//------------------------------// // Backstory Ascension; or, Apple Alicorns are Anonymous // Story: Background Ascension; or, Alicorns are "in" This Season // by MyHobby //------------------------------// Applejack spun around, presenting her rear end to Trixie and Flim. She strutted off with her head held high, her tail swishing as if to say “Talk to the tail, sugarcube!” The farmer then snorted hot air through her nostrils, risking a subtle glance to see that her unwelcome visitors were, in fact, leaving. Perhaps the movement reignited some suppressed synapses. Perhaps the fact that her visitors were both alicorns brought to her attention some inequity on the farm. Perhaps all the strangeness of Equestria’s nobility of late built up her curiosity to the breaking point. Regardless, the result was that Applejack had a sudden and perplexing thought. She glanced up at the apple trees dotting the landscape; that is, totally engulfing the landscape. A good amount of trees were still bending with the weight of the fruit they bore, ripe for the bucking. She then turned her attention to the decently-sized farmhouse just a few hops and a skip away. “Well,” she said to herself, “it’s about time tah head in fer supper, anyways.” She trotted up to the old, rickety house, giving the familiar sight an once-over with her green eyes. Same old paint, same old shutters, same old Granny. Granny Smith sat on the creaky old rocking chair, just like she always did on nice days like the one they were experiencing. She waved a friendly hello to Applejack. “Howdy, darlin’. How’s it buckin’?” Applejack tipped her hat with a smile. “It’s buckin’ along just fine, Granny.” She sidled up beside the elder Apple and sat for a moment, just listening to the creek of Granny’s chair. After what felt like the proper amount of consideration, she leaned closer to her grandmother. “Hey, Gran? Can ah ask you a question?” Granny allowed the backswing of her rocker to aid in her nod. “Shoot.” “Granny…” Applejack swallowed a lump in her throat that she couldn’t quite reckon the source of. “Why ain’t you an alicorn?” The creaking of Granny Smith’s rocker stopped. The creaking instead came from her neck as she turned her head. “Why d’you ask, sugarcube?” “Cuz uh all this crazy alicorn stuff that’s been happenin’ all over Equestria,” Applejack said. “Ah mean, folks is gettin’ a horn an’ a pair of wings just fer sneezin’ pretty!” A fairly strong case of hyperbole, be assured. Never in the history of Equestria had somepony ascended due to an aesthetically pleasing sneeze. Honest. “An’ you’ve done way more’n that!” Applejack pushed her hat high up on her head. “Not only helpin’ found Ponyville, but tamin’ the wild Zap Apple? You shoulda been an alicorn princess a millyun times over!” Granny Smith smiled. “Applejack, you’ve allus been a smart cookie.” She chuckled to herself. “Even b’fore the Hearthswarmin’ Eve pagent. Ah’m gonna let you in on a little secret…” She leaned in close beside Applejack’s ear and whispered, her voice light. “Ah am an alicorn.” Applejack let that thought sink in as Granny resumed her rocking. Her lower lip protruded from her mouth in bemusement, and her eyebrow quirked in a soft arch on her forehead. She glanced up at Granny Smith’s bare skull and barer, scrawny back. “Pull the other one.” “It’s true!” Granny declared. “Ah’ve been an alicorn for well over two-hunnert years! Y’might say it’s mah own dirty lil’ secret.” Applejack silently began to doubt her grandmother’s lucidity. “Well gee, Granny, you sure don’t look it.” Granny grinned and closed her eyes. A bright orange flash burst from her frail body, causing Applejack to shield her eyes. When the light dimmed, a completely new creature sat upon Granny Smith’s rocking chair. Well, not completely new. She was still green-coated, with a crown of white hair upon her head. The familiar smile lines of the Apple matriarch wove their way around her face, and those gleeful crow’s feet around her eyes remained quite visible. Her orange eyes remained as sharp as ever. What was different was that her muscles, usually so old and frail, now held a significant amount of power behind them. Her back was straighter, allowing her to sit more upright. Her joints no longer creaked and popped with every movement. She had grown a head taller, now finding herself eye-to-eye with Applejack. Oh yes, she also had a horn and wings. Can’t forget those. She smiled brightly at Applejack, who swayed back and forth with dizziness. Applejack’s mouth worked without sound, the smack of her lips echoing through the fields. At last, Applejack found her voice. “Well this is some horseapples.” Granny Smith’s smile dissipated into the ether. “What now?” “Ah said, ‘this is some horseapples,’ Granny.” Applejack stood and took a step back, running an accusing eye over her granny’s newly revealed body. “I just… You’ve been livin’ a lie!” Granny remained silent under her granddaughter’s oncoming rant. “You-you’ve been an alicorn all this time an’ never told us!? What gives, Gran? Why’ve you been hiding this?” Applejack paced the porch, throwing her hooves up occasionally to accentuate a point. “Here we’ve been strugglin’ with the farm, just moving along slow as y’please, and there you are sittin’ on yer fanny like a right royal alicorn princess! All those times we coulda used yer help an’ all you’re doin’ is… is…” Applejack sat opposite Granny, tears trickling slowly down her cheeks. “Why didn’t you do sommat, Gran? Why didn’t you help us?” Silence descended upon the farm as the sun set. Granny got up from her rocking chair and nuzzled her granddaughter. “Ah did help you. Ah never stopped.” She placed her hoof under Applejacks chin and lifted her eyes to her horn. “Mah special spell, it has sommat to do with the apple trees. Ah’ve been workin’ every day, feedin’ as much magic as ah could into the harvest. Ah’ve been workin’ hard to make sure we had enough. Ah’ve always been workin’ hard.” Applejack’s eyes shifted from the trees to her granny. “Ah’ve been teachin’, too,” Granny said. “Ah’ve been passin’ down the knowledge of the Apple family to you kids. Yer gonna know all about the farm, an’ Zap Apples, an’ bein’ good friends…” Applejack hugged Granny Smith and sniffed. “Ah’m sorry, Granny. I didn’t mean to be—” “Hush up, you,” Granny said. “You didn’t know any better.” They held each other as the sun sank below the horizon. Applejack chuckled and released her granny. “So, you’re really an alicorn princess, huh?” “Can’t say as ah’m a princess, sugarcube,” Granny replied. “Those two-hunnert years ago, ah was just a filly. When ah made my first batch of Zap Apple jam, that was when ah got zapped up inter the sky!” She eased herself back into her chair as the stars peeked out one by one. Applejack took up a familiar position in front of her, listening attentively to a new story from Granny Smith’s childhood. “That were quite a day, let me tell you! Weren’t enough ah had tah outrun them durn timberwolves. Weren’t enough that them Zap Apples were actin’ all peculiar, like they do. Ah tasted that first batch of jam, had a little ol’ ‘party in mah mouth,’ like that Pinkie friend of yours says, and zap-bang-POW!” She thrust her hoof into the air, like a rocket out of a cannon. “Ah was suddenly somewhere else. Someplace strange an’ unnatural-like. It was like them science fiction books yer brother’s so fond of. It was all empty an’ desolate an’ lonely.” Granny shook her head. “Not much of a place fer a filly that just got her cutie mark. “Without warnin’, this big ol’ rush o pictures flies out of nowhere. They was pictures of me, an’ they were movin’ like a millyun tiny cinemas! An’ then princess Celestia was there, this look o uncertainty in her eyes. Next up comes quite a surprise, to both me an’ to her majesty.” Granny chuckled at the memory. “Imagine the look on Princess Celestia’s face when that little filly she just sent to start an apple farm comes up an’ starts glowin’ like a Romane candle! “Then ah was an alicorn! Just ‘poof’ an’ there ah was! Princess Celestia didn’t say much for a while, but ah didn’t really notice since ah was busy bein’ astonished by the new additions.” Granny Smith grew quiet. “Then she tells me how proud she was of me. Told me ah was the first in a long, long time. You know what she told me then, Applejack?” Applejack answered truthfully with a shake of her head. “She told me that since ah was an alicorn, ah could join her in Canterlot. Canterlot, Applejack! She said that she would make me the Princess of the Night; that ah’d be in charge of raisin’ the moon and rulin’ over all the ponies that lived in this here country. She said ah dun earned it.” Granny Smith smiled ruefully, shaking her head minutely. “She’s a mighty nice pony, but sometimes Princess Celestia can be a mite stupid.” Yes, we love her, too. Please put down the torches and pitchforks. “Ah wasn’t at all the right pony for bein’ a rulin’ princess of Equestria, an’ ah told her as such! Ah was just a filly that wanted to work on the farm an’ have a family. Ah could be in charge of a farm just fine and dandy, but weren’t no way ah’s gonna be ruler of a nation, no way a’tall.” Granny sighed. “That’s when ah went an’ did sommat stupid, ah guess. “Ah got home an went into researchin’ every illusion spell ah could find. Ah found one that actually transformed mah body into an earth pony, not just hidin’ the wings an’ horn, but completely makin’ ’em disappear. Ah hid myself, Applejack, cuz ah was so scared of bein’ a princess. B’fore long, it just became mah new face. Ah nearly forgot ah was an alicorn until yer papaw came inter mah life.” Granny Smith wiggled her eyebrows. “He thought mah wings were right perdy, hehehe.” Applejack blushed and looked off to the side. “Ah can imagine it just fine by mahself, Gran.” “Spoilsport,” Granny said. “Ah didn’t let mah talents go to waste, like ah told yah. I put ev’ry ounce of mah magic inter helpin’ the farm prosper. Ah just didn’t let nopony know ‘bout it.” Granny stood and made her way to the door, her body glowing with magic as she shrank herself down to her elderly proportions. “Now yah know the sordid, honest truth, Applejack. Whadda yah think?” Applejack stood to follow her now-tiny little granny. “Ah think it’s a whole new flavor of horseapples.” Granny Smith stopped and looked back at her granddaughter. “An’ why’s that, sugarcube?” “You’re an alicorn and nopony knows it!” Applejack exclaimed. “You’re sommat special an’ everypony just think yer this nice, little old granny an’ nothing more.” “Maybe cuz ah am?” “Yeah, but…” Applejack doffed her hat. “You ain’t just that. You’re an alicorn!” Granny shrugged. “Does that matter?” Applejack watched as Granny entered the house, the smells of supper nearly tangible in the air. She followed soon after, huffing to herself. “It does tah me.” “An’ Sweetie Belle said there were alicorns everywhere in Canterlot! An’-an’ Miss Rarity thought that she should have been an alicorn princess by now, but she didn’t really know what was wrong, or somethin’. An’—could yah pass the gravy, Big Mac?—an’ then we had to go outside to play, cuz Sweetie Belle spilled pins all over the floor.” Apple Bloom stuffed her mouth full of mashed potatoes and gravy, cutting off the extended description of her day. But only for a moment. “An’ Scootl’oo wus makin’ a ruckus in th’ tahwn sc’war an’—” “Don’t talk which’yer mouth full, Apple Bloom,” Granny Smith said. “It’s unseemly.” “Saureh.” Apple Bloom hastily swallowed her food, choking it down without more than a cursory chew. “Ah mean, sorry.” “Awful funny, all this alicorn business,” Big Macintosh mumbled. “Ah wonder what started all the ascensions? What tipped the scales?” “Ah know Blueblood thinks he had somethin’ to do with it.” Applejack munched on an apple as she considered. “He already thought he was Glory’s gift to Equestria, ah imagine he’s pretty high on the hog, now.” She shook her head and spooned another helping of potatoes onto her plate. “Can’t say ah approve of the process, if ponies like Flim Flimflam and Trixie are gettin’ a boot upstairs.” Big Mac furrowed his brow. “Trixie became an alicorn, huh? When’d that happen?” “Ah think just today,” Applejack said. “She stopped by to talk to the farm’s owner about a business deal.” She rolled her eyes. “That changed real quick when she found out that was me!” Big Mac licked a stray blob of potato off of his nose. “What was the deal about?” Applejack leaned back, casting a glare at her brother. “Does it matter?” He shrugged. “It might, if’n it was a good one.” Apple Bloom’s eyes shifted from one of her siblings to the other. “May ah be excused?” They turned towards her, but it was Granny Smith who answered. “Sure, hun. Make sure tah clean up yer plate.” Apple Bloom bounced away happily, carrying her plate in her mouth. Applejack set her hat firmly on her head. “Ah don’t care what you or anypony says, ah ain’t gonna work with the Flimflam brothers.” “Oh. Oh.” Big Mac stood and nodded. He gathered up the remaining dishes and carried them on his back. “Yeah, okay. Ah can understand why you’d be so darn set against it.” Applejack watched Granny Smith teeter off on her thin legs. She licked her lips in preparation of another comment to Big Mac, when she was interrupted before she could get rolling. “Still, that Trixie gal is pretty nice, once you get to know her.” Big Mac plodded out of the dining room with his burden of dishes. “Kinda funny that she’d fall in with those pains in the plot.” Applejack squinted. “When’d you have time tah ‘get to know’ her?” He stopped in the doorway and shot her a smile. “Weren’t that long ago she came back into town. We got a coffee at the Keen Bean.” A raised eyebrow accentuated Applejack’s remark. “An’ then what?” Big Mac stuck a long piece of hay in his mouth. He swished it back and forth before replying. “An’ then nothin’. Like ah said, she’s a nice gal, but…” Applejack chuckled as she trotted past him into the kitchen. “Maybe yer just too picky.” Big Mac said nothing, and instead followed his sister to the sink to begin the dishes. Supper was cleaned up, Granny had gone to bed, and Applejack had just tucked Apple Bloom in for the night. She trotted down the staircase, heading for what was now the only source of light in the house. Big Mac sat at the table, a lantern situated in the middle. In his mouth he held a pencil, with which he was rapidly jotting down notes. He rose with a grunt and pushed tiny spectacles up on his nose. “One o these days, ah’m just gonna give up an’ hire an accountant.” Applejack smirked at the remark. “You’d hover all over the poor pony, correctin’ him an’ grumpin’ at him tah ‘do it right.’” “Yer probably right.” Big Mac leaned back as Applejack took a seat beside him. “This here one’s fer the replacement plow.” “Yuck,” Applejack sighed. “Maybe we can move some funds from the Winter Wrap-Up activities tah that?” “Not likely,” he grumbled. “Not unless we’re willin’ tah plan around not havin’ any seeds for the new plants.” “Eenope,” she said. Big Mac leaned forward to return to his calculations. Applejack waited for him to lift his pencil before dropping the bombshell. “Did you know that Granny Smith is an alicorn?” He didn’t miss a beat. “Eeyup.” Applejack nearly fell out of her chair. “Yeah? How long?” The pencil dropped to the table. Big Macintosh rubbed his lips together to get rid of the numb feeling. “You want the honest truth?” “Always.” “Since you ran off tah Manehatten to stay with Aunt an’ Uncle Orange.” He scootched his seat around to faced her. “That was about the time Princess Cadenza ascended. When ah saw what she did, how she ascended, ah asked Granny why she didn’t when she tamed the Zap Apples.” Applejack nodded as her eyes fell to the ground, figuratively. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “Ah dunno,” Big Mac answered. “Ah thought it was sommat Granny didn’t really like talkin’ about. So ah kept it quiet.” “You allus were good at keepin’ secrets,” Applejack said. “Ah still haven’t told Granny about those fritters you pilfered at the reunion,” he chuckled. Applejack punched him in the shoulder and hid a smile. “Ah was three! What’re you gonna do about it, anyhow?” Applejack looked over the incomprehensible mess of bills and invoices. “So what are we gonna do ’bout it?” Big Mac’s ear twitched. “’Bout what?” “’Bout her bein’ an alicorn.” Applejack shifted her seat forward, bringing her more fully into the light. “It’s kinda a big deal, especially now.” A deep sigh rumbled out of the big, red stallion. “What you wanna do ’bout it?” “Ah don’t know.” Applejack planted her chin on the table. “It just seems like she ought tah get recognized, or sommat. An’ about bein’ a princess… Times are different now…” Big Macintosh removed his spectacles and set them on the table. He rubbed his bleary eyes and exhaled through his nose. “Ah wonder what Princess Celestia would have tah say ’bout it?” Applejack lifted her head and gazed out the window, towards the dimly lit streets of Ponyville. The library remained bright, as it always was when Twilight Sparkle was in the middle of a heavy study session. Applejack turned back to Big Mac with a crooked smile on her lips. “Ah don’t think it’d hurt tah try.” It was noon the following day when she arrived. The Matriarch of Equestria, the Princess of Ponies, the Mistress of the Morning, the Big Cheese arrived at Sweet Apple Acers with a soft flutter of her wings. On her back she carried saddlebags full of thermoses. In each thermos sat sixteen ounces of Donut Joe’s best coffee. One such container was carried aloft in her magical grip, poised to refuel her. She blinked as she turned her head, taking in the sights and smells of the farm. Because it was closer to harvest season than growing season, the smells were actually rather nice. She could hear the bucking of apple trees in the distance, a sure sign that Applejack and Big Macintosh were hard at work. She was still keen on a hoof-wrestling rematch with Big Mac. A short walk brought her to the farmhouse’s porch, where Granny Smith sat atop her rocking chair. When Granny noticed her, she began to rise out of her chair. “Please,” Celestia said, “don’t stand on ceremony.” Granny settled back into her chair with a grin. “Princess Celestia. Ah admit that ah half expected you after mah talk with AJ yesterday.” She tapped her chin. “Hrm. Shoulda made a pie.” “That’s fine, old friend.” Celestia took a seat beside Granny Smith. “I really just have something quick to discuss with you.” The smile dropped off of Granny’s face. “Not much for visitin’ these days, are yah?” Celestia jangled her saddlebags, showing off the thermoses inside. “Not recently. There’s been so much happening lately that it feels like a dam burst.” “Ah hear that.” Granny Smith resumed her rocking, the gentle creeks drifting between the trees. Almost unseen, tendrils of magic flowed out of her and into the ground. They seeped towards the trees, adding nutrients and earth pony magic. “Ah see Braeburn ascended, too.” “Oh, that was quite the story,” Celestia chuckled. “I almost think alicorns run in the Apple family.” She turned and lowered her head to Granny’s level. “Which brings me to my point.” Granny Smith shook her head. “Uh, uh. You gotcher sister back, you got a fine an’ dandy Princess o the Night. You don’t need me.” “You’re right about being Princess of the Night,” Celestia said. “That was… I almost made a mistake there. I thank you for the wisdom you showed in that situation, Granny.” She nuzzled the old mare, a smile crossing her lips. “But you’re wrong about my not needing you.” Granny Smith’s brow knitted. Celestia’s serene smile beamed over her. “Even then, you taught me a very valuable lesson. You reminded me that power and status should never be the basis on which a pony leads, but wisdom and love should. You also showed me that if a pony is good at something, I should let them be good at it.” Celestia’s laughter danced around the farm. “If not for your lesson, I don’t think I’d have been ready for all of these new alicorns! I can put them where they fit, where they’d do the most good, where I can help them avoid temptations…” She stood, towering over Granny. Her horn glowed in the sunlight, with the sunlight. “Granny Smith, would you do me the honor of allowing me to name you as Princess of the Apple Orchards?” “Celestia, ah ain’t no princess.” Granny Smith got out of her rocker and shuffled back a step. “Ah’m a farmer, an’ that’s what ah love tah do.” “Exactly,” Celestia said. “It’s be more of an honorary title than anything. Just a little recognition.” She winked. “It’d be an excuse to party…” Granny Smith looked down at her wrinkled, skinny body. Her body glowed as she morphed her appearance to that of a wizened alicorn mare. She looked back up to Celestia with determination in her eyes. “Ah’ll do it, but only as a favor to an old friend. An’ only if’n it’s a small party!” “So, no Canterlot ballroom.” Celestia giggled. “How about a Ponyville barn?” Granny smirked. “Now that’s more mah speed.” The cider flowed freely at Sweet Apple Acres that night. Pinkie Pie’s party cannon had made short work of the old barn, transforming it into a place of festivity. A small guest list of nearby Apple family members, and honorary Apple family members, had been contacted and transported for the short crowning ceremony. While most coronations in the past had ended with a touch from Celestia’s horn, this one ended with a warm hug. Celestia sat between Granny Smith and Big Macintosh, the latter having lost three straight hoof-wrestling contests in a row. The princess sipped at her cider, watching Pinkie Pie slow-dance with Braeburn off to the side. “He must be an amazing stallion to get Pinkie to slow-dance,” she remarked. “Those two are going to be quite the couple.” “Ah was just thinkin’ that she’s gotta be a pretty amazin’ mare to get Braeburn tah slow-dance,” Granny replied. “Those two together are like a couple of firecrackers waitin’ tah be set off.” Applejack trotted past, carrying a tray of refills for the assembled party-goers. She glanced at the dancing couple and smiled at Big Mac. “See, Big Macintosh? That there’s what you should be doin’.” Big Mac blinked. “Dancin’ with Pinkie Pie?” She groaned. “No.” Big Mac tilted his head. “Dancin’ with Cousin Braeburn?” “No, yah big dummy!” Applejack fumed. “Gettin’ yerself a marefrie—” She rolled her eyes as Big Mac dissolved into a series of chuckles. “Aw, gowan yah big pain in the cutie mark.” She trotted away, shaking her head. Big Mac sat back, quite satisfied with himself. Celestia glanced down at him. “I see that this is a running thing?” He waved a hoof dismissively. “It’s nothin’, yer majesty. Just a little joke ’tween us.” Celestia’s eyes rose above him, and a twinkle entered them. “I think I just got the punch line.” He raised an eyebrow. “Beggin’ yer—” “Good evening, Ponyvillians!” a loud voice shouted from the barn doors. “We have come to join in the festivities! Where might we find ourselves cake?” Big Mac spun around to find himself eye-to-eye with a midnight-blue alicorn princess. Luna, the Princess of the Night, smiled at him. “Sir Macintosh! It is a delight that we may meet again!” “Uh”—Big Mac subconsciously smoothed out his fur a bit—“It’s right nice to see you again, too, Princess Luna.” She lifted a hoof and grinned. “Have we not gone past such formalities? Please, address me as Luna, Sir Macintosh!” With her raised hoof, she grasped his and dragged him bodily onto the dance floor. Celestia held back an unladylike snort as her sister practiced several out-of-date dance moves with her slightly-reluctant partner. She sipped at her cider and turned to Granny Smith. “How are you feeling?” “Right fine, ah’d say.” Granny Smith reclined in her ever-present rocker. “I reckon that it doesn’t seem as odd to me now that alicorn’s ain’t as special as they used tah be.” Celestia shook her head. “Oh, Granny Smith, alicorns will always be special.” She nuzzled her cheek. “Of course, all of my little ponies are special to me.” She drew back and looked over the small collection of family and friends gathered. “I wonder, if alicorns really do run in your family, who’ll be next?” Granny Smith allowed herself a snort. “Heck if ah know. Ah suppose all of ’em have a chance, but—” “Granny?” Granny Smith looked to the side to find Apple Bloom carrying a small, corked cask of fresh cider. She pried at the stopper with her teeth, making no progress. “Can yah help me open this thing?” Celestia and Granny said nothing as they simply stared at the tiny filly. Apple Bloom sat and lifted an eyebrow inquisitively. “What’re y’all lookin’ at me fer?”