Sunflower: Harmony - Supplemental files

Author's Note: This takes place during chapter 13 of Project Sunflower: Harmony, picking up immediately after Applejack's scene leaves off.

  The two of them walked down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres, with Applejack doing her best to fill Erin in on how earth pony magic worked. It was surprisingly hard for her to put into words. Especially since, if there was such a thing as an earth pony magic school, Applejack had never gone to one. She’d picked it all up as she had grown up, at first from her parents, and later from her Granny and Big Macintosh.

  Speaking of the big lug, she saw the stallion in question a little ways up ahead on the road. It looked like he was repairing the fence, which had taken some damage over the winter. Applejack started to wrap up what she was saying as they approached her brother.

  "And that’s is why we don't usually call it 'magic'," Applejack said to Erin, who was listening intently. "What we do is more like a partnership, workin' hard and helpin' the earth and nature work together. So, in order to teach you how to be an earth pony, I gotta work ya plenty hard."

  "That's fine, Applejack," Erin replied, which caused Applejack to chuckle.

  "Sure, you say that now, but you ain't gonna feel that way in a while. Trust me, gettin' yourself in sync with the earth an' nature ain't an easy thing, an' it's gonna be even harder for you, since you ain't been born to it. No offense intended."

  “None taken,” Erin said as they finally reached where her brother was standing by the fence. She smiled, a little hesitantly. “Hi, Macintosh.”

  Her brother, who had stopped working as the two of them had approached, ducked his head politely. “Howdy, Miss Sunflower,” he said. “I see you’re back to bein’ a pony.”

  Erin grinned at him. “That, I am.”

  “It looks like ya went all out,” Mac said, nodding towards Erin’s horn. Then he glanced down. “Wings too, I see.”

  Erin blushed and scuffed a hoof in the dirt. “Yeah. I may have overdone it, there, but I didn’t want to keep going back to change into different types of pony.” She hesitated, then asked a little timidly, “I don’t look stupid, do I?”

  Applejack felt an amused little thrill as she saw a blush spread out on her brother’s face.

  “It… looks good on ya,” he said.

  Erin blushed further, still scuffling her front hoof. Mac was studying a tree on the other side of the road with fake casualness, very obviously trying to make it look like he wasn’t checking Erin out. Applejack decided to take that as her cue to give the two of them a little bit of time to talk.

  She cleared her throat and said, “Well, I’m gonna head back to the farm real quick, an’...” she hesitated, unsure of what to say next. “An’... get stuff ready, I guess,” she finished lamely. “You come along along after you catch up, Erin.”

  Erin looked panicked for a moment before she relaxed and smiled. “Uh, sure. Thanks, Applejack.”

  “Thanks, AJ,” Mac echoed.

  Applejack broke into a trot, quickly leaving the two of them behind. She couldn’t stop a grin from spreading at the thought of the pair of them talking, alone. Sure, Big Mac had gone through a hard time when he found out that Erin wasn’t actually a pony and all that. And Erin was always quick to say she didn’t find stallions attractive, that she was still only interested in human males.

  But Erin was a decent person, pony or not. She was more than a little weird, but she was also smart and kind. Most importantly, she was a hard worker. Her brother, she knew, had many fine qualities of his own, though she always downplayed that at home in order to prevent him from getting a big head about it. And, maybe she was biased, but she believed he was a decent-enough-looking stallion who could have his pick of Ponyville mares if he ever got over his shyness.

  Applejack knew better than to push anything. Erin might not ever be interested, especially if she was still planning on returning to being a human in a few years. Not to mention, meddling was the surest way to make sure nothing happened. But, she decided with a chuckle, there was no harm in leaving the two of them stewing and seeing if anything came out of it.

  And, heck, Erin was even asking for training in earth pony magic. It wasn’t any fault of Applejack’s that the training would require AJ to familiarize her with working on the farm. Which, in turn, would help to see if she really would make a good match for Big Mac one day, if she ever got over this whole “human males only” thing.

  With a grin, Applejack arrived home, half-formed plans already taking shape in her head.