Timeless Rulers

by Arcanum -Phantasy

Harvest's Mother-In-Law

Harvest's Mother-In-Law

"Are you sure?!" Mirth hour cried, gripping a slightly annoyed green alicorn by her shoulders.

"For the millionth time,"Grapevine growled. "I. Am. Sure!"

A trace of doubt lingered in the multicolored stallion's eyes as he let go of his fellow High Royal. Grapevine caught this and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Look, I'm The Princess of Wine, remember? I can enter other ponies drunken hazes and keep them from doing anything too stupid. The more smashed somepony gets the more haze I can enter, and you two were pretty recked."

He nodded, looking only a little bit less frantic.

"Besides, don't you have a thing for that mare anyway? So what's the problem with getting a bit of flank?"

Mirth Hour's face turned such a bright shade of red, all of the other colors in that part of his coat seemed to disappear.

"THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!!!"

Both of them flinched as the castle's acoustics amplified Mirth Hour's version of The Royal Canterlot Voice. Something of a taboo if your standing in a castle full of very easily irritated alicorns at five in the morning.

Slightly less red-faced, Mirth Hour cleared his throat and with a shaky voice not worthy of a pony of his rank, continued.

"Sorry. The thing is, I really do have a thing for Pinkie Pie and that's exactly why I don't want to do anything to buck this up. I mean, what if we did do something and she thinks I'm only after her for her body?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Grapevine shrugged.

"Hey! A stallion's got needs and when you live as long as we do it's kinda hard to keep a steady relationship," Mirth snapped. "Besides, most of those mares just wanted to be with me for my title or as a trophy. But Pinkie's different; she looks at me and sees "me", not "Second Prince Mirth Hour, Ruler of Theaques". Do you have any idea how great that feels? No pony has ever made me feel like that in twelve thousand years!"

Grapevine gave him a big grin.

"That must've been one hell of a kiss then."

He returned her smile.

"Girl, you have no idea."

"So what are you panicking so much for? If she's so amazing I'm sure she wouldn't mind getting a little action so long as it was with you."

"M-Maybe," he mumbled, still filled with a bit of doubt. "But what if I got her pregnant."

"Imposable," Grapevine deadpanned.

"Because Alicorns can't reproduce?"

"No. BECAUSE NOTHING! BUCKING!! HAPPENED!!!"

"My you two sure are routy this morning," chuckled a much older green alicorn as she stepped into the room.

"Morning Drassiel," Grapevine smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very," she yawned. "Now what has the two of you so riled-up?"

Grapevine flashed Mirth Hour a venomous glare before answering.

"Lover boy over here is freaking out because he decided to get drunk one night with his new marefriend and woke-up in bed with her."

"I see," she said, face showing maternal indifference as she shifted her attention to the alicorn stallion. "Is this true?"

"Yes ma'am," Mirth cringed, feeling like a foal caught steeling a cookie.

"Do you truly care for this mare?"

"Absolutely."

Drassiel saw the determined glint in the younger Royal's eyes and her features softened.

"Good. So long as she feels the same way about you I fail to see the need for such theatrics. Even from you."

"Yeah!" Grapevine cried. "Besides, I don't think Pinkie Pie's the type of mare that plays "tong hockey" with somepony she didn't really like."

"Pinkie Pie?" Drassiel asked. "That is certainly a unique name."

"No kidding," Grapevine chuckled. "But trust me, it fits."

"Though it does sound familiar," Drassiel said, putting a hoof to her chin, muzzle scrunched in thought. "Now where did I hear it."

"Probably in the paper," Grapevine said, flashing a cheshire's grin at the uncomfortable Prince. "She is one of First Princess Celestia's Elements of Harmony after all."

A look of recognition crossed Drassiel's face.

"Ah, yes, now I remember. The Element of Laughter," Drassiel gave Mirth a slightly mischievous smile of approval. "Well done Mirth hour."

"Thank you."

"The only problem is," Grapevine grumbled, glaring at her friend. "This twit thinks the two of them were screwing around and no matter what I tell him he won't listen!"

"I see," she smiled. "Well, do you mind if I go and see if this "Pinkie Pie" is really expecting?"

Mirth gave her a confused scowl.

"Of course, but how are you gonna-

"That's right!" Grapevine cried, a relieved smile crossing her lips. "You're the Princess of Nature! Fertility and pregnancy are within your domain!"

Drassiel nodded.

"With just a glance I should be able to tell weather or not a pony is pregnant. Would my word be sufficient enough to alleviate your fears?"

He nodded.

"Very well."

With that, she turned and made her way back down the hall she'd gone down, a light chuckle slipping past her lips.

Oh that former student of mine; still giving her friends a hard time.

***

The early morning rays cascaded across the dew soaked green fields surrounding Princess Twilight's castle, giving the healthy green carpet a brilliant rainbow sheen. Taking in this bright display was a single green alicorn standing just three feet away from the castle's main entrence. She hummed as a cool breeze passed over her, her emerald green mane flowing with it like the leafy branches of a weeping willow.

So beautiful, she thought, smiling blissfully as she breathed in the crisp air.

Still taking in her surroundings, the Princess of Nature made the trip towards Ponyville, her stride slow and leisurely so as not to rush past this moment of peace.

Ah, what an excellent day for a stroll.

Long walks were always a zen moment for Drassiel. It always helped her organize her thoughts as well as revitalized her in ways ponies could never understand. This was mostly because the bottoms of her hooves connected with the natural flow of magic in the earth. Because of this, she seldom used her wings when traveling , only doing so when she needed to get to places quickly. It was also through these currents of power that she was able to get a reading of all the different lifeforms around her, including the one she was searching for.

She smiled as the flow of energy locked onto a small pulse of bouncing energy moving towards an enormous mass of earth pony energy.

My, my, she thought. What a fine twist of fate.

With a tingle of excitement running through her, Drassiel continued her casual stride, though at a slightly quicker pace than before.

***

It was a typical early morning at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack and her brother Big Macintosh were going about their normal routines.

Looks like its gonna' be a good day today, Applejack thought, wiping her brow.

With a satisfied smirk, she eyed the eighty-two loaded baskets she filled no more then six minutes ago.

"Ah just might finish a li'll early today."

Smiling, she moved into position to buck her next tree when all of a sudden, a pink pony magically popped out from under a pebble in front of her.

"YEEAAH!" she yelped, falling flat on her belly.

"Hiya Applejack!" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing in place.

"Hey Pinkie," Applejack groaned, staggering to her hooves, desperately trying to get her heart back into her chest.

"Are you okay?" Pinkie asked, stoping her bouncing to get a good look at the cowpony. "You look like ya saw a ghost."

"Nah, I'm fine," Applejack smiled. "Just don't do that again. Ah don't think my heart can handle it."

"Okie dokie lokie," she smiled. ""Oh by the way, did you see what happened yesterday? That was amazing!"

"Ya mean that weird earthquake?"

"Yeah! Yeah! That was really really crazy right?"

"Heh, tell me about it," she sighed, glancing at some uprooted trees not too far away.

***

Pinkie nestled herself into Mirth Hour's barrel, loving the feel of her new coaltfriend's frame against her's. Feeling a little more mischievous than usual, she lightly traced a hoof across him slowly counting all the colors in his coat. The dozing stallion would twitch, but the party pony was careful not to bring her lover any closer to the waking world than that.

He's hot even when he's asleep, she thought, barely containing an impish giggle.

She had just got to two hundred thirty-seven when her whole body broke into shivers fallowed by a twitchy tail and a her mane frizzing. Her eyes widened in terror and at a speed that would've made Rainbow Dash jealous, shot out of bed. In a matter of seconds she was standing in the middle of Ponyville, took a deep breath, then yelled at the top of her lungs, "EVERYPONY TAKE COVER!!!"

A second later, a massive orange shock wave soared over the town, knocking several pegesi out of the sky. Afterwards, the ground let out a grinding roar as it shook with the force of an angry dragon. Pinkie, Rarity, and a small group of unicorns quickly went to work, saving the stunned pegesi and doing whatever they could to keep the buildings from toppling over. Anypony else took shelter wherever they could. Though the town wasn't the only place to feel the effects of this phenomenon.

When the wave made it to Sweet Apple Acres, the farm's namesake crop took the brunt of the blow, uprooting most of the younger trees and knocking the leaves off of the older ones while the fallowing quake caused a few of them to split down the middle. Applebloom and Granny Smith took shelter in the house while her older siblings tried to keep falling debris from coming near their family home. Then, just as suddenly as it happened, it stopped, leaving an eery silence behind.

***

"What do ya think happened?" Applejack asked, internally morning the loss of so many trees.

"Don't know, but whatever it was, it was a real doozy."

"Indeed," said an unknown female voice.
Startled, the two mares quickly tried to find its source. Then, the sound of snapping branches and bending wood filled the air, drawing the farm pony's attention towards the same pile of destroyed trees she spotted just moments ago.What she saw shook her to her core. Slowly, the damaged trees started to pull themselves back together, roots lifting them off of the ground like spider legs before shambling over towards the craters that had once been their home. The two mares could only watch in stunned silence as the apple orchard restored itself.

"Wha'-but that-how in-?"

"Wow Applejack," Pinkie Pie gasped. "I didn't know you're farm was magic."

"It-It ain't!" she exclaimed, not taring her eyes away from the spectacle that was going on around her. "At least.....Ah don't think it is!"

A light chuckling behind them made the two of them turn their attention away from the agricultural impossibility. Instead, their focus locked onto a smiling green alicorn mare.

"My, my. What good children," the alicorn said, gazing upon the trees.

For a moment, the two of them just stared at the newcomer, their minds not quite able to process what they were looking at. Even Pinkie Pie was frozen. Though she was also the first to recover from her shock.

"Hi!" Pinkie smiled, blurring into existence a foot away from the green alicorn. "I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?!"

Drassiel was slightly startled by the mare's sudden forwardness, but at the same time found it somewhat refreshing.

Ah, so this is Pinkie Pie. I can see how she urned Mirth Hour's heart.

"Greetings Pinkie Pie. I am Princess Drassiel. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Ditto!" she smiled, bouncing in place. "You must be one of the alicorns Twilight was talking about, do you know Grapevine and Mirth?"

"Why yes," Drassiel said, smiling patiently. "In fact, Grapevine is a former student of mine."

Pinkie gasped.

"Really?!"

"Yes, though I do wish she took her talents away from making alcohol."

Pinkie giggled.

"Yeah."

A sudden idea made the party pony's eyes widen and a devious grin crossed her lips.

"Maybe she could help with the drinks at the Pinkie Party!"

Drassiel rased a brow.

"'Pinkie Party?' What is that?"

"Oh, you'll see," she giggled before bouncing past her towards the property's exit.

Before she got to far, Drassiel gathered a small amount of her magic and gave Pinkie Pie a hard look. What she saw surprised her.

Oh my. Mirth is not going to believe this!

Meanwhile, Applejack stared at the two, still stunned from her tree's sudden moment of impossibility. She knew that alicorns had a lot of power. Heck, she was close to a pair that could move the moon and sun all by themselves. Even a new alicorn like Twilight had the power to cast some extremely powerful spells. But to restore an entire orchard single hoofed and not even break a sweat, that was more than enough to run past Applejack's level of disbelief.

Once Pinkie was out of sight, Drassiel shifted her attention to the apple farmer. With a simple "Greetings", she snapped out of her stupor and gave the alicorn a warm smile.

"Welcome ta' Sweet Apple Acres, yer Majesty."

Drassiel chuckled.

"Please dear. No formalities. Just Drassiel will be fine."

"No promises," she said, feeling a little awkward. "So what brings ya to our little corner of the world?"

"Well," Drassiel smiled. "I heard rumors of an apple orchard that grew the best fruit in all of equestria and since I was in the area, I thought I would see this magic grove for myself."

Applejack raised her head in pride.

"Well, ya came ta the right place. Ah don't think anypony's farm could top our's."

"I see. Then this should prove to be a most exciting day for me."

"Darn tutten'! Know what? Hows about Ah give ya a tour of the place."

"That would be delightful Miss....uh....."

"Applejack. My name's Applejack."

Much like with Pinkie Pie, Applejack's name jogged a memory in the nature princess.

So this is Applejack. Honesty certainly chose an interesting bearer.

"Thank you Miss Applejack, a tour would be greatly appreciated."

With that, the two casually made her way into the orchards, taking comfort in each others company.

***

Much to Applejack's relief, the rest of the day went by without any other oddities. Although, she swore she occasionally heard wood creak in unnatural ways from some of the trees they got close to. Drassiel gazed at the trees and various farming equipment with great interest, almost to the point of seeming to connect with them. Applejack did raise a brow when the green alicorn decided to spend some time with the chickens and pigs in their pens, but didn't think too much about it. She wasn't hurting them and the animals seemed to be loving the attention. Plus, the last thing she wanted to do was anger a nature goddess. It wasn't until she caught her talking to a tree that Applejack decided to say something.

"So Drassiel, what do ya think o' the farm so far?"

"Oh it is simply wonderful," Drassiel sighed, a dreamy look in her eyes. "So much natural energy working together in such an intricate web. Your children must love your family very much."

"P-P-Pardon?" Applejack sputtered, eyes wide as dinner plates.

"The trees," she said, gesturing a hoof around her. "Never have I felt such a strong bond of love for their parents. Only that could've provided the strength necessary for them to hold back the force of yesterday's incident."

Applejack let out a relieved breath she didn't even know she was holding.

Ooh, so she was just talking about the trees. Ah guess that makes sense. Hey, wait. What was that bit?

Before Applejack could question the Princess about yesterday's events, she noticed her attention had shifted to something by the barn. Fallowing her gaze she saw her brother pulling a cart full of apples into the big red structure for storage.

"Who was that just now?"

"Oh that? That's mah big brother Big Mac," Applejack said, watcher her brother close the door to the barn.

"Is he now," she said, her face an unreadable mask. "I would like to speak with him."

Applejack blanched.

Until now, Drassiel had been harmless and carefree, reminding Applejack of some of her goofier cousins, but now the Princess seamed more like her title would suggest; a fierce and unstoppable force of nature. Not willing to see what penalty came from disobeying a High Noble, Applejack bolted towards her brother. All the while wondering what could've brought about this sudden change in attitude.

"Big Mac!" she called as the red stallion stepped out of the barn.

"What's wrong sis?" he asked as he watched his panicked sister nearly plow into the side of the barn.

"Yah see that there mare over there?" she panted, pointing at the green Alicorn ten yards away.

"Eeeyep," he said, brow raising.

"Well, she want's ta talk to ya."

Big Mac's eyes widened.

"W-Why?" he stuttered.

"Ah don't know, but Ah think ya'll better get over there and find out."

With a nervous gulp, he made his way towards the emerald mare.

To say Big Mac had experience with royalty would be the same as saying his sister was the queen of the moon. Most of the time, he would be busy taking care of the farm while Applejack and her friends were off saving the world from some kind of umbral evil force. The closest thing he had to dealing with a High Royal was when Princess Luna visited Ponyville for Nightmare Night. As a result, Big Mac was a mountain of nerves as he got closer to the foran Princess. By the time he stopped about five feet away from her, he was frozen stiff.

"Y-Ya wanted ta see me?" he gulped.

Drassiel stared down at the apple farmer, her face still unreadable.

"Yes," she replied, her tone flat. "And please relax Big Mac, as I have no intention of hurting you."

Big Mac let out a relieved sigh and most of the tention leaked out of him.

"I simply wish to tell you that you and your family are doing a fantastic job maintaining these children."

"Thank ya kindly yer Majesty."

"Also," she continued, slowly starting to walk around him. "I wished to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?"

"Eeyup."

"Thank you," she smiled. "First, do you have any foals of your own?"

"Nnnope."

"I see, that's quite shocking considering..... Anyway, do you have a significant other?"

"Nnnope."

Drassiel's face seemed to brighten a little at this.

"I see. Does anypony in particular catch your interest?"

"Nnnope."

A bright smile graced her muzzle and she stopped her pacing in front of him.

"Really? That is such a shame."

"Why's that ma'am?"

With a slightly hungry smile, she leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Because somepony has caught mine."

With a light giggle, she gave him a farewell bow and stepped away from a very stunned Big Mackintosh. All the while she playfully walked in such a way that gave the stallion a clear view of her plot. Once he could no longer see her, he shook his head and stumbled back towards the family home, a strong bottle of aged cider calling his name.

Comments

[StarzGecko]

Oh wow... I totally forgot about this story is still going. It's been to long

[StarzGecko]

I can't wait to see Twilight go crazy when she finds out Pinkie Pie is pregnant!

Oh Big Mac, you old farmer geezer. You got yourself a Nature Date!

[DualKitsune]

Well, well, well, Big Mac! Think you can handle her?

[Emkozul]

Oh Discord is having so much Fun with this. This is so Chaotic and it is Fantastic!