//------------------------------// // The Earth Pony Way // Story: Crossing Paths // by Maran //------------------------------// Applejack gobbled up her slice of vegetable pot pie as if she hadn’t eaten in days. “Ya don’ know how long I been waitin’ to eat like this!” she exclaimed through a mouthful of food. I winced as crumbs and spittle landed on my fur. Granny Smith raised her eyebrows. “Land sakes, honey! Didn’t yer aunt and uncle feed ya? Or learn ya any manners?” “In a manner o’ speakin’.” The filly wiped her mouth with her foreleg. “Here, I’ll show ya.” She swept her dish off the table and found a clean plate. Carefully, she placed a piece of carrot and a sprig of parsley in the center. “You see, a proper Manehattan dinner has a seven-course meal.” Her accent changed to “proper-sounding” as she continued her explanation. “However, each course is only a single mouthful. Furthermore, you must nibble it thusly.” She lowered her head with surprising grace and took a dainty nibble, raising her head as she swallowed. “You also must not take more than one nibble before you raise your head so that you can converse with everypony in your party.” Her grandmother howled with laughter. “I can’t believe you lasted more’n a day like that.” “Eyup,” said McIntosh with a grin. “Well, bein’ a fancy city pony is hard work. You know hard work never bothered me none.” “I reckon yer right.” Granny turned to face me. “What about you, young’un? You barely touched yer pot pie.” I looked at my plate, wondering if “barely touched” meant something different to the earth ponies, since I’d eaten more than half of my serving. “The food is so much richer than what I’m used to, Mrs. Sm- um, Granny,” I said apologetically. “I couldn’t eat another bite!” “You sure you can’t make room fer dessert?” Granny stood and walked to the kitchen counter, coming back to the table with a tray of pastries. My nostrils caught the sweet scent mingled with the savory pot pie. “I guess I could make a little room,” I said as the elderly pony set a pastry in front of me. Like the pot pie, the tart was a perfect light golden brown. I took a small bite of the rainbow-striped treat. It was wonderfully sweet, with different flavors washing over my tongue: apple, grape, citrus, and other flavors I couldn’t identify. Somehow they tasted just right together. I closed my eyes so I could focus on just the flavor. “Mmmm.” I swallowed. “I think this is the best dessert I’ve ever tasted!” I took another bite, ignoring my full stomach. “Thank ya kindly, young’un,” said Granny. “No, thank you!” Little Apple Bloom had rainbow smears all over her face from her tart. “Come on now, Apple Bloom!” Applejack shook her head and started wiping the baby’s face with a napkin. “Didn’t any of that get in yer mouth?” McIntosh finished his tart and picked up his plate in his mouth, carrying it over to the sink. Then it dropped it with a clatter and let out a strangled scream. “What is it, Mac?” Granny rushed to his side faster than I would’ve thought possible for an old mare. “Spider!” he yelled, pointing toward the counter. “Oh my, I’ve never seen a spider before!” I was so excited that I actually flew out of my chair and hovered over McIntosh’s shoulder. Resting on the counter was a brown striped arthropod with eight fuzzy legs that spread almost as wide as my hoof. Even I wouldn't exactly call him cute, but I did find him fascinating and not at all scary. “Hello, big guy!” I leaned in over McIntosh’s head. The spider waved one of his legs at me. McIntosh ducked his head, screwing up his face as if he were in physical pain. “C’mon now, Mac,” said Applejack, walking over to us. “It’s just a wolf spider. It ain’t like a star spider or brown recluse. It can’t really hurt ya.” A slight wince betrayed her reassuring words. “Oh no, he wouldn’t hurt you.” I held out my hoof in front of the spider, and he crawled onto it. “He’s more afraid of you than you are of him.” “Then why is he in my dang house?” shouted McIntosh. “Um…” I landed on the floor, unable to think of a good answer. “Okay, maybe he isn’t afraid of you.” “Just get rid o’ him!” He waved his hoof frantically. Applejack patted his whither. “There, there,” she said quietly. I flew to the door and went several feet outside before settling onto the ground. “Off you go, big guy,” I said, gently brushing him off my hoof. ooo After I released the spider outside, Applejack washed the dishes, and I dried them. Granny Smith took Apple Bloom upstairs to give her a bath, while McIntosh headed outside to check on the animals one last time before nightfall. Soon all the chores were finished, and there was no reason for me to put off writing my letter. I sat at the little desk in Applejack’s room and chewed on a pencil, trying to decide how to begin. I supposed I should start with the obvious. Dear Daddy, How are you? I am fine. I cringed at the cliché opening, wondering if I should erase it. Then I decided to simply write whatever I felt at that moment. I could always rewrite it later. I fell off a cloud from flight camp, but don’t worry, I’m ok. Actually, I’m better than ok because I got my Cutie Mark! It turns out my special talent is communicating with animals. I’m staying with a very nice earth pony family at a farm called Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville. They have many wonderful creatures. I want to stay here for a few days, but if you want me to come home that’s ok with me. But please don’t make me go back to flight camp! Some of the colts are not very nice, and one of them knocked me off the cloud, although I think that was an accident. I can’t face them again. I paused, wondering if I should try to end the letter more positively. A swarm of butterflies rescued me when I fell from the cloud. And my Mark is three butterflies. I think that means that I was meant to stay on the ground, where they are. At least for awhile. If that’s ok with you. I chewed my lip. Maybe I should rewrite the letter so it flowed better. But at the moment I was tired. I’d worry about it in the morning. Love, Fluttershy After I finished writing my letter, the sky was dark, and Princess Celestia had raised the moon. Granny Smith told us to gather together in the living room for a bedtime story. “Granny, yer not gonna tell a scary story, are ya?” asked Applejack. “Now don’t you worry child, I won’t make it too scary fer ya.” Granny waved her hoof. “I ain’t afraid o’ yer ol’ pony tales!” My friend sounded like she was trying to convince herself just as much as her grandmother. “It’s just that Apple Bloom might be afraid, and we wouldn’t wanna scare Fluttershy off either.” “No, we wouldn’t want that,” replied Granny with a wink. “This is a true story about my cousin Apple Rose.” The Apple siblings and I settled onto the couch while Granny eased into her rocking chair. The room was dimly lit with a single kerosene lamp. “Apple Rose was just about Applejack’s age when she came to our first family reunion in Ponyville. ‘Course, it wasn’t really Ponyville yet, it was just a settlement with a few buildings. Back then, there was a lot o’ the Everfree Forest that hadn’t been explored yet. While Apple Rose was stayin’ here, she decided to go inside the old castle ruins to search fer treasure. She didn’t tell nopony where she was goin’. The wind howled against the crumblin’ towers as she cantered up to the doorway. She went inside and down a hallway. It was pitch dark, so she lit a torch on the wall. The fire flared up, and Apple Rose saw that the torch sconce was…” She paused dramatically. “A disembodied pony leg!” I squeaked and hid my face under my wing. McIntosh covered Applejack’s ears. She wiggled like a worm to try to free her ears, but his hooves stayed in place as if they were glued to her head. “Pony weg?” asked Apple Bloom, too young to understand why it was disturbing. Relentlessly, Granny plowed ahead. “And not just one pony leg, either. The entire hallway had pony legs sticking outta the walls, all the way down to the end!” I squeezed my eyes shut, but soon realized that didn’t help at all. Instead I open my eyes and stared at a framed photograph of a mare and stallion on the wall. Applejack tried to pry McIntosh’s hooves from her ears, but her brother held fast. Granny Smith ignored them and continued, “Apple Rose was startin’ to feel a mite uncertain about explorin’ any farther on her own, but as soon as she turned round, the door she’d come through slammed shut! “‘Hello?’ she called. ‘Is anypony there?’ The only answer was a moan. Ooooohhhh!” She moaned like she was in pain and waved her wrinkled forelegs. I covered my ears. Applejack gave me a searching look before shielding her baby sister’s ears with her hooves. Granny spoke for several more seconds. I cautiously uncovered my ears. “…Walked down the stairs, she heard hoofsteps behind her. She looked back, but nopony was there. She picked up her pace and heard the hoofsteps again. She looked over her shoulder and saw glowin’ yellow eyes for a split second. Then they disappeared.” I glanced around the livingroom, imagining eyes gleaming in the shadows. “Apple Rose got to the bottom of the stairs and galloped like the wind. She heard hooves gallopin’ behind her. A dark shadow swirled around her and rose up in front of her. It glared down at her with its evil yellow eyes. “‘I am the Pony of Shadows!’ it said. ‘Nightmare Moon left me here to keep little ponies out of her castle!’ “Poor Apple Rose could hardly stand, her legs was shakin’ so much. She said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know! I promise I’ll never sneak into yer castle again!” “‘Oh, I’ll make sure you don’t!’ said the Pony of Shadows.” I wanted to block out her voice, but it was like watching a train wreck. I couldn’t stop listening. Granny charged ahead. “Then it sank into the floor under Apple Rose’s hooves, and a great big hole opened up. She fell screamin’ into the hole, and nopony ever seen her again. But if you venture near the castle ruins, you can still hear Apple Rose scream.” I whimpered. “Granny!” McIntosh narrowed his eyes and removed his hooves from Applejack’s ears. “What?” “We got a letter from Cousin Apple Rose just yesterday!” he said reproachfully. “So I embellished the story a mite.” Granny Smith waved her hoof. “But the Pony of Shadows is real, sure as the day is long.” She nodded firmly. Her grandson frowned. “Have you ever seen-” “As a matter of fact, I have seen the Pony of Shadows.” Granny seemed to anticipate what McIntosh was going to say almost as well as Applejack did. “See, the rest of us noticed that Apple Rose had been gone a good while, so we started to search fer her. I looked inside the castle ruins and heard Apple Rose holler fer help. I followed the sound of her voice and saw an open trapdoor in the middle o’ the floor. I peeked down into the hole and saw Apple Rose hangin’ on fer dear life. She’d found a hoofhold in the crumblin’ stones on the shaft wall. I stretched down as far as I could, but my hoof couldn’t reach her. She grabbed on and I pulled her to safety.” I let out a relieved sigh. “As we turned to head back upstairs, the Pony of Shadows appeared in front of us, glarin’ with its glowin’ eyes,” continued Granny. “‘I hope you learned your lesson!’ said the shadow. ‘Never trespass in Nightmare Moon’s castle again!’ It flew toward us and passed right through us, makin’ our hair stand on end. We hauled rump outta there and never stepped foot in the castle again.” “Granny, why didn’t you tell us-” begain McIntosh. “‘Cause you young’uns look cute as a button when yer scared,” she answered with a wink. McIntosh glared at her. “C’mon now, it’s time for bed,” said Granny. Applejack uncovered her sister’s ears. “Can Mac tell us a story first? Please?” Granny nodded. “I reckon we got time for a Mac story.” All of us looked expectantly at McIntosh. His gaze softened as he took a deep breath, and began his story. “Once upon a time, there was a timberwolf that liked to eat sheep.” My eyes grew wide, but I kept silent. “One day, when the timberwolf was chasin’ a little lamb, the ground started shakin’.” Applejack’s green eyes darted between me and McIntosh. “This ain’t a scary story, is it?” McIntosh frowned and lowered his eyebrows at the interruption. “Sorry.” She ducked her head. “A giant ram rose up above the trees. He was twice as tall as an old oak tree, with big black horns curlin’ round his face. The timberwolf was so scared he couldn’t move, just stood there shakin’. “‘If you’re fixin’ to end me, ram, just make it quick,’ pled the timberwolf. “The giant ram looked down at the timberwolf and said, ‘I ain’t gonna hurt ya, even though I’m so big I could crush you like an eggshell. And do you know why?’” “No, why?” asked Apple Bloom. “‘Because those that hurt others, hurt themselves.’” My eyes widened at his deep insight. Did this mean that the colts who bullied me at flight camp were hurting themselves? Somepony should tell them that, I thought. “The timberwolf was grateful to the ram for sparin’ his life, and they became best friends. The end.” “That was such a sweet story.” I was practically gushing, almost as if I was looking at a baby bunny. McIntosh’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. “Mo stowy!” squealed Apple Bloom. “No, that’s enough fer tonight.” Granny Smith scooped up the foal and placed her on her back. “Time fer bed.” Applejack glanced at the three apples on her left flank; then she jumped up from the couch. “Let me tuck her in, Granny.” The older pony smiled. “Well all right then.” She lifted Apple Bloom and set her on Applejack’s back. “Um, where will I sleep?” I asked as I followed Applejack upstairs. “You can sleep in my bed,” she answered. “There’s plenty o’ room for both of us.” I’m afraid I didn’t sleep well that night, but I hadn’t slept well at flight camp either, so I was getting used to it. Applejack was right about her bed being large enough for two little ponies, but the mattress was so hard that I felt like I might has well have laid on the floor. When I finally fell asleep, I dreamt I was falling. I woke with a start, gasping for breath. My wings fluttered, tossing the covers halfway off the bed. I looked around the moonlit room with its harsh, flat surfaces and eerie shadows. Applejack stirred beside me. “Auntie Orange, what’re ya…” She lifted her head and gazed around with bleary eyes. “Oh, Fluttershy.” She rubbed her face with her hoof. “Plum forgot where I was.” “So did I. Sorry I woke you.” I let my forelock fall in front of my face as I fluffed my pillow, although I didn’t expect that to help much. It just wasn’t the same as a cloud. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, sugar cube.” She laid her hoof on my whither. “You okay?” I nodded, peaking out from under my mane. Applejack stared at me with a concerned frown. “I-I dreamt I was falling from the clouds, and I woke up before…before I hit the ground.” I shook my head to clear it. “But it was just a dream. I’m fine now.” My friend smiled and pulled the covers up to our shoulders. “Yer safe here. Sweet dreams.” Bright and early the next morning, Granny Smith cooked a hearty breakfast of fried eggs, buttered toast, and hash browns. She also set out Zap Apple tarts leftover from the night before. After breakfast, Applejack showed me where to leave my letter for the mail-pegasus. Then it was time to get to work. We fed and watered all the animals, and Applejack told me that the chicken coop needed to be mucked out soon. “May I clean the coop?” I had already decided that I wanted pet chickens someday, and I figured this would be good practice. Applejack stared at me for a moment. “Well now, I don’t need yer help, but if ya really wanna clean it…” She passed me a short, stiff broom. “Sweep out all the straw and bring in fresh straw from the barn.” I nodded. “That seems pretty simple.” “If’n ya need me, I’ll be in the south orchard.” “That’s where the sick trees, are, right?” “Eyup.” She turned and headed toward the barn. “Good luck,” I called after her. I got to work sweeping out the coop, singing quietly. The chickens outside seemed to like my singing, because they began clucking loudly. “What is this spell that I am now under?” I sang as I swept one of the back corners. Then I gasped as a tiny little thing skittered from the corner and along the base of the wall. It was a spider! It might have been the same one from the previous night, although it was difficult to say for sure. “Oh! Hello, big guy. Are you supposed to be in here?” It was a lot more difficult for me to understand the spider than most of the other creatures, but I got the gist that it depended on who caught him in the coop. “Hm…” I rubbed my chin. “I won’t tell McIntosh you were here if you won’t. But you can’t stay in here while I’m cleaning.” I held my hoof in front of the spider, and he crawled onto it. I carefully stepped outside and lowered him underneath the coop, and he slowly crawled onto the ground. After I finished cleaning the coop, I wandered around Sweet Apple Acres, and before long I was disoriented. Trees were planted uniformly as far as I could see, which wasn’t far since the hills rose up in all directions. I wasn’t too worried, since no pony was expecting me to be anywhere in particular. After several minutes of walking, I heard somepony singing. I assumed it was Applejack - it was a young female voice with a warm, clear tone. “I’ve walked in darkness, clouds covered me. I had no idea where the way out could be…” I followed the singing until I saw a stepladder, an object that in Cloudsdale was almost as rare as a tree. Perched on top was Applejack, working with a long-handled clipper to trim the gray, sickly branches. A tarp was spread beneath the ladder to catch the branches that were trimmed. Strangest of all, she somehow wrapped her long, blond tail around a spray bottle, maneuvering it like an opossum’s or monkey’s tail. After each cut, she brought the clipper to the bottle and squeezed the trigger with her tail to spray the sharp end. I tilted my head and blinked up at her, not sure if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. I cleared my throat. “Um, Applejack?” “…Then came the sunrise and rolled back the night. Praise Celestia, I saw the light!” She stopped singing and glanced down at me. “Howdy, Fluttershy! What’s up?” “Um, how are you doing that?” “What, prunin’?” She raised her clipper and cut a higher branch. As it fell, bits of leaves landed in her mane. “No, your tail…how are you grabbing the bottle like that?” Applejack looked nonplussed. “The bottle? Oh, I guess you wanna know what the bottle’s for. It has bleach in it to kill the germs that are infectin’ this here tree.” I shook my head. “No, I mean, a pony tail doesn’t have any muscles or bones. How are you even squeezing the bottle like that?” She raised her eyebrow and lowered her clipper. “Don’t know what yer gettin’ at.” Years later, I learned that earth ponies channel magic through their hair. All ponies are magical, and earth ponies don’t have extra appendages like wings or horns, but their magic still has to go somewhere. I’m pretty sure the Apple family didn’t understand that, though. It was so much a part of their lives that they didn’t think anything of it. To earth ponies, moving their tails - or even their manes, for some individuals - is no different than moving their legs. Applejack squeezed the trigger with her tail to spray the clipper. I could see sweat dripping from her coat. I decided there were more important things to focus on than her impossible tail movements. I shook my head. “Never mind. Do you want something to drink?” I offered. She wiped her brow with her foreleg. “That sounds mighty nice, if’n it ain’t too much trouble.” “Oh, it’s no trouble at all!” I started walking in a random direction; then I paused, glancing around uncertainly. “House is that-a-way.” Applejack pointed with the clipper. “Thank you.” I ducked my head with a sheepish grin and set off through the orchard. Before long, I heard Winona barking, and she ran toward me, weaving between the trees with agility that would make most ponies envious. I smiled as she literally ran circles around me, wagging her tail. “Hello again, Winona. Are you looking for Applejack?” The puppy barked in reply. I continued walking up the hill. “Well, I know where she is, but she’s too busy to play with you right now.” Winona whined, heeling to match my pace. “I can play with you after I get Applejack some water, though.” I placed a comforting wing over her shoulders. “Would you like to come with me?” She poked my ribs with her nose and sprinted uphill, toward the house. Winona’s energy was infectious. Laughing, I broke into a gallop, closing the distance between us.