Hero Souls: Awakening

by SvenFoxx

54: Nature and Natural

Chapter 54: Nature and Natural

Trixie kicked a pebble with a huff as she walked along the edge of the farm. The past few weeks had been hard. Trixie had been shown that the stereotype of Unicorns being physically weak held some merit, her body not quite up to the level of activity that working a farm required.

That wasn’t to say she was actually weak. Trixie was a nomad at heart, living on the road and towing her own home with her everywhere. Her body was adapted to at least some degree of manual labor. While not up to the standards of rock farmers, she was by no means unfit.

Thankfully, Igneous Rock Pie had been patient and apparently knew some exercises suited specifically to helping a Unicorn build up stamina and endurance. Trixie had of course questioned him about knowing such a thing, since, reasonably, an all Earth Pony family had no reason to know that, but he just smiled and said that he hadn’t always been a farmer.

Her frustration however had nothing to do with how hard life was right now. She was smart enough to know she was in for a hard time when she agreed to be a farm hand in return for their aid. Her frustration, right now, was in regards to the thoughts of Twilight Sparkle swimming around her mind. Every time she remembered the magic duel, she grew angry. Every time she remembered Twilight’s friends, she grew frustrated.

Every time she remembered the Ursa Major, her fear kept her awake.

“The rocks do not like being treated like that.”

Trixie did not jump. A week ago she might have, but she had grown at least somewhat accustomed to how Maud Pie could seemingly appear in your blind spot whenever she wanted.

“It’s a rock,” she pointed out. “It doesn’t “like” anything.”

Maud moved over towards the pebble Trixie had kicked and picked it up. “You are a fairly well read Unicorn, yes?” she asked, walking back over.

“Self-taught mostly, but my grandfather filled in a lot of blanks for me. Why?” the Unicorn asked.

“Did he teach you about the source of magic?”

Trixie frowned. “I can’t think of a single Unicorn that wouldn’t know about that. It’s the very first lesson in magic you’re ever taught. The soul is the source of a pony’s magic. I think even most Earth Ponies and Pegasi know about it.”

Maud nodded and rubbed her hoof along the pebble. “Did your grandfather ever tell you why Earth Ponies are so uniquely suited to being farmers?”

“Something about nature liking you more than it does the other races.” Trixie recalled a lesson on such a subject, but the details escaped her.

Maud shook her head. “While not entirely wrong, it is more complicated than that.” She smiled when a crack sound came from the pebble. Trixie also heard it and put her attention on the pebble. “Magic comes from the soul, but what makes magic unique from one pony to another? Our souls merely generate the power. The thing that molds it, makes it unique to each pony, gives it its affinities, is our body and mind.”

She held the pebble up closer to Trixie to show that a small shard of rock was jutting from the pebble.

“An Earth Pony’s body will imprint on the magic their soul generates, giving it a natural inclination towards life and nature. This natural affinity, in turn, is focused and molded by the mind with intent and purpose, refining it further with secondary affinities, those affinities determined by the kind of personality and passion you have.”

Maud set the pebble down and gently patted the rocky ground. The ground shifted slightly and the pebble fell into a small crack that formed, the crack closing.

“Ignoring the mind for the moment, the nature and life aligned magic flowing through an Earth Pony gives that pony a natural ability to perceive nature and life in more detail than what others would normally see. We see nature not as the rock, or the tree, or even the forest.”

She patted the ground again, and this time Trixie detected a very small burst of magic coming from Maud’s hoof.

“For an Earth Pony, nature is just as alive and vibrant as any other pony, just as talkative and just emotional as well. Nature has its own set of likes and dislikes. It likes some ponies and doesn’t like others. Prefers some places over others.”

Trixie’s eyes widened as a rock, large and almost spherical, began to push its way out of the ground.

“And just like any pony, Nature is affected by the way you treat it.” Maud reached onto the hard ground like it was soft soil and gently removed the large rock. “Abuse it and mistreat it, and it will twist and gnarl. It will resent those who have harmed it so, becoming angry and lashing out everypony around it. But feed and nurture it with care and love…”

With a loud crack, the rock split down the middle, and Maud pulled the two halves apart, revealing an amethyst geode. “... and it will in turn do what it can to take care of you, just as you have cared for it.”

Trixie was in awe. She had just witnessed an Earth Pony unmistakably create a precious gemstone geode with little to no effort. With a start, she suddenly understood the rock farm a LOT more. They weren’t farming rocks. They were farming gems! How were these ponies not rich?!

“If you guys can grow gems, then how…” she trailed off, realizing her question would be fairly rude, especially to the family that was giving her a roof over her head while her magic recovered.

“How are we so poor?” Maud asked with a smile. “We’re not. We own this land, and all the land around the farm, including the small town that grew around it recently. But gold is something we aren’t really interested in. We’re just happy to help and care for nature.”

“Then why here?” she asked, motioning around to the frankly dreary landscape. “This place is… I can’t really see nature being active here. Why not go somewhere else, like the Everfree?”

Maud lost her smile and looked around as well, and Trixie saw a strange expression come over her face for a moment. “... There’s more to life than wealth and riches. We learned that the hard way.” She smiled. “Similarly, there’s more to nature than green leaves and lush soil. This land may look barren, but as you just saw, it has its own part in nature. It can provide just as easily for those who care for it, just as well as the Everfree would.”

Maud remained silent after that, refusing to answer any more of Trixie’s questions but still walking with her as she finished her trip around the farm. Trixie walked away from that discussion thoughtful, and slightly unnerved.

Every Unicorn who put enough thought into the source of magic came to roughly the same question. Everyone knew magic was present in everything, infused with the stuff to one degree or another. Most believe it is background magic, excess bled off by others when they use their magic, but anyone with a decent understanding of magic knew it didn’t stick around long outside of where it originated from without some kind of purpose tied to it.

So then why was magic present in everything, if for all intents and purposes it shouldn’t be? Trixie felt like she had just been shown a glimpse of that answer.

Comments

[Haver]

More good

[Greenhorn]

IT'S ALIVE!! What a great new year gift it is.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Wait, it lives?!

[badninja]

It lives!!!

That was very Jedi there Maud. It will hopefully not allow Trixie to walk that dark path she did in canon.

[Comickook]

Not much I can say except you did a great job on the dialogue between Trixie and Maud concerning the nature of magic and the fact that the Pies have actually been farming gems as well as rocks.

REALLY looking forward to more of this.

[Orphan]

Yay!!

[Thing56]

CANCELLED! NOOOOOOOOO!