilight leaned forward to close the already short distance between the two, a look of scolding in her eyes.
Ace didn’t take too kindly to this, his eyes aglow with anger for the first time. Twilight had seen Ace do a number of things that she had thought was out of anger, but he always had a light-hearted smile or wise look in his eyes, but this was the first time she had actually seen him angry.
“You don’t have any right to say what is or is not important to other ponies, Twilight Sparkle. If I say that my age is something I don’t want to talk about, that doesn’t mean you get to talk about it just because you want to. I have already trusted you with a secret that practicality nopony has known since I left the place of my birth.
"If this is not acceptable conduct to you, I can easily erase your memory of me and be on my way, and the only thing keeping me from doing so now is that I have made a promise to you that I would teach you what I can about magic. This is not something I have done only because I owe you a debt, but it is because I see great things in you, Twilight Sparkle.
“When I see you performing magic, it reminds me that there are still other Unicorns out there who are like me, who understand that Magic is something that requires work and effort, whereas most Unicorns know maybe ten spells pertaining only to their talent and nothing more, never wanting to know anything further about magic other than what they were born with.
"In you, Twilight, I not only see hope for Unicorns, not only for other ponies throughout Equestria, but I see hope for myself. I see that maybe I’m not so strange, not so much an alien among other ponies; I see that maybe I can have friends, too.
“I’d like to think that’s what we are, or what we can be, Twilight – Friends, - but you need to understand that friends have boundaries, and one of mine is my past, and that includes my age especially.”
Ace let out a sigh, visibly relaxing as he leaned back away from her a little bit, giving her enough room to properly sit upright again after the close confrontation. He put a hoof against his forehead, brushing his mane out of the way as he continued.
“I’m sorry Twilight, but I can’t talk about my past without other ponies’ secrets being told through my own indiscretion, and I’ve made a promise that their secrets would remain as such. There are four things I hold sacred above all else in this world, and those are:
"All forms of Life, Promises, Magic and any form of Relationship. Wantonly sharing my past would breach all of these statuettes I’ve set for myself. Fear not, however, my student, as everything you need to know about me will work itself out in time, but you must not force it. Do you understand?”
The singular question left an almost pleading look on the dark Unicorn’s features as he all but begged for understanding. Twilight nodded almost nervously,
“You’re right, I had no right to try and force you to tell me anything when you’ve already done so much.” Ace visibly relaxed even further, glad that he hadn’t pushed Twilight away in his anger. “I’m sorry that I chased you out of the house.”
Ace nodded once at the apology. “It’s okay, I didn’t really have much to contribute in a conversation, anyways. Twilight, if it’s all the same to you, I’m just going to teleport back home – to the library, I mean – and I’ll meet you when you get back, okay?”
Waiting only just long enough for Twilight to nod, Ace’s horn lit up with its black glow... just before the glow intensified on a large scale before Ace disappeared. Shortly after he had disappeared, there was a crunching and crashing sound that worked its way down the limbs of the tall apple tree in the middle of the orchard.
Twilight looked up at the tree to see Ace hanging loosely over one of the lowest branches, a look of disgust on his face as he stared to the mountains over the East horizon, his mouth forming words she couldn’t make out from as far off the ground as he was.
Multiple cuts and bruises marring his skin, Ace sighed in defeat as he looked down and waved at Twilight as though he hadn’t seen her in a while. “Funny meeting you here stranger, care to help me down? I have a long walk home ahead of me.”
As if in response to what he had said, a pair of branches fell out of the large tree, which made Ace look angrily at the mountains again. “And I could really use some company, if you’d be so kind.”
Not entirely sure who he was trying to be sure heard what he said, Twilight used her levitation magic to pull Ace out of the tree, gently setting him on the ground as he dusted himself off, his wounds glowing as he did so before mending themselves shut and patching a tear on the cover over his left hoof.
“Much obliged, friend,” he said as he began to repair the damage done to the tree once the worst of his injuries were tended to. “Let us make way now, before I make anypony else displeased with me.” Twilight nodded as they both made their way back to the road side by side once more.
Once they made it to the road, Twilight couldn’t take the silent tension anymore. “So, I suppose that the reason for the misfires are also a boundary as well?” Twilight said, bracing herself for the worst, but relaxing a bit as Ace just nodded. “And who you were talking to while you were in the tree, that’s another one, isn’t it?”
Ace looked at Twilight for a moment before shrugging a bit as he spoke. “I was talking to the moon.” Twilight was half expecting a reprimand, but was far more taken aback by the response he had given. “I know it sounds odd, but talking to the moon is a habit I developed during the Mare-in-the-Moon era.
"The moon is the guiding force in much more than ponies think. Some ponies believe that the moon can control a pony’s luck, their fate or even their destiny.” Ace looked back at his cutie mark as he continued. “As for me, the moon and I have a certain understanding for one another.”
The response raised more questions than answers, but Twilight didn’t want to press him any further. “Your special talent is helping others, right? How did you get your cutie mark? You had to get it before you left your home, if I remember correctly.” Ace seriously pondered the question before shaking his head.
Before Ace could open his mouth to explain, a voice came from up ahead in a startled yell, “Itchy eye!” As soon as Twilight heard the high pitched voice, she immediately dropped to the road and covered her head.
Ace simply stood and stared up the road, a smile on his face as one eyebrow rose in an expecting yet questioning look. Twilight tried to pull Ace to the ground with a hoof, but he shrugged her off and pranced forward happily.
“There you are!” the rapidly approaching pink pony exclaimed as she pounced on the dark Unicorn.
The two went rolling backward comically, landing with the pink earth pony on top just past Twilight, pinning Ace to the ground with her hooves.
Ace laughed heartily as he spoke, “Pinkie! It’s so good to see you again!” Twilight just looked at the two as they laughed at each other, questioning what was happening before recalling that Ace had said he knew Pinkie Pie, but had thought it was nothing more than one of Pinkie’s ‘Welcome to Ponyville!’ parties.
The pink pony stared at Ace for a moment, a look of accusation in her light-cerulean blue eyes that didn’t reach the smile on her face. “Why didn’t you send me a letter saying you’d be in Ponyville? I would have prepared a huge welcoming party in the middle of town for you!”
Ace shrugged apologetically as his features turned sheepish for the briefest of moments. “Sorry Pinkie, it just kind of came up. I’ll send you two letters next time to make up for it, okay?”
Pinkie happily nodded ecstatically at the reply, agreeing that would work. Counter-clockwise logic was always the easiest way to get anything through to the pink party-crazed pony.
Twilight walked over to the two as Pinkie was helping Ace back to his hooves after the unexpected attack. “So how exactly do you know Pinkie Pie, Ace? I had just assumed that you were at one of her ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ parties.”
Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight with a look of exasperation, “I wish! I threw him a welcome party and he never showed up! Acey came to Ponyville during one of the Summer Sun Celebrations – before Princess Luna came back – when Princess Celestia came here.
"Turns out he never misses any Summer Sun Celebration that the Princess goes to, no matter what town it’s in! Isn’t that amazing?” The pink pony’s features lit up with wonder at never missing such a great festival, then when she looked back to Ace she let a short sound of awe.
“Hey, you got new glasses! Can I try them on?” Pinkie was already reaching for the black frames, Twilight started to protest but Ace just smiled politely and bowed his head so Pinkie could more easily remove the eyewear. Ace’s Al Bhed eye came into full view.
Twilight’s face turned to shock as Pinkie’s eyes changed from a light blue to a darker one as she hopped around the two ponies laughing.
The laughter was infectious as Ace turned his head as much as he could to watch the happy pony. “Pinkie, you look like a secretary or a librarian with those on.” Stopping mid bounce, hovering in the air for a moment as an idea struck, she acted as though she was sitting behind a desk, tapping away at a typewriter.
Ace casually approached the invisible desk as he spoke, “Yes, I have an appointment this afternoon to speak with Mr. Bellevue. Would he happen to be in at the moment?”
The party-pony-turned-secretary looked up for only a moment, a smile on her face that betrayed her role, as she shook her head softly. “Mr. Bellevue has stepped out to lunch and will not be back for some time. You may take a seat in the lobby until he returns.”
Nodding as he turned away, Ace proceeded to one of the imaginary chairs and sat down, and when he did a rather impolite sound filled the road.
Pinkie and Ace both busted up laughing as Pinkie held out a whoopee cushion in her hooves, never being one to miss out on a joke. Twilight, still in a state of shock and confusion, looked to Ace with a look that expressed the latter. “So wait a minute, Pinkie Pie knows that you’re-“
Ace hurriedly cut her off before she could say more than what was true. “Heterochromatic, having two different colored irises? Yes, but she knows that it’s a secret I’d like to keep. You see, when Pinkie and I attended the same Summer Sun Celebration, her curious Pinkie Sense had a new reaction-“
Pinkie Pie, rubbing a hoof against her eye, said, “Itchy eye! I’ve never had an itchy eye sense before, so I followed it through the crowd and it led me to Acey, and I followed him and followed him and followed him all through the festival. After I watched all the ponies he talked to and realized he wasn’t dangerous, I ran up to him and said-“
Making a game of interrupting each other now, Ace interjected with a voice that matched Pinkie’s perfectly as his horn began to glow with the mimicry spell.
“’Hi! Welcome to Ponyville! You must be new here because I’ve never seen you here before and I remember everypony! My name’s Pinkie Pie, and I wanna throw you a party!’ Of course, I was quite surprised at the sudden burst of emotion from somepony I didn’t know, so I told her-“
Pinkie pressed her hoof against his muzzle as she used the other to point to her throat, bouncing excitedly. Ace smiled and nodded behind the pink hoof as his horn continued to glow. Pinkie started to talk, but it was Ace’s voice that came out.
“’I’ve been to Ponyville before, during some of the other festivals, but I’ve never had a welcome party before. I don’t plan to be here after the festival, but you can throw the party if you want.’” Pinkie mimicked the bow that always accompanied Ace’s introductions, including the proper name, “’My name is Ace Deus Fenrir, but you can call me one of the three instead.’”
Ace’s speaking role concluded, he took up Pinkie’s lines as he continued the story, “’Then I’ll just call you Acey!’” Ace’s horn stopped glowing as he bounced away, mimicking what Twilight assumed was what Pinkie did, before walking back to the group. Ace continued in his normal voice, the two having concluded their past conversation.
“Pinkie bounced away, presumably to prepare the party, and I continued to make my way through the celebration, offering my spells to the ponies around town. You see, during festivals and celebrations, I offer basic level spells free of charge while telling other ponies about the Dragon Eyes spell shop in Hoofsdale.
"It helps put the name out to other towns, and ‘tis good publicity for the store. After the Summer Sun Celebration had died down, I teleported back to the store to work on the larger spells the ponies in Ponyville had needed, having wrote down where I could find them and what they wanted to buy.”
Pinkie took up the story again, continuing from the Ponyville side. “Meanwhile, I was throwing the biggest and bestest after-party-and-welcome-party in Ponyville history, but Ace never showed up! A few of the ponies said that Ace had gone home to make spells for them, and that he’d be coming back in a week once all of the spells were made.
"I couldn’t wait a week! The day after the party, I went and booked a hot-air balloon straight to Hoofsdale! Nopony misses out on an official Perfect Pinkie Pie Power Party and I was going to be sure he knew that.”
Ace took the opportunity to take control of the story again with a nod. “While I was working on the spells, I hadn’t been paying attention to the perimeter spell around the shop, so I was a little more than startled when the Pink Panther of a pony burst into my shop, one eye twitching as though she had gone crazy.
:When I jumped back, the smaller glasses I had at the time slid down my muzzle, giving Pinkie the briefest of glances at my left eye before I had adjusted them. With a look of shock on her face, she jumped up and down on two hooves, pointing and yelling ‘That’s it, that’s it! That’s what Itchy Eye means!’”
The mimicry spell returning, Pinkie happily stole the story once more as she continued, “’What are you talking about? Are you saying you knew about my eye before now?’” Ace started to bounce around Pinkie and Twilight, presumably due to the role he played in the story as Pinkie Pie.
“’Yup, that’s right! My Pinkie Sense was telling me there was something different about you, and now I know what Itchy Eye means! It means you’re a special pony who has two different eyes! Can I see them?’”
Ace bounced up to Pinkie Pie, leaning over the invisible desk to take his glasses back. “’Wow, these glasses are really nifty! Not only did they change the color of your eye, but the shape of it too! Still, I think I like it better this way; you really stand out!’”
Still swapping their lines, Pinkie Pie spoke with Ace’s voice as the story concluded. “’Miss Pie, as much as I do appreciate the compliment, please don’t tell anypony else about my left eye, okay? Now, why don’t you sit down and tell me a little more about this ‘Pinkie Sense’ you mentioned…’” Pinkie’s voice went back to her own, much to the pony’s disappointment, as she continued.
“Then I stayed with Acey for a week until he teleported us back to Ponyville. He did all kinds of funny tests but even he couldn’t explain it. Just like when you tried to figure it out, Twilight! You actually remind me of him a lot sometimes…”
Ace nodded that it was all true. “Since then, Pinkie and I became pen-ponies, writing letters to each other every now and then. She’s probably one of the few ponies I can really call a friend. Oh, speaking of friends, I’m going to be staying in Ponyville for a while, Pinkie, as Twilight’s new magic tutor.”
Pinkie floated in the air for a moment, again defying gravity, as she looked at the two in shock. “That’s splendiferous! I need to go plan a party!” With that, the manic pony ran off towards town as quick as her hooves could carry her, Ace laughing as she faded from view before he turned his gaze on Twilight, a soft smile still on his face.
“I wasn’t lying when I said that you’re the only pony in all of Equestria who knew my secret, Twilight. I’d really prefer if you’d make sure it stays that way for as long as possible.”
Ace continued to walk slowly down the road towards town as Twilight hung her head, looking sorry for the trouble she had almost so easily caused. After a few moments, she caught up to and walked alongside Ace, picking up the pace now that his student had returned to his side.