I don’t realize I’ve fallen asleep until I’m woken up.
“Rarity, I’m home!” Owww that is a high pitch...
“Oh, hello, Sweetie Belle. Don’t forget to wipe your hooves on the mat.”
“I know, I did.” The voice is definitely youthful. There’s silence for about three seconds, then a scream. “What’s that!?” My eyes snap open from sheer volume, letting me get a look at a tiny white pony with two-tone hair.
I pick up the little white pony by her midsection and reply. “Something that doesn’t wanna be disturbed.” I put the shaking filly back on the ground and fold my arms. “Am I clear?”
Somehow, she manages to stammer out a reply. “Y- yes mister...”
“Smart kid.”
She dashes up the stairs as fast as she can. I assume there’s a living space up there. What business buildings don’t have sleeping accommodations around here?
Rarity, still at her sewing machine, addresses me. “Did you have to be so harsh, Anthony?”
“No,” I grump at her.
She huffs. “Obviously, but I mean... why?”
“Because remembering something is easier if it scares you.” I shrug at the obviousness of the answer.
“You are absolutely terrible.” Rarity fumes.
“Yep.” Strangely, she actually continues with the clothes. If it were me, I’d kick the bastard out in a second.
After a while, I’m woken up again. My leg is being poked. Out of all possible happenstances, it’s most likely that filly. Obviously she doesn’t realize I’m awake, as she continues her ‘inspection’. Why is it that the first thing kids try is poking me?
I can still hear the sewing machine running. That’s expected, I doubt anyone in equestria has made any clothes for a human.
The filly has changed her tactics. She’s lifted up my pant leg and is feeling around my calf. I decide to remind her of our agreement. “Enjoying yourself, kid?”
I get a startled “Eep.” as my response. This time I pick her up by her tail. “Now, what do you think I’m going to do?”
I watch her wide eyes as her mind races, trying to come up with what might be her fate.
“L- let me go?” That tone is so hopeful, it sounds almost deluded.
“Well, let’s go over what I could do...” I start.
She gulps audibly as I begin.
“I could boil you alive, I could throw you into a fridge until you either freeze or suffocate, I could bury you alive with three minutes of air and see if you can dig yourself out in time, I could stomp on you so hard your spine snaps...”
She’s crying now, but I recognize it as the kind of crying a kid does to get out of trouble and I resolutely ignore it. Fake tears are pointless
“I could tie you to a board and throw knives at you until you get stabbed. I could squeeze your head until your skull cracks. I could tear off body parts until you die from blood loss. I could find out what roasted filly tastes like. I could do all sorts of things. Now, what do you think I’m going to do, furball?”
She whimpers, eyes still wet but the crocodile tears are gone.
“I’m going to give you one more chance.” I set her down again. “Dont. Screw. This. Up.”
She nods rapidly and rushes back up the stairs. I turn to Rarity, staring at me, looking like she’s going to be sick. Finally she finds words. “You’re an animal!”
“Aren’t we all?” I ask. After all, a mammal is a mammal.
“That’s not what I meant, that was the most disgusting display I’ve ever witnessed! To suggest you’d do such things, and to a filly no less!”
“Nobody said you had to like me.” I head for the door, and then the door swings open and I am magically pushed outside.
“Don’t show your face around my boutique again! Nopony does that to my little sister!” The door slams shut. I head back to the library.
I’m walking along, when there’s suddenly something in my path that wasn’t there before, and I trip. Once I pick myself up off the ground, I realize that whatever tripped me is groaning.
Again, another young pony, this one orange with a helmet on. She gives me a weird look, then looks down and yells. “What the hay!?”
“What’s your problem, kid?”
“You broke my scooter, jerk!” I’m already in a bad mood, and now she’s blaming me for something?
Scowling, I retort, “You were in my way!”
“What are you anyway?” she says, scowling right back at me, “Doesn’t matter, you owe me a new scooter!”
“The heck I do, if you can’t watch where you’re going, you deal with your own problems.”
“Pay. Me. Back!” This kid has attitude. Well, so do I.
“Soak. Your. Head!” Then, the most unexpected thing happens. She tries to punch me. “You think that’s gonna hurt?”
“Not as much as Rainbow Dash will hurt you when she hears about this!” I roll my eyes.
She’s ran off, leaving her broken scooter at my feet. Weird kid...
I realize I’m kind of hungry, and I see a bunch of market stalls. One of them should have food.
Unfortunately, every market stall I approach immediately closes as soon as I’m within two meters. Jerks. I keep going, and eventually I see Applejack. At least she’d sell me something.
“Howdy Anthony. How’re ya doin’?” She twinges a bit when she says my name, probably because it gets stuck in the mouth of someone who uses contractions with every other word.
“Hungry. And nobody here seems to want my business.”
“Yeah, but hey, more business for the Apple Family!”
“That’s the attitude, AJ.” I hand her some Bits, the local currency that Twilight supplied me with, and I’m passed three apples.
Then I feel a tug on my pants. Looking down I see another kid, this one is yellow with a red mane and a pink hairbow almost bigger than her head. “Uh... hi mister...” At least she’s nice. “Are you, uh, Anthony?”
I’m a little surprised at this, someone who doesn’t recognize me knows my name. “Yes, I am. Do you need something?”
Applejack responded for the filly. “I’ve been tellin’ mah kin ‘bout ya. They all wanna meet ya, but there never seemed to be a good time for it. This here’s Applebloom, she’s mah li’ sister.”
“I see. Well, I’m actually free right now, nothing else to do for the rest of the day.”
“This’s perfect! Ah’m gonna close up here in a couple hours and head back to Sweet Apple Acres. Ya can come with and meet the rest o’ th’ Apple Family.”
Well, that does sound better than doing nothing. “Deal, but uh... I think I’ll keep my distance for now. I’m not very good at attracting customers.”
“Yeah, they jus’ needa get used t’ya. Don’t know how long that’ll take, tho’.”
Now AJ, Applebloom and I are headed back to Sweet Apple Acres. It’s actually the first place I’ve heard of which has a name that is completely relevant to their business. Carousel Boutique didn’t look like a carnival ride, The library isn’t even yellow, let alone golden, so that just sounds weird. Sugarcube Corner comes close, but misses the mark if you ask me.
It’s quite the trek to the farm, and I’m not tired, but I’m pretty sure we aren’t in Ponyville anymore. A big red barn comes into view, so I at least know we’re close.
As Applejack leads us to the farmhouse, a big red stallion comes up. And I mean big. This guy is built like a freaking army tank. Also, he doesn’t even blink when he sees me. Props, big red guy, you have my respect already.
“Howdy, Big Mac, this here’s Anthony, we’ll get you met proper once we’re settled and Granny’s awake.” Another twinge at my name. Maybe she doesn’t like it. Oh well.
“Eeyup.”
Not big on talking apparently. I don’t like chatterboxes much anyway.
After a while, I’m sat down at a table with a bunch of ponies, Applejack informs me that they planned on having me for dinner. Since I’m getting free food, complaining is the last thing I’m going to do. Anyway, introductions start before we actually eat, but that’s fine with me. Applejack begins, pointing to Big Mac. “This here’s Big Macintosh. He’s my big brother and he does all the really heavy lifting and plowing around here.”
“Eeyup.” Comes the stallion’s reply.
“Heh, he don’t usually have much ta say.”
“Nope.” The stallion says, staying a man of few words.
“Ya’ll already met ‘Bloom back at th’ market.”
Applebloom asked me a rather sudden question. “How strong are ya? D’ya think you’re stronger than Big Mac?”
I just shrug. “I see no reason why we’d have to compete over something like that, so I honestly don’t care.”
“Nope.”
“Heh, guess ya ain’t gettin’ yer answer from them, sis. Anyway, that over there is Granny Smith. She was here when Ponyville was still just a patch o’ dirt”
“Howdy-doo, young’un.” Well this mare is... old. Very old. But I wasn’t about to suggest she was weak, oh no, my own grandmother proved that old people could be strong folks.
“Hiya.” I paused. I noticed something was missing. Brother, Sister, Grandma... Where’s AJs parents? “So AJ, is this really everyone?”
“Well... not really. But they ain’t... uh... here.”
The realization catches me. “Oh, I see.” That sucks.
“Yeah, they’re at their own places all over Equestria.” She then proceeded to list off the most spectacular amount of names I’d ever heard in one sitting. This was one huge family. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, Nephews, and the she mentions their extended family including the Oranges. Heh, Apples and Oranges, that’s funny.
Anyway, Applejack produced name after name after name, enough to drown me in words if such a thing was possible. As she kept on a rant that I had to assume either involved extreme memory or lots of practice, the rest of the family, well, the ones that were here that is, set the table and brought out the food.
Once dinner is finished, it’s time for me to leave and the Apples to go to bed. As I walked down the path away from the farmhouse, I noticed someone was following me. I stopped, and eventually my tracker, Applebloom, caught up. She handed me an apple fritter.
“Here, ya can have this for free. I made it mahself!”
“Thanks ‘Bloom, that’s great!” I like this filly. She’s nice!
“I hope ya come visit again soon, this was fun!” I agree that we should do this again sometime and continue to the field by the schoolhouse. I take a big bite out of the treat. Applebloom did a fantastic job. I think she’s the nicest filly I’ve met today.
I wake up in the field, and surprisingly, I do so of my own volition. I sit up and enjoy the sun on my skin. In fact, I take off my shirt since it’s so warm. I should still have a few minutes before I head to work. I think about what happens when I Spark. My body goes somewhat see-through, so...
I look down at my bare chest, and Spark up. What I see is really cool. It seems my body just turns into energy of some sort, as my upper body has less of a shape, but more of a suggestion around a white pulsing core. I realize the core isn’t quite where my heart is, more centered in the middle of my ribcage area, and its pulses are much more smooth, and far slower than, my heartbeat. Cool.
I put on my shirt and head off to the train station. I grab the shovel, but after a while I just end up tossing coal in with my hands. I start thinking about how I can Spark or grow but not both. They seem to be separate abilities, I ponder what other powers I might have if any. I Spark up and look at my hand. There’s no coal dust on it. I revert, and there’s still no dust, as if Sparking just cleaned me off. Of course my clothes are still filthy, but my skin is perfectly fine. Weird.
I pick up a lump of coal and toss it into the furnace. I decide that it’s rather slow so I grab a handful... but I just end up holding a single lump. I swear I... Woah. I’m holding at least five lumps, but they weigh almost nothing. I know for a fact that coal is denser than this, no matter what world you’re in.
I pick up the entire pile. It weighs nothing. No way. And they should be falling apart, there’s no way I’m supporting the entire pile with just two arms. Celestia and I already tested my strength. Thinking about it, I thrust a fist into the side of the train car as hard as I can.
*CLANNNNG*
“Sonofabitch that hurts!”
Okay, I’m not any stronger. But then... how did I lift the entire pile of coal? I pick up a medium sized chunk and inspect it. I squeeze my fist around it, and it starts to crumble. I close my fist, and when I reopen it, there’s nothing but black powder. All I can think of is how that pile of dust used to be a solid chunk of coal. And as I think it, the dust forms back into a solid lump once more.
“Woah...”
I look at my clothes. They’re coated in coal dust. I wave my hand over my shirt, and all the dust lifts off, pooling into my hand. I reform the dust into lumps once more. I look to the pile once more. I hold out my hand, and I command a lump of coal into my grasp. The lump flies up and slaps into my palm. I aim my hand and the coal at the furnace, and the lump flies into the inferno. This is incredible. Wait... the inferno... I take another lump and focus on it. It’s main use as a combustible energy source. Combustion. Fire...
The lump ignites! I can actually burn and manipulate coal at will! It’s a little tiring, but I could do it all day!
I turn my focus to the rest of the pile. It floats up into the air. All of it. I then crush the entire ensemble into dust, and swirl it around me. Then, I form it into one giant ball of solid coal. I then try more. It becomes a perfect sphere, then a cube. Multiple polygons later, I realize just how much control I have. I don’t know why it only seems to work with coal, but it’s so amazing I honestly don’t care. Admittedly, I can feel its weight, but even the massive pile, in the form of a massive ‘ingot’, is almost nothing. It’s like picking up a one-pound weight, nothing more.
I notice that my shift is up, and so I head home, but not before pocketing a lump and converting the floating cubicuboctahedron into the pile it used to be. I didn’t want anyone to walk in and find any complex polyhedra lying around. Well, I make it into cubes, anyways. Easier to move around.
I walk down the road, levitating the lump of coal above my hand, repeatedly converting it from dust to solid. Suddenly, an idea hits me. I ignite the coal. I make it burn hot. Hotter. Blazing heat radiating from it. Soon, it’s white-hot. Perfect. I apply pressure to it mentally. As much pressure as I can. I focus on the carbon that is the coal’s atomic makeup.
Pressure. Heat. Pressure. Heat. I start to sweat from exertion. Ignore it, I gotta keep my focus. Soon, I can’t put any more energy into the process. I drop the glowing lump on the ground and catch my breath.
I take another look at the lump. It takes a minute to cool down, and realize my success. A diamond. It’s rounded and sort of mashed like the lump it used to be, but this is fantastic.
Panting, I stand up and raise the diamond above my head, examining it in the light of the sun.
“What in the world?” I see my new trinket has gathered the attention of a certain white unicorn. This route must be one she takes often.
I respond. “It... it’s a diamond.” Whoo, that kinda took it out of me.
“May... may I see that?”
I hand it to her, she levitates it close to her eye as she studies it. “The shape is negligible, but nevertheless... this is amazing. Where in Equestria did you find this, Anthony?” She seems to have completely forgotten her utter hatred of me.
“I made it.”
“Really? How long did it take you?”
I check the clock tower and make an estimate. “About three minutes.”
“Anthony, I’m serious.” She says, looking at me disbelievingly.
“So am I. I’m just as shocked as you are.” I admit, raising my arms a bit.
She looks at me. “You... you really aren’t lying...?”
“I need another lump of coal. I have to show Twilight!”
I grab the diamond back and put it into my pocket. I Spark up and think about how I ran when I was racing Rainbow Dash. It only takes a few moments this time before I burst forward. I then realize my chance. I’m going to run another test with my intangibility. I look ahead and see a few ponies moving some piece of furniture. I head right for them and act as though they aren’t even there. The ponies freak out as they see me coming, I’m most likely just a blur of radiating cyan light. Nothing will stop me. And it doesn’t.
I dash straight through the couch. I’m an untouchable glow of extreme speed. I realize I need to turn a corner. Uh oh. I think fast and hope my plan works. As soon as I reach where I need to change direction, I angle my body to the side and kick the ground, pushing me to the side. I’m launched down the road and I straighten my path. I’m sure doing that made me lose a lot of speed, but so far I don’t care. I do know from previous experience that sudden stops end badly, so I accept that if I plan on stopping, I’ll have to slow down first.
I’m approaching the library, so I calm my pace down to a rapid trot and then just a fast walk. I power down and enter the building. I do get an attack of dizziness and some bright floaties once I stop glowing though. Okay, no extreme power usage and then switching powers like that... not healthy.
“Twilight!” I shout up the stairs. “Get your notebook, I have new powers!”
“What!?” The response came from the upper room. I jump up the stairs and open the door to her bedroom. Once she sees me, she looks furious. “Don’t yell in a library, it’s supposed to be quiet.” I ignore her and pull the diamond out of my pocket. The sight of the gem shuts her up rather quick. She’s stammering. Then, she explodes in anger. “You stole a diamond!?”
I’m almost blown back by her outburst, she is practically foaming at the mouth. I am honestly scared for my safety. I swear her mane is smoking.
“N- no, I didn’t.” I say, throwing up my hands defensively. “I made this! I swear!”
She is hyperventilating, eyes wide. It’s not until she drops to the ground that I realize she had been levitating. She must have been quite angry.
“Anthony... please. Just... what?” Her hyperventilating has calmed down to ragged breathing.
“Sit down, Twi. I’m gonna tell something that’s gonna freak you out.”
“So... you can manipulate coal, set it on fire, and turn it into diamond?” Twilight asks incredulously.
“Take a look.” I say, grinning as I hand the diamond to her
She levitates the diamond closer to her face. “Well... there’s not much denying this used to be a lump of coal, given the shape, but I’d expect a bit more deformation...”
“If I can get some coal, I could show you.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but I’m sure the princesses would like to see this as well.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” I admit, I am more than ready to show off now that I’ve gotten used to the power for the most part. Around half an hour later, the two princesses arrive.
“What in Equestria is so important that I must be woken up at this abhorrent hour, sister?” Luna asks with a yawn.
“Anthony has something to show us.” Celestia explains, not sounding very interested herself.
Luna gives a half-asleep shrug. “I’ve already seen what he is capable of.”
I cross my arms. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Forgive me if I *yawn* withhold my enthusiasm...” Luna remarks sarcastically. Man, she’s grumpy when she doesn’t sleep.
“Forgiven. Now take a look at this.” I hold up a lump of coal Twilight provided me with. At the moment, she is off to the side armed with parchment, a quill, and protective goggles. Smart girl, that one.
“It is coal.” Luna says, visibly annoyed. Then I turn it to dust and swirl it around her head. I stop the swirling and form it into a cube. “Amazing...” Luna seems hypnotized.
I then grab the cube in my thumb and index finger, and squish it back down into dust. I throw it up into the air, and stop the dust in midair, the particles hovering in the air like an inverted night sky. Luna and Celestia stare at the display in speechless shock.
“Would you kindly bring me more coal?” I ask, and I can feel myself smiling hard.
Celestia casts a teleportation spell, summoning a bag of coal in front of me. “Now I’ll do something interesting.” I pull up a bunch of coal, and add it to my own, and make a perfectly round orb. I continue showing a bunch of shapes. Curves, faces, angles, twists. I return it to a sphere. I toss it into the air and it starts spinning. It splits into two and, as dust once more, I pull it around my hands, where it solidifies. I have made a nice set of gauntlets.
I grab the rest of the coal from the sack and form a thick, round barrier around me which tessellates into a mass of thin, sharp blades. The blades fly up and whirl around in the air, and become edged wheels, flattening further into saw blades. At this point, Twilight has moved to her third ink well. The blades combine, becoming dull and long. I grab it and give my new baseball bat a few heavy swings. The bat thins out and lengthens into a sword. I hold the blade up, pointing it’s blade toward the ceiling, then bring it down with a rapid slash. There’s still some coal left over, so I use it to fashion myself a buckler as well.
Celestia approaches me. “Anthony, that’s... fantastic! You-”
I hold up my hand to stop her. “If you would please step back, I will continue.”
Celestia backs up once more. Luna is too amazed to say or do anything. I feel so incredible. The immortal princesses of Equestria are awestruck by me. Me!
I remove the buckler, and focus on the sword. It bursts into flame, causing gasps of surprise from all three ponies present. I swing it around, a trail of flame following the blade with each slice. I then compress the sword into a pair of balls of fire. I toss them around, controlling their movements through the air, like small meteors, blazing around the room at high speed. I then have them slam into each other and burst like a firework, flaming coal pebbles rain from the explosion. I then form them into a giant ring of fire overhead. I put it out and bring it down, compressing it along with more coal into a solid crescent moon shape. Luna walks up to it, but I stop her.
“The finale is not over yet.” I pause. “If you don’t have protective eyewear, I’d suggest you stay far back.”
Both princesses back up, not taking their eyes off my sculpture. I focus on what I did with the other lump of coal. If I can make a diamond that retains it’s shape...
My equine audience stares on as I heat it up. I repeat the earlier process. Sweat beads on my forehead. I wipe it away, putting more effort into the conversion. After a while, I’m worn out. I don’t remember falling, but I’m on my knees anyway. The white hot coal cools, revealing a stunning formation. The diamond is in a perfect crescent-moon shape, exactly as it was as coal. I’m so tired.
Luna approaches me once more. I hand the jewel to her. Her voice sounds like I’m under water again, and I black out.