What was this party for, again?
Twilight Sparkle finished filling her mug from the barrel of cider and released the tap, stepping aside to make way for an earth pony stallion. His name escaped her, although she recognized him as one of Ponyville’s residents, and they exchanged brief pleasantries before she moved on. The room was still a little more crowded than Twilight typically preferred. She knew Fluttershy had braved the throng for a mug of cider, but she’d lost track of the shy pegasus after that, and suspected she’d be found outside.
It took a minute to find a good place to sit and drink her cider while she went back to observing and listening. The party had spilled over onto the lawn soon after she arrived, and Twilight wouldn’t have been at all surprised to be told that more than half of Ponyville’s population was in attendance. She’d even seen a casual game of hoofball being played in the street until the waning light forced the players to break it up.
If Pinkie Pie had told her the reason for this particular party, Twilight couldn’t remember it. Perhaps it had gotten lost in the babbling stream of consciousness that the party pony so often slipped into when she got excited, or maybe Twilight had simply been too tired from staying up late working on her latest project and had forgotten everything but the time, date, and location. She knew she could always just ask one of her friends, but she’d decided to see if she could figure it out for herself first.
It didn’t correspond with any birthdays she knew about, and there didn’t seem to be any presents in any case. There was no banner proclaiming the nature of it. The conversations she’d overheard so far hadn’t given her much in the way of clues either. She was considering admitting defeat before she managed to say something embarrassing when she spotted Applejack making her way through the crowd, and waved a hoof, attracting the farmer’s attention.
“Hey, Twilight! Looking good.”
Twilight wasn’t there as Princess, so she hadn’t worn anything fancy. All the same, when she’d learned that Pinkie and even Fluttershy were planning to wear something casual, she’d come to the conclusion that the occasion merited more than a bare coat.
She’d finally settled on the simple dress Rarity had made for her several years ago. The original hadn’t been designed for wings, of course, but her friend had worked miracles when she altered Twilight’s admittedly sparse wardrobe to fit her properly. She couldn’t tell that they hadn’t been designed for a mare with wings all along.
That simple yellow dress had meant a lot to Twilight, even after she learned exactly why it was so simple, and she’d convinced her friend not to make any other changes to its design. Twilight had been happy that it wasn’t relegated to hanging in her closet as another reminder of a life she’d left behind — and she’d been overjoyed to find it among the few possessions which survived the destruction of the Golden Oaks, having suffered only minor, easily repaired damage.
“Thanks, AJ. So are you! Maybe you should do that more often.”
Twilight had, of course, been unsurprised to find Rarity dressed to dazzle, but it took a really special occasion to get Applejack to put on anything that wasn’t purely functional, aside from her hat, and this clearly hadn’t qualified. The neat, simple braids in her mane and tail were a surprise, though.
The farm pony waved a hoof dismissively. “Ah, you know how it is. Always somethin’ that needs doing, an’ lookin’ pretty just takes time away from doing it.”
“Of course. But that style really does look perfect for you, and parties are all about taking time away from the work. Who knows, if you made a habit of it on special occasions, maybe that would get Rarity to ease off a little?” Applejack opened her mouth, frowned, and closed it. Sensing her reluctance wavering, Twilight grinned and offered something to sweeten the pot. “If it’s a hassle to do it with just two hooves, I’d be more than happy to help. Cadance taught me how to do braids very easily with magic. Besides, you know I’m not going to push you to wear some fancy manestyle you aren’t comfortable with. And I promise, no checklists!”
Applejack let out an amused snort and considered her friend’s offer. “You know what, maybe I’ll take you up on that,” she replied quietly. The rest was barely audible over the general hubbub. “Ma always did look real nice with braids…”
“Oh. I… er… Sorry?”
“Shucks, Twi, don’t get yerself all worked up over it. I’m the one who came wearin’ these, ain’t I?”
“Right. I guess I just… never know what to say to a comment like that.”
Applejack shrugged and gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t have to say nothin’, sugarcube. Just the look on yer face is enough to know you care. So, I see you’ve found the cider!” She nodded at the mug floating in Twilight’s telekinetic field for a quick change of subject.
“Oh! Yes, I was surprised when Pinkie said it was some of yours! It’s excellent, as always. Too bad Rainbow Dash is out of town this weekend, I know how much she loves it.”
Applejack beamed at the praise. “Yeah, real shame about the timing on that weather conference.” She glanced around for a moment and leaned in close to mutter in Twilight’s ear. “Don’t let it get back to Rainbow, but whenever we have a good season, I let Pinkie have a discount on a full barrel or two, just to save for special parties. Speakin’ of which… I don’t suppose Pinkie told you what this here party’s for?”
“I was actually wondering the same thing!” Twilight laughed, and AJ joined her in a chuckle. “I’ve been trying to figure it out on my own, but… If you don’t know either, I wonder if anypony except Pinkie does?”
“I suppose we’ll just have to ask. Shouldn’t be hard to find her, at least!”
Twilight nodded, but hesitated as Applejack looked around the room. “Actually, do you mind if we talk a bit more first, maybe somewhere a little less busy?”
“Hmmm? Somethin’ wrong, sugarcube?”
“Well, it’s nothing serious, but it’s… I just keep finding excuses to put it off, and it’s something I really shouldn’t put off any longer. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away, after all.”
That was something Applejack understood quite well, and she nodded and led the way out into the brisk evening air.
It hadn’t been very long since sunset, and Twilight took a moment to gaze up at the emerging stars. She tucked her wings in a little tighter against her dress to help ward off the cool breeze.
“So, what sorta problem are we talkin’ about?” Applejack asked, bringing her attention back down from the sky.
Twilight frowned and sipped her cider, struggling, for once, to put her thoughts in order. “You know, now that I’ve finally brought it up, I hardly even know where to begin.”
“Well, the beginning’s usually a good place. When was it this whole thing started?”
“It was… after I was transformed into an alicorn. I’m not certain of the exact time.”
“Is it related to that, you think?”
“Probably. Almost certainly, in fact.”
Applejack nodded slowly, and turned to sit close beside Twilight.
“You still havin’ trouble adjustin’, sugarcube?”
“Crazy, isn’t it?” Twilight laughed, though she still looked troubled. “I’ve gained so much, and yet… Can you keep a secret, Applejack?”
“Cross mah heart, hope to fly… Aheh. I s’pose by now you’ve at least got that part down, don’tcha?”
“Well, mostly, yes. Rainbow and I have both achieved a good understanding of my current limits, and I’m definitely improving, pushing them a little further every time. She may not be the best teacher in the traditional sense, but she’s such a good flier, it’s hard not to learn from watching her example, now that I have the basics down. It’ll just take time and practice.”
“Sounds right sensible to me. Sorry, I didn’t mean to get us sidetracked. You… wanted to share something?”
“Right.” Twilight took a deep breath, shaking her wings out and settling them against her sides once more. “I’ve never mentioned this to anypony, but there were times… not many, but a few… when I really wished I could just go back to the way things were before. I felt like I didn’t even know who I was anymore, much less what I was.”
“Twi… I told ya before, just because yer an alicorn and a princess now, that don’t make you a different pony.”
The alicorn smiled gratefully, with a firm nod to her friend. “And you were absolutely correct. I may have new abilities, new responsibilities, and more sheer magical power than I ever dreamed of, but that’s not what really matters. All of you helped me realize that, in your own ways. I’m still learning more about magic. Flying can be fun, and I’m getting better at that too. My friends aren’t going anywhere, and I’m not going anywhere, even if I am doing a few new things that sometimes take me away for a while. But those things can be interesting too. I’m looking forward to what the future brings, now, because I know we can handle it.”
“So if you’ve got that settled, then what’s eatin’ you now?”
“Well, it’s just… Those new abilities I mentioned really do take a lot of getting used to. Being an alicorn isn’t just about having pegasus wings and a unicorn’s horn, you know? There’s a third part that isn’t so obvious.”
“Ahhh. So yer talkin’ to me, since I’m an earth pony, just like Dash is a pegasus? Well, I reckon that’s smarter than goin’ to Pinkie Pie, as much as she’d try to help!” Applejack grinned.
Twilight grimaced and shuddered. “Ugh, I don’t even want to think about that! I have enough trouble understanding her already.” A picture formed in her head, unbidden, and she had to laugh. “Feel the cupcake, Twilight. Be the cupcake…” she intoned dramatically, gesturing with one hoof.
Applejack snickered and coughed, trying not to burst into loud guffaws that might attract the pink pony’s attention, if not the other partygoers. Twilight gave her a moment to recover before going on.
“The hardest thing to get used to… You’d think it would be the wings, right? That’s not just learning to fly, and how to care for my feathers. I even had to relearn how to do simple, everyday things that I’ve done all my life, like rolling over in bed without hurting them, or making sure I don’t bang them on doorways or knock things over with them as I turn around. But… I can handle that. I hardly ever make those mistakes now.”
Applejack frowned and nodded slowly. “I can see how all that might be a heap o’ trouble, there. But if it ain’t the wings…?”
Twilight hesitated, suddenly nervous. Getting Applejack’s help would require letting her in on something else that she was still reluctant to share. Even Spike didn’t know all the details. It was hardly a shameful activity… She just hadn’t wanted company along, friends or otherwise. Applejack was probably her best shot at figuring out what was going on and getting it under control. Even so, she couldn’t help approaching the subject from a tangent, hoping for some reassurance.
“Part of it… I’m afraid you’re going to think it’s silly of me to have never mentioned this, or you’ll think I’m weird, or you’ll feel left out, or…”
AJ raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I will, an’ maybe I won’t. But I won’t blame you, and if I do laugh, you know I don’t mean no harm by it, right? And I sure ain’t gonna dismiss something that’s botherin’ a friend just because it sounds a little silly or weird at first.” She grinned. “I think we all learned that one well enough the first time ‘round.”
The two of them came together for a hug, Twilight closing her eyes and sighing.
“Thanks, AJ.”
“Anytime, Twi.”
They separated, and Applejack watched patiently as Twilight pursed her lips, trying to decide how to really begin explaining her problem.
“Okay, so… You remember my first Running of the Leaves?”
Applejack blushed faintly and then grinned as she recalled what she and Dash had learned from that humiliating defeat. “I can’t hardly forget that one, sugarcube.”
“Oh, right. Sorry! I didn’t mean…”
Applejack’s fetlock brushed across Twilight’s lips, cutting short her apologies. The farmer’s smile was reassurance enough that Twilight knew she didn’t have to apologize for apologizing, in a self-perpetuating chain of recursive apologies that would only end when… well, when somepony stuck their hoof in her mouth, like they so often had to do to poor Pinkie. Twilight giggled, glad that her friend hadn’t used her entire hoof… Or perhaps it was just that AJ had known the light touch was all the reminder Twilight needed, now. She was doing a lot better about things like that, compared to when she first arrived in Ponyville, and she nodded in acknowledgement before continuing.
“Okay. So, after that, and some more reading on… related topics, I started to… Well, sometimes I would slip back out to Whitetail Woods and go for a run. At first it was just for the exercise, but I also found that it really helps me clear my head. So when I got too caught up in… everything, I’d go out there, all by myself, leave all my troubles back at the library — the castle, now — and I just… run.”
Her friend nodded. “Yeah, I’ve seen you headin’ out there a few times, or comin’ back all winded, while I was workin’ the orchard. I reckon that’s a good thing to do now and again.”
“You have?” That made Twilight feel a little foolish about her earlier reticence. “But you never said anything…”
“Well, I figured, if you didn’t wanna be alone, you woulda invited somepony along, one o’ those days. And since you didn’t, it weren’t none o’ mah business.”
“Oh! I see.” Twilight thought for a moment. She almost said something else, then filed that thought away for a more appropriate place in her story, which she resumed telling.
“Anyway, after the whole ‘alicorn princess’ thing happened, there were a lot of times when I needed to clear my head more than ever, but it was a lot harder to find the time to sneak away. Especially with all the time I was spending in Canterlot, at first. And that wasn’t the only problem.”
Applejack just nodded, waiting for her to go on.
“Even when I do get the chance to go for a run, it’s been a lot harder to clear my mind the way I used to. I keep getting all kinds of unfamiliar things distracting me, and I suspect it’s related to some kind of sense associated with the new earth pony aspect of my magic.”
“So, I imagine you’ve been reading everything you could find on earth ponies, am I right?”
Her friend’s smirk made Twilight blush. “There’s actually not a great deal of reliable literature on the subject of earth pony magic and abilities. ‘Everypony knows’ about them being stronger and hardier and being excellent farmers and miners, altough the former is more common around here. Aside from that, it’s hard to find two books that attribute the same abilities to them, much less describe those abilities the same way.”
“I figure that’s ’cause we ain’t much for ‘fancy literature’,” AJ replied, her voice changing on the last words to the distinct Manehattan accent she’d demonstrated on rare occasions. She chuckled and went on, “We know what we can do, and what we don’t learn from our kin, we learn on our own. It can be mighty personal, sometimes, an’ Ah think our marks can play a big role in what we can do, or how we do it.”
“You know, that explains a lot. I wonder why none of those books mention something like that?”
“Well, how many of ‘em were written by earth ponies?”
Twilight blinked, reviewing what she could remember of the authors’ biographical summaries in her head(1). “I can’t think of a single one, actually… But they still would have done their research! They would’ve gathered information, done studies…!”
She was interrupted by a crowing laugh from Applejack. “Twi, sugarcube… You won’t learn nothin’ reliable about earth ponies by doin’ studies! Remember what I said about it bein’ personal? No wonder those books weren’t no help.”
The flustered alicorn had to force herself not to pout. She wasn’t a filly anymore, and hated how foalish she looked when she pouted. “Well, at least the books on pegasus abilities were all in agreement with each other — based on the predominant theories and information available at the time they were written, of course! — and the more recent certainly tend to do a good job describing how it all works. Aerodynamics, flight fields, and cloud and weather manipulation are very well understood.”
Applejack was a little puzzled by the persistence of Twilight’s frown. She seemed frustrated, despite what sounded like it should have been good news — at least in comparison to the books on earth ponies — so she offered a gentle prompt. “But?”
“But… books didn’t help me very much with learning to fly, either,” Twilight admitted, more than a little chagrined. “It took a while before Dash managed to really convince me to let go of all the things the books were telling me and to listen to what my body was telling me. To feel what I needed to do, and do it without trying to think about it.”
Twilight grinned at Applejack. “She compared it to walking once. Funny, isn’t it? Equestria’s fastest pegasus helping me learn how to fly properly by making me think about how to walk. Anyway, I suspect there’s at least a partial explanation for my first big flight to be found there, too. I hadn’t filled my head with all that information yet. I wasn’t thinking about flying — I was just doing it.”
“Ya think the heart-song maybe helped a little, too?” AJ added with a grin. “Seems t’ me there was a whole lot of feelin’ goin’ on right then.”
Twilight laughed. “Yes, it probably did! But, returning to the subject again — I should mention the first time I went running again, after I started to figure out what Dash was getting at. I spread my wings as I ran, just letting the air go by, feeling it, and for once those other distractions didn’t get in the way. And then my hooves were barely touching the ground, and…”
“And then?” Applejack prompted.
“I found myself on the edge of some new gait I’ve never heard of, like a cross between galloping, jumping, and flying. It felt like it would be a lot easier than it sounds. It was fascinating…” Twilight’s ears folded back, and Applejack chuckled as she figured it out.
“Lemme guess… You started thinkin’ about it.”
She nodded. “And then my wing clipped a tree because I wasn’t paying enough attention, I went into a rolling tumble, and if it wasn’t for my flight field’s mass reduction and for Rainbow Dash teaching me how to tuck and roll out of a crash, I’d probably have gotten a broken leg out of it.”
AJ patted Twilight on the shoulder. “Don’t go forgetting earth pony toughness, now! But whatever the reason, I’m glad you came out of it in one piece.”
“Yeah, me too. I hadn’t considered that, but it’s probably played a part, what with all those times I’ve hit the dirt while practicing. Or the trees. Or the water. Or the buildings.” Applejack chuckled at Twilight’s exasperated look. “Anyway, that was one of the few times since this transformation when the running did help, however short-lived. Typically the earth pony senses, assuming that’s what they are, have been too distracting. When I’m not noticing something new and getting all wrapped up in trying to figure out what it is and what it means, I’m ending up worrying about maybe accidentally making the plants sick because I don’t know what I’m doing, or I’m running into something that feels unpleasant, or… It’s just, I don’t know how to deal with all this, and I need help.”
“Well, why don’tcha try to tell me everything you can about the things you’ve been noticing, sugarcube? Anything you can’t blame on being part pegasus, no matter where it seems to come from or how.”
Twilight took a moment to adjust her sitting position, relax her muscles, and compose her thoughts. “A lot of it is hard to describe. As I pass through the woods, I get… feelings, almost sensations, that I can’t localize or recognize. I’m not sure what any of them mean, or how I’m even sensing them. Occasionally there’s been a feeling of… wrongness. I remember one time when it grew to be almost physically nauseating, and I had to turn around and get away from it. And there’s been something like a background hum, or pressure, or… I’d call it an aura, but it’s not something that’s being picked up by my horn. It’s different, depending on where I am — the forest, a meadow, here in town, up in Canterlot, they all feel different. Also, and this obviously isn’t a problem when out running, but when I touch another pony… Sometimes, if I’m calm and relaxed enough, there’s… something like a tickle in the back of my mind. Usually a fairly pleasant one, especially with my friends, the princesses, Spike, and even the Crusaders. But occasionally I shake a hoof or brush against somepony and it gives me shivers. Does any of that… sound like something you could help me figure out?”
“Ya know what, sugarcube? I think it just might be. Even if I ain’t never heard those exact words used t’ describe some o’ the things I’m used to, I have a feelin’ that might just be because we’re speakin’ different languages.”
Twilight smiled. “And there’s nothing to keep two ponies from learning each other’s languages, especially if they’re already good friends?”
“Eeyup,” Applejack replied with a grin. “Plus, if yer gettin’ all o’ that, without any practice at all, I’m thinkin’ that mark o’ yours maybe affects more than just unicorn magic after all. Although, now that you’ve got me thinkin’ that, there’s something else I’m wonderin’…”
“What is it?”
“Well, you say pegasus magic is more about doin’ than thinkin’, right? Or is that just the flyin’?”
“No, I think that applies to all of it, not just flight. Rainbow’s started showing me some basic weather manipulation, and it all seems to fit that pattern. Why?”
“Well, I reckon I’m makin’ use o’ mah magic every single day out on the farm, in all sorts o’ ways. Not all conscious-like, though. It’s been a long, long time since I put any real thought into what I was doin’. An’ even when I did, it was never like the way you talk about the things you do with your unicorn spells, with yer equations and diagrams an’ such.”
“Oh, I see. You’re wondering what’s so different about unicorn magic?”
The farmer nodded slowly. “Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t sayin’ it’s bad. It just seems a mite odd, that’s all. You know I’ve never been one to turn to that kind o’ magic when the good ol’ reliable earth pony way would get the job done. But I like to think I’m plenty smart, fer a simple farm pony, and… what’re you chucklin’ about?”
“Simple farm pony, huh?” Twilight grinned at her friend. “Applejack, you are a very intelligent pony. That ‘simple’ exterior of yours could be used as a perfect example of why you don’t judge a book by its cover. Between Sweet Apple Acres and Carousel Boutique, I’d be hard pressed to pick the more successful business, and you know that’s no slur against Rarity. The fact that you achieve it doing hard labor, with only you and your brother for most of the heavy work, makes it all the more impressive.”
Applejack frowned stubbornly for a couple of seconds, and then snorted and gave her a wry grin. “Alright, Twi, you got me. I am plenty smart, fer a simple farm pony.” Twilight laughed at her grudging admission, and AJ chuckled along with her. “An’ I’m curious why it’s different, y’know?”
“Well… To be perfectly honest, I don’t think it’s different at all. I’m not really a typical unicorn, am I?” She chuckled softly. “Even when I was just a unicorn.”
Applejack snorted. “Twi, you weren’t never just a unicorn.”
Twilight laughed. “Alright, alright! Touché. Now that we’ve established that we both tend toward excessive humility in certain areas… That’s exactly what I meant, though. I’ve always had such a strong talent for magic that, ironically, I’m not a very good example of how a typical unicorn does magic. Except in very simple cases. I’m used to being able to think about what I’m casting at the same time as I’m casting it, and make all sorts of little changes on the fly. Or I’ll cast basic spells I know well while thinking about something completely different. That might also be what allows me to perform such complicated spells so… well, not easily, exactly, but you get the idea, right? I have all these years of experience, all these ingrained habits, and I can’t rely on any of it with these new abilities that I’m not used to. It’s like I’m a filly again, struggling to learn how everything works from scratch, and it’s… rather disconcerting, at times.”
“Yeah, I think I get it, Twi. But you’re figurin’ it out, right? An’ if you can apply those same lessons to earth pony talents, the way you’ve done with flying an’ such, then I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble. You’ve got a great startin’ place already, if what you’ve told me about the running is anything to go by, and I’ll be happy to teach you everything I can. I’ll even try not to make the lessons too apple-centric.”
They shared a chuckle at her joke.
“Thanks, Applejack, I’ll owe you big-time for this.”
“Aw, shucks, Twi. You know I’m happy to help mah friends.”
“I know, I know. But if you can help me get a hold on this anywhere near as well as Rainbow has… then you have no idea how much of a difference it will make to me.”
“D’you really think it’s that big a thing, Twilight?”
“AJ, if something that really helped you unwind and relax after the kind of day that just makes you want to scream suddenly didn’t work anymore, and somepony was able to help you get that back… What would you think? Not to mention this could open up a fascinating, and entirely new, field of study to me! And considering how nearly useless everything I’ve read on it was, one of these days I might literally write the book on earth pony magic! I can’t even begin to describe how huge a thing that would be.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is?” Her green eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Yer gonna give away all our earth pony secrets, huh? I get it now… You just wanna be famous, get yer name in every library in Equestria!”
“Applejack!” Twilight gasped. “What do you…?! How could you think something like — I’m just excited to learn about — If you don’t want me to —”
Applejack cracked a grin. “Gotcha.” She poked Twilight’s shoulder with a hoof as a wave of relief rushed through the alicorn, who groaned, closed her eyes, and rubbed her head with one hoof. AJ’s grin began to slip as Twilight failed to return it. “Er… Did I go too far with that one, Twi?”
She finally let out a soft chuckle. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t draw it out any longer. You really had me going, although I should’ve suspected something was up the moment you mentioned your ‘secrets’, considering what you’d said before. And… ‘every library in Equestria’? Really, AJ?”
“Yeah, I know. I’m not so good at improvisin’, but it was good enough, right? Besides, I wouldn’t wanna be too convincing. I just gotta stay in practice somehow, to keep up with Dash and Pinkie. I don’t have the time to go lookin’ fer prankin’ opportunities, so I gotta take ‘em where I find ‘em, an’ that one just sorta jumped out at me.” She smiled much more gently. “Sorry ’bout the scare.”
Twilight leaned in for a brief hug, chuckling. “Well, it sure is funny now. Tell you what, if you want to make it up to me, I… I wouldn’t mind a little company for a run, tomorrow morning. If you have time. Just for the exercise, really, although… if you think you can help me start learning something from it, that’s fine too. What do you say?”
Applejack cocked her head and thought for a moment. “Tomorrow? Hmm. Yeah, I can take some time in the mornin’. You got yerself a deal.”
“Great! How about I meet you on the way there?”
“Alright. You take me on yer usual run, and maybe we can compare notes, so to speak.”
“An excellent idea,” Twilight replied, beaming delightedly at her. “I’ll make a scientist out of you yet!”
Applejack chuckled. “Don’t you hold yer breath, sugarcube. Now, I bet Pinkie’s wonderin’ where we’ve run off to. We’ve missed half the party, chewin’ our cud out here.”
“There you are!”
“Speaking of Pinkie…” Twilight said, laughing, as Applejack facehooved. They turned to see the party pony poking her head through the door nearby, just in time for her to rush the rest of the way out of the building, practically pouncing on them with her usual disdain for personal space.
“My Pinkie Sense told me there was a prank going on and it almost backfired but it didn’t and I missed it!” Her eyes were so wide they practically bulged out as she voiced her complaint. “Was it a good one? Huh? Was it yours, Twilight? Are you trying to learn how to be the Princess of Pranking too? Because that would be really superduperiffic, but I don’t know if it’s possible to be the Princess of more than one thing, and you’re already the Princess of Friendship and I know you wouldn’t want to give that up and I wouldn’t want you to either, so I hope you don’t have to!”
Applejack and Twilight were both chuckling at Pinkie’s antics by that point, but they were quick to jump in and reassure her that Twilight wasn’t giving up anything, and promised to tell her all about the spontaneous prank. By mutual, unspoken agreement, they were careful not to mention anything about the morning run. Pinkie Pie was, after all, the antithesis of a calm, clear mind, and neither of them wanted to have to tell her that she wasn’t invited.
“Oh, Pinkie,” Twilight suddenly interjected before a rare opportunity to get a word in edgewise could slip through her hooves. “I was thinking about how Rainbow Dash couldn’t be here, earlier, and…”
Pinkie Pie gasped dramatically. “That’s amazing, so was I! Were you thinking about how sad it was that she couldn’t be here to enjoy the party with all her friends? Because I was thinking about that, and a lot of other things, too, but mostly that, and it’s a good thing I remembered I made sure to plan ahead! Because if I’d forgotten that, I wouldn’t have been as happy during the party!”
The alicorn blinked, nodded slowly, and smiled. “More or less, yeah. Are you planning something for when she gets back?”
“Nope! In fact, Dashie should be getting a nice surprise innnnn…” Pinkie held a hoof up and stared at her fetlock for several seconds, as if checking an invisible watch. Twilight and Applejack shared a confused look. “Right about now!” Pinkie concluded, going back to walking as if nothing had happened.
“What sorta surprise, sugarcube?”
“Ohhhh, just a little care package with this and that and that and this and one of these and one of those and a bottle of something I just know she’ll like! Oh, and a postcard. ‘Wish you were here! – Love, Everypony.’ Did I mention the streamers that pop out when she opens it? No confetti though, because making hotel staff clean up somepony else’s confettisplosion isn’t very nice at all! But streamers are easy to pick up, even if Dashie forgets.” Pinkie paused mid-step, shivering and twitching a little. “Oooh, ooh! That one means she opened it!”
Applejack laughed while Twilight, as usual, tried not to be overwhelmed. “Sent ‘er a surprise party in a box, eh? With one of everything, and a bottle o’ cider to wash it down?”
“Yupperooni! That way, even if she can’t be here with us, we can still be there with her. And so can the snacks.”
Twilight, finally having managed to make sense of the rapid floods of information, grinned and reached over to give her a hug. “Thanks, Pinkie. You’re a good friend.”
“I’ll second that,” AJ added. “I’m still wonderin’ what the party was for, though.”
“That’s right, Pinkie, neither of us can remember being told what we’re celebrating!”
“That’s because I never told anypony!”
“What?”
“Why not?”
“Well, calling it a ‘sometimes friends just need an excuse to get together and talk for a while’ party would be a bit of a mouthful, wouldn’t it? And if I had called it that, then those friends might not have gotten together and talked the way they needed to!”
Twilight and Applejack trailed behind as Pinkie continued on her typically bouncy way. They glanced at each other, and spoke simultaneously.
“Do you think…?”
“She couldn’t mean…?”
After pausing for a few seconds, they laughed, shook their heads, and once more spoke in unison.
“Naaaah.”
“Couldn’t be.”
Cloudsdale, later that evening:
The colorful pegasus brushed a few crumbs from her lips and took a swig straight from a half-empty bottle. She stuck the cork back in and placed it on her hotel room’s nightstand, then picked up the postcard sitting next to it. Perching on the edge of the cloud mattress, she grinned at the picture of her friends for a few seconds before carefully propping it up against the bottle, turning off the lamp, and rolling into bed for the night.
Rainbow Dash glanced at the moonlit picture once more before closing her eyes. “Best cider ever.”
(1) Because of course Twilight Sparkle reads those when she’s doing research, and looks them up if the book doesn’t have one. It’s important to know your sources are credible, after all!
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Just a good story. Have a thumbs up!
The last of all my dreams but still leave me
Nice story
"and more sheer magical power than I ever dreamed of"
Although still not enough to avoid being fought to a standstill seventeen times by a random Unicorn mage which didn't get taught by Celestia and which in fact nopony had heard of before
6913140
I blame wanting to avoid collateral damage (to the past, even) and, of course, not really wanting to injure her opponent... Compare with the fight against Tirek --although she did have a significant power boost for that one, the whole tone of that fight was quite different...
Much like Celestia in the changeling invasion, yeah?
Also, she might have been either counting the element of magic / rainbow power, or simply engaging in hyperbole.
Regardless, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
Odd, one would think that there WAS already plenty of Earth Pony Magic literature around...
Feels like you could continue this in a separate story and make a TwiJack out of it, no less.
Very well done.
~Skeeter The Lurker
6913427
That's what I'm saying.
I always enjoy a good exploration of the Alicorns as the paragons of the three tribes, and the earth side is always the least talked about. Nicely written with some food humor and a touch of fluff. Well done!
This was a great little one shot. Along with the other that have posted I think this could go even further as a slice of life story. If you do I would love to read it.
Headcanon accepted! I actually feel this sort of thing myself for real, sometimes. Empath and psychic with shamanic stuff going on now and then.
6913271 Well, there's also the fact that Twilight was trying to get things to stay one particular way, while Starlight was trying to get things to be any other way possible. It's like telling someone to keep a room tidy while someone else actively tries to mess it up. Ya get the best maid ever on that job, and the room's still likely gonna wind up messy at the hands of any old shlub.
Anyways, good story. Like to know more about this weird Earth Pony fanon, but whatcha got now is cool too.
I liked this enough that I'm disappointed it's only a one-shot.
Awww, I wanted them to explore Twilight's feelings more. I'm curious about that feeling of wrongness as well as her empathic sense for other ponies.
Please don't take it as rude, but how is this featured few months after the chapter was released (it says here that it's november 2015)? Do I not know something?
6913979 Publishing date.
6914073 Aaand? What's the difference?
Wait, releasing and publshing are two different things? Which one is first?
6914076 You can publish a chapter without publishing the story itself. Look at the "First Published" date.
6914084 Alright, I'll look into this, thanks.
Cute little scene. Also, Pinkie is awesome.
I don't suppose you've read Triptych? Applejack's prank seemed kind of like a shoutout or take that to her portrayal therein.
This story dose bring up a very good point. If Earth ponies have a kind of passive magic and your cutie mark is magic then what would your earth pony side do?
I have planes for my OC to become an Alicorn and I hadn't even thought about his earth pony side. This could be very interesting considering he's specialized in Rune magic.
Thank you very much for this.
I will be severely disapointed if there isn't a twijack sequel, I'll put it on your report card and send a letter back to your parents about how poorly they raised you
6913777
I'm surprised she didn't just charge her or waited for an opportunity to stun/incap her
6913271 Yeah but even if she was worried about all of that. The fight with Terik was at a standstill. He drained the population of equestria, (minus spike) and the spirit of chaos. While Twilight had her magic and three alicorns to back her up. Not counting counting discord, Twilight still equals the strength of a quart of equestria.Even while holding back, that is a lot for one unicorn to go against.
I liked the idea behind the story, and the way that Twilight described her budding earth pony senses. My problem is the way the dialogue was written. On one side, they took a long time to circle around to the point and it didn't feel very structured, but that's a lot like the way conversations work in real life. On the other side, they tended to over-explain themselves or what they were talking about, but that's a lot like how they talk in the show to make sure that viewers understand what's going on. So, you've got some realistic and unrealistic things about your dialogue here, but they don't really work together. Letting the conversation wander is something that happens in life because we can't plan out how a talk goes. Speaking in exposition is something they do in the show because they have to plan the lines out carefully enough to meet their time constraints, and make sure they don't lose the audience. So, it felt kind of awkward. Considering that it's Twilight and Applejack we're talking about, it feels wrong for them to be awkward.
Ultimately, I give it a thumbs up, but I'd give it another look for anything you can cut.
This is fantastic. Truly inspiring. Well crafted. Beautiful.
I'll give it a second read later - it might just knock a story out of my Top 10 list.
6913777
More than that, Twilight actually had to cast the time-travel spell like a dozen times by herself during their fight, while Glimmer's seemed to be drawing power from the map/castle/tree and thus not wasting any of her own reserves. While we don't know for sure how draining that is for Twilight, I imagine time travel spells aren't exactly an effortless affair (to put it mildly).
She was basically chain-casting time travel, all the while trying to fight Glimmer in-between without disrupting anything in the past, while having to prevent Glimmer from doing the same (which is an all but impossible task, considering any disruption to the race triggers a cascade) while Glimmer's task is doing exactly that, not actively fighting back at Twilight, all the while going for non-lethal approach (it's a lot harder to subdue someone than simply kill them. Killing is simple, taking someone alive, especially without serious injury, is where things get tough).
That's not to say Starlight isn't an impressive unicorn - she absolutely is, and Twilight herself noted as much. She's easily the best mage after Twilight herself that we have seen. But it wasn't a straight-up fight; Starlight's objective was to evade Twilight long enough to disrupt the timeline again (hardly a difficult task to achieve all things considered), not actually standing up to the alicorn in a drawn-out fight for any notable length of time.
Considering Twilight's vastly more difficult objective and the restraint she exercised while going about it while Starlight was going all out (if she had approached Starlight with the same mindset as she did Tirek, I think we would have seen a very different fight), all the while having to cast time travel after time travel, it's not really a poor showing on her part that she and Starlight seemed to be tiring at the same rate, despite the discrepancies in the difficulty between their respective tasks.
6914087
Yeah, it's been uploaded and sitting on the site, being occasionally edited and stuff, for much longer than I originally intended.
6914296
Thanks, I think you just managed to put into words something that was bothering me but I didn't quite know how to define. I'll definitely keep that in mind if I do any more revisions (or manage to come up with something good for a sequel).
6914146
Thanks! It's hard to do Pinkie justice, especially in such a short space, without going overboard and stealing the scene.
Which author? I've seen more than one story by that title. I've read one, but it was a while ago (and incomplete)...
6914543
Starlight is the most magically capable unicorn we've ever seen in the show, above and beyond Twilight herself. The only thing that kept Twilight in the fight at all is the fact she's an alicorn, if she was a unicorn too then there would have been absolutely nothing she could have done to stop Starlight's plan.
Starlight crafted a hideously complex spell that even Twilight can't really believe when she first sees it, she is an extremely capable flier using her magic, and she broke out of Twilight's holding spell almost effortlessly. This is on top of the fact that Starlight seemingly made/learned a spell that can rip a pony's cutie mark from their body.
Everything Starlight has done so far has been head and shoulders above anything Twilight ever achieved as a unicorn, and probably more impressive than most things she's done as an alicorn too. Starlight apparently didn't even go to a prestigious magic school either, unlike Twilight.
A nice little slice of life story. An enjoyable read, and amusing to when it was supposed to.
Good job
Also, trust Pinkie to know when to do something
This is a great story you wrote here. I've never seen someone do this before and I think you nailed it. To be honest, there really isn't room for a sequel here, so I don't think you should worry about doing one. It wouldn't compare to this one anyway.
Thus, Twilight trained in her newfround Earth Pony might until her mane fell out. From then on, she could win every fight with just....
ONE PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!
6914754 Estee
If you want to do a sequel, maybe flesh out the reason Twilight felt uneasy or physically ill in some parts of the forest? Like, while she's learning her abilities, she uncovers something wrong with the Everfree?
Or maybe there's nothing wrong with the Everfree, and her nausea and aversion is due to the different kind of wild magic that allows it to grow on its own, and the whole thing could be about Twilight finally learning the difference between the forest's magic and nature in the rest of Equestria? It could make for a more slice-of-life-ish story than something being wrong with the forest itself, if you're not lookin for any kind of overdramatic plot points.
Also, this was a lot of fun to read, and if you can't tell, I REALLY want a sequel. Super curious, now.
6914942
Eh, you are exaggerating/miss-remembering a great deal. Firstly, there was no such instance where Twilight "wouldn't believe it when she saw it" - really, there wasn't (and I just rewatched to check). Secondly, that time travel spell wasn't Starlight's, it was Starswirl's, modified from the one Twilight herself used previously by Starswirl himself (Starlight's own words are that "Stawrswirl did all the hard parts already").
Thirdly, that "holding spell" was actually Starlight's that she used against Twilight first - which Twilight broke out of as well. She then used the spell against Starlight, who also broke out of it. By all accounts its a pretty crappy spell for holding unicorns, since it doesn't seem to impede one's ability to cast. Twilight really shouldn't have bothered copying it.
Self-levitation is impressive, but we have seen Twilight do so as well when she was a unicorn (she did so to break her own fall when tumbling down Sombra's stairs). Still impressive and evidently rare, but nothing ultimately new.
Her cutie-mark-stealing spell is the only truly impressive and unique showing she has had - and it is impressive - but overall compared to Twilight and the myriad of things she has done? Starlight's out of her league here and I have no reason to believe she would last against Twilight if they were having an actual stand-up fight, instead of her only fighting to disrupt the timeline (a much easier task than actually besting Twilight in combat) at which point Twilight gets sucked into some version of the future, where she has to waste time and energy getting back (and they still tire at an equal rate, showing a far larger magical/stamina reserve on Twilight's part).
So ... can't say I agree with what you say. Starlight clearly is extremely potent and can play in Twilight's ballpark, and she has a good head for combat and eking out advantages, but overall Twilight is head and shoulders above her, unicorn or not - it's only very specific circumstances that allowed Starlight to edge out a draw here.
6915255
I just went back and re-watched it too. Starlight is using Starswirl's spell, but - straight from Twilight's mouth - the 'original' version Twilight used could only go back a week as opposed to possibly over a decade. Plus Twilight was only able to keep herself in the past for something like 30 seconds, while Starlight's modifications allowed two ponies and a dragon to stay in the past seemingly indefinitely, on top of the spell behaving differently depending on who is using it. No matter which way you look at it, Starlight's version is several orders of magnitude better than Starswirl's. She obviously cracked something that eluded Starswirl when he made it, because who would call a shoddy time travel spell that only goes back a week for less than a minute 'finished' unless the creator saw no way of making it actually useful?
Not to mention that Starswirl's spell is held in the restricted section of the Canterlot library, so Starlight must have broken into that and got away clean somehow, plus she's shown to be able to turn invisible or something: Starlight is sat in the audience for Twilight's presentation one second, then the next she's just vanished without a trace.
So that means that Starlight's repertoire looks something like this:
- master infiltrator, can slip in and out of places like a whisper on the breeze
- can remove cutie marks
- better understanding of time travel magic than Starswirl, the only pony to have made a time travel spell
- can fly around effortlessly using magic, something Twilight has never done despite there being many times where that would have been really, really useful
- can go toe-to-toe with alicorn Twilight in non-lethal combat and fight her to a standstill (bear in mind that 4x alicorns' power is apparently enough to throw Tirek around, who must have weighed tens of thousands of tons)
Meanwhile, unicorn Twilight could lift heavy things, perform a ton of parlour tricks and sometimes shoot lasers. I genuinely cannot recall her ever doing something truly exceptional like perfecting time travel.
6915340
I can imagine one reason why Starswirl wouldn't want to make this version of the time travel spell (and as Glimmer herself said, modifying it wasn't actually difficult - by her own words, Starswirl had done the hard part) - because it has a chance of literally dooming Equestria. Just like it did in the episode - by messing with the past in a permanent fashion Starlight almost destroyed future. Or made it a wasteland, at any rate - I can certainly see why someone less extreme than Starlight would look at the possibilities and go "nope".
Don't get me wrong, modifying Starswirl's spell is impressive - I imagine there aren't many unicorns around who could do that. But I don't believe this is all that different from Twilight finishing Starswirl's spell that allowed her to switch around the destinies of ponies and ascended her to alicornhood, so she's not alone in tinkering with Starswirls's spells. And her version of the time travel spell does require the Map to be usable, she can't do it on her own.
As for Twilight, calling what she can do "parlor tricks" seems a bit selling her short (not to mention this sort of magic is what's actually more useful in day-to-day lives) - that's more of Trixie's repertoire. (unicorn) Twilight can transform beings into other species (mice into horses), summon matter (create objects out of thin air), control gravity, actually use dark magic, summon parasprites, give ponies wings and allow them to walk on clouds, mend/repair objects, animate objects, use a myriad of mind-affecting magic and teleport both herself and others. Create both magical shields and fields. Among a loundry list of other, less impressive things (and obviously use Starswirl's original time travel spell) - I doubt Starlight can match her in sheer versatility.
As for "lifting heavy things", it sounds more impressive when one considers what exactly she has lifted as a unicorn. People tend to remember the Ursa, but it's actually her stint repairing Ponyville's dam in the Mare do Well episode that's a far, far greater showing - she fished like 1/3 of the broken dam out of the river, floated it all back into place over like 20 seconds (while pushing against the pressure of the onrushing river - no small amount of force, that) and melded it back together.
People have actually been trying to calculate how much weight she must have moved there, approximately, given the size of the dam, the hole and the assumption that a pony is 1.5 meters high. The low end estimate is somewhere in the excess of a hundred thousand tons. Without factoring in the force of the onrushing river that she would have to push the boulders against. That's enough to lift a Nimitz aircraft carrier, planes and all. I have my sincere doubts as to whether Starlight would be able to replicate the saving of Ponyville if she was placed in Twilight's shoes at that moment.
Like I said, Starlight is clearly impressive - she has lots of power, lots of skill and is obviously good at magical theory. I could easily see her being able to serve as a stand-in for Twilight most of the time, as far as magical prowess being required is concerned. She may well be more battle-minded than Twilight. But overall a better/stronger mage? Nah, she's not quite there.
This is a very good story with a greater exploration of Earth Pony magic then I have read before.
It was also very kind of Pinkie to send Rainbow a package so she doesn't feel bad about missing the party.
I enjoyed this story. Have a like.
6914196 The Twilight/Tirek fight brought up a good question for me when watching the S5 Finale: Did Tirek come across Our Town and drain Starlight Glimmer?
My thinking is that no, he did not. For one, that would have more or less broken open the Cutie Mark Vault when Glimmer was drained, as it seemed that was being maintained by her magic, if even only passively. Secondly, if Starlight Glimmer really is as powerful as some are making her out to be due to the Twilight/Glimmer fights, then if Tirek absorbed her power, he would have had to have been more powerful than Twilight, and been able to take her.
I believe Twilight was indeed holding back a lot of her power due to wanting to minimize collateral damage as well as trying to maintain the status quo of the past. Starlight Glimmer, on the other hand, had no such restrictions, as her goal was indeed to simply do anything it took to change the past. As such, she poured a lot of her effort and power into effecting change, which is why we see her pulling off feats of power and magic that would put her on par with the self-handicapped Twilight. The two mares met in that proverbial middle ground where Twilight was holding back just enough to let Glimmer catch up.
If Twilight is allowed to ever just go full ham like she did with Tirek, even with out 3 other alicorn's worth of power backing her, I'd imagine she'd be an incredibly scary sight.
6915200 Except this was Whitetail Woods, a place that's within Equestria's pony-run nature. She's having the feelings of wrongness coming from there, not the Everfree.
Also, there's the point that she's picking up some sort of negative vibes from some ponies she comes across. Sort of similar to the developments of the movie Unbreakable.
All in all, some pretty decent sequel hooks for a random slice-of-life one-shot.
Reminds me of an idea I had that I only got around to writing half a chapter for a couple years back. Thanks for writing this out for us!
...wait... How is a story that was uploaded last year only getting featured now?!?
That's some good dialogue there, which is good, because if it wasn't good there's not enough anything-else to carry it. But it is good, so all's good.
Given the context and clues, I'd speculate that the reason Twilight felt sick sometimes and especially so a particular time was because she was near an unhealthy or dead thing. She seems to be describing a life-sense very much similar to the Wit (RotE), and its easy to conceive that such an unpracticsed, intimate awareness of something unsavoury (perhaps a dead animal) would bring on that reaction.
Such a magic also goes some of the way to explain how Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie's: her life-sense is tuned away from the workings of nature (which get applied as farming, mining) and towards the workings of ponies and the greater community around her.
My two cents, chipped in. Neat story and, of course, Pinkie Pie is best pony.
6913140
Unfortunately, nothing trumps poor writing. It's what you get when toy production clashes with desire for storytelling.
6915119
Yeah, I keep hoping that one will get updated some more! Can't quite remember what you meant about AJ though, I'd probably have to give it another read.
6915095
LOL! I think Rarity would have a heart attack if Twilight went bald...
6915093
I don't have any plans as the moment, but you never know when inspiration may strike.
6915200
6915870
Those are, in fact, some of the very points I had been considering ways to make use of.
6916056
Again, that's because I originally wrote it months ago, put it on the site to share the unpublished story with a couple people, and decided to wait a few days to mull over the responses I received from them and make a few corrections and edits. Then, stuff happened, and I didn't get around to finally hitting "submit" until just the other day.
6915870 Noted.
6915340
Tirek: "Are you calling me FAT!?"
Rainbow Dash: "No, Lardball, it's your massive weight calling you fat!"
Twilight Sparkle: "That comeback doesn't even make any sense, Rainbow..."
Pinkie Pie: "It doesn't need to! Just like all of Tirek's fat!"
Tirek: "That's it! I'm going back to Tartarus! I got received a lot more respect there!"
Applejack: "Didn't your fellow prisoners vote you in as Whiney Bastard of the Year fifty-four decades in a row?"
Tirek: "...Yes! And that was still more respect that you ponies are giving me!"
6916184 I've only read the first few chapters myself, but earth ponies seem to have various kinds of magic (including sensing things about nearby earth) which has apparently led to trouble when the other tribes found out about it, so now they keep a tight lid on it via oral history. This unfortunately colors Applejack's interactions with- and opinion of- her, ahem, friends:
What can I say, your AJ's joke sounded to me like it could have fit right in there.
Also:
You might well be right...