Chapters Storms and secret origins
“See yah Twi, Sunset!”, Applejack bid farewell to her friends as she headed home from school. The blond girl held her hat close to her head as the wind started to pick up and the sky above became overcast. A storm was brewing.
“Hoo-boy.” She muttered. “Maybe Ah shouldah gone with Big Mac earlier.”
Fortunately, the storm didn’t start until after Applejack got home, but once it did it poured with a vengeance.
Applejack had stayed late to help her friends work on the yearbook, so she wasn’t shocked that her brother had already been home for a couple of hours. What did surprise her was that her sister, Applebloom had yet to return.
“Hey Big Mac, didn’t Bloom get a ride with you?”
“Enope.”
“Huh… Maybe she’s out with her friends.”
Some time passed and by Seven, both siblings were starting to feel concerned. The heavy rainfall and wind made it almost impossible to see. Applejack was sitting on the couch near the window hoping to spot her sister. Her Grandmother walked into the living room folding an apron in her hands.
“Is Applebloom home yet? She ain’t called or nuthin’.”
“No Granny, she ain’t answerin’ her phone either and none of mah friends’ve seen her!” Applejack said peering out the window into the storm. “Where the hay is she?” she wondered.
Not five minutes later did she get her answer. Thanks to a bolt of lightning illuminating everything she Applebloom running towards the house covered in mud.Applejack breathed a sigh of relief… for about half a second.
Just as Applebloom was about to pass the last tree outside the house, the sky lit up once again. The tree lost its grip on the ground and gave in to the force of the wind. The entire bulk of it fell over toward Applejack’s sister.
“APPLEBLOOM!” she cried. Her younger sister threw her arms over her head and screamed as she braced for the impact. But it never came.
Applebloom looked up. Standing above her was Applejack, holding the tree up with her bare hands. Before either of them could say a word another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. The remains of the tree trunk shattered to splinters as the electricity coursed through it. Applejack, however remained entirely unharmed.
The two sisters hurried indoors, soaked to the bone. As soon as they were inside, Big Mac scooped up Applebloom in a hug and refused to let go for several seconds. Granny Smith grabbed her granddaughters.
“Are yah both alright?” she asked, a look of concern etched into her face. When both girls nodded she continued. “Good. Now what in tarnation were yah doin’ out in the middle of a storm like this Applebloom?!”
“Sorry Granny, Ah was at the theater with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. When Ah left it hadn’t started rainin’ yet and Ah thought Ah could get here before it did.”
“Why didn’t yah answer yer phone?” asked Applejack. In response Applebloom held up her cell.
“The battery’s almost dead so Ah turned it off.” She said with a nervous grin.
“Well, it don’t matter none.” Said Granny Smith “Just so, long as yah don’t pull nothin’ like that again.”
“Eeyup.” Chimed in Big Mac.
“Okay.” Applebloom said lowering her head a bit. She then turned to her older sister. “Thanks for the save Applejack. That was really cool what yah did back there.”
“heh. Shucks, It was nothin’.” Applejack shrugged. “Ah couldn’t’ve done it without mah…” Her hand reached up to the gemstone she always carried with her, only to realize: she wasn’t wearing it. She’d taken it off when she got home.
“That ain’t right.” She muttered to herself, drawing the attention of the others. “Ah shouldn’t’ve been able tah do that without the gem.”
The more Applejack thought, the more inconsistencies jumped into her mind. That tree had been a good hundred feet from the house. How had she reached it so quickly. She’d never demonstrated speed like that before. In fact, she barely remembered leaving the house.
“How… How did Ah do that?”
Granny Smith opened her mouth as if to speak, but quickly seemed to reconsider. But, it wasn’t quite quick enough.
“Granny? Do yah know somethin’ about this?”
Applejack’s grandmother looked at the three siblings. And with a deep breath she spoke.
“Tomorrow, when the storm clears out, there’s somethin’ I gotta show yah. All three of yah.”
What followed was an awkward dinner with only the storm outside punctuating the silence. Afterwards, Granny went to sleep early, and the three siblings soon followed suit.
Applejack put her little sister to bed but found herself unable to sleep. She sat awake for what felt like days but was probably only few hours. She thought about contacting her friends, but Granny Smith had promised an explanation of some sort tomorrow. If that didn’t cast any light on things, then she’d talk to the others.
The next morning, Saturday, everyone in the Apple household was up before the sun rose. Applejack wanted to get down to business immediately, but Granny Smith insisted that they eat something first.
Everyone sat around the table, Big Mac helping himself to an enormous stack of pancakes and Applebloom a slightly smaller one. Applejack, however, wasn’t particularly hungry at the moment. After about 5 minutes of listening to the rest of her family chew she snapped.
“Ah can’t take it anymore!” she exclaimed, “Granny, you said yah had something’ to show us. Yah said it all serious-like, like it was somethin’ real important. Well what is it?”
Granny Smith rose from her seat. She motioned for the others to follow her and began walking. Applejack and the others followed, right out the door and into the barn.
“Uh, Granny?” inquired Applebloom, “what are we doin’ here?”
Rather than answer, the elderly woman turned to her eldest granddaughter.
“A long time ago, Ah promised yer parents Ah’d tell yah all about this when ya’ll where old enough…”
“Uh, Granny yah don’t need to tell me nuthin’ about that!” shouted Applejack, a terrified look on her face. Behind her, Big Mac turned beet red, and Applebloom just looked confused.
“Not that.” Granny Smith deadpanned, much to everyone’s relief. “Like Ah said, Ah promised to tell you this but with all the shenanigans whats been goin’ on lately ah sorta put it off. This is somethin’ that happened right about eighteen years ago now.”
“Buttercup was expectin’ her first baby and was due any day now. Yer Pa was practically explodin’ just from worryin’. They had everythin’ planned out for the big day. They were ready fer anything, ‘cept of course her kid had to go and pop out in the middle of the craziest blizzard in years. After a couple of hours Bright Mac and Buttercup had themselves a brand-new baby boy.”
“Wait a second Granny.” Interrupted Big Mac, “Ah thought Applejack and Ah were twins. Whaddya mean they only had a boy?”
“I’m gettin’ tah that. Just hold yer horses. Anyways, not to long after we heard a loud crashin’ sound from outside, like the whole dang barn had collapsed. The next mornin’ yer Pa went to check out the damage. Few minutes later he comes rushin’ back in. His face looked like he’d seen a ghost and his coat was off and wrapped around somethin’ in his arms.”
“What was it!” cried Applebloom.
“It was a baby girl, with blond hair. Yer Ma took one look at her and named her Applejack.”
“Wait, what?!” Applejack shouted, scaring some nearby chickens. “If Ah wasn’t born here, then where the hay did I come from?”
The oldest Apple walked over to the far corner of the barn and the others trailed behind. She pushed aside a large crate to reveal a hidden trapdoor. At her prompting Applejack lifted it up. Underneath was a metallic cylinder, about four feet long and two feet wide.
“Ya came from that.”
Author's Note
Have you ever noticed how much Applejack and Superman have in common? Super strong orphans who grew up on farms and eventually joined a team of seven super-powered individuals? That can't be a coincidence.
Revelations and conversations
“Whaddya mean Ah came from this?” asked Applejack. “Yah expect me tah believe that Ah just… just fell out of the sky in some kind of… what the hay is this thing anyway?”
Granny Smith sat down a crate to rest her knees.
“Well,” she began “Ah don’t rightly know. When Bright Mac found yah, there was only two other things inside.”
She motioned for Applejack to open a hatch in the side of the container. Inside was a crystal sitting on a folded red cloth.
“We weren’t exactly sure what this was.” Granny continued as she picked up the contents of the container, “but we figured it was probably important.”
She handed the bundle to her granddaughter. Applejack reached out a hand and picked up the glowing rock. In an instant she found herself in a white room lit by an unknown source. To her right was a large window. Applejack walked over and saw that it overlooked a massive city. Ships like she’d only seen in science fiction soared across the sky. On the horizon a massive red sun sank out of sight.
“What… Where am Ah?”
“You have grown so much my dear.” A British-sounding voice came from behind her. Applejack spun around, raising her hands to defend herself. Before her stood two figures, a man and a woman, in robes emblazoned with an “S” symbol.
“Who are yah!? Where am Ah!?” the girl demanded. The woman stepped forward, smiling.
“You are still where you were a moment ago, this is only a mental projection contained inside the crystal you hold. As for who we are, we are your parents. I am Lara and this is your father Jor-El”
Applejack wanted to respond. She should have retorted, but somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. The man, Jor-El, began to speak.
“This is Krypton,” he said, gesturing out the window, “the planet where you were born.”
“No, no, no, no” Applejack waiving her hands in denial, “What the hay are yah talking about? Why am Ah here? Ah’m from Earth, not… Krypton or wherever the hay this is!”
“Perhaps this will help.” Jor-El raised his hand and the scene around them changed. They were now in some sort of laboratory.
“What is this?”
Another Lara and Jor-El were walking toward a capsule of some sort.
“This is a recording from the day it happened.” Replied Jor El, “I had discovered that our planet’s core had become unstable and would soon result in the entire world’s destruction. The Kryptonian high council refused to authorize an evacuation, and I did not have time to build a full-sized ship.”
Behind them, the other Lara was holding a small bundle close to her chest.
“Tell me again it’s the only way ” She said.
“It is the only way” replied the other Jor-El.
“All we had was my prototype, large enough only for one person.”
“And we decided that if we could only save one person, it would be our daughter.” Lara lowered her head
“Goodbye App-El, all our hopes and dreams go with you”
The recording faded, and Applejack found herself again in the white room.
“No.” Applejack stepped back. “No! You’re lyin’. You’re Lyin’!”
“Applejack!” a voice called out to her.
Applejack dropped the crystal and the world of Krypton flashed out of existence as she found herself back in the barn. The wall before her had a massive hole through which her fist now protruded. She turned and faced her family. All four of them stood in silence for a moment.
“Applejack,” Applebloom said quietly, “What happened? Yah’ve been standin’ there for hours.”
“I… I…” instead of continuing, Applejack pushed her way past and began to run. She closed her eyes and charged blindly out of the barn. It didn’t matter where she went, she just needed to get away. Finally, atop a hill at the edge of the Apple’s property she stopped.
The hours passed, and the sun moved across the sky. Applejack sat and stared out at the horizon in silence. At least, it began as silence gradually she became aware of minor noises. Insects, birds, cows, cars, someone talking in the distance: all growing louder and louder until it all overwhelmed her.
“Shut Up!” she cried, holding her hands over her ears and crouching over. “Just shut up.”
A familiar set of footsteps approached and stood down next to her. Without even looking, she knew who it was.
“Go away Big Mac.” Instead her brother sat down beside her.
“Do yah remember that time Mom and Dad took us campin’ an’ yah got scared cuz a the storm?” He asked.
Applejack’s mouth remained shut.
“Do yah remember what they said?”
Applejack looked up as Big Mac continued.
“They said it don’t matter what’s wrong, yer family’s always gonna be there tah help yah through it.” He reached over and mussed up his sister’s hair. “What did yah see?”
“Big Mac, I think Ah might be,” she hesitated for a moment, “an alien... with superpowers.”
“Huh. What else?” Applejack stared for a moment and her mouth dropped open.
“Seriously ‘what else?’ that’s it? Yer not surprised at all? Yah don’t think that’s weird at all?”
“Enope.” Macintosh said with a shrug, “Magic exists. We’ve both seen it. So why not aliens?” Applejack coulnd’t help but chuckle at the frankness of his response.
“Ah guess yah got a point there. But, Ah just found out that mah whole life’s been a lie.”
“Really? Granny, Applebloom, n’ me? Yer friends, an’ everythin’ yah’ve ever done?” None a’ that was real?”
Applejack sat in silence once more and then began. She told Big Mac everything she’d been told by the Kryptonian recording.
“So, yah gonna tell yer friends about all this?”
“I dunno. *heh* I can see Twilight’s face now. She’d go completely nuts.”
“Eeyup.”
It was getting late now. Applejack had spent nearly the entire day out here, too shaken to return home. Her brother rose to his feet.
“Ah know this is weird for yah. But no matter where yah came from, remember we’re your family and we all love yah, no matter what.” With that he began to head back towards the house. Applejack got up to follow him but tripped walking down the hill. Her eyes snapped shut as the ground rose to meet her, but nothing happened. Applejack opened her eyes a crack to find herself floating about 3 feet off the ground.
“Well, that’s new.”
Author's Note
I had a bit of trouble with the dialogue on this one. I hope it turned out okay.
A few days later…
“Augh! Mah eyes!” Applejack stood in the bathroom at Canterlot High. Monday had arrived and another new ability seemed to be rearing its ugly head. The blond girl clawed at her face as if she could rip the memory from her mind though sheer force.After a moment she straightened out and took a deep breath.
“It’s alright” She mumbled to herself. “Ah just have to stay away from him fer a while. He doesn’t know. Ugh, but why him of all people?”
Other than that one little... incident the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Both Big Mac and Applebloom had agreed to keep the weekend's revelations to themselves (of course Macintosh probably would’ve kept quiet regardless). Applejack sat with her friends at lunch as usual but kept silent while the conversation whirled around her.Granny Smith had given her a questioning look as if to ask if she had told the others yet. In response she’d simply looked down and shrugged.
“Are you alright Applejack?” She looked up to see Sunset Shimmer’s concerned face staring back.
“Ah’m fine. I guess. Why do yah ask?”
“Well, the expression on your face for one.” Began Sunset, “Also it’s been almost ten minutes and the apple on your tray is still in one piece.”
Applejack chuckled a bit to herself. But she soon adopted a more serious expression.
“Sunset. If you found out sumthin’ about yerself that yah didn’t know before, would yah tell us?”
“I don’t really know.” her friend replied, brushing a strand of her red and gold hair out of her face. “What kind of thing do you mean?”
“Ah mean... that is...”Applejack struggled to express herself without flat out saying what had happened that weekend. “Sumthin’ that completely changed the way yah thought about yerself.”
“Well... I guess I never really thought about it. But Applejack, if something’s bothering you, you can tell us anything.”
Applejack held up her hand and massaged her temples. Suddenly, her newly sharpened hearing sensed a voice approaching.
“Oh no.” she whispered. “Ah’ve gotta go!”
She stood up to leave but was blocked by a cloud of pink hair.
“What are you talking about Applejack!” Pinky Pie more shouted than asked.
“Pinky Ah really need tah get outta here!” He was getting closer “Please?”
“Awww. What’s wrong?”
“Uh... Look a distraction!”
“WHERE?!” As soon as Pinky’s head was turned Applejack bolted, careful not to use her super speed.
“Uggh. What’s taking her so long?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, sinking back in her seat at Sugarcube Corner. She and the others were waiting for Applejack to arrive, but she was late.
“I hope nothing bad happened.” Said Fluttershy “Oh dear. What if she got hurt on her way here?”
“Oh don’t worry darling” chimed in Rarity “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation that doesn’t involve anyone being injured.”
“She seemed kind of worried about something earlier” said Sunset, finishing off the soda in front of her. “I hope everything’s alright”
“Why didn’t you just do your mind-meld mumbo jumbo to figure out what was going on?” asked Rainbow
“Rainbow, I can’t just read people’s minds anytime they don’t feel like talking. How would you feel if I did that to you?”
The spectrum haired teen pondered for a moment.
“Weeeellll, I guess you have a point. But still, what’s taking her so long?”
Twilight, who’d remained silent for this whole exchange, suddenly noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head just in time to see a car flying toward the window the six girls sat next to.
“Look Out!”
Applejack pulled a red hoodie over her shirt. Luckily she’d thought to throw it in her book bag this morning before she left home. Seriously, it was almost May and yet the temperature had dropped to almost forty in just twenty four hours. The forecast even called for snow later in the week.
“Yah know,” She thought to herself, “yah’d think that with the super strength an the flyin’ an all, Ah wouldn’t get cold so easy.”
She stopped. Flying. She hadn’t tried since she’d discovered she could, and even then it was only about a foot off the ground. Applejack checked her phone. She still had about ten minutes before she needed to meet the others at Sugarcube corner. Pulling her hood tighter over her head, she ducked into an alley.
“Alright, so how do Ah do this?” Applejack held one hand up into the air clench in a fist and closed her eyes, “Up, up, and Away!” she shouted. When her eyes opened she was still firmly planted on the ground. “Ah, told Big Mac that wouldn’t work.
Maybe Ah hafta tah jump first tah get started.”
With this thought in mind, she crouched down with one hand on the asphalt beneath her. She took a deep breath, and leapt.
The air blew past her face and, Applejack looked down to find that roof of the nearest building was nearly thirty feet below her… and rapidly getting nearer.
“Oh No! Nononono!” Applejack shut her eyes again. “STOP!”
No impact. She cracked open her eyelids and peered before her. She’d stopped mere inches from the surface below.
“Alright. Higher.” She thought. As she did so, Applejack felt herself begin to rise. She flailed her arms and legs a bit in an attempt to right herself. Finally, right side up she could see people running back and forth beneath her and it dawned on her.
She could fly. She could fly under her own power. She had floated a bit before, all her friends had, but never for more than a few seconds and definitely not on her own. The excitement built up inside until suddenly she let it all out.
“YEEHAW!!!” Applejack cried out as she took off. Without any particular destination in mind, she soared up into the clouds. She circled above Canterlot City twice before coming to a stop on the roof of a skyscraper. A few pigeons flew past and a thought occurred to her.
“*Heh* Ain’t Rainbow gonna jealous when she finds out about this” Wait a second. “Aw, Shoot!” Her ten minutes early had turned into nearly twenty minutes late. She zoomed off in the direction of the diner.
She began to slow down as she arrived a few minutes later. With any luck, the others would still be here. The blond girl came in for a landing about a block away and narrowly avoided a face-first arrangement with the pavement.
“Ah’ll have tah work on that” She thought as she rounded the corner, just in time to see a car about to nose dive into Sugarcube Corner.
Stormy Skies had not had a good day. He’d gotten stuck in traffic this morning, arrived at work late, his boss yelled at him, and the breakroom was out of coffee.Someone up there clearly had it out for him, and was trying to make him suffer.
His thoughts were a little preoccupied so he wasn’t exactly thinking straight when he rounded the corner. At fifty-two miles an hour. And hit a pot hole.
His vehicle flipped through the air. The building before him loomed in his vision.
And then he stopped.
Stormy looked up. He was definitely still in the air. Just a couple of feet before him was the window of a café of some kind. In the reflection he could see: a girl holding up his car.
Applejack's heart beat faster than a spooked rabbit. She set the car down and its driver crawled out.
“You, You saved my life” he said, eyes wide.
“Shucks. Errr, that is, It was nothing, uh, citizen.” Applejack stumbled trying to hide her accent. She heard voices behind her. Already a dozen or so people were gathered around and, of course, most of them had their phones out. Mentally Applejack was grateful she still had her hood drawn tightly over her face. In all the times she and her friends had used magic their faces had (somehow) never ended up online and she wasn’t about to let it happen now. Even so this was a little close for comfort. She bent her knees and took to the skies once more.
Not long afterwards Twilight, Sunset and the rest received a message from Applejack. She asked them all to meet her at her place. Soon all six arrived at her front door where they were greeted by her grandmother.
“Hi Granny Smith!” exclaimed Pinky Pie. “Is Applejack here?”
“Well, Ah reckon she’s out back with the chickens. Yah want me tah get her?”
“No thanks.” Replied Sunset, “we’ll just go back there.”
The group made their way around to were the poultry was kept only to find their friend was not there.
“Applejack!” Shouted Rainbow Dash. “Where are you?”
“Up here Y’all” replied a voice from above. The girls looked up to see Applejack descending towards them. When she landed there was a moment of silence, followed by a barrage of questions.
“How?!”
“What?!”
“How did you..?!”
“Huh?!”
“What?! What?! What?!”
“Does anyone else want pancakes?”
When everyone had calmed down Applejack relayed the story her grandmother had told, followed by the information from the Kryptonian crystal. When she stopped Sunset just looked confused.
“Applejack, was that what you were talking about earlier?”
“Well, yeah,” Said Applejack with a shrug.
“You know, you didn’t have to be so worried. I mean after all, I’m basically an alien.” Applejack did a double take before it hit her.
“Oh yeah… fergot about that. Wait what did yah think Ah was talkin’ about?”
“Um, it’s not important.”
“But it’s still super awesome!” Rainbow cut in. “Ooh! Do you have any other powers besides flying?”
“Well so far there’s super strength, speed, hearin’” she counted them off on her fingers while just behind Rainbow Twilight was taking furious notes. “and uh, well, X-ray vision.”
“What was that?”
“X-ray vision.”
“Sorry, one more time?”
“X-Ray Vision, Alright?!” Everyone stopped and stared. Fluttershy’s face turned scarlet. Pinkie held a hand to her chin and looked suspicious.
“Wait a second. Is that why you got all freaked out when Microchips came over at lunch?” she inquired. Applejack pulled her hat over her face.
“It was an accident.”
Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to explode laughing. Then she did.
“Oh my god! You totally used X-ray vision on Microchips! Hahahaha!”
Applejack prayed that invisibility was one of her powers.
“Yah know, Ah imagined this going a lot of ways. This was not one a them.”
Author's Note
Yay, a new chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it.
Let me know if you liked it. Let me know if you didn't like it. Be sure to tell me any ways I can improve!
Who do you think should be the first villain SuperAJ faces? I've got a couple of ideas but I'd like to see what you think.
Contemplation and Infiltration
High above the earth, a meteor enters the atmosphere. No larger than a baseball, most debris of this size burns up or breaks apart upon entry. But the purple glow surrounding this visitor from space proves it to be no ordinary rock. A mere few seconds later and the object impacts the planet’s surface. After a moment of sitting, the meteorite begins to hiss. Three glowing circles appear on its surface and a series of short tentacles sprout from underneath.
“Power online
Planetary landfall achieved
Power levels: 18.5%
Resources: currently unavailable
Conclusion: host required
Scanning nearby area
Sentient technology: unknown
Sentient organics: confirmed
Seeking most intelligent sentient ”*
*Translated into English
And the probe crawls its way into the night, towards the lights of a nearby city.
“…It was nothing, uh, citizen.” The cellphone footage concluded with Applejack flying off before the camera lost track of her. A series of recommended videos appeared all claiming to prove the existence of the supernatural.
“Have you ever noticed that videos like this always have titles like ‘totally real 100% true absolute proof’?” Rainbow Dash leaned back from the table where she and the others were watching the events of earlier that week.
“Speaking of which,” Began Sunset, “I’m surprised there are no videos of us anywhere. How is that even possible? Literally everyone in this school owns a phone!”
Twilight immediately jumped in her seat.
“Actually, I have a theory about that!” Pushing her glasses up her nose she continued, “From what I’ve been able to tell, whenever one of us uses our powers it reverses the polarity of the neutron flow in the immediate area. This creates a sort of magical EMP that temporarily disables nearby electronics.”
“But Twilight,” Fluttershy spoke up, “Before you moved to Canterlot high, Sunset ran a lot of tests on us to try and figure out how our magic works. And, well, all the machines she used worked just fine then.”
Twilight’s shoulders slumped slowly.
“Oh…”
“Don’t worry Twilight!” Pinky cheerfully exclaimed, “You’re Waaay overthinking this. There’s a very simple explanation: it’s just the writers being lazy!”
“What are you…” Before Twilight could get any further, Applejack sat down and peered over Sunset’s shoulder at her phone.
“Another one?” she asked. Sunset nodded. “What’s this one called?”
“‘Real video. ‘supergirl’ saves car, flies away.’”
“Huh, supergirl. Is that what they’re callin’ me?” Applejacks eyebrows knitted together and she seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.
“Applejack dear,” said Rarity, tilting her head to one side, “is something the matter?”
“Nah, Ah was just thinkin’ about somethin’,” The orange girl waved her hand as if to dispel her friend’s concern, “It’s nuthin’ ta worry about.”
“Hey, does anyone know where Derpy is?” Pinky seemingly popped into existence beside Applejack, “We were supposed to trade muffin recipes later, but I haven’t seen her all day!”
But the orange girl wasn’t listening to her excitable friend, or anyone else for that matter.
“Target acquired.
Subject: female.
Species: unknown .”
Through an open window crawled the probe. A single wire extended to the forehead of the sleeping human.
"Information: secrecy advised in current state. ”
The unsuspecting victim rolled in a fitful sleep. Her dreams were ominous and foreboding, but the machine’s work was soon done.
Applejack stood inside her family’s barn. Before her was the trapdoor which hid the secret of her origin. With a sigh she lifted up the wooden panel and pulled out the rocket. Inside, still on the folded red cloth, was the crystal.*A few minutes earlier *
“Granny? Can Ah ask yah about somethin’?” Applejack approached the elderly woman, hands behind her back and her head ever so slightly lowered. Granny Smith turned from the dishes she was washing and dried her hands on a nearby towel.
“What seems to be the matter sugar cube?” The head of the apple family asked her eldest granddaughter. The other Apple siblings were busy preparing themselves for the day ahead, so neither she or Applejack needed to worry about interruption.
“Granny, ya remember the other day, that whole mess with the car? Well, Ah’ve been thinkin’.” She straightened up slightly, “What if maybe there’s a reason fer all this? Like someone out there’s givin’ me a chance to help folks when nobody else can. And, well, Ah can’t just ignore it.”
Granny Smith put her hands on Applejack’s shoulders.
“Applejack, ya have no idea how proud Ah am of ya right now. As long as yer out there Ah’m gonna worry, but Ah’ll never try ta stop ya from helpin’ folks around ya. And Ah know yer parents would say the same.”
The older woman put her arms around her granddaughter who returned the embrace. After a moment Applejack stepped back.
“But first, there’s somthin’ else Ah gotta take care of,” She said.*Now*
Applejack took a deep breath and took hold of the glowing stone. Once again she found herself standing before the images of Jor-El and Lara.
“So,” she began, “ya’ll are mah birth parents?”
“That is correct App-El.” Jor-El replied. “You are the last in the line of the house of El,” he said gesturing to the symbol on his robes, an S inside a pentagon.
“Is that what that there means?”
“It is the crest of the house of El.” Said Lara. “A Kryptonian symbol representing hope. It was this hope that led us to send you out among the stars to Earth.”
“But why Earth?”
“On Krypton I was a scientist,” began Jor-El, walking towards a hologram depicting Earth and the Sun, “In my studies I discovered that, in conjuction with Earth’s lighter gravity, the light of its sun would have a profound effect on Kryptonian physiology, granting them unimaginable power,” here he paused, “but the most important reason was its people.”
The Alien scientist turned to Applejack, his robes and cape flowing around him, “I knew that despite their flaws, here you would be taken care of. They are a good people, when they choose to be. They lack only the light to show them the way.”
Applejack was suddenly catapulted back into the real world. She reached down into the capsule and pulled out the fabric the crystal had been laying on. Imprinted in the center was a golden letter S inside a pentagon. With a look of determination, she rose. She knew exactly what she needed to do.
Rarity was in the middle of sewing a new blouse. There was nothing quite so relaxing as putting the finishing touches on something you had designed yourself…
A rapping sounded at her window, startling her out of her creative trance. She turned to the window and discover Applejack floating outside. She opened it up to let her in.
“What brings you here at this hour Applejack?” In response Applejack rose to her full height.
“Rarity! Ah need… A Costume!”
“Well, what do you think?”
“Do ya want the honest truth?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way!”
Applejack was wearing the now completed costume Rarity had designed for her, “Ah have a couple a problems.”
“Oh…,” muttered the young fashionista crestfallen, “like what exactly?”
“Well, the skirt fer one,” the farm girl gestured at the lower part of the suit, “Ah’m gonna be flyin’ around in this getup.”
“And just what does that have to do with… any…thing… oh,” Rarity’s words stopped as she realized the implications, “I suppose I can see why you might have a problem with that.”
“And maybe a mask too?”
“I’ll see what I can do Darling.”
“Thanks,” Applejack prepared to leave, “And Rarity, Ah really do appreciate it.”
“Its nothing Applejack dear.”
the next day
“Derpy! You’re back!” Pinkie Pie ran off to hug her fellow baking enthusiast. Behind her, Twilight Sparkle rubbed her eyes sleepily.
“Are you alright Twilight?” Asked Fluttershy, pet rabbit in hand, “You look awful.”
“I didn’t sleep well last night. I’ll be fine.” The violet haired scientist replied with a tired smile.
“Howdy ya’ll!” Applejack appeared together with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. “Hoo, boy Twi. Ya look like ya just had ta lasso a whole army a cows.”
In the nearby mass of students Derpy suddenly stiffened.
“Kryptonian,” She said in a voice too deep to be her own.
“What did you say?” asked Pinkie
Derpy shoved her aside as her mismatched eyes began to glow purple, and her body was encased in green armor.
“Kryptonian!”
Author's Note
*Yawn * What a great nap! Hm? What's that? What do you mean I've been asleep since April?!
Let me know if you liked it. Let me know if you didn't like it. Be sure to tell me any ways I can improve!
Assimilation and Confrontation
*Earlier this morning *
Derpy Hooves awoke with a groan. Whatever she’d come down with yesterday, it’d left her with a serious headache. Oh well, at least her stomach wasn’t hurting anymore. Wait a second! That meant she could have a muffin for breakfast! With blueberries!
The wall-eyed girl practically skipped down the stairs, a smile plastered on her face. When she reached the kitchen, her sister Sparkler was already there eating an English muffin.
“Traitor,” Thought Derpy, only half-jokingly as she ate her own breakfast.
“Why are you so happy this morning?” Asked Sparkler. “Did you dream about that guy from Doctor Whooves again?”
“His name is Time Turner!”
“I notice you’re not denying it…”
“grmfndkvl… Whatever!” She grabbed a muffin from the table and lifted it to her mouth for a bite.
“Mmmm,” she said with a smile.
“scanning…contains: glucose, fructose, sucrose…” Derpy looked around. What was that?
“Did you say something Sparkler?”
“No?”
“Huh… I could have sworn…,” She took another bite of her muffin and glanced at the clock on the wall. And almost spat out her non-existent drink.
“7:15!!! I gotta get out of here now!” Five minutes later the door slammed and a blond haired, gold eyed girl bolted down the street.
“current speed: aprox. 10.4 m…”
“Whateverit’snotimportantIgottago!”
“Derpy! You’re back!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, running over to hug her friend.
“UrK! Yup.” Derpy tried to respond, but Pinkie always hugged just a little too tight.
“attack detected… response recommended”
“What? No!” Derpy accidentally exclaimed out loud.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Pinkie took a step back, fluffy hair drooping a bit.
“Oh! Uh, nothing. I just think I might still be a little sick, is all,” The gold eyed girl hurried to reassure her friend. Luckily Pinkie was easily cheered up.
“Pfft! Don’t worry about it! Come on! Last one to class is a rotten egg!” A blur of pink sped off, but before Derpy could join in the race, a million alarms went off in her head. Literally. And playing loudly over all of them was a single word.
“Kryptonian.” She said quietly, in a voice far deeper than it should be. Pinkie zoomed back.
“What did you say?” But the blond girl wasn’t listening. In fact, she wasn’t even there anymore.
“Kryptonian DNA detected Rao protocol: engaged ” Green and purple armor spread across her body. She shoved her friend aside.
“Host mind overridden ” Her eyes glowed purple.
“Priority one: exterminate ”
“Kryptonian!”
Even with all the strangeness that had enveloped her life in the past week Applejack wasn’t quite sure how to react to this.
“Whatever! I don’t matter none!” The thought to herself, “Ah gotta do something.” Just as she was going to leap toward the newly transformed student, a hand grabbed her shoulder.
“WAIT!!!” Applejack turned to see Rarity gasping for air as if she had been running.
“You…(gasp)… need…(gasp)… this!” She held up a bag containing a folded-up set of clothes,
“I was up all night working on these and you are not flying around without them!”
Rainbow Dash zig-zagged through the crowd of screaming high-schoolers straight towards Derpy. She didn’t know what was wrong with her friend, but she wasn’t about to let another crazed magical monster to smash the school again. The armored girl marched forward, mismatched eyes glowing purple, throwing aside anyone foolish enough to remain her way. Rainbow found herself running around catching flying teenagers. Every time she got close enough to launch her own attack she either had to catch yet another terrified kid or dodge a (surprisingly fast) blow from Derpy. All the while her classmate called out in a loud, yet monotone voice.
“I know you are there Kryptonian. You represent a threat and must be eliminated.”
“Hey!” a voice called out from behind Derpy. She spun around only to find… no one. For a microsecond she stared in confusion. Then, all at once, her eyes glowed brighter, held up her arms and just before impact a purple dome appeared around her body. A bright light flashed as a red streak slammed into the barrier and the shock from the impact launched up a cloud of dust.
The energy field lowered and as the cloud dissipated there stood a young woman clad in blue and red. On her chest was a pentagon containing a stylized S and over her shoulders was a crimson cape, flapping in the wind. Applejack crossed her arms and called out to the possessed girl.
“Ah, think yah’ve been lookin’ for me. Well here Ah am!” She brushed some dust off her costume, “Now what exactly do yah want? And what did yah do to Der… that girl?”
“Yah know Ah ain’t gonna let yah do that that right?” Applejack took a step forward and held up her fists, combat ready.
“Very well. As stated, your destruction is necessary,” With that a cannon emerged from Derpy’s arm and began firing.
Applejack dodged the energy arcing from the weapon and charged forward.
“Yaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!” She swung her fist toward the armored torso of her foe. But just before she made contact a thought raced through her mind. Derpy was still in there somewhere. She couldn’t just hit her full force. Heck, she wasn’t even sure of her own strength! It could kill her.
In the fraction of a second that she hesitated was just enough for her blow to be blocked by another energy shield.
“You are unsure of yourself. You are… concerned for this organic’s wellbeing,” Derpy grabbed ahold of her opponent’s forearm, “A weakness I do not possess,” Still holding back Applejack’s arm, Derpy turned her purple, but still crooked, eyes to the symbol she wore, “The house of El. Perhaps I will let you live long enough to explain how Jor-El did it.”
“Wait? Jor-El? How did yah know about…” Applejack was cut off by a metal fist to the stomach and an elbow to the face. She was thrown to the ground and Derpy’s energy cannon was held to her face.
“It is insignificant,” stated Derpy, “Farewell, Daughter of Krypton.”
Author's Note
Well this took a while to make didn't it? I've had this chapter in progress for months but I just couldn't quite get it right. I still might come back and edit this chapter.
In any case, let me know if you liked it. Let me know if you didn't like. Let me know any ways I can improve.
