//------------------------------// // The Legend Begins.. // Story: Running from Twilight // by Brony-Sibling //------------------------------// Applejack’s golden mane flows gently in the breeze, the light catching her golden complexion and sending the earthy vision of beauty cascading through your mind. “Whoa…” ... (stare) … *cough* … (stare) ... A small smile forms on Applejack's face, and she gently hoofs you on the shoulder. "Aheyem." You blink in owlishly, then avert your eyes quickly. Applejack grins, and swats your face with her tail as she trots out of the barn. "Well, Ah think it’s high time to show you the Resistance’s headquarters!” You sheepishly follow Applejack, scratching the back of your head in embarrassment. "Hehe... Right." Applejack swaggers out of the barn, "Ah've got a lot to show y'all!" Applejack suddenly pauses, then looking over her shoulder winks at you. “Also, ah said headquarters, not ‘hindquarters'...” Your eyes instinctively flash down to Applejack’s toned -*COUGH*- “R-right! Let’s get started!” You blurt out, then quickly speed up so you are walking *alongside* Applejack. You instantly find the ground to be the most spellbinding thing you've seen all day. Applejack chuckles quietly, and then with a obvious, "Ahem!" saves you from further embarrassment by pointing out the various parts of the Apple Family Farm. As she does you can't help but notice a profound lack of… “resistance-esque” tools. No weapons, armor, or any type of war-like implements are in sight. In fact, the ponies aren't training either. In fact they all just seem to be busy... working? Applejack smiles, then squints as she looks you in the eye. “Now ah know what you’re thinking. But ah want you to guess how our little resistance works anyways!" You quizzically gaze at Applejack, at a complete loss. “Guess you dummy! How do you think our resistance works?” Applejack playfully says while grinning. You look back over the busy Apple Family farm for a few seconds, then look back to AJ. “Um… you sell Apples to hire mercenaries?” Applejack laughs, then gently hoofs you in the shoulder. “No you silly! Where’d you get such a new-fangled idea like that!” Applejack then gently places her hoof on your shoulder and says, “The way we help Stallions, is we give them a place to hide... Or even a place live if they need to." Applejack smiles, then points to a massive cauldron full of apples next to a huge distillery, almost covered in Stallions diligently, and happily working all over it. “That there distillery makes the Apple family cider. Which is full of the love of good old family, friends, and Apple Acres quality and care! It’s what allows us to actually afford this whole operation!” You blink in disbelief… “So… the resistance… is a cider distillery?” Applejack chuckles darkly. “What? Did you expect a few odd apples to be able to fight the entire might of Equestria!?” Applejack grimaces a bit and says, “Mah only wish is that my family didn’t need to do this.” You gratefully smile at AJ. “Well, I… I don’t… I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t found me. I.. I was starting to loose hope.” You hear a voice, syrupy thick and sweet, speak up behind you. “Every Apple can find it’s home here, and when you’re an Apple you’re never truly lost.” You turn around and see a Red shape, outlined by the sun, and when you shield your eyes you see... Big Mac. You never realized from watching the show, but he… is enormous! His very presence makes you feel safe, secure, and at home. You also realize that he’s the first pony to be able to easily look you in the eye. “Come on.” Big Mac says in that rich voice of his. “Ya’ll need to talk to Granny.” You nervously glance at Applejack, and she smiles encouragingly. You begin to walk with Applejack and Big Mac though the Orchard. None of you speak, but there's no need to. You feel welcome, and that's all you need right now... *Meanwhile In the Ponyville Library* Twilight Sparkle yawns, sleepily rubs her eyes, and instinctively teleports into her bathroom. *clink* A dart briefly spins in the air, then lands on the floor next to the still tranquilized Spike, the trashed bedroom, and the multiple other brightly colored darts. *Yawn* “What a strange dream!” With a flick of her horn, Twilight groggily grabs her mane-brush, and stretches her hooves, then smiles as she trots to her bathroom mirror. “Today is my *first* day with a stallion! EEE! So wonderful!” Twilight starts to hum a tune as she brushes her hair... then with a happy smile begins to sing! “7am the usual morning lineup… Start on the list and cast away dust till the floor’s all clean! Twilight teleports downstairs, and begins to blast the library with spells. Dust n’ check the books for correct placing, dust again and by then it’s like 7:15! So then I’ll read a book, or maybe two or three! I’ll write a few more words into my thesis on bees! I’ll sort the books again, and brush and brush my mane, and wonder when will my stallion come in! Twilight longingly looks at the stairs to her bedroom, then teleports in front of her mirror. "Then after my mane’s brushed it’s star charts and book orders, then check my grades and make sure no word’s misspelled! Categorize each new star Luna’s making, then I’ll stretch, maybe sketch my Stallion’s face too! Then I’ll re-read a book, If I’ve got time to spare, I’ll make a checklist again… I got parchment somewhere! And then I’ll brush and brush and brush and brush my hair, stuck in the same way I’ve always been… " Twilight begins spinning in the middle of her library, books and parchment dancing magically in spell around her. "So i’ll keep wondering, and wondering and wondering and wondering when will my life begin!" Twilight returns the books and parchment to their homes, and hopefully looks into her mirror, absently brushing her mane slowly as she sings nervously... "It’s my first day… With my stallion so near… just like I’ve dreamed for each day, every year… What is it like... To have someone to hold… Now that he’s here… Will Celestia… let me know?” Twilight nervously puts down her brush, and hesitates at the bottom of the stairs. “America? Um… Are you there?” *Back at the Apple Family Orchard* You are standing in the Apple Family House alone, being told to wait for Granny, and while you're waiting you begin looking at the surrounding Apple family photographs. You scan through photographs that show the Apples beginning to found Ponyville, and you can even see the next generations of Apple’s slowly increasing the Orchard's size, and Ponyville's slow growth over the years. You even see a picture of Applejack as a filly, and can't help but let out a little, "dawww.." You hear the floorboards creak behind you, and you turn to see Granny Smith standing in the doorway. She smiles and says, “So. This is the youngin that’s been causin all of this hulla-ballo! Well, youngster! I’m Granny Smith!” She reaches her hoof out, and you gently shake her hoof. She chuckles...then half-crushes your hand. "OWW!" “Hehe! Gotcha!” Granny Smith laughs as you nurse your sore hand. “Apple blood still runs strong through this old bag of bones! Don’t you ever forget that!” Granny Smith still grinning then hops into her rocking chair, and instantly a pair of knitting needles appears, and the room suddenly is filled with the sounds of clicking. Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack…. “Um…” Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack “Ahem” Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack “Granny Smith?” Clickty-clack clickity clack Clickty-clack clickity clack- “GRANNY SMITH!” “Wha? What is it youngin?” Granny asks, stopping her knitting. “Um… Did you want to talk to me?” Granny smiles. “Well youngster... I already have. The way you shook hooves, your patience with what you thought was a senile old loon… You pass.” “Huh?” Granny points at you with her needles, “You… passed. You respect a mare, but you've got enough balls to stand up for yerself!” “What?” Granny sighs and mutters. “He might not be the brightest apple in the bushel, but he's honest. Ah'll give him that.” Granny then clacks her needles once at you. “Listen. You had the balls to interrupt a lead mare in her own home, but enough respect to do it right. In my book, you pass. You can stay here.” You scratch your head in confusion. “But… what? How? I mean, how can you trust me, or even know anything about me yet?You just met me!” Granny Smith smiles, and shakes her head kindly. “Sonny, when you get as old as I am, you can tell an awful lot about somepony just by the way they walk, talk, and shake hooves. You already passed all three of those tests.” You are about to say something when Granny swats her your hand with her needles. “Ow!” “Ah wasn’t finished!” Granny sternly says. “Now, these old eyes saw something else while you were waiting fer me.” You scrunch your eyebrows in confusion. “Huh?” Granny dramatically puts her knitting needles down, and leaning forward looks you straight in the eye. “You ain’t from around these parts… In fact… I’d say you are from ‘that’ place.” Stunned, your mouth drops open... “How… How did you know?” Granny breaks into a smile, and bangs her hoof on the armrest triumphantly. “Aha!” She points at you. “Ah didn’t! But ah suspected, and now I know for sure!” *Facehoof* “Ugh… right.” You groan. Suddenly you feel Granny’s hoof on your shoulder, and as you look up you see that all the mirth has left her weathered face. “Now youngin, just because you ain’t from around here, doesn’t mean you’re the first.” … … "Huh?" Granny sighs, and picks up her needles and begins knitting again. “While you’re busy wrapping yer head around that, let me explain the whole kit and caboodle.” *The sound of knitting needles clacks in the background, as Granny’s rocking chair rocks back and forth in rhythm* “Well sonny, sit down and I’ll tell you a tale… You see, the old stories, they say that Two Alicorns ruled over Equestria together and created Harmony in all the land.” You nod, remembering this from the first episode of MLP. “They say the Elder sister guides the sun, and the younger sister guides the moon each night. But this is where our story stays a bit more… ‘honest’ than most of the old legends…" You instinctively lean in closer, not wanting to miss a single word. "Now these legends say that a thousand years ago that Princess Luna became all sorts of jealous. She was mad that her ponies didn’t like the night, and so she wouldn't to lower the moon, and that she became ‘a bitter, and wicked mare of darkness’, and that to save Equestria, Princess Celestia reluctantly had to banish her sister to the Moon with the Elements of Harmony to save Equestria.” Granny shakes her head and pauses, then looks you right in the eye again. “Now. Does anything about that story seem a might bit fishy to you?” “Um… maybe?” Granny dramatically smacks her hoof on the armrest, “Well, here’s how it REALLY happened!” “The Alicorn sisters did rule over Equestria. Actually fer many a year there was harmony everywhere.” Granny smiles as she reminisces. “My grandparents would tell such stories! When no pony was hungry, no pony was angry, no pony was alone…” Granny’s smile fades. “But that all changed. One year just a few stallions were born, and soon a Stallion became a rare… prize. At first ponies thought this problem would just… go away. But it kept getting worse.” “Soon ponies were panicking, but the Princesses wouldn't answer our questions, and those ponies who asked started disappearing.” Granny Smith suddenly slumps in her rocking chair, watching her hoof as she traces circles on the armrest. “Then… then the 'One Day War' happened.” You open your mouth to ask a question, then after looking at the menacing pair of knitting needles change your mind. “That day there were stories of battles all over Canterlot. But instead of changelings, a dragon, or Griffons fighting? There were Night Guards fighting Day Guards, and the worst part?” “In the middle of it all, Luna, fighting against Princess Celestia.” Granny Smith shakes her head sadly, then looks up at you again. “The reason no-pony’s heard of this is because this is one war you won’t find in the storybooks. Luna wasn’t changed into Nightmare moon, she wasn’t jealous, instead she was fighting for you.” Granny looks up at you, a tear welling up in her eye. “She was fighting for all you. For every stallion, and she lost.” The tear falls. “That night she’d tried to save some orphan colts, to take them away to a safe place where they could grow up without the government telling them where to live, when to exercise, what to eat… and who to marry.” “But she was seen, and when Luna returned Celestia was ready for her. Luna was the younger sister, and weaker. Celestia’s troops were prepared, and the few troops of Luna’s that weren't immediately captured weren't ready.” “Even with Luna's troops captured, the battle took all day, because Celestia couldn't use the Elements of Harmony." "Why?" You ask. Granny Smith grimaces and says, "Because the Elements create harmony, and they wouldn't let Celestia banish her sister. After all, when mah daughter and the girls used the Elements on Luna, they only cured Luna's insanity from her thousand years alone on the moon, they didn't banish her again." Granny sighs wearily, then begins telling the story again. "So when Celestia had finally beaten her sister and drained her of all her power, she banished her to the Moon, away from the ponies she loved so much. To live alone for a thousand years.” “Ever since then, Celestia’s controlled each and every stallion. With her controlling the stallions, she controls the mares. Because if you want any chance at a marriage, you’ve got to play along.” Granny wistfully looks out the window. “That’s why she took Mr. Apple. Ah didn't play nicely.” Granny’s eyes start tearing up, and as she turns away, she waves you off. “Just… just leave this silly old mare alone with her memories. *sniff* Ah- Ah’ll be fine. Go ask AJ or Big Mac about the ‘experiment’.” You get to your feet, and quietly leave the room, and looking over your shoulder catch a glimpse of Granny holding an aged picture of a handsome stallion. “You’re still the apple of mah eye…” ... You quietly shut the door to the Apple Family home, and turn around to see AJ standing there. “She tell you everything?” AJ quietly asks. “Yep... But she said to ask you about the, ‘Experiment’” Applejack smiles a little bit, then quietly chuckles and says. “Well. Just take a look for yourself!” “Huh?” *Ahem* You suddenly hear that deliciously bronze-sugar voice again. “Can ah get a brohoof?” “Wait... Big Mac… You are a BRONY?!”