7DSJ: The Apple Tree

Chapters

March 24: The Trees of Nature Fruitless Be
March 25: I'm Weary with My Former Toil
March 26: And Pleasure Dearly I Have Bought
March 27: I Missed of All But Now I See
March 28: Under the Shadow I Will Be
March 29: The Glory Which I Now Can See
July 23: Here I Will Sit and Rest a While

March 24: The Trees of Nature Fruitless Be

Author's Note

You get a chapter every day until this story's over! Lucky you!

Merry Christmas everyone!

March 24: The Trees of Nature Fruitless Be

Though she barely remembered it, Belle Point-Heavener Regional Airport hadn’t really grown in size. That was to be expected; in this part of the country, there wasn’t really much call for anything large, because between Belle Point here in Arkansas and Heavener on the other side of the Oklahoma state line, there wasn’t enough people to fill even a small town in California, much less something like Canterlot or bigger. As a result, the airport never grew any larger than its days when it was known as Poteau River Airfield, an Army Air Corps training airfield back in World War II, even before her grandmother had been born.

Life out here moved definitely slower than what she was accustomed to. She was instantly reminded of when Pinkie had gone home, relatively not far from here, back during Christmastime. She never quite admitted the truth, but she knew her curly-haired friend had felt well out of place whenever she visited her parents over in Bentonville. And right now, Applejack surely sympathized with that sentiment.

“Penny for your thoughts?” The blonde turned to look at the smiling face of Sweetcream Scoops, the girlfriend of Applejack’s older brother Macintosh and the closest thing Applejack had to an older sister. It helped that Scoops and Macintosh had been together for so long, people were already seeing the wedding bells even though neither had graduated from high school yet. As it was, she’d come because she didn’t feel like sitting around the house for spring break and it was much more entertaining to spend it with her boyfriend and family.

“Was just thinking that Ah’m much different than Ah used to be when Ah was younger,” Applejack admitted.

“Oh, Ah’d be inclined to disagree,” drawled Scoops as she teased the younger teen.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “You would think that. Fortunately, I have had plenty of years to suffer with you around.”

Scoops put her arm around her future sister-in-law. “That you have,” she agreed. “So, nervous about coming home?”

“Yeah.” Applejack nodded her head. “Ah can barely remember the place as is, and what I do remember is faint. About how Pa hated himself for sellin’ the orchard, an’ how that Australian company came this close to buyin’ it. Just glad that Uncle Stayman an’ Aunt Studious were able to pony up the cash t’ buy it. At least it stayed in family hands that way.”

“Yeah, and I’m going to enjoy every moment of this vacation!” the sherbert-haired girl cheered. “No idea what I’m going to do to goof off, but there’s gotta be something.”

“Nope! You came along, you get roped in to help, Scoops. Part of being in the family, you know.”

“Awwww, but I’m a delicate little flower, AJ, you know that!”

“Who died and made you Rarity?”

“AJ, stop teasin’ mah gal.” Macintosh approached them, carrying everyone’s luggage over his shoulder as if it were nothing. Built like a linebacker, it shocked most that the gentle teen was more interested in the arts than in the gridiron, and more than one college football scout was dismayed to find that Macintosh’s interests lay more in graphic design than in anything else. “Else she might just done keel over from th’ shock!”

Scoops pouted. “Maaaaaaaaaaaaaac! And I thought you loved me!”

“What, darlin’, not in th’ relationship fer th’ sex?” he teased.

“Let me know when I’ll actually get some and we’ll talk,” she responded back. “So where’s the rest of the fams?”

“Ma, Pa, Granny and Bloomie are getting’ th’ van from th’ rental place,” Macintosh explained. “Ah got th’ rest o’ th’ luggage, so we should be fine.”

“Do you remember about how far it is from here to the orchard?” Applejack asked her brother.

“If’n Ah remember right, it’s ‘bout a thirty-minute drive on th’ other side of Heavener, so…bout little over an hour, give er take.”

Applejack watched as a beige van pulled up to the white zone, while a cheerful voice from the loudspeakers above reminded them said zone was for loading and unloading only.

“Seedy! Ma! Welcome home!” Stayman Apple crowed as he hugged his older brother, followed by his mother. Unlike Appleseed, who still looked like a farmer even if he hadn’t done it in ages, Stayman looked more like a biker, with his beard and his long dark-brown hair being held in place behind a faded bandana. Both men looked muscular, though Stayman had the edge given that he worked a farm on a daily basis, and the weathered, sky-ridden look on his face showed it.

“Good t’ see ya, sonny boy!” Applesmith replied, hugging both her boys. The only way this moment would’ve been perfect was if her daughter Dabinett and her family had been here, but each thing came in time. Still, it was good to see family in their place at home. Maybe next Christmas they could arrange something.

Meanwhile, from her wheelchair, Cornflower hugged her sister-in-law. “Hi, Studious,” she said, embracing the woman with the apple-green eyes and short, light-blue hair. “How are things going?”

“Good to see you, Flower,” Studious said as she bent down. “Work is busy as always; after all these years we haven’t found the reason why those runes are there. Latest theory we have is that it wasn’t Vikings that created them, but some mysterious traveler who was here for reason we don’t know.”

That caught Applejack’s attention. “Runes?”

“Yeah! She’s workin’ on some sorta weird rocks,” a male voice added. “Some archeological dig out in Poteau with Vikin’ runes, old swords an’ weapons o’ war, an’ all that kinda stuff.” The younger ones turned to see a boy about the same build and height as Macintosh, but with long, two-tone hair and apple-green eyes. At the moment, he was wearing a tight-fitting t-shirt and jeans. Both Scoops and Applejack looked at the boy, and then both looked at each other.

“Who’s the hunk?” Scoops asked, feeling just slightly guilty that she was checking out another guy in front of her boyfriend.

“Hell if Ah know, but between me and you, sugarcube, Ah’m wishing he were back in Canterlot right now, because Ah’m sorely in need of him taking me out on a date, got it?” Applejack was about to say something else when she heard tittering laughter behind her. She turned around to see a girl with short hot pink-and-chiffon hair and deep blue eyes. She was wearing a haltertop and cut-off jean shorts, and there was something about her that irked Applejack for some reason. There was also something familiar about her as well.

The girl walked over and popped next to the hot boy. She looked at him and said, “Ya owe me ten bucks, big brother,” she crowed.

“Fer what?”

“Lookit them!” she said, pointing at Applejack and Scoops. “They want in yer pants so bad, y’ could actually get another girlfriend, Brae!”

“Braeburn?” Applejack blinked. Once. Twice. Then her eyes went wide as realization sank in. “Somebody kill me now,” she whispered as she started turning a shade of red approaching her friend Sunset Shimmer’s haircolor.

“Did I miss something?” Scoops asked.

“Yeah,” Macintosh said, a wide grin on our face. “The guy y’all been droolin’ over is mine an’ AJ’s cousin, Braeburn. An’ the little scamp there’s his kid sister, Summerfree.” He went over and fistbumped Braeburn. “So, when’d ya get rid o’ the glasses?”

“Started wearin’ contacts a few years back,” Braeburn explained. “Glad they make ‘em in mah prescription, er else Ah’d still be wearin’ them Cokebottle glasses.”

Macintosh then looked at his younger cousin. “Looks like y’ done grown up, Summer. Ah just remember when y’all were knee-high t’ a grasshopper!”

She leaned against him. “Ditch th’ girl, an’ Ah’ll show ya just how grown up Ah am, sugarcube,” she flirted. This time it was Macintosh’s time to blush, but thankfully he recovered with grace.

Scoops looked at Applejack. “AJ, your cousins are weird.”

Applejack continued to say nothing, as she was still utterly caught up in her mortification.

After all the introductions had been done and everyone had been settled, Applejack and Scoops went off to where they’d be sleeping, a guest room set up right next to the boathouse. As the pair walked away from the main house, the older teen looked around. “This place looks huge,” she voiced.

Applejack nodded. “And to think, Ah could’ve grown up around here,” she commented. “Wonder what mah life would’ve turned out like if Ah had t’ live here?” She looked at Scoops. “Ah barely have any of the Ozark twang in mah voice and that’s only because Ah’m around Pa, Granny and Mac. As it is, Bloomie pretty much don’t have it at all. Ah know Pa’s wanted to move back here more than a few times, but we’re growing the business, and we’re happy where we are, all things considered.”

“Well, for one, I’m glad you guys haven’t, else I wouldn’t have me a hot boyfriend and a good friend like you,” Scoops said with a smile as they approached the boathouse. “Question, though: What’s the boathouse for?”

“Oh, Ma needs it fer her work.” Both turned around and saw Summerfree walking towards them. In addition to her normal attire, she was wearing shades. “They’re findin’ all sorts o’ runestones in th’ Poteau River, so Ma keeps her Zodiac in there as well as some divin’ gear.” She then held up a key. “Pa fergot t’ give ya th’ keys to th’ boathouse.”

“Thanks, Summer,” Applejack said as she took them.

“So, what’s it like livin’ in The Big Stable?” Summerfree asked.

“Well, for one, nobody in Canterlot calls it ‘The Big Stable’, though you might run into the occasional gangster down in Sunnytown who might just call it C-town or some bullshit. Other than that, no biggie, it’s just like any other city, why?”

“Ain’t been to no big city before. Biggest Ah been is Belle Point o’er in Arkansas, an’ you probably got more people livin’ in yer neighborhood than there are in Belle Point.”

“Summer, Canterlot isn’t that big,” Scoops told her. “It’s what, the 35th largest city in the US?” She pulled out her phone and looked it up on Wikipedia. “Yeah, 35th, about 494, 231 as of the last census.”

Summerfree rolled her eyes. “Heavener’s got maybe four thousand people, tops, and maybe on a good day, Belle Point’s got forty, maybe fifty thousand? Seriously, ain’t shit to do around here ‘cept go to school, work the farm, get drunk on moonshine or liquor ya stole from yer parents, fuck yer boyfriend – or girlfriend, if ya swing that way – and maybe pass around a joint a friend got over in the Point. Best thing about this place is the airport, ‘cause it means yer leavin’.”

“Big city life – and Ah hesitate to call Canterlot big, Summer – ain’t that great, y’know. Traffic, high prices…shit, just try taking a drive on the freeway some time; it’ll drive you nuts.”

“At least you got a license. Ma an’ Pa don’t let me have one. Hell, they barely just let Brae get one, on account o’ him goin’ t’ college next year!” She groaned. “An’ he’ll be livin’ it up in Hawaii – Ha-fuckin’-waii! – an’ Ah’ll be stuck here ‘till maybe Ah get th’ chance t’ escape.” She then grinned and said, “Fortunately, Ah got other plans. Anyway, Ah’ll let ya two get yer business done. Later!”

Finally, after a massive, old-family-style dinner that made the table groan with the weight of all the food, both Scoops and Applejack managed to crawl back to the boathouse. “I am never eating another thing again,” Scoops groaned. “I think I ate enough food tonight to cover the remainder of my life.”

“We’ll be working in th’ morning,” Applejack told her friend. “Don’t worry, you’ll be losing that weight.”

“No, I’ll never lose it,” Scoops mock-groaned. “I’m going to gain a billion pounds, and it’ll all go to my thighs, just watch! I guess I’ll just have to learn how to be fat and sassy, if I’m going to keep your brother from looking elsewhere.”

“Ah hope not,” another voice said. They turned to see Braeburn looking at them, with Macintosh right behind. “‘Cause Ah need yer help.”

A few minutes later they were in the guest room, with the girls sitting on the bed, and Braeburn on the chair by the far side of the room and Macintosh leaning against the desk. “So, what’s up, Brae?” Applejack asked.

“Look, Ah’m gonna be honest: Ah need ya two t’ look after Summer. She’s up t’ something, an’ Ah know it. She hates livin’ here, an’ if she had her way, we’d be livin’ back in Chicago, where Ma’s from.”

“And I guess you moving to Hawaii in the fall ain’t helping?” Scoops asked.

Braeburn laughed. “Ah got a scholarship at UH Hilo fer conservation an’ agriculture. An’ that’s Hilo, on the Big Island. Ain’t like Ah’ll be partyin’ in Honolulu or nothin’. But y’ can bet that’s what Summer thinks. Plus, her best friend just moved, too, an’ that took a lot out o’ her. You know ‘bout the Aussie company buyin’ the farms ‘round here, right, AJ?”

“Yeah, Ah remember, Australia’s Best or something like that. Why?”

“‘Bout three months ago, Mr. Timberline sold their timber farm to Australia’s Best, and he an’ his family moved t’ Ohio. That included Summer’s best bud, Country Rose. And she’s never really been good at makin’ friends. But lately, Ah….” He sighed.

“Go on, cuz,” Applejack prodded, seeing the worried look on her cousin’s face.

“About a couple o’ months ago, Ah was doin’ th’ laundry, an’ was washin’ a pair o’ her jeans. An’ Ah found a joint. Didn’t want her t’ get in trouble, so Ah tossed it. But then, a couple o’ days later, Ah found….” He shook his head. “Ah swear, Ah find out who touched her an’ Ah’m beating me some ass, got that?”

Scoops took the cue and ran with it. “You found condoms, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “Me an’ mah girlfriend – Jade Lily, y’ll meet her t’morrow – have been tryin’ to keep Summer on the straight an’ narrow, but it’s only a matter o’ time before Ma and Pa find out an’ Ah don’t want that to happen.”

“Maybe it needs to,” Macintosh advised. “Ah’ve known tons o’ kids at school who’ve gotten into shit they can’t handle ‘cause a well-meanin’ friend covered for them. Ah know you’re lookin’ out for her, Brae, but Ah don’t think yer looking out fer her th’ way you should.”

“Ah know. But y’all are mah cousins – er close enough in Scoops’ case – and me an’ Jade are at our wits’ end. If’n y’ can find what she’s up to an’ put a stop to it, Ah’d be surely appreciative. But if not,” he said soberly, “then Ah’ll have t’ go to Ma and Pa. And fer Summer’s sake, Ah hope Ah don’t.”

“But we’re here to help with the farm, Brae,” Applejack reminded him. “We’re gonna have our hands full.”

“Sorry, but Ah got no choice,” Braeburn said, then looked at Macintosh. “Mac, if’n you were in mah shoes, what wouldja do?”

Macintosh looked at Braeburn, then right at Applejack. The answer was obvious. “We’ll get this straightened out.”

In one of the far fields of Heavener Apple Orchards, the ground split open, emitting a sickly green light. The fissure pulsed with a deep hum that felt akin to a bass-blasting car driving not too far away.

In the apple trees surrounding the rent, the apple blossoms began to change from a delicate pink shade to a deep purple, then to black before starting to fall. A trail of green energy began to burn along the branches and trunks of the trees, desiccating and shriveling them until they were nothing more than husks.

Glowing eyes opened in the midst of the darkness, and a baleful howl uttered in the air. At that, what was left of the trees fell to matchsticks, as if there was nothing left

A hand reached down to pet a furred head; in the other, a glowing runestone sat, flickering with unnatural color. “Good boy,” a voice said.

March 25: I'm Weary with My Former Toil

The Apples, along with Sweetcream Scoops, looked in shock. There, where just days before the northwest field had been filled with just-blooming apple trees, was a wasteland of wrecked and aged wood, shattered and torn up ground and no signs of an apple blossom to be seen. It was as if the trees had withered and died overnight, something that had to be impossible.

“What the fuc—” Stayman began.

“Manners, son,” Applesmith stated. “There are youngin’s here.”

“But Granny!” Apple Bloom countered, “Ah already know how t—” The preteen suddenly found a hand clamped over her mouth.

“You don’t want to finish that sentence, sweetie,” Cornflower told her daughter. Bloom bashfully nodded and her mother gave her a comforting smile.

“Ah’ve never seen anything like this,” Appleseed said, shocked. “Stay, ya did soil samplin’ recently?”

Stayman nodded. “Yeah, nothin’ came up bad. Besides, y’know this is some o’ the best land in the country, bro! It’s why our kin settled here!”

Appleseed carefully wandered over to get a closer look at the soil. Crouching down, he didn’t see anything wrong with it, but looks were deceiving. “Unless someone mucked with things.”

Stayman bit off a profanity. “Them jerks at Aussie Foods,” he seethed.

Braeburn looked at his father. “Could be, Pa. Remember the Cotton family over in Talihina? They were holdin’ out against Australia’s Best, too, and then suddenly their crop died.”

“Almost wiped em’ out,” Stayman said, scooping a bit of soil into his hand. For some reason, it burned and felt cool at the same time. “Cotton Gin an’ his family lost what’d been in his family fer generations.” He shook his head. “Ain’t gonna let that shit happen to us, no way.”

At that point, a newcomer arrived, an African-American girl wearing a French Navy top and jeans. She had long lavender and mauve hair and gentle gray eyes. She sidled next to Braeburn, put her arm around him and kissed him. “Hey, hon, what’s up?”

“Nothin’ much,” Braeburn told her. “So what’s yer plans today?”

“Promised I’d take Summer shopping today at the Belle Point mall, then I figured after I bring her back you and I could go to the movies,” she said, “but I see you’ve got company.”

“Eyup!” he told her. “Everyone, this is my sweet gal Jade Lily. Jade, honey, this is my family, all the way from Canterlot.” He then introduced them to her individually.

“Canterlot, huh? Sounds wild,” Jade said to Scoops, Macintosh and Applejack once the introductions had been made. “I bet you have a bunch of stor—”

“JADE!” The teen suddenly found herself tackleglomped by Summerfree, who had literally run over from the house the moment she saw the other girl. “I’m ready to go!”

“I won’t be if you broke something!” Jade laughed. “But sure, we can go. In fact, any of you want to go with? Brought my parents’ van.”

“Y’know what? Let th’ girls go,” Macintosh suggested. “Ah think yer Pa could use some help here.”

“Good idea, Mac!” Braeburn agreed. “Honey, you guys have fun, okay?”

She kissed him on the cheek. “Not as much as I do with you, but sure. See you tonight?”

“You got it, sugar,” he said to her with a smile.

“So, how’d you two meet?” Applejack asked Jade once they got going. Summer was in the back chatting with Apple Bloom, and Scoops was also in the back but listening intensely.

“My parents moved here from Tucson when I was thirteen,” Jade began. “I guess they wanted a safe place for me to grow up since they both travel a lot for their business – Dad’s a toxicologist with the Government, while Mom works for our state senator, so she’s down in Oklahoma City most of the time. Anyway, I just started going to Heavener High, when this one bully in class starts picking on me, because, well, I’m black, not that I ever really noticed. Anyway, out of nowhere, this guy with dorky glasses and no fashion sense shows up and starts beating up on the bully, chasing him off. And that was how I met Braeburn.

“Now, as to how we ended up as a couple, well, we were friends for a long time, but back then he still looked like a nerd. Some of the girls in our class were teasing him, saying he needed to clean himself up so he didn’t look like a spaz or he’d never get a girl to kiss him. Well, he stuck up for me, so I stuck up for him, and…well….” She blushed. “We got a lot of stares for a while; I don’t think interracial couples are the norm here. But his parents love me and my folks are okay with him, so we’re happy.”

“I’m still having a hard time believing that hunk was a dork,” Scoops admitted.

From where she sat, Summerfree laughed. “Oh, please – he still is! If it wasn’t for Jade’s golden fashion sense, Brae would probably dress in stripes and polkadots!”

“He’s not that bad, Summer,” Jade called towards the back. “Besides, your brother’s the gentlest, kindest man I’ve ever known. And I’ve known a lot of jerks. There’s a reason I’m totally in love with your brother!”

“Sounds sweet, Jade. You planning to go with him to UH Hilo?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I’m actually studying archeology, so I’ll be attending Michigan Tech. But there’s nobody else I want in my life, I’m sure of it. What about you? You seem like the kind of girl that has a pretty decent life.”

Applejack shrugged. “Nothing to tell, really. No boyfriend, just hang with my friends and we tend to get into a mess or two as of late.”

“Oh, that’s right – I remember hearing in the news about that rape club out in Canterlot,” Jade asked, a distasteful grimace forming on her face. “You weren’t involved, were you?”

“Nope, but Ah know a few girls who were taken advantage of, sadly.” Out of the corner of her eye, she looked in Summerfree’s direction. “And Ah know some girls who went looking for trouble and shouldn’t have.”

Jade nodded. “Yeah…I know a girl like that, too.”

The minute they arrived at the mall, Apple Bloom immediately wanted to see if they had an Apple Store so she could look at the newest Macs. Summerfree, who was also interested in that sort of thing, wanted to go as well. However, Jade said she’d skipped breakfast and she wanted to get something from the food court. As Bloom was insistent, Scoops offered to usher both younger teens to Best Buy, since no Apple Store was present. Meanwhile, Applejack accompanied Jade for food.

After grabbing something quick, Jade looked at her boyfriend’s cousin and sighed. “I take it Brae’s told you about our problems with Summer?”

Applejack nodded. “We all promised to do whatever we could. Summer’s an Apple…and Apples, I’m sure you know, are all about family.”

Jade gave a soft smile. “Thanks. I’m out of my league here,” she admitted. “Don’t get me wrong: I adore Summer, and having her in my life makes me feel like a kid again sometimes. But I’m an only child, so I really don’t know what more I can do, especially with her losing her friends and getting into fights at school.”

“Brae didn’t mention that,” Applejack noted, “but Ah guess Ah shouldn’t be surprised. But if you’re both going to college, she’s going to have to learn to stand on her own. Trust me, Ah know from experience that you can’t hide behind your big brother forever.”

“Yeah, and with the problems your aunt and uncle are having with the apple orchards, I can’t imagine that’s any easier.”

“Problems? As in, plural?”

Jade nodded. “That apple grove from this morning wasn’t the only one. Last week, they had the cornfield completely burnt down, and two days before that, another apple grove had been completely flooded. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve been trying to help whenever I can.”

“Sounds like sabotage,” Applejack stated.

“It could be,” Jade admitted. “That Australian company’s been a bit pushy about buying up all the land around here for some industrial poultry farm, and a lot of families have been selling. They tried to get my family to sell, but we told them no, that we were looking into building a getaway resort on the land as soon as we got the permits. Needless to say, the rep from Australia’s Best wasn’t happy, but that’s not my problem. Still, given the number of families that have sold as of late, I don’t doubt that one or two of them might have been, ahem, ‘coerced.’”

“Yeah, I don’t doubt tha—” Applejack’s phone went off, and she fished it out of her pocket. It was Scoops. “Lemme guess, Bloomie found a PC and started writing code?”

“AJ!” Scoops shouted, sounding panicked. “Help!”

In a fighting posture, Apple Bloom was breathing heavily. However, she was doing much better than the girl that was lying down on the ground. Behind her, practically panicked, was both Scoops and Summerfree, both shielded by the younger girl. The trio were in the back portions of the mall, where normally employees only went, but given the relatively empty state of malls in general and this one in particular, it tended to be yet another hangout area for teenagers.

Standing before them all were several other girls, all of them doing their best to be menacing…or at least as menacing as teenage girls could pull off. “C’mon, Summer,” one of the girls in particular, barked, “ya gonna hide behind this little shit all day?” She then picked up a hard-plastic tube, slapping it in the palm of her hand. “Er are y’ gonna pay fer what ya done?”

“Ah think Ah’ll just stay right here, thanks!” Summerfree shouted back. “Besides, Bluegrass, y’suck anyway!”

Bluegrass narrowed her eyes. “Y’ slept with mah boyfriend, stole mah weed, an’ ya want me just t’ forgive ya? Are you fuckin’ nuts?”

Summerfree couldn’t help but grin at that. “No, just fuckin’. And frankly, Oaktree says Ah get him off better’n you.”

“You,” Bluegrass said to Summerfree, “are dead meat, bitch.” She then looked at the younger girl. “No idea who y’ are or why y’re protecting this whore, but ya better think twice, li’l girl.”

“She’s in trouble – it’s all the answer Ah need,” Bloom replied.

Bluegrass laughed. “Look, ya may think yer Darin’ Do, but ya think ya can take us all on?”

“Ah just put down one of your friends, right? Should be answer enough.”

A girl behind Bluegrass spat, “She’s just a kid, Blu. Just spank ‘er and send ‘er to bed!”

The girl on the other side nodded. “Ain’t that right, Riverbend. She might’ve put down Cornstalk, but she can’t get all of us.”

Bluegrass got off the railing she was sitting on and grinned. “Gonna be a shame t’ put this kid in th’ hospital, Thorn, but that bitch—” she said, pointing at Summerfree, “—is going to pay.” She got in front of Bloom. “Move or end up like Cornstalk here. Last chance.”

Bloom narrowed her eyes and flexed her hands. “Make me,” she snarled.

“Your funeral,” Bluegrass said as she swung the tube down. Bloom managed to push the blow away, but wasn’t ready for the other girl’s response: with her other fist, she hit Bloom’s stomach, making the younger teen gasp for air. Bluegrass then swung the plastic tube hard, slamming it against Bloom’s head as if it were a baseball bat. Bloom crumpled instantly, falling to the ground and grabbing her head.

“BLOOMIE!” Scoops raced to the younger girl’s side, but was suddenly shoved against a wall by Riverbend, who pulled a knife.

“You don’t want me to ruin that pretty little face of yours, do you?” the armed teenager asked.

Bluegrass looked at Rosethorn. “Thorn, get Cornstalk out of the way, then if’n that karate kid moves again, hit her with this again.” She threw the battered makeshift club at the other teen before turning her full attention to Summerfree. “All these girls are gonna get hurt ‘cause y’ couldn’t keep yer pants on or yer hands where they belonged,” Bluegrass said, “but y’all get yer due. In blood.”

Summerfree backed up against the wall as close as she could. “Couldn’t we talk about this like civilized types?” she begged.

“You? Civilized?” Bluegrass reached in her pocket and pulled out a switchblade. “Ya done gave up that right when ya got that little girl t’ do yer fightin’ for ya. Honestly, Ah got more respect fer her than Ah ever got fer ya.”

“Goes the same, Bluegrass,” Summerfree responded, then got a punch across the face from Bluegrass for it.

“Just keep flappin’ them lips,” Bluegrass said as she brought her switchblade up close. “Ya ain’t gonna need them soon enough.”

“Maybe not,” a new voice added, “but you’re gonna need that knife!”

Bluegrass turned in the direction of the new voice and her jaw dropped. A blonde girl who looked similar to the red head casually walked in, and as she did, Rosethorn stepped away from the younger girl and engaged. The newcomer, on the other hand, easily stepped towards the attacker, minimizing the blow, then turned the tables by sweeping Rosethorn’s feet out from under her, and as she lost balance, the girl threw Rosethorn to the ground, where she then finished off the local teen with an axe kick to the stomach, knocking the air out of her.

Riverbend then charged Applejack with the knife, and as she got close, Applejack grabbed Riverbend’s wrist and squeezed. The teenager yelped in pain and dropped the knife.

“Don’t use a sticker if you don’t know how to use it, sugar,” Applejack replied smoothly and then brought her fist right into Riverbend’s face to end that round. The teenager, nose bleeding, dropped to one knee, screaming in pain.

Forcing herself to her feet, Rosethorn grabbed the bat again and roared, “I’m gonna cave your head in, Blondie!” Unfortunately, for her, she made the mistake of screaming out her attack.

“This ain’t Street Fighter,” Applejack said, spinning to face her opponent, “and you ain’t got a chance.” She dashed forward, and as the girl swung the makeshift club again, Applejack threw multiple quick blows at Rosethorn’s stomach, and then finally finished it off with another blow to the face. “And stay down!” she ordered.

She then turned to the girl by Summerfree. “You got two seconds to let go of Summer there, sugar. Then, you’d better tell me who hurt mah sister, because if not, Ah’m hospitalizing all three of you!”

In response, Bluegrass pulled Summer in front of her and held a knife to her throat. “You wouldn’t dare.”

At this point, Jade busted in. “Bluegrass – should’ve known. I just called the local cops, Bluegrass. You got seconds before they get here.”

“Make your call,” Applejack said softly, “but one of you idiots hurt mah sister and Ah’m not gonna let that slide.”

“Ah did, Blondie,” Bluegrass said. “She’s good. Took out Cornstalk, and Corny knows some kung-fu.”

“Thanks,” Applejack replied. “You gonna surrender?”

Bluegrass nodded and dropped the knife just as the police arrived.

The paramedic looked at Bloom one last time. “Ya sure y’ don’t need it?”

Bloom felt the bandages around her head. “Yeah, Ah’m sure,” she said. “Thanks, tho—”

“Oh no you’re not!” Applejack ordered. “You get that EMT to doublecheck your vitals, ya hear?”

“But AJ, Ah—”

“Please, Bloomie,” Scoops insisted. She’d survived with nothing more than a scratch and some humiliation. “For me?”

“Oh, all right,” the younger teen grumbled.

Satisfied, Scoops looked at Applejack. “I called Mac and told him what happened. Told him I’ll take care of everything on this end, but that he needs to get the family over there prepared for what’s gonna come out.”

“Great,” Applejack said as she looked over to where Summerfree was giving a statement to the police, with Jade sitting next to her for comfort. “You want to tell me what the fuck’s going on?”

“Yeah. It’s shitloads worse than what Brae thinks. Honestly, it reached critical mass even before we got here.” Scoops recounted Bluegrass’ accusations to Applejack and the teen groaned.

“You know, part of me wishes Ah’d brought Sunny with us instead of you, Scoops. No offense, but mah friend probably would know how to handle this sort of shit. Frankly, Ah think we’re in over our heads.”

“Oh, you think?” Scoops asked. “You’re just lucky I’m eighteen and can play legal adult to get us out of this mess. Imagine how bad it would be if I wasn’t.”

“I don’t want to even think about it,” Applejack grunted.

Stayman, needless to say, was livid. “Y’ go on and get yer butt upstairs, young lady. You are in so much trouble right now, Ah can’t even begin t’ think of the punishment yer gonna get for all this!”

Summerfree flipped her father off. “FUCK YOU! YOU WANNA STAY HERE IN THIS SHITHOLE WHEN WE COULD LIVE IN A REAL PLACE!” She stormed up the stairs towards her room, and Stayman watched as she did. Once she was gone, he deflated.

“Sorry, all. Ah don’t know where Ah went wrong,” he said. He then looked at Bloom, who looked all the worse for wear and lying down on the couch. “An’ Ah know it coulda been much worse if’n you an’ yer sister hadn’t intervened,” he said to his niece. “Ah owe ya one like Ah can’t ever say.”

“Ain’t no biggie, Uncle Stayman,” Bloom said woosily from her spot. “She’s an Apple, and Apples always take care of one another, right?”

“Ah wish that were true, Bloomie, else we wouldn’t be in this fix we’re in.”

“Sir? Let me go talk to her,” Jade offered. “I feel it’s my fault that I haven’t done enough to be there for her.”

Stayman gave Jade a smile. “Darlin’, ya done more than yer fair share and it warms mah heart that you still care. But don’t worry, honey, you just get yerself on home.” He looked at his son. “Brae, see ‘er off, wouldja?”

“As if Ah wouldn’t, Pa,” Braeburn said with a smile. “C’mon, honey, let’s get you goin’.”

“Maybe I should talk to her,” Cornflower offered. “You all know how I ended up like this,” she said as she gestured to her wheelchair. “Maybe if I talk to her, things will improve.”

“I’d appreciate that, Flower,” Studious replied.

Meanwhile, Macintosh updated Applejack and Scoops. “Hell of a day,” Macintosh added. “While you gals were runnin’ ‘round Belle Point, we menfolk were workin’ on that field. Two other fields are down as well and we can’t understand why.”

“Could it be that Aussie firm?”

“Turns out it’s not. We looked into it, and did some soil samplin’. Soil’s perfectly fine in all three fields; furthermore, one of the neighbors is startin’ t’ complain about some issues with his land, and a rep from the company came by askin’ about it as well. Turns out they had a huge cave in their northern field an’ destroyed part o’ that fact’ry they’re buildin’. So, someone from the government is comin’ by tomorrow t’ look at all the fields.” He looked out the window, to the boathouse and the barn just beyond that. “Maybe then we’ll get some answers.”

“Ah surely hope so, Mac,” Applejack agreed. “Ah’d hate t’ see Uncle Stayman an’ Aunt Studious lose th’ family farm.”

Outside, a couple of teenagers were doing what came naturally to a couple in love. Fortunately, the van was in the way.

Stopping their makeout session briefly, Jade caught her breath before reaching out to caress Braeburn’s face as she looked at him with gray eyes filled with love. “I really don’t want to go home,” she said sadly.

“I don’t wantcha to either, honey,” he told her, “but mah parents might just be a little peeved if’n ya stayed th’ night in mah room.”

She giggled. “All things considered, given what Summer got in trouble for, I guess you’re right,” she sighed. “But believe me, sweetie, oh, you have no idea how much I want to.”

“Oh, Ah have a general reckonin’ of how much you do – ‘cause Ah do too.” He leaned forward, his lips meeting hers, and they kissed in the gentle moonlight again.

Finally, they stopped again and she sighed. “We’ll be here all night if I don’t get going,” she said, reluctantly letting go of him, walking over to her van door. “See ya at school tomorrow?”

He gave her a smile. “If’n you don’t, Ah’ll have t’ come over an’ make you breakfast.”

“In bed?”

“You’re really temptin’ me, darlin’.”

“Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t push my luck.” She got in the van and blew him a kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Brae.”

“An’ Ah’ll be waiting with all mah heart,” he told her and meant every word of it. He watched as she drove off, feeling his heart tugged along behind the car.

“Looks like you’re a man who knows what he wants. Or who,” Applejack said from behind him.

He gave his cousin a smile. “Y’ ever find someone who makes your heart go aflutter so fast, y’ don’t know what t’ say when ya first see ‘em?” The look in his eyes was someone completely head over heels. “That’s how Ah feel every moment Ah’m with her.”

“Lucky you,” Applejack replied. “Ah have yet to find that special someone.”

“Ah’m sure you will, cousin,” he told her. “An’ Ah hope when you do, that person will be as special t’ you as mah Jade is t’ me.”

Jade drove down County Road 1493, when she went around the bend that would take her to Conser Road and Hogden Village, where she lived. However, just as she reached the bend, she made a sharp right turn, off the road and behind a stand of pines that blocked the view of anything that tended to park there. The Heavener Police Department came out here occasionally to catch teens on joyrides, but at this time of night they tended to stick closer to downtown, where all the crime – what little existed, anyway – happened. So, her van would be okay there, just in case.

She went into the back of the van to change into her work clothing. Time was of the essence and she knew that she still had plenty of things to do before she slid into bed. Unfortunately, there were only so many hours in the day, and even if she wanted to spend them all with Braeburn, she still had things she had to do.

How’s the old saying go? “People to kill, places to destroy….” Something like that. A smile crept up over her face as she recalled the line from the movie she and Brae went to last week. The villain was a talkative type, and Jade loved complex characters like that. Plus, they had so many good lines she could work into her daily conversation.

Into her clothing, she then got out and hopped the fence, returning to the Apple family farm. There were no animals on this part of the farm, and though there were black bears, bobcats and coyote in this area, they tended to stay clear of any people, including her. In the moonlight, she raced across the field, her deep blue clothing preventing her from being seen. It always amazed her that people thought that black was the perfect color to hide in during the moonlight, but that wasn’t how things worked in reality.

Finally, she found what she was looking for in the westernmost field, dangerously close to the residential part of the farm. All it would take was a member of the Apple family, or even Scoops, to come outside and they’d likely spot Jade in an instant. She’d have a whole lot of explaining to do then, she mentally groaned. But for right now, she had to keep her eyes on the prize.

Namely, the glowing runestone that lay in the middle of the apple field. She could already start to smell the scent of vinegar in the air as the spell did its job.

“It’s too soon,” she said, her mouth a tight line. “Too damn soon.”

Author's Note

Don't forget to update the TVTropes page!

March 26: And Pleasure Dearly I Have Bought

Author's Note

Warning: this chapter contains racist characters and the use of racially-insensitive language. Had to do it because you can't "clean up" filth like that; you have to show the warts and all.

The characters don't reflect my personal opinions or that of the BV writing staff. Seriously, we're diverse (a Hispanic, an Asian, two women and one guy who's so white his avatar is nearly monochrome.)

March 26: And Pleasure Dearly I Have Bought

There was a knock on the door, and Sweetcream Scoops blinked her eyes to ward away the stinging of being awakened. “What the hell?”

“It’s a farm, Scoops. People get up early,” Applejack, already out of bed, reminded her. She then called out to the person outside, “We’re awake! Just give us a few to get dressed!”

Scoops looked at her phone. “It’s five in the morning, AJ. Who the hell gets up at five in the morning?”

“We do, while we’re here,” Applejack pointed out, slipping out of her sleepwear. “Look on the bright side: by the time breakfast is on, you’ll have worked up an appetite.”

Scoops continued to lay in bed. “Someone kill me now,” she groaned.

“You agreed to this, Scoops.”

“Only because I thought I was going to spend long romantic walks with your brother and kiss him under a canopy of stars. I was lied to! I want my lawyer!”

“You can have your lawyer…after we get back to Canterlot.”

“Fuck.”

Hours later, Braeburn walked through the halls of Heavener High School. He wasn’t really sure who he could trust anymore. Sure, he had plenty of friends, and even more through his relationship with Jade. But now he had to wonder how many of the guys were really his friends and who was just trying to score points before they tried to peel off Summerfree’s pants. It bothered him that he even had to look at people that way.

“Yo, Braebae!” He groaned; only one person in the school called him that: Skateaway, Jade’s best friend. Like Jade, Skateaway was a transplant from somewhere else; LA, if Braeburn recalled. Her penchant for practically rollerskating everywhere she went pretty much underlined that fact. Still, she and Jade were as thick as thieves and Braeburn trusted her completely.

Now if she would only stop the constant flirtstorm, he mused. “Hey, Skate, what’s up?”

“Got something for you,” she said with a wink. “Your choice: it can either be this little slip of paper, or my hot, young, nubile body.”

He of course knew she was joking; Skateaway often pushed her luck, but it never went beyond that. “What’s on the paper?”

“Some bad news I found out this weekend about Summer. C’mon, you don’t want that – you want my sweet, smokin’ bod, right? Besides, I don’t mind being the girl on the side, really.”

He sighed. “Skate, Ah really don’t have time fer this shit. Some crap happened over th’ weekend an’ Summer pissed off Bluegrass an’ her band o’ girl mafia, so now Ah really gotta watch her back.”

Skateaway dropped the act instantly. “Yeah, I heard. Anyway, here you go.” She handed him the paper. “According to a friend of mine, she found out that Oaktree ain’t been the only one spending time with your little sis. She’s making the rounds, Braebae. And that’s not all I found out.”

“Do Ah really wanna know?”

“Only if you want your sister six feet under in a few months,” Skateaway cautioned.

“Fine.”

“Someone apparently saw her out on the 526 with Fastrunner.” At that, Braeburn looked as though he was about to explode. “The 526” was a code for 526 Road, a dirt trail in an unpopulated part of the county that was the unofficial makeout spot for many a teen. Worse, from what he’d heard now and then, it was also a place where teens tended to get drunk and get high. If Summerfree was associating with that type of crowd, it was a minor miracle that she wasn’t addicted or pregnant yet. Plus, Fastrunner lived up to his name; he was the kind of guy who would dump a girl the minute after finding his way into her pants. And that was the kind of guy that Braeburn was all too happy to introduce to his fists.

“You’re not going to beat him up, are you?”

“The thought sorta crossed mah mind, admittedly.”

“Then don’t,” Jade said as she appeared practically out of nowhere, snaking an arm around his. “Your sister’s already grounded; if you end up that way too, then all I’ll have for company is the fembot here.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark!” Skateaway snarked.

Jade ignored her friend. “Let me look into it, okay, hon? Besides, I know exactly how to get under Fastrunner’s skin, so if he tries something, I’ll have him eating out of my hand in no time flat.”

“Ya sure?”

She gave him the kind of smile that made him go weak in the knees. “Oh, honey, I’m very sure. I’ve had a few run-ins with Fastrunner, and he knows not to mess with me any longer.”

The school intercom immediately crackled to life. “Braeburn Apple, please report to the administration office. Repeat, Braeburn Apple, please report to the admin office. Thank you.”

“Oh, sunnova….” He groaned. “It’s too early in the morning fer this shit!”

Jade nodded. “Let’s just hope it’s not about Summer.”

“Ah don’t believe that fer a minute,” he said sadly.

“Yeah. Me neither.”

Working on one of the cleared fields, they were busy planting saplings that Stayman had bought the day before their arrival. Normally they would plant seeds, but this late in the game, saplings would need to go up, which meant an extra expense the family didn’t need, namely ordering said saplings from a greenhouse out by Oklahoma City; some of the closer places didn’t have the cultivars the family used, especially the Fuji, Pink Princess and Golden Pippin varieties. But the biggest insult had to be purchasing a few trees of varieties that the Apple Clan themselves had made and sent out into the world: Applesmith (and the related Granny Smith.) Braeburn. Stayman. Summerfree. All of those had been created on this or other Apple family farms across the country and now they were stuck with the indignity of basically buying their own trees.

As she wiped the sweat off her forehead and stuck the shovel in the dirt near where she’d planted the latest tree, she looked at how the others were doing. Everyone present save for her mother was working in the field; even Granny, who at her age probably could’ve spent time helping Cornflower prepare lunch, was thrilled, shoveling dirt away and giving her sons heart attacks by dragging saplings on her own into each drop. Macintosh, who remembered time on the farm, also seemed to be enjoying himself, considering the whole thing just to be something a little different from his normal pursuits. And of course, her father was right at home, planting the saplings with an ease that made Applejack mildly jealous.

It was an irony: she’d been born in Heavener hospital and had lived here on this farm until the day her family had filled the U-Haul and went California-bound. And now, years later, she was discovering that though she’d once been a farmgirl – though thankfully she had never been old enough to succumb to the “farmer’s daughter” stereotype – now she had no business being on one. She’d already set her path in life: martial artist, maybe move down south to Hollywood and become a stuntwoman, or open her own dojang, teaching children the taekwondo that she’d been taught by her sahbumnim and having a normal life. Or at least as much as anyone who’d been exposed to magic on numerous occasions, had a disguised unicorn as one of her best friends and dealt with the daily insanity that was Canterlot could ever be called normal.

Looking around the farmland, she thought it was beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. And I don’t think I could live my life here at all.

She wiped off her hands and went over to grab her water bottle, picking it up and taking a deep pull from it. “Oh, God that hits the spot.”

“Glad to see you’re not completely wiped,” Sweetcream Scoops said as she approached. The girl was completely soaked in sweat, covered in dirt and looked as though she was just about to pass out.

Applejack handed her the bottle. “You okay?”

Scoops downed the rest. “I’m a sweatball, AJ. How do you think I feel?”

“Well, Ah can tell you’re not wearing a bra,” Applejack noted at Scoops’ t-shirt, which was both white and sheer.

Scoops blushed slightly before recovering. “I’d like an entirely different Apple staring at my chest, if you don’t mind.”

“Ah’ll bet. In any case, you might want to go change before Mac sees you.”

A sneaky look came over her face. “Really?”

“And the rest of mah family, too.”

“Oh. Okay, be right back then.”

Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle as Scoops walked away. Applejack had heard Octavia and Twilight talk fondly about their cousin’s/brother’s fiancée, Cadance, and how she’d been an older sister for them in their lives, at least until Sunset appeared. While Scoops was only a couple of years older than her, she and Mac had been together for so long, Applejack would readily admit she felt the same way about the sherbet-haired girl.

“Hey, sis, ya seen Scoops?” Macintosh approached her, looking around for his girlfriend.

“Yeah, she felt kinda sweaty, so she needed to change before she had a wardrobe malfunction.”

The look on Macintosh’s face was interested. “Think she’ll need some help?” he said, semi-jokingly.

“Want me to start spreading that rumor about how you’re dating Ms. Cheerilee again?”

Macintosh facepalmed. “Please don’t,” he pled. “She was supremely pissed and thought Ah started it.”

“Don’t worry, Ah won’t. But seriously, bro, you got some plans to woo your gal later in the week?”

“Lookin’ into it, surely. Ah want her to know Ah appreciate her an’ all fer comin’ with us.” He smiled. “Scoops is one hell of a gal an’ Ah don’t ever want her t’ forget that.”

“Ah don’t think you’ll ever let her,” Applejack said with sincerity.

“Doctor?” a voice called. “Come take a look at this!”

From where she leaned over the table, Studious looked up from the last runestone she’d studied. She’d been here studying the things for a few decades now, having started here originally as just another faceless assistant for the lead archeologist and working her way up to where this was now her show. She’d come from Chicago and never went back, finding a fascination in the strange runes, the surrounding countryside and one very gentle biker who she ran into at the Heavener Diner on a regular basis.

Studious sighed. This was her home now, her world. She’d settled down, married that biker and raised two children, a gentle boy and a somewhat unruly girl. And she couldn’t picture her life any other way.

A girl came out of the river, water flowing off her wetsuit. She was carrying a huge stone plaque. “Doctor, check this out!”

Studious hustled over; while there were massive amounts of runestones in the area, including the famed Heavener Runestone behind her, finding a plaque was a first. “What’d you find, Petunia?”

Petunia Paleo, an archeology student from Notre Dame University, grinned like she’d won the jackpot. The eagerness and enthusiasm that Petunia showed for the job readily reminded Studious of how she was when she first started here, and it wouldn’t surprise her that when the day came that Studious hung up her labcoat and retired that her replacement would be Petunia. “You won’t believe this, Doc! I was diving, looking for more runestones – not that they seem to be hard to find at all – and then came across this thing. It was hell digging out of the muck, and I almost ran my tank out, but worth it!”

Studious looked over the inscription-covered stone tablet. From the way it was carved, it was almost as if it were some sort of sign, a landmark pointing at something, rather than an object equating to scrolls, which Vikings had. It had a feeling of permanence to it, which probably meant that at one time it sat on the shore and eventually fell into the river.

“Let’s have our resident language expert look at it, shall we?” Studious suggested. “Hey, Ord, want to take a look at this?”

“Sure thing, Doc.” Ordbog was a linguist originally from the University of Copenhagen, who found the Viking artifacts in the middle of America completely amazing and joined the team. Given that he married a local girl and had started teaching classes over at nearby Rich Mountain Community College, he was another who was probably never going back again, which was a good thing, too: knowing about seven languages, Ordbog lived up to what his name translated to in English – dictionary.

The man looked over the stone. “Hrm…this is odd.”

“What’s that?” Petunia asked.

“The stone is not only in Futhark, but there’s another one as well. I’m going to take a wild guess and say it’s Caddoan.” Seeing the confused look on Petunia’s face, Ordborg added, “The Caddo nation was the majority Native American group around here, and some of the Caddo experimented with writing systems, if I recall correctly. I’ll have to talk to a colleague over at the college about it; he’s far more versed in it than I am.”

“Can you read the Futhark though?” Studious asked, before her phone began to ring. “Great, it’s home. Sorry, I gotta take this.”

“No problem; I’m going to be at this for a while anyway,” Ordbog replied.

Studious walked a bit of a way from her team, waving hi to the other members before she finally stopped around the Heavener Runestone. “Heya.”

“Hon, we got problems again.” Her husband, and from his tone, she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear. “School called; Summer ditched her classes. Brae also called and he says that he saw her off at her classes, but hasn’t since. He has an idea of where she is, an’ he an’ Jade’re gonna ask around their classmates.”

“Fuck. Okay, keep me updated, love. I swear, Summer’s going to be grounded for multiple lifetimes at this rate.”

Despite the situation, he laughed. “Is that all? Gettin’ soft on the kids, sugarcube.”

“Maybe. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

At lunchtime, Jade walked to the far side of the school, over by the football fields. She knew that a certain group of teenagers hung out there; they had been the first group that she tried to befriend when she arrived and found out that wasn’t her best decision. Thankfully Braeburn, Skateaway and so many others had come into her life and she dealt with this group no longer. Still, their words stung.

“Hello, Fast,” she said to one guy in the middle of the group. He sat there, hunched over a sandwich and Pepsi, smoking a cigarette and reading from a hardcore porno mag. There were a bunch of others like him sitting around as well.

“Well, lookie here, boys,” Fastrunner said. “Looks like the nigg—”

“Finish that word and I will break you,” Jade warned.

“Oh, you’re gonna break me!” one of Fastrunner’s friends said in mock-fearful tones. Jade felt a brief well of shame; she’d briefly found Chainlink Fence attractive, but now she knew his cute looks hid a racist-as-hell exterior.

“Aww, don’t be that way, Jade!” Fastrunner commented. “Way Ah see it, you givin’ your little black tunnel t’ desperate white guys. An’ since it’s lunchtime, an’ Ah need me some tail, maybe yer good for something.”

“Yes, I am,” she said. “I’m good for finding out where Summer is. And since you troglodyte assholes can’t do anything more than keep your hands on a girl with problems, I thought I’d start swimming through the scum to talk to the worst. It can only get better.”

“Look, Ah don’t give a shit why you’re here, but Ah don’t got no time for no sisters o’ no monkey-fuckers, got that? Or maybe she’s a nigger-lover too.”

“Maybe we all can get some sweet black poontang,” Chainlink said, standing up. “Way Ah see it, there’s five o’ us here an’ just one o’ you. An’ we all play football. What d’ you do, steal hubcaps like th’ rest o’ yer kind does?”

“My kind,” Jade mused. “Oh, you have no idea what ‘my kind’ really is, moron.”

“Time t’ find out then,” a third boy said. “Guys, get her. Maybe if yer good to us, bitch, we’ll pay ya what yer due.”

“I don’t think so,” Jade said, lifting her hand up. A mauve glow surrounded it as she said, “So let’s get you all erect – just not in the way you want!”

Five boys started floating in the air, the looks on their faces ranging from shock to outright fear. “Goddamn nigger witch!” Fastrunner screamed.

She raised them just high enough to reach the top of the trees that served as one of the boundaries of the school; any higher and someone would see them from the road. “Let’s get something straight, boys: Braeburn is more of a man than any of you will ever be, and I love him. And you don’t want to ever fuck with me again. If I ever hear one more racist, sexist or any ‘-ist’ comment out of your mouths, I will put you on a fast trip to the middle of Africa, understood? Now tell me what I need to know: where the fuck is Summer?”

The five looked at each other helplessly, then at Jade with blank looks. Finally, the smallest member of the group, Rusty Nail spoke. Jade always felt sorry for him: she got the feeling he hung out with them because he felt he had no alternatives.

“We saw her jump the fence over here and get into a car. No idea who, but he looked like a college student.”

“Thanks, Rusty.” She lowered him and said, “You really need to reexamine your social circle – it’s going to get you in trouble one day.” She then looked at the rest of them. “You guys will sit there in the air until, oh, say two in the morning. And you’d better hope nobody comes this way.”

“And if they do?” Fastrunner asked.

“What comes up must come down – and in your case, hard. That high up, you could break a bone or two.” She turned and walked away, waving. “Bye, boys! I’d say it was fun…but it wasn’t.”

She conjured an apple and a bottle of water to eat while she walked back towards the school; she wasn’t going to miss lunch due to those morons. Finally, with ten minutes left before lunch ended, she rejoined her boyfriend and best friend.

“Got the info I needed, hon,” she said to Braeburn and Skateaway. “They said that Summer left by jumping the fence and she got into a car with what looked like someone from college. My guess is the 526.”

“Good job, Jade!” Skateaway replied.

Braeburn’s response, however, was different: “Shit. An’ we can’t leave until school’s over.” He kissed her. “Still, thanks, darlin’. Couldn’t’ve been easy.”

“Oh, I know how to deal with Fastrunner and his ilk. They were like putty in my hands.”

“Pass the fuckin’ doob,” Summerfree said.

“Calm your panties, ‘kay?” the boy, a college student named Buckshot, said. “You’ll get yours – an’ Ah’ll get mine.”

At the moment, she was in the 526, where she’d been for the past few hours, playing strip poker with a boy she barely knew but from his undressed state, she knew she was going to have some fun. Everything was going according to plan. One way or another, she was going to get the fuck out of this backwards shithole, and maybe – just maybe – this new wrinkle would work.

After all, she came up with it on the fly, after she’d talked with her aunt last night, but Aunt Cornflower had been seriously worried about her and had told her what was more than likely a very cleaned up version of why she was in a wheelchair. Nothing against her aunt, but she didn’t really give a rat’s ass about that; her aunt’s infirmity, however, had given her a new idea: maybe if she fucked just about everything that existed in the county while her relatives were here, maybe her parents would force her to live with her aunt and uncle. Then she could live in Canterlot! A real city, with real people! She could practically see herself going to school with Applejack, Macintosh and Scoops. Then she could live her life the way she wanted and not as some backwater hick with no future whatsoever.

“So, where’s Thistle?” Summerfree asked as Buckshot passed her the joint.

“Gettin’ us more beer,” he replied. “You that eager t’ do a girl?”

“Ah’m eager t’ have fun,” she said, mentally gagging. Granted, she wasn’t a homophobe, but having a threeway with Buckshot and another girl disgusted her, especially the other girl part. Still, if it meant getting out of this backwater, she’d go have sex with every girl in the county.

There was a roar in the distance. “Didja hear that?”

Fuckit, I’m bored. She leaned closer to him, making sure her flesh was pressed against him. “Only thing Ah hear is the sound o’ you enterin’ me, got that?”

“Oh, I like th’ sound of that,” he said, bringing his lips to hers.

The woods exploded and a black bear, roaring at the top of its lungs, charged into the clearing, battering its way through the trees. It tore the tent they were going to be using to shreds, then eyed the sleeping bag and the two naked people on it.

“Fuck! Outta here!” Buckshot yelped.

“Wait, Ah can get us out of this!” she yelled at him.

“Fuck that!” He ran off into the distance, and a split-second later she could hear a splash beyond the treeline as Buckshot dove into nearby Haw Creek and started swimming for his life. Leaving her with nothing but an angry bear and her birthday suit.

The bear lunged at her and she dived out of the way, trying not to panic. She immediately went for her backpack, pulling all sorts of stuff out of it, from her textbooks to the condoms she’d had plans to use today and whose user was now swimming down the stream, having abandoned her. Guess a run in the sack’s out of the question, then.

She barely managed to dodge the blow of the bear one more time, and a nearby black walnut tree exploded into splinters from the bear’s strike. If I don’t get this done, I’m done for! Summerfree gasped, reaching the bottom of her bag and the roughly triangular rock within. She held the runestone towards the bear, and shouted, “Could use some help here!”

The bear lunged.

Summerfree’s eyes started to glow a bright green.

A wolf’s howl split the air, and less than a breath later, a massive, invisible object slammed into the bear, sending it flying into the trees. The trees split a second later as the object chased after its opponent.

Relatively sure she was safe and that her “date” wasn’t coming back anytime soon, Summerfree got dressed and repacked her backpack. Afterwards, she rifled through Buckshot’s pants, finding his wallet and relieving him of any cash; she was going to have to make her way to the nearest home and catch a taxi; she’d also have to come up with a convincing enough lie why. Just in case, she took the rest of his weed.

Once that was done, she grabbed a second stone out of her pouch, closing her fist around it. Her eyes glowed red and in her free hand, a small sphere of fire appeared. She cast fireballs at the sleeping bag, tent and Buckshot’s clothing, deciding it served him right for abandoning her like that. Thistle would show up sooner or later, and if Buckshot came back, it would be his problem to deal with the embarrassment. As it was, she decided no more potential three-ways anymore. She was going to have to draw the line somewhere; may as well do it now – no need to build herself an embarrassing reputation that would follow her to Canterlot.

A few seconds later, she could feel something coming back and looked to the shattered woods. “It’s okay, just you and me,” she told the nothingness. There was a rainbow flicker and a second later, a massive wolf the size of a school bus appeared. He looked at her and started wagging his tail, panting and yipping cheerfully.

“Yes, you saved me, you rascal—” The wolf went over and started licking her with his huge tongue, bathing her in slobber. “Stop that!” she giggled, then sat down on the ground, the wolf parking next to her.

She reached over as high as she could and patted his side. “Good boy,” she said, meaning it. “Good boy.”

March 27: I Missed of All But Now I See

Applejack made sure she got up earlier than normal. Going into the main house, she half expected to see her sister sleeping on the couch, but due to the situation at hand, sleeping arrangements in the main house had been changed and Apple Bloom was now sleeping in the same room as Granny.

As she moved towards the kitchen, she saw her aunt sitting at the table, looking over some documents. “Morning, Aunt Studious. How goes?”

“Oh, hi, AJ. Don’t worry about today; we need to take a day off work because your uncle and I have a meeting with the school’s dean of discipline this morning. I don’t think I need to tell you why. In any case, it’s going to impact the workday, so just go have fun. Enjoy your vacation – I know this is your spring break, and God knows at your age you deserve it.” Suddenly, her aunt uttered a sob.

“Aunt Studious?”

The woman looked up and was crying. “I don’t know what went wrong, AJ,” she moaned. “I’ve done everything I could to be a good mom for your cousin, and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

Applejack went over to hug her. “Ah know you’re trying. Everyone knows you are. She’s just going through some hard times right now. Ah have a friend back in Canterlot, who had similar issues – she was a bully and a brat, and in the end, she just needed someone to love and understand her. She was an orphan, but now she’s got a family who loves her and she’s much changed now.” Applejack could feel her aunt’s tears soak her shirt, but the teen just continued to embrace the distraught woman. “You’re doing all you can, and nobody can blame you for it.”

“Oh, Ah dunno,” a voice spoke. Both looked up to Summerfree standing there, an almost gleeful look on her face. “Ah can think of one thing yer not doin’.”

Before Studious could say anything, Applejack let her go then stormed over to the girl, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her to the door. “You and Ah’re gonna go have words.”

“But Ah ain’t had breakfast ye—”

“You’ll live.” The tone of Applejack’s voice brooked no argument.

A minute later, Braeburn came down, yawning. “Oh, hi, Ma. You okay?”

“I’m fine, Brae, why?” she said.

“Y’ look like ya been cryin’.”

“I was, especially since your sister pushed me to the edge.”

“Want me t’ talk to her?”

“No, your cousin’s doing that right now,” Studious told him, “and I’m not sure Summer’s ready for what AJ’s going to tell her.”

The conversation, such as it was, started with Applejack dragging her to the nearest orchard and slamming her cousin against a tree.

“AJ,” Summerfree began, “Ah’m not into girls, but if’n you want me that bad, Ah just might have t’ make an exception. How’s that sayin’ go? It’s better if sis—”

“You stupid selfish bitch,” the blonde seethed, cutting her cousin’s retort off. “Ah’ve met some wonderful specimens of humanity in mah life – note sarcasm – but you fuckin’ take the cake.”

“Ah’m not sure Ah like yer tone – Ah hereby withdraw any sexual favors Ah was offerin’.”

“The only favor you could offer me is to not get your blood on mah hands after Ah beat the shit out of you. Who the fuck do you think you are? Your ma and pa love you – your brother and his girlfriend, too! You got a perfect life, and here you are throwing it away like your shit don’t stink.”

“Ya don’t know me at all, you stuck-up city bitch,” Summerfree snarled back. “Ya think this life is easy? Getting up here in Bumfuck Egypt, smellin’ the cowshit an’ poultry crap in th’ air? World full o’ fuckin’ manure?” She glared at her cousin. “You probably got yer choice of whoever ya wanna fuck—”

“Get your mind out of the gutter for a minute, you idiot,” Applejack seethed.

“Awwww, is poor widdle Appuwjack a virgin? Ah know some guys who’ll be happy t’ take care o’ that problem.”

Applejack ignored her. “As Ah was saying, you have a great life here! But you’re shitting on it like no tomorrow! Are you that fucking stupid?” The blonde’s eyes were near pinpricks of rage. “You have a mother and a father who love you! They’d do anything for you!”

“Except get out o’ this shithole!” Summerfree shouted back. “You don’t know shit! You got out of here! You’re just some stuck-up city girl, here just t’ pretend to live this bullshit called country life an’ in a few days, you get to leave! Well, that’s what Ah want, and Ah’m makin’ sure Ah get what Ah want, y’ hear?”

“Ah don’t give a fuck what you want, Summer. What Ah care about is your parents, your brother, and Jade. They’ve been busting their asses trying to keep you on the straight and narrow, but you don’t give a shit! At least if there were some method to your Goddamn madness, it’d all make sense, but what you’re doing? Just burning bridges and acting the fool.”

A shrewd look came over Summerfree’s face. “Ah thought it’d be obvious to a city girl like yourself. All Ah gotta do is just push mah luck a little father and Ma and Pa won’t want me around no more. Maybe they’ll think Ah need t’ go somewhere where Ah c’n be controlled.”

“Like where?”

“Oh, Ah dunno…maybe bein’ made t’ live with ma granny out in California?”

Applejack’s eyes widened. “Wait – you’re doing all this because you think your parents are going to send you to Canterlot?”

“The city girl just got smart fer a change.” Summerfree gave a catty grin. “Think about it: Ah’d have a big brother type lookin’ after me, an’ his girlfriend, too. Now, don’t get me wrong: Brae an’ Jade mean a lot t’ me. But that don’t mean jack shit when they’re gone an’ Ah’m here all alone. So maybe if’n Ah become a Cali girl, Ah might just see the light, get mahself on th’ straight an’ narrow.”

“So you’re fucking over your family because you think it’s going to get you a fast ticket to living with us.”

“Ah don’t mind sharin’ a room, AJ. You an’ me are th’ same size, so we can trade outfits, too.”

Applejack shook her head. “You’re one seriously fucked up bitch, you know that?”

“So Ah guess Ah’ll have t’ room with Bloomie?”

“Ah tried being nice. But Ah’ve just about run outta that.” Applejack grabbed her cousin and slammed her against the tree trunk once more. “You don’t get what you want, missy. Not here, not now, not ever.”

“Ah don’t think that’s any o’ yer business. Way Ah see it? That’s fer Uncle Appleseed, Aunt Flower an’ Granny t’ decide.”

“Not happening.” Applejack flexed a fist where her cousin could see. “Since you ain’t listening, guess we’ll have to do this dance mah way: you’re gonna straighten up, or you’re gonna be bleeding out of a few places.”

Summer’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t got th’ stones.”

“You clearly weren’t paying attention the other day, were you?” To demonstrate, Applejack casually threw a punch at the tree behind her cousin. The blow was strong enough to rip off some of the bark and crack the first layer. “That enough of a reminder?”

“Don’t make threats ya can’t back up, sugarcube,” Summerfree said darkly.

Applejack gave a mirthless smile. “You have no idea of what Ah’m capable of, sugarcube. Ah’ve gone toe-to-toe with things you can’t even imagine.” Starting to see the first edges of light coming over the horizon, she started to walk away. “You’ve got school to go to, child,” Applejack said. “You’d best get going, or the next time we talk won’t be so pleasant.”

Summerfree waited until Applejack was out of eyeshot before she pulled another runestone from her back. Her eyes flickered with azure light and she pointed a finger at the tree she’d been slammed against. The tree turned into a large ice crystal before shattering into a million pieces. “Goddamn bitch,” the girl snarled. “Get in my way again and cousin or not, yer gonna regret it.”

She heard plaintive whining next to her, and though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was there.

“Ah know, Rascal,” she said softly. “Ah just want what Ah deserve, y’ know?” She felt something push gently against her; he was nuzzling her. “Don’t worry – when Ah go t’ Canterlot, yer comin’ with. Ah won’t abandon you, okay? Ah know what it’s like t’ be forgotten; not letting that happen t’ you, ‘kay?”

The wolf appeared and he was smaller now, the size of a horse. She climbed onto his back, and said, “C’mon, let’s get t’ school. May as well do somethin’ there.” Both turned invisible and raced off towards the city.

As Applejack reentered the house, she saw everyone at the table, looking at her. “Something up?” she asked.

“You didn’t hurt her too much, did you?” Studious asked, a worried look on her face.

“Of course not,” Applejack told them. “Ah have better control than that; Ah’m a blackbelt and Summer’s got, what, nothing? Mah whole plan was to put the scare in her.”

Stayman looked at his niece. “Unfortunately, she don’t scare easy.”

“Yeah, Ah noticed. Do any of you know why she’s doing this?” Stayman, Studious and Braeburn shook her head and Applejack recounted her conversation with her cousin out in the field. Everyone in the room began to look in surprise.

“What? We don’t have the room for another person in the house,” Cornflower said aloud once her daughter was done. “Don’t get me wrong, if it came to that we’d welcome her, but our house is pretty crowded as is with six people living there.”

“Besides,” Appleseed added, “Ah’m not sure her comin’ to Canterlot is a good idea, anyway. Ah don’t think that’s what she needs.”

An angry look in his eyes, Stayman agreed. “Oh, you got that right. If anythin’, Studious an’ Ah’ve been talkin’ ‘bout sendin’ her t' Fort Coffee Military Academy. Believe me, neither of us want that, but we gotta think about her best interests.”

Studious nodded. “Trust me, I really don’t want to dump our problems off on you. Again.”

Granny Smith looked at her family. “We’ll get this straightened out, even if’n we gotta do it th’ hard way.” She then looked at Applejack. “Ah hate t’ put this on yer shoulders, sugarcube, but…yer both th’ same age, an’ sometimes, sad as it is, knockin’ some sense into someone means knocking some sense into someone.”

Standing a respectable distance away, Sweetcream Scoops leaned next to her boyfriend and asked, “Did I just hear that right? Did Granny just sanction AJ to beat the shit out of Summer?”

Macintosh nodded, though the even look never left his face. “Eyup. An’ look at her eyes. It’s breakin’ her heart just to put both her granddaughters against one another.” He then looked at her. “‘Tain’t civilized at all, Ah know. But it’s that er Summer ends up in th’ pokey. Or worse.”

The sensation shook Jade awake. She didn’t believe it, the moment she sensed it, but it was unmistakable.

There was an Element on Earth. And not the chemical elements her chemistry textbook crowed about. No, it was one of the Elements. The wondrous, incredible devices created by her Divine Majesty, long may her reign be eternal.

Had her prayers finally been realized at last? She sincerely hoped so…and at the same time, dreaded it.

She got out of the bed, her body naked and pristine. She’d been here five years by her count, and she still didn’t quite feel comfortable in clothing. Sure, she understood why they existed, but she wasn’t completely used to wearing them. Truth be told, if it wasn’t for everything keeping her here, she would’ve considered moving to somewhere with a clothing optional neighborhood. She caught a glance of herself in the mirror and couldn’t help but smile. She knew she was devastatingly gorgeous by human standards, though in truth she only cared about one particular human’s standards when it came to that.

I guess the old saying is true: Mares in love think in odd ways, she told herself as she stepped into the shower.

About thirty minutes later, she sat at the table, eating eggs, bacon and toast, prepared for her by one of her familiars. She wore a shirt she knew was Braeburn’s favorite, as well as a pair of jeans that she liked, because it had her cutie mark all over them – that had been by coincidence, given that humans didn’t have such things. At the moment, she was reading a report that one of her other familiars had sent, a report on her human, Earth-born counterpart, still living in Arizona with her family. The human Jade Lily was, as far as Jade could tell, very different from her. For one, Jade herself detested rap music; she had a particular fondness for classical and new age music, though she liked some of the rock Braeburn listened to. According to the newest report, the other Jade’s mother, Petal Meadow, was expecting.

That news made her feel sad and homesick. She didn’t know what her family life was, back home. She didn’t even know if her parents were still alive. After all, she hadn’t seen them since the day she’d been apprenticed to Lord Starswirl, a boon if there had ever been one. Her father had been a simple blacksmith and her mother just like every other mare at the time, so Jade’s talent at spirit summoning had been practically unheard of, and very much in demand by Lord Starswirl. He’d told her that she had great things in store for her future.

Jade looked around at the house and the life she was living, realizing that her master’s words had been both a lie and a truth. The lie, obviously because she was here on Earth. The truth, because she’d met the love of her life, the man she knew she’d marry…even if he wasn’t exactly a stallion.

That done, she noted she still had about an hour before she had to drive to school and that meant getting her homework done. Today’s was political science, a comprehension of which that still bothered her over the years. It would be so easy if humanity just had an alicorn to turn to for governance and rule, but they weren’t that lucky.

She looked in a mirror by the table and saw her reflection, her true reflection, the African-American girl gazing at the gray-eyed, mauve-and-lavender-maned unicorn mare with the verdigris coat. Each day, she looked in the mirror less and less, forgetting about the mare she once was. Each day she looked towards the future, and the life she had here on Earth.

Now, if I can just figure out why Congress is elected, not composed of the nation’s nobility….

Borrowing a bike from Braeburn, Applejack decided to ride around the general area and look at the fields. She’d seen them from a distance, and she’d helped clean one up in the aftermath, but she hadn’t seen one up close and personal in the wake of immediate destruction. Something about the whole thing bothered her, especially after what she’d heard about several of the neighbors having the same problems as well. She wasn’t sure what she could do, but maybe if she got a good look at things up close, she could get some sort of answer.

Maybe I can even get Sunny to help, somehow, if it’s magic related. Chances were that no magic was involved, though; unexplained runestones aside, there was likely a logical reason behind all of this. No clue if she could use said logic to come closer to a solution, but that way it would be far easier to explain than magic.

She biked down the far side of County Road 1493, when she was passing an old familiar house: that of the Cobbler family; Mrs. Cobbler, in particular, used to babysit her when she was just a kid. And right now, said woman was coming out of her house, a look of consternation on her face.

“Hello, Mrs. Cobbler!” Applejack called out.

The woman looked up. “Hello, Missy!” she replied. “Sorry, but y’ don’t look too familiar. Y’ new ‘round these parts?”

Applejack came to a stop and got off the bike. “You don’t recognize me because Ah’ve grown a little since the last time you saw me.”

The woman leaned her head closer, as if to get a better look. “Oh mah stars an’ garters! Little Applejack Apple! That you?”

“Yes ma’am,” the teen replied.

“Wow, you done grown up right! C’mon in, girl! It’s been forever since Ah seen ya!”

A few minutes later and after some small talk, they’d caught up. Applejack felt her face was in perpetual blush from all the compliments that Mrs. Cobbler was giving her and the old lady even offered to introduce the teen to her grandson, who was going to be visiting from his Marine base next week. Applejack didn’t have the heart to tell Cobbler that she was going to leave next week, so she said nothing.

“Well, it’s a good thing yer here, Jackie!” Cobbler replied. “Ah could use some help with th’ rhubarb fields, if’n ya don’t mind.”

“Not at all, ma’am,” Applejack replied. “What’s wrong?”

“Ah keep plantin’ new rhubarb, an’ the plants keep dyin’! Weird, too: they just rot away, like it’s constantly rainin’, but it’s been a bit dry this year.”

The teen nodded. “Mind if I take a look around?”

“Please! Ah can use all the help Ah c’n get!”

Applejack went outside and walked over to the rhubarb field, which she could tell from the rotting stench. Forcing herself to ignore the smell, she looked at the decaying plants, and the minute she touched the ground, she felt a surge of something arc through her hand. She looked at her hand and saw it glow orange. She knew that aura – it was her own innate magic, placed within her when Princess Twilight channeled the magical forces of her world through Applejack and her friends. That Twilight had warned her that the magic might have been permanent and it was somewhat surprising to find out the alien princess had been right.

Putting her hand over the field, she felt the charge to and fro, depending on where she held her hand over the field. Finally, she felt a jolt strong enough to nearly knock her off her feet, and she started digging with her hands. She didn’t dig far before she found a strange-looking stone, like one of the ones that her aunt had around the house.

She suddenly felt a jolt of power rush through her, and as her body tingled, she could feel her hair lengthening, her ears seemingly shifting positions. In her hand the stone glowed a light blue, and was steadily pouring a stream of water down onto the already-soaked dirt.

“Jackie? Y’ want some lemonade?” Cobbler shouted from the house, a distance away. “Just made it fresh!”

“That’d be nice, Mrs. Cobbler!” Applejack shouted back, letting go of the stone. She could feel her body returning to normal as she “ponied down” (or whatever it was called; leave it to Pinkie to come up with weird terminology), and the stone seemed to become inert. She picked it up once more, and while she didn’t transform again, she could feel the energy within the rock, waiting to be reactivated.

She shoved it in her pocket; she’d have to look into it more. And as Cobbler approached with a pitcher and glasses, Applejack stood up and said, “Ah think Ah can fix this, ma’am. Where do you keep your gardening tools?”

“Jade honey, you okay?” Braeburn asked her.

“Yeah, sorry, just distracted,” she told him. “Mom called me this morning and said she’s going to be stuck in the capital for another week,” the unicorn-as-human lied. She hated lying to the boy she loved, but what could she say? That her “parents” were really just magical constructs that she created?

“Sorry t’ hear that. You got good folks.”

“So do you,” she said, leaning next to him as they sat in one of the apple fields, gazing at the stars. She loved doing this with him, and normally, she’d focus mainly on that. But tonight, she was also using her magic to search for signs of the Element. It was here, close, somewhere around Heavener Apple Orchards, and if that was the case, somehow, as inexplicable as that was, one of the newcomers was a Bearer.

But that’s impossible! Only one can wield the Elements! she thought to herself as her mind raced. Could it be Scoops? Or Cornflower? Or even one of the Apples? The thoughts swam in her head and she tried to focus on them and her boyfriend at the same time.

She sighed. This would be so much easier if she told him the truth. But then she feared she’d lose him for sure. The one guy in school who didn’t care if she was a black girl – even if technically, she really wasn’t – and she was terrified of losing his love if she told him not only that she wasn’t really black, but she wasn’t even human.

There are days I hate my sworn duty, Jade muttered mentally. But I have sworn fealty to my lords and ladies, and I must follow my pledge.

Still, she could have some fun with it. “Sweetie? It’s been about five whole minutes and you haven’t kissed me,” she said coquettishly.

“Ah can fix that, darlin’,” he told her as his lips met hers. They joined in that dance of love, and as her mind focused on the love she had for him and vice versa, a flash suddenly flickered in her mind. Reaching out with a truesight spell, a second later she swore at herself. It was so damn obvious, and now that she saw it with magical senses, it was clear as day.

The tree behind her glowed with the after effect of orange power, having taken a hit from Elemental magic.

The Elements were here.

March 28: Under the Shadow I Will Be

Cough cough “No, I’m okay, sweetheart,” Jade said, definitely not sounding okay. “I guess it was just a little colder last night than I thought.” Cough cough She sneezed. “I’m just gonna stay home today.”

“Ya sure there’s nothin’ ya need, darlin’?” Braeburn asked.

“That’s sweet of you, but no, I’m okay,” she said, sniffling. “Maybe you could come over tonight with some chicken soup?”

“Count on it, darlin’. Get some sleep. Love ya.”

“Love you too, Brae. Bye.” She sighed, hanging up. She hated lying to him, especially since she didn’t get sick as a human – she really wasn’t sure if it was due to the different viruses, her pony constitution or some other weird reason. She hadn’t been ill at all since the time she thought she’d had hoof palsy, but it had turned out to be a case of infection by poison joke. But that had been a long time ago.

Setting her phone back to recharge, she looked at a map of all the attacks lately, and where runestones had been found. It was an odd pattern, one that she struggled to put together. Would that Lord Starswirl would’ve taught me to recognize patterns in things other than magic. They formed an odd pattern, not quite a circle, not quite an oval, but in a jagged, ersatz shape that was completely confusing. The only thing that she could understand aside from the points where there had been runestone eruptions was where the glowing blast of Elemental magic had occurred on the farm.

But how did it happen? The tree was practically shimmering with energy, so much so that she was surprised it hadn’t radiated a visible aura. As it was, it glistened like a shining star from a single poin—

Wait.

She headed over to her phone, where she’d taken pictures of the tree at two in the morning. The tree looked like it had been hit with a hammer. A section of bark had been torn away, and the underlying wood looked as though it was in bad shape as well. Whoever hit the tree had done so with intent; this was no accident.

But why would any of them hit one of the trees with a hammer? The trees are their livelihood! It makes no sense at all, unless there was some sort of threat made against them. But that’s also impossible – the Elements would never be used to communicate a threat! She paced around the kitchen a little more, her breakfast continuing to grow cold (at least until she used a rewarming spell on it.) Unless….

A thought crept into her mind of a movie she and Skateaway had seen the last time she had a sleepover at her friend’s place. In it, two guys were fighting over the attention of a girl and at one point, one of the rivals had slammed the other against a wooden fence, and threatened to beat him up. Jade didn’t recall whether or not the guy had followed through on his threat, but it did put her on the right track.

A display! Why didn’t I think of that? When Lord Starswirl told me of his fight against that damnable Sabbatic Goat, he said that he’d demonstrated this might by using his power to burn a hole through solid rock. No threat, but a statement. Could someone have made a statement against someone else? Who?

The answer came all-too-easily and sadly in the case of the latter: it had to be Summerfree. She wasn’t sure why, but it had to be Braeburn’s little sister, someone that Jade herself had sororal feelings for herself. That worried her; if Summerfree was going up against the only pony who could bear the Elements, then….

An image filled her mind, of a powerful and strong young woman, fire in her eyes and confidence in her stance.

She gasped.

“Applejack?”

Applejack looked at her handwritten notes. After helping Mrs. Cobbler yesterday and finding that magical stone, she’d spent the morning digging through the affected apple fields and finding similar stones, though the magic in those was thankfully weaker; she’d freaked out a bit when one of them caught flame and caused fire to literally dance around her body for a second.

I can’t believe that I’m dealing with magic again, Applejack thought as she wrote down the information for the latest place she looked. Mr. and Mrs. Tortilla moved onto the old Breadbasket farm, a couple of nice folks who moved from Ponyville, of all places, wanting a farm of their own. She’d helped them out a bit while looking around at their tomato fields and chatting about life in Canterlot. During that, she found a stone just before it went off, which it did…in her hand.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the sensation of being teleported to what I think was Antarctica, she thought, recalling the ice and the snow and the brief sensation she felt that she was freezing solid before ponying up and returning back to where she’d been. Something was protecting her, and she had a funny suspicion that it was the magic that Princess Twilight had instilled in her.

So far, Sunset had been of no help whatsoever, mainly because she wasn’t returning Applejack’s calls. So much for that “If you really need me, just call” shit. Though maybe she’s busy with something. That would be just her luck, Applejack mused. The one person she knew who had a complete grasp on magic, and she was otherwise unavailable.

As she biked away from their home, she was just glad neither of them had seen her blink out or blink back in. The discussion on that would’ve been interesting in that Chinese curse sort of way. But the daylight was burning and that meant that at some point or another she was going to have to check out several more fields.

And then what? AJ, you’re not exactly a rocket scientist. There was a reason that amongst her friends, she was in the “lower tier” of the brains department. It wasn’t that she was stupid – she had solid As in all her classes – but rather that when put against Sunset, Twilight, Octavia and Pinkie, she was just on the lower end of their group. Her mind worked in different ways, simply put. And right now I could really use Twily’s analytical brain.

She continued her thoughts as she continued to bike down Conser Road…

…at least until she came to a sudden crash against the wall of what looked like a barn. She tumbled off the bike, but rolled out of the fall safely, kippuping back to her feet.

She looked around to see Jade, standing there on the other side of the barn. “Jade?”

The other girl looked genuinely sad. “Sorry about this, but I have to!” She called a ball of violet flame to her hand, and before Applejack could say anything, Jade threw the blast at the blonde.

Applejack didn’t have time to panic or duck. Instinct took over and she blocked the blow, which only a second later her mind reminded her that it was a fireball, and she wasn’t likely to survive tanking a blast of flame coming after her. That was stopped a second later as a golden glow enveloped her body and her block shattered the fireball, harmlessly dissipating it.

“What the hell’s going on, Jade?” Applejack asked, feeling the power pour through her body. She hadn’t ponied up yet, but she could feel the magic flowing through her the same as when Princess Twilight told her she had power.

Jade looked at her friend, slackjawed. “You…you’re really an Element? But how?”

Applejack flexed her hand, magic coursing around it. “How do you know about that?” she asked. “And Ah thought you were sick today! Brae and Ah were gonna come over to see how you were doing! Guess that was a lie.”

Jade looked away, ashamed. “Yes. And you have no idea how horrible I feel for lying to Brae.”

“And now you got magic? How do Ah know you’re not behind all this shit with the stones!”

“You know about the stones?” Jade gasped.

“You’ve got seconds to explain or Ah’m gonna get nasty about things!” Applejack threatened.

“Were you sent by her Divine Majesty to assist me?” Jade asked, calling up another fireball. “Or were you sent by the Witch?”

“Ah have no idea what you’re talking about! But you’d better answer me! Are you behind the attacks on the farmlands around here with these damn stones?”

“No! Of course not! This is my home! I would never do that!” Jade insisted.

To her surprise, Applejack relaxed, and her aura went away. “You’re telling the truth, Ah can tell,” the blonde said.

Jade caught that instantly. “Honesty. You wield Honesty. It makes sense – the golden aura was from the citrine gem.” To Applejack’s surprise, Jade got down to one knee, supplicating herself before the blonde. “It is good to see you again, your Divine Majesty.”

“Your what?” Applejack asked. “Uh…what’s going on, Jade?”

Jade looked up. “You’re not the Queen?”

“The who?”

“My liegelady, Queen Faust, ruler of all ponydom. The most powerful of all magic casters, even outstripping my own master, Lord Starswirl.”

“Dawhowhat?” Applejack continued to look at the other girl with confusion. “Look, Ah have no idea what’s going on, so please, take it from the top.”

“You’re not a pony?”

“No, though Ah do know a couple. Princess Twilight, for one.”

Now it was Jade’s turn to ask. “Who?”

“One of the rulers of Equestria, if I recall right, why?”

“‘One of the’?” Jade suddenly looked as sick as she had claimed to be. “What happened?” She suddenly started to feel faint, and Applejack rushed over to catch her.

“Who are you?” Applejack asked.

“Court Magus Jade Lily, apprenticed to Lord Starswirl, the Grandmagus and Right Hoof to Her Divine Majesty, Queen Faust,” the other girl said. “At your service.”

A few minutes later, Jade sat up. She felt weak, and it didn’t help a second later when she was handed some food and orange juice.

“Eat up,” Applejack said. “You need to get your blood sugar up.”

“Thanks,” Jade replied, grateful to finally eat. “I…I’ve been pushing my luck as of late, admittedly. Haven’t eaten or slept much, been using refresher spells to keep myself at peak, but sooner or later, it takes a toll on a body, especially this human one.”

“You’re a pony, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question, nor did her tone imply that she was referring to a common farm animal.

Jade nodded. “Yes. I was tasked by my master to keep the Wonderstones from falling into the wrong hooves. Her Divine Majesty originally created them to be a boon for ponykind, so that each of the tribes would have access to magic outside their balliwick. I had truthfully enjoyed flying with the flight stone, and one of the soldiers, Trebuchet, enjoyed levitating her foal up, so that the young lad would touch the very clouds.” The girl smiled the kind of expression that one had when lost in nostalgia. “It was a beautiful gesture by Her Divine Majesty, and even if I didn’t serve the Queen such gestures towards her peoples would have ensured my vow.” She then sighed. “Alas, it was not to be.”

“What happened?”

“The Witch, of course.” Applejack had a look on her face filled with a lack of comprehension, and Jade sighed. “I guess she’s not as infamous as she is back in Castle Everfree. Lady Frostburn is a calculating, cunning mare who has plotted the downfall of both Her Divine Majesty and my master since the day she was passed up from becoming The Queen’s Grandmage due to her impetuousness, so my master said.” Jade smiled. “Lord Starswirl is a patient saint, I swear – all the times she’s attacked him, and he merely tries to convince her to change her ways. It is no wonder that the Queen chose him for her right-hoof stallion. If anything – and it is not my place to say, admittedly, but I think I can confide in you – I only wonder why Her Divine Majesty continues to suffer that damnable nag’s presence.

“In any case, it was the Witch that Lord Starswirl said burnt down the abbey in Gamboling Plains. Fourscore of her Divine Majesty’s most ardent clerics, all killed because of the Witch and the flamestone she used.” A serious look came over her face as she said, “I can still recall the day Lord Starswirl told me about what had occurred. He was livid to the point that I thought he would lash out at me! Fortunately, I have always been his favored apprentice, he told me then.”

A sad look then came over her face as she added, “And then I failed my master in the worst way possible. When the Queen had discovered what the Witch had done, she ordered all the Wonderstones rounded up and destroyed. At the time, I was assisting my master into looking into other realms – other realities, such as this one – and as a sign of his confidence in me, he tasked me with the direct destruction of the stones.”

“What happened?”

“Hubris. I quickly discovered that destroying the stones was impossible; they were highly volatile and thus were crafted to be resistant to all forms of damage. The only way to render them inert was time – the charge had to die out, like a battery. With that in mind, I thought I could place them in a relatively unpopulated portion of a mostly-magicless planet. And to ensure that I did so, I made signs in both Runic and the local language, warning them to stay away. And lastly, as a precaution, I summoned a wolf spirit and charged it to guard the stones.”

“You summoned a wolf spirit?”

Jade nodded. “Although I’m versed in all the standard magical disciplines, my true calling is animism.” Daintily, she reached out into the air, and plucked a mote of light from it. The light immediately formed into a bird. “Sometimes spirits get lost on the way to the Great Pasture, and those are ripe for resuscitating, if their body’s still living; or turned into a servant spirit, if not.” Jade looked sober as a judge as she said, “And at the time, I thought it wouldn’t be a problem; after all, there are countless worlds out there, and given the portion of humanity we looked at through the looking-glass, we didn’t assume your people would be, ahem, ‘intellectual enough’ to operate the Wonderstones.”

Applejack looked at the pony-as-human, not saying a thing.

“Sorry, I know that was a prejudicial comment. But that was the sort of mare I was back then, I guess: naïve and quick to judge, blindly listening to my master to the point that I didn’t see the dangers around us. It also didn’t help that I’m a unicorn and we tend to be nobility; we’re practically raised to hold our muzzles in the air. It wasn’t until I had my eyes opened, living as a black girl, to understand what it’s like being hated for something you can’t control. And that’s one of the reasons why I love your cousin so much.”

“But we’re not talking about him right now,” Applejack said. “One subject at a time.”

“Right. Anyway, I don’t know how, but Lord Starswirl found out. He told me that I’d erred badly, that not only did I not destroy them as commanded, but that I risked the Queen’s wrath because the Witch could find a way to gain those stones and weaponize the others, just as she had the flamestone. But then he took me aside and told me that I was not entirely at fault, that some blame had to go to him for burdening me with such a heavy responsibility.” She gave another fond smile. “I will always adore him for that.

“He gave me a new assignment, one that I eagerly agreed to. I would need to go to this strange world and ensure the stones were destroyed. I was also to capture the wolf spirit and bring it back to Equestria, because such a potentially dangerous creature left uncontrolled could be disastrous for the young world. Worst of all, due to the experimental stage of the spell, the portal could only be opened once every sixty-eight moons. It would mean I would have to leave my home and settle in this new world. I could take what I needed, but until then I would be on my own. I would have to leave behind my mother, my father, my master, my queen and my husband.”

Applejack gasped. “YOUR HUSBAND?!”

“Well, I suppose he wasn’t truly my husband, as we never consummated our marriage. Besides, I know Blazing Lance was only interested in me was for my title and my position within the court, not for me. I knew he had mares on the side, and as a wife, my duty was to bear it and bear him foals in time.” She smiled again. “Honestly? I’d rather have kids with Brae. Now there’s a guy who treats me right.”

“You’re sidetracking, Jade.”

“Sorry. Anyway, I gathered as many magic materials as I could, and then came through the looking-glass. When I arrived, I found out things weren’t quite what I thought they were. For starters, I’m a lot younger than I was back home.” Applejack was about to ask, when Jade waved it off. “I guess I should be honest with the one who holds Honesty: I’m actually thirty-seven.” Seeing the non-plussed look on Applejack’s face, she stated, “You’re taking this pretty well.”

“Long story, sugarcube. So now Ah want the truth: Does Brae know?”

For the first time during what must have been a very personal conversation, Jade’s face became truly crestfallen. “How could I tell him, AJ? I’ve lived here on Earth for five years, and one of those years I had to play catchup. I’ve had to spy on my human counterpart – she does live in Arizona and her father works for the Bureau of Land Management, while her mother’s a state senator. My ‘parents’, Burnished Copper and Humble Daisy?” Jade snapped her fingers and two older people, a man and a woman, appeared. “They’re as close as I could make them to the other Jade’s parents, Mountain Glade and Petal Meadow, but they’re not perfect.” Jade snapped her fingers and they disappeared; Jade held her hand open and two gems sat in them. “Magical constructs are like robots: they’re capable of learning, but they’re not real people. I’ve heard people call my ‘parents’ weird, and that’s part of the reason why.”

“So you’ve been living alone all this time?”

“Yeah. I’ve adjusted, why?”

“Just surprised you’re not living in an abandoned factory.”

“Of course not, AJ. My parents were simple, but I was the apprentice of Lord Starswirl and I wanted for nothing. I had more than enough resources to purchase this farm, the van, and all the things in the house. Why would I live in a run-down building?”

“Just a thought. Mah only other question is, do you really love my cousin?”

Jade was quiet for a long time, looking down at the ground. “I had no choice but to marry Blazing Lance. It was a…fortuitous marriage, and it ensured my parents would be cared for should something happen to me. But I had no love for him, none at all. I didn’t even know what the word really meant until the day Braeburn popped Chainlink right in the face for what he’d said to me. And the day Vanilla Milkshake said to him that no girl would ever kiss him? To me, that was my invitation to love him. It was as if her Divine Majesty understood my suffering and loneliness and said, ‘this is the man that will truly be your stallion.’ And that’s what he is to me.”

“Your stallion? You realize Ah’m trying very hard not to laugh at that statement.”

“I know,” she giggled. “I said that out loud around Skate once. She then told several of our friends that I wanted me a ride on Brae’s baloney pony. It was…well, awkward, to say the least.”

“Do you ever plan to go back?”

“No, not even if Lord Starswirl demands it. He’s right: these stones must be protected so that the Witch never gets her hooves on them. And even if that day comes that the last stone loses its charge, I found the man I want to truly be at my side. I’d say Blazing Lance can go get fucked, but given that I’m not around, he’s probably making his way through the female members of the court. Pretty literally, I’d guess.”

“Fair enough. Your turn to ask questions.”

“You mentioned a Princess Twilight. Is she the ruler of the Crystal Empire? I recall that the ruler there, Princess Galaxia, was not well at the time I left. Did her daughter succeed her?”

“Ah don’t really know, to be honest. If Ah remember correctly, Twi—”

“Twi?”

“Princess Twilight. She’s a friend of mine.”

“You two must be close. It would be scandalous of me if I were to ever refer to even my master without his honorific.”

Applejack shrugged. “Anyway, as far as Ah know, Twi’s the personal student of Princess Celestia, if I recall right.”

“Wait – Princess Celestia?” Jade asked, completely confused. “That’s not possible. The Infant Princess was only two years old when I departed on my mission.”

“Ah’m pretty sure she’s gotta be older than that, if Ms. Celestia – that’s her counterpart, my high school principal back in Canterlot – is anything to go by.”

“Okay, now I’m confused. Are you sure we’re talking about the same pony? Alicorns aren’t too common, and Celestia’s a pretty common name back where I’m from.”

Applejack was about to comment, when she heard a car approach. “You expecting company?”

Jade’s ears practically seemed to flicker. “Shit – that’s your uncle’s truck, which mean’s that’s Brae! Quick, follow me!”

“Ah’m not gonna lie to him, Jade. That ain’t me.”

“I know. You’re Honesty – you can’t lie worth a damn. And I don’t expect you to. Let me deal with that.” She saw the frown on the blonde’s face and she sighed. “Someday I will tell him, when we’re at that point. But not now, AJ. Please.”

“Fine,” Applejack huffed.

Applejack was amazed at how a little deception could go a long way. Jade now lay in bed, looking like death warmed over. She knew that it was a magic spell; even if she hadn’t seen Jade cast it, she knew about it from Sunset’s own admission to using the spell more than a few times to get out of school early during her less behaved years. And yet it looked so authentic.

“Now you just rest, darlin’,” Braeburn said to Jade, practically hovering over her like a mother hen. Applejack smiled at that; she could practically feel the love between the two: a true and honest love. Jade’s marital and personal statuses notwithstanding, the former farmgirl could easily see that Braeburn was the love of Jade’s life and vice versa. She honestly felt a tiny bit envious of that.

“Of cour—” cough cough “Of course,” Jade wheezed. “Just a day or two of rest, honey, that’s all I need.”

“Well, given that yer by yerself, if’n ya want, Ah can ask Ma if you can stay—”

Applejack shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Ah’ll stay here and take care of her.”

“Ya sure, cuz? That’s above an’ beyond.”

Applejack looked at Jade, then back to Braeburn. “You two are tied at the hip already, you know that?” Both of the other two teens blushed, and Applejack laughed. “See? She’s practically an Apple already. And Apples always take care of family.”

“Yeah, well, Ah got t’ get going, so y’ take care, okay?” He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “Ah’ll be back t’morrow. AJ, can Ah talk t’ ya for a sec?”

“Sure thing, sugarcube. Ah’ll be right back, Jade. Don’t go anywhere.” The two headed toward the front door before Applejack asked, “Okay, what’s wrong?”

Brae sighed. “Y’ don’t go tellin’ Jade any o’ what Ah’m about to say,” he said in a stern tone, which meant something was very wrong. “Ah don’t want her t’ feel guilty. She loves Summer like a li’l sister, and Ah don’t want Jade blamin’ herself at all, understood?” Applejack nodded. “Summer’s missin’. Ah think she’s run away. Someone said they saw her an’ she vanished,” he said, as if not believing it. “Just up and vanished, as weird as it sounds. Personally, Ah think he was on somethin’.”

“Well, Ah won’t let her know, Ah can assure you.” Especially since she’s a pony, so she can probably hear us from her bedroom. “But Ah’ll look after your gal, you got mah word.”

“Thanks, AJ.” He hugged her, and she could feel him shudder in the embrace. “Ah’m worried about Summer, so much.”

“Ah’d feel the same if it was Bloomie.”

“Thanks, AJ. Ah’ll call if there’s an update.” He let go and hustled back to his truck, then rushed off.

Applejack hadn’t so much as taken a breath, when Jade appeared, back to normal. “Fuck! How could I have been so blind? Faustdamn me, I’m an idiot!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve smelled something unusual on her the past couple of days. At first I discounted it as magic because your aunt has so many inert Wonderstones in the house, the aura tends to get everywhere. But what Brae said? Invisibility? If it’s true, then….”

Applejack then noticed the map on the kitchen table. “What’s this?”

“I’ve been mapping the incidents around the area where rogue Wonderstones have gone off. Destruction of property, ruined crops, the works. I’m worried some families might not be able to recover,” Jade mused. “The most recent incident was over at Mrs. Cobbler’s place.”

“Yeah. I found the damn thing,” Applejack said, then covered all of all her investigations.

“And those are all places that Summer’s been helping around. It was Summer that helped Mrs. Cobbler plant her rhubarb field, since her husband’s in the hospital. And she helped the Tortillas with their tomato field, since tomatoes tend to be delicate crops.” Jade looked at Applejack with horror. “Summer’s behind all this,” she said, shock in her voice. “We have to find her,” Jade said, heading over to the garage door. “We have to find her before it’s too late.”

“No kidding,” Applejack replied. “She’s already a loose cannon – giving her magic is only going to make things worse.”

“No, you don’t understand!” Jade replied. “The reason Queen Faust tasked my master and I to get rid of the Wonderstones was for two reasons: the first was the obvious one: they could be weaponized, and her Divine Majesty couldn’t bear to see her gifts to ponykind abused. But it wasn’t until I got here that I realized the even bigger reason,” she said as opened the door to the van and climbed in.

“Which is?” Applejack asked, clambering into the passenger seat.

“Those things are made of pure alicorn magic, and that’s a pretty potent thing for magical species to deal with…but what about non-magical species, like mules or polar bears?”

“Or humans?”

“Right,” Jade said as she started the ignition and hit the remote control for the garage door. “Or in short: what happens if you give a mortal the power of God?”

The wolf spirit whined, his tone one of worry.

“Oh, Rascal,” Summerfree said, an unnatural smile on her face. “I was so blind, my pet, but now I see.” She placed a stone against her skin and it slowly began to sink in, leaving only a burning rune on her body where it had once been. She was naked and her hair flowed as if carried by an unnatural wind. Her body radiated a technicolor aura, the force carrying her a foot off the ground. “I see so much, and I see what I should’ve seen before.”

She moved over to where a group of boys were. She’d had fun with them tonight in this cave that they found, and more than one cave had been explored. And as she reached ecstasy, she placed her hands on two stones that just happened to be there. They became a part of her. They became her. And she became one with eternity.

They screamed when she touched the godhead. But now they would scream no more. She’d given them what they wanted, and in their minds the eternal orgy would forever continue, their pleasure unabating. It was the least she could do for the boys who had given her so much.

And now she had to repay that, to the world, in kind. She would get all she wanted. And the world would get what it deserved.

Her eyes were a solid black, and around the edges, light of all sorts of colors danced. “I can see so perfectly now.”

Author's Note

The conclusion's coming!

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March 29: The Glory Which I Now Can See

Applejack, relatively speaking, hated waiting. She tended to be a girl of action. Granted, she wasn’t as bad as Rainbow was, but she still hated to wait. She’d been waiting for the past few hours, and as the clock turned close to midnight, she still didn’t feel comfortable about everything.

“You’re getting antsy again,” Jade observed as the two watched played videogames. Or rather, Applejack was playing videogames, and doing a bad job of trying to relax. Jade, on the other hand, meditated, only half-watching Applejack, opening a single eye. “The Last of Us? Really don’t like that game, but got it because Braeburn likes zombie stuff. I keep telling him zombies aren’t real, but sometimes I wonder if he’s hoping for a zombie apocalypse, so he can grab his shotgun and go play hero around the countryside.”

“And you’d be there by his side?”

Jade nodded. “Without a doubt! Although…I’d rather it not come to that. I suppose I could live fighting zombies, but the collapse of civilization? Sorry, humans are far more advanced technologically than ponies are, and I’m not sure I could live without running water or my cellphone.”

“So no zombies for you?”

“Zombies can’t really exist, anyway. Sure, cordyceps does have some effect on lower-reasoning animals. But if you ask me, toxoplasma gondii is something humans have more to worry about than some fungus that only messes with ants’ minds. Besides, there’s tons of things here that are even more dangerous than either of those.”

“Like what?”

“Like nuclear weapons, for example. Celestial-class spells are restricted to alicorns for a reason…and here you guys are just tearing apart the fundament of the universe just for shits and giggles!”

“Ah think it’s a bit more complex than that, sugarcube. For one, there was a war on back then. Secondly, nobody likes nukes, especially the military forces with them.”

“I’m not going to comment on that, mainly because I haven’t had enough time to be here,” Jade said. “Maybe after I’ve got enough time under my hooves, but not until th—” She paused. “Did you hear that?”

“Not really. I—” In the distance, Applejack could suddenly hear giggling. “What is that?”

The giggling started getting louder, as well as everywhere at the same time. “That,” she said sadly, “is our problem.”

Summerfree floated in the air, her body glistening. She was a goddess ascendant. She was one with everything, and it felt better than a thousand moments of perfection.

The wolf spirit followed behind her, timidly. He looked worried.

“Oh, my precious pet,” Summerfree cooed, floating down to embrace him. “Don’t worry. After tomorrow, we’ll be free to do whatever we want. And the world will be ours.” She thought about it for a moment, then summoned Fastrunner – and the girl he was with. Both screamed, looking at her.

“Summer?” he asked, shocked, trying to get off his partner while staring at the luscious, gorgeous girl floating just before him. “What…?”

As the other girl ran away, screaming at the top of her lungs, Summerfree floated down to Fastrunner. Looking at him with unreadable eyes, she said, “Do you love?”

“Summer, Ah don’t know what’s goin’ on,” he said, stepping back from her, “but you stay here an’ Ah’ll go for help.”

“I love,” Summer said, taking Fastrunner’s face in her hands. “I love Jade. She will be my sister. She is my sister. She is love.”

“Look, Ah don’t got nothing to do with that ni—”

Summerfree pressed her lips to his, not quite a kiss, but a transfer of essence. “You do not love. I shall give you love.” She breathed multicolors into him, and he stepped back, dazed.

“What the fuck’d ya do to me, bitch?” he asked, before his eyes started to glaze over.

“I have given you love,” Summerfree said. “I now give you a gift.” The neophyte goddess snapped her fingers and another girl appeared, an African-American. She had short celeste hair in a slightly modified style and wine-colored eyes that were a bit vacant at the moment. She was dressed in a t-shirt and fuzzy pajama pants, but that went away. “Dear Heart wants to love you,” Summerfree told him. “Show her you can love.”

“Look, no way am I—” His words stopped as his eyes glazed over with a rainbow light.

“Love her,” Summerfree whispered in his ear. “Be who she wants.”

Dazed, he wandered over to her and touched her face. She looked at him. “Fast? Ah thought y’ hated me,” she said, her voice woozy.

“Because Ah couldn’t love ya like Ah should,” he told her, kissing her. “An’ now, Ah’m gonna do just that.”

Leaving the couple as they started to make love on the grass by the road, Summerfree smiled. She was a goddess of love, of all. She deserved to be free, so the world could experience her as she deserved to be. And once she finally ended this prison she was in, the world would.

She felt a shudder of epiphany flow through her, stronger than any orgasm.

I am one with the world and nothing will keep me from it.

The sudden flash of light behind her indicated that wasn’t exactly true. Summerfree turned around and gazed upon two familiar figures looking up at her floating form with expressions of uncertainty.

“Summer, whatever it is you’re doing, it has to stop!” Applejack demanded. Beside her, Jade said nothing, but the look on her face indicated that they were in agreement on this matter.

“Why?” Summerfree asked, floating down to touch the ground in front of them. “Do you not wish to know love?”

Her cousin tilted her head and looked at her as if she was insane. Of course, she sighed internally. The unenlightened always view anything they don’t understand as madness.

“I know you yearn for love, cousin,” Summerfree continued, glancing over at Jade. “I have seen the way you look at my brother and his paramour. You want what they have. You see love all around you, but none for yourself.”

Jade and Applejack shared a glance as Summerfree tenderly stroked the latter’s hair. “I could help you find someone,” she cooed. “If there’s a boy – or girl – that you want to make yours, you have but to name them and it will be done!” Summerfree’s smile seemed genuine in its earnestness. “I know we’ve had our disagreements, cousin, but we are family and I want to help you because I love you.”

Applejack seemed unsure what to think at first, but Summerfree was certain she knew what her answer would be.

“That’s mighty nice of you to think of me, sugarcube,” Applejack told her, “but you’re wrong. Ah have plenty of love in mah life, even if Ah haven’t met that special someone yet.” She removed Summerfree’s hand from her hair. “But Ah can see that there’s a little bit of the old Summerfree still in there somewhere…and Ah’d like to have her back.”

To Summerfree’s surprise, Applejack’s hand began to glow with a bright orange aura. “It’s like you said,” Applejack intoned. “We’ve had our disagreements, Summer, but we’re family. And because we’re family, Ah’m gonna help you because Ah love you.”

“You…love me?”

A fist clenched. “Yeah. Tough love.”

A second later, Summerfree went flying through the air – involuntarily. An explosive blast of power from Applejack’s hand sent her careening, smashing through two trees and a nearby barn before she skidded to a stop with enough concussive force to cause a small impact crater.

Standing from where Summerfree had been a few seconds prior, Jade crossed her arms and glared at Applejack. “You just had to do that, didn’t you.”

Applejack blazed with golden power, the orange aura around her illuminating her like a star. “Ah’d be lying if Ah said it wasn’t cathartic, and you know Ah’m not one for lies, Jade.”

“Please don’t hurt her, AJ.”

Applejack pointed at the distant glow. “Did you look at her? Ah’m surprised Ah landed the punch! Ah’m not even sure that did more than tickle her!”

They heard a deep, guttural growl behind her. Both turned around to see a mountain of fur behind them as the wolf spirit, protecting its master, grew to the size of a house.

“This is not good,” Jade said, just a second before Applejack pushed her out of the way, avoiding the spirit’s lunge and the bite that would be fatal. Instead, the jaws snapped shut on closed air, and both girls hit the dirt, otherwise unharmed.

“You go take care of Summer,” Jade told Applejack. “I’ll deal with the furball here.”

Applejack looked at Jade as if she were insane. “Ah’m not leaving you with this thing!”

Jade called a ball of violet fire to her hands. “AJ, I’m the animist here. I’ll be fine,” she insisted. “I’m more worried about Summer and what she’ll do if we don’t stop her.”

“You take care then, okay?” Applejack insisted.

The fireball in Jade’s hands got bigger. “I’m not the one you need to worry about. My master taught me everything I need to know.”

“Fine, but if you get hurt, don’t say Ah didn’t tell you so,” the blonde said as she rushed off.

“Right back at ya!” the former unicorn shouted back, just as the wolf lunged again, its mouth open and sharp teeth signaling. Jade didn’t even move, instead closing her eyes and her fist, the violet flame pouring out of her closed hand and encircling her like a sash. Just as the mouth started to close around her, the mage opened her eyes and said, “Bad doggie,” releasing a blast of energy.

The first detonation made the wolf back away in pain. The second one knocked it off its feet. Jade stood in a small crater, energy enveloping her as if it were a lover. “I brought you to this plane,” she told the wolf, “and I can take you right out of it!”

The wolf spirit rushed her once more, and Jade decided that it was already time to end it. “THIS ENDS NOW!” she roared and a massive wave of mystic energy rushed towards the wolf.

Getting up off the ground, Summerfree briefly felt dizzy, the runes on her body fading briefly in their intensity. She was a goddess. This was not how it was supposed to g—

The would-be deity never saw the uppercut, much less the spin kick that sent her flying again. But she felt both – oh, did she feel both. As a taekwondo practitioner, if Applejack’s punches were solid, her kicking was outright lethal. And as the stronger blows pushed the girl that much farther eastward, she was lucky that there was a large pickup truck in someone’s house to stop her. Unfortunately, the owner was not as fortunate as they no longer owned a pickup truck, but instead a truck-shaped pile of scrap.

Summerfree stood up and wiped away a rivulet of blood from her mouth. “That. Hurt,” she said aloud as the lights in the adjacent house came on and a man with a shotgun came out.

“What the fuck?” he wondered, aiming his shotgun at the glowing naked girl. “Don’t know what th’ fuck you’re on, pothead, but ya’d better get off mah prop—GAAK!” His words were stopped as the potted fern right next to him exploded into instant growth, tying him down and pulling the weapon out of his hands.

She walked up to him. “You do not know love,” she said.

“What th’ fuck are ya—” The neophyte goddess placed a finger on his lips and he stopped.

“Your wife is visiting her sick mother in Little Rock,” she said, “and here you are, lying with….” A smile came onto Summerfree’s face, and she beckoned at the door. “Come here, child.”

A girl with blue-and-yellow hair about Summer’s age came out of the house, covering herself with a sheet, humiliation and fear showing in her soft pink eyes. “Who are ya?”

“He has blackmailed you, hasn’t he?”

“He said if Ah didn’t sleep with him, he’d fire mah Ma,” the girl said. “Mah little sister’s real sick and Ma’s doin’ all she can t’ pay fer th’ medicine!”

“What is your name, sweet one?”

“Crystal Rose.”

“Be at ease, Crystal,” the pixie-like goddess said as she smiled. “He will never bother you again.” She snapped her fingers and a basket of jewels and gold appeared before the girl. “Go, and tell the world your goddess is merciful.”

“My goddess?”

“I am Titania Arum, your goddess,” the glowing being said, “and I will be fr—”

“Titania” was slammed headfirst into what had been the cab of the truck. “GET OUT OF HERE!” a blonde, glowing with power commanded. Not planning to argue, Crystal Rose grabbed the basket and raced inside the house. The man, hanging there and with no chance as two otherworldly women fought in his front yard, wet himself, which was all the more embarrassing, given that he’d been hung upside down.

“I TIRE OF THIS,” Titania said, her voice booming. “I WILL NO LONGER SHOW MERC—”

Her words were cut off by another blow to the face. “Unfortunately for you, Ah’ve faced a would-be omnipotent being before,” the martial artist told her opponent. “She didn’t win, either.” Applejack threw another fist at Titania’s face…

…which was caught. Titania then picked up Applejack by the fist and snarled, “You do not know love. You do not deserve to know love,” and promptly threw her against a nearby tree. The tree cracked from the blow, and Applejack went down.

“You will be an example,” Titania said. “History will know you as the unyielding evil which prevented me fro—”

“SHUT UP!” Applejack roared as she launched herself back at Titania. “Even Sunny wasn’t this much of a chatterbox!”

“You will fall, you evil demon! I shall smite thee!”

“Shut the fuck up with your ‘Ah’m the baddest bitch this side of the Mississippi’ shit!” Applejack grabbed Titania’s head and slammed it down against her knee. The crunch could be heard as something broke. “Ah told you: you don’t get to win, Summer. No way, no how.”

“BEGONE!” Titania rose into the air, her wounds prevalent. “THIS WORLD WILL WATCH ME BURN YOU WITH CLEANSING FIRE!”

“NOT EVEN!” Applejack closed her eyes and her aura flared even brighter. Her ears elongated and became triangular, shifting from the side of her head towards the top. Her waist-length hair grew longer, reaching towards her feet. And her eyes shone like glittering emeralds. “If you’re not going to listen the easy way, we’re gonna do it mah way!”

Titania summoned a ball of fire in her hands. “DIE!”

“Ah told you: You don’t get what you want!” Applejack replied, “and that’s the TRUTH!” Applejack bent down and punched the ground on instinct. Below Titania, the ground opened and a massive blast of golden energy rocketed upwards, roasting her. The blast became a flare of rainbow power, and as it vanished, a screaming girl fell to the ground, completely on fire.

“Summer?” Applejack gasped as her body returned to normal. “What the?”

A raincloud appeared out of nowhere and started pouring water on Summerfree’s burning body. Applejack turned to see Jade rushing forward, riding a horse-sized wolf. “Wow, did you guys make a mess.”

“Sorry,” Applejack shrugged.

“I guess you had to do whatever it took. I’m not sure I could’ve done it,” Jade said as she summoned a blanket to cover Summer. She looked at the wolf. “Cover me; I need nobody except AJ around,” she ordered. The wolf nodded and started loping off into the distance.

“Ah see you made a friend,” Applejack said.

“Not now, AJ. The stones are starting to break down, and they’re breaking down inside her. If I don’t remove them, she’s going to literally roast from within.”

“What?”

“Don’t blame yourself. You did what you had to do,” Jade said, casting a magical circle around Summerfree’s unconscious body. “Now let me do what I need to do.”

“I wish we could stay,” Cornflower said, hugging a tear-stricken Studious.

“It’s okay,” the other woman said, crying. It was two days later. Authorities in Arkansas reported that they’d found Summerfree, along with another girl, and both had been kidnapped by a man intent on having their way with them, promising them both the night of their lives. Summerfree had helped Crystal Rose escape, but at a price: the man threw a Molotov cocktail at Summerfree. She was now in the hospital with second-degree burns, a few broken bones, and some inexplicable internal tissue damage. The Apples, along with Jade, who was exhausted recovering from a bad case of influenza, were at the Trauma Center at Riverside County General Hospital, in Belle Point, where Summerfree was recuperating.

“What was she thinking?” Scoops asked, holding Macintosh for comfort. She’d come expecting a nice vacation, and it had all ended in tears.

“She wasn’t,” Braeburn said. “Police told us she had traces o’ several drugs in her system, as well as a BAC of 0.15 – we’re lucky she was conscious enough t’ help that other girl.”

“Can we go see her?” Applejack asked.

Stayman nodded. “Go ahead – Ah need t’ go fill out some paperwork.”

“Ah’ll go with ya,” Appleseed said to his brother.

“Want company?” Braeburn asked his girlfriend.

She shook her head. “AJ, will you come with me, please? I’m feeling a girly moment coming on, if that makes sense.”

Seeing Braeburn’s disappointment, Scoops reached over and took his arm in hers. “How often does a girl get to have two hunks escort her to lunch?”

“I’ll lend him to you for now,” Jade laughed, “but please don’t break the merchandise.”

Scoops grinned. “No promises.” With Macintosh and Braeburn looked at each other evilly, they both picked up Scoops and set her on their respective shoulders. She shrieked with laughter as everyone left.

“Glad someone’s happy right now,” Jade said, as she opened the door to Summerfree’s room; mercifully, the girl was asleep. “I’m not.”

“You did what you had to,” Applejack said. “Ah’m not condoning it, mind, just that…Ah know you had to come up with something.”

“AJ, how would you feel if you framed a man for rape—”

“Ah saw the fear in that other girl’s eyes. You weren’t framing him for anything.”

“And what I did to your cousin – my future sister-in-law?” Jade’s eyes started to tear. “I’m supposed to protect her, AJ! I harmed her by not stopping her and letting all this happen! She’s going to have scars from the stone burns for the rest of her life!”

“When was the last time you slept?”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“When?” Applejack asked.

“I haven’t. I’ve spent the last two days cleaning up the mess and covering up the tracks, including all the ‘memory reconstruction’ I’ve had to do.”

“Brainwashing?”

“No. Brainwashing is when you want to enslave someone. What I did is a lot subtler, and a whole hell of a lot more illegal: I implanted certain subliminal messages in their heads to make them remember certain things certain ways. It doesn’t matter if it happened or not, because they remember that it did, and that’s enough for a lie to become the truth.” The unicorn-as-human looked sad. “I have broken my vow to use my magic fairly and righteously, all because I wanted to save my boyfriend’s sister. I turned the world a-swirl, and now lies are truth and truth are lies,” she intoned.

Applejack frowned. “Why do Ah feel like Ah should be seriously offended by that?”

“You wouldn’t be wielding the power of Honesty if you weren’t,” Jade said. “Believe me, after this is over, I’m going to go sleep like the dead as much as I can next week. I’ve still got a lot of searching to do for missing stones. Fortunately, Rascal’s been a big help in finding many of the missing stones, so far.”

A brow rose on Applejack’s face. “Rascal?”

In turn, Jade pointed to a spot on the bed, where a small wolf lay on top of it, comfortable and next to Summerfree. “Somehow, he bonded with her. He was worried about what was happening to her and he wanted to keep her safe,” the former unicorn explained. “She even named him – he’s not a guardian spirit anymore; he’s a pet.” As if answering that, Rascal lifted his head, looked at the two girls, then yawned and put his head back down. “He’ll be with her for the rest of her life, and if you’re lucky, he’ll end up an ancestor spirit for the Apple family, watching over her descendants.”

Applejack shrugged. “Could be worse, Ah guess. What happens next?”

“Braeburn told me. His parents have applied to send her to Fort Coffee Military Academy. It’s a year-round military boarding school up in Fort Coffee, forty-five minutes north of home. It’s probably for the best, though I can’t help but feel I failed her.”

“Do you love her, Jade?”

Jade nodded. “She’s probably the closest thing I have to a sister.”

“Then you didn’t fail,” Applejack said. “Remind me sometime to introduce you to Sunny – Sunset Shimmer. She’d understand what both you and Summer are going through. In more ways than one, too: she’s a unicorn, just like you.”

“I guess that explains your access to Equestrian magic and how you know an alicorn,” Jade replied. “But I’m not really ready to meet another fellow Equestrian just yet.”

“Ah can vouch for her, Jade. She’s one of my best friends, and she’s got a tie to Princess Celestia.”

“No. I’m done with Equestria,” Jade said. “There are stones around here still – there were thousands of them, and I’m not sure I found them all. Plus, something doesn’t feel right with what you said: The Queen should reign in Equestria, and if her daughter is in charge and not the queen herself, something is very wrong. I won’t risk my loved ones for that – not ever, even if it means giving up a chance to return to my homeland.” She smiled. “Besides, home is here now.”

“Jade….”

“Someday, if I understand what’s going on, I’ll change my mind. Hopefully by then, Lord Starswirl will come looking for me and he’ll explain everything. I still trust my lord and master, and I know he won’t steer me wrong.”

Applejack decided to table the conversation, which turned out to be a good thing, given that there was a knock at the door. Rascal immediately turned invisible and Jade and Applejack dropped their conversation. “Come in,” Applejack said.

A girl came in, wearing what looked to be a military uniform: a gray tunic with black piping and white pants. She had chevrons on her shoulders as well as a patch that read FORT COFFEE MILITARY ACADEMY. In one hand she held what looked like a combination cap, while in the other she held a dozen roses. “Excuse me,” the girl said. “Ah came t’ see how she’s doing.”

Though neither said it, both girls were astonished as they recognized the newcomer: Crystal Rose. “Can we help you?” Jade asked.

“Yes’m,” Crystal began. “Mah name is Crystal Rose, and Ah’m here t’ thank Ms. Apple fer what she done fer me. Ah heard she got hospitalized an’ Ah had t’ come – Ah owe her so much. Mr. Swindle threatened t’ get me kicked outta Fort Coffee an’ get mah ma fired if’n Ah didn’t sleep with him. Mah ma works ‘round th’ clock to keep me at Fort Coffee an’ take care o’ mah little sister – she’s got autism. But Summer told me that Ah had nothin’ t’ fear, ‘cept fear itself.”

“And do you?” Applejack asked.

“No, ma’am,” Crystal said in a respectful voice, though the ma’am made her feel suddenly ancient; she and Crystal had to be around the same age! “An’ Ah don’t because o’ her here. Is she gonna be okay?”

“She’s going to be in the hospital for a while, but she’ll be fine,” Jade said. “But she’ll need some help – she’s fragile right now.”

“Her? She’s th’ bravest soul Ah ever met!” Crystal replied.

“My boyfriend – her brother – and I head off to college in the fall. And Summer’s friend recently moved away. She doesn’t know many people, and she could use a friend.”

“So could Ah, Ah reckon,” Crystal said. “If’n Ah had one, maybe Ah’d’ve had someone t’ go to when Mr. Swindle started t’ blackmailin’ me.”

“Then I’ll leave that to you,” Jade said, standing up. “It won’t be easy – she can be stubborn and headstrong…but she’s worth it.” As Crystal nodded, Jade looked at Applejack. “Let’s go get some lunch, AJ. My treat.”

“You sure?” the blonde said as she got up. “What if Summer wakes up?”

“Then she’ll have a friend waiting for her.” Jade opened the door and nodded at the girl in the military outfit. “See you around, Crystal.”

“You can bet on it,” Crystal said with a smile.

“So, you use magic to make her come her and be Summer’s friend?” Applejack asked as they walked away from Summer’s room.

“Color me surprised at that,” Jade admitted. “I never planted any such thing – I didn’t even think of it. Apparently, Ms. Rose wants to make a friend on her own accord. And as a wise mare once told me, there’s nothing more powerful than friendship.”

Author's Note

Tomorrow: the conclusion.

July 23: Here I Will Sit and Rest a While

“Thanks for meeting me here, AJ,” Jade said as they sat down at a restaurant at the airport hotel the black girl was staying at. It was across the street from the main portion of Canterlot International Airport, and easily accessible.

“You know, you could’ve stayed with us,” Applejack said.

“It’s okay; the airline’s paying for it,” Jade explained. “As it is, I’m glad our flight got redirected here instead of San Francisco or another airport. I was supposed to be on a straight shot from Kona to Oklahoma City, and then catch a feeder to Belle Point. Still, if I’m going to see a friend, it’s worth it for the plane to have engine troubles.”

“So how was Hawaii?”

“Magical,” Jade said in an emotional voice. “I wish I decided to attend UH along with Brae, but their archeology program is on one of the other islands, so we couldn’t see each other much. As it is, he decided to give me a little reminder of why I’ll always be his girl,” she said, holding up a hand.

Applejack noticed the engagement ring instantly. “Well, don’t that beat all,” she said, grinning ear to ear. “When’s the wedding?”

“Probably not until we both graduate. As it is, it gives me a few years to come up with a way to tell his family that I’m not what they think I am.”

“Ah’ll be there if you need me.”

“Thanks, AJ.” As the waitress brought them menus, Jade leaned back in her chair. “These past few months have been interesting, to say the least. For one, Summer’s much happier attending Fort Coffee.”

“Really?”

“Yeah – wild girl got some discipline in her, and she’s adjusted real fast. Last weekend she was home on vacation she told me she’s actually considering a career in the Army now, which I absolutely cannot believe. Then again, I suspect Crystal has something to do with that – those two are thick as thieves now.”

“That right?”

“Apparently, students there call them the Prank Sisters, for all the jokes they pull.” Jade took a look at her menu and said, “I’m just glad she has someone now that she trusts to be there for her. I’ve never seen her happier, and I can rest easy knowing that I’m leaving for college and she’s safe.”

“How’s the stone business going?”

“Almost done. I feel sorry for poor Rascal; the pup’s practically wearing himself out running back and forth all the time, but otherwise, I’m glad he’s been of help. He found a whole bunch of really dangerous ones in a cave by the 526, and we were able to burn them out with this new spell I’ve been developing.” A sober look came over Jade as she added, “You don’t know how close we all came to biting the big one.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad, sugarcube,” Applejack said, disagreeing. “She turned into a hippie goddess, for Christ’s sake! Ah’m surprised she didn’t turn half the farms in town into patchouli fields!”

“I’m being serious. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal to you since you live here in California, but did you know that Oklahoma is nearly as earthquake-prone as here? The entire eastern part of the state is just riddled with fault lines – and Heavener is right on top of the worst of it. To be honest, I didn’t even realize it until Fastrunner and Dear Heart came to have dinner with me and Brae just before we graduated, and he saw the map and explained. Apparently, he wants to be a geologist when he graduates from Michigan Tech.”

“So you’re saying that Summer—”

“Could’ve killed us all because she wanted to leave so bad she could’ve set off the kind of earthquake you’d expect here. I don’t even know how to explain it, but it was a pure Faust-sent miracle that her mind went hippiechick instead of destroyer of worlds.”

“That’s good; personally, Ah want to live to see old ag—” Then it hit her. “Wait – did you say Fastrunner?”

“Yeah, I did, why?”

“Wasn’t he the guy who gave you all that shit about being black?”

Jade chuckled. “Chalk it up to another bit of luck. Summer apparently did something to his mind that changed him completely. He started dating Dear Heart – she’s a sophomore at Heavener High, and has darker skin than I do. Left his group of morons and helped one of the guys in the group, Rusty Nail, when he came out as being gay. Fast even went so far as to get kicked out of the house by his dad because he refused to stop dating Heart; she told me that he admitted to being ashamed of his racist ways. He’s currently living with Rusty’s family, since he’s been disowned.” Jade shrugged. “I honestly debated changing him back or not; what Summer did to him was wrong, but you can’t say that he’s not a better person for it. I actually consider him a friend now, would you believe that?”

“Wasn’t that what you were planning originally?”

“Yeah, so mission accomplished, I guess. Too bad Chainlink and the rest of them are still the same old same old, but maybe they’ll change of their own accord. As it is, I had to wipe their memories of what I did to them, because they thought I was the one who changed him.” She shrugged. “And really, that’s all there is. Life’s returning back to normal in Heavener, and I guess that’s all anyone can ask for.”

Applejack reached for the backpack she’d brought with you. “Well, Ah’m glad Ah ran into you,” she said, opening it and pulling out a large book. “Ah got you something; thought you might appreciate the gift.”

Jade took it and looked at the cover, which read A HISTORY OF EQUESTRIA by an author named Time Passages. She was surprised; back in Equestria, codices – that is, non-scroll books – were a novelty. This one, strangely enough, looked industrially printed, though not at the quality she had with her collection of Earth-based books.

“Did you ask your unicorn friend to get me this?”

Applejack shook her head. “No, you asked me not to get you involved with Sunny, and Ah keep mah promises. Just that during the last letter Ah sent to Twi – that is, Princess Twilight – Ah asked her for a history book, because Ah was curious. Sunny was concerned that someone might not understand, but Ah told her that anyone who read it probably would think it’s just fiction. Anyway, the book arrived yesterday via dragonfire candle.”

“Via what?”

“A dragonfire candle. Apparently, it’s the magical equivalent of a fax machine.”

“Amazing. There was no such magic when I left Equestria.”

“Ah know,” Applejack said. “Promise me you’ll read this once we get to your hotel room.”

“We?”

“Ah’m staying with you tonight.” The expression on Applejack’s face changed then, and it made Jade worry. It was just the sort of face one had when they were about to deliver very tragic news. “You’re gonna need a friend.”

Hours later, Jade held onto Applejack like a lifeline. “I have nothing left,” she sobbed, her eyes red from crying. On the opposite side of the room was that damnable history book, the one that she wished was nothing but lies, but one she knew was the truth:

The looking-glass spell hadn’t just moved her, Rascal and the Wonderstones to the human world.

It had moved her through time as well.

“You have us, sugarcube,” Applejack said, holding the other girl tight. “You’re an Apple now – maybe not officially yet, but that don’t mean shit. You’re family. You have us.”

“How long, AJ?”

“Ah don’t—”

“You’re Honesty, so you’re a lousy liar. How long?”

Applejack sighed. “Ah don’t rightly know, given Ah don’t know much about Equestria, but Ah did some number crunching, and….”

“AJ, please.” The look in Jade’s eyes was as though she was about to break in two.

The blonde silently nodded. “The equivalent date here on Earth would be around the time of the Sumerians.” She could feel her own heart breaking as she was about to tell her cousin-to-be something that would shatter her:

“About 3300 BC.”

The two were silent for a long time, save for Jade’s sobs; it had been enough to make Applejack cry as well. Finally, the older girl spoke. “Everypony and everything I ever knew. Gone. Dead.”

“Yeah.”

To Applejack’s surprise, Jade went over and picked up the book again. “I have to know, AJ. I have to know. Was any of my life worth it? I’m a living ghost – was all I did in vain?”

“You have a man who loves you more than anything. You have a family here who loves you, too. Nothing you’ve done is in vain,” Applejack told her.

“Thanks,” Jade told her, coming over and sitting next to her. “Excuse me for a second, but I need to do something.”

“What?”

“My last duty as the apprentice of Lord Starswirl,” Jade said, changing to her native form, the first time in years she had done so. The unicorn moved over, closer to Applejack. “I need to read this to make a final report.” She said the next words with disbelief. “To my new sovereign: Queen Celestia.”

The hours went on, with the unicorn reading voraciously and Applejack being there for her. She remembered what Sunset had shown her and how she’d looked like, so the change really didn’t bother the teen as much as it did. Then again, given that she occasionally transformed when using the magic within her that she still really didn’t understand, she had no cause to complain.

The sun had finally begun to rise when Jade finished the book. “It was all a lie,” she said aloud.

Applejack who had been dozing on and off, turned to look at the unicorn. “What?”

“Lady Frostburn. Lord Starswirl had told me she was The Witch, Tartarusbent on slaying him and deposing Queen Faust. And the book here says that she spent the rest of her days involved in charity and helping the poor; that even now, millennia later, the Frostburn Society is the biggest charity organization in Equestria. But if she was evil as Lord Starswirl said, would she do that?”

“Ah don’t know,” Applejack said. “But you know humans can be that deceptive. Could ponies?”

“No. Whether you say we’re kinder or more naïve than humanity, nopony would do that,” Jade told her, getting off the bed and changing back to her human form. “It means that my master was played for a fool – and he was no fool. Somepony was using Frostburn’s name to commit unspeakable acts against Lord Starswirl and Queen Faust both. Which means the danger is still out there, AJ, and it could be a threat to the Crown and Quee…er, Princess Celestia and her fellow princesses.” She shook her head in bemusement. “Still can’t believe I lived in a time when there was only two alicorns, and now there are four.”

“Times change, Jade.”

“I know. Will you do me a favor? I’m going to write down a letter. Have your friend send it to Princess Celestia and tell her that the letter must only be opened when Equestria is in true peril. I don’t want to ever go back to Equestria, but I am still a Mage of the Crown and I still owe my fealty to Queen Faust. And that means her daughters, too.”

“May I make a suggestion?”

“Sure.”

“Ah’ll give the letter to Sunset. She says she was the student of Princess Celestia, but mah friend Pinkie suspects she’s something more – Pinkie thinks Sunset’s really the daughter of the Princess.”

Jade closed her eyes and felt out with her magic. “There’s a power I’ve never felt in my life not far from here. It feels just as strong – maybe even stronger – than my master. Your friend may be right: only an alicorn could wield such power.”

“Ah know Sunny’s not an alicorn.”

“My master told me that her Divine Majesty once theorized that not all alicorns would come from birth. That if somepony could truly understand all that Equestria was about – to understand on such an intricate and fundamental level – that they would ascend to Godhood. My master said he believed that the Queen was wrong about that.” She shrugged. “But it’s possible he could have been mistaken.”

“Sure, Ah’ll be happy to pass the letter on to Sunny, then.”

“Thanks; I’ll write it just before I get on my flight; it’s not until the afternoon. In the meanwhile, is there a place around here where we can get some food?”

Applejack smiled. “Sure. Ah know this great little café near my high school. Best food around.”

“Lead the way, dear cousin, lead the way,” Jade said with a smile.

Author's Note

And thus it ends!

Thanks for reading, don't forget to tip your waiter, and stuff like that. Have a Happy New Year and see you back on Wednesday when the next chapter of 7DSJ publishes!