Journey of a Terror Knight
Chapter 5: Living On Sweet Apple Acres
Previous ChapterNext ChapterIt took a small while move her new things to Sweet Apple Acres due to how far it was away from Sugarcube Corner. Arctic the living seal plush actually helped to move the lighter weighted things with some difficulty. He insisted on helping her saying it was his duty to the one who had created him, especially with a task like this that was not befitting of her.
Elizabeth was moving all the items without the use of magic because she was afraid her lack of control could damage them unintentionally. During the walk over she had to stop for a few minutes as her back was hurting which Artic noticed so a new ability of his was revealed. Elizabeth actually discovered that when she commanded it of her previously adorable living plush.
Arctic could grow into what looked like a grown up version of himself which was twice as large as Apple Bloom. In return it allowed him to cart more of Lady Elizabeth's birthday presents, however he was slightly clumsy having to regain his balance. Said earth pony filly was quite shocked once she saw the giant Arctic who was in the middle of balancing the historical books given by Twilight Sparkle.
Elizabeth explained "Okay, I just uncovered this new form of his on the walk over when I mentioned that my back was starting hurt. From balancing so many objects on it due to me being used to not using my magic which was previously 'locked'. Until I basically summoned Arctic this morning an hour before my birthday party. However, I think it is the correct time for him to change back into his previous form so he actually fits through the front door frame. Which I know would be extremely inconvenient for either your sister, or Big Macintosh to go through the trouble of fixing the frame. Due to Arctic trying to adjust to his new form's height besides I can carry the books from here."
On cue the plush seal Arctic changed back into his cuddly small form, this action only took only a few seconds for the artificial mammal to do. Aside from some slight discomfort that came with shrinking down for the first time yet he refused to let his creator see this. Considering the small scene a waste of her time to be concerned about without his knowledge she noticed it anyway taking a mental note.
Apple Bloom excitedly exclaimed "Ya have to let me and the girls borrow your living seal stuffed animal some time. He's really cool ya know, I am definitely looking forward to how Sweetie and Scoots will say when I show em. Arctic was it they are gonna flip when he starts to talk, and moving we didn't really pay much attention to him at the party."
To which Arctic responded "I will have you know I am not just any stuffed animal I was conjured up by the amazing mare who stands before you, Lady Elizabeth. I am sure that she has more important things tha--" he was cut off by Elizabeth using her magic to put her creation onto her back doing a quick nod toward Apple Bloom. The excited filly ran off with a distressed Arctic trying to hold on as she most likely ran to the Cutiemark Crusaders treehouse.
After looking around at the first floor, Elizabeth moved her things into a previously prepared room that had a bed along with a dresser. Elizabeth put the Wonderbolts poster she had received from Rainbow Dash earlier that day on the wall close to the only window. She carefully placed the jackets she was gifted by Rarity away inside the dresser folding each up. Elizabeth wore the official Cutiemark Crusaders cape which fit quite snugly when the alicorn had tried it on at her birthday party.
She also placed the makeup set on top of the dresser along with the shampoo bottles, apple themed picture frame, and cook book. The starter scrapping book was placed on top along with the records she had received being slanted against the books. Elizabeth placed the butterfly blanket along with the odd pillow on the bed fluffing the latter.
She moved the history books from Twilight on the dresser to the bottom of the other two books. Finally, the red alicorn put her new violin into it's case which was another gift from Princess Luna under the bed. Once Elizabeth was done setting her things down she sought out Apple Jack.
So she could receive a chore to do while she was to begin living at the well known apple farm which didn't take very long to do. Since Apple Jack was in the kitchen with Granny Smith who was trying to make a red delicious apple pie. It wasn't until they were finished placing the pie into the oven, that both earth ponies noticed Elizabeth behind them standing in the hallway a few feet away.
Applejack went over to her apologizing for making her wait until they were done cooking a pie while she stood there. Elizabeth explained that she wanted to start pulling her weight around the farm right away along with seeking Applejack to give her a chore to do for the afternoon. This request surprised the orange earth pony mare until Elizabeth reminded her of the fact she was used to working for things her entire life.
So it made her very uncomfortable when she was not doing anything at all it felt like wasting valuable time procrastinating. Applejack told the red alicorn about taking care of the animals which Apple Bloom was suppose to do today. Before her friends convinced her to go on a last crusade to show them Arctic which explained why the animals were still dirty. She listened as the Element of Honesty explained how to care for a few of the animals on the farm.
Elizabeth started her newly assigned chore by feeding the chickens along with gathering their eggs which she did without the use of her magic. She milked many of the cows thanking them for actually standing still while she milked them which was hard to do at first. Since Elizabeth had never milked a cow before with hooves it was trial and error to learn the process. She figured that back in the human world it must have been harder because the cows their couldn't exactly understand you when you spoke to them.
Elizabeth finished the chore by giving the pigs a bath while she used magic to make sure they each were scrubbed clean really thoroughly for each pig. The only real challenge in the task is when she had to give the largest pig a bath. Which became more difficult to do when Winona interrupted her thinking the alicorn was an intruder. Until Applejack came outside to check on Elizabeth, whistling to let the loyal guard dog know that she needed to stop barking. She quickly finished washing the largest pig wanting to not make Apple Jack wait long.
Applejack said impressed "Not even I can get chore like this done as fast as y'all have today. Your parents must have been tougher on ya than an ant trying to push a rock in the middle of the hot day in summer. Although I'm surprised that you only used magic on bathin' our pigs since you could have used it when you were feedin' the chickens."
Elizabeth then stated "I am afraid that my parents died when I was five due to catching a rare illness that could not be treated at the time. They did try many doctors before spending a few moments they went out with me trying to explain the situation. I was a rather stubborn girl who hated how they were going to leave just as they had gotten back. They both luckily died in their sleep which meant they had not experienced any pain.
So at least I know that they were able to go peacefully which did not help to relieve the guilt I felt. Because for the oddest reason I still do not understand to this day I thought I was why they had died due to my anger directed toward them. My family attempted to distract me through many lessons over the years putting pressure on me everyday. My older brother Everest was on the point of having depression so they did not push him.
His OCD distracted him well enough he's named after a mountain due to overcoming health problems as a kid. Everest was born one day, and one year after me so he was six when it happened he had been visisting our aunt on that night so it hit him just as hard. Maybe even had a tougher impact on him than it did me, I shut everyone out so that could not have helped either. Honestly aside from him I resent my entire family can not help this anger I just noticed it one day and kept it mostly hidden."
Applejack was a little stunned at how casually Elizabeth could speak about her parents considering they were... in a better place. Although it did give her a rough understanding of how harsh it was for Elizabeth to be distracted from that loss. She was very talented on the violin given to her after the party in which she played Pinkie Pie's well known song, just without any vocal lyrics.
If those started at age five then that meant at least seven years of going through that not many would come out unscathed mentally. After Elizabeth finished giving each pigs their baths, she asked Applejack if there was anything else that she could do around the Apple family farm. To help out even morein the mean time which Applejack replied they needed someone to help fix the outer fencing. That fence marked the farm's territory lines this had to be done before it got dark.
Elizabeth agreed to this as AppleJack led her to the supply shed which they keep most of the repairing tools. Once they picked the tools they would need, both mares headed toward the fencing line beginning line that connected to the entrance of the Apple Farm. The wood the fences were built out of had a few cracks in along with some looking like they were about to fall off with a single touch even from using magic levitation.
Elizabeth coordinated with Applejack by using her magic to keep the wooden planks steady while her earth pony friend checked for any cracks. They checked the center core of the wood to see if weight was applied to them they wouldn't break into splinters. This task to about an hour thirty two minutes to get done which was apparently the shortest time ever according to Applejack.
She even had time to double check each fence while they were performing maintenance on them. Multiple other chores were completed as well, Elizabeth barely used her magic during this period of time. Although it was getting a bit late in the evening there was one place on Sweet Apple Acres that she had to visit today.
The famous yet secluded Cutiemark Crusaders tree house where the three fillies would have concluded their latest crusade by now. This was proven true once she arrived at their tree house along with wearing her official CMC cape on her back in tow. Elizabeth was quite ecstatic to hear about what they had attempted this time around, yet she did hear a lot of protest from Arctic. He was possibly explaining the difference between his two unique forms as she heard the wood creak slightly upon her careful entry.
Elizabeth interrupted when her creation was about to say something obscenely rude by using her magic to lift him up onto her back then she proceeded to say "I must point out that scuba diving while trying to help sea creatures does sound quite interesting. There is something to remember that Arctic here is a living stuffed seal so he technically does not count as a sea animal. Though you did come up with a creative crusade seeing as there are not no sea animals in a large lake nearby. However, it may be best for all of us to try ideas that are easily available to us rather than an almost correct situation to the crusade. Besides it id important to get the easier things out of the way so we keep track of which crusades are of a rare opportunity. That we will be able to accomplish once the time arrives for it."
All three were excited now that there newest member had arrived. Scootaloo explained the hoof drawn charts on the walls with each activity they had tried before Elizabeth had joined them. Sweetie Belle came up with new crusades centered around the grown mare in the group which were quite diverse in many aspects.
Apple Bloom asked "Hey there Eli, do ya think you could come to our classroom tomorrow to help us deal with two bullies. They think having a blank flanks makes us look like losers, so maybe if they our newest member you. They would think twice about messin' with us again what do ya say? You could volunteer to help our teacher Cheerilee with teaching, or helping to fix up the school yard. Somethin' like those things I know it would certainly help her with the more rowdy kids in our class. Seein as how you did so many chores today you would have no problem helping out for a few hours."
- x - x - Time Skip Next Day, Volunteering to help Cheerilee - x - x -
Elizabeth was on her way to Ponyville schoolhouse along with the three fillies Apple Bloom, SweetieBelle, and Scootaloo. All three looked forward to having their friend helping in their classroom especially since Cheerilee agreed to allow Elizabeth to help around. The Ponyville Schoolhouse needed some major maintenance along with janitorial tasks around the playground anyway so this was definetly helpful.
She spent the first two hours of the tasks fixing up the wooden fence by the playground making sure it was fastened well in the ground. Elizabeth trotted around the empty play area picking up stray pieces of paper along with putting sandback in its appropriate area. This helped her to practice specific target levitation along with control so she benefited from volunteering.
This went on until she looked to see that Cheerilee was trying to get her to come inside the small red classroom building. Elizabeth made her way inside adjusting her campaign hat before she went into the singular class homeroom with Arctic seated in her jackets hood. She heard a few gasps from the young colts and fillies once they looked at the alicorns (hidden wings) left flank obviously due to her not bearing any type of cutiemark.
Cheerilee informed her that the students were curious about the newest resident of Ponyville along with the she had experienced a magical growth spurt. This topic is what they were discussing specifically effects of unstable magic so her situation came up due to her side effect being a very rare one indeed. So Cheerille was wondering if she could describe the change to the many curious students.
Elizabeth began speaking "Alright I suppose I should tell you how I was unfortunately able to experience this rather disorientating side effect. You see I was raised by only Earth ponies, aside from my older brother, so growing up I didn't have any experience with using my magic. This led to a build up of magic which sent me near the entrance to the Everfree Forest where during it my body developed rapidly.
As I went to the main path to make my way out of there I was overcome with immense pain all over my newly matured body which was magical shortage. Suddenly, growing up in body does not change how you think I had to grow up fast in mind when I was five so that so why I behave quite maturely right now. Also this may answer your questions as to why I bear no cutiemark on either of my flanks which you can see very clearly."
Most of the class asked a rather large range of questions mostly about a unicorn living in a family of earth ponies. Along with where she lived to have teleported so far away like that, yet she had to stop when she saw two earth ponies stomping on Arctic in the far corners of the room. They were none other than Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon the bullies that would torment the Cutiemark Crusaders daily.
They were complaining about how he looked extremely weak along with the fact that he was working for such a fake mare. They claimed that she could not cast a simple spell such as levitating an object as small as a marble. Elizabeth gave Arctic a quick nod allowing him to change into his larger form. Both became even more shocked when she explaining that creating something similar to him was a highly complex spell that most would take long to master.
Elizabeth could replicate it in which she conjured an emperor penguin plush along side an elephant seal plush who were able to talk quite exquisitely. After the school day had ended she was greeted by many of the students making remarks on how cool her polar animal plushes were. Especially considering they could move around on their own, also Elizabeth let some of the kids come up with a few name suggestions. This resulted in both being named the penguin, Tundra, and the elephant seal, Crush.
However, as Elizabeth made her way through Ponyville she was stopped by the earth pony Filthy Rich, Diamond Tiara's father along side apparently his daughter. Who had explained that Elizabeth had attacked her with large animals, unlike Arctic her other two creations appeared in their larger forms. Elizabeth explained that her three stuffed animals were absolutely harmless to any pony.
With that they only appeared larger due to them being newly created rather than the smaller forms they were currently in. Elizabeth was just giving a demonstration of the spell she used due to the class being fascinated by Arctic the white seal plush on who was asleep in her jackets hood. So she understood how they could look a bit frightening to a small filly like Diamond Tiara.
Filthy Rich actually bought the well explained spell which she demonstrated for the pony understanding how they would look scary to Diamond. He apologized for the slight misunderstandings even when his daughter began to protest.
Author's Note
Honestly, Elizabeth technically did not lie she just difused the situation. Since she studied history along with having much conversation practice her speak could turn a situation 180 degrees around. Elizabeth isn't invincible the constant pushing resulted in her overly observant nature. Along with paranoia
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