For Want of a Rider v/vi
For want of a Rider
part v of vi
For want of a Princess
Imagine, if you will, a field of trees. An ordinary Orchard, one of hundreds all over Equestria. This particular Orchard is composed of apple trees, and the deed to the land is held by the Apple family - if you were to check the records in the Canterlot Archives or the Certified Copy kept in the Ponyville Records Room it would even be embossed with the Apple Family seal... an Apple. Apples apples apples... which grow from the earth.
Come closer, see a pony standing in the orchard. Lavender hide, stars on her flank, dark purple hair - with lighter fuchsia colored streaks - tied back to avoid getting in her eyes.
What you are seeing is not an earth pony but a unicorn. She is trying to knock apples off a tree with her hooves. She tries once, twice. Then something happens, her horn lights - just a little - and she tries again. Apples fall, and keep falling. She looks into the tree to make sure there isn't a filly in the branches making them fall, sees none. Satisfaction turns to curiosity, why is she still hearing the sound of apples falling? Zoom out slightly, notice the surrounding trees are dropping apples as well, moving back further, a spreading wave of apple-fall becomes visible. Things like this happen in... the Sweet Apple Acres.
Twilight packed as quickly as she could, taking care to be quiet. 'Three days. It took three whole days to gather up all the apples I made fall, half of them were no good by the time we got to them, compost or pig-food - although I suppose in the end there's really no difference.' She was a force of destruction, a walking disaster area - and she couldn't inflict herself on the Apples in good conscience any longer. 'I'll have to sneak out, if I tell them I'm leaving they'll feel obligated to ask me to stay. They won't say so, but they'll resent me for staying. No, for everypony's good I have to leave here unnoticed.' ...You come up with that on your own? I don't remember being so self-serving... '...Shut up, Me.'
If she hadn't startled into immobility, she'd have given herself a concussion by facehoof. Two steps past the stairs she had heard a loud crash from the kitchen, followed by crying. Apple Bloom lay on the floor. Shattered ceramic strewn about, cookies distributed throughout the mess. The filly looked unharmed, and immediately noticed Twilight's saddlebags and pack. 'That kid is far too perceptive for my own good.' Apple Bloom's relief at rescue evaporated into a look of confused betrayal. "Wh-where are you-"
Before Twilight could say or do anything, a deep soft tread on the stairs alerted her to Macintosh's approach. Some instinct of empathy made Twilight grab Apple Bloom from her resting place and set the filly down by the stairs. Macintosh raised his brow as his little sister came to a rest in a purple glow.
Once again her attempts at speech were interrupted, this time by the Apple Family Matron, "What in tarnation is all that racket? A body kin barely get a wink'a sleep with all the fool crashin' going on." 'Great, Granny Smith too, of course. She sleeps through thunderstorms but a cookie-jar is loud enough to... I wonder if her hearing loss depends on pitch-' ...*Psst*, not important right now.' All of the Apples were looking at her. "Ah think we need an Apple Fam-err a Sweet Apple Acres Staff Emergency Meetin'."
"So, you kin talk to plants?"
"I... don't think it's... direct communication. I can-my magic seems to be attuned to plantlife, and I can both use my magic on them easier and I can ... make requests? The key part is that I also get a low-level sense of response, like if the plants need something or if what I'm planning would hurt them - that's very important, but... weird."
"If you ask and they answer, how's that not a conversation?"
"It... ok, I hadn't looked at it like that. I suppose it is."
"You could do worse for a 'special talent' Ah think." Apple Bloom mumbled something.
"Hey, c'mon, it's no fair mumbling. Either say it out loud or don't say it at all."
"Ah said, you could be stuck with a Cutie Mark fer 'doing your job'."
"..." Twilight stopped. "Apple Bloom, are you afraid your destiny isn't going to meet your expectations?"
"Ah love mah family, ah love apples, ah miss mah-I I jus' don't want to wake up one day and realize mah life is already set down an' ah'll never get 'ta try anything new ever again."
"You... hrm. You know, there are three things tangled up in what you're talking about. There's your Cutie Mark," 'Which thankfully you won't even start worrying about for a few years.' "there's your Special Talent, which your Mark represents, and then there's your Destiny. They are not the same things." Twilight racked her brains, "Have you ever heard the legend of Taylor Little, the Giant-Slayer? Once, approximately one thousand four hundred years ago - give or take a decade..."
Twilight pawed at the ground. She felt good, her work for the day was done, she had cleaned off, and she still had some free time before the afternoon work started. 'So, Fact 1: Many of my mistakes come from misinterpretation of what others say, or their misunderstanding of me. Fact 2: I... don't deal well with situations I can't understand - I tend to start imagining worst-case scenarios and building on them. Fact 3: My life experiences are what I draw on to understand and be understood by other ponies, and are also how I learn what ISN'T the end of the world. ... Conclusion, I need to make up for my serious deficit of pony to pony interactions.' ...In Equestrian?... 'I know what I mean' ...Consider it practice for your "Pony to Pony Interactions"... ' *Rrrg* fine, I need to ... make friends.'
In later years Twilight would come to think of the next few minutes as her first good example of life's fondness for the kind of coincidence so many ponies mistake for irony. At the time what she thought was 'Abbagarble Pink!' as she was jarred from her internal monologue by ... ' a pony? pink, sad, letter, saddlebags, smell of feathers and celery, downcast blue eyes, no horn and no wings, where the hay did she come from - didn't hear her coming. Ohmygosh I could talk...wait she's sad, I remember reading something - Ineedresearch!'. Barely noticing she had caught herself in midair with telekinesis, she started running in mid-air while using the same magic to race off to her collection of books on social interaction.
The pink pony took the entire spectacle in, snorted, and continued on her quest, grumbling "well THAT was interesting" to herself.
"Ok, let me go through that list again: Pinka-somthing 'DIANE' Pie, she's a.. was raised Manenite, lived with the healer Rosey Poesy for the last five years. She likes animals, doesn't seem afraid of the Everfree Forest. Oh, and Ms. Poesy just died. ... That right?"
"Eyup,"
"...and that last one wasn't what you felt you should lead with?"
"Mnope," Twilight had been on the farm long enough to recognize Macintosh suppressing a smirk.
"Ookay. Well, I'll go to the 'Wake', but I can't exactly throw her a part right after that - I think that'd be in terrible taste."
"Eyup,"
"That wasn't a question."
"Mnope."
"..."
The party had been a disaster, she wasn't even sure how Apple Bloom had ended up covered in tree sap. But two important things had happened. Diane had shown some emotion and seemed better for it, and...'I actually had a conversation with a pony my age. It was... good. Now I just have to keep finding excuses to talk to her - so I can help her. I really never thought I'd meet somepony who was worse with social interactions than I am.' And of course she needed to start talking to ponies in town too. 'Right, I'll... ease my way into that.'
Sugarcube Corner, a bakery. Run by Mr. and Mrs. Cake - happily married - carries confections, conventional breads, cakes, and curious concoctions of sweet to savory flavor. 'Stop the Alliteration, you're smart, I get it.' It was a haven of smells, warmth, and comfort. It also had a bandaged blue-green pegasus at the service counter. "Uh, hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle..."
"Greetings, I am Sea Foam, and you are looking at my bandages. You want to ask why I am bandaged?"
"Err, well, yes."
"I was struck a mighty blow by a n- by a Unicorn. Under the circumstances she was justified."
"What in Equestria could have justified doing that!?"
The pegasus lowered her ears and her voice, "I may have implied that she was a narwhal."
Twilight jerked back, "Eh, that's ... that wasn't nice of you. But..."
The pegasus looked left and right to be sure there were no other customers. She trotted over to the door, flipped the business sign, and pulled the shades down. Turning back to the confused unicorn she spoke in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, "I am not what you see before you. My people were a proud race or sea-dwelling ponies. I know not what happened, but one day I found myself above the clouds in a form I did not recognize. An entire civilization, living on solid clouds far above the sea and lands - at first I was entranced by such a fanciful world, but I began to long for my people, my friends, my... family. Nopony had heard of them, and I could not find them even in a transmogrified form such as my own." She wrestled with her emotions, collecting herself.
"Eventually I had to accept that the world had changed, somehow. I met new ponies and found a family of sorts, good, honest ponies not bound by the strictures of this strange new world. Even-even then we were subject to attrition, but we have persevered and claimed fair Ponyville as home and sanctuary. And it was here that, finally, I found some sign that my world had not been swallowed whole." He wings flapped twice as she raised her head high, "the grand dreamer, Lyra Heartstrings, parading through a sea of grass rather than the glory of our homeland. In my home she was heir to the great traditions of the sea Bard, keeper of the song of our people."
"Wh-where I come from, sea unicorns were always called Narwhals and it was a sign of respect for their powers over the waves and sound. My enthusiasm when I embraced her and began asking if she had memories of our homeland, I ... in my joy I ignored her discomfort, I failed or refused to see that she did not share my memories. She, already unnerved, was driven past tolerance when I declared her noble race. But, even driven to panic and rage, she is still of a noble spirit, and transported me to medical care - I hold her no ill will and will not bother her again."
Twilight was speechless, 'Uh, you got any ideas?' ...Nope, nothing from over here, and I think we know from crazy... 'Alright then, shut up.' Eventually there was only one thing to say. "You know your whole story sounds crazy, right? A secret fourth race of ponies that has NEVER been seen? And you, somehow, the only survivor? Occam's Razor tells us the simplest answer is often the right one. How can you be sure you didn't just make this all up?"
The pegasus shifted as though struck, "Of, of course I have considered the possibility. But in my heart it feels true, and ... a pony wiser than I shall ever be told me the truth: It doesn't matter." Her tears told another story but she held Twilight's gaze.
Through the knot in her throat, Twilight asked "How can it not matter?"
"I BELIEVE what I feel in my heart. If I am insane and can't be cured, how is that truly any different than if I am cursed?"
"B-but..." Twilight's mind raced, 'But that only works if she can't be cured. If therapy could help her she could remember her real past, find the family,' ...that hasn't ever tried to find her... 'No! Living a lie is always harmful, isn't it?' ...Oh yes, think about how painful it was for you when your foal teeth fell out and you had to put them under your pillow for the Tooth Breezie... 'That's nothing like this, that was a lie we tell to foals so they can get through a difficult part of their lives, or to make them wonder about the wider world. When they grow up you TELL THEM the truth!' ...I think we're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.'
"Okay, you know what? If you're happy like this, I think it's a pleasure to meet my first Flying Seapony."
"Do you mock me? There are no... oh... Thank you." 'Hugs?' ...Hugs.'
"So, Twai?"
"Yesss Apple Bloom?" She was at a critical point in stirring the sauce, which turned out to require a great deal of concentration. 'I've seen alchemy that was easier than this,' ...it didn't taste nearly as good though... 'True, but shut up.'
"Um, yer pret-ty good. At magic."
"Well, modesty requires me to point out there are better... but yes, I'm good. At. Magic."
"And you could cast a spell to find something, right?"
"Found Smarty-Pants when you 'borrowed' her last month, didn't I?"
"Yeeaahhh... do– do you think there's an upper limit on jus' how FAR you could find a thing?"
"Technically, no. In practical terms, the wider the area, the longer it might take to find something." Stir, pause, mix slightly, lower temperatures... "what, are you. Trying to find?"
"Mah long lost sister." Apple Bloom said, barely audible.
Luckily the sauce came off the oven at this point. "You have a SISTER!? I-I don't think I've ever seen, I mean nopony ever mentions... not, not that your family is any of my business – err, other than my working for them. But. OUCH!" She never did figure out why she had put her hoof into molten apple syrup.
"Have ah mentioned how very, truly, sincerely sorry ah am about yer hoof?"
"Only twenty-three times so far, and like every other time I'm going to say it wasn't your fault and I absolve you of any circumstantial guilt you may feel." 'Full disclosure - shut up ...Err, that was you, I mean me, I mean YOU shut up.' "You know, I have an older brother. If I felt like I'd lost him, I'd probably move the Sun and the Moon to find him."
"Is THAT who 'Shining Armor' is? I always figured it was a code or somethin'."
"We will have a conversation about respecting other pony's mail AFTER we violate your sister's right to privacy."
"So you're really gonna do the location magic?"
"No."
"B-but-" Applbloom turned her puppy eyes up to eleven.
"No, like I said, that might take a long time to work. If she was on another continent, neither of us might be alive by the time the spell found her. And stop that." Twilight mussed Apple Bloom's hair to show she wasn't angry.
"Then what are you going to do?"
"I'm, going to combine a sending with a... favor. Remember when I said that I could ask the trees for things? I think if I create a beacon of identity for your sister, Applejack, I can channel a sending... uh send a letter and if she's near any plant-life at all, it will find her."
"How will we know when it's worked?"
"... when she comes back to see you."
"But!-"
"Apple Bloom, we can't know why she hasn't ever come home. We have to respect her right to make her own decisions. What I'm doing is reminding her that her choices affect other ponies - like her little sister." She raised her hoof to ward of the next round of complaints, "and I need you to write a letter to her for this to work. I- the spell will at least let you know she's alive - this wouldn't work with a dead pony."
She realized her mistake the same moment the spell took full effect. The precise distance was fuzzy, but Twilight Sparkle could feel where the pony whose family called 'Applejack' was. "She... she's alive, you can take your hooves off your eyes."
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou," Apple Bloom gushed as she hugged the mare. 'Well, now that I've found the original, how do I go about removing myself? ...What? Not this again... 'Shu-no. Not like last time, I won't run. Heh, I'll know exactly when she gets- huh, she's coming this way already...' For now, she hugged the filly back. It was enough, it had to be.
The trees told her before the spell even let her know. It was like a groan of recognition, but one of relief instead of pain. Twilight did her best to remain at the edges. 'As soon as she's back into the rhythm, I'll go' ….Liar... 'Shut up, shutupshutupSHUT.UP!'
One more thing. Apple Bloom had to introduce her to Cousin Braeburn '...Yowsa' 'What are you... omigosh stop thinking that.' Then the family needed one more sorting run and she'd just perfected her technique so she couldn't just leave. Then the Crisps came in from Canterlot, and it would have been rude to leave without extending regards to ponies her parents knew. And then it was the day before the BIG DAY and the whole family was needed for the last push.
Yeah, it was the 'last push' that did it. All the frustration, and the huge unspoken question 'why do I have to give this place up just because you came back?' ...Wow, prodigal much- 'Be silent, or I will end us both just to spite the you-that-is-me.' Knowing exactly where her opponent was helped a great deal, but years of wrestling with a Bigger, older, and definitely Stronger brother had left Twilight with some skill in the art of sibling war.
Then came the flood, a torrent of rain the likes of which had probably not happened since Celestia had accepted Rule. It was enough to shock both ponies out of their rage. It was certainly enough for 'JackApple' to become horrified with herself and flee.
Twilight was just evaluating her options in that regards when life threw another of those unfortunate coincidences everypony called 'ironic' her way. "Twilight? What's going on?"
"BBBFF?"
Artwork by: Inspired_Light
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the non-linear progression of updates intrigues me.
Like the progress of this story so far, but the braces in this chapter where distracting and, I believe, unnecessary. You've already established in previous chapters that Twilight has a habit of talking to herself, so there's no need to start separating the inner dialogues into "Twilight" and "other part of Twilight" now... unless the talking-to-self is starting to develop into something... more worrying.
"And surprisingly often, covered in tree sap."
Loved it. I may like Fluttershy best, but Twilight has always been Best Pony.
"cousing Braeburn"
...
1291604
I just want to say that your avatar combined with your comment is absolutely hilarious.
Hey, I'm back with a new comment. Skipped a few chapters because it was 1am and I had that thing, you know, where you just have to read one more chapter? Anyway, commenting:
I hope you're learning a lot from writing this fic. Your structure and grammar could use a lot of work (and couldn't some of the typos be quickly remedied by the use of a spellchecker?)
But, you know, story-wise and character-wise, I fell in love with this story from the very first chapter. Twilight's comments about most people's misuse of the word ironic in place of coincidence was a brilliant stroke of genius.
And speaking of genius, with some work on your style and probably a proofreader, you could write some masterpieces
Twilight Zone reference!
I love this story... but it's a bit confusing at some points. It makes my head hurt.
1470906 I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Several readers have said it's easier to take in small doses, and I'm afraid it does remain confusing most of the way through
Applbloom turned her puppy eyes
introduce her to cousing Braeburn
1. Applebloom.
2. Cousin... Though kinda funny how this was pointed out before
Maybe Twilight is a Sea Pony Spy who forgot her identity to protect her loved ones from the forces of the seaweed?! Oh wait no, that would just be gluttony for em
Twilight seems a weee bit insane, but I like it
Wait, so what exactly is Twilight's special talent again?
2844420 Understanding plant-life and ecosystems, with magic. Though that's a rather lackluster description
Certain things make me comment before I finish reading he entire chapter. The fact that I got the Twilight Zone reference made me pause for a bit but then realizing that it was a double reference because of Twilight Sparkle made me comment. Well, back to the front.
2844862
Plant magic or Floramancy could be a better way of putting it.
You write with short scenes. At first, this concerned me. Now, I realize that you've found a unique way to breathe life into a story.
Was the opening of this chapter a reference to the Twilight Zone?
3214268
Floramancy sounds kink of awesome.
3824163
3824195
not floromancy, chloromancy
So, Rarity and Shinning?
In a sense.
Ah. Cutie Mark troubles.
Ponies can do more than just their special talent, for example, Rarity's special talent is finding gems, but she is a fashionista and a dressmaker. In canon anyway.
I love how this is a reversal of PInkie and Twilight's first meeting in the show. ALso, you forgot to capitalize the W in Well and to add a period at the end of the sentence.
Er, OK, that wasn't nice, but, to that point?
Race oF.
The grand dreamer? Lyra is famous? also, again, capital T in The grand dreamer.
Imma use this.
EH?!
To shut yourself up.
ApplEbloom. Also, I'm going to be blunt. You need to proofread, or get an editor.
That might work.
Well, you know what they say, Braeburn gets ALL the mares.
No need to capitalize the B in bigger and S in stronger.
No capital r in rule.
And things around about to get fun.
I
my
___________________
5297245
It is actually a pretty cute ship when done right. And this fic does it well. It's actually both the first AU fic I ever read, fourth fanfic I've read, and the first time I saw this particular ship. All in all it's pretty cute.
Sea Foam is interesting, and I'm kinda mad there will never be an exploration into her story, whether it would have been in A Game Of Shadows alongside Twilight's clearly-burgeoning other self or in a side story.
Probably a weaker chapter than previous ones, but that's just because there's not really much of note on Twilight's life yet. At least, not immediately obvious ones.