A Dark Shade of the Past

by InfinityBreach

Oh, Apples.

I am tired. Oh my gosh, I am so tired. Mac has been helping me out with controlling my strength for the past hour, maybe? I can't even tell what time it is, considering how much I've done.

"WHAT IN TARNATION?" I heard a voice yell from the house. I weakly lifted my head to see Applejack staring at the massive piles of dirt all around me.

I guess I also forgot to say that Mac failed in teaching me how to applebuck, and there are now… well about a dozen trees missing.

Applejack looked redder then Mac at that very moment, almost like she would explode with the slightest touch. Mac walked over to her, and began talking to her, trying to calm her down. It seemed to work, because she was definitely looking calmer then before she walked outside.

I laid my head back down for a moment, closing my eyes, and sighed. 'I really can't help, can I? Even though Applejack and Mac have been patient with me, I'm just completely useless. Actually, I'm more then useless. I practically ruined part of their farm.'

"Ya must have been trying hard to control yer strength." I heard Applejack's voice say. I opened one eye, to see Applejack looking down at me.

I sighed, breaking eye contact with her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause this much damage." I got up, dropping my head. "I don't deserve to live here with you Applejack, but I thank you for your hospitality." Then I began to walk somewhere, anywhere, where I wouldn't cause any good ponies problems.

"Now wait a darn minute!" Applejack stopped me in my hoofsteps, blocking me from exiting the gate.

"I refuse to let ya leave, ya hear? You will learn to control yer strength, you will stay here with us, and you will help us applebuck got that? Ya got nothin to worry bout sugarcube. We'll help ya out." Applejack said, trying to get me to stay.

"I… I can't do anything though!" I shouted at the ground.

"I want to help applebuck, but I can't even do that! So far, all I've done is keep Fluttershy from caring for her animals, Rainbow from taking care of the weather, Twilight from actually doing important studies, and you from farming!"

I began stomping the ground, using it to vent my frustration.

"I don't even have memories for crying out loud! I have no one to turn to, no one to live with, and you ponies come in and try to take care of me, but I can't even return my gratitude towards you all!"

"Eclipsal…" Applejack began.

"NO! I am leaving! I'm horrible at doing everything, can't you see? I honestly did try and applebuck, and look where that got me! I ruined a dozen of your apple trees! I would want nothing more but to help you knock down every apple, and even carry it to your barn for you, but I can't do anything right!"

"Ecl-,"

"Applejack, I-,"

"FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE TURN AROUND YOU OAF!" Applejack said, pointing behind me.

I turned around, to see every single tree completely empty of apples, and filled buckets being toted off to the barn by the same sort of magic I remember seeing at the library. Appendages seemed to come out of the ground, grasping every single filled bucket in the orchard and floating them to the barn, connected to the shadows of the trees.

"Is… is that… me?" I said, surprised.

"I think so." Applejack said, as astonished as I was. "Looks like you've done more good than harm, Eclipsal. This woulda taken weeks to buck all these trees, and ya simply stamp the ground and all the apples fell out of the trees into the baskets. Then ya start goin off bout how you wanted to help us by taking the buckets to the barn, and there's yer magic, doin its job."

I blankly stared from her to the now retreating shadows of my magic. All the buckets of apples were in the barn, neatly stacked, and easily manageable.

"So let me get this straight. I woke up to learn how to applebuck, and now I have an idea of how I do magic?" I questioned no one in particular. "How the hay does that work?"

"Life is a mysterious thing sometimes." Mac says, staring at me.

I simply just shook my head. "It's almost like my very existence is an anomaly."

Applejack then turned to me and jokingly said, " Hey, don't ya be usin dem fancy words like Twilight now! Honestly, I don't understand half of that fancy mathematics talk of her's anyway."

"Oh, you just reminded me of something. I think maybe I should go and see Twilight, so that I can completely control this magic thing. Since we are done here, that's fine right?" I asked Applejack.

She reached her hoof up to her chin, thinking about it. "Ah reckon ya can. Just be back later. You remember the way back ta Ponyville, right?"

After muttering a yes, I said goodbye to Mac and Applejack, and left through the gate, walking down the path to Ponyville.