Mutually Earthblind

by Winged Cat

1: Fissure, For Sure

As Applejack drank in the panorama from the Pies' front porch, she concluded that Celestia must have been in an artistic mood. This Hearthswarming sunset was taking longer than usual, scattering gorgeous pinks and purples everywhere, even reflecting onto the wasteland the Pies called a rock farm, coloring the white snow that covered the mottled stone grey of the landscape. More than once she had seen the same from her own farm, though only from an upper story window or other high vantage point since the apple trees made it harder to see, but here she could just laze about at ground level and take in the view. Sunlight refracting brilliantly through the crystals growing right up out of the ground here and there, more than she had seen in one place other than the Crystal Empire, only added to the beauty. She had to admit, the Pies' homestead had her own beat when it came to sunsets.

The sun had just finally finished dipping behind the mountains when the sound of an argument shattered the tranquility. Sighing, she reluctantly tore her eyes away from the vision and looked to the front door behind her where Pinkie, Maud, and Limestone Pie were emerging. "C'mon," Limestone urged in her anger-laden voice, "don't lie!"

"Pinkie's right," Maud replied in her bored monotone. Applejack knew there were traces of emotion buried in there - her words and actions spoke of somepony who felt just as much as most, even if her voice and expression completely masked it. "Applejack is right there, you can ask her yourself."

Applejack blinked, realizing she had been staring at the sunset a mite long. "Ask me what?"

Limestone rolled her eyes. "Uggh, FINE! Applejack, my sisters CLAIM you're earthblind."

"Now hold on," Maud cautioned. "That's not-"

"Can't sense fissures in the rock?" Limestone interrupted as she looked back. "Can't tell granite bedrock from basalt without seeing it with your eyes? An earth pony who can't even do THAT, that's earthblind." She whipped her head back to face Applejack with a halfway-accusatory look. "Well? Can you?"

Applejack blinked again. "Err...I gotta admit, I don't even know how to tell granite from basalt WITH seeing it with my eyes."

Limestone froze in her tracks, eyes widening. "...for serious? No lie?"

"No lie. What, you can?"

Limestone dashed forward and hugged Applejack tight. "You...you poor THING! How can you LIVE like that? I'm sorry, I take back all those mean things I said about you!"

"Uhh..." Applejack awkwardly patted Limestone. "...apology accepted?" She looked to the other two Pies. "What is she talking about?"

"She thought," Maud replied as if discussing the weather, "you deliberately planted that flagpole on that fault line. She didn't know if you sent Holder's Boulder over the edge out of carelessness or malice. I tried to convince her it was neither."

"Come again? I just put the flagpole where it'd stand up. You..." Applejack's mind whirred. "You're saying you can just SEE fault lines?"

"'Feel' is more accurate, but yes." Maud gestured to her sisters. "We're Pies."

Pinkie smiled her worry-masking smile, which Applejack had long since learned to see right through. Too wide, did not extend to her eyes.

Limestone unhugged, grasped Applejack's right foreleg, and brought up her hoof for inspection. "I'm not seeing any deformity. Is it bone structure, or..."

"Limestone." Applejack could almost swear she heard Maud shouting in annoyance, but on reflection Maud was just speaking as normal. "I told you," Maud continued, "most earth ponies can't. They're not crippled, they're just normal that way. They live on soil. It's a different kind of rock."

"Yes, but...they're EARTH ponies! Like us!" Limestone gestured around. "And Pinkie says they're maybe family! Anyone of our blood should be able to sense things like us!"

Pinkie smiled wider.

"That reminds me." Maud began walking toward the gem mine. "Applejack, there's something I wanted to show you. While we walk, could you tell us what soil feels like to you?"

Applejack fell in behind Maud, and was soon flanked by Pinkie and Limestone. "Umm, like soil?"

Maud did not look back, letting the ground tell her the formation they fell into. "How do you know where to plant?"

"Ohhh, I getcha! Like how I can feel there's life and potential in one spot, a bit less a few feet away, so I put the seed right there?" Applejack tilted her head. "Y'mean to tell me you can't sense that?"

Limestone looked at her sideways. "What are you talking about?"

"No we can't," Maud replied. "And why does the rock we're walking on feel icky to you?"

"Huh?" all three ponies behind her chorused.

"I've been monitoring your tread." Maud turned briefly to avoid a crystal as tall as she was. "Limestone's pressing into the rock, getting a sure footing in case any snow comes between her and it. Pinkie's doing the same; she wasn't at the train station, but she soon remembered. But you're trying to walk gently, like you're afraid your hooves will sink into the ground. Why is that?"

Applejack looked at her hooves. "You got all that just from...oh, I guess you feel our hooves hit the rock, so it's not just listening. But still, you got all that just from that?"

Pinkie's fake grin turned real. "Isn't she AMAZING?"

Limestone rolled her eyes. "Heeere we go again. You're warming up to show off to our guest, aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged." Maud stepped through the mine entrance. "But I'd like to hear Applejack's answer."

"Well, uh. Aheh." Applejack noticed her gait shifting to the rails on the mine track so she would not have to step on the ground. "I...wasn't going to say anything, but your ground just feels so dead to me. Ain't nothing going to grow here, 'cept maybe rock."

"That is correct." Maud made a sharp right and began dragging out some buckets. "And why is that?"

Applejack sat as the group came to a halt. "Well..." She pressed a hoof to the mine floor, tinted pink-purple from the light of the many gem formations standing like pony-tall shrubs. "There's nutrients, sure, but there ain't room for roots to get in and get them. No water, neither. An' most importantly, no worms or bugs or anything living in there. It's just one big solid mass..." She looked back the way they came, squinting.

Limestone's eyes widened. "Wait, wait. You're telling me that you can feel...that when you're out and about on your farm, you FEEL worms and stuff just sliding around underhoof, and you LIVE like that?"

Applejack nodded, still looking back toward the house, senses focused. Suddenly she felt warm nutrients hit the ground nearby, so she turned to look and saw Limestone, head ducked behind a gem-shrub, voiding her stomach.

"I keep telling her she should go out and see Equestria," Maud noted as she set three buckets in a ring around another gem-shrub. "It sure changed my perspective. Do these look familiar?"

"Well, yeah. They're...wait a second..." Applejack walked over and looked close. "This...I mean, they're stone, but...Maud, did you carve replicas of the buckets we use for apple harvesting?"

"When my sister asked if she could invite you, I wanted to give you a special gift." When Applejack began to pick them up, Maud put a hoof on her hoof to stop her. "Not yet. Back up, there's more to it."

"Alright." Applejack let the bucket go and backed away.

"This isn't efficient, or advisable for long. It's better if we chip off larger pieces so we can use the mine cart." Maud began patting the top of the gem-shrub, tapping it just so over and over again, slowly at first then picking up speed. "You're kind of to blame for this mine. After you freed the Crystal Empire, there started being more of a market for gems, and less for other stones. I know we may seem stuck in old ways, but we serve what Equestria wants." The upper part of the gem-shrub began turning opaque under Maud's ministrations, as tiny fractures began to link up. "So we opened up this part of our farm, and started cultivating crystals where they'd grow."

"Well, Twilight's more to blame for the Crystal Empire." Applejack looked around. "Rarity would swoon to be here. So would Spike. They really like gems."

"Please invite them. Even if they just like gems, gems are a type of rock, and I like rocks." Maud stopped working over the gem-shrub, sat facing away from it, and looked over her shoulder.

Limestone, insides now settled, backed up to where she could see the group. "Maud? You're not really going to - WAIT!"

Maud bucked the gem-shrub hard, with both rear hooves. A crack echoed through the mine, and Maud winced.

"Slate!" Limestone ran toward Maud. "I told you, you're only going to break your legs with that stunt-"

The upper half of the gem-shrub shattered into thousands of well-cut small gems which landed in the three buckets, filling them to near-overflowing.

Applejack's jaw hit the floor.

Maud pulled her rear legs back into a sitting position and massaged her haunches. "I'm fine. But I'm not doing that again today. Applejack, did I get it right?"

Applejack continued to stare. "That...that..."

"...that's my super-awesome-tastic amazing-ness super sister/cousin?" Pinkie helpfully finished.

"What she said." Applejack took off her hat and bowed. "If you wanted to show your appreciation for me and my family, you have. Thank you." Returning hat to head, she eyeballed the gems. "How much is all that worth, anyway?"

"A couple barrels of apples." Waving Limestone away, Maud slowly stood up.

"Pardon?" Applejack blinked.

"If you could send them when you get home? I figure this is as much as you can take on the train." Maud slowly pushed the heavy, laden baskets into a line.

"But...you're just...I mean," Applejack tried to protest.

Maud shrugged and started pushing the line out the mine's entrance. "Okay, one barrel."

Quickly regaining her composure, Applejack marched up to Maud. "Three barrels and not an apple less! Do we have a deal?" She stuck out her hoof to shake.

Maud shook it while continuing to push. "You drive a hard bargain."

Maud's stoicness allowed Applejack to maintain her poker face, but Pinkie and Limestone boggled, exchanged a glance, and fell over laughing.

"But seriously." Applejack pushed one bucket out of Maud's way and began pushing it herself, alongside Maud. "Thank you. If there's anything we can do for you, just name it."

"Actually there is - not for me, but for Pinkie." Maud stopped, looking out the mine's entrance in the direction Applejack had looked earlier. "You were going to ask a question. Be honest about it."

Applejack slowed to a halt. Her mouth opened to ask, but then her mind intercepted the question and replaced it with a better one. "How'd you know?"

"You had the same reaction I did the first time I came in here." Maud resumed pushing. "I mapped it out, and it's true. For all the fissures and faults out there, there IS a straight line of good rock from here back to home. See, Pinkie? Even an Apple can sense it, if she tries."

Pinkie's eyes slowly dilated. "Wait...you mean..."

Maud nodded. "Same powers. Same talent. Same blood. Just trained differently."

"YAY! WOOHOO! YIPEEE!" Pinkie bounced like a superball around the cave, dancing mid-air and scooping Limestone up in her frenzied happy panic.

While continuing to push the buckets along, Maud watched her leave. "I don't have the heart to tell her that most earth ponies can do it. Most I've talked to about it, anyway. Which is Apples and Pies."

Applejack could not help but smile at Pinkie's display of euphoria. "Heh. But how'd you know all that?"

Maud gave Applejack a look. Though it was the same neutral expression she always wore, Applejack could tell the intent. "I like rocks, Applejack, and I love my family. You soil may be a jumbled mishmash of rocks ground finer than sand, with other stuff mixed in, but at its heart it's still rocks. As for you...are you your farm, or are you what your farm grows from?"

Applejack looked back into Maud's eyes. "I never thought of it like that."

And then came a moment Applejack would not experience again for a long time. For the briefest of seconds, a smile graced Maud's expression. The moment passed, she patted Applejack and pressed on. "I like rocks."

Comments

[OneFluzzyPuppy]

Explain. Why am I the first person to like this story? It's awesome!

[Shrike Windstorm]

Winged Cat, that was a brilliant chapter. Utterly brilliant.
Not enough work has been put into working out and then developing what Earth pony magic would be, but this here is a brilliant take on it.
I myself have been attempting to do much the same thing, and decided upon similar things, but this is genius. Congratulations.
The way you show the differences between the different types of earth magic is very well done, and I like how it takes Limestone off guard that other ponies have different talents and abilities. A masterful piece.
- Shrike

[OmniFox]

Maud can be a sassy talker.

[rip4thwall]

Your autocorrect might have had a bit of fun with you partway through the chapter - instead of Limestone, you have Limerick once.

[Winged Cat]

6604821 Thanks for catching that. Fixed.

[Maran]

I love this take on earth pony abilities. The rock/soil sense fits my headcanon. And the characterizations are great, especially Maud.

[Highlord Langslock]

Your story helped me improve my own headcannon for earth pony magic. Thanks!