The Homesteading

by bookplayer

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Mystery, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 22167

After their wedding, Twilight and Applejack move into a newly converted barn on Sweet Apple Acres. But when strange things start happening, Twilight will have to discover the cause before they can call it home.

There may be spoilers in the comments. You've been warned.

For their first home together, Twilight and Applejack wanted a house close to Applejack's farm and big enough for Twilight's books, with a little something special besides. They settled on the perfect place, one of the oldest barns on Sweet Apple Acres, and had it converted into a comfortable house for their little family. But when strange things start happening just after they move in, Twilight finds that she has a mystery to solve before she can really call her dream house "home."

My entry into the TwiJack Hearth's Warming Contest.

Published 2013-11-18 21:40:04 UTC
Last updated 2013-11-18 21:40:04 UTC

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle curled up on a pile of pillows in front of the fire, sipping her tea and reading a book in her house for the first time.

Something about the idea of ‘her house’ made this day special. Twilight had spent most of her life living in places built for and owned by other ponies. First her parents, then her room in Canterlot Castle, and finally the Ponyville Library. Each of those places had been home, both in the sense that she felt welcome, and in the sense that she had ponies there who made her feel loved. But they were never hers.

This house was hers. It was not, technically, a house. When one beautiful pony she met at her library home had made her feel a deeper kind of love, her life had progressed easily and steadily over time to the wedding, and finally to the renovated barn she was laying in.

It was one of the oldest on Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack told her when they first discussed the idea, built for the first apple harvests once the trees were grown. The sense of history tickled Twilight’s imagination, as she knew it did Applejack’s. They both knew there was no other choice for them; so just after the late summer wedding the Apple family rebuilt the exterior, then Twilight spent the fall organizing workponies, plumbers, and carpenters to make the interior perfect. Twilight and Applejack stayed at the library while the work was being done, and they’d finally finished decorating and moving in just after the first snowfall of the year.

Twilight felt a draft, and looked around the large room. Most of the first floor was this front room, filled with bookshelves from floor to the exposed beams of the high ceiling where Owlowiscious roosted. They knew keeping it warm would be hard, but agreed it was worth it to make a barn fit for a princess. A certain kind of princess, at least, one who had hundreds of books it would be impossible to do without. But right now that princess needed it to be just a little bit warmer.

The glance around the room revealed that the fire in front of her was getting low, and that there was a distinct lack of logs waiting to feed it. Rolling her eyes with a sigh, Twilight rose to her hooves and walked over to the peg where her scarf and saddle hung. Wrapping herself warmly, she stepped into her boots, and made her way into the snowy yard.

It was early afternoon, and the sun was shining over fields of snow punctured by the dark trunks of leafless apple trees. It made Twilight think of the marble floors of Canterlot Castle, but the sight of her own breath and the blood she could feel gathering in her cheeks reminded her that she wasn’t out here to admire the scenery. She flew to the side of the barn where the firewood was neatly stacked.

Or where it should have been neatly stacked. There were big logs there, but the pile that Applejack split for burning was gone. Twilight gave an incredulous snort, and stomped her hoof, but there still wasn’t any cut wood. Something nagged in her mind, a memory of Spike saying something about needing to get AJ to cut more wood when he brought in an armful before going to play with Apple Bloom. Twilight personally felt there was a difference between “we need more” and “we have none left,” but that was beside the point now.

Twilight smiled. She was a competent, capable pony, and this was not an insurmountable challenge. Her magic lifted three logs and placed them on their ends. She trotted through the snow, to the small lean-to against the back of the house where she found the sharp, heavy axe that Applejack had shown her, and carried it back to the woodpile.

So far, for the week they’d spent finishing the painting, decorating, and unpacking in their barn, Applejack had taken this as one of her chores. But she’d at least had the foresight to bring Twilight out here and show her how it was done, for just this situation. So Twilight stood a ways back from the log, gripping the axe tightly in her magic, and lifted it over the wood. She brought the axe down sharply, and the head buried deep in the log.

The log didn’t split, though. Twilight let go of the axe, and it remained lodged in the wood at exactly the angle it landed. With a huff, Twilight tugged on it with her magic, only managing to lift the axe and log at the same time.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight stomped over to the log, using her magic to steady it, and gripped the handle of the axe in her teeth. She wiggled it, feeling the wind biting her lips and drying her mouth, and finally managed to free the blade, stumbling backwards as it gave way. She did manage to catch the axe in her magic as she fell back into the snow, at least.

As she stood up and shook herself off, Twilight was warmer than she had been when she left the house. But it wasn’t a good warm. This was a burning warm, especially in her cheeks and hooves. And it was in contrast to her flanks and the tip of her horn, which felt annoyingly frozen.

Still, the inside of her house wasn’t getting any warmer either, so she repositioned the axe in her magic and brought it down on the log. The log split with a loud crack, and Twilight briefly considered going inside and warming up again before attempting to cut more. She recognized the impracticality of that right away, and turned to the next log.

As if they’d received the message that Twilight Sparkle was not giving up until she had firewood, the next two logs split easily. That would give Twilight enough to last until Applejack came home. Of course, as she gathered up the wood in her magic, she realized that was simply putting the work on Applejack’s shoulders; shoulders that were currently doing even more physical labor, and that wouldn’t be home until after dark, when it would be even colder.

She sighed and stacked the cut wood neatly, then used her magic to pull out another ten logs.

By the third one, the tingling heat in her hooves had turned to numbness at the very tips. By the fifth, the strength she had to push through her magic for each swing was making her horn sore. And by the time the axe fell on the final log, the sweat on her brow was making her bangs stick to her forehead. But she had chopped a reasonable stack of wood, one that would comfortably get them through tomorrow. Twilight smiled at her work, returned the axe to its place, and carried a few of the cut pieces of wood back inside.

It was even chillier in the house than when she left, so the first thing she did was pile the wood by the fireplace. She put two logs on the embers, and a quick, simple spell made a toasty fire. For a few moments she rested there, enjoying the warmth as it melted the snow off her and dried the sweat from her brow. Then she stood, slowly. She felt a little achy, between trundling through the snow and the energy drained by repetitive magic use.

She took off her wet, snow covered winter clothes, and floated them to the pegs by the door, and was surprised to hear the door open. She glanced over to see Applejack and Winona in the doorway.

“Heya, Twi,” Applejack said with a smile, stomping the snow off her boots and removing them, along with her scarf. “I saw somepony’s been busy today.”

“Yeah. We just needed some firewood,” Twilight said, sitting on her pillows as Winona ran over to her, begging for affection. “I am beat.” She gave Winona a rub on the head, and the happy dog curled up on a rug in front of the fireplace.

Applejack trotted over and gave Twilight a nuzzle. “It’s no wonder! You chopped a whole stack out there. You didn’t have to do all that, ya’ know I woulda done it soon as I got home.”

Twilight nuzzled back, enjoying Applejack’s soft cheek and the smell of snow and sweat. “I know, but you worked all day. And… I’m happy I did it.”

“Choppin’ wood makes ya’ happy? Well, sugarcube, you’re gonna have a fun winter!” Applejack chuckled.

“Oh, don’t let me have all the fun.” Twilight giggled. “But, I will see if I can find a spell that will do this faster.” The fire was quickly warming the room, and between that and having Applejack home, Twilight was already feeling more energetic. She pulled a book from a shelf with her magic as Applejack trotted towards the kitchen.

“AJ?” Twilight said.

“Yeah, sugarcube?”

“You remember the train ride back from Appleloosa? I said how nice it would be to get home and relax, and you laughed at me. You said when you have your own home, home isn’t where you relax, it’s where you want to work.” Twilight smiled at her room full of books, her fire, and her smiling wife. “I get it now.”

“I’m glad,” Applejack said, her green eyes shining. “How ‘bout I make my hard workin’ girl some supper?”

“That would be amazing!” Twilight said, snuggling down in the pillows as AJ headed to the large kitchen at the back of the house. Twilight picked up her book, Useful Household Spells, and started leafing through as she took a sip of her mug of tea.

She immediately spit it out. “Ugh! Applejack!”

Applejack was at the door to the kitchen in a second. “Somethin’ wrong, Twilight?”

Twilight started laughing, and put her face in her hoof. “I spent all afternoon cutting wood, and now my tea is cold!”

Chuckling, Applejack shook her head. “Poor filly. I’ll put a kettle on for ya’.”

“Thank you, AJ,” Twilight said with a sweet smile as Applejack disappeared into the kitchen. Returning to her book, Twilight skimmed for a good woodcutting spell, noting spells for repairing burst pipes and warming blankets and marking the pages for quick reference. She smiled, knowing that life wasn’t perfect, but that her life was better than perfect... it was good.

Spike returned home just as Applejack was putting dinner on the table. Twilight set down her book and joined them at the cozy little table in the kitchen.

“Apple Bloom showed me cool stuff all over the farm! There’s this dead tree that hangs out over a ditch you can jump on and it bounces, and a hayloft you can jump out of onto a pile of hay, and a hill you can sled down until the sled hits this bump at the bottom and flies up, then you fall off into the snow,” Spike rambled on, his mouth occasionally full as he didn’t pause to stuff in some squash steak.

“So… you spent the whole day trying to get yourself killed?” Twilight said, raising an eyebrow and taking some salad.

“Aw, leave ‘im be, Twi. It’s what a kid does ‘round here.” Applejack grinned, filling her own plate. “I don’t even tell Apple Bloom what all I got up to. I ain’t givin’ her those ideas, but I promise these are a darn sight better.”

“Okay, well, just be careful,” Twilight said, picking at her salad with her fork. As worried as she was that Spike might get hurt, she was glad to see him this active. She’d always thought he spent too much time inside, around older ponies, but given her own foalhood she knew she wasn’t one to talk. Apple Bloom was only a few months older than he was, so even if their activities weren’t exactly Twilight’s idea of a good, or careful, time, they were probably good for a growing dragon.

“Twilight, I’m always careful. Like tomorrow, we’re going ice skating with Apple Bloom’s friends, and I’m gonna wrap a scarf over my mouth so I don’t flame through the ice if I sneeze.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. She had her suspicions that a scarf wasn’t going to do much against dragon flame, and visions of Spike or the foals falling through the ice with nopony there to help flashed through her mind.

“Hey, Spike, I got a better idea!” Applejack said quickly. “Uh, how ‘bout if you and the girls find us some evergreens for Hearth’s Warmin’ decorations? We oughta be gettin’ those up!”

“Oh yeah, I can’t wait for Hearth’s Warming this year!”

“Me neither,” Twilight agreed. “It’s going to be so nice to have both of our families here! I can’t wait to show Mom and Cadance the house!”

“Well then, y’all go on and get the place spruced up tomorrow,” Applejack said with a smile.

“Well, I had that planned for Friday, but I could bump it up to tomorrow, as long as I get some letters written tomorrow night,” Twilight said, mentally rearranging tomorrow’s checklist. Then she smiled at Spike. “What do you say, number one assistant? Ready to decorate?”

Spike considered a moment. “Can Apple Bloom and her friends help?”

Twilight paused, then caught Applejack’s smirk before just barely rolling her eyes. “Sure. I’m sure they’ll be a huge help.”

“Great!” Spike said, shoving more food in his mouth. “Count us in!”

***

The next morning, Twilight opened her eyes to find the thought of climbing out of bed extremely uninviting. There was a chill in the air that made her muzzle and the tip of her horn numb, something that definitely shouldn’t have been happening in her own bedroom. Worse, her warm wife just climbed out of bed anyway, leaving her with nothing to snuggle up against.

“Why’s it so cold?” she murmured, pulling the whole blanket over her head.

“Dunno. It is awful nippy. I’ll get up and start a fire, then get breakfast goin’,” Applejack said from the mirror as she tied up her mane and tail.

“That’s not fair,” Twilight sighed. “You get breakfast, I’ll get the fire.”

“You’re gonna haveta get outta the blankets for that.”

Twilight thought for a moment, then rolled out of bed, lifting and folding the blanket, and wrapping it around her like a cloak with a triumphant smile.

Applejack chuckled and flipped her hat on her head. “Guess that’s why you’re the princess.”

Twilight headed downstairs, Applejack right behind. As soon as she reached the bottom, Twilight saw the reason for the freezing temperature. The front door was wide open.

She smiled and used her magic to push it shut. “Well, that was an easy fix.”

Before she went to bed, Twilight had made sure there were enough logs to build a fire this morning, so she levitated them onto the hearth and lit the fire. Deciding that it would be nicer if she was prepared for the day and could focus on decorating for the upcoming holiday, Twilight went to put on her saddle and boots, to get some wood for the fire.

That was when she noticed an important detail missing. Namely, her winter clothes. They weren’t hanging on the hook next to AJ’s. They weren’t on the floor. She glanced around frantically, but didn’t see them anywhere in the room.

“Applejack! Have you seen my saddle and boots?” Twilight called into the kitchen.

“Nope! Ya’ hung ‘em on the hook, right?”

“Yeah! But they aren’t—” Twilight’s eyes fell on the door that had been open. “—there.”

Nopony would have stolen her clothes, right? That was ridiculous, ponies in Ponyville just didn’t do that sort of thing. If she was in town, she’d think maybe somepony had borrowed them, but nopony would walk all the way out here for that.

She slowly walked over to the door and opened it anyway. The air inside was starting to warm up thanks to the fire, but the air outside was just as cold as when she woke up.

She looked around the snowy yard. There were tracks in the snow all over it; her own leading to the woodpile, Applejack’s leading home from the rest of the farm, and Spike’s coming from the direction of the filly’s clubhouse. But about twenty yards away, there was a pile of color in an otherwise undisturbed snow bank.

Twilight used her magic to carefully levitate a piece, and found it to be her boot, heavy with ice as if somepony had filled it with water before leaving it there. She brought it towards her, and just stared at it. The shoe was frozen solid.

With a frustrated grunt, she levitated the rest of the pile and brought it inside, closing the door behind her. She brought the clothes over to the fireplace and lined her boots up in front of it, hanging her saddle and scarf from the mantle to dry.

“Twi? Ya’ find your stuff?” Applejack said, sticking her head into the front room.

“Oh, I found it alright,” Twilight said bitterly. “Outside. It’s all frozen solid.”

“Outside? Who’d put all your clothes outside?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, but that explains why the door was open. Somepony was playing a joke and forgot to close it afterwards.” Twilight heard a thump from upstairs, then the sound of baby dragon feet coming down the stairs. “...Or some dragon.”

Twilight glared at Spike as he entered the room. He glanced around nervously, and his eye fell on the icy clothes. A smirk formed on his face.

“Hey Twilight, cool clothes… get it? Cool, like…” His face fell as Twilight’s look made her lack of amusement perfectly clear. “Um...”

“Spike. When I came down this morning, the door was open and my winter clothes were outside. Do you know anything about this?” Twilight narrowed her eyes.

“No! No way! I was asleep all night!” Spike backed up, his eyes wide. “Maybe it was a... ghost?”

“A ghost? Really? Because I kind of think it was a baby dragon playing a practical joke,” Twilight pressed.

“It wasn’t me! Honest! Look, there are still three gemstones in the jar in the kitchen. If I got up in the middle of the night, would those be there?” Spike pointed towards the kitchen.

“AJ?” Twilight looked to her wife.

“Still there, Twi,” Applejack confirmed. “Saw ‘em myself.”

“Hmmm.” Twilight regarded Spike suspiciously, then rolled her eyes. “I guess it must have been Pinkie and Rainbow.”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “You really think they got up in the middle of the night and came all the way over here in the snow just to play a joke on you? Then they left the door wide open?”

“That does seem like a lot to put into a prank that’s not very funny,” Twilight agreed.

“‘Sides, if they did think it was funny, they’d be here someplace laughin’,” Applejack pointed out.

“So, then, how did the clothes get outside?” Twilight just looked at the closed door and cocked her head.

“I told you it was a ghost!” Spike insisted.

“Not a ghost, Spike.” Twilight shook her head. “Ghosts aren’t real.”

“Then how do you explain it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the latch is loose, and the clothes just blew out.”

Spike just stared at her, then walked over and picked up a boot. He let it drop with a loud thud. “Your boots blew out.”

“It ain’t a ghost, Spike. I lived on this farm my whole life, and I can promise it ain’t haunted.” Applejack said with a smile. “Besides, nopony’s even died on this part of the farm, all the folks who passed on spent their last up at the farmhouse.”

“You’re sure?”

“One hundred percent,” Applejack confirmed with a nod. “You got my word, there’s no ghosts ‘round here.”

“Applejack would know,” Twilight pointed out.

“Oookaay,” Spike said uncertainly.

Applejack motioned to the kitchen. “Now come on and eat, you two. I got pancakes, and maybe one’a them’s made with them gemstones you mentioned…”

Spike’s face lit up, thoughts of a ghost forgotten. “Will you marry me, AJ?”

“Already taken, partner. Get on in there before it gets cold.” Applejack chuckled as Spike rushed into the kitchen. Then she turned to Twilight. “Sugarcube, you okay?”

“Yeah… just, confused,” Twilight said, shaking her head as she walked to the kitchen. “And frustrated. I mean, what could’ve happened?”

“I don’t rightly know, but I’ll ask ‘round and see if anypony knows anything.” Applejack said, giving Twilight a nuzzle and then following her into the kitchen. “You just try not to worry today, and focus on gettin’ the house set up for Hearth’s Warmin’.”

“Maybe the Hearth’s Warming decorations will appease the spirits.” Twilight giggled.

***

“I think that’s ‘nough glitter, Sweetie.”

“There’s no such thing as enough glitter!”

Twilight smiled at the voices of the foals, despite the shiver up her spine as she levitated the boxes down the attic stairs behind her, then down the stairs to the main room. Spike and the foals were making decorations to hang around the place, having spent the morning gathering and putting up evergreens. A big wreath hung on the front door, another one over the fireplace mantle, and the tops of the bookshelves and ceiling beams were decked with boughs and tied with bright red and gold ribbons.

The kids had been a big help, not only gathering the greenery, but running into town for the ribbons, and making trips to the woodpile while Twilight’s boots dried. But she couldn’t just send them away now, so she set them to work on something moderately productive. She wasn’t sure she needed that many crayon pictures of candy canes and gem encrusted holiday cakes, glitter hoofprint wreaths, or pictures of Rainbow Dash battling windigos, but she was sure that the kids’ parents and siblings would take a few off her hooves.

Twilight set down the boxes and opened them. Two of the boxes were hers, and one was from Sweet Apple Acres. Inside the one from the farmhouse were a few of the decorations they’d used since Applejack could remember, which Granny and Mac had happily agreed to pass on. Twilight levitated a set of red and green apple candleholders to one side of the mantle, and potholders with snowflakes on them she put in the kitchen. Next she lifted out a very poorly embroidered plaque, showing two lopsided and unevenly placed hearts on either side of the message A circl of freinds well be to the vary end. She was about to put it in the upstairs hallway until she noticed foal’s writing on the back; To Ma, Happy Herth’s Warming. Love AJ. With a smile, and tears in the corner of her eyes, she gave it a place of honor on the other side of the mantle.

In her own box, Twilight pulled out various knicknacks that had been presents from her family and friends. A music box Princess Celestia had given her went on a partially empty bookshelf, and a ceramic snowpony Shining Armor gave her when she was just a filly went on another. Last year’s present from Cadance and Shining Armor took up most of the last box; a beautiful ice cave made of crystal, with crystal figures of the frozen founders, and ceramic figures of the three casting the spell. It was a work of art, and she set it in the center of the mantle where the crystal seemed to glow with the flickering light of the fire.

“Well now, don’t this place look a treat!” Applejack said as she stepped into the house.

“Sis! You ain’t supposed to be here yet, Twilight hasn’t even put up our decorations!” Apple Bloom said, hurrying to gather up her drawings.

“I don’t know if I have room for all of those. Why don’t you girls pick one for us, and take the rest to your families?” Twilight suggested, walking over to Applejack and giving her a welcoming nuzzle.

“Uh, I can’t,” Scootaloo said sadly. “Mom says I’m not allowed to put up any more pictures of Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight caught Applejack’s eye and both did their best to keep from giggling. “Why don’t you give them to Rainbow, Scootaloo? I’m sure she’d love them.”

“Really?” Scootaloo asked skeptically.

Applejack nodded. “Sure. I can’t think of anythin’ Dash would like better for Hearth’s Warmin’ decorations than pictures of herself.”

“Okay!”

“So, what are you doing home so early?” Twilight asked.

“Me and Mac finished up, and Granny wanted to know if we wanted to have supper up the farmhouse tonight.” Applejack nodded to Sweetie and Scootaloo “Y’all too, Mac said he’d take ya’ home after.”

“That sounds great.” Twilight grinned. One of the best things about marrying into the Apple family was the delicious, home cooked food that AJ, Mac, and especially Granny seemed to conjure up every evening.

“Cool!” Scootaloo shouted.

“Hey Spike, ya’ know how to play cards?” Apple Bloom grinned.

Spike smirked with an eyebrow raised, and tried to slick back his non-existant mane. “I might know a little bit about it…”

Apple Bloom bumped him with her flank. “We’ll see how much ya’ know after supper.”

“Come on, kids, let’s get all cleaned up before we go!” Twilight ordered.

The foals took paper and art supplies out to Scootaloo’s wagon, while Spike returned the things they’d borrowed from Twilight to their places.

“You had a good day, sugarcube?” Applejack said quietly, leaning against Twilight while they supervised.

“Perfect. The kids were actually a big help!” Twilight smiled, unfolding a wing to drape it over Applejack.

“It looks great, y’all did an amazin’ job.” Applejack smiled. “Figure anythin’ about the clothes this mornin’?”

“Nope. None of the kids know anything. It must be a joke, I’m sure somepony out there thought it would be funny. But I’m not giving them the pleasure of messing up my day. I had a house to decorate,” Twilight said, standing a little taller as she looked around the cheerful room.

“That’s my Twilight.” Applejack chuckled. “Drivin’ yourself crazy wasn’t on the schedule for the day.”

“Not over some silly prank.” Twilight’s smile turned sly, and she leaned over and kissed Applejack softly on the lips. “Maybe over my beautiful wife.”

“Mmm... I’d like to help you out with that tonight,” Applejack said quietly, returning the kiss.

“I’m penciling that in my schedule.” Twilight said as soon as their lips parted. “Right after I finish the letters I need to write.”

“You do that.” Applejack pulled away and glanced around for the kids. “Come on, y’all! Let’s move out!”

***

As they walked back to the house that evening, the moon on the snow gave them a clear view, except for the shadows cast through the branches of the trees. The path had been broken by AJ, Spike and the foals coming and going to the farmhouse, so the way was bumpy but clear.

Spike rode on Twilight’s back, slightly drowsy after a big meal and an evening losing at poker to Apple Bloom, who turned out to be quite good at cards. Twilight, AJ, Mac, and Granny had a fun evening of stories and conversation, and now a peace had settled on the three as they made their way home.

Twilight thought she was stepping carefully on the uneven snow, but her hoof caught on something hard. Pain shot through her leg as she tumbled forward into the snow, dumping Spike off her back.

“Ouch!”

“You two okay?” Applejack said, rushing to Twilight.

“Yeah… a lot more awake now.” Spike said, shivering. He hurried to Applejack and hopped on her back. “Snow baths are not fun.”

“No kidding,” Twilight said, flapping herself into the air. “And I think I twisted my hoof on a root or something. I’ll have to fly the rest of the way.”

“Good idea. I’ll take a look when we get inside. We’re almost home.”

Twilight flew next to Applejack and Spike the rest of the way to the house. As they approached, she stopped and hovered for a minute, studying the door.

“What happened to the wreath?”

“Huh. I dunno. Maybe it blew off.”

“It blew off? Like Twilight’s boots?” Spike said, nervously. “Look, I don’t know how strong you guys think the wind is around here, but I’m pretty sure it’s not that strong.”

“Oh, so now you think the ghost took our wreath?” Twilight teased.

“Yes,” Spike nodded seriously.

“Well now, I reckon ghosts gotta decorate for Hearth’s Warmin’ too,” Applejack said, chuckling as she opened the door.

They went inside, and Twilight lit the lanterns and fire with her magic. Spike hopped off AJ’s back to sit next to the fireplace, grabbing a book off the lower shelves. Twilight landed on a pillow next to him.

“Let’s get a look at that hoof, sugarcube.” Applejack trotted over to where Twilight was sitting.

Twilight extended her leg. “It looks like a sprain. I think it was cold enough out there, so just a bandage should do for now, and I’ll put some ice on it later.”

“No problem, I’ll be right back.” Applejack said, turning and heading to the kitchen.

“Luckily, I can still write those letters tonight.” Twilight levitated a scroll to herself from the desk on the other side of the room. Then her magic reached for a quill and inkpot.

It wasn’t there. She looked over at the desk, and the ink pot was on the wrong side.

“Applejack?” Twilight called.

Applejack came back into the room with a bandage in her mouth. “Mmmph?”

“Did you move my inkpot?”

Shaking her head, AJ set down the bandage and looked at the desk. “No… that’s strange.”

“Somepony moved Twilight’s ink pot?”

Twilight and Applejack looked at each other. There was no way that either of them would put it in the wrong place.

“Well… the house was full of foals all day.” Twilight said, magically lifting the bandage and wrapping it around her ankle.

“No way. I made sure your desk was set up when we were cleaning up. I know how you are about that, Twilight,” Spike insisted.

“Maybe you… didn’t notice?” Twilight suggested.

Spike shot Twilight a look. “I’ve only been your assistant my whole life.”

“Okay,” Twilight conceded. “But, it’s just an ink po—”

“It’s the ghost!” Spike shouted, suddenly under his pillow.

“There’s no ghost, Spike.” Applejack trotted over and gave him a nuzzle. “Come on now, you’re way too grown up to be believin’ somethin’ like that.”

“Then tell me who put Twilight’s clothes outside? And who took the wreath? And who moved Twilight’s ink pot AJ? WHO MOVED TWILIGHT’S INK POT?!” Spike yelled into Applejack’s befuddled face.

“I— I dunno, Spike, but it ain’t that big a problem. It’s only on the other side of the desk,” Applejack pointed out.

“Yeah, Spike,” Twilight tried to comfort from her pillow. “Something weird is going on, but it’s not like it’s hurting anypony.”

“Your ankle…” Spike pointed at Twilight. “The ghost tripped you!”

Twilight laughed and shook her head. “A tree root tripped me. That’s not weird, that’s just what happens when you don’t look where you’re going.”

“Well, I’m not sleeping by myself tonight,” Spike said, crossing his arms.

Twilight glanced at Applejack, who was cringing slightly. She remembered their plans for later, and that a baby dragon in the room was definitely going to put a stop to that tonight.

“But Spike, you’ve got a perfectly good room.”

“Yeah, a room alone. I’m, like, ghost bait there!” Spike pleaded.

“Come on now, Spike,” Applejack said, wrapping a leg around his shoulder. “You’re a big pon— er, dragon. You know better than all this.”

“Yeah, all the more tempting for the ghost to eat me!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Spike, ghosts do not eat baby dragons.”

“How would you know? You don’t even believe in them!”

Twilight looked at AJ, who shrugged and nodded in defeat. Twilight sighed. “Okay, Spike. Just for tonight. I’ll move your bed in there when we go up.”

Twilight levitated the incorrectly placed ink pot and quill over as Applejack sat down next to her, leaning against her and carefully avoiding Twilight’s bad leg. The press of her wife’s body felt safe and warm to Twilight, and she nuzzled AJ for a few moments, leaving the ink and quill hanging there, half forgotten.

Applejack gave Twilight a soft kiss and whispered, “Maybe you can pencil that in tomorrow night, instead?”

“Count on it,” Twilight murmured, smiling as she returned her attention to her correspondence.

Chapter 2

The next day, Twilight’s plans included going into town to see Rarity for lunch and a dress fitting. Her wings allowed her to get to town without a problem from her hoof, and after the fitting she and Rarity had an enjoyable meal. Twilight took the chance to ask Rarity if anything strange was going on in Ponyville, and Rarity mentioned that some sets of sheet had disappeared from her clothesline this morning, confirming Twilight’s suspicions that there must be a strange sort of prankster about.

Twilight was surprised that Spike wasn’t interested in tagging along, but she figured that hanging out with his own friends must have seemed like a better time. On her return to her house, when she heard the voices coming from inside, it occurred to her that she should have been more suspicious.

“What’s it say next, Spike?”

“Uh… it’s time to cast the spirits out.”

“Okay Sweetie Belle... now!”

“The power of Celestia compels you!”

“What is going on in here?” Twilight said as she stepped inside. She was greeted by a strange scene of three fillies and a baby dragon, wearing purple silk bed sheets as robes, standing in the middle of a chalk circle drawn on the hardwood floor. “Are those Rarity’s sheets? She said somepony took them off her clotheslines.”

“The power of Celestia compels you!” Sweetie Belle shouted at Twilight, the ‘hood’ of the robe falling over her eyes.

Twilight blinked. “Compels me to do what? What are you doing?”

“Spike found this book, so we’re getting rid of your ghosts for you!” Scootaloo explained.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: EXERCISERS!” all three shouted at once, at ear splitting volume.

Twilight’s eye twitched. “I think that word is—”

“The power of Celestia compels you!” Sweetie interrupted.

“Sweetie Belle, stop.” Twilight said, magically lifting the sheet off Sweetie’s face. “First, I’m not a ghost. Second, you can’t just compel somepony, you have to compel them to do something. And third, there are no ghosts!”

“Then what happened to the wreath?” Apple Bloom asked.

“And who put your winter clothes outside?” Scootaloo added.

“Spike told us all about it,” Sweetie explained. “So we thought maybe we could get our cutie marks, and chase your ghost away at the same time!”

“I don’t need you to chase away any ghosts. I need you guys to get this cleaned up now.” Twilight ordered. The fillies and dragon all blushed and turned to start cleaning up their ritual space.

Twilight grabbed Spike’s tail with her magic and pulled him over. “Not so fast, mister. I need to have a word with you.”

Spike turned around, “Oh, hey, Twilight!”

Twilight regarded Spike sternly. “I’ve had enough of this. You know ghosts aren’t real.”

“But—” Spike protested, before Twilight cut him off in a much more sympathetic tone.

“I know you’re scared, Spike. I’ll tell you what. I’ll check this house top to bottom, and if there’s anything weird going on, I’ll find out what it is and take care of it.” Twilight smiled as some of the worry fell from Spike’s face. “But if there isn’t anything weird going on, you need to sleep in your own room, and forget about all of this. Got it?”

“Yeah… okay,” Spike nodded.

Twilight hugged him. “Good. You make sure the place gets cleaned up, and I’ll start right now.”

Twilight flew into the kitchen. She cast a quick magic scan of the area, and the room lit up with colors. Throughout the room wove a delicate line of magenta, where she’d used her own magic to carry things. Over by the stove, a shot of bright green revealed that Spike had been roasting his own marshmallows again. And an orange brown static twinkled everywhere, the remnants of earth pony magic spread through the building over the years and reinforced by Applejack daily.

After finding everything exactly as she expected, she moved into the front room, where the foals had cleaned up quickly and vacated for parts unknown.

She cast the spell again, and the room looked much the same; whizzing lines and bursts of her magic, streaks of dragon fire where Spike had started the fire or sent letters, and the background of orange and brown. There were a few sparks of mint green in here where Sweetie must have tried to use magic to cast out the ghosts. But once again, everything seemed normal, even over the desk where the ink pot had moved.

Twilight considered stopping, but she had told Spike she’d check the whole house, so she flew upstairs to the bedrooms.

Casting the spell in the room she shared with Applejack, she was actually surprised. She had expected the earth pony magic to be thinner up here; farther from the source, and in a newly added part of the building. Instead it seemed thicker, a fog that made it hard to see even her own magic. Squinting at the room, she theorized that maybe it was because Applejack slept here. That didn’t seem likely, but it was the best she could come up with on the spot. She decided to test it by moving to Spike’s bedroom.

But Spike’s room was just the same. The traces of his flame and Twilight’s magic were barely visible through the fog of earth pony magic. Twilight landed, carefully avoiding her bad hoof, and just stared at the strange magical residue.

Why would earth pony magic be so strong on the second story of her house? The barn hadn’t even had a second story, just a small hay loft that had been unsafe for years. AJ’s magic wasn’t strong enough to cause this… she’d be surprised if the whole Apple family could cause magic this thick. She desperately wanted to pace while she thought about this, but limping wasn’t exactly the same as pacing, so she rose into the air and flapped up and down the hallway a few times.

On her third pass, she noticed the door to the attic. That was the logical next step. If the magic was getting thicker higher in the house, the attic should be full of magic. If it wasn’t, that would narrow her focus to the second floor and she could start looking there. Twilight grinned, glad that she had something weird will inevitably come up time scheduled for today.

She opened the door to the attic and flew up the stairs. As she approached the less insulated top floor, the air was colder and she felt a shiver up her spine. The room was dimly lit, and the low ceiling gave a claustrophobic feel to the room, even though it ran the length of the house and was more or less empty since they just moved in. There were only a few boxes full of things that didn’t really fit anywhere else, which were taking up space in a corner, and Applejack’s desk that she didn’t really need but didn’t want to part with. Twilight eyed the desk, wondering if the heirloom was somehow enchanted. She considered what kind of enchantment of earth pony magic somepony might use on a—

Twilight gasped and jumped at a sound from behind her. She turned, horn glowing, only to see Owlowiscious land at the top of the stairs. Relaxing, she shook her head with a wry smile. All she had to do was check the room for magic, and probably everything would be easily explained. Twilight looked back to the desk as she cast the spell.

She was glad, because as the room filled with a dense fog of earth pony magic, something in her peripheral vision flashed blindingly. Squinting, she carefully looked to see the roof beam glowing orange and brown, like a bright magical ember with golden symbols etched into it.

Twilight quickly dropped the spell and her eyes went wide. The solid piece of wood returned to its normal color and texture, the dull brown one would expect of a piece of an old barn. She carefully stepped closer and examined it.

The wood was roughly cut, hewn by an axe, but where she had seen the glowing symbols she found traces of etchings. They were nothing she recognized, whether because of age or because earth pony magic was admittedly a weak point in her studies. Given the massive amount of earth pony magic she seemed to be living under, she was beginning to regret that.

She was beginning to regret coming up here, in fact. Something was wrong. She glanced around, and everything seemed normal… exactly as it had been when she first came up, at least. She bit her lip, unable to think of anything else to do right now but leave. So she did that, gladly.

She flew down both sets of stairs to the front room and started gathering books, anything she had that might mention earth pony magic, and a few on farming and architecture, as well. Making a pile next to her pillow, she decided she needed some nice, warm tea to go with her reading. Knowing that magic was upstairs, and not knowing what it did, made the idea of sitting unappealing. Twilight flew into the kitchen, put on a pot of tea, and waited.

Whatever that magic was, could it be doing those things? Well, yes, that was powerful magic. It could easily move an ink pot or open a door and toss out a set of boots. The better question was why would it do those things? Did it have a will? Was it set to do something? It seemed more than a little odd that somepony had used some kind of magical ritual to put a pranking spell on the house, or on a barn.

Besides, Applejack’s family had used the barn for years. Sure, by the time she and AJ settled on it for their house, it had fallen into disrepair. But there were no family stories of strange goings on or curses. And if there was one thing the Apples had plenty of, besides fruit, it was family stories.

Twilight went over what she knew of the history of the place… it was built about eighty years ago, for the first regular apple harvest. The site of the first farmhouse built wasn’t far from here, a tiny place where Granny Smith had shared a room with several cousins, but that was abandoned and torn down when Granny Smith married and built the new house on the top of the hill. The barn was still in use when AJ and Mac were children, but they stopped using it as it deteriorated. New barns had been built by then and they had plenty of room for the apples elsewhere, and the warped boards and weather damage were making this place a never ending battle against small animals trying to get to the crops.

Twilight was startled by the whistle of the tea kettle. She took a breath to steady herself and poured herself a mug of tea, then carefully carried it back to the fireplace. Even landing on the pillows next to her books, ready to tuck in for a study session, Twilight couldn’t keep her wings from ruffling and twitching. She opened the books and scanned the tables of contents and indexes, but found it hard to focus on the information she was reading. Delving into any one book seemed impossible, so she flipped from book to book, finding nothing important. Even a section on magical construction spells didn’t seem to note anything like the runes she’d seen.

She was interrupted, or she would have been if she didn’t keep interrupting herself, when she heard the front door open. Glancing up quickly, she saw it was only AJ.

“Sorry to bother ya’, don’t mind me. Just grabbin’ my lasso,” Applejack said as she hurried through the room.

But Twilight was clearly bothered, and even if this wasn’t Applejack’s fault, it occurred to her that AJ must know something about this. And she’d never even mentioned it to her wife.

“Applejack, why is there a ridiculously magical beam holding up my roof?” Twilight snapped.

“Uh… I dunno? There is?” Applejack stopped just before climbing the stairs. “What’re you talkin’ bout, sugarcube?”

Twilight rose from her pillow and flew over to Applejack, eyes narrowed. “I checked the house for magical signatures today, to see if I could figure out what’s been causing all of the weird stuff that’s been going on. When I got to the attic, it nearly blinded me! The roof beam has something carved into it. It's carrying some very strong magic, Applejack, and I would like an explanation!”

Applejack’s stared in confusion. “I really dunno! My— my family built this place, and fixed it up ourselves! We didn’t have no unicorns helpin’ or nothin’!”

“It’s earth pony magic,” Twilight pointed out.

“Could it be left over from the family? I really got no idea, Twilight. We didn’t do nothin’ magic to the barn, you got my word,” Applejack said, looking Twilight right in the eye and raising a hoof to brush her scowling cheek.

Twilight’s anger melted. “I know. I’m sorry, AJ. I just… I was surprised. And I can’t find anything about what it is, or what the symbols carved on it mean. I know you would have told me if it was something you did, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” She hugged Applejack tight. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Applejack said, hugging back. “It’s okay, no harm done. You’re just awful edgy.”

“Whatever that is up there… I don’t like it. I don’t know what it is, maybe when I find out it’ll be okay.” Twilight smiled nervously. “I’m going to Canterlot this weekend. Maybe I can find something in the library there.”

Applejack held Twilight, and thought for a moment. “Twilight, sugar, you said there’s some carvin’s on it?”

Twilight nodded.

“So… how ‘bout if we ask Granny Smith? She watched this place get built the first time, so she’d know if folks carved somethin’ magic into it,” Applejack suggested.

Twilight gasped. “You’re a genius, AJ!”

“I knew ya’ kept me ‘round for somethin’.” Applejack smirked.

“Is she awake? Let’s go right now!” Twilight started to fly to the door without a second thought.

“I reckon she won’t mind wakin’ up to tell us a bit of history.” Applejack grinned, right behind her.

***

A little while later they were up at the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse. They had woken Granny Smith, helped her find her teeth, and brought her some tea, and soon Applejack and Twilight were settled in on the couch as Granny sat smiling in her rocking chair.

“Y’all needed to know somethin’ ‘bout the history of the place, eh?” Granny said, raising her eyebrows. “‘Bout time, too. A pony oughta know her history, or ‘fore ya’ know it she’s gone and got married with all them funny soundin’ words rather than a proper weddin’.”

Twilight and Applejack exchanged subtle smirks, neither had won the bit they had riding on when Granny would let them forget that they’d had a unicorn wedding ceremony. But despite that bump, and a few small misunderstandings, Granny had accepted Twilight into the family with open forelegs.

“Well now, that’s what Princess Celestia was used to. I reckon that however Princess Celestia says we’re married, it oughta work just as well,” Applejack said with a chuckle.

“I suppose so,” Granny said with a smile. “Now… what did you young’uns need to know again?”

Twilight smiled. “We were wondering if you knew about some carvings on the roof beam of the old barn. They seem to date to when it was built.”

“The ol’ barn, ya’ say?” Granny asked, leaning back in her chair.

“Yes, Granny,” Twilight confirmed.

She nodded. “Ya’ know we built it ourselves, with our own hooves.”

“Yup,” Applejack said. “Right after the first real apple harvest.”

Grammy smiled. “That was a bumper crop! Ya’ know, even after the zap apples, we had some neigh-sayers who didn’t think this was land for apples. But that crop, let me tell you gals, after that they clammed up faster than a politician who got caught. Yes, it was a fine crop of apples we had that year, and every year since. Why, I remember—”

“The, uh, carvings, Granny?” Twilight asked, still smiling sweetly.

“That’s what I’m tellin’ ya’ ‘bout, girly,” Granny said. “Now, where was I?”

“That first year we had a good crop,” Applejack reminded her.

“Right! We had a fine crop that year, and so we decided we’d be stayin’. We knew the land was gonna take care’a us, and we surely planned to take care’a the land. And so we built the old barn. ‘Cause we had so many apples, ya’ see, and we needed a fine place to put them. And that barn was a good, strong one. Built to last, that was. Why, when Applejack told me y’all were gonna turn it into a house, I knew that was a right good idea, because that’s a sturdy barn, and I told her so. Didn’t I, Applejack?”

“Ya’ sure did, Granny,” Applejack agreed.

“Yes, it’s a very strong building, but what about the carvings?” Twilight was leaning forward, hanging onto every word in case it contained the sought after information. But there were a lot of words.

“I’ma gettin’ there,” Granny assured her. “You city ponies always try to rush a story. This here’s a learnin’ experience, child. Why, in my day, if an old pony was tellin’ a story, everypony gathered ‘round to listen. ‘Course, there were no books ‘round, so that was the only way to find out anythin’. And sometimes they just made stuff up, like I remember a time my Auntie Seedlin’ told us that Princess Celestia gave us this land ‘cause she thought my pappy was so handsome… not that my pappy weren’t handsome, he was a fine lookin’ stallion, but a bit on the gangly side. Not like my husband, now there was a stallion built like a barn. He’da barely fit in the old farm house, which was where we were livin’ durin’ that first harvest.”

“Gra—” Twilight started, but Applejack’s hoof clapped over her mouth. She shot a look at Applejack, who just motioned to Granny. Granny was lost at some point in history and didn’t notice the exchange, continuing her winding tale.

“Of course, since we was livin’ there durin’ our first harvest, we couldn’t homestead the house properly. The land was ours, free and clear, so of course we were gonna homestead it when we knew we were stayin’. It ain’t right to homestead a place ya’ ain’t gonna stay, it’s a promise with the land, and if ya’ up and leave that’s breakin’ a promise. No, the Apples didn’t homestead this place ‘til we knew it was where we were stayin’. Lucky we needed that barn, so we did the homesteadin’ on that. Carved the roof beam with the ol’ promises, and built that barn up right. It’s a strong barn, ya’ know. Why, when Applejack told me—”

“So the carvings are from some kind of ritual?” Twilight asked, unable to help herself. “Homesteading?”

“That’s what I just said, child,” Granny nodded.

Twilight smiled, feeling like she was finally getting somewhere.“What is homesteading for? You said it was a promise to the land?”

“Well, it’s for luck. You make a promise to care for the land, and the land’ll care for you,” Granny said plainly.

“It seems to be a very strong magic, you know. It’s still there, and really powerful,” Twilight pointed out.

Granny chuckled. “‘Course it’s powerful! What good is luck that don’t hang ‘round?”

“How did you know about homesteadin’, Granny?” Applejack asked. “I mean, how did ponies know to do it.”

“Oh, it’s just passed down.” She waved a hoof. “When a pony sets off for new parts, another pony’ll tell them how to do it. We all been settled here so long there’s been no need, but I been meanin’ to tell Apple Bloom one of these days, when she figures out what she’s for. It’s a good thing for a pony who builds to know ‘bout.”

“Can you tell me?” Twilight bit her lip. This information might be just what she needed.

Granny raised an eyebrow and looked Twilight up and down, then smiled. “Well now, sure I could. This here’s earth pony magic, but I reckon a princess oughta know as much ‘bout that as anything else — ‘specially when she’s part of an earth pony family. You take a good strong board, and you carve it with these symbols.” Granny motioned to Applejack, who quickly retrieved a pencil and a piece of paper.

Granny took the pencil in her mouth and paused a moment, thinking. She drew the symbols Twilight had seen glowing in the attic, before spitting out the pencil and going on, “Then ya’ lay the board on the ground overnight, and everypony stands watch around it. That’s to keep other ponies away, only earth ponies can touch it once it’s been carved. After that, ya’ use it in a good, strong buildin’, one that’s made with care. Then the earth magic will keep the whole claim strong, long after the ponies that homesteaded are passed on.”

Twilight nodded, and stared at the symbols. Despite seeing them more clearly, they were still unfamiliar. She ran over the facts, and found herself muttering under her breath, “So, it absorbs magic from the earth, and magic from the ponies guarding it, and the symbols must both anchor and magnify. And then the magic is released for… luck? That’s not a quantifiable magical effect.”

“What in tarnation is she talkin’ ‘bout?” Granny asked Applejack.

Applejack chuckled. “Can’t rightly say, Granny. But any second now she’s gonna look up and say somethin’ smart. Or else she’s gonna say she—”

“I need to do more research!” Twilight announced.

“Yeah, that.” Applejack smirked. “Well, now she’s talkin’ ‘bout readin’ more books! So, thanks for your help, Granny.”

“Yes, thank you so much Granny Smith! You’ve given me a lot to think about!” Twilight rose into the air and flew over, giving her grandmother-in-law a kiss on her wrinkled cheek. Applejack rose and did the same.

“Anytime, you gals,” Granny said happily, as both girls wrapped up for their walk back home.

The sun was still in the sky as Twilight and Applejack made their way back to their house, so they had a clear view of the farm as they walked. In the distance, Spike and Apple Bloom were sledding on what looked to Twilight like a terrifyingly steep hill, with Winona chasing after them. Not much farther, after cresting another small hill, their home came into view. The yard looked peaceful, but the door to the house stood ajar. They both stopped and exchanged worried glances.

“The, er, wind?” Applejack suggested unconvincingly.

“Well, at least I’m wearing my boots now, so I know I won’t have to thaw them out,” Twilight said with a sigh.

“For magic that’s supposed to be lucky, this is awful annoyin’, if that’s what’s behind all this,” Applejack pointed out as the two started down the hill.

Twilight nodded, “Well, to be honest, I still have no idea what this magic actually does. ‘Luck’ isn’t really an effect magic can have… it could make the land more fertile, or attract money, or make ponies more healthy… basically, something specific. So whatever that spell does, it’s not exactly luck.” Twilight paused, and added. “And I don’t even know if our strange happenings have been because of this magic. But, if they aren’t, then there’s a perfectly mundane explanation. There were no other magical effects in the house.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it all out. Just as soon as you get some time to your books.”

As they neared the front door, Twilight got the same uneasy feeling she had in the attic. She wanted to hold back behind AJ; she had no idea what they might find inside, or who might be there, but this feeling made her want to hide from it. But she knew that was silly, this was her house, and whatever was inside it was as much her job to find out as it was Applejack’s. With a flap of her wings, she entered the house first.

She froze and felt her heart stop, as she took in the utter destruction of the beautiful room.

The front room had been torn apart. Books littered the floor, carelessly tossed from the shelves. Hearth’s Warming decorations had been torn down and scattered around the room. Her desk had been swept clear and she could see spilled ink pots laying among the books. The mantle was also empty, and on the floor in front of the fireplace shards of crystal and ceramic were all that remained of her Hearth’s Warming cave.

Twilight tried to speak, but all that came out was a strangled, pathetic cry.

She felt a foreleg softly and gently wrap around her from behind. Applejack turned her around and pulled her close.

“Twilight, I— It’s gonna be okay,” Applejack managed to say, clearly just as shaken. “It’s gonna be okay, sugarcube. It’s— it’s probably not as bad as it looks.”

Twilight swallowed, fighting back tears as she buried her face in Applejack’s shoulder. “I— I know. It’s just messy. And some— things are broken. We’re okay. And— where’s Spike?!”

“He’s fine. We passed him sleddin’ with Apple Bloom. I think it’s best he stays up the farmhouse tonight… maybe we oughta, too.”

“No. No, I have to get this cleaned up.” She turned back to the room, not even sure where to start.

“Okay, well… lemme check the rest of the house, first. Then I’ll come help.”

Twilight nodded, and considered asking if she could go with Applejack. This room was full of the same feeling as the attic. It was the feeling that she shouldn’t be here; she wasn’t welcome in her own house.

“You gonna be okay for a few minutes?” Applejack looked her in the eye, clearly as unsure about leaving her as Twilight was of being alone.

Twilight took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. It’s only things. And like you said, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” It wasn’t that bad. It couldn’t be. This feeling was just nerves and disappointment, and the sooner she got this cleaned up, the sooner she’d feel normal again.

Applejack nodded, and carefully stepped through the wreckage. As she went into the kitchen, Twilight took a few shaky breaths and looked around.

She lifted a book with her magic and brought it to her. The spine was cracked, but Twilight just bit her lip. If a few battered books and a broken ornament were the worst of this, she could handle it.

She carefully placed the book on a shelf and lifted another. This time, removing the book revealed the broken remains of the glass snowpony Shining Armor had given her when she was just a foal. Tears came to her eyes, and while she couldn’t fight them back this time she quickly sniffed and wiped them away with her hoof. Setting the book aside, she carefully gathered the pieces of the snowpony and set them on her desk. Maybe it could be repaired. When things were safe.

Her face scrunched up, fighting something other than tears this time. When things were safe… things were supposed to be safe. This was her own home, this was where she was supposed to be safe! Things like this didn’t happen to ponies’ homes. What kind of magic was this? It had to be magic, nopony in Ponyville would do something like this. She couldn’t even think that less friendly ponies she had met around Equestria would do something like this. But why would magic that was supposed to be lucky destroy her home?

She sighed and calmed herself. She would find out, and she would fix it. She was a princess after all, and one of the brightest magical minds in Equestria. This was magic, and she could find the answers.

Picking up a shelf’s worth of books in her magic, she glanced at them all. Two or three had pages ripped, or covers falling off. She set those aside on one shelf to go through later, and returned the whole books to their shelves. Over and over she repeated the process. At some point, Applejack returned and started cleaning up the ink pots and gathering the evergreen boughs into a pile. They didn’t talk, Twilight didn’t know what to say without screaming or crying.

Twilight didn’t know how long it was before she heard Applejack give something that sounded like a cough. She looked up, and saw AJ by the fireplace, holding something and staring at it. Applejack made the same strange noise again, and Twilight saw her bite her lip hard. Applejack was trying not to cry.

Twilight flew over and saw what she was holding, a frame of shattered glass. The plaque she made for her mother. Twilight landed, and silently wrapped her wings around her wife.

“‘S okay.” Applejack swallowed hard. “It’s just the frame. The sewin’s probably fine… or, well, couldn’t get no worse than when I made it.” She gave a shaky laugh.

“This isn’t fair,” Twilight whispered.

“I know it ain’t. I’m sorry. Just— just don’t leave me, Twilight,” Applejack whispered.

The words hit Twilight like a buck to the chest. “Leave you?! Why would I leave you?”

“This is all my fault,” Applejack said, burying her face in Twilight’s mane. “I wanted to make you so happy, Twilight. I— I love this farm, and I thought you could love it, and I know a farm’s no place for a princess, but I figured we could make it a place for you. I didn’t know… I still don’t know what this is, or how to protect ya’, and I know you’re gonna think this is my fault. Maybe it is, I dunno, but all I know is I love ya’, and if you wanna go someplace else, even someplace far away, I wanna go too.”

“Applejack, the thought didn’t even cross my mind! This is not your fault, and it’s not going to chase me away! I do love Sweet Apple Acres, and I love you. And this is my home, no magic is going to keep me from it. I promise, I’m going to fight this with all the magic I have.” Twilight rested the tip of her horn on Applejack’s forehead and smiled. “And that’s a lot of magic.”

The two fell into a long, deep kiss. As they held each other, Twilight felt any uncertainty she might have had slip away. She relaxed against Applejack, and felt Applejack relaxing in turn. Twilight knew that things would be okay. She would find a way to make them okay.

Chapter 3

The following weekend was Twilight’s trip to Canterlot. She knew her schedule would be tight; she had ambassadors to meet, the Canterlot Hearth’s Warming ball to attend, and a lecture on Advanced Emotional Magic to give at the school with a reception after. She and Applejack agreed that it would be worth it for her to extend the visit by a day, to take a look at the Canterlot library for information, and to try to get some time to talk to Princess Celestia.

The former was easy enough, the entire library was at her disposal any time she needed it. The latter took some pleading notes, hoof twisting, and one hay of a guilt trip, just for a short tea with the busy solar princess.

Celestia’s sitting room was a tower with windows on all sides, with an unrivaled view of Canterlot and the surrounding countryside. The edges of the room were lined with low couches, and perched on one sat Twilight and Spike, while across the room Princess Celestia rested on another. Celestia sipped her tea, but Twilight’s cup hovered nearly forgotten as she explained the events of the past week.

“So, to summarize, something is going on in my house that ranges from annoying to awful, and I believe it’s connected to the homesteading ritual the Apples did on our roof beam eighty years ago. What should I do?”

“That does sound terrible. I’m so sorry, Twilight,” Celestia said with genuine concern in her eyes. As she considered the question, she cocked her head to the side. “I thought that homesteading was simply for luck.”

“That’s what Granny Smith said, but the magic was very real, and it must be directed at something…” Twilight explained, then her eyes went wide. “You mean you don’t know what it is, either?”

“Don’t look so surprised. I may be long lived and well read, but there’s only so much one pony can be expected to keep track of.” Celestia shook her head. “I don’t recall hearing of anything like what you’re talking about. What’s more, I personally checked Sweet Apple Acres for harmful magic before you moved there, and I found none.”

“You… did?” Twilight blinked. “And you didn’t find anything?”

Celestia smiled at Twilight. “You had enough to worry about, preparing for the wedding, and I thought you might assume the place to be safe. But I didn’t think there was any harm in looking, and when I found nothing out of the ordinary, I never mentioned it. They do have quite an infestation of fruit bats, though.”

Twilight sighed. “Great. This is just getting more confusing.”

“Or it’s becoming more clear,” Celestia said, taking a sip of her tea. Then she smirked at the look of resigned irritation on Twilight’s face. “Oh, Twilight, this isn’t some philosophical tangent. You are looking for an answer, the solution to a puzzle. I don’t have that to offer you, but I could give you more pieces. Whatever this magic is, it’s not dark magic, unless it’s something that’s been cast since the wedding. And if it is related to homesteading, it’s an anomaly. This is not a something I’ve come across in memory. I know that those aren’t answers, but I hope they can help in your search.”

Twilight relaxed and nodded. “I understand. Thank you, Princess.”

“You’re quite welcome. Other than this issue, are you enjoying life on Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Oh yes,” Twilight said happily. “My house is beautiful, when it’s not ruining my life, and the Apples are the most welcoming ponies I know. And Spike is having a great time.” She smiled at her assistant.

“Sweet Apple Acres is cool,” Spike agreed. “AJ makes the best food, and Apple Bloom is awesome, and having a room of my own isn’t bad either… ya’ know, when we’re not being haunted or cursed or whatever.”

Celestia smiled at both of them. “Then it sounds like it will be worth it to get this problem solved, once and for all.” Her smile turned sad as she rose to her hooves. “I’m afraid I have to get to my next appointment now, but I do wish you the best of luck, Twilight.”

“Thank you, Princess. And thank you for talking to me,” Twilight flew over and offered her mentor a nuzzle.

“Any time, Twilight…” Celestia nuzzled back. “Though, more notice would be helpful. I would have loved a longer visit.”

“I’ll remember that,” Twilight said, following Celestia out of the room with Spike right behind.

Twilight and Spike parted from Celestia and left the castle, headed for the Canterlot Library. Twilight knew the way by heart, though flying there didn’t allow for the same jolt of memories that walking the familiar path would have. But she couldn’t help but notice where old Hearth’s Warming decorations had been replaced by new, and where shops had closed and different stores took their places. Canterlot would always be special to her, but it just wasn’t home anymore. Besides, once they were near the library her path led down a less well traveled hallway that had never been a regular part of her walks, past a large portrait of a smiling zebra mare and through an unassuming door.

Twilight had never spent much time in the Zellena the Trusted Wing of Non-Unicorn Magic, so it took her a little longer than usual to orient herself. While much of the space in the wing was taken up by zebra and pegasus magic, three bookcases towards the back contained the extent of Equestria’s knowledge of earth pony magic. Twilight raised an eyebrow at the meager offerings — roughly a third of the population of the country got three bookcases? But she had to admit that in all of her studies, despite being a princess and having an earth pony for a wife, she’d never gone looking for these shelves before.

What books there were seemed to focus on a small range of subjects. Twilight skipped over the books on general metaphysics and the evolution of magic; the effect in her house couldn’t have been more than eighty years old, and she’d learned enough about the structure of the magic in her general studies. She was also able to rule out books on nutritional magic, and on the effects of magical ability on earth pony social structure, though those sounded fascinating and she had Spike note a few titles for her to look at later. A shelf of books on the subject of earth ponies who displayed unusual amounts of magic yielded more results; she selected a few of the titles and sent them to her table, planning to compare the ways a talent like that might be revealed.

The largest part of the section was on farming magic. Here, Twilight dug in, scanning indexes and sending a whole stack of books to her workspace. There were several books that mentioned homesteading, though none of them had more than a few listings in the index.

Once she was sure she’d pulled every book that seemed likely to help, she returned to the table where Spike was already scanning her selections.

“These two just tell us what we already know. Homesteading is a good luck ritual done by many earth ponies when they settle an unoccupied piece of land. Then they give the same instructions Granny gave you.”

Twilight nodded. “Just set those aside, and keep looking.”

But book after book gave them the same answers. It soon became clear that nopony knew what homesteading actually did, though the earth ponies clearly took it seriously as a superstition. The same instructions Granny Smith had shown her were written out several times, and the symbols matched the ones Granny had drawn.

The books on magically talented earth ponies were also disappointing. There was no mention of homesteading in them at all, nor any indication that even the most powerful earth ponies were capable of effects like the ones that had been happening at the farm.

Twilight stared at the homesteading symbols in one of the books on farming magic. She’d spent hours looking at them since Granny Smith drew them for her. Twilight knew hundreds of magical symbols, some of them so outdated that they were more curiosities than tools. She knew the theory behind them, different ways the glyphs captured and channeled magic. From the simplest method using written language, to complex signs that were most reliably reproduced by magic lest you end up with a smudge that would be difficult to explain to ponies cleaning up the wreckage, one thing was certain: the homesteading symbols didn’t seem to fit any parameters she’d ever learned.

Without looking up, Twilight said softly, “These… just… can’t channel magic. They look like a pony wrote down what they thought some magical symbols would look like. Exactly as if homesteading was a good luck charm with no real magic behind it... Okay, Spike, what does this tell me?”

“That… Apple Bloom and her friends could make really good earth pony curses?” Spike hazarded a guess.

“No.” Twilight shook her head. “They are channeling magic, in my house. So, where did earth ponies get a symbol that would contain and amplify such strong magic, but doesn’t fit a single magical theory? It sure wasn’t borrowed from unicorns.”

Spike closed his book. He knew this game. “They made it up?”

“That would have been nearly impossible. Even if these didn’t violate Hornquill’s second law of magical containment, it would have taken trial and error over thousands of years. And besides, writing would have worked just as well…” Twilight’s face shifted from frustration to curiosity. “Wait a minute. What if this was writing?”

“What would it say?” Spike asked.

“I have no idea. I don’t think anypony does. But what if it started out as writing? Maybe even in a different language. But it wasn’t really written, it was passed down through carvings, or drawings like Granny did. It means something, so it has power, but the letters aren’t even letters anymore, they’re just marks.”

“...And that means we still don’t know what it means!” Spike announced happily. Then he paused. “Uh, how does this help?”

Twilight looked up and smiled at Spike. “The same way Princess Celestia helped; the more information we have, the more we narrow down what we’re looking for. For the true meaning of a word to totally fall out of memory and become nothing but some drawings would take a long time. And during that time, the actual meaning of a spell could be easily lost as well…”

Spike nodded. “Okay, but why would ponies keep using it if they didn’t know what it did?”

“Well, they think it’s lucky,” Twilight explained. “It must do something that’s good for ponies… that would make sense, since Princess Celestia said it wasn’t harmful, and there haven’t been other problems like this that we know of.”

“How is breaking your stuff good?”

“I don’t know, Spike.” Twilight sighed, her face falling again. “I feel like… like I have all the pieces of a puzzle except for one. I just need to figure out what effect the spell could have that would make sense.”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re just looking for something a spell can do that’s good for ponies, but bad for us; and that nopony remembers, but earth ponies use all the time?”

“Yeah…” Twilight shook her head clear and stood up. “Come on, Spike. Let’s take a quick look in the languages section.”

“Okay, lunch sounds— wait, more research? We do have to eat sometime, Twilight.”

“We’ll eat later.” Twilight stood up and headed to the door. “If this is a language, maybe we can find something similar in one of the ancient texts. We’ll check them all.”

Spike hurried to catch up. “Um, do you know how many ancient texts this library has? It’s a lot!”

***

Twilight and Spike both slept most of the train ride home the next morning, exhausted from a full night of poring over ancient languages. While Twilight hadn’t found anything resembling the carvings, a quick detour to cryptography convinced her that it was a language, at some point. But she could easily see how a word passed down through rough carvings and shaky old ponies who had no idea what it meant would lose its resemblance to anything in a book. She knew she’d probably looked right at the word, the translation written neatly next to it, and been unable to recognize it in the symbols.

Despite the drowsiness that came from replacing a good night’s sleep with a nap, Twilight’s eyes lit up when she saw Applejack among their friends as soon as she stepped off the train in Ponyville. She flew over to her and greeted her with a deep kiss, while the rest of their friends gathered around in a hug.

“How was Canterlot, darling?” Rarity asked before they even broke the hug. “Did you have a good time at the ball?”

“It was boring,” Twilight said, giving AJ another squeeze before letting go. “Everything in Canterlot was boring without you girls there.”

“Did ya’ get any studyin’ done?” Applejack hinted.

“Yeah, did you find out anything about your cursed house?” Rainbow Dash added, earning a glare from Applejack.

“A few things, but no real answers.” Twilight explained, starting to fly slowly in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres with her friends by her side. “It’s not a curse, for one thing. It’s not dark magic at all. Whatever it is there is something that’s probably helpful… just not to us.”

Fluttershy gave Twilight a look of pure concern. “But… the way Applejack described it, it sounded, well, dangerous.”

“It hasn’t hurt nopony yet,” Applejack pointed out.

“Not physically,” Twilight agreed.

Rainbow Dash glanced suspiciously at Twilight. “What about Twilight’s hoof?”

“I just tripped.” Twilight said. “... I think.”

Pinkie’s eyes went wide. “What if you didn’t?! What if it’s trying to hurt you?”

Fears pressed into Twilight's mind, but she pushed them back with a shake of her head. “Pinkie, that spell destroyed our house. If it wanted to hurt me, I think it could have done more than impersonate a tree root.”

“Twi, what if she’s right?” Applejack said softly. “I mean, it started out with stuff like movin’ ink pots and tossin’ your clothes in the snow—”

“I hope it knows those were hoof stitched,” Rarity pouted.

“I’m not sure this spell cares, Rarity.” Twilight’s ears drooped. “It didn’t care much about our family Hearth’s Warming decorations.”

“Oh!” Rarity gasped. “I’m so sorry. How very insensitive of me.”

“That’s just what I’m sayin’, Twi. It’s been gettin’ worse. It’s been quiet a few days, but… you think it might do somethin’ dangerous?” Applejack gave Twilight a worried glance.

“I don’t know, AJ. I really don’t. But we’ll have to be careful.” Twilight smiled, hoping the wavering in it didn’t show. “We’ve faced a lot worse than a cranky house.”

Rainbow raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Yeah, but you weren’t exactly sleeping in Discord’s bedroom.”

“He slept on my couch…” Fluttershy pointed out.

“That’s a little bit different, darling,” Rarity said, smiling at Fluttershy.

Twilight bit her lip, then set her shoulders and smiled. “We’re not letting this chase us out. Right, Applejack?”

“If you’re stayin’ there, I’m stayin’ there,” Applejack said with a nod.

“Spike?” Twilight asked.

Spike considered the question. “My bed stays in your room.”

“Yeah, I guess that would be for the best, for now.” Twilight looked wistfully at her wife, and added quietly, “We’ll just have to get this figured out fast.”

“You know, I’m sure my sister asked about a sleepover tonight… perhaps Spike would like to come?” Rarity asked, with a wink to Twilight.

“A sleepover? At… your place?” Spike said, his voice dreamy and far away.

“In Sweetie Belle’s room,” Rarity said sternly, but Spike didn’t seem to notice.

Applejack and Twilight both silently signaled their thanks to Rarity, who nodded graciously.

As the group of ponies approached her house, Twilight noticed Big Macintosh standing by the door. Twilight’s face fell, and her heart beat faster. But she felt a nuzzle from AJ, and when she glanced over, Applejack was grinning.

“All clear, Mac?” Applejack called.

Mac smiled and nodded, and started to trot back to the farmhouse.

Applejack turned back to Twilight. “I set Mac to watch the place while we came to get ya’.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said, nodding. “We have a surprise for you, but it’s supposed to be a happy surprise, not a yucky surprise like you had before.”

“A surprise?” Twilight asked, as they approached the door. Rainbow Dash flew ahead and opened it.

Twilight stepped inside, to find the front room decked from ceiling to floor. Somepony had gotten new garlands, this time wrapped with ribbons and beads, and hung them from the tops of the bookcases. Sitting on the bookcases beside the books were boxes wrapped in bright, shiny paper, and on the mantle sat a Hearth’s Warming cave made of gingerbread, with white frosting for snow, and little candy founders inside.

Her face lit up. This was her home again, maybe even more wonderful than before, because she knew the love her friends must have put into this.

“Surprise!” Pinkie shouted.

Rainbow grinned at her. “Doesn’t it look awesome?”

“It’s… it’s beautiful, you guys,” Twilight stammered, unable to take her eyes off of the decorations.

“It was Applejack’s idea.” Fluttershy smiled. “Nothing is irreplaceable... you can enjoy it, and you don’t have to worry.”

“Yeah, me and Dash got the evergreens, and Rarity and Fluttershy did the trimmin’, and Pinkie made the cave herself.”

“And if that one breaks you can just eat it up!” Pinkie pointed out. “Some meany-spell is no reason you shouldn’t have a good Hearth’s Warming!”

Twilight just grinned.

“Oh, and darling, I have one more thing for you.” Rarity’s magic floated out a box and lifted the top off. Nestled deep in tissue paper sat Twilight’s snowpony, carefully pieced back together. “I fixed Applejack’s embroidery as well. It’s as special as new.”

Twilight mouth fell open. She looked at her friends, eyes wide with wonder. “Oh Rarity! All of you! You’re the best friends ever!” Then her eyes landed on Applejack. “And you are the best wife ever.”

Applejack blushed and pawed the floor. “I just wanted to see ya’ happy, Twilight. Even if this don’t last, we’ll just keep bouncin’ back, and we’ll make it happier every time.”

Twilight flew over to Applejack and answered her with a deep kiss.

“When you guys are done eating face, there’s food in the kitchen,” Rainbow pointed out, flying past them towards the refreshments.

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating cake and drinking cocoa, talking about plans for Hearth’s Warming, and enjoying the company of friends.

That evening, Rarity took Spike and went to find Sweetie Belle and her friends, while the other ponies went to their own homes, leaving Applejack and Twilight to themselves. Twilight couldn’t stop smiling, and she sighed with contentment every time she looked around her home.

Applejack went to get some wood for the fire, while Twilight made a pot of tea and fixed two mugs. She carried them into the front room and took her place on her favorite pillow. As soon as Applejack had the fire fed she joined Twilight, wrapping her forelegs around her wife. They sat like that for a long time in silence, and Twilight enjoyed the peace and comfort all around her.

Applejack eventually broke the silence in a soft voice, “So, ya’ had a nice trip?”

Twilight closed her eyes and smiled. “It’s nicer to be home… but yes, the trip was fine. I was surprised, Princess Celestia didn’t know anything about our problem. She said she’s never heard of homesteading doing anything like this before.”

“And you’re sure it’s the homesteadin’?” Applejack’s hoof stroked Twilight’s wing.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense. There were no magical signatures, Princess Celestia said there’s no dark magic on the farm, and even if there was another pony who would do these things, what would be the point? It’s not funny, nopony stole anything, and it’s not really an attack. If we rule out those things, and considering that we have a very magical spell at work with unknown effects…” Twilight felt herself tensing up, and focused for a minute on the feeling of a hoof smoothing her feathers as they tried to ruffle. “It’s the homesteading.”

“So, what did ya’ learn? In farmpony words, if ya’ don’t mind,” AJ said, smiling.

“You don’t want to get out the ‘High-falutin’ to Equestrian dictionary?” Twilight giggled. “Nothing that complex, actually. Just that I think homesteading is very old, and very magical, and that it must help ponies somehow. I’m almost certain the symbols came from a word in an ancient language, but they’re too garbled to make sense of. And this isn’t something that happens a lot, Princess Celestia has never heard of it. The question is, what does the spell do?”

“Well, say we take all this outta the question,” Applejack suggested. “What could it’ve been doin’ all these years on this farm?”

Twilight considered the new direction to explore, and her mind leapt into puzzle solving mode. “A lot of things. That level of magic could produce any number of effects. It could keep ponies healthy, attract wealth, produce good harvests…”

“Well… I can tell ya’ it don’t keep ponies healthy. And I ain’t exactly rollin’ in bits,” Applejack pointed out.

“What about harvests?” Twilight suggested.

“Granny Smith said that first year was a bumper crop, and they did the homesteadin’ after. Trust me, if you got magic that’s gonna make a good harvest, ya’ don’t use it after the harvest…” She looked at the ceiling, deep in thought, though her hoof never stopped stroking Twilight. “Granny said it’s a promise to the land that you’ll care for it, and it’ll care for you.”

“Taking care of somepony would mean helping them, doing good things for them.” Twilight said, nuzzling beneath Applejack’s chin.

“...Or keepin’ bad things from happenin’ to them.” Applejack gave Twilight a gentle squeeze. “Twi, could all this be a warnin’?”

Twilight’s mouth twisted. “I suppose it could, there could be some kind of precognition worked into the spell. But how are the things that happened supposed to warn us, and what are they warning us about?”

“What if it’s a warnin’ that somethin’ bad is gonna happen to us if we stay here?” Applejack said softly. “That’d explain why it started small… if we took the hint with the clothes, it wouldn’t have wrecked the room here.”

Twilight processed that. She looked around the room. Her room, in her house. She searched for a reason for it to not be true, but finally she just shook her head.

“No. No no no. I’m not leaving.”

“You think that’s what it is?” Applejack asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Twilight said firmly. “First of all, I’ve done this ‘warning from the future’ thing before, and I’m not going through that again. I like my current haircut very much, thank you. And second, this is my house. I— that’s just really important to me, AJ. If something bad happens to us, it’s going to happen here, in the place I love, with the ponies I love around me.”

“You think that’s what it is.” Applejack looked at Twilight, eyes full of worry, but her tone was even as she said, “Twi, if my family went to the trouble of doin’ a magic spell to keep us from gettin’ hurt, don’t it seem kinda disrespectful to ignore it?”

Twilight closed her eyes and lay her head on AJ’s shoulder. “I appreciate the thought, I really do, but… I don’t want to leave. Please don’t make me.”

Applejack sighed and squeezed Twilight again. “Twilight Sparkle, I ain’t makin’ you do anythin’. But, that last time was a pretty strong warnin’. Even if it weren’t for whatever it’s warnin’ us about, do we really wanna live with the way it’s hintin’?”

“Well… maybe it’ll stop,” Twilight said hopefully. “Now that we know there’s danger, there’s no point in warning us anymore. It’s our choice to stay, right?”

“I reckon so…” Applejack reluctantly agreed.

“And we aren’t going to worry about the future.” Twilight smiled. “Future-Twilight is pretty smart, and she can handle herself.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Applejack chuckled. “‘Specially when I got right-now-Twilight, and we got the place to ourselves.”

Twilight met Applejack’s lips with a kiss, then smiled as they parted. “Mmm… I think I’ll need all of your attention on that.”

Applejack grinned and gently pressed Twilight back into the pillows. “I couldn’t think of somethin’ else right now if I tried.”

***

Winona was barking.

Twilight opened her eyes. It was the middle of the night, and Winona had hopped out of bed and was barking at the bedroom door. Applejack’s forelegs were still wrapped around Twilight, but Twilight could feel her stirring.

As the fog of sleep slipped away, Twilight’s heart sped up. Something wasn’t right. She needed to leave. There was a feeling in the house, a familiar sense of fear making her breath come heavy and her wings twitch.

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Maybe there was nothing wrong. Maybe Winona heard a mouse, or a timberwolf howling in the distance.

Applejack carefully rolled out of bed and trotted over to the dog. “What is it, girl? Did ya’ hear somethin’?”

Winona looked from AJ to the door, and whimpered. Twilight could sympathize with the little dog right now.

“AJ, something’s wrong. I can feel it somehow.”

Applejack looked at Twilight, her expression steeled. “Okay, me and Winona’ll go check it out. You just sit tight, sugarcube.”

Twilight knew she should insist on going, but between Applejack’s order and her own pounding heart she couldn’t make herself speak up. Her blankets felt safer than out there, and right now the only thing that was actually wrong, as far as she knew, was that she was terrified.

“Okay, just be careful,” Twilight said, somehow keeping her voice calm.

Applejack flipped her hat on her head and gave Twilight a nod. “Will do.” She opened the door, and stepped into the dark hallway, closing it behind her and leaving Twilight alone in the bedroom.

Twilight listened to AJ’s hoofsteps travel down the hallway, down the stairs, then out of earshot. She immediately started imagining what AJ might find… another wrecked room? A message scrawled in blood warning them to get out? A portal to Tartarus? Maybe a portal to Tartarus full of blood that all the things in the room had been tossed into?

Her eye twitched, and Twilight decided it was time to stop imagining what AJ might find. Probably AJ would find nothing. This was probably her own imagination, feeding on the weird things that happened. The fact that there was a magical artefact that was probably trying to get them both to leave the house was absolutely not a cause for concern. Nothing bad would happen to Applejack wandering into a dark, enchanted house by herself. And nothing bad would happen to Twilight huddled alone in a dark room right below powerful magic that wanted her gone. And that shadow moving on the wall was just the branches of an apple tree in the moonlight. And the feeling that she had to leave right now was just—

Twilight jumped straight out of bed at the sound of a thump from downstairs. Applejack had been gone long enough! Twilight knew that she really should check on her.

Twilight hurried to the door and out into the dark hall. It was darker than the bedroom, where moonlight through the window at least allowed for some contrast between light and shadow. The hall was just darkness, with the only variance being a hint of light coming from the stairway.

“Applejack? Are you okay?” Twilight called, lighting her horn to push back the darkness.

Nopony answered, and now blackness just seemed to crowd around the edges, in corners and shadows.

Twilight moved quickly to the top of the stairs. Looking down, the room was dimly lit. Probably no more than one candle. She tried calling again, “AJ? Winona?”

Once again, there was silence.

“Owlowiscious?” Twilight squeaked as she started down the stairs.

...Or she would have started down the stairs, but instead she felt herself falling straight down. Her wings flew wide on instinct as she screamed, and she caught air just before hitting the ground.

“Twilight!” Applejack yelled from the front door, galloping across the room. She reached Twilight in seconds, and stood on her rear legs to pull her still-shocked wife out of the air and into a tight hug. “Twilight, are ya’ okay?”

“I— I’m okay. The stairs disappeared!” Twilight said as she caught her breath. She was shaking and wasn’t sure she could close her wings.

Applejack stroked Twilight’s back. “I kinda gathered that. They just… went away?”

“Yes, as soon as I stepped on them. It’s a good thing I can fly. And it’s a good thing I was going down them then. If it had been you or Spike, somepony could have been hurt!” Twilight’s eyes went wide and she hugged Applejack tighter.

“If ya’ hadn’t flapped them wings fast enough, you coulda been hurt.” Applejack pointed out, pulling back from Twilight to look her in the eye. “Twilight, let’s go. Please. Somethin’ don’t want us here, and it’s hittin’ too close to home.”

Applejack’s words made sense. Twilight knew that. And given the uneasy feeling that had only grown stronger combined with shock from the fall, Twilight knew that she had every reason to leave the house. But she had one reason not to, one reason that was more important than anything.

“This is my home. And yeah, it’s hitting me way too close to home! In my home!” Twilight looked up where the stairs should have been, towards the attic where she knew magic was radiating to try to chase her away. She narrowed her eyes. “It’s not allowed to do this!”

She stepped away from Applejack and turned and shouted up, “You hear that, you stupid spell?! I am a Princess of Equestria! I have magic too! You can’t just— just— bully me out of my house!”

Twilight’s nostrils were flared and she was breathing heavily. Her unbrushed mane and the wild look in her eyes made her seem like a pony possessed.

Applejack regarded her with wide eyes and said in a gentle voice, “Uh, Twilight, sugarcube, calm down. Please. How ‘bout we go someplace else an—”

“No! I’ve had it! All I want is my house, and my wife, and my books. I’m not leaving... that stupid beam is leaving!”

Twilight’s horn glowed, and she reached with her magic to the top of the house. Her magic wrapped around the roof beam, but another magic was pushing it away, pulsing from within the beam itself. Twilight braced her hooves and pressed into the magic, sweat beading on her forehead.

There was a loud groan, like the very frame of the house straining, and the books burst off the shelf closest to her, some of them slamming into one side of her body. But that couldn’t budge her, nothing could budge her right now. The house shuddered as her magic slipped through the magic of the house in spots, giving her a weak grasp on the wood.

“Twilight, if you pull that— LOOK OUT!” Twilight heard Applejack shout as the bookcase next to her started to teeter.

Twilight struggled to maintain her hold while shifting to the other side of the room. Her magic slipped just a little when the heavy wooden bookcase crashed to the ground where she’d been seconds before. But with a glare at the ceiling she forced against the magic with renewed determination.

“Twi, we gotta go, come on!” Applejack pleaded from behind her.

“I’m… not… leaving!” Twilight said through gritted teeth.

Her magic tightened around the wood, finally driving through the opposing magic and gripping around the offending beam. The house shook again, but Twilight was not going to be distracted this time as she prepared to rip the beam from the roof.

She didn’t get a chance before she felt herself yanked sharply backwards, seeing the spot where she had been standing slammed by the bookcase on her other side. Her concentration broke as Applejack pulled her by the tail, galloping fast and hard for the front door. Behind them, well made bookcases, heavy with books, tumbled to the floor with a series of crashes.

AJ kept running out the door and across the yard, finally collapsing in the snow at the treeline, Twilight’s tail still clenched firmly in her jaw.

“Applejack, let me go! I’m going to do something about this for once and for all!” Twilight yelled, still straining towards the house.

She felt her tail released just long enough to crash into the snow with AJ’s weight on top of her.

“Twilight Sparkle, listen to me! Just listen!” Applejack shouted at her, fear in her eyes. She panted for a second, then went on in a strong, even voice. “That ain’t a warnin’. That house is tryin’ to kill you. It’s tryin’ to— don’t go back in there. You can’t go back in there. Please, Twilight, please don’t…” The strength drained from AJ’s voice as it turned to pleading, then faded.

Seeing Applejack’s eyes, and feeling the cold snow and earth beneath her, Twilight blinked as the reality of the situation took hold.

“I— I just—” she stammered, unable to explain the fading storm of emotions in words.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Applejack said softly, shifting from holding her down to wrapping her in a hug. “It’s just a house. There’s other houses in Ponyville. We can live there, and it’ll be okay. I don’t care where we live, so’s you’re safe.”

“I know,” Twilight whimpered, burying her face in Applejack’s shoulder and breathing in the familiar, comforting scent of her wife.

Applejack just held her like she would never let go, and said, “Just promise me ya’ won’t go back in there ‘til we get this worked out. Promise me that.”

“I promise.” Twilight nodded.

Applejack took a deep, shaky breath and stood up, offering Twilight a hoof to pull her out of the snow. Twilight accepted, and shook the snow from her wings.

“Poor girl, ya’ must be freezin’.” Applejack helped to brush off the snow. “We’ll go to the library tonight. Okay? We can stay there for a bit.”

“Okay.” Twilight nodded absently. Right now, the cold didn’t matter to her. Where they were going to stay didn’t matter. They were things that she knew, logically, mattered, but when the emotions from earlier drained they seemed to leave nothing behind.

“Good. We’ll go stay at the library.” Applejack swallowed, and took a deep breath as she stepped away. “Now, stay here… I’m just gonna go…”

Twilight blinked her tears away as she watched Applejack walk cautiously towards the house.

Applejack took another deep breath and called out in an uncertain voice, “Winona? Owlowiscious? Come’ere!”

For several heart pounding seconds, Twilight realized that Applejack had been too busy saving her against her will to do anything to help their pets. One emotion returned to her: searing, painful guilt, strong enough to paralyze her.

Owlowiscious flew out the door and landed on Applejack’s hat.

Then a bark broke the silence and Applejack grinned. “Here girl! Careful now!” she called towards the bark. Seconds later a ball of fur crashed into Applejack, licking her face.

“Aww, it’s okay girl… good girl. You’re a good girl, Winona.”

Applejack turned and walked back towards Twilight, smiling sympathetically. “Okay, sugarcube, let’s go.”

Twilight nodded, biting her lip. She found she could move again, but her ears still drooped, and she hung her head.

“Applejack, I’m sorry,” she said, as they started down the dark road towards Ponyville.

Applejack pressed against her. “It’s okay, Twilight. We’re all safe, and that’s all that matters right now. I mean that.”

“I know,” Twilight said, not sure if she agreed.

Chapter 4

Over the next few days, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Big Mac went back to the house to pack things up. By the end of the week, the house sat empty; day-to-day items had been moved to the Ponyville library, where the little family was living, and the larger things and books were safe in a different barn on the farm.

Twilight, for her part, mostly sat in the library, reading books she’d read before. Something about her glorious failure at the life she’d been working for made stifling conformity to what she already had seem like the only option. But even there she felt like a failure; while it was impossible for Twilight to not keep the shelves in order, and she was careful to clean up after herself, she just couldn’t bring herself to do much more for the old oak tree she used to call home. She was still there for Applejack and Spike, and for her friends, but it was obvious the cloud of defeat around her was making that less than effective.

They tried to snap her out of it. Fluttershy and Pinkie decorated the treehouse for Hearth’s Warming, and while the third attempt wasn’t as impressive as the previous two, it looked cheerful and festive. Rarity took Twilight to the spa, and Rainbow invited her to come flying on days when the pegasi had scheduled a snow. Twilight did her best to enjoy it all, but a spark seemed to go out of her.

The only thing that Twilight did of her own accord, besides reading, was walk to Sweet Apple Acres and stare at her house. She never went near it, she remembered her promise to Applejack and the rest of that night all too well. She just wanted to see it, to think about what life had been like a few short weeks ago when she was moving in and full of hope and expectations.

With fresh snowfalls, the yard looked clean and untouched. The foals had been warned away from the place and wisely decided to listen for now. The house had the look of a Hearth’s Warming card, with snow on the roof and icicles hanging. All that was missing was a wreath on the door and a cheerful light from inside inviting ponies to the warmth of a fire. Twilight would have done that; she would have kept the fire burning and opened the doors to friends and family.

She couldn’t. She just drooped her ears and hung her head, turning away just like she had that night.

It was afternoon, so the sun was shining through the clouds as she walked down the road to Ponyville. Applejack joined her, on her way back to the library from her work on the farm.

“How ya’ feelin’, sugarcube?” Applejack asked gently. She knew why Twilight visited the farm, and while she didn’t think it was the best idea, she’d agreed that moping in some fresh air was a good change of pace from moping over books every once in a while.

“Okay…” Twilight answered.

“The girls are gonna be over tonight to hang out,” Applejack smiled hopefully.

Twilight did her best to return the smile. “That’ll be nice.”

Applejack sighed, then bit her lip. “Uh, say… did you notice there’s a house for sale, on the other side of town? It ain’t as big as the one here, but next summer we could build onto it. Wanna take a look tomorrow?”

Twilight thought about it. She did know the house, Rarity told her about it, but it was a lot smaller than their house. Her books wouldn’t fit in it. And it was even farther from AJ’s work and family than the library. And it didn’t have a fireplace, just a furnace in the basement. And she knew all of these things were excuses, but it didn’t change the fact that she didn’t want to look.

“No. I really don’t.”

“Okay,” Applejack agreed. “Maybe we’ll talk ‘bout it after Hearth’s Warmin’.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, looking at the snow-covered apple trees as they walked. They were both quiet for a few minutes.

Finally, near the edge of town, Applejack sighed again. “Twilight, sugar… I’m doin’ all I can. Just tell me what I can do to make this right.”

“I don’t know, AJ.” Twilight swallowed. “I wish I knew. I loved that house. It made me want to take care of it, I could see myself hosting Hearth’s Warming there, or raising foals, or writing books. And now, it’s all gone and I don’t even know why. It’s so frustrating.”

“I know just how ya’ feel.” Applejack said earnestly. “I thought it was perfect, and I’m right disappointed, too… Twilight?”

“Yeah?” Twilight looked over to AJ.

“What if we got rid of the spell? Like you wanted to that night, but, uh, sometime when we’re not quite as wound-up,” Applejack said, delicately.

“I thought of that.” Twilight glanced back towards the farm. “But, it’s not evil. In fact, it’s probably doing something good, like it has been for eighty years on Sweet Apple Acres. What if getting rid of it makes it harder for your family, somehow? If I just knew what it did, I could make a decision, but I can’t do that not knowing how it will affect somepony.”

“Okay, well… then let’s think on it again,” Applejack said with a small nod. “We’ll figure out what it does.”

“I have been. I need more information, AJ.” Twilight shook her head in frustration. “Just one little hint.”

Applejack trotted in front of Twilight, stopping her on the street in front of Sofas & Quills, and stood facing her. “Then we will find ya’ that hint, Twilight. After Hearth’s Warmin’, we’ll find it if we gotta look in every library in Equestria, or in the world. If anypony ever knew what that spell did, me and you can find it together. We gotta be two of the most stubborn ponies who ever lived, so I know we can do this.” She smiled. “Just don’t give up, sugarcube.”

Twilight felt a real, genuine smile force its way onto her face, and a little bit of weight lifted from her shoulders. “I won’t, AJ. I can’t. That’s the problem, I don’t know how to give up on this.”

“Then remember that I’m right there with ya’, every step.” Applejack leaned forward and nuzzled her.

“That is something I need to remember more often.” Twilight nuzzled back. “Now, let’s go home and see if the girls are there yet.”

The two walked the last block to the library, pressed together. Twilight felt stronger than she had since the last night at her house. She felt hope, faint and distant, but it was there and it made all the difference. She draped a wing over her wife and glanced over at her every other step.

Opening the door to their temporary home, Twilight saw the rest of her friends and Spike had made themselves comfortable. The ponies and dragon were sitting around the fire, laughing at something that somepony just said. But they all looked over when they heard the door.

“Hey, guys!” Rainbow called out, scooting over to make room in front of the fireplace.

“There you are, darlings.” Rarity smiled. “We saved you some cocoa,” she said, floating mugs to both Twilight and Applejack as they sat down.

“Thanks!” Twilight said, then took a sip of the delicious hot chocolate.

Pinkie gasped, “Twilight, you’re smiling! You look happy!”

Twilight blushed, thinking about how she’d been acting that it was such a surprise for her friends to see her smile. But she knew that they would understand.

“I am happy. AJ and I are going to work more on this spell after the holidays.” Twilight explained. “We’re not giving up on our house, even if it might take us a while to get it fixed.”

“Great! We’re gonna move back to the farm?” Spike asked.

“Not ‘til it’s safe,” Applejack said seriously, then she smiled at Twilight. “But we’re gonna get it there.”

“You know we’ll all help,” Rainbow offered.

“It’s going to be a lot of reading…” Twilight said with a smirk.

“Like I said, you know we’ll all keep you company!”

“Of course we’ll all help you in any way we can,” Rarity said, raising an eyebrow towards Rainbow.

“This is wonderful, Twilight.” Fluttershy smiled. “Where will we start? Maybe I can spend Hearth’s Warming getting caught up.”

“Well, there’s not much catching up to do,” Twilight said with a shrug. “It’s a spell called homesteading, and it’s a ritual earth ponies do for luck. But you can’t do a spell for ‘luck,’ and it obviously hasn’t been lucky for us, so what it’s actually doing must be something else. It’s something that has been good for ponies for a long time, so I’d hate to take it away from Sweet Apple Acres without knowing what it is, but if we find out we can decide what we want to do from there.”

“Homesteading? No wonder!” Pinkie scrunched her muzzle and stuck out her tongue. “That’s a silly thing for when ponies are being not friendly. Why would ponies want to do something ponies do who aren’t friends? No wonder it doesn’t like Twilight, since she’s super friendly!”

“Pinkie…” Twilight said slowly, setting down her cocoa.

Applejack stared at Pinkie, confused. “Pinkie, what’d your folks tell ya’ about homesteadin’?”

“Nothing. Why would they tell me about homesteading? Blech!” Pinkie made a face, then noticed Twilight's cocoa sitting unattended. She grabbed it and gulped it down.

Twilight didn’t care, she was focused on the new possibility. She knew better than to get her hopes up that Pinkie’s random opinions had some basis in fact, but she couldn’t help saying carefully, “Okay, Pinkie, tell me everything you know about it.”

“I already did, silly!” Pinkie said with a grin and a shrug.

“Then what makes you think it’s bad?” Twilight pressed, on the edge of her pillow.

“It’s in the Hearth’s Warming story. Duh.” Pinkie rolled her eyes.

“Wait, what?!” Twilight’s eyebrows shot up.

“It can’t be…” Applejack said. Then she put a hoof to her chin in consideration. “Or, well, I guess it could be. I mean, I ain’t read the thing in a while.”

“Yeah, I mean you see enough plays and you’ve kind of got the picture,” Spike agreed.

“I read it… last year.” Twilight insisted, then bit her lip. “Or two years ago? But— but— one of the books would have mentioned that!”

“Here!” Pinkie bounced over to a shelf and retrieved an old copy of A Foal’s Tale of Hearth’s Warming. She flipped it open and offered it to Twilight.

Twilight looked down at the page, just after the founders had moved to what would one day be Equestria, and discovered the other tribes were there as well. Scanning the page, she found the word and read the section around it out loud:

“There was no peace in the new land; the pegasi readied their spears, the unicorns cast shields, and the earth ponies homesteaded the ground, all suspiciously watching their neighbors. But these things did nothing to keep out the howling winds.”

It was Fluttershy who spoke up first. “...So homesteading was important when there was no peace? When ponies were angry at each other?”

“No,” Twilight shook her head. “When they were worried. Casting shields and readying spears are defensive. They were all expecting trouble, and the important thing that earth ponies did was homestead the land.” She frowned. “... but it didn’t work against windigos. They would have known that it wouldn’t keep out the cold, none of what the tribes were doing worked against the windigos… it worked against other ponies! AJ, that’s it!” Twilight’s face lit up. “Let’s say you’re an earth pony.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “We can say that.”

“I mean, an earth pony living before the founding of Equestria,” Twilight added, rolling her eyes. “You’ve got a good piece of land, but you’re facing unicorns with spells, and pegasi who can fly and attack from out of reach. Even if they don’t want to farm it, they might have reasons for taking it. But if you’ve got a spell that makes that land start attacking anypony who doesn’t belong there, pegasi and unicorns will know better than to try and claim it for themselves.”

Applejack nodded, then grinned. “Wait a minute! You never looked in no books about warfare, did ya’?”

Twilight shook her head. “It wasn’t really the first thing that sprang to mind when I thought of spells that might be on an 80-year-old barn, so no.”

“Here! Check this one!” Applejack hopped up and ran across the library. She pulled out a book and tossed it to Twilight, who caught it in her magic. “I useta look at it when I was a foal. It had a buncha stuff on defense that I skipped.”

Twilight smirked and raised an eyebrow at Applejack as she opened the book.

Applejack chuckled. “It was more fun readin’ 'bout the battles. Ain’t my fault that twenty years later it turns out I shoulda read the borin’ parts too.”

Rainbow Dash stuck her head over Twilight’s shoulder. “There’re battles in that book? Can I see it?”

“I’m reading it!” Twilight said as she scanned the index.

“Come on, I thought you wanted us to help with the reading…”

“Will you be— here it is!” Twilight grinned as she came to homesteading in the index. She quickly turned to the page. “In addition to fortifications, earth ponies used a magical practice called homesteading to defend outlying properties such as mills and farms. If another pony tried to claim the land as their own, without a proper transference of the rights to the land, the magic in the land itself would defend the rightful claim. After the founding of Equestria, homesteading remained a superstitious ritual in agricultural areas, though few who practice it understand its true value.” Twilight gave a snort and muttered, “Few? That’s an understatement.”

Twilight shook her head clear. “This is it, AJ. I’ve been calling it mine, but the spell doesn’t think that I own the house.”

“But… you’re my wife.” Applejack looked confused. “I mean, this never happened to my Ma, or Granpa Russett. That spell oughta know that my house is your house.”

“Is it because Twilight is a princess?” Spike suggested.

“I guess it could be,” Twilight admitted, frowning. “But, that doesn’t really make sense. The description doesn’t say that other ponies can’t own the land, just that they need a proper transference of the rights.”

“Shouldn’t the weddin’ be enough for that?” Applejack looked to Twilight. “‘What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine.’ It’s right there in the weddin’ vows.”

“AJ…” Twilight blinked, then her eyebrows furrowed. “That’s not in a unicorn ceremony. Historically it would have caused all sorts of problems with titles and estates.”

Rarity arched an eyebrow. “Twilight, darling, you are saying that the ceremony you were married with was designed to distinguish that parties don’t properly own one another’s estates?”

“Well… yes. Yes it was.” Twilight gave a laugh, which dissolved into full scale laughter. She wasn’t sure she could stop. It was so simple. She’d spent so much time, and worried so much, all for the overlooked detail of a few missing words.

Applejack started to chuckle as well. “So Granny Smith was right, is what you’re tellin’ me. We shoulda had an earth pony ceremony. She’s gonna crow like a rooster when she hears this one!”

Eventually Twilight managed to calm herself to a grin. “I’ll be happy to hear it, when she comes to our house for Hearth’s Warming!” Twilight shook her head. “Right now, we just have to find somepony to marry us. Again.”

“I’ll go get the mayor!” Rainbow Dash offered, flying towards the door.

“Meet us at the house,” Twilight called after her, just before the door closed behind her. Twilight looked to the others and explained, “I’ll be able to check right away, to see if it worked.”

“Is that safe?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight trotted to the pegs by the door and put on her scarf. “We’ll do it in the yard. And I’ll be really careful when I check, if there’s still magic I’ll leave right away.”

Applejack joined Twilight, putting on her boots. She nuzzled Twilight and asked, “Twilight, you don’t mind this, do ya’? You know I never minded that we had a unicorn ceremony, and I ain’t happy this homesteadin’ thing is sayin’ that we ain’t as married, somehow.”

“It’s not saying that, and I don’t mind at all.” Twilight smiled at her wife. “AJ, our wedding was beautiful, and I don’t think anypony questions that we were married in our hearts, even Granny Smith. But, I think what Granny Smith was bothered by is that there’s a side of you I didn’t give myself to: your heritage. That would have been fine if we wanted to live in Canterlot, we would have been happily and totally married.

“But when we built that house, I knew I wanted to be a part of your heritage, I wanted to be part of your family, and your roots. I want my own roots there, I want to take care of my house the way you want to take care of all of Sweet Apple Acres. That’s what this ceremony is, to me. I promised to love and honor you, and now I get to promise to love and honor the place that’s a part of you and make it my home the way that you’re my wife.”

Applejack didn’t say a word. She just looked into Twilight’s eyes, then kissed her deeply.

“This is beautiful.” Rarity said, sniffling. Her magic floated a handkerchief to her eyes. “I adore weddings.”

“Then let's go have one!” Pinkie shouted, hopping over to where her scarf was hanging. “Come on!”

The five friends trotted to Sweet Apple Acres, the second trip of the day for Twilight and Applejack. But where Twilight’s last trip to the house had been a plodding walk fueled by longing and regret, this one seemed to fly by on the wings of hope. She even took to the air at a few points, her excitement being too much for even her bouncing jog and the grin on her face to contain.

When she came to the house, she was struck once again by the beauty and peace of the scene. But this time it made her smile. If all went well here, if she was right, then by tomorrow she would be adding the touches this scene needed. The light in the windows, the wreath on the door, the curling smoke coming out of the chimney; the house needed those things and she wanted to offer them with all her heart.

They weren’t waiting at the house for long when Rainbow Dash came flying up the road, followed by Mayor Mare. The mayor didn’t seem to be particularly happy to be asked to officiate a wedding on a snowy evening with less than half an hour's notice, but Twilight and Applejack were each owed copious amounts of goodwill by the town, which had been enough to pull her from her warm house and hot tea. Everypony present agreed that there was no need for poetry or lengthy speeches, just the traditional parts of the earth pony ceremony that the mayor was used to performing for ponies in the traditionally earth pony town.

The mayor began the ceremony, and Twilight barely listened. The details of the vows weren’t important to her; They hadn’t been important during the first ceremony. What was important during that first ceremony was that she had found a true partner for her life — a pony she could rely on for anything, whose word was golden, and whose heart went into everything she would do in life as much as Twilight’s did — and she wanted to bind that with a promise of all the same things. Looking into Applejack’s eyes as Applejack made the same promise again, in different words, Twilight couldn’t believe how lucky she was.

But what was important during this ceremony was that she found the place she wanted to be with Applejack, a house that was special enough to deserve her dedication. It was a part of Applejack, a part of her history and life, and Twilight wanted that to be part of both of their lives and both of their futures. So as she repeated the promises that Applejack made, her heart begged the homesteading spell to accept them as well.

As the ceremony ended, Twilight kissed her wife on cue. She kissed her wife every day, it wasn’t magic; that’s what was so special about it. Magic and power were things she’d struggled with and conquered since she was a filly. Kissing Applejack was the other side of herself. It was like the last check mark on a to-do list, or the end of a nice long study session, or the feeling of coming inside after chopping wood. It was the simple pleasure of being a pony in love with a pony who loved her back and knowing that was real. Maybe other ponies dreamed of being a princess in a castle, but Twilight dreamed of this kiss in front of a fire, inside her warm home full of books and history and work and life.

“Did it work?” Spike asked, as soon as Twilight and Applejack parted.

Twilight looked over at the house. Her horn lit up, as she made a quick scan of magic. “I… I think it did. I should check the roof beam.”

“Let’s go,” Applejack said. “Y’all stay here, I don’t want nopony gettin’ hurt.”

“Be careful. We don’t want you getting hurt,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“We’ll be okay.” Twilight smiled at her friends. “At least, we will now that I know better than to go to war against buildings I’m standing in.”

Applejack chuckled and shook her head, and the two of them headed towards their house, forging a path through the fresh snow.

Applejack opened the door and stepped inside first, Twilight right behind her. Twilight smiled as she noticed that she didn’t feel the dread she’d felt last time she was here. The place didn’t feel like home, not yet, but everything in the room was radiating the potential of a blank slate. The bookshelves had been righted but sat empty, the stairs seemed to have reappeared, and even as their hoofsteps echoed through the house, Twilight could envision the place coming back to life. It reminded her of her feelings when she first began moving in.

Applejack broke Twilight’s train of thought as they reached the stairs. “Twilight… ya’ know that if this didn’t work, I meant what I said before. We’ll find somethin’ that does, together. We can even get rid of this ol’ thing… I’m pretty sure we’re safe from bein’ invaded these days.”

“I know,” Twilight nodded, thinking about her house as a whole as she carefully climbed the stairs that had disappeared. The spell had changed the way she felt about the building. There was fear, especially here where she nearly fell, but it was more than that. She still loved the house for its place in her life and in Applejack’s life. She appreciated the powerful magic protecting it for its ancient utility, and the direct line it drew to Equestria’s past. She respected this house.

She bit her lip. “We could get rid of it, but I hope we don’t have to. I think the spell is interesting. We don’t need to keep it, but if we can, I’ll be happy. It gives the place character.”

“It tried to kill ya’,” Applejack said dryly.

Twilight grinned. “It’s a conversation piece.”

“Yeah, that’s a conversation I wanna have with your ma.” Applejack rolled her eyes as they made their way down the hall and up to the attic and mimicked, “Say, Ma Velvet, did ya’ know my family built this place themselves? And they put a spell on it that tried to shove those bookcases over on Twilight. Yup, those sure are solid oak!”

Twilight giggled. “You know my mom. She’ll probably be taking notes for her next...” Twilight trailed off. They had reached the top of the attic stairs, and Twilight looked around.

The claustrophobic feeling was gone from the room. The ceiling was still low, and the light was still dim, but nothing was pushing her to leave. She gave Applejack a nervous smile, and whispered, “So far, so good.”

“I’m right here with ya’, sugarcube.” Applejack nuzzled her.

Twilight nodded and steeled herself. She closed her eyes, half afraid of the blinding light that might come from the beam and what it would mean, but she cast the magic detection spell anyway. The magic flowed through her horn, and there didn’t seem to be a bright light behind her eyelids. She opened her eyes again, cautiously.

While earth pony magic still hung thick in the room, there was no intensely shining magic from the roof beam. The symbols glowed gold on an ordinary wooden beam; the spell was still there, but it wasn’t active.

“This is my house,” Twilight whispered. She felt Applejack press close to her, but nothing else happened. No shiver of fear, no explosion of magic, just the calm of an empty house and the warm feeling of her wife next to her.

Twilight inched forward, and brushed her hoof against the beam.

“Everythin’ okay, sugarcube?”

“It’s more than okay.” Twilight smiled, tracing her hoof over the carvings. “I almost want to apologize to it. It was just trying to protect us. I was kind of doing the same thing, when I threatened to get rid of it.”

“Well, as long as you and the house are good with each other now…” Applejack chuckled.

“I think we’re going to get along just fine.” Twilight giggled and nuzzled the roof beam, before turning to leave. She stopped when she got to Applejack and kissed her lips. Applejack kissed back eagerly.

When they parted, Twilight looked in Applejack’s eyes. “Thank you.”

Applejack raised her eyebrows. “Uh, for what?”

“For sharing your home and your life with me. For promising, twice, to always stand by me, and for proving that you mean it.” Twilight smiled at the blush that grew on AJ’s cheeks.

“A pony’s gotta take care of the ones she loves,” Applejack said simply.

Twilight nodded and grinned as she headed down the attic stairs. “I know exactly what you mean.”

***

Twilight’s house was bright and cheerful that Hearth’s Warming day. It took careful planning and tireless effort from both Twilight and Applejack to get moved back in, settled, and prepared to host a festive dinner in one week before the holiday, but it was no surprise to their friends or family that they managed it. But rather than just managing it, Twilight relished it; the combination of the relief of having her home back, the excitement of showing her family everything she loved about it, and the comfort of knowing that she had a beautiful pony by her side who she could count on for every detail of the work made the bustle and organization a celebration all its own.

The best part was that it all paid off. Both of their families were gathered, enjoying the holiday together. Twilight had set up a long table on one side of the front room, and she and Cadance were placing the plates on it while Granny and AJ worked their magic in the kitchen. Twilight’s father was with them in the kitchen, thrilled at the chance to lend a hoof and learn as many secrets as they would offer.

“It’s really wonderful of you to have us all, Twilight. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed Hearth’s Warming this much!” Cadance said, floating the silverware to the table and setting the appropriate magic and non-magic places at each plate. “Even if it does seem like I’m going to have to find a royal puppy trainer when we get home.” She nodded towards the fireplace, where Shining Armor’s magic held a short, knotted rope, which Winona happily fought to take from him. He’d immediately fallen in love with the friendly little dog, and spent the whole day playing with her while dropping not-so-subtle hints to Cadance that a puppy might just show up at the palace one day soon.

Twilight’s magic carefully placed wine glasses at the places of the adult ponies for the crystal wine Shining Armor and Cadance brought to go with dinner. “It’s everypony being here that makes it special. This is exactly what I wanted my home to be.”

Twilight glanced over with a smile as laughter rang out from where Twilight Velvet sat on the floor playing cards with Spike, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh. All day Twilight’s mother had been making up amazing stories about herself that were just ridiculous enough to send Apple Bloom into fits of giggles and earn at least a snicker from more grown up ponies.

The door to the kitchen opened and Applejack came out, balancing a large salad bowl on her back, followed by Night Light with another two dishes in his magic.

“We’re gettin’ close to done, sugarcube!” Applejack said, expertly bumping the bowl onto the table.

“Great, the table is almost set. I’ll take those, Dad.” Twilight’s magic took the dishes from Night Light’s and placed them on the table in the spots she’d planned.

“Your pa’s right handy in there,” Applejack said, walking over to give Twilight a nudge as Twilight adjusted the salad bowl.

Cadance giggled. “I’m sure he’s more useful than I’d be. Shining can tell you about his last birthday cake.” She smiled at Night Light. “At least one of your children had the sense to marry a pony who can cook.”

Night Light chuckled. “I’m just lucky Granny and Applejack let me help. It’s fun watching pros at work.”

Twilight shook her head. “I wish Granny would relax for a little bit. I feel so bad making her work all day!”

“Twilight, you know darn well Princess Celestia herself couldn’t keep Granny outta that kitchen when there’s folks to cook for.” Applejack laughed.

“Well, she’s going to let me do the dishes. I’m putting my hoof down.” Twilight smirked and stomped her hoof for emphasis.

Applejack gave Twilight a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re awful cute when you’re stubborn... most of the time, at least,” Applejack said with a wink that made Twilight giggle.

Twilight smiled, then lit the candles in the center of the table. “There.”

She leaned against Applejack and admired the table setting, then her eyes drifted over the rest of her home. Ponies laughing, a warm fire, beautiful decorations, a delicious meal; and they got to offer this to the ponies they loved. It was a dream come true, and like most dreams come true it took more sweat and tears and heartbreak and frustration than she wanted to think about right at that moment. But her home was worth every second of it.

Author's Note

Thanks to First_Down, KrazyTheFox, Jake R, and DbzOrDie for prereading.

To cut off a few questions before they’re asked:

In the real world, modern property laws are such that land owned by one party before marriage is not the property of the other upon marriage (with some exceptions for property both parties are investing money into… it’s complicated and that’s why there are divorce lawyers.) The real world also does not have talking ponies or ancient magic rituals that try to kill you. So all three of those things are indications that this doesn’t take place in the real world.

Also, the idea that this has never happened before is false. It hasn’t happened to the Apples, and it hasn’t happened that anyone knows of. Instances of ponies marrying in a non-earth pony ceremony, and then moving onto homesteaded earth pony land that one of them owns, are very rare, and the few times it’s happened the typically skittish ponies were easily convinced that it was a haunting, or the place was cursed, and sold the land and moved. When the land was sold, the ownership was correct again, and there were no more problems. So reports never reached Princess Celestia or were recorded in books related to the spell (though there are probably some books on hauntings that might sound strangely familiar to Twilight, after this.)