//------------------------------// // Power // Story: The Stallion in the Library // by leonidas701 //------------------------------//         Applejack tackle-hugged Brick. Being that Brick hadn’t had enough time to put all four legs of his chair back onto the ground, this lead to both of them falling to the floor. Fortunately Applejack landed on top of Brick which, combined with her being blinded by her glee at seeing him again after seven years, meant she didn’t even notice the fall. Brick was less fortunate, and got a nice bump on his head.         “Yer back! Ah can’t hardly believe it!” Applejack said. She squeezed Brick even tighter, as though afraid that he would suddenly turn out to be a dream.         “It’s good to see you too,” Brick said, patting Applejack on the head.         Granny Smith cleared her throat, getting the two ponies attention. “Would y’all mind gettin’ up offa the floor so’s we kin eat like civilized folk? Honestly, y’all are actin’ like foals.”         “Sorry granny,” Applejack said as she reluctantly got up off of Brick, who went to help Granny Smith pass out the food, and took her seat at the table. She noticed Applebloom giggling at her behind her hoof. “And what’s so funny?”         “Ah thank you turned inta Pinkie Pie for a moment there,” Applebloom said.         Applejack blushed for a second, before turning her attention back to Brick.         “So, Ah guess yer a big ol’ fancy doctor now,” Applejack said.         “Yep! Got my license and everything!” Brick said proudly as he placed a stack of pancakes in the center of the table. He picked his chair up off the floor and sat back down.         “What’s it like in the big city?” Applebloom asked.         Brick chuckled, “I wouldn’t call Creston a big city. It’s nice though. Lots of hills and parks. Always something new to do, a new club or an event or something like that.”         “Sounds fun.”         “It is. Now, on to a more important topic.” Brick looked directly at Applejack. “Mac’s told me about most of things I’ve missed, but he skipped over the most important part. Any coltfriends I should worry about?”         “Wha? No! No, Ah’m way to busy on tha’ farm to date,” Applejack said.         “Darn,” Brick said, “I was looking forward to teasing you about that.” Brick turned his attention over to Big Mac, “What about you? How are things going with you and Cheerilee?”         Before Big Mac could answer, Applebloom yelled out, “What?! Big Mac used to go out with Ms. Cheerilee?”         Brick turned to Applebloom with a mischievous gleam in his eye. “Nah, he never got up the nerve to actually ask her out, but let me tell you one thing. Your brother used to carry such a huge torch for her that every time she came over, I was sure he was gonna set the barn on fire. Again. Again.”         Applebloom’s jaw hit the table. “Really?”         “Really. But, given that you’ve never heard of this, I guess he still hasn’t gotten up the nerve to ask her.”         “Busy,” Big Mac said defensively as he finished off the pancakes.         “Oh, if working on the farm was an excuse than you and your sisters would never have been born.”         “Speakin’ of workin’,” Granny Smith said, “It’s about time for us to start.”         “Oh,” Applejack said. Usually she was the one who noticed when it was time for the work to start, but she was so distracted that she forgot.         “What are you doing today Mac?” Brick asked.         “Plowing.”         “Great, I’ll go help you.” Brick stood up to leave with his friend, only to be grabbed by Granny Smith.         “Nonsense, you’re a guest. Ah couldn’t ask you to help us with our chores,” the elderly mare said.         “Not this again,” Brick said. “My answer is the same as it was when I was eighteen. I want to help, and you can’t stop me.”         Applejack giggled at the memory of what happened last time Granny Smith tried to stop Brick from helping. The old mare had sat upon the plow and refused to get off as long as Brick was trying to harness himself to it, nagging at him the whole time. In response, Brick had simply plugged up his ears, harnessed himself up to it anyways and plowed the whole field, taking the still talking Granny Smith along for the ride.         “What kinda farmers could we call ourselves if we needed help just to do a little winter clean up?” Granny Smith shot back.         While those two were arguing, Applejack bent down to whisper in Applebloom’s ear.         “This is gonna take a while, let’s go and get started.”         Applebloom nodded her agreement and the Apple siblings quietly left the kitchen while Brick and Granny smith were arguing.         As soon as they were out of the house, Applebloom looked up at her big brother and slightly-less-big sister and asked, “Who is he? Why don’t Ah know him?”         “He’s an old friend of our’s,” Applejack explained. “He left to go to school back when yah were five or so. He used to help us out on the farm all the time.”         “Really?”         “Eeyup,” Big Mac said, “He used to help plow the fields while Applejack and Ah bucked the apples.”         “Isn’t plowing the fields your job?”         “Eeyup.”         “Brick couldn’t applebuck, so instead he plowed the fields,” Applejack explained.         “Wait, how could he be strong enough to plow the fields but not be able to applebuck? Ah kin do it, and Ah can’t even lift the plow,” Applebloom asked, greatly confused.         “He ain’t too weak, he’s too strong is the problem.”         “What do yah mean?”         “Look, yah know how Big Mac has ta use one leg when he bucks tha apples because if he uses both the tree either breaks, or goes flyin’ off? Well guess what happened when Brick tried to do it.”         “The tree broke?”         “The tree didn’ snap in two, it didn’ go flyin’ off, it didn’ even move very far from where it was before. Brick hit that tree… And it just exploded into splinters. One moment there was an apple tree, and the next it was a pile of toothpicks covered in leaves and apples.”         Applebloom’s eyes widened at the thought. “Wooow. Wait, why didn’ he try doing with one hoof, like Big Mac?”         “That was with one hoof,” Big Mac said. “Now get along. No more storytime, we’ve gotta get tah workin’.”         With that, the Apple siblings went their separate ways, ready to start off the day’s work. -----Teaser For Next Time-----         Trixie and Twilight had met up to drink coffee and for some early morning company, at their favorite cafe The Pony Espresso.         “And after she uses this great mystical power once, she never uses it again!” Trixie said, talking about a character in a series Card had gotten her to read. “It’s so infuriating! What do you think?”         Twilight opened her mouth to answer when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw… Him.         The stallion who had helped out Card through the magic mirror on the roof of her house all those weeks ago. His dark blue coat seemed to absorb her the longer she looked at, his hair stuck out at every angle possible, clearly this was not a stallion with much time to waste on frivolities. His glasses hid his eyes from view as he rotated his head, getting every single detail from every single thing he was looking at, lending him an air of mystery..         “Twilight? Hey, are you still in there?” Trixie clopped her hooves in front of her friend’s face, but to no avail. Twilight was lost in her own thoughts as her heart raced.         What is he doing here? Maybe he heard about me and wanted to see the Princess’s apprentice with his own eyes! No, no, Twilight don’t be silly, he’s Card’s friend I’m sure he’s just here to visit him. Celestia, he’s gorgeous. I hope he looks at me. No, don’t look at me! I wonder what he could possibly be thinking about?         In Tron’s head: I am so fucking lost.