Chapter 3
For a middle aged mare like Granny, Life was excellent. This weekend was when the Town hall would be built, and the train station would be constructed. The residents of ponyville were allowed to come up with the outside design of the train that would be used for back and forth trips to canterlot. That young filly’s parents would be one of the first to ride it.
As Granny Smith trotted through the town, smiling as she headed toward her home on the farm. She and her children were supposed to be bucking trees for food today but she couldn’t help but just take a stroll.
Granny caught a glimpse of something off to the left of her vision, A tall bipedal thing. It had the gall to just stroll into town. Whatever it was, it was very intimidating. It’s bare chest, revealing two nipples suggested that it was a girl, but having not read about anything like this before, Granny wasn’t sure.
She hid out of sight as the creature walked past her. She heard it say in a very masculine tone. “Where is everyone?” She gasped, a little too loud. The creature heard her.
Brad stopped and looked around, having heard the gasp. He spotted a piece of shaking plywood leaned up against the side of a half-finished house. Moving it, he could see a green mare with a yellow bonnet on her head. She was shaking furiously, almost petrified in fear.
He knelt down, stroking the pony’s mane, whispering calming words to her. Her ears poked upward at him. In a shaky,southern tone, she yelped. “Don’t hurt me!”
“I would never dream of such a thing.” he said in a calming and soothing voice, studying the mare’s form as she quivered before him. “Relax. I have no intention of harming you or any other pony.” She visually began to relax, although still obviously quaking in terror on the inside.
“What are you?” She asked in her southern drawl. “For such an intelligent creature, especially one so civilized, I’m surprised i’ve never heard of…”
“Human?” Brad offered politely.
“Yes! A human that is so culturized in the school textbooks.” Granny exclaimed.
Brad was not sure why he found this funny, but he chuckled lightly. “Whats your name? Mine is Brad.”
“Granny Apple Smith. At your service!” She curtsied.
“Nice to meet you, Granny Apple Smith. If you would prefer, would you mind if I called you just Granny? For simplicity’s sake?”
“Sure thang Brad! Are you hungry? I should be getting back to the farm now, family is probably wondering where I am. Not to mention look after my grand-foals, Big Mcintosh and Applejack! They were born just three years ago!
“May I meet them?” He asked, anxious to find a warm bed after sleeping on that uncomfortable floor earlier.
“Well sure! I’ll lead the way! Just follow me!” Granny took off, trotting towards a huge barn in the distance. It was a pale red color, looking like it needed fresh paint. “Here we are!” She exclaimed when they arrived, pointing proudly with her hoof towards the opened door to a house that was the same pale red that the barn had. Brad walked inside and instantly heard screaming. Not one of despair, but one of an infant, originating from upstairs. He followed Granny Smith upstairs, stopping near a door where the screaming was the loudest. Inside, he could hear shushing from inside along with faint singing.
“Hush now, quiet now its time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now quiet now its time to go to bed~.” A feminine voice sang sweetly. Brad felt enticed to open the door, but he remained firm and removed his hand from the strangely shaped doorknob. He looked around to see Granny Smith sitting down near him, her hat in her hooves with a bowed head, she looked to be crying.
Moving away from the door towards the green mare, he spoke softly. “Why are you crying?”
Sniffling, she raised her head toward him. A happy, yet sad, smile was upon her face. The two contradicting emotions were both showing, giving brad a sense of ambivalence, or a fight between two conflicting feelings, She was both happy and sad. “Because that mare has the most beautiful voice, yet she was determined to stay here instead of following that dream of hers to become a world-famous singer. She’s loyal to her family, after she met ‘Apple Tree’, she decided to stay here and become part of the Apple Family, both physically and mentally.” She looked down and sighed. “Its a shame. Her voice is absolutely stunning.” She paused for a minute before getting up and walking to the door. “Lets introduce you to the family.”
She opened the door and Brad was greeted with the sight of an orange mare. Her head was keeping a swinging crib taut as she leant against it. Her ears perked toward the door. “Yes?” The mare asked.
“I have a visitor. He isn’t from here and may look a mite scary, but he has a gentle heart. I thought to introduce you two before making him some grub. You’re welcome to join.” Granny Smith said, opening the door to reveal Brad fully to the mare. She gasped in shock but quickly recovered.
“My name is Brad. I promise you, that as Granny said, My heart is gentle and pure.” After speaking, Brad bowed to the mare who blushed.
“My, my Softly Spoken,” Granny stated, staring in awe at her. Brad followed her gaze until it laid upon an orange amulet. Delicately crafted and looked very, very expensive. “What is that around your neck? It looks beautiful.”
The orange mare blushed in response before waving it off. “I found it yesterday. It was under my bed for some reason. I asked around and was unable to find the owner of the amulet. So, I decided to keep it.”
“Well, thats mighty kind of ya. To put in the effort to find it’s owner. It means you care. Just be sure to return it if you do find the owner.” Granny said, to which Softly Spoken nodded.
Brad walked toward it, entranced in its bizarre beauty. He reached out to touch it but stopped himself. “May I?” He asked politely.
“You may.” She took the amulet off and hoofed it to him. Gripping it in his hand, a brilliant light began to glow from it, as well as a blue light from his pocket. Both mares gasped at the sight. Brad took out the blue gem and held it in the other hand. Both gems vibrated brilliantly as they drew closer. the blue gem began blinking, turning an orange instead of blue.
Without any warning, the now-orange shard flew from his hand and pointed directly towards the new gem, it shot forward with tremendous speed, bathing the room in a brilliant orange light. When the light faded, they were shocked to find the amulet completely shattered. seemingly beyond repair. but before their eyes, the thousands of shards began to glow brilliantly. Nobody noticed the single shard fly into the small orange foal in the crib. the rest, began to swirl around the orange shard that was previously blue. a few began to combine with it while the rest shot into Brad’s chest at near the speed of light.
As the light died. Brad was passed out on the floor.
