Chapter Two: Gnosis
Applejack grumbled to herself as she sat in the kitchen. Big Mac had insisted that she wait inside while he headed over to Twilight Sparkle’s place. The stallion rarely said much, but he was one of the only creatures alive who could match her for sheer bull-headed stubbornness. Applejack had managed to get him to relent on summoning the princesses directly, but if anypony knew what was going on it would be Twilight. After all, she’d had more firsthand experience with alicorns than anypony living.
Granny Smith bustled about the well-stocked kitchen baking and mixing as she always did, but she kept a rheumy eye on her granddaughter. The old mare was no longer completely there upstairs, and she would be the first to admit it, but she knew when one of her little ones was having a bad day. Venturing a guess at the cause she said, “Are the crops comin’ along alright?”
“Yes Gran, it’s lookin’ to be a bumper crop a apples this year. Even the corn’s lookin’ good.”
The subtle approach had failed, time for more direct measures. “Well, what’s eatin’ ya girl? Gotchyer eye on some stud who ain’t payin’ you no mind?” She waggled an eyebrow knowingly.
AJ couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “No Gran, it ain’t that. Where’re yer glasses?”
Granny Smith hemmed and hawed for a minute before fishing them out of an open drawer they had fallen into. Putting them on, she turned towards Applejack. The large horn jutting out of her forehead suddenly snapped into focus. “What’re you wearin’ that thing fer?”
“That’s the problem Gran, Ah ain’t wearin’ nothin’.” She extended a wing for examination. “These dang wings and horn jes’ showed up yesterday and now tha cows are spooked at me and Big Mac wants ta send fer the Princesses.”
The matriarchal Apple squinted hard at her granddaughter for an uncomfortably long time. Applejack shied away a bit at the intensity of her scrutiny. Finally the old mare chucked her glasses on a counter and trotted up to Applejack, wrapping as much of her as possible in a hug. “Well, yer still mah little Jackie, don’t you let a little thing like that worry ya none.”
Applejack couldn’t help but smile at that. Nothing much ever got her Gran down for long. Leaning far down into the hug she said, “Thanks Gran, Ah know it ain’t a big deal, Ah jest don’t know what ever’pony else is gonna think.”
***
Twilight trotted alongside Big Mac, still mystified as to why she was being summoned to the farm. The big stallion was a pillar of Ponyville in his own way, but stars help anypony who tried to get a two-sentence explanation out of him. “Sooo, AJ’s in a bit of trouble?”
“Eeyup.”
“And you think I’ll be able to help her out?”
“Eeyup.”
“Okaaay, with what?”
Big Mac tilted his head at this, “You’ll know.”
Twilight shook her head in frustration, it was no use. The two trotted on, one in companionable silence, the other in vague apprehension. As they reached the farmhouse and walked inside there was a rustling from the kitchen and a massive alicorn ducked through the doorway. Twilight was rooted to the spot as the giant pony grinned sheepishly at her. Looking back and forth from Big Mac to the newcomer a light finally clicked on in her head. “Alright, very funny princess. You really had me going for a moment. Why are you impersonating Applejack? That is you isn’t it Celestia? Or Luna… It’s really hard to tell actually.”
‘Celestia’ frowned at Twilight, causing a small tremor of fear in the little unicorn. Her teacher never frowned like that; it must be Luna. “Twi, it’s me, Applejack.”
Twilight began to feel a little insulted, “Um, hate to burst your bubble princess, it sounds like you worked really hard on getting the voice down exactly, and it’s a great prank, but you forgot one little detail. Applejack isn’t a ten-hoof tall alicorn!”
“Consarn-it Twi, Ah am Applejack! Remember that time on tha cliff when Ah swore Ah was tellin’ tha honest truth? Or when Ah finally admitted Ah needed help with apple buckin’? This is one a those times!”
Twilight’s eyes went huge at this revelation, then promptly rolled up as she fainted clean away.
***
“Tell me agin why y’all thought this was a good idea Mac?”
“Ah just thought she’d help.”
Twilight came-to on one of the Apple’s parlor couches. Big Mac and Giant Applejack were having a quiet argument nearby. “A-Applejack?”
The mare walked over, concern in her eyes, “Yeah sugarcube? Y’all took a good little tumble there. You feelin’ alright?”
“I’ll be fine, but what about you? You really are…” The librarian gestured with a hoof.
“You jest pointed ta all of me.”
“Exactly!”
Applejack sighed, “It seems Ah am.” She told Twilight what had happened.
Twilight considered for a moment. “Well, as I see it, there are two possibilities. Possibility one, it’s genetic. The phenotypes of the three races are typically mutually exclusive. Even if you have all three genes in you, generally only one manifests, like with the Cake’s foals. On the other hoof, there are exceptions. Cadence is a rather dramatic one, she exhibits both pegasus and unicorn traits, but she isn’t a true alicorn. Winged unicorn might be more taxonomically accurate. Also, you have ponies like Blueblood and Roid Rage who exhibit more than their share of earth pony traits despite being a unicorn and pegasus respectively…” Twilight paused to take in her friend’s shape, “… but that doesn’t account for why you seem to have all three, and not from birth either.”
AJ nodded, not sure exactly what her friend was driving at, or saying for that matter. “And the other possibility?”
“The other possibility, the one that seems to fit best, even though it’s crazy, is that you really are a goddess.”
“Well, if Ah am a goddess, what exactly am Ah tha goddess of?”
Twilight’s eyes wandered down to her friend’s side, “Well, I might have an idea, could I see your flank?” Applejack grinned at her slyly. “Not like that! I swear, frazzin’ dirty-minded farmers.” Big Mac, having gone and just returned with refreshments, backed quietly out of the room again on hearing this.
“Ya think mah cutie mark has somethin’ ta do with this?”
“I do. The circle with crosshairs is an ancient symbol for the Earth. I don’t know what the leaf is though…”
“It’s an apple leaf.” AJ said quickly.
Twilight looked up at her friend in surprise, “Are you sure?”
“Eeyup.”
“Well, you’d know.” The unicorn frowned in concentration. “Well, I guess the next thing to do is head over to Canterlot and tell Celestia there’s a new goddess to… Raise the Earth? That’s nonsense. I’ll have to look into this a bit more.”
“Ah ain’t goin’ ta Canterlot.”
“But why?”
Applejack’s frown mirrored that of the unicorn. “Ah ain’t exactly comfortable with the idea of bein’ a princess, and besides, there’s too much ta do on tha farm ta get ready fer harvest fer me ta just up an’ take a Celestia-knows-how-long vacation… Ain’t that right Mac?” she shouted. Big Mac, still taking refuge in the kitchen, declined to comment.
Twilight rolled her eyes, “Fine, but I’m still sending a letter. And you,” she poked at Applejack’s chest with a hoof, “Had at least better learn to use that form while you have it.”
I have to confess. One of the major motivations behind this chapter is to explain my personal pet theory behind Cadence.
An alicorn!AJ fic? Don't see that every day.
Liked for originality.
1480001
the only thing that is more uncommon than applejackcorn is a raritycorn
I like your theory behind Cadance.
I think you could use a few more paragraphs (especially in the first part of the first chapter) but I like where this is going. Have a favorite.
I liked your theory of Cadence being winged unicorn, much more sense than most of what i heard. Nice one 1479881
ill put it in read later for a later date
cant wait to see this in featured no dislikes and 11 likes
The Alicorn of Nature? Maybe she would be able to do Winter Wrap-Up or The Running of the Leaves single-hoofedly for the entire planet?
My personal theory for Cadence is that she is not quite a goddess like Celestia and Luna, but rather an incarnation of love. She lives longer thatn your normal mortal pony, but still dies eventually. And then she is reincarnated as the new Alicorn of Love. (It's kinda like how the Avatar (the animated series, not the sci-fi movie by James Cameron) can be so many different people over the years, but is primarily the same spirit.
Definitely an interesting name for him! XD
Anywho, I'm thoroughly enjoying this. MAKE MOAR CHAPTARS SOON!!!!
“You jest pointed ta all of me.” And I just watched How To Train Your Dragon yesterday.
1479881
That's my theory too!
1480032
I know, right? We've got a crap ton of Twilight alicorns, a few Rainbow Dash alicorns, and a Pinkie Pie alicorn. A freaking Pinkie Pie alicorn! What's up with that?
1502477
And don't even get me started on the utter lack of Fluttercorns. Honestly, I can only think of one Fic that has Fluttershy turning into an Alicorn, and it was the one that had the rest of the Mane 6 turn into alicorns.
1479881
I share your theory, I'd come to it myself. Cadence is what I like to call a pegacorn, I'm assuming she's related to either Luna or Celestia, but godhood isn't genetic even if the physical vessel for it might appear due to blood. As such, she's basically just a strong unicorn and decent pegasus.
But an alicorn would by standard be something far beyond that meager reckoning.
Shouldn't that last line be "had better learn to use that horn while you have it"? I imagine that untrained magic could be rather dangerous.
: Ah'm an Alicorn now?
: Eeyup.
Meenwhile Twilight:
i.chzbgr.com/completestore/2012/1/22/632bc2fb-4346-4fd5-9650-c8b6d52f10a7.jpg
1480032 raricorn......
BAD , everyone in 30 seconds ----->
1480032 I want a raricorn fic now.
Another great chapter!
1479881
I have a second theory in mind for Cadence. She could be one that's growing up rather than given instant Godhood. After all, if she was Twilight's foalsitter, then that means she's not even in her thirties yet.
Then again, it would be risky for her to marry someone seeing as she won't grow old while Shining Armor does. On the other hand, her specialty is love, so maybe marriage helps prevent her corruption?
In any case, she's still a different case than Applejack. Since she's growing up, she hasn't reached ascension yet. In fact, that could support your theory too. Princess Cadence is a pegasus unicorn that hasn't reached ascension to become a full Alicorn yet.
Well hey, it all comes together.
1479881 ... How is it a theory? The wedding article they put in New York's Newspaper explicitly said 'Winged-Unicorn', not 'Alicorn', ergo it's obvious. (That, and how her feathers have a gradient.)
1479881
Started rereading this, and realized I didn't comment here, but I agree with you totally on Cadence; winged unicorn. That's why she doesn't really fly, just glides. Heck, in the Canterlot Wedding episode where she and Twilight escape from the mine, Twilight looks absolutely shocked that she's even gliding, clearly surprised at the whole thing. And then it takes Shining to throw her to get the Crystal Heart in the season 3 premier.
1502477 What, Rainbow Dash Alicorn? WHERE?! I know about that one story where she turns out to be the daughter of Celestia and grows a horn but that ain't updated in a while. WHERE ELSE MAY I FIND STORIES EXCLUSIVE TO ALICORN RAINBOW DASH?!
And behold AliShy looked upon all of the creatures of the earth and declared
Dance puppets dance
1479881 As far as I know, it isn't just yours--this was Lauren Faust's original intention for Cadence before Hasbro got the current canon into their heads....
Funtimes
This has been on my 'read later' list since I saw it pop up (wrongly) in an Alicorn!Twilight group. It intrigued me. But better than intriguing is good writing. Awesome job. Thanks for the great story.
1705362 well, it's not exactly rd exclusive but there is this
“I’ll be fine, but what about you? You really are…” The librarian gestured with a hoof.
“You jest pointed ta all of me.”
“Exactly!”
lol, great How to Train Your dragon reference.
2124198
I wondered where I had heard that before!
Applejack pardon my language but Alicorns are rare as rocking horse shit.
That does explain her smaller size, the Earth Pony aspect isn't there.