The Third Alicorn

Ponyville pt.2

The ponies looked in awe and surprise at the book that had suddenly formed. Its pages looked and acted like the highest quality paper, but felt more like silk. The letters were shaped perfectly and written in an ink that seemed to absorb the light. But the most amazing feature, by far, was its cover. At a glance, the cover appeared to be the purest white. Upon closer inspection, flashes of color become apparent. Have good eyes and a quick mind and the flashes of color become pictures, lasting only long enough to admit their presence before changing. Terra walked forward and picked the book up off the ground before turning to Apple Jack “Anyways, I’m here for dinner.”

Those few words brought the other ponies out of their stun. Twilight was the first to speak, “Wait! You’ve told us what it is, but not what it means,”

“Right, how silly of me to forget. Let’s see… ‘Primum omnium sex tribus inveniet’ translates to ‘Three of the six shall find the first of them all’. The second line-“

“What’s that supposed to mean? It doesn’t make any more sense than the gibberish!”

“Well as I said, it’s a riddle. You have to figure out the meaning. What three of what six and the first of whom? Anyways, the second line, ‘Sex in unum conveniant, cum ignotum’ means ‘the six shall meet the one, though they not know it’.

“That doesn’t help at ALL!” Twilight whined.

“On the contrary Miss Sparkle, now you know what the words are, you just have to find what exactly they mean, but if you think you can make sense out of it, take the book,” Terra tossed Twilight the book. “Now, Applejack, dinner?”

“Uh…Well dinner won’t be ready fer a bit. If you could head up to the house, ah’ve got more apples to buck.” and with that, the group split up, each pony going its own way. AppleJack made it halfway to the unbuckled parts of the orchard before she noticed that Terra was following her. “Uh, Terra, this isn’t the way to the house.”

“Oh, I know that. I just figured I would help you finish your work, many hooves make light work after all.”

“Well… normally ah’d be happy for any help ah could get… but aren’t you a bit old fer bucking trees?”

“AppleJack, The day I can’t rid a tree of apples is the day I lie down and die.”

“Uh… well…If you’re that determined…” she said as she came to a stop before a tree that still contained apples, “Try this one.”

Terra chuckled softly, he was about to blow the poor farm ponies mind. Instead of turning around to buck the tree he placed one fore hoof on it like he was greeting an old friend and left it there. After about a minute, Apple jack opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing and as if cued all of the apples fell. The surprise of seeing the tree bare of apples combined with the fact that it had been accomplished by an old stallion she hadn’t thought could buck even ONE apple off was enough to make her forget to close her mouth.

She was brought out of her daze by a soft chuck coming from terra “Close your mouth Miss, wouldn’t want a bird to make a nest in there would we?”

It took several seconds for the words to make their way through the car crash that was AJ’s thought process and several more seconds for a reply to make its way out “how...how did ya do that?”

Terra chuckled again, “I’m honestly not surprised, it’s a trick that few earth ponies know about, and fewer successfully do. You see, all ponies have latent magic. Unicorns and pegasi use theirs obviously in everyday life, walking on clouds and casting spells. Earth ponies on the other hoof, are much more subtle, our magic gives us enhanced strength and endurance as you already knew. What you didn’t know is that, with focus and practice, earth ponies can communicate with anything be it pony, animal, or even plant.”

“Do ya think ah could do it?” Applejack asked hopefully. With the difficulty of running a farm, anything that lightened the load was welcome.

“Any earth pony can DO it. Most just can’t muster the focus.”

“So… ah’ll have no trouble then… right?”

Terra’s face turned dead serious “If you truly want to, yes. But I suggest practicing on your own time. Wouldn’t want to lower the productivity of the farm would we?”

“Ah guess you right… ah’ll stick to my way of doing thing and ya’ll stick to your way. Now, let’s get buckin’” Applejack said, before bucking the tree behind her. They continued bucking for several hours as the sun slowly sank in the sky, stopping only for a quick lunch. Finally, just as the sun kissed the horizon, AJ stopped bucking. She stood there panting slightly as Terra walked up to her, still as fresh as he had been in the morning.

“Ah think that’s enough for the day” AJ said between pants, “Let’s head back to the house for sup.”

“Wonderful! Hopefully it’s as good as the plain apple was.”

“Say what ya will but never call us apples lazy, and never insult our cooking.” AJ said with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Terra responded with a chuckle as they approached the door. “Though I warn you, it was all I could do to eat the apple like a civilized pony. If dinner is any better I may not be able to restrain myself.”

As he opened the door a scent of home cooking wafted forth, leading him in to the table where an assortment of dishes lay. Every fruit and vegetable was there in one dish or another, and lots of apples. Unfortunately for Terra it was a feast he would be unable to partake in. As soon as the family had settled down, the door crashed open to admit a very concerned looking Twilight. “Terra, come quickly! There’s a third line in the book!”

“I know.”

“Look it says ‘nov…’ wait… you know? Why didn’t you TELL me!?”

“Because I know what it means Twilight and I don’t want you to worry you’re little head about it.”

“Wait… worry my little… are you saying that whatever the prophesy is predicting is dangerous?”

“Astute as always Twilight.”

“AND YOU WON’T TELL ME!?”

“Nope.”

“This is going straight to Princess Celestia.”

“Okay. Just leave my name out of it will you? Celestia and I didn’t part on best of terms.”

Twilight just disappeared with the crack of teleportation as AppleJack took up the conversation, a slightly worried look on her face ”What did ya do to rile up the Princess?”

“Oh nothing illegal if you’re worried. Just a minor disagreement. Of course, a minor disagreement with a nearly omnipotent being is slightly worse than one with a normal pony… and ‘Tia always did hold grudges.”

“Did ya just call the princess Tia?” a nod from Terra “You’re lucky Twilight ‘ported away when she did, she would bite your head off for that.”

“AppleJack, I’ve had thing worse than her try to bite my head off, why this one time when I had just gone into my seclusion a manticore decided I looked like a nice snack. Let me tell you, He regretted it before I was through with him. But enough talk! There is food to be eaten and if it tastes half as good as it smells you’ll have to dig in quickly before I eat it all.”

Dinner was indeed good, and the company of the Apple family even better. Afterwards, while cleaning up dinner(Terra had insisted on helping), AJ brought up the manticore again. “Terra remember how you mentioned that you beat a manticore? Could you perhaps tell me how you beat it? The only encounter Ah had with one of them didn’t end too well.”

“Remember what I said about Earth Pony magic in the orchard?”

“That it gives us enhanced strength and endurance and with practice you can…” A look of disbelief crossed AJ’s face, “…are ya trying to tell me ya TALKED to it?”

“Indeed Applejack. Wasn’t a bad conversationalist, once I convinced him that eating ponies was a bad idea… in fact, most animals are good conversationalists if you can get past their individual quirks.”

“What types of quirks?”

“Well… predators are always talking about prey and territory, prey animals tend to talk about location of predators, and all animals talk about the weather… especially the birds. Let me tell you, the one downside of learning to speak to animals is the birds. Always chattering on about wind currents, storm systems and thermals. I know more about weather than a weather Pegasus, just from my stay in the Everfree. Of course they are quite informative if you can get their attention, birds see a lot you know. Why, one bird I talked to claimed to have seen a battle between a Timberwolf pack and a manticore… the larger predators tend to avoid each other due to the fact that a minor injury can mean the difference between life and death… you know, I never did hear how that one ended… Most likely the Timberwolves, they’re probably the most intelligent non-sentient creature in the forest, what with their social structure and all... ah, but I seem to have rambled on, my apologies AppleJack.”

“Don’t, that was quite… informative. But ya said ‘non-sentient’. Do ya mean there are ponies living in the Everfree?”

“Not ponies per say…”

“Then gryphons?”

“Look, AppleJack, if they haven’t informed ponies of their existence than they wish to remain unknown, and I will respect their wishes.”

“But ya met them didn’t ya?”

“Of course, how else would I know of their existence?”

“Are they nice?”

“Well… in their own way, yes.”

“Then that’s enough fer me. An’ look, we’re done! Mah ma’ always said that many hooves makes light work. Thank you fer the help Terra.”

“No thanks needed, if I’m going to live in this house then I’m going to pull my own weight.”

“If yer going to pull your own weight then you might want to hit the sack, Ah know Ah’m going to, got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Indeed… oh and AppleJack, I would appreciate if none of that particular information got out ok?”

“Mah lips are shut, it’s the least ah can do after all you’ve done fer us. Goodnight Terra”

“Goodnight AppleJack.”

That night AppleJack dreamed of the knowledge that Terra had imparted, and of all of the secrets he yet kept.