Greene
Her eyes snapped open and she sucked in a deep breath, eager to relieve the sinking drowning choking. It was a high price to pay for sleep, but if it meant she didn't go through several hours of boredom as Fluttershy slept she decided she'd keep doing it. She flexed her fingers and pulled the cocoon of tendrils back into her skin, smiling as the warmth and mass settled in her. She pulled herself forward from where she leaned against the outside of Fluttershy's Home. The pegasus, after returning from somewhere-not-important, had insisted she enter the room but... it was too humid. And small, small, small, cold and dark.
The sun was just barely peeking up. She heard soft humming from within Fluttershy's Home. Was that to what she had awoken? Oh well, today was a new new new day, to see what the equines had accomplished despite being broken broken broken and to gather their essence so she could one day fix them.
She started upon spotting Greene. "O-Oh! Hello, Elizabeth," she said shyly, saddlebags on her back filled with food.
She smiled. "Fluttershy." Her words echoed around, rousing several of the larger animals from their ongoing slumbers. Fluttershy went over to them and handed... hoofed.... handed out the meals. The pegasus returned to her. "Spa with Rarity?" she asked.
Fluttershy nodded, a semi-wide smile on her face. "Oh yes. We go there every week, Aloe and Lotus really are good at their jobs." She tilted her head at Elizabeth, a tiny frown tugging at her lips. "Elizabeth, have you ever been to a spa, if you don't mind me asking?"
She shook her head. "Never been. Don't know what spa is."
Her eyes widened. "Oh, poor dear," she whispered under her breath, likely not expecting her to hear.
"Can hear," she rasped.
Fluttershy instantly went red. "O-Oh I'm so sorry! It's just that, I heard you talking about the Cold Dark Place, a-and I just assumed - I'm so sorry for assuming!" she squeaked.
Elizabeth shivered, flashes of held down weak can't move and stealing blood draining draining laughing laughing behind her eyes. "What is a spa?"
The smile returned, red turning to orange turning to yellow. "Well, it's a, a relaxation service. There's the massage, the seaweed wrap, the sauna, the mineral bath, lots of things." She frowned. "I don't think you'd like the massage."
"Massage?" she asked.
"Well, they lay you down on this table and work out, u-um, tension spots in you. By, um, pressing on them. Touching you." Elizabeth's eyes widened and she shook. "O-Only if you want to!" she added hastily. "It's completely optional! There's other things to do."
"Go see," Elizabeth rasped. "See then."
Fluttershy nodded. "A-Alright. Follow me then, if you want to, of course, Elizabeth."
"Follow," she said with a nod, doing just that. Soon, they began to approach the town proper, many equines stopping what they had been doing - she had no clue what, though - and staring at them.
"Phew," she thought she heard Fluttershy whisper. "At least Roseluck and her sisters aren't around." Elizabeth didn't pay that any mind, though she would need to diffuse the tensions and whispers whispers whispers around them.
"No harm," she said, raising her voice and looking around at the crowd. "Ignore," she said. This got a few of the equines to stop staring at her with their very wide eyes, while others kept muttering. She tensed, and drew on what little she could remember about the history of this town. "You survived Discord," she said, her echoes beginning to hiss and ripple angrily. "Why are you scared of me?!"
This got the equines muttering again, but with each other rather than in her direction. Fluttershy, wincing, trotted on. Eventually, most all of the equines chose to ignore her, but not all at once. Greene bristled. It would be so much easier if they could Listen. She could make them understand so quickly then, none of this excessive thinking and deciding!
Soon, Fluttershy stopped outside one of the various strange-shaped buildings in the town, and Elizabeth's keen eyes spotted Rarity trotting from another direction towards them. Element of... Generosity, was it? No, Laughter. Or...
"Fluttershy, dear, you made it! Not that there was any doubt."
"Hi, Rarity," she said quietly.
The unicorn turned to Elizabeth. "Why Elizabeth, glad to see you chose to come. I assure you, you'll find that Aloe and Lotus are superb at what they do."
"No massage," she insisted.
Rarity blinked. "Oh, is that so? Why ever not?"
"Touching," she hissed.
She nodded. "Ah, I see. Well, not everypony is comfortable letting somepony lay their hooves on them, even if they are professionals. I'd advise you to give it a try, but who am I to say you feel things the same way we do? Do not worry, I'm sure there is something you will enjoy. Come along now, we're wasting daylight and I do still have to make you something to wear besides that..." She wrinkled her snout. Why? Such a random gesture. "... thing."
Elizabeth frowned as Rarity turned around, herding Fluttershy into the building - the spa perhaps? - and she followed after them, the door jingling as it opened and closed.
There wasn't much to describe about the spa's inside; it was similar similar similar to the other examples of equine architecture in Ponyville; slightly more low-key than Canterlot. They were soon greeted by two female equines.
"Welcome to the... the... the..." the pink-colored blue-secondary one said, stuttering off and looking up at Elizabeth. She gulped and offered a squeaky 'Hello' that Elizabeth returned, though with a frown.
"Girls," Rarity said before they could panic any more. "This is Elizabeth Greene." Elizabeth wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. It was cold, but even worse, it was so incredibly humid in the room! She felt like she was moving through a heavy miasma, and she hated it! Rarity continued. "She's never been to a spa, and I thought today's as good as any for her to see what she's been missing.
The other equine, inverse colors of the first, nodded. "R-Right," she stammered, hesitantly making eye contact with Greene. She noticed, and locked her gaze on her intently. "Greetings to you, miss Greene. If I may say - "
"Humid," she interrupted, skin crawling. "More humid further in?"
The two looked at each other before the blue-primary one spoke. "W-Well, the sauna and bath room do release a fair amount of moisture, so it would get moreso as you go in, however I don't see how that would be a prob - "
"Not going," Elizabeth interjected. "No no no."
Pink-primary opened her mouth, frowning. "I insist, I'm sure you will enjoy it."
She backed up, shaking her head frantically. "No, no, nonono. Don't like. Don't like." She turned to Fluttershy. "Do... spa thing. Will wait outside."
"Are you, um, sure, Elizabeth?" she asked quietly. "The twins are, um, really good at what they do. And..." She wrinkled her nose. "I really, really didn't want to say anything, but, um... youcouldreallyuseabath."
It took Elizabeth a moment to understand what Fluttershy meant, piecing it together with what was left of her memories of Before told her a bath was used to do. She nodded. "Don't need bath. Other ways." She extended her warmth, but turned it on herself, wrapping it around her and digging it just under the upper layer of her skin and suit. Once satisfied, she lifted and the dirtied layer fell off in a black shower as she quickly regenerated. She pulled her warmth back in. "Done."
Rarity eyed the fallen skin with horror. "You just... with those... you just...!" She sighed. "Alright, that settles it. You need this treatment."
"Not for me," she rasped frantically, approaching the door out. Panic bubbled in her chest. They wanted to touch her, to bring her deeper into the humidity and submerge her in water! "Not for me. Good for ponies, bad for me. Bad bad bad. Wait."
Defeated, Fluttershy lowered her head and nodded. "A-Alright, Elizabeth." She looked back up with a gentle smile. "I'll see you, um, in a few minutes? Or, well, maybe more..." she said, trailing off and looking towards Rarity.
Realization struck her. "Few minutes." She stepped forwards to the spa equines, kneeling and brushing a hand against each one's cheek, taking their essence as they froze. "Certain good at job, not for me though. Not not not." She stepped away from them, and approached Rarity, repeating the movements to swiftly snip a bit of essence from her. "Appreciate the offer." And with that, she swept out of the humid-bad-spa building, categorizing the essence within her. She hissed as the sun burned burned burned her eyes, but she adapted before too long, leaned against the outside of the building and extended her warmth a short distance, warding off the pervasive chill, and waited.
She saw a few equines flying among the clouds, doing... something. As she watched, a dark gray male with an odd vertical mane pressed his forelegs against one and... pushed the cloud forward. Her eyes widened. She'd read that the pegasus variety could manipulate weather, but it was something else else else to see firsthand. She leaned her head back and smiled when he happened to push it in front of the sun, blocking its scorching rays.
The equines continued to pass on before her, even as the talking of Rarity, Fluttershy, and the two others inside moved beyond even her hearing range. Some turned to look at her, but still as she was, they soon payed her no mind and trotted on, going about their confused broken day, struggling to make their decisions. She clenched her fists. It was so unfair! She was so close to being able to help them! And why couldn't she? She already had a lot of equine essence from Canterlot. It couldn't vary that much to Ponyville. She could alter her Blessing right now and begin...
... but what would the risks be? When she was first Blessed, her Blessing was... unstable. It killed its recipients in days, hours, granting them only a brief taste of family before it felled them. She changed it quickly, of course, frantically. How else could she have held her first Home for a year?
But if she changed her Blessing now, without enough essence, it might do that again. And this time, she might not be able to change it in time. No, as much as it twisted at her insides, she had to wait. And besides, these weren't Similars. They weren't utterly miserable like them, they were able to be happy sometimes, able to bring some sparks of joy to others.
"Elizabeth, hello!" said a voice she dreaded. She snapped her head over to see Twilight Sparkle heading her way, bags on her sides with paper sticking out. "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions," she asked as she came a stop next to her, just outside her warmth's tendrils.
She bristled, clenching her hands. "More?" she asked irately, making Twilight Sparkle's ears go down.
"Well, I mean, it's kind of important."
She crossed her arms, glaring down at the unicorn. "How?"
She sighed. "I'm really sorry if this offends you, but I've reason to believe you're in the possession of dangerous Nosokinetic abilities."
"Noso... hmm?"
"The ability to control disease with your mind."
Elizabeth pondered this, then chuckled. "No no no, no such. Wrong."
"But Elizabeth, you see - "
"Hey Twi!" shouted a new voice. Elizabeth Greene blinked in surprise as another equine blasted down from the sky, landing in between herself and Twilight Sparkle. This one was bright blue, with a myriad of colors for their secondary fur tint. She didn't... like those colors. The full spectrum, red to violet... she remembered seeing something like that, so many many many years ago in her first Home. It had rained, forcing her to take shelter, and then the sun came out and cast a prismatic arc across the sky.
Then the Similars came, forced her children back, blasted them apart. Took her Holy Child from her, trapped her in the Cold Dark Place, and slaughtered the rest of her family.
She already didn't like this new equine. The pegasus stopped next to Twilight Sparkle, and slowly turned around to face her. She blinked, then looked back at Twilight Sparkle. She leaned next to the unicorn with a hoof raised next to her mouth, whispering. "Is this the alien spy? That's the alien spy, isn't it?"
"Not a spy," she said, making the new equine jerk, evidently not expecting to have been heard. "Who to report to? How? Nobody, nohow." She tilted her head. "Name?"
The equine puffed up her chest, taking a strangely defensive posture before Twilight Sparkle. "Name's Rainbow Dash. Guessing you're 'Elizabeth Greene'?" she asked, rearing up and performing a strange motion with her forehooves as she said Greene's name.
"Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash." She tilted her head to the side, then back. "Is... Loyalty Element." She frowned. Or had that been...
She nodded, a smug smile on her face. "Yep, that's me! Soon to be - "
Greene tilted her head back, smiling. "Got it, got it. Was right. Loyalty Element. Haha..." she said, trailing off into airy laughter. She'd got it! She actually guessed right with one of the Harmony Elements! It made her happy happy happy. She refocused as the pegasus began talking, rubbing her jaw with a hoof and hmming.
Rainbow Dash looked Elizabeth up and down. "So Twilight, she's the one that the newspapers were calling a 'deranged aggressive lunatic'?"
"Well, she was attacked first," the unicorn muttered.
Rainbow Dash kept looking, then shrugged. "Meh, she doesn't look so tough."
Elizabeth blinked once. She crossed the distance in one step and lashed out with her hand. She wrapped it around the equine's neck and calmly lifted her into the air.
"E-Elizabeth!" Twilight Sparkle shouted, stepping back in fright.
Rainbow Dash choked once, which prompted Greene to loosen her grip and snip a piece of essence. She flapped her wings and beat on Elizabeth's chest with her hooves, but she was expecting that and managed to keep her temper under control. After a few moments, Rainbow Dash's struggles went limp and she glared at Elizabeth, eyes at equal height, and crossed her forehooves from where she hung.
"Alright, alright," she said with a slight grate to her voice from Elizabeth Greene's grip. "You're tough. Now put me down!" She did so, moving her hand down and opening it. It wasn't a strong motion, but her tremendous physical power still turned it into throwing Rainbow Dash to the ground. She crumpled on her legs, but got back up in fairly short order, rubbing her neck. "Geeze, do you make it a point to attack everypony you meet?" Rainbow Dash looked at the equines staring at them, and waved them on. "We're all cool here! Nothing to see, everypony!"
"Showed I was tough," she rasped. "No harm done. Wrong thoughts fixed."
"Hmph, I guess. Coulda just said."
"Actions louder than words," she said simply, crossing her arms.
"Ri-i-i-ight. What're you doing outside the spa anyway?"
"Fluttershy and Rarity brought, thought I'd enjoy." She shivered. "No no no. Good for ponies. Not for me, not not not."
She grunted, nodding. "I agree. Not my kinda place, either." She paused. "So, what, you were just going to wait out here until they're done?"
"Rarity said had business with me later. Patient."
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash shared a look, before the latter sighed. "Well, you might be waiting here for a while, you know. Their spa trips take up a lot of time. Trust me, you could do a lot in the time you spend waiting here, with this egghead - " She laid a hoof across Twilight Sparkle's withers. " - and the fastest flyer on Equus!"
Twilight Sparkle groaned. "Upgrading your status, Rainbow?"
She laughed. "Well, it's true." She looked at Elizabeth. "We could probably have a race to Sweet Apple Acres, help out Applejack, and then be back with plenty of time to spare!"
"Do so." Maybe she'd find something interesting. Besides where this 'Sweet Apple Acres' was.
"Haha! Now you're speaking my language. First one to their barn wins." She had no idea what a barn was, but she was sure she could figure it out.
"Direction?" she asked.
"Um, Rainbow - "
"Err, right. You're new here." She raised a hoof and pointed it in a seemingly random direction that vaguely ran out of Ponyville's heart. "That way, towards the barn." She paused. "That's the big red building, ya got it?"
"Got." She leaned over, planting her feet into the ground. "When begin?" she asked, the beginning of a smirk tugging at her mouth. Fool equine. She was so fast fast fast! Though, she would have no way of knowing that, would she? No, Elizabeth supposed she wouldn't.
"Rainbow, I was - "
"Three two one go!"
Elizabeth was off like a flash, her powerful legs digging into the earth and propelling herself forward. Buildings passed her in a blur, the ground rippling beneath her. Moments of weightlessness followed each other like heartbeats as she skipped over little irregularities in the road. Equines flashes past her in little spots of vibrant color. She smiled. She'd surely passed the rainbow equine already.
She glanced up to see her flying along, a look of determination on her face. Rainbow Dash looked down at Elizabeth Greene and gave a cheeky smile.
Growling, Elizabeth lowered her head and pumped her legs faster, leaving craters where her feet dug into the earth. Within moments, she spotted a wide area filled with trees, red things glinting on them. There were two buildings, but one of them met the criteria. Glancing up, she saw a pegasus furiously beating her wings, slightly ahead of her. She redoubled her efforts, legs no longer leaving craters but instead outright cracking the dirt. The pegasus was going to beat her.
She arrived at the 'barn' mere moments after Rainbow Dash, halting her forward momentum by leaping straight up and landing.
The pegasus blinked, panting hard. "Oh, wow. You actually almost beat me. Nopony's ever almost beaten me on land."
She glared at her, hard. "How did you win? How how how? I'm fast. Very fast, faster than Wayward Child. How are you faster?" she asked, echoes intense with her frustration.
Still hovering, Rainbow Dash held up her hooves in an innocent gesture. "Whoa, hey, easy there. No shame in losing to the fastest flyer in Equestria. Really, I had to push myself. I can go faster, sure, but I need gravity helping me to do that." She dropped down and flexed her wings, then tucked them next to her sides. "Gave me a run for my bits, I'll tell you that."
Greene seethed. "Race again later. Obstacle course. Agility."
A wicked grin broke Rainbow Dash's face. "You're on. You issued the challenge, so I'll decide the time and place. Deal?"
"Deal."
The equine spat onto a forehoof and held it out to Greene expectantly. She hissed and stepped back. "No no no. Deal made."
She shrugged, reddish eyes seemingly disinterested. "Whatever floats your boat." She smirked, and added, "Just get ready to eat my dust a second time."
"Will see," she hissed before a new scent assaulted her. She whipped around and saw that other equine, Applejack, approaching with a larger red equine next to her with some sort of large ring around its neck. After squinting a moment and wracking her brains for what she knew of equine sexual dimor... dimerph... gender differences, she deduced it was a male. Both had, attached to their backs, some wooden thing filled with the reddish orbs dotting the trees. Apples?
Applejack stopped and blinked when she saw Elizabeth and Rainbow Dash. "Hoo, didn't expect ta see ya around, Rainbow." She nodded towards the Greene. "Elizabeth."
"Applejack." She looked at the other. "Who?"
"This here's my brother, Big Mac."
The male equine looked her up and down, eyes comically wide. "Helloooo..." he said, drawing out the last syllable.
"Big Mac. Hello." She tilted her head. "Apples. Bringing to or from?"
"Err, bringing to the house, I reckon," Applejack said. "Wanna come along?"
"See what you do. See what accomplished."
She nodded. "Mmhmm. Big Mac, think she can tag along? See what she's like?"
The male regarded her before, at length, "Eeyup."
"Alright then! Rainbow, ya want ta come help?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Nah, thanks for the offer though. I was only racing Elizabeth here. She can run. Can't wait to see what she can do in the Running of the Leaves. How did you do that, anyhow?"
"Strong legs," she rasped angrily. "Push off."
"Hmm," Applejack said, analyzing her. "Well, we'll see then, won't we? Provided, of course, that miss Greene here stays so long."
"Perhaps. See house?"
Applejack nodded. "Right, gotta get these carts off of us anyhow. See you later Rainbow?"
She nodded. "Yep. My break's running out anyway, just wanted to stop by to see the alien." She gestured at Elizabeth, who stood there awkwardly, looking back and forth as the conversation bounced between equines. "Gotta get some rainclouds ready for tomorrow, and Thunderlane's always setting them off early, so I need to keep him on track."
Applejack groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yer telling me! Applebloom gets into enough trouble without random mud puddles all over the farm." She pressed a forehoof into her face. "Down to a science, I swear..."
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, I heard about that. Hey, fillies will be fillies, right?"
"Hmmph. Come on, Mac, lets get these apples inside."
"Eeyup."
The two earth ponies trotted past, and the pegasus, with a final farewell, winged off, vanishing in a burst of speed that made Elizabeth clench her fingers before following the two equines. She was surprised by how surprisingly brusque the equines had been with each other. It couldn't be that they were still acting different because of her presence, could it?
They arrived at a new house, different different different in size shape and color, and entered. Applejack and Big Mac moved their apples to a table, whispering under their breaths about getting to see what Elizabeth was like, expertly moving the fruits to rest despite not having hands. From her point, Elizabeth could hear faint snoring, in addition to a high pitched voice braying in the equine language she was becoming very familiar familiar familiar with.
"Oh come on... stupid... grr!"
The Honesty Element moved towards one of the side rooms, and began to speak back and forth with the voice about some assignment and hard and pointless and not pointless and she didn't care anymore. She looked at Big Mac.
"Big Mac, shortened name?"
"Eeyup," he replied, organizing the apples.
She nodded. "Short for?"
"Big Macintosh."
"See."
"See what?"
She tilted her head, curious. "What what?"
He shook his head. "Ah, nevermind."
They stood there silently for a moment. That was fine by her, watching the equine sorting out the apples, almost seeming to analyze them for... something. She snapped her head around, raising one hand to chest level, when she heard the clip clop of two pairs... sets... pairs of hooves approaching her, and spotted two earth ponies. The first was Applejack, of course, her mouth open as she hastily said, "Bloom, now hold on there just a - "
And then a startled gasp from the other, a much smaller equine. Yellow, not orange or red like the other two, and much smaller. Wide, shocked orange eyes formed a sort of midpoint between the yellow coat and red secondary fur, which was held together by pink fabric arranged in some familiar form she, after a moment, remembered was a bow. Also, they had no mark, which was strange.
"Whoa nelly," the small equine whispered in the high pitched voice Elizabeth had heard earlier. She connected the dots. Lack of a mark, so they didn't know their talent. Small. Higher voice. This wasn't just an equine. It was an equine child. Standing right in front of her.
They stared at each other for a moment. Applejack laughed nervously. "Elizabeth, this here's Applebloom, my - "
"Your suit is funny," the child, Applebloom said, tilting her head.
Elizabeth gave out a joyous cry and crossed the distance to Applebloom, leaning over and picking the child up by her sides. She spun around, and the equine screamed but that didn't matter! "Applejack, help! It's got me!" She pressed her cheek against Applebloom's, laughing ecstatically as the equines' heartbeats flittered in their chests so fast fast fast.
She pulled Applebloom to her chest and leaned against one of the house's walls. "A child, child, child," she muttered, closing her eyes and shifting left and right with the child still with her. The equine struggled, pounding her with weak forehooves but she couldn't even find it in her to be angry because it was a child and they were so young and precious!
Applejack and Big Macintosh moved towards her, but stopped soon, smiles on their faces. "Sis, help!" Sis? Short for sister? That helped clear up relations; for a moment she'd thought Applebloom was the daughter of either Applejack or Big Macintosh. They seemed to have the right age difference for parent-child, though that may have just been her not not not understanding equines properly.
She sat down, leaning against the wall, happy happy happy and drew her knees up, still hugging Applebloom to her chest, ruffling her fur and kissing the top of her head. "Child, child, child," she whispered, over and over. She was content. She loved children, oh she loved them ever so much they were so dear to her and even if this one wasn't hers she wanted her to be hers and she would be one day but until then oh a child, a child close enough to touch and care for! As she grew more and more content, Applebloom also relaxed, leaning into her chest as she warmed warmed warmed up the small equine, whispering loving words of belonging and family to her she only later realized she'd spoken in the Similar language.
Applejack laughed, a light airy thing. "Well, look at that Bloom! I think she likes ya."
Elizabeth ran her hands down Applebloom's back, stroking her fur repeatedly as she curled up in her lap. "Yeah, she's really warm too." The child shivered despite what she'd just said. The child was uncomfortable! She was cold! Greene had to fix that! She extended tendrils of warmth from her suit and wrapped the red and white mesh around Applebloom's legs and barrel. The equine gasped, but soon relaxed, content in her grasp, while her siblings approached.
"What did ya do?" Big Macintosh asked challengingly.
"Shivered. Was cold, made warm." She stroked the child again, smiling warmly. She leaned down and rubbed her cheek against the murring Applebloom's cheek. "Child child child oh darling precious precious oh..."
"Ya really like kids, don't ya?" Applejack asked, smiling gently at the two of them.
"Had children," she mused as Applebloom snuggled into her chest, not asleep but relaxed and content in her warm presence. "So many many many, made me so very proud." She blinked back the painful memories of watching them die under unnatural fire. "Not here. Didn't couldn't follow." She looked down at the equine, snipping a piece of fur for Applebloom's essence, filing it away under Ponyville Earth Pony. "Children children, oh. Pretend at least for a while." She closed her eyes. "Pretend for a while."
The Honesty Element strode forward, her smile having evaporated into a frown. "I'm mighty sorry to hear what happened to ya, Elizabeth, and I'm glad that you and Bloom are gettin' along so well. Though, you may want to let her up from... whatever it is you've got that's calmed her down so much. She's got a lot of school work over the weekend and she needs ta get a head start, especially with all the crusadin' she does."
Elizabeth frowned. "School, school. Place of learning." She remembered that much from the Similar conversations during her captivity. They'd been proud of school and bragged bragged bragged to one another about which school they went to and why it was so much better than the others and how they'd done so much better and it made her sick. Still...
... the equines were broken. They couldn't Listen to each other, it made sense that they needed a way to pass down knowledge. As much as she didn't want to admit it, school was an important thing for them.
Around the same time she thought those things, Applebloom started. "Wha - whoa! Why am - Big Mac, Applejack, help! The alien's got me!" She struggled to get away, but Elizabeth's tendrils held tight for the second or two before Greene pulled them off. The moment her warmth was back inside of her, the child leaped away and scurried behind her sister, poking her head out to look at Greene with frightened eyes. She frowned. She wanted to be with the child again, wanted to hold her close and whisper to her and make everything alright forever.
Big Macintosh cracked a smile even as Applejack twisted her head back to smile down at her sister. "Relax, Bloom. She's not gonna hurt ya," he said.
"She was too!" Applebloom stamped a hoof, not taking her eyes off Greene. "She put some kinda calming spell over me!"
Two sets of eyes snapped to her. "... what," stated Applejack. Not asked. Stated.
Elizabeth rose, cocking her head to the side. "Calming spell? Strange. No magic." She frowned. "How then?"
Applebloom shivered. "She's lyin'! I was flailing and everything and then I just suddenly felt all calm and happy around her! Weren't natural!"
"Did nothing," Elizabeth insisted, narrowing her eyes.
Applejack and Big Macintosh took a step back. "Whoa," the former said. "That's... whoa. Think I know what Bloom's talkin' about. Got a bit of your anger."
"Got?" she asked, now intrigued.
"Yep. Seems ya can sorta give off some of your emotions." Applejack tilted her head. "You mean... you didn't know?"
No, she had not. "No, no." She fiddled with her fingers. "Strange strange strange. Applebloom close, was happy, made her happy." Tilted her head. "Hmm. Give off emotions. Didn't know. Explains much."
There was a tense pause before Applebloom spoke up. "Well? Ain't ya gonna apologize?"
"For?" she asked.
"For changing ma emotions without askin'!"
"Made you happy, why should I apologize?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Well, you didn't ask for ma permission!"
"Made you happy," Elizabeth insisted, narrowing her eyes despite the fact that she couldn't summon anger against a child. "Did nothing wrong."
"Did too!"
"Wrong."
"Yuh huh!"
"How so? Made happy."
"Bloom," Applejack said, interrupting their back and forth. "Go on and do your homework, ya hear? Sooner ya get it done, the sooner ya can go play with your friends."
"But - "
"Now," she said sternly.
Applebloom lowered her head submissively."Okay, sis," she said, dragging her hooves as she went back to the other room. Elizabeth whined quietly in her throat as she left. But... a child...
Once Applebloom was out of equine earshot, Applejack turned back to her.
"Don't manipulate her emotions again, ya hear me?"
"Didn't know, can't control," she rasped, standing to her full height in order to tower over the equines. "Now? See what you do?" she requested.
"Sure, I don't see why not," Applejack said. "Wouldn't be proper turning ya away, especially since how fond ya are of Applebloom." She turned to her brother. "What'dya think, Mac? Should we see how well the alien can buck?" she asked with a slight smile.
"Eeyup," he said slyly.
They left the house, and walked out into the fields, surrounded by the trees with apples in them. Apple trees? Likely. They'd brought the wooden carts with them, and looking closely, she could see wooden buckets in them. They formed a circle around one of the trees. Elizabeth was utterly lost as to what was going on, but she hoped it didn't take too long. After all, she didn't know how long Fluttershy was going to be in the... eugh... spa, but she didn't want the female to worry worry worry about where'd she'd gone off to. Fluttershy was prone to worry, and she didn't want to cause her nearest friend that emotion, even if it wasn't from her apparent radiation.
"Doing what?"
"Applebucking," Big Macintosh said. One word? It sounded like such.
"Don't understand."
"Well," Applejacks said, adjusting the weird hat on her head with a hoof. "We run an apple farm, ya see? We tend to the trees round the year, and when it gets to be around this time of the year, we harvest the apples, then sell them round Equestria. Sometimes even to neighboring countries."
She frowned, confusion scratching scratching scratching at her head. "Don't understand. Why? Can't others grow?"
She shook her head. "It ain't that simple, miss Greene. Well, suppose I can call you Elizabeth, friends with Fluttershy 'n all. Thing is, farmin' apples is no easy feat, and just apples ain't enough for a properly balanced diet. Ya'll see what I'm gettin' at?"
Elizabeth frowned. "Almost see. Sell for what?"
"Bits," she said calmly, then tilted her heads. "Is there... no concept of money where you come from, Elizabeth?"
She hissed, drawing back. "Similars had currency! Broken nonsense broken useless redundant!"
The two equines had backed off. "Err, alrighty then!" Applejack said a little little little too cheerfully. "Regardless of what we do with the apples after harvestin' and whether or not you approve of that, there's still the harvestin' to do. Here, watch." She planted herself in front of the tree, buckets around it, and turned around. "You just give the tree a good, solid buck at the base - " Her hind legs whipped out and snapped at the tree. Elizabeth watched as it shook, letting the apples free, landing in the buckets that had been delicately placed beneath them. " - and presto."
Test of strength. She could do that.
She approached another tree when Applejack spoke up again, while Big Macintosh continued to swivel his gaze between them. "Hold on now! Ya ain't gonna get hot in that suit, are ya?"
She shook her head. "No. Cold without my warmth."
"Err, right. Really though, you can take it off if you - "
Elizabeth hissed, hugging her arms around her chest. "No! No no no my suit mine mine made mine mine!" She calmed herself down-down-down, blinking and lowering her gangly arms. "Can't anyway."
"Ya... can't?"
"Suit made by Similars, for Cold Dark Place. But..." She smiled wickedly. "Over the years, poured my warmth into it. Converted it slowly, part of me now. Mine mine mine. Took theirs, made mine!" She hugged herself again. "Mine." She turned so that her side faced the tree, ignorant of Applejack's pieces of advice because she knew knew knew how do this it wasn't that complicated. She lifted her fists, raised her right foot, and whipped it at the apple tree.
Crunch!
She blinked, and scowled. Her foot was embedded in the trunk of the tree, shattered pieces of wood splintered around the entry. Already, her foot was going numb from the tree's insides, and the force behind her kick had all gone into breaking it, so not a single apple fell. With a heave, she ripped her foot out, sending splintered bark out to coat the grass.
"Holy Celestia," Applejack drawled. "Heard she was strong, but... did ya see that coming?"
"Eenope," said her brother, sounding equally dazed.
Elizabeth Greene turned to them. "Kicking doesn't work," she said, and turned back to the tree before her echoes could stop. She approached the tree, avoiding the gently oozing hole, and gently pressed her left fingers to the bark.
"Hmm, it'll heal," she heard Big Macintosh saying behind her as warmth blossomed inside of her and bubbled under her skin. She extended a web of red and white tendrils across the tree, up into the branches. "What are ya doing?" the red quine asked.
"Apples, removing from tree," she said, curling her mesh around each branch that bore an apple. She found the points where each apple was attached to the tree.
"Hold on now!" Applejack said. "We do things 'round here the earth pony way, ya hear me? None of this magical nonsense!"
"No magic," she rasped. "Extension of myself. Part of self. Is me." She snipped her warmth around the branches, and a dozen apples fell from the tree, and then pulled her web back inside of her. "That well?" she asked them, turning to face them.
"Err, it's certainly something," Applejack said. "A step up from kicking holes in our trees, for sure. Though I think I'd rather you let us do the buckin', if that ain't too much ta ask."
Greene flexed her foot, dispelling the numbness from it. "Not too much."
Applejack sidled up next to Greene. "Although..." she began. "Ya did take quite a shine to ma sister, right? And you seem to be able to keep her calm for at least a little while..."
Elizabeth smiled, clasping her hands together under her chin. "Yes yes yes, like her, child, precious oh so precious want to help want to - "
"Well," she said, cutting off Elizabeth's run on sentence and rubbing a forehoof in circles on the dirt. "I was wonderin' if you might be interested in foalsittin' for Applebloom and her friends when we need it? They can get into..." She frowned. "Trouble."
"Friends?!" she asked excitedly, beaming. "When? When? When?"
The Honesty Element laughed. "Whoa there, now. We don't need a foalsitter right this moment. But we'll ask you when we do need one."
Behind her, she could hear Big Macintosh snort under his breath, "I give her twelve minutes with the crusaders..."
Elizabeth tilted her head. "Don't understand foalsitter."
Applejack nodded. "Aha, right. Ya see, I care for my sister, I really do. Love her to death. But sometimes, well, a mare's gotta go somewhere a filly can't rightly follow. We have ta do those things, but we also can't leave Applebloom unsupervised. Celestia knows that's a bad idea. So we hire a foalsitter to watch over her until we can do so again."
"Nothing more important than family," she murmured. "Watch over family even when not watching over family," she whispered, tilting her head back. "Smart, good, good, fixed." She smiled. "Protect child? Me?" She was... honored. They trusted her with their family! They trusted her! Made sense. Honesty Element, saw she meant well.
Applejack nodded. "If ya think ya can handle them, I'll let you know when we need your services."
Elizabeth nodded frantically. "Yes yes yes!" She paused. "Time elapsed. Not much, no no no." She fretted with her fingers. "Don't want to risk. Don't want to worry her." She began to run, but paused and turned to look at the two equines. "Close family," she rasped. "Almost... almost fixed," she told them before running on.
She... quite liked the Honesty Element's family. They cared about each other. From what little she could see they practically Listened to one another! She couldn't begrudge them for not doing so properly; she'd connected the dots. They'd lost their Mother and father, just as her children had lost her.
And they had a child with them! A child! She could hardly wait to meet her and her friends.
