(Sweet Apple Acres)
It was just another hard day on the job for Applejack. Harvest season was almost upon them, so she was busy bucking away at her trees, getting some apples ready for selling. She wiped away some sweat on her brow after knocking all the fruit from the tree, just like always.
“Nothin’ better than a hard day’s work,” she commented to herself with a smile. She moved over to another tree and got just ready to kick when she heard something. It was a good ways away, but the sound was familiar. It was the same sound she could hear her little sister making after a hard day at school from bullies. There was somepony crying in her orchard.
Moving swiftly, she checked behind several of the nearby trees, finding nothing. The sound was getting louder, though. Further and further she walked, until just over the hill she could see a golden mare seemingly bawling her eyes out under the shade of one of her larger and healthier trees.
She didn’t recognize the mare, but that didn’t matter; she was hurting, and was trying to hold back, hissing through clenched teeth as if willing the tears away.
“Hey there… sugarcube.” Applejack inhaled deeply; let nopony say she would turn a blind eye to a pony in need. “Do Ya mind if Ah keep you company?”
The pony let out a short gasp, before laying her head back down on her hooves. “No,” she sniffled. “I suppose not.”
“Well then.” Applejack gave her the same comforting smile she would give her little sister as she laid down next to her.
She waited half a minute, waiting for the mare’s breathing to even out a little.
“First day in town?” She started with something less blunt, trying to get her to open up a little.
“You could say that,” she said without looking at the farm mare. “I was asked here by… an acquaintance, but… some things were said.”
“Nuthin’ rude or nasty, Ah hope.” Applejack raised an eyebrow, scooting a little closer to the downtrodden mare in case she needed something more comforting than words.
“No it just… brought up some bad memories and feelings.” She sniffled. “You should probably go. I’m not the kind of pony you want to associate yourself with. I’m just a monster.”
“Now don’t go an’ talk down on yerself like that.” Applejack said, now stern. “Ah heard enough of that from both princesses already, an’ Ah won’t let somepony else start that kinda horseapples again. What yah did in the past is in the past, and Ah can tell you regret it, else yah wouldn’ shrink like so; stop hangin’ on to it that fierce.”
“I can’t!” she nearly screamed. “It’s not something that can be forgiven! I can’t take it back, I can never undo it, and I can’t even say I’m sorry!” The mare looked Applejack with hurt, tear-filled eyes. “I can’t fix it!”
“If yah can’t fix it, then work on makin’ it never happen again.” Applejack nudged the mare with a hoof. “Either yer thinkin’ too much about it, or not enough. Why did yah even do… whatever it was that you did?”
“I… I… I… I’m a murderer,” she admitted, no longer able to look at Applejack. “I killed my own sister and destroyed an entire species.”
The silence grew heavy, and Applejack couldn’t even start to think about what she had said, much less form a reply.
“That’s sumthin’ really heavy; no wonder yer like this.” She finally said. “Say, Ah still dun’ think yer a monster. Yah say yah dun’ feel sorry fer doin’ it, but yer sad yah were put on the spot anyways, right?”
“I… I don’t know,” she admitted. “I thought I had moved past this. It’s been over five years and… and I just want to stop crying! I don’t want to be that weak little girl I used to be. I have others who look up to me and depend on me. I can’t be weak, I just can’t!”
“Yer not made of stone, girl.” Applejack frowned. “Yer gonna crack… crack more, Ah mean. Princess Celestia was exactly like that, an’ it was killin’ her on the inside. Yer never gonna move on if yah hang on to it like that; either yer a monster an’ don’ care about it - which Ah doubt - , or yer hurtin’ because yah didn’t want to do it, even if yer not sorry yah did it in the end.”
She sniffled even more, giving Applejack a little smile. “Why do the farm girls always know how to help someone?”
“Clean livin’, close-knit family - an’ lots of it - and havin’ a student of the magic of Friendship right in town helps.” Applejack returned the smile. “Yah didn’ hear this from me, but Rarity - one of them fancy socialites - also said some pretty darned smart things to the princess, made me think, yah know?”
“I miss those things,” she said with a sad sigh. “I lost my parents when I was young and I missed out on so much. But the one thing that always hurt me the most was sitting down at that big dining room table… and being all alone. That’s all that ever seems to happen to me. I always end up alone.” She sniffled again, a fresh wave of tears starting to form.
“Ah’m gonna let yah in on somethin’ a… friend once told me.” Applejack reached a hoof and pulled her a little closer. “Nothin’ gone is gone completely, nothin’ lost is lost forever. It may feel like a chunk got ripped right outta yer heart when they left, but they gave yah their time - however short it was - an’ all of their love; that is gonna stay with yah forever.”
“Thanks Applejack. Some down home logic always used to calm me down.” She looked at the mare thankfully. “Thank you very much.” The mare’s stomach chose that exact moment to make itself known with a loud grumble. She blushed, laughing nervously. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. Yer body wants what it wants.” She nodded. “But Ah don’t know where that tidbit came from, an’ Ah never told yah mah name.”
She just shrugged it off, though; it wasn’t like she was that obscure a figure.
“Come, lemme treat yah somethin’ at Sugar Cube Corner - one of mah best friends works there.” Applejack stood up, offering a hoof to the newcomer.
“That would be nice. Would you mind if we take a short cut?”
“What kinda short cut?”
“Promise you won’t freak out?”
“Sugarcube, unless yer ‘shortcut’ involves the Everfree or worse, yah won’t freak me out.” Applejack smirked.
“Okay.” The mare lifted her hoof and it began to glow with red and white energy. She swirled it around and a portal formed in front of them. “Neat trick, huh?”
“Darn right!” Applejack cheered, rearing up in excitement. “An’ yah got no staff or wand or nuthin’! Yah must be top-class in the princess’s school fer ponies gifted in magic!”
She giggled. “I don’t know any magic.” She moved the portal past them, instantly dropping them into Sugar Cube Corner. “I’m a superhero.”
“SUPRISE!!” The place exploded in cheers as confetti rained on the arriving pair. There was a banner that read ‘Welcome-ish to Ponyville, Kat!’
Rainbow Dash, floating above most of the crowd, winked at Kat.
“Gah!!” Kat shrieked, her body coating protectively in aura. They all gasped at the mare before them transforming into an alicorn.
“Oh!” Pinkie pronked over to Kat. “Our new friend is super special! Not that other friends aren’t super-awesome-special, but really-” Applejack forced an orange on Pinkie to stop her rambling.
“Lemme guess, yah had a trauma-based Awakening an’ that’s why yer so… like that?” Applejack asked, as Twilight crept ever-so-close, mind already bursting with questions.
“She’s a transformed human.” Typhon offered. “The mechanics are complicated, but my kind doesn’t really exist here; she is what she is.”
“Then why aren’t you-” Twilight began, only to get her question fade away as he waved his ringed hand, wiggling the finger bearing the red stone. “Ah, that thing.”
The rest of the crowd began gathering in groups, some whispering, others simply enjoying the treats and waiting their turn more politely.
“It’s just kind of how my power manifests. In this pony state, I kinda go alicorn. I’m not really one, though. It’s just energy. Personally, I blame my adoptive mother for this state.”
“That’s what an Awakening is.” Twilight said in an academic tone. “The concentration of energy inside a pony can fluctuate wildly, but if it is harnessed in a-”
“Alicorns aren’t gods in this plane.” Typhon interrupted. “Just rare, since you need a whole lot of Harmony magic and the right conditions.”
“Trust me,” Kat scoffed. “I know alicorns aren’t gods. You saw what happened.”
“Of course I saw.” Typhon scoffed back. “And I also saw worlds where alicorns are embodiments of natural forces or even abstract concepts - although that is usually reserved for draconequui. There are all kinds, you know? Hell, I am an embodiment of concepts and natural forces!”
“I am too,” Kat said a little quietly. “I embody gravity, which is one of the most underrated forces of nature.”
“Tell me about it.” Typhon rolled his eyes. “Wind also gets smack-talked from time to time, and then I show them what I can do with vibrations. And then there’s Friendship and Love, too, for being too ‘hippie’ and ‘childish’.”
“Why would being happy be bad?” Pinkie asked, bouncing in place.
“I’m talking about those ponies with the tie-dyed shirts, unkempt hair and the ‘far out, dude’ attitude.” Typhon clarified. Rarity shivered.
“Are you feeling better now?” Fluttershy asked from right next to Kat, having sneaked past the other ponies due to her natural quietness.
“A little bit. Applejack talked me out of most of my funk.” Twilight caught Kat’s eye causing her to smirk. “Lemme guess, ya got questions, am I right?”
“You mentioned powers over gravity..” Twilight ventured, thinking about possible parallels between Typhon and ‘Kat’.
“Mm hmm,” Kat nodded. “I am Kat Shifter. I have three titles, though the last one is known only to dragons. I am General Shifter to the Equestrian army, the Queen of Gravity to all others, and the Goddess of Battle.”
“Oh? You were a general in your Equestria?” Twilight gasped - that was quite a prestigious position! She suspected the second was similar to Typhon’s ‘Heir of Breath’, while the last… well, she figured she must have beaten the Fear of the Shaper into the dragons to get it.
Typhon adjusted his collar.
“Yeah, during the Dragon War,” Kat said with a hint of pride. “My companion and I were pivotal in ending that century long war. It… actually had a very funny end.” Kat couldn’t help but giggle at the memory.
“Wow, a war with the dragons…” Twilight mumbled. “We had problems with some of them, mostly the… faction that decided that all other races were inferior.”
“They ran into a problem that they couldn’t torch, smash, nor fly away from.” Typhon gave them a few dark chuckles. “Of course, their ‘leader’ would not stand for it, but then again the princesses just wouldn’t let such an insane monster roam free and rampage through the country, would they? That… wasn’t that funny, and Celestia had to be dragged out of the sea.”
“Huh, I just threw their emperor down a mountain,” Kat said with a giggle. “And then back up. And back down again. And back up again. Thirty times if I remember right.”
“That is funny.” The girls giggled, and Typhon recalled some of the times he had done similar, although never with something as large as a dragon and a mountain.
“I saw Fluttershy suplex-ing a bear once.” Typhon added, making the pony shrink and blush as her friends gaped at her.
“Oh, but Harry had thrown his back while remodeling his cave - I-I couldn’t let the poor dear suffer like that.” She said in her usual stage-whisper tone. “He’s a sweetie, honest.”
“He is!” Kat agreed. “It’s fun watching him get honey. He’s like a Pooh Bear, but with more teeth. But to go back to your question Twilight.” Kat suddenly floated far above them, rotating one eighty and stood on the ceiling. “This answer it?”
“Yes.”Twilight spoke quietly, her eyes racing from side to side reading an imaginary parchment, formulae and principles going through her head at high speed. “A reaction… but coming in response, not being the origin…”
“Whelp, she’s broken; we’re gonna need a new brain for this one.” Typhon smirked, making Rainbow and Pinkie giggle.
A grumbling stomach let itself be known again, causing Kat to blush again. “Ehehe, um, about that lunch?”
“Incoming!” An energetic shout made everypony turn to the source, finding Pinkie atop a table with a homemade catapult of popsicle sticks and glue, with a cupcake for ammunition.
“Fire!” With the pull of a string, the stone counterweight fell, propelling the pastry through the air and at Kat’s upside-down face. She smirked using her power to keep its aim straight and true. Kat opened her mouth, letting the cupcake soar right on in, eating it up with bliss.
“Mm, yummy cupcake,” Kat said as she chewed.
“Yay!” Pinkie cheered, jumping into the air.
“Lucky ponies.” Typhon smiled. “Eating cupcakes wouldn’t be considered lunch for a human, and you’d need a whole lot more than bread and veggies, too.”
“Let’s get into the spirit of the PARTY!” Pinkie bumped a record player with her hips, and a little tune started.
Kat chuckled as she floated back down. “You get used to it. Besides, I haven’t had Pinkie food in years. Sue me for missing out.”
“I didn’t say anything.” He gave her a conspiratory wink, then lifted a pale magenta, almost-pink unicorn. “You need to meet my adopted family.”
“At least use Dinky for this.” Sparkler grumbled and blushed, looking more like a shy puppy than an angry pony, however.
“Ah, but you are so precious in your own way!” He pulled her close and hugged her like a big stuffed plushie.
“Is it really smart to be hugging a unicorn like that? It does have horn after all.” Unfortunately, at that very moment, Pinkie’s crazy dancing caused her to bump right into Kat, causing something to fall out of her jacket.
“Oopsies,” Pinkie apologized.
“Gah! Get it, get it, get it!” Kat cried, trying to get through the parting ponies after her device. “Oh no! I need that!”
“It’s not like I can get hurt that easy…” Typhon pouted as deliberately childishly as he could, making Sparkler grin. “I can get that.”
The object was wrapped in a blue aura and lifted off the ground, the device turned out to be a sonic screwdriver, which Kat pounced out of mid-air, crashing back on the floor and rolling along until she bumped on the wall.
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” She kissed the little device. “I’d be lost without my sonic these days.” And then it was ripped right out her grasp by a familiar magenta aura. “H-hey! Be careful!”
“What is this thing?” Twilight asked as she looked over the strange cylindrical device.
“It’s a one of a kind, that’s what is!” Kat whined. “Please be careful, it’s very important to me!”
“Alright, alright!” She held it a little further from herself - she knew better than to go around pushing random buttons on strange devices. “But what does it do?”
“A little bit of everything except actually drive screws.” Typhon said, petting the mane of the squirming unicorn in his grasp.
“Pssh, screws are soo last year, darling,” Kat said, mirroring Rarity’s accent. “Besides, who needs ‘em when I’ve got my sonic. It’s made stealth missions oh so much more efficient. I don’t have to go blasting through walls anymore. Plus, it was a gift, so it’s got sentimental value.”
“I can appreciate something that makes sneaking around easier; my own abilities works miracles in that regard… it’s only when fighting breaks out that there’s a chance a wall or four are going to come down.” Typhon rolled his eyes, at some point having picked up Dinky and giving her a ride on his shoulders.
“Ooh, any chance of getting a fight soon?” Kat asked with a slightly malicious grin. “I could go for some good old fashioned cul kicking! Bring it on!” She started miming punching and kicking, looking ready for a fight.
“No fighting - not right now, anyways.” Typhon smiled at the annoyed look on the mare, then waggled his eyebrows. “If you just go around swinging your hooves like that, you’ll scare away any potential suitors.”
“Hey! I’ll have you know I get around quite nicely. Not like I’m looking for marriage. I’ve already started a family, I don’t intend to do it again the hard way.”
“If you say so.” Typhon sing-songed, letting the unicorns back down on the floor. “I still think you’re going to catch some eyes, and who knows? Maybe somepony else will catch yours.”
“Are you trying to seduce me, Mr. Typhon?” Kat gave him a sexy little took, swishing her tail. “Mm, you are quite… strapping for a man. Decent fashion sense and, mm, I love a man who can make a girl think.”
“I wouldn’t mind taking off this ring.” Typhon tapped his hand, smirking. “The question is, are you?”
"Oh Mister Typhon, you certainly are a charmer. Perhaps we should retire to someplace more... private." She got up against his shoulders and whispered sultrily in his ear. "If you can handle me that is, big boy."
He slipped the ring off of his finger, flinching for a moment.
“Ow. It kind of burns.” He huffed the annoyance away. “I’ve studied magic too much not to know how to do something like this.”
He placed the ring to his forehead, which let out a bring red light.
When it died down, a brown unicorn stood in Typhon’s place, ring around his horn. His mane was the same deep dark brown, and equally windswept, and his eyes remained brown as well.
“I’m of the impression that my blue clothes don’t match my body anymore.” He muttered as Twilight gaped at him (so did the others, but her staring was more noticeable).
“Is that how you were able to sneak around the country?!” Her question came out a little shriek-y at the end, since Celestia herself had expressed so much frustration that it rubbed off on her student.
“Well, I did say that I was not born with magic, and that everything in Tellus has magic. Not my fault that… well, the only research is esconded in the special vaults of a dragon’s cave, so I can forgive the oversight.”
“Wait, does that mean that Whistler had two stallions for herself? Kinda unusual in a herd...” Pinkie asked. “Whose foal was hers?”
“Are my eyes blue?” Typhon deadpanned. “I can assure you that Whistler’s foal was from her only formal marriage.”
He shifted his eyes over to Kat for a second, then turned back to Pinkie.
“And believe me, she was still looking for an addition.” He continued. “Or two, but nopony had the right… pull.”
Kat, though, hadn’t heard a single word. The bad thing about being in a pony’s body for Kat was the occasional tendency to have pony urges. And one in particular was acting up when she caught sight of Typhon’s new form. His tall stature along with his impressive build made her eyes go a bit wide, and she even, absentmindedly, licked her lips lustfully. “Oh my,” she muttered near silently to herself.
“May I go back to the matter at hoof?” He said, turning to Kat. Now that he wasn’t human, the same pony sensations running through Kat’s mind had kicked into gear in Typhon’s. She was around Twilight’s own height, albeit more mature than the scholar, and her curves were now much more alluring than they had been adorable to his eyes. “May I have this dance?”
Then something else started playing.
Taking her foreleg in his own, they rose to their hind legs, stepping to the rhythm to keep their balance. She proved deft on her own as he let her go for a spin, then they resumed their swaying.
Her coat was soft, and the music carried them away from the crowd, if only for a moment. Kat felt light as a feather, this time not because of her powers. The way they moved had so much grace and romance, she just got so swept up in it all. For the first time in a long while, Kat was loving the little things.
For his part, Typhon was loving the subtle energy just bubbling under the surface. He felt a future, something more than just his plans; this all had been so spontaneous and surprising, he loved every second of it.
The song ended, but he didn’t feel like letting go just yet, and she, too, seemed to let her touch linger for a little longer than ‘decorum’ would deem necessary.
“Are you enjoying your party?” He asked in a whisper. “I hate seeing others sad, you know.”
“I’m enjoying myself immensely,” she said quietly. “Nothing like this has happened in a long while. Thank you, Typhon.”
“You have no need to thank me.” He chuckled. “If anything, I should have done this ‘sooner’, relative to you, given that Gilgamesh just told me about you few days ago.”
“Well, what are you waiting for, sillies?” Pinkie clapped her hooves. “Kiss!”
“If that is what the lady wants…” Typhon let the question hang into the air. Kat didn’t say anything, just planting a kiss right on his lips.
He felt the warmth of her breathing, the beating of her heart. It was a blissful pause to any thoughts he might have had at the time. It was like when he connected to the sky, which told him that yes, it was happening, and it was beautiful.
They separated very slowly. He smiled as her breath swept over his coat.
“An unexpected development, but I think it wasn’t exactly unwelcome, was it?” He smiled, not caring that they hadn’t moved since the end of the song.
“Not in the slightest,” Kat sighed. “You...wouldn’t mind if I stayed a little while… would you?” she asked ever so hopefully.
“Kat, you are brave, loyal to a fault, and passionate. I wouldn’t mind at all.” He replied, seeing her bashful smile. “The way you have spoke, it seems to me that you have been drifting for far too long. I know your family isn’t in this world, and you will want to go back to them; I support that, and I have experience in travelling through the Void. I want to help you, and will accept your choice, no matter what that is.”
For the first time in a very, very, very long time, Kat had a deep blush. Not one of embarrassment or due to a, ahem, biological reason. No, this was one of true affection. She looked into his eyes, the blush only deepening further. “Merde, you really know how to push just the right buttons, don’t you?”
“I pride myself in my ability to hear the faintest whispers, and things that cannot be heard by normal ears.” He straightened slightly, puffing out his chest. “Hearts are hardly silent, yet they go ignored… but not by me.”
He brought a hoof to caress a lock of hair out of her face. She was so… relaxed, content, and it made him feel great.
Kat smiled at him again, shyly looking away before muttering. “Oh, ce que l'enfer.” She kissed him again, surprising Typhon with the intensity yet it was very blissful.
He embraced her, running a hoof through her mane, feeling the softness of her coat, the little ebbs and eddies of the energies contained within, and the not so-subtle flows as well. Her intensity, her courage… qualities that would go unnoticed at a glance screamed out at his ears, and he could not help but go with that flow, curious as to where it would lead.
After she pulled back, he kissed her again, more softly yet confidently.
“I guess there is so much that we have to tell each other, but I think there are other things you’d like to do first…”
“Well, I may not be an easy mare to get,” she said with a hint of her confidence back. “But, you certainly have me now, Mr. Typhon.”
Pinkie clapped her hooves, managing to bring them back to Sugar Cube Corner.
Typhon liked to just let go of his powers and allow himself to be surprised, but maybe he could have done so somewhere with less ponies, or when he wasn’t part of the center of attention.
“Well, there is food, drinks, and the day is far from over.” He said. “We can pick this up… later.”
Kat nodded. “I’d like that,” she whispered to him. “So Pinkie, got anything else planned for my ‘Welcome’ party?”
“Well~” She sing-songed. “I was going to introduce you to aaaall my friends to help make you happy, but you are happy - which is good! Everypony deserves to smile. There’s the dancing, and I have a piñata!”
She produced a papier-mache sun with a smiley face on it.
“Is there a reason that looks like Celestia’s cutie mark?” Kat asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Huh?” Pinkie turned it over. “Well, it’s popular with foals, maybe because she’s so motherly? And who can say ‘no’ to free candy?”
“Ponies recovering from pancreatic disorders?”
“Well, other than them.”
“Ponies with diabeetus?” Kat said, using the weird saying on purpose.
“Almost, mostly preventing it.” Typhon chuckled. “Still, it’s mostly the races without as much magic as ponies. Ponies are very durable.”
“Then why don’t you stay a pony?” Twilight asked.
“Because, as a human, my powers aren’t related to my physical stamina, for one.” He replied. “And pain tolerance is the same no matter how drained I am.”
“Should I put this up?” Pinkie lifted the piñata over her head. “I mean, if that’s OK with your pancreas.”
“Sure, I cheat on my health care anyways. Thanks Obama!” Kat shouted out of nowhere.
Typhon busted out laughing. “Oh God, I got that one!”
“Yes!” she cheered. “Finally someone who gets my references!”
“You will love my little Prospit, then, she’s been on the Internet a lot.” Typhon chuckled.
And like that, Kat passed the day surrounded by ponies that loved her. It wasn’t quite her family, but Typhon told her to think about it as getting to know wonderful ponies all over again, doubling the size of her family.