Reincarnation

It took Leaf Longer than she wanted to admit to figure out where she was, in no small part due to the locals refusing to interact with her whenever she tried to ask any of them a question, during one such exchange where a noble stuck their nose up high and made a great show of turning and trotting away when Leaf Storm asked him for direction Leaf was about ready to call it a day when a voice sounded back to her.

"Don't mind them," A Mare called out to Leaf, who turned to the nice-sounding voice, and found that in her determination to find the Orchard, she had almost walked past a Stand selling Apples and Pears.

"If it was a snake it'd have bitten me," Leaf sighed to herself as she walked up to the stand, a Green coated Mare with a long red mane and a cutie mark shaped like a jar of jam, with an Apple and Pear on the jar's label.

"What can I do for you, Ma'am?" The Mare asked, noticeably excited, "It's rare we get out-of-towners looking for the Orchard when it's not Cider Season, even rarer we get a create I've never seen before,"

"I'm a Kirin," Leaf introduced politely, it had crossed her mind a few times, but she was still hit with the irony of being the only Dragon in Ponyville, only to come back in an age where Dragons were common enough to just be CIty Guards or small time business owners, as a race not many seemed to even know existed.

"Well Miss Kirin," The Mare replied offering a hoof to shake, "Since the day's been slow how about I be your tour guide this fine day? Are you a fan of Auntie Applejack looking to get an autograph? Or maybe just on an Orchard Tour of Equestria? Looking to maybe find yourself a strong partner and figured you might try to seduce yourself an Apple or Pear?"

"My name is Leaf Storm," She informed the mare to avoid being called Miss Kirin anymore than necessary, "And I am the current assistant to the God of Chaos Discord, and frankly this city is horrible and I just wanted a taste of nature back in my life,"

"A Fine reason as any," The Mare shook Leaf's hoof once more and gave a proper introduction, "Pleasure to meet you Leaf Storm, I'm Aurora Pear, you can call me Aurora since Aurora Pear is a mouth full,"

"You can just call me Leaf, or Leafy if you're feeling fancy,"

"Well then if you'll just give me a few minutes I'll start packing up, my cousin Jazz left early anyway and our regulars have already come and gone, all that’s left are those two weird bush things,” Leaf Storm turned to the bush in question, and saw two sets of binoculars looking at her out of two very out of place bushes.

“Write that down, write that down,” A Familiar voice came from the bush, Leaf storm smiled upon recognizing it.

“I’m sorry,” Leaf Storm told Aurora, “Those are mine,”

“I am a free Kirin,” Comet shot back from the bush before pushing a hoof out of it and waving, “Hi Leafy, how's the Chaos business?”

“A lot more Chicken related than I thought it might be,” She replied casually as Comet and Sunrise arose from their Bush-like cocoons, “So why are you stalking the apple stall?”

“Just curious is all,” Comet replied as he got close and inspected the Apple “Same as you?” It took Leaf Storm a moment to realize what they meant, in Kirin Country the one thing Leaf Strom hadn’t been able to find from her old Equestrian lifestyle had been a good Apple, the apples in Kirin Country were shipped from the nearest Apple farm, and one farm producing apples for a town and as an export left most of the shipped ones to be less than fine, something that Leaf storm would have said would leave Granny Smith rolling in her grave if she wasn’t now aware of the cycle of rebirth.

“Huh,” Leaf Storm frowned, realizing Granny Smith had died outside of Discord's bubble it left Leaf feeling oddly sour.

“They’re so Red,” Comet muttered, “I didn’t know an Apple could be Red,”

“And it’s not mushy,” Sunrise confirmed after tapping one with the utmost care, as though it might explode if he handled it too harshly. “Are you sure this is an Apple?” Comet and Sunrise continued checking out the inventory suspiciously as Aurora looked offended before Leaf Storm waved her down and passed on the information about what Apples were like in Kirin Country.

Aurora stayed insulted, but the source of her outrage changed dramatically, “You three, Pick an Apple, it’s on the house,”

“But I can’t bake a pie?” Comet complained. Sunrise already partially through giving the same complaint.

“You just eat it as is,” Leaf told them, the two looked at her as though she was insane as she took a bite out of it, “I’ve been in the lap of luxury so I will pay for this,” Leaf storm offered up the bits, and Aurora accepted.

“You two take the freebie and try not to throw your life savings away on apples afterward,” Leaf happily partook of the fruit, old memories flicking through her head, she froze however when memories of Flim and Flam slightly flew past, and then filled her mind upon remembering who her brothers had been in their old life, and what she had just introduced them to.

“Amazing,” Comet cried, “Just think of all the foods, Pies, Muffins, sliced and diced!”

“No!” Sunrise sang out, his eyes sparkling, the sparkle of potential profits, “Cider!”

Discord had mentioned to Leaf that all souls stuck in his cycle had bits of their old selves stuck to them, meaning that Comet and Sunrise were just one wrong opportunity away from turning into full-blown con ponies.

“I hear the Apple Family sell Cider from time to time,” Leaf said, trying to bring them back from the cliff she had just unknowingly shoved them towards,”

“I need it,” Comet declared immediately.

“We usually only sell it during certain seasons when we over harvest,” Aroura informed them, “Keep us from turning all the apples to cider and risk a nasty Winter, but for three sad creatures who have never experienced the joys of Cider, how could I possibly say nay?”

Leaf Storm and her brothers took a nice long moment to take in the sights of the Apple Orchard, She had seen it in passing when Mortamire had first brought her into the city, but looking at it now felt confidently more nostalgic, even if it was outside her full observable scale.

Back when Spike had been entering his third century of life he had been ridden by Applejack to fight her great war alongside Rainbow Dash, not one against any creature in particular however, but against the Everfree Forest, As she and Dash were Immortal and Spike was young and stupid, they had spent almost two years fighting against the forest, slowly pushing it back with Applejack working the ground, Rainbow the Sky, and Spike switching between the two and helping to deal with any monster who dared take on a full grown dragon.

In the end, the Forest had responded to the assault by slowly relocating itself, by the time the war had ended the Everfree Forest had fully contained itself within the Gastly Gorge, Now known as the Everfree Gorge it was somehow worse and better, being more dangerous but infinitely easier to avoid.

With Everfree gone the Apple family had expanded the farm into the forest's old domain, dubbed by Applejack as The Bright Butter Forest, wrapping it around nearly a quarter of PonyCity.

“Beautiful,” Leaf Storm muttered as she looked out at the hundreds upon hundreds of trees, there were plenty of Apple Trees and plenty of Pear Trees, but there were even more Trees that twisted around each other, giving way to branches full of Apples and Pears.

As all architecture in Kirin Country was built around Trees Comet and Sunrise were able to share Leaf’s appreciation for the orchard compared to the mixture of stone and crystalline structures that made up the majority of buildings within the city.

“Isn’t it,” Aurora asked with a sigh, “ma family has been working these lands for generations upon generations,”

“Work well done,” Comet muttered before shaking his head, “Surely you could sell Cider year-round with a crop this big!?”

“We got a lot of mouths to feed,” Aurora replied with a shrug, “Ponycity is pretty big, but the castle alone is a town within a town within a city, it has school houses, retirement homes, several medical wings, a lot of our crops go to the castle, add that to the demands of the Noble folk of Ponycity and we don’t have much left over for making into Jams and preserves,”

Aurora sighed, “Luckily we always have plenty of Pear Jams and preserves for Winter, but no one wants Pear Cider, trust me plenty of Pears in the past have tried.

“How many workers handle this farm?” Sunrise asked, now taking notes.

“We have on this far roughly twenty sets of families from the Apples, Pears, and every place in between, as passed on from the oldest members of each Family, Grand Pear, and Granny Smith, never let it be forgotten that tender love and care must be used forever Apple and Pear, one bad one in the bunch could ruin the harvest.

“But maybe with the right guidelines a machine could be set up to increase productivity,” Comet reasoned.

“And Kirin Country could finally get itself some propper apples,” Leaf Storm was about to voice her concerns for her Brother’s growing industrial desires, but just as she set hoof in the Apple Orchard she burst into flames.

Aurora jumped back at the sudden flames, Comet and Sunrise both looked over lazily, wondering why she had ignited her flames and then went into full red alert upon looking at her flames.

“Why are you Orange?” Comet demanded, Leaf opened her mouth to reply, shut it, and then looked at the flames on her hooves.

“Oh, Why am I Orange?” She asked in confusion, she knew immediately she was channeling Applejack's essence, but as far as she could tell she hadn’t done anything to activate it and she was incapable of turning the flames off, “Hm, I can’t turn back,” She added in a calm tone that didn’t match the natural distortion of a Nirik’s voice.

Comet burst into flames and Sunrise jumped as his brother pointed to himself, “Am I off color?” he demanded.

“No, you’re good,” Sunrise confirmed, after switching roles and confirming Sunrise was still on model they began inspecting Leaf Storm.

“I know why my fire is off-colored,” Leaf told them, “I just don’t know why it’s orange,”

“Why are you fire off-colored?,” Comet asked suspiciously.

“Well-” Leaf Storm had been about to deliver the same false story she had been spreading around about the source of her flames, but upon trying to her mouth snapped shut and her face scrunched a little.

There was a momentary pause as the Twins looked at her and she tried again, only to snap her mouth shut, putting her memories and knowledge on how her fires worked she tried a different approach.

“I suck up old Magic like a sponge because of Discord’s meddling,” being able to say the words Leaf Storm pinned what was happening, “I’m channeling Applejack, I can’t Lie,” Comet and Sunrise looked at her, then each other, then suspiciously back at her.

“And you figured that out because you tried to lie about it?” Sunrise asked suspiciously. Leaf tried to deny it, got scafe scrunched again, and then replied properly.

“It was a half-truth,” Leaf Storm replied as she did her best not to look her brothers in the eyes, her mild irritation at not being able to lie, quickly shifted.

“Wait, If I tell Applejack I’m Spike and I’m in a form that can’t lie, and she can tell if I’m lying or not…” Leaf Storm took a deep breath and tried to declare she was the Reincarnation of Spike, her mouth forced itself shut.

“That’s not right,” She noted immediately as her brothers squinted at her again, “That one was a truth,” Comet and Sunrise nodded and looked like they were about to say something when a Bucket of Water was dumped over Leaf Storms head, extinguishing her flames.

“Why’d you two just stand there watching your Kin Burn up?” Aurora demanded, having turned tail and rushed to the nearest water source the second Leaf had gone up in flames.

“We’re Kirins,” Comet replied, “We can just do that,”

“Although the flames you just snuffed out were not normal flames,” Sunrise and Comet circled Leaf Storm before turning to Aurora.

“You said this farm has been in your family for Generations?” Comet double-checked.

“Well yeah,” Aurora confirmed, “My Family founded it and the original Ponyville was built around it,”

“And I recall the name Applejack belonging to one of the immortal heroes who live around these parts?”

“My Great Aunti Applejack,” Aurora confirmed, confused about the question until the brothers turned to Leaf Storm.

“And by your admission, due to meddlings with your biology by the God of Chaos, you’re a magical sponge for ancient magics?” Sunrise nodded slowly.

“And you mentioned the name Applejack and not being able to lie while Orange,” Comet finished.

“So with these finds we can confirm that so long as you in the Orchard-” Leaf Storm burst into flames again and the two brothers sighed, “-You’ll be forced to Channel the Ancient Magics of the Apple Family in Fire form,”

“Oh great,” Leaf Storm muttered irritably, “I have the powers of a mighty Apple Bucker, infused with fire,” Leaf Storm huffed as she turned around, “Grab me a cup of Cider will ya, I apparently can’t take in the beauty of this orchard without being an open flame risk,”

Even as she walked off the property a few errant leaves started burning, Comet and Sunrise joined forces with Aurora to snuff them out and joined their sister just outside the property line.

“You know we’ll all admire the view from afar,” Comet decided.

“All for one and whatnot,” Sunrise confirmed, Aurora hurried off to get them their promised taste of Cider, and the two brothers looked at Leaf for a moment.

“So you tried to tell us something,” Comet noted, “But even though it was the truth your fires stopped you from speaking?”

“Yeah,” Leaf Storm looked at her hooves in confusion, “I wonder why,”

“You mentioned Discord turned you into a colorful candle wick,” Sunrise noted after a moment of thought, “Was the truth you were about to tell something he wouldn’t want anyone to know about?” Leaf storm opened her mouth, and then snapped it shut, anger burning in her eyes.

“That Bastard,” Leaf Storm hissed as she ignited into her Nirik form again, this time fueled by her rage, showing her Green flames to her brothers.

“Oh that's weird,” Comet noted before being hit in the side by Sunrise, “but it’s a very pretty color,”

“So what's the big secret,” the two brothers looked at Leaf Strom as she took a deep breath and tried to say it, and once again her mouth snapped shut.

“I’m gonna fucking skin him alive,” Leaf Storm bellowed out in rage as she angrily began rolling in the dirt upon seeing Aurora return with a saddle bag around her back.

“Three to-go cups,” She told them, Comet took the cups and thanked her from the bottom of his heart before the trio watched Leaf Storm try to quell her rage with little effect.

“Could you get more water?” Sunrise asked Aurora, “Our sister just realized the God of Chaos cursed her and she’s fairly upset about it,” as Aurora left to do as she was asked, a separate party was watching the Kirins from a distance.

Applejack stood alone on a hill, surrounded by trees with a good view of the three Kirins, but not close enough to hear them, As she looked at them she began mentally adding them to her list.

“Flim and Flam are back again,” She said in a soft voice, “Her eyes firmly locked on the third Kirin as she spoke, “But it seems you are trying to keep them in check this time in life,” She smiled, “You always had a way of trying to make peace didn’t ya Spike,” Applejack watched the echos of past lives run around and kept watching even as the trio began walking away, “I was wondering when you’d find your way back,” Applejack sighed before looking up towards the sky, “Sorry Starlight, I was rooting for him to find his way to you, but I guess he got stuck down here with the others,”

Applejack let the wind blow over her as the Kirins were lost to sight, not quite ready to go down and face Spike’s new vessel, he hadn’t remembered her in their last visit before he had passed, and she wasn’t ready to have his eyes look at her without remembrance again.