I am my own OC

by KittyrinnAiko

Chapter 24: Out at the Apple Farm

“So, do you think I have a chance with Rumble?” I asked as our little group made our way out to the Apple farm after they let us go from school. Our group consisting of Cadance, Sunset, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and myself. Rumble was presently following us like a lost puppy and Sweetie… Well, Sweetie was grounded and had to go home. Something about getting into Rarity's supplies and costing her several hundred bits in damaged materials. As for Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, they’d been abnormally quiet that morning and were likely off assessing how deep the hole they’d dug themselves was. After all, it’s not every day the daughter of Nightmare Moon turns out to actually be the daughter of… well, I think you get the picture.

“Nova, you don’t really have a strong connection with him.” Cadance offered. “Meanwhile there is talk of fixing you up with Lord Prince Blueblood’s little brat.”

My ears went flat. “But I can’t stand him. He’s an egotistical stuck-up self-centered overbearing idiot with delusions of grandeur.”

“Maybe he’ll mellow out as he gets older?” Cadance offered with a shrug of her wings. “Granted there isn’t a strong connection there either.”

Somehow I couldn't see it happening any time soon. Or ever. “Maybe we’ll set him up with Diamond Tiara,” I mused evilly. Cadance gave me a curious smile, Sunset looked at me, and as she assessed what I’d just said, formed a smile to match my own, and the others just laughed.

“I don’t get it?” Cadance asked.

“Diamond Tiara is an insufferable brat,” Apple Bloom supplied.

“Maybe if we put the two of them together they’ll cancel each other out?” Scootaloo offered. She’d heard me talk about Blueblood’s brat often enough to understand that the colt was just a male version of Diamond.

“No, typically that type just feeds on each other and just gets worse,” Cadance offered.

“In that case I withdraw the suggestion.”

When we arrived at the farm Granny came out of the house and gave us all a warm embrace to include myself which had me nearly as befuddled as Rumble.

“Ugg – Granny?” I protested. Dear sweet harmony what have I done?

“It’s just, I was being such a cranky old...” Granny said as she loosened up on her hug.

“Nag?” I suggested. Both she and Applejack who was standing nearby gave me a dirty look, but then Granny smiled.

“I suppose you are right,” Granny replied a moment later. “And I owe you an apology. You’ve been such a good filly and I shouldn't be treating you differently just because you eat meat.”

“I promise never to eat any of your hens,” I said with a smile.

“Chickens, say chickens.” Warned Applejack.

“Um, Applejack...” I say turning to her while keeping my voice at a whisper. Granny had a funny look on her face. “If I promise to never eat any of the chickens knowing what I know concerning what happens to the young roosters, I’d be honor-bound not to eat any. That would mean requesting that I not be served any from the Apple farm.”

“Oh. - Who knew honesty could be so complicated,” Applejack replied. “Granny, I know where the extra roosters have been going. Well, not where-where, but I’ve got a good idea.”

“Applejack?” Why does she have to be so dang honest? Who am I kidding she’s the bucking element of honesty. And then I reminded myself that when hooves hit faces it hurts.

“How’s that?” Granny asked.

“The chickens going to Canterlot are going to restaurants. Ponies aren’t making pets out of them.” AJ told her.

“Why would you think that?” Granny asked.

“Granny Smith, ponies in Canterlot don’t keep roosters as pets.” Cadance offered.

“They are more than likely going to griffin homes and restaurants.” I supplied. “Meat substitutes tend not to have the required amino acids a meat eater needs to stay healthy. That’s why I like to mooch eggs off you, and Ms Lofty makes sure I have at least one fish a day so I’ll grow up healthy. There are nine proteins required for good health. A strictly plant-based diet doesn’t have the omega-3s that a meat-eater needs, and while a good deal of proteins can be found in a plant-based diet, plants don’t have the amino sulfonic acid known as Taurine. It’s considered a conditional amino acid because most creatures can make their own, or at least enough to stay healthy. Griffins and ponies such as myself who have ancestors who were dependent on a meat diet don’t produce enough of our own. Not only do we need meat to stay healthy we are also hard-wired to like it.”

“The papers said you attacked a guard,” Granny asked.

“It was in a griffin restaurant, he took meat from me, and from what I understand of griffin culture, the griffins would have seen that as me consenting to be his wife if I’d have allowed it.”

“What?” Cadance gasped.

“I know it’s not pony custom, but when in the company of griffins it’s best to be mindful of their customs or risk humiliation in their eyes. That and it'd been such a long time since I'd gotten any fried chicken that I kind of lost it too,” I explain and then direct my attention back to Granny. “So, have you any chores for us to do? We’ve even brought Rumble with us.”

“I reckon I’ll have to take griffin culture into consideration.” Granny gave Rumble a calculating look. “I don’t know about Rumble though, you sure he’s up to it? He doesn’t look like he’s quite with it.”

“She feather marked him.” Silvereagle offered. Granny smiled and laughed.

“Well, there will be chores later. Come on in, and have some lunch,” Granny offered. “And then we’ll see if we can’t get some work out of him.”

So in we went and the spread laid out did not disappoint as Granny had been cooking all morning. We all found ourselves a place around, gave a quick word of thanks, and started loading up on the delight Granny had prepared.

“You know, it doesn't count if it’s not meat.” I teased on catching Rumble swiping tidbits off my plate. And then I snatched something off his. Which was met with considerable laughter, and blushing on Rumble’s part. After we’d finished I volunteered to help granny clean up.

“Princess...” Granny started but seemed hesitant. She was washing dishes while I dried.

“Yes?”

“You seem mature, for your age. Most of the time, that is.”

“I wouldn't know, I’ve never met any pony over a thousand years other than Princess Celestia and my mom that is.”

“ To shay, as Miss Rarity might say.”

It was touché, but then again, Granny was technically correct.

“Can I tell you a secret?” I asked.

“And what might that be?”

“I wasn’t in limbo the whole time,” I informed her. She continued washing dishes unabated. “Cadance, Sunset, and Princess Celestia know. Some of the guards. I haven't told Ms Lofty or Ms Holiday. I haven't even talked to my mom about it.”

“Then why tell me?”

“I found myself in another world, grew up, got married, my babies grew up got married and had babies of their own. My married name is Mrs Nova Arthol, and I’m a grandmother. I have more in common with you than I do with the ponies I call friends. I was happy. And then one day I suddenly found myself in the ruins of the palace of the two sisters out in the middle of the Everfree and I’m back to being a filly. Though just between you and me I doubt my old bones would have got me out of that forest, and starting over isn’t such a bad thing.”

Granny had stopped and just looked out the window.

“His name was Rohan Godric Arthol,” I offered up. “My stallion.”

“An unusual name. Almost Griffin.”

“It was in another world, and I was able to confirm that it wasn’t all in my head.”

“You miss him?”

“Yes.”

“Would you go back if you could?”

“He passed away a little over seven years ago. I’ve got a son named Johnathan, a daughter named Aria.” I put down the dish I was drying and picked up another. “I had a chance to go back to them. The trouble is, in that world, I’m just an old nag, I’d be on borrowed time, I’ve friends and family here too, and coming back from the dead only causes a fuss.”

“I would imagine it would,” Granny commented, and then went back to washing dishes. She didn’t ask what my chance had been and probably wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Fair enough, ask away.”

“Have you always been known as Granny Smith? Sometimes pony names just seem strange to me now.”

“Maria Ann,” Granny told me. “There was a time when pony names weren’t quite so descriptive.”

“It’s a nice name. If I remember correctly it means beloved grace. Mine means a beautiful bright new star.”

If Granny doubted me for a moment I made a believer out of her when I started telling her all about my kids, the in-laws, and of course the grandkids. I was careful to say foals though. After all, I didn’t want her thinking I’d been a goat in a world dominated by goats. Can’t have her thinking I’m somehow connected to Grogar now can I?

“At least I know this world,” I said to break the silence I’d created when I’d stopped talking. “I remember the day they came back and told me that Cadance was gone, and wasn’t coming back. I refused to accept it. Back then, well, I’d a good idea what it meant when some pony wasn’t coming back. Death was far too frequent a visitor in those days. Finding myself in the ruins of the home I was born in, my age back to being a filly was rather disorienting. I’d no idea what to do at first. I just figured that if I could follow the old road without getting eaten along the way I’d be alright.”

“And now you are here, and you were right about Princess Cadenza.” Granny offered. “Just not quite in the way you’d thought. I'd a mighty powerful nightmare that reminded me that things aren't always the way I think and that I should be careful what I wish for. I'd gotten myself worked up because Bright Mack had been so terribly injured. I'd even been blaming you on some level because you'd stopped Pear Butter from going with him. On top of that, I was resentful of Applejack for being away when we needed her here. Not once did I stop to think that I could have lost all three at once.

"You, you lost everything," Granny continued. "It must have been hard on you finding yourself out in those ruins."

"I'm afraid self-preservation won out over emotions," I offered. "I didn't have an emotional breakdown until after we'd retrieved Princess Celestia and Sunset from that mirror. That's when the weight of everything I'd lost finally hit me."

"To lose so much, not just once but twice. On the bright side, you missed the wars that followed Nightfall, and you now have a bright new future ahead of you."

Wars she says. The Crusades for the Sun they were called, many of the battles had been out and out massacres of innocent ponies, but then again, the history books had been written by the Platinum Clan.

"I'm good here," Granny offered a moment later. "Why don't you go on out and join your young friends? They are your future now. - And you might want to tell Miss Lofty some of what you’ve told me.”

“I probably should. I can’t really see keeping secrets from her, but then I don’t want any pony to have to worry unnecessarily. Might not say anything to mom just yet, she’s a little delicate yet. Getting possessed and then banished for a thousand years kind of does a number on a pony. Are you sure you don’t need any more help?”

“I think I can manage.”

“Alright then,” I say as I put down my last dish. “Thank you.”

Comments

[Pony addiction]

I wish I could force myself to forget this story just so I can read it again

[KittyrinnAiko]

10684402
Have you tried sliding on ice?

[Pony addiction]

10684438
No...

[Shiver Storm]

10684498
We technically never got another response from them, so I have to think they may have succeeded with sliding on ice and falling.