After breakfast, Second Sight excused herself to return to her library, and she told Twilight to stop by after noon. Despite Twilight wanting to stay inside and read more of her books, Flash managed to convince her to continue with her flight practice and to read later when they went to the library.

The practice was actually pretty good and thankfully free of interrupting Rainbows. By the end of it, Twilight could now hover fairly well, and was even starting to learn how to move. She still had a problem of putting too much power in her movements, which led to an unfortunate number of collisions with solid objects, including trees and houses, but overall, she was improving very quickly. When Flash pulled her to her hooves, though, she felt every bone in her wings crack, and knew she was going to be very sore tomorrow.

After lunch, Pinkie led the little group to the library, a small, wooden, two-story house. Second Sight must have constructed it herself, because though the building was as new as the other houses in the village, it had a design that was at least fifty years old – at least according to Twilight. The purple alicorn squealed with delight at seeing such architectural history, but when she saw that there were only a few bookshelves inside and most of them were empty, all the joy disappeared.

“I thought there’d be more,” she said, not bothering to hide her pout. Flash tried very hard not to grin.

“Really? I’m surprised there are as many as there are,” Spike said.

“Ah, you young fightin’ types always worry about what weapons to take on your missions and whatnot,” Second Sight said, smiling. “Most ponies don’t think twice about bringing books on the run. We’re just lucky that a couple ‘o Keepers found their way to us and gave me whatever books they could grab. Got about fifty here or so.” She booped Spike right on the nose, causing his eyes to cross. “Never know what you’ll need to research, even in the middle of the nowhere woods.”

Unfortunately, most of the books available were history tomes and children’s stories. There were only three instructions on magic, one for each race of pony. Upon seeing this, Flash offered to donate their stash of books once Twilight finished reading them, which Second Sight greatly appreciated.

“Don’t worry, once she reads a book, it’s in her head forever,” Flash said, smirking, but Twilight was already nose deep in the book about pegasi and paid him absolutely no attention.

After Twilight had examined every book, Second Sight guided them to the basement, revealing a second training area designed especially for unicorn magic. The old mare said that she had improved the wards and protection runes so it could handle anything Twilight could throw at it, meaning she now had a place to practice without fear of property damage. When Flash asked how she managed to get runes on the ceiling, Second Sight just giggled before saying it was a trade secret.

The wards were put to the test almost immediately, as the second Twilight tried to cast anything other than teleportation or levitation, her most practiced spells, the spell would basically explode with far more power than she intended to use. A small flame spell turned into a massive fireball nearly as big as her body. A gentle sphere of light glowed so brightly it almost looked like she had a miniature sun on her head.

Her magic also drained incredibly quickly, so after only half an hour of practice she needed to stop and recover. Thankfully, her recovery was also far quicker than it had been in the past, meaning she was able practice again about three hours later. Second Sight came and watched the second session and pointed out two key factors of her current control problem.

Twilight’s magic now had far less resistance than she was used to, meaning she could call upon it far more quickly, resulting in an overcharge of her normal spells. And while her magic reserves were now bigger than any unicorn, they weren’t nearly as big as normal alicorns. Whether this was because of her age or her method of ascension, Second Sight couldn’t say. As such, she would need to work hard to improve her magic capacity, especially since all branches of her magic drew energy from the same source inside of her.

Thankfully, Twilight’s previous training helped her learn to stem the flow of magic, so soon she could cast basic spells without them overcharging, at least not too much. This skill also proved useful in her flight lessons, as she learned to hold back the magic moving through her wings so she could move much more slowly. She still crashed into things, just not as much or as hard.

The pattern for most of the next week involved flight training in the morning, followed by reading and magic training in the afternoon. There would also be a bit more reading in the evening, but Twilight was usually so worn out from her training that she would usually be more than happy to just go to bed after dinner. Consider how much she loved to read, this was quite the surprise to both Flash and Spike.

While they did have a few more interactions with Fluttershy, Twilight tried to keep interactions with the other villagers to a minimum. This was driven partly by her normal reclusiveness, and the fact that many of they seemed to trust her even less than when she first arrived due to her flare.

On their seventh day in the village, however, Flash left Twilight and Spike under Pinkie’s care as he went to speak with Applejack regarding something important.

“Say what?” Applejack asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the pegasus. She, Flash, Rainbow, and Big Mac were currently standing near the main gate of the village.

“I want to go with you or whoever else helps save the ponies that wander into the forest,” Flash said, keeping his tone and stance firm.

“And why in tarnation do you want to do that?” Applejack asked, her eyes narrowing.

“You have my wingblades,” Flash said. “I need them back. They’re a family heirloom and can’t be replaced. Since you and the others still don’t seem to trust me, I want to prove myself and show that I’m not your enemy.”

“Uh huh,” Applejack said, sounding unconvinced, “And yer just bringing this up now because…”

“Because Pinkie said to give you some time to warm up to me,” Flash said. “But since that doesn’t seem to be working, I thought I’d try a more direct approach.”

“Well, maybe if you stopped hanging out with the alicorn, we’d trust you more,” Rainbow Dash huffed.

“She has a name, Dash,” Flash snapped. “And I will continue to ‘hang out’ with her because it’s my job to protect her. Whether it be from other alicorns or from rude ponies.”

“Enough,” Big Mac said, stepping between Dash and Flash. “Rainbow, we never turn ponies away, and if he’s willing to prove himself, you gotta give him a chance, just like everypony else.”

“But-“

“No buts.”

“Aw, come on!”

“Quite yer whining,” Applejack said. “It’s just one rescue mission, and while ah would rather have him do somethin less dangerous to prove himself trustworthy, he’s probably trained to handle this kinda thing. Besides, I thought you wanted more ponies helpin’ you anyhow.”

“I do, just not this pony,” Dash grumbled, glaring at Flash.

“The feeling is mutual,” Flash assured her, not even bothering to look at the ex-pegasus. “I just want my family’s wingblades back.”

“Show us we can trust ya, and you have a deal,” Applejack said with a nod. “That means ya follow Dash’s orders next time Fluffy comes by, and ya do so without question or hesitation. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Good, cause it looks like you’re about to get your chance,” Applejack said, gesturing to where Fluttershy was approaching. Fluffy was not far behind. “Any news, Shy?”

“Um, yes,” the yellow mare replied. “Fluffy saw two ponies, a filly and a colt, running through the forest. They went through a patch of spikey thorns, so Fluffy couldn’t get them herself. She has their scent though.”

Applejack nodded, looking at Rainbow. “Dash, get yer team ready.” The blue mare nodded before turning and running of towards the training field. Applejack turned back to Flash. “Can ya handle yerself without any weapons?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Flash said with a nod. “I doubt you’d give me a weapon anyway.”

“True,” Applejack said without batting an eye. “That being said, be careful. I may not trust ya yet, but that doesn’t mean I want ya to hurt yourself. Just don’t waste this chance.”

“I don’t intend to,” Flash said, turning away as Rainbow Dash returned with a group of four ponies he’d never seen before: two pegasi, a unicorn, and an earth pony. All of them were clad in wooden armor that seemed much thinner than any armor Flash had seen before. Even Rainbow was wearing a set, and she still had on all six of her knives.

“Light armor,” Big Mac explained. “Lets us move faster and longer. Good for quick rescue missions.”

Flash nodded. Part of the reason he wore a suit as compared to armor was its maneuverability. That, and it gave him the ability to carry a variety of bombs without the extra weight due to magic.

“Do we have time for introductions?” The earth pony mare asked.

“Probably a good idea,” The unicorn, a blue stallion with a dark blue mane and a wooden shield as a cutie mark said before stepping forward. “I’m Shield Bearer.”

The earth pony, who had a brown mane, black coat and a sword as a cutie mark, went next. “I’m Bronze Sword. Pleased to meet you.”

The pegasi stallions were both orange with light purple manes, with one having a cutie mark of a thunder cloud and the other a bolt of lightning.

“I’m Thunder.”

“And I’m Lightning,” the two introduced themselves, looking at Flash with neutral expressions.

“Flash Sentry,” Flash said in introduction, nodding to the others.

With introductions out of the way, Applejack signaled the gate to open. Flash, Rainbow, Fluffy, and the others ponies began moving, dashing into the forest as Fluffy took the lead. Big Mac watched them as they disappeared, only turning away when the gate shut completely.

“Worried?” Applejack asked.

“Enope,” Big Mac replied.

“Me neither.”

“A little surprised you were willing to let him go so easily.”

“He may be a Butler, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a chance. Besides,” she added as she began walking away, “who am I to deny him somethin’ that belongs to his family? Nothin’s more important than family.”

“Enope,” Big Mac agreed, following after his sister.

Half an hour later…

Fluffy finally began to slow down, allowing Flash, Rainbow, and the other ponies to catch up to her. Flash was impressed that no one was winded despite long distance they had covered. Fluffy let out a short growl.

“Not good,” Rainbow muttered.

“What?” Flash asked. “Trouble?”

“Yeah. Fluffy only growls if she’s picked up the scent of ponies other than our targets. Usually Butlers, so we need to be careful.” Rainbow moved ahead of Fluffy.

“Chances are, the Butlers are searching for the escaped ponies,” Bronze Sword. “Although…”

“Fluffy,” Rainbow asked, “are the scents together with the other ponies?” Fluffy growled and thrashed her tail, stomping on the ground once. Rainbow growled. “Buck. We need to move.”

“Isn’t Fluffy coming?” Flash asked, as the manticore wasn’t following them.

“She can’t,” Bronze Sword responded. “She’s too big and makes too much noise. We need to try and rescue the ponies stealthily if possible, so having a large manticore come crashing through the woods won’t work. She’ll find us again once we have the ponies.” Flash nodded and continued to follow. After a few minutes, they began to slow down.

Rainbow motioned them to get down, and they all quickly crouched as low to the ground as possible and began crawling forward. The faint sound of crying reached Flash’s ears, followed by a smack and a wail. Peering out around the tree he was behind, he saw their targets, and their captors.

The filly was a light pink unicorn with a grey mane, and the colt was a grey pegasus with a pink mane. Flash knew enough about pony coloring to know that they were probably siblings. But they were younger than he expected, a lot younger. They didn’t have their cutie marks yet. Sweet Celestia, they weren’t even old enough to earn them!

They were chained to a tree stump with thick metal collars. The colt had a large bruise on his face, but was trying to angle himself between the Butlers and the filly, who was trying to make herself as small as possible. Both of them had tears streaking down their faces. Flash felt his anger growing as seeing such young children in such a state.

The Butlers didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the little ones for the moment. They were arguing about something Flash couldn’t figure out, but with their heads turned towards each other, he could see glowing magic runes on their necks.

“Buck,” he whispered.

“What is it?” Bronze Sword whispered back.

“They’re wearing anti-toxin runes. My sleeper bombs won’t work on them. Actually, most of my bombs won’t,” Flash said, annoyed. “This could be problematic.”

“You have BOMBS!?” she asked in shock. “And Applejack let you KEEP THEM!?”

“I just thought she didn’t know about them,” Flash responded.

“She did,” Rainbow said. “We found them when we searched you, but Applejack let you keep them to see if you would attack us or not. The fact that you haven’t shows we can at least trust you a little bit.”

“Can we focus please,” Shield Bearer said. “This situation isn’t looking good.”

“Ya don’t say,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes and turning her attention back to the group in front of them. “We can’t just attack them. They could use the kids as hostages, or worse, shields. We need a plan.”

“What do you normally do?” Flash asked.

“In cases like this,” Shield Bearer said, “we usually need to wait for them to be distracted so we can get the hostages first, or try and take them out without them realizing it.”

“It won’t be easy though,” Rainbow said. “They’re probably on guard since we are in the Everfree, so I doubt we can just sneak up and unlock the collars.”

“It looks like they have anti-magic locks too,” Shield Bearer said, narrowing his eyes at the collars. “Though it’s hard to tell from this distance.”

“The glow would give you away anyway,” Bronze Sword replied. “And we can’t cut those chains either.”

“Any ideas, newbie?” Thunder asked, but there was only silence. There was suddenly empty space where Flash had been sitting “What the?”

“What the hell is he doing!?” Lightning whispered in alarm, looking up far above the Butlers. Following her eyes, Rainbow swore. While they had been talking, Flash had flown up behind the tree and made his way onto one of the branches extending over the Butlers and foals.

‘Time to improvise,’ Flash thought as he took out a smoke bomb from his suit’s pocket. Grasping it in his wing and taking a deep breath, he jumped off the branch and threw the bomb towards the Butlers. It hit right next to them and exploded in a mass of grey smoke, startling everyone and obscuring the foals from their sight. Flash let gravity plunge him into the smoke where he collided with the first Butler with a solid THUMP, knocking him out instantly.

The second Butler was so disoriented from the smoke that he couldn’t see Flash coming at him with a solid punch. He staggered and tried to retaliate with a spell, but the glow from his horn gave the pegasus the perfect target for a second punch, causing the gathering magic to rebound. The Butler screamed as energy coursed back through him, and Flash silenced him with a sharp buck in the face.

With the Butlers down, Flash pumped his wings to clear the smoke. Despite the cloud’s thickness, it only took a few waves before the smoke was completely gone, revealing him and his work to the other ponies. Rainbow’s team was staring at him slack-jawed, and the foals were staring at him with cautious hope.

“Tada!” Flash exclaimed, unable to hide his smirk.

There was silence for about ten seconds before Bronze Sword spoke.

“Can you come on all our missions?”

Rainbow blinked, shook her head, and glared at Flash. “What the hay was that!? You were supposed to follow my orders, not just rush head long into combat without telling us!”

“And if we kept waiting, the butlers would have eventually started moving, which would have made saving the foals even harder.” Flash said. “I’m sorry I acted on my own, but no one was coming up with a productive plan, so I just acted. Its how I was taught.”

Turning away from Rainbow, who was staring at him in disbelief, Flash quickly searched the Butlers until he found a key ring. He took it toward the two foals, who both flinched. The colt’s wing draped over his sister’s back.

“It’s ok,” Flash said, stopping his approach and lowering his head to their level. “We’re friends. I just want to get those collars off you, then we can take you somewhere you’ll be safe. Is that ok?” The filly looked at him for a bit before she nodded and lowered her head in submission. The colt just kept his eyes on him, but didn’t protest as Flash resumed his approach.

“Boss, what should we do with the Butlers?” Shield Bearer asked as Flash began trying to find the right key for the collars.

“Strip them of their weapons, leave them in the tree, same as always,” Rainbow said.

“The tree?” Flash asked.

“We don’t kill ponies unless absolutely necessary. If they’re Butlers or soldiers, we try to knock them out, take their armor, and leave them somewhere they won’t be killed,” she answered. “We usually leave them in a tree, high enough that predators can’t get at them. Great way to get supplies, and no one dies, so it’s a win-win.” She moved to Flash’s side as he peeled the collar off the colt.

She frowned. “Well, except for stuff like this,” she spat, staring in disgust at the collars. “We normally just throw these out. No point in bring things like that back to the village since we never take prisoners.”

“Except for Twilight?” Flash asked, retrieving a canteen from his suit and handing it to the foals, who quickly took nice, long drinks of water.

“She’s not our prisoner,” Rainbow retorted. “We don’t keep her locked in chains like other alicorns might, and as much as we keep her in the village, she could leave whenever she wanted. It’s not like we could actually stop her.”

“And yet you all still hate her,” Flash said, lifting the filly onto his back while Rainbow took the colt. The foals said nothing as they started walking to the others, and no one in the group wanted to push them to talk. Instead, they passed around their canteens and let the siblings drink their fill.

Rainbow just sighed. “Look,” she said, causing Flash to stop in his tracks. “All of us have had bad experiences with alicorns. We never get ponies from the kind alicorns because they would have no reason to flee to the most dangerous place in Equestria. I lost my WINGS, for buck’s sake. No matter what you say about her, there will always be ponies that see her for her race rather than her personality. We all hate alicorns for the pain they put us through, and the fact is the bad alicorns outweigh the good by a huge margin. So unless she does something truly spectacular for the good of our village, that’s all most ponies will see.”

“You could try getting to know her,” Flash said.

“And maybe one day I will. But right now, the only thing I can think of when I see her is that she has wings. Wings that I had to lose to an axe by another alicorn. You can’t just expect me to be all buddy-buddy with her when every time I see her I’m just reminded of what I lost.”

“I didn’t think you would hold it against her what another did.”

“I don’t blame her for my wings being cut off if that’s what you mean. Seeing her just reminds me that alicorns in general are why we’re all here to begin with. Call me racist if you want, but that’s just how I feel.”

“I understand.” Flash said, turning to look back at the other ponies. The Butlers had been completely stripped of gear, which must have had glamour spells set on because one now had a red mane and an orange coat and the other had a black mane and a yellow coat. The team had hoisted them up in a tree, unharmed (aside from Flash’s bruises), but the pegasi were grinning widely as they showed off the beautiful braid they made of the Butler’s tails. Even Rainbow laughed at that one.

With that done, the group began going back the way they came. By the time they found Fluffy again, the foals had fallen asleep. As they followed the manticore back to the village, the earth pony looked at Flash.

“Hey, newbie?" Bronze Sword asked.

“Just Flash please.”

“Ok, Flash then. I was just wondering – why did you ask to come with us? I thought you were helping the purple alicorn learn to fly?”

“She knows enough now that she just needs to practice. Plus, I thought it would be a good time for her to learn about earth pony magic, and I can’t help with that. Other than that, I simply came because I need my wingblades back.”

“You said they’re a family heirloom, right?” Rainbow asked. “Who exactly did they belong to?”

“My father,” Flash asked. “They were custom-made using a bit of thunderstone he found as a child, and they were given to me by…my mother when he passed on.”

“Thunderstone?” Rainbow asked in shock. “That stuff’s super rare. I doubt even Cloudsdale would have enough to make a set of wingblades out of it. Where the heck did he find it!?”

“It, apparently, was just sitting in a hole near his home when he was a kid, or so the story goes,” Flash said, shrugging. “I never had a chance to ask him about it before he died, and mom didn’t know the whole story.”

“Ummm…” Bronze muttered. “What’s thunderstone?”

“A rare mineral that can create its own electricity,” Flash said. “If used in a weapon, it lets the user channel lightning, no matter their race, and use it as a weapon. Though only pegasi can use it if it’s crafted into wingblades. Not even alicorns can use them, mainly because their wings are too big. Wingblades attach at the wing joint, so an alicorn would most likely just end up stabbing their own wing if they tried to use a pegasus sized pair. I doubt there was ever a chunk of thunderstone big enough to make an alicorn-sized pair though.”

“And you know how to use them safely?”

“It was one of the first things I was taught after I received them from my mother. Although it was one of Celestia’s Butlers that taught me, seeing as they had more experience with wingblades in general.”

Their conversation then lapsed into silence for a bit, the only noises being the crunch of their hooves and Fluffy’s paws on the forest floor and the foals’ soft breathing. About an hour later, the group arrived at the village. Dash signaled the gatekeeper, and soon the gate opened to revel Applejack, Big Mac, Fluttershy, Second Sight, and a few other guards. Once inside, the gate closed again as Applejack spoke.

“Any problems?”

“Two Butlers,” Rainbow said, earning a scowl from Applejack. “Good news though, Mister Alicorn Protector over there took them out without them even seeing him. Was reckless and stupid, but it got the job done.”

“Just like you, aye, youngin’?” Second Sight said, smirking, making Rainbow glare and most of the surrounding ponies chuckle.

“Either way, a deal’s a deal,” Applejack said, nodding to a nearby pony, who ran off and returned a minute later with a small chest. In that time, Second Sight took the two foals from Rainbow and Flash, saying she would look after them until a more permanent family could be found.

Applejack pulled out Flash’s wingblades out of the chest. The blades looked like every other pair of wingblades, except for their odd yellow-green tint, and as the orange mare held them, there was a sudden blue dot on the left blade, but it vanished before she could tell if it was actual electricity or a trick of the light. She shook her head and looked at him with a questioning glance.

“I’m deciding to put a bit a trust in ya,” she said, handing him the blades. “Don’t make me regret it.”

“I won’t,” Flash said, taking the blades and quickly attaching them to his wings. Almost immediately the blades glowed with electricity, but that was quickly snuffed out as he retracted the blades, using a feather to hit a small switch. “Thank you for returning them.”

Applejack nodded before turning around. However, before she could take more than three steps, a flash of green light illuminated the town.

“Of course,” Flash muttered as he dashed after the other ponies already running for the commotion.

A bit earlier…

“And I said ‘Oatmeal? Are you crazy!?’ And then…”

“Pinkie?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“What does this have to do with my question? At all?”

“Oh, ummmm… what was your question again?” Pinkie asked, smiling sheepishly.

Twilight facehoofed.

The two of them were currently standing near the garden at the west side of the village. While much of the ponies’ food was gathered from foraging in the forest, the town did have a decent sized farm within the walls. They grew a large variety of crops and even had an apple tree, but Twilight couldn’t help but notice that most of the plants looked more than a bit wilted, a big difference compared to the vibrant crops in Lady Celestia and Lady Luna’s farms.

“She asked you to try and explain earth pony magic,” Spike reminded her. “With Flash talking to Applejack, she wanted to see if you could teach her about earth pony magic since you’re the only earth pony that seems to trust her right now.”

“Oh, right!” Pinkie said, smiling. “Welllllll, truth be told, it’s really really really hard to actually describe earth pony magic, at least outside increased strength and stamina.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“It’s like…we just feel the connection to the earth, and then we use it, like them,” Pinkie said, pointing to a group of ponies currently standing near the watermelon plants. “They’re calling on the earth to help the plants grow. It’s why we can grow as much as we can and why we can survive out here. It’s hard with all the miasma magic around, but we can make it work.”

Looking closer, Twilight could have sworn she could actually see the ponies’ hooves glow, magic flowing out of them and into the plant, but the moment she tried to focus on it, it seemed to disappear.

“Ok, I get it, I think. But how do I use it?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Pinkie said sadly. “It’s different for everypony. You just need to find the connection and try to put magic into it. There’s… no real way I can put it in words. I’m sorry I can’t be more help…”

“It’s ok,” Twilight said. “This is a rather understudied field of magic. Maybe I just need to try it and see what happens.” She walked over to a small raspberry bush.

“Just be careful, Twilight,” Spike said, backing up to give her some room.

“I’ll be fine, Spike,” Twilight said.

‘I hope,’ she thought.

Closing her eyes, Twilight reached within herself, trying to find the aspect of her magic related to the earth, just like she had done a week prior with pegasus magic. While she could sense it like the pegasus magic, she couldn’t seem to grasp it. It was…slippery, in a sense, constantly evading and dodging her touch.

“Don’t try to force it,” Pinkie called out. “Earth pony magic works through trust. You can’t force plants to do anything, you need to ask and then provide energy as a trade.”

Trust? Twilight didn’t quite understand, but maybe…

Unicorn magic involved grabbing your own magic source and forcing it into your horn. Pegasus magic was similar, only with wings. She had been trying to force her earth pony magic into her hooves the same way, so she backed off and instead tried to coax the magic to move. It felt more than a little funny, like she was a parent trying to encourage a child to walk, but the magic did respond after a moment and began to flow towards her hooves. Once it pooled there, Twilight tried to have it form a connection with the ground.

It worked.

And Twilight immediately regretted it.

The magic was all wrong! Tainted! Corrupt! BROKEN! It hurt, physically hurt to just keep the connection, but she couldn’t let go. She could feel the real magic down there somewhere, but it was smothered by all the WRONG! She had to help it, she had to FIX IT!

Something shouted in her ear, but she ignored it. The earth needed her. She had to help. All the plants around her cheered her on as she freed them from the taint. She sucked in the WRONG, held onto it, gave the plants the energy to repair their damage. She couldn’t stop. She WOULDN’T! She had to help them! She–

The connection was suddenly broken, sending Twilight reeling in pain until she hit the ground. Her stomach wouldn’t stop reeling, and she knew she needed a bucket, but she couldn’t find the strength to look for one. Her magic, her unicorn magic, latched onto the first bucket-shaped thing she could sense and dragged it over as she began to vomit. She felt hooves touch her, smoothing her mane, but all she cared about was ridding herself of the pain.

“I can’t leave you alone for even an hour, can I?” Flash asked, deliberately lightly, rubbing Twilight’s back as she continued to puke.

“S-Shudup,” she muttered. Her tongue felt tangled in her mouth, but before she could straighten it out, she was vomiting again. At least this last bout seemed to be the end; her stomach was calming down.

Twilight opened her eyes, and immediately wished she hadn’t. Normal vomit would be bad enough to look at, but the bucket was filled with something that looked like black tar. A substance that had been in her mouth and probably still was.

“That doesn’t look good,” Spike muttered.

Before she could react or freak out, the Element of Magic suddenly began to glow. A single pink beam fired out of the gem, striking the black tar. The tar let off a primal screech, almost as if trying to resist, but it quickly dissolved under the light. The beam then flew into Twilight’s mouth, making her cough, but she felt the gunk in her throat dissolve too.

I would not advise doing that again, and also putting a hold on your earth pony training until you find cleaner land to work with. You’re still young, so trying to clean the land will result in you expelling the corrupt magic in rather...unpleasant ways. I would rather you not suffer any more.

Twilight was about to respond when she heard Applejack speak.

“What in blazes did you DO!?” she exclaimed in shock.

Confused, Twilight looked up from her bucket and went slack-jawed at what she saw. All the plants were now the healthiest plants she’d ever seen. There were no brown or dying limbs. All the crops looked ready to be harvested, and there was more than enough food for everyone in the village. Even the small apple tree was now fully grown, towering over them with branches filled to the brim with fresh fruit.

“I-I did this?” she whispered in shock.

“Yeah,” Pinkie said nodding excitedly. “It was cool! But also a bit scary. You were just standing there, then you started to glow green, and this dark stuff started coming out of the plants, but your green light just got brighter and you started absorbing the black stuff, and the more you absorbed the healthier the plants got, but you started to look sick, then Flashie came and picked you up, then you stopped, then you got sick, then you asked if you did this and I said—“

“I think she gets it Pinkie,” Spike said, placing a claw over her mouth. “Still, it was pretty cool. But Twilight…what exactly happened?”

“I…I used earth pony magic, I think,” she said, looking down.

“Your earth pony magic did all this?” Applejack asked, still in shock. “But how? We’ve never been able to do this, even with all of us together!”

“I.. don’t even know WHAT I did. But when I connected, everything just felt… it just felt so WRONG!” She shook her head. “The magic was buried beneath this…I don’t even know. But it just felt so wrong, and I just started trying to fix it. And the more I did, the more I felt like the plants were cheering me on. I can’t even explain it, and I don’t think I would have stopped if Flash hadn’t helped me.”

“Weird,” Spike said.

“On the plus side,” Flash said, “it looks like food won’t be a problem any time soon.”

“If we don’t get caught because of her little light show,” Rainbow said, glaring at Twilight. “Seriously, you create any more bright flashes of light and we may as well just put a big sign saying ‘We are here!’”

“What is your problem?” Twilight replied, returning her glare. “I’d be in just as much trouble as you if we were found, and it’s not my fault that this keeps happening to me. How would you react if you suddenly had body parts and magic you’ve never had before?”

“If it got me to fly again, I wouldn’t care less. But I would at least move away from other ponies if I was gonna be constantly exploding.”

“Why do hate me so much!? I’m not like the other alicorns and you know it. I used to be just like the rest of you!”

“NO, YOU DIDN’T!” Rainbow screamed.

Everyone flinched. Rainbow panted for a few second before taking a deep breath and continuing in a much calmer, but bitterer tone.

“You used to look like us physically, but you still didn’t understand us. Just like the other alicorns, you STILL don’t understand us. You witnessed your dad being beaten in public. That was horrible, no question, but so what?”

Twilight’s eyes widened.

“I lost my wings after spending my life being told how I was inferior, then spent a month rotting in a cell, being treated like nothing more than livestock. When I broke out, Fluttershy was nothing but skin and bones because she gave all her food to other ponies so they would have the strength to survive. We’ve spent the last twelve years living in probably one of the most dangerous places in Equestria just to escape being locked up again.

“You have ONE story to tell. One truly hard moment where you experience something horrific and wrong. But then you went and had a great life for the last twelve years.” Rainbow snorted. “You don’t know what hardship is, and you have no idea what it’s like to be the rest of us. So don’t pretend like you do.”

And with her piece said, Rainbow turned and trotted away, the small gathered crowd parting for her as she went.

Author's Note

I always loved the idea of Earth Pony magic being able to assist in plant growth, rather than just be this unseen force that makes earth ponies stronger. And based on the newest episode and what happened with those two trees, I think i can get away with it.

Now to address a big question I foresee myself being asked: Why bring up Flash's wingblades seven chapters in? In short, their a cool weapon that will play a role later when we meet his mother. Why hasn't he used them? There was no need in Celestia and Luna's area, using lightning isn't stealthy, so he didn't use them in the prison because they were trying to be stealthy, and then he had them taken when they entered the forest.

I also hope what I had Rainbow saying makes sense here. She dislikes seeing Twilight because it reminds her about the pain everyone of them has gone through, even if she didn't cause any of it, and she doesn't understand them because she has lived a good life for years while they've had to suffer and survive.

As for the foals, they will be introduced more in the next chapter. So for now, enjoy and let me know what you all think.

Next time: Once upon a time...