"So, how do I do this again?" I asked, staring at the large apple tree in the middle of Ponyville's famous apple orchard.

"Ah don't know about how humans do it, sugarcube," Applejack said, "but we buck our trees like this." Walking over to a neighboring tree, she placed a couple baskets underneath it. Turning around, she pushed her back hooves off the ground and slammed them into the tree. Apples began falling into the baskets. She walked over, grinning proudly. "Just like that."

I frowned and looked at the tree she wanted me to buck. It looked incredibly strong and when I tapped it with my hand, that only confirmed my suspicions. "You want me to get on all fours and do it like you did?" I asked.

"How else are ya gonna do it?" she asked, tilting her head at me.

"Like…this?" I lifted one leg and kicked at the air.

"That might work, but let's try mah way first," Applejack said.

I blushed as I got on all fours and turned away from the tree. "I'm just glad no one else is here to watch this," I groaned. "This is embarrassing."

"Just hurry up and do it," Applejack said, smirking.

Inhaling, I threw both my legs up and kicked the tree as hard as I could. There was a crack and apples rained down on top of me, but that wasn't the only sound I heard. Something began tumbling down and hit the ground with a mighty "CRUNCH!"

I quickly stood and looked at the tree alongside Applejack, both of our mouths agape. The massive apple tree lay on its side, looking completely out of place in the massive orchard. Nervously, I looked at Applejack, expecting her to be angry. Instead, she walked up to the tree and tapped at it.

"Welp, yer strength isn't in question," Applejack said, frowning as we both looked at the downed apple tree. "It's yer control."

"Applejack, I'm so, SO sorry!" I said apologetically. "I didn't mean to!"

"Hush now, it ain't yer fault," Applejack said with a small smile. "This apple tree was dyin' anyway." She sat down and tapped her chin, obviously thinking. "Maybe if ya held back more than you did just now. And there's no need to worry about the trees. There are a few dyin' ones that we can practice on."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Don't sweat it," she said. "We just need to train you to control that new strength of yers."

"Hmm…I suppose what we could do is experiment with different levels of muscle control," I said, stroking my chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah…somethin' like that," Applejack said. "Come on, pardner, let's go! We've got some buckin' ta do!"

"Joy," I muttered as I followed her deeper into the orchard.

"Goddamn motherfucking son of a bitch!"

I cursed up a storm as I fell from six feet down onto the grassy field where Rainbow Dash was teaching me how to fly. I'd been surprised when Fluttershy had also come to help as well. Although she'd been less teaching and more watching, watching me fail epically as I fell over and over again.

"O-Oh my. Close your ears, Angel," Fluttershy exclaimed in shock, putting her hooves over the bunny's ears.

"You watch yer mouth!" a certain cowpony shouted. "Especially around Apple Bloom! Ah won't tolerate ya sayin' that in front of her!"

"How uncouth!" a certain fashionista added in agreement. "I certainly don't want Sweetie Belle learning such talk!"

"Are all humans as foul mouthed?" A certain bookwormish unicorn asked with a frown, covering Spike's ears as well.

I shouldn't have agreed to let them all come to watch, I groaned as I sat back up, spreading my wings and flapping them slightly to get the bits of grass and dirt off of them. "That was fall number…sixteen point five," I joked with a wry grin as I stood.

"Not by my count!" Pinkie Pie shouted with a gleeful grin, popping out of nowhere in front of me. "It was fall sixty-nine!"

"Gah! Jesus, don't scare me like that!" I gasped, jumping back a bit.

"Hey! No dawdling! Back to work, Private!" Rainbow Dash, who looked like she was doing her best to hold back laughter, hovered in the air above me.

I groaned and spread my wings again. "Alright…let's see here." I looked at my wings and fluttered them a little, trying to get a feel for them once more. My new wings felt like a new part of my body, a part I hadn't even exercised ever. I might have soared with them during the Cloudsdale incident, but I was running on pure adrenaline. That, and I would feel weak more easily thanks to my heart pumping blood to new blood vessels in said wings. "What the hell am I missing here? RD, I-"

"That's Captain to you, Private!" Rainbow Dash grinned down at me.

I rolled my eyes, but decided to humor the Pegasus. "Fine, Captain. I've been trying to get the hang of this flying down for the past four days now! What am I missing here?"

"You're not trying hard enough!" she said with a scowl.

"Actually, I have a few hypotheses about that," Twilight spoke up, still holding a pen and quill pen. "Jethro, your body structure isn't like that of a Pony. It's more like that of a Dragon." Spike perked up at that. "But the problem is you have Alicorn wings, not Dragon wings."

"So what are you saying? Are you saying I can't train him?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No, not at all," Twilight quickly said to try and appease her friend. "I just mean that the training might take longer than normal, and might be a bit unorthodox."

"Any more unorthodox training like that, and I'll be in a wheelchair," I sighed.

"Don't say things like that!" Rarity said. "Sure, Rainbow Dash might be a little, shall we say, rough around the edges, but she is the best flyer we have. No offense, Fluttershy."

"Oh, none taken," Fluttershy replied. "I probably couldn't help much anyway."

"Alright, so what do we do then?" I asked. "I'm thirty years out of any kind of practice, that and flapping these things is extremely exhausting."

I felt a tingling sensation around my entire body just then, which ended a few seconds later. "What about now?" Twilight asked.

I flapped my wings a bit. I felt more energetic now and less tired than before. "Not anymore. Thanks, Twilight."

"Besides," she added, "Princess Celestia did inform me that your heart is quickly adjusting to its new routine. I suspect Ob-Athena had something to do with that," she said.

I nodded, smiling wistfully as I looked up at the sky. "'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' Or in her case, a mare laying down what little life she had left for me. A man she hardly knew."

"Ya still miss her somethin' fierce, dontcha?" Applejack asked softly.

"I doubt I'll ever completely stop missing her," I replied, spreading my wings wider. "But I'll always remember her fondly. She gave me a gift; one I'm trying my best to accept and not be terrified of."

"That's all anyone can ask, darling." Rarity stood and stretched. "I'd love to stay and chat longer, but Fluttershy and I have our weekly get together at the spa."

"Oh, is it that time already?" Fluttershy asked. "I didn't realize-"

"Don't worry about it! Come come, it's high time we got going. I don't want to keep them waiting." So saying, Rarity walked off.

"Well, I'll see you all later," Fluttershy said, walking off with Angel beside her.

After they left, I spread my wings again. With a single push of my wings, I launched myself into the air, then pushed again, and again. It was wobbly for a while, but eventually I was hovering in the air.

Rainbow Dash flew up close to me, front hooves on her equivalent of hips. "Not bad, Private. Now it's time to FLY HIGHER!"

Her shout threw me off balance and I once more fell back onto my ass. Groaning, I glared up at her. "That little-"

"Language!"

"Very good!" Twilight clapped her hooves happily as she watched me levitate the nearby rock. Surrounding it was my very own color of magic, a silvery gold color with shimmering rainbows visible every so often in some kind of sheen.

"Twilight, I get why we're doing this outside, but do I really need to be standing on one hand while I do this?" I asked. "The blood is rushing to my head."

"Use your magic," she said, falling into her imitation of Yoda. "Feel it," she continued. I heard a snort Spike, who was standing on my foot chowing down on some gems.

"I should never have let you all watch Star Wars," I muttered as I lifted the rock higher. The magic around my hand and the rock began glowing even brighter.

"Concentrate," she said. "Don't put too much magic into it, or you could shatter the stone and it'll explode," Twilight cautioned, back to her normal voice.

I resumed concentrating, beads of sweat forming on my face. One of them started crawling up towards my eye. And that was all the distraction I needed. I winced and started to fall.

"WHOA!" Spike shouted as I began falling. I winced as my back hit the grassy plain. "Ah, thanks Twilight."

"You're welcome," she said.

Looking over at the two, I saw that Spike was encased in Twilight's purple magic, floating down. I sat up slowly, brushing grass and some dirt off of my clothes. "Sorry, Spike."

"Jethro, I told you to concentrate," Twilight admonished, frowning at me.

"I'm alright too, thanks for asking," I said wryly.

Twilight's ears drooped a bit. "I'm sorry," she said more softly. "I'm glad you're alright. What happened?"

"Some sweat got in my eyes," I said, bringing out my handkerchief and wiping my face clean. "Demigod potential or not, even a little spell like this drains me. And cosplaying as Luke and Yoda on Dagobah really makes it harder."

"I guess not," Twilight sighed, sitting on her haunches. "Princess Celestia told us it might take a little longer with you since you came from a magicless world. Plus…I've no idea how to be a teacher. I was always a student."

It was hard to be upset with her when she looked so down. I stood shakily, walked over to her, and sat next to her. I tried to smile reassuringly. "In my world we have a saying: 'With age comes wisdom.' Listen, I highly doubt Celestia would have put you in charge of my magical training if she thought you were unable to do it. She's wise beyond anything I could ever have imagined, so I'm sure she knows what she's doing."

She looked down at the ground, tapping the grassy plain. "She does, but I don't…"

I looked around, then saw a nearby flower. Reaching out with my new magical abilities, I grasped it, pulled it out and brought it to me. Grabbing it, I broke the stem in two and slid the flower into her mane. "If you didn't know how to teach, then I wouldn't have been able to do what I just did. Miss Sparkle, you've been beyond patient with me. You think teaching is new to you? Being some kind of human/Alicorn hybrid is beyond weird to me. So all things considered, I think you're doing great. Although you could lay off on the excessive homework," I finished in a joking tone.

"How else are you going to lean if you don't study all those spells?" Twilight exclaimed in frustration.

"Okay, okay, I get it," I replied, "but you could ease up. Listen, I don't know much about being a teacher, but I do know a bit about being a manager. If you give someone too much to do during their shift, they'll have a burnout. You've gotta think of me as a complete noob."

"'Noob'?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry. I'm a complete beginner to all of this. Come on, we've only been practicing for a six days, and I've only learned levitation magic. There's no way I'll be able to focus on Magical Theory Volume IV by Starwhirl or whatever."

"Starswirl the Bearded," she corrected, "but yeah, I see your point." She stood and poked my chest with her front hoof. "That doesn't mean those lessons aren't important, you know?"

"I get it, believe me," I chuckled as I stood. "Just…go a little easier. RD's lessons are more painful than yours," I said with a grin, spreading my wings behind me with some more practiced ease and fluttering them.

She giggled. "Alright, I get it."

We sat there for a bit in silence, then I remembered something. "Hey, did you notice the posters of Fluttershy around town lately?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did," she said.

"What's up with them? Don't get me wrong, Fluttershy looks really cute in all those new outfits and mane styles, but I didn't see her as the type to do that kind of thing," I said.

"I'm not sure," Twilight said. "I did hear something about a famous modeling agent in town. Photo Finish, I think was her name."

"You Ponies and your oddly specific names," I said with a chuckle. "Well, I just hope she's not running herself ragged. That kind of career isn't something that an introvert really thrives in."

"If I see her, I'll ask about it," Twilight promised. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." With the last word, she stuck her eye with her front hoof.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"A Pinkie Promise," Twilight explained, "It's something Pinkie came up with. And apparently if you break it, bad things happen."

"Knowing Pinkie, I'm not surprised," I smiled. "Well, I'll do the same thing if I see her around."

Twilight nodded, then looked at the town clock in the distance. "Well, we still have some more time before our lesson is over. Why don't we pick up where we left off? On your hands again!"

"And moment ruined," I muttered.

"My, darling! These…kimonos you called them? They're absolutely astounding!" Rarity looked over the images I'd printed out with her magic.

"Actually, this is a kimono, and this is a yukata," I explained, pointing out the differences. "From what I found during my research, it's the fabric used that makes the difference. Yukatas are meant to be worn during the hot summer months, so they're made of cotton or polyester. Kimonos are made of silk."

"Hmm hmm, I see," she said, pushing up her glasses and peering at the two images. "What human country are these from again?"

"Japan," I replied. "From what I've gathered, it's similar to Neighhon in this world." I swear, these puns are gonna be the death of me.

"Really? Fascinating! I wonder if they have these there too," Rarity pondered. "I'll have to do some research! This is going to be so inspirational! I can see it now: foreign and otherworldly designs in my shop!"

I took a sip of the tea and chuckled. "Glad I could help."

"Oh! And I insist on creating a few of each for you! You'd simply look amazing in them," Rarity added. "And I won't hear of charging you!"

I sighed. "Rarity…you know how uncomfortable that makes me. I know you're the Element of Generosity and all, but I always feel so guilty accepting that from you. I feel like I'm taking advantage of you."

"Pish posh! Nonsense," she said dismissively. "I'm your friend! I want to do this for you." She said that last sentence in a quieter, gentler tone. "Besides, you need new clothes, and only I know your measurements!"

I sighed, facepalming as I took a sip of tea. "There's no winning with you, is there?" I chuckled.

"Not at all! Now, show me more of what you have in that stack while my inspiration is still flowing!"

"Heh, yes ma'am." As I reached down to grab some more pictures, I remembered something. "Hey, I heard from Twilight that you and Fluttershy had some kind of issue together this past week. Is everything alright between the two of you?"

Rarity paused, then nodded. "It was just a silly misunderstanding. We've worked it out between the two of us now."

"Glad to hear it," I said. "I'd hate for there to be a rift between any of you."

"Oh, perish the thought! Something like that would never drive me away from any of my friends," Rarity exclaimed.

As I put the papers on the table, I chuckled. "And I thought Rainbow Dash was the Element of Loyalty," I joked.

"Oh hush," Rarity said good naturedly. "Oooh! What style is this?!"

"Epic Meal Time online cooking show, every Tuesday!" I announced to no one in particular as I entered the kitchen at Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie looked at me with a curious expression. "But today's Wednesday, silly human," she giggled. "And we don't have any hay bacon strips!"

I laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"So? What are we doing today?" she asked, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Well…we're making an epic ice cream cake!" I replied with the same amount of enthusiasm as the pink Earth Pony. Whenever I was around her, I felt I could let my inner child loose. She always made me smile.

"Ice cream cake?!" Pinkie Pie's eyes practically popped out of their sockets in astonishment. "That's an actual thing!? WOWOWOWOW!" She bounced around the kitchen. "Ice cream cake! Ice cream cake! Ice cream cake!"

I jumped in front of her and caught the excitable pink ball of fluff. Thanks to my new Earth Pony strength, she was easy to hold. She smiled, making that unusual Pinkie Pie squeak she made whenever she smiled. Holding her with one arm, I poked her snout playfully. "Calm down there. I just said it was a thing. What I need to do is look through your kitchen for some materials." Pulling out my phone, I Googled for ice cream recipes. Finally, I found one that I felt would work for our purposes. "Alright, I assume you have ice cream?"

"Duh!" Pinkie Pie scoffed with a grin as she opened the freezer. Inside I saw a large tub of white vanilla ice cream.

"Alright. Do you guys have plastic wrap? Or parchment paper?"

"Check!" Pinkie Pie pulled out a box of parchment paper and set it on the counter.

"Two cake pans of identical size?" I asked.

"Check!" She put two round cake pans down.

"All the ingredients for a chocolate cake and some homemade frosting?"

The ingredients appeared on the counter practically before I was even finished talking. "Check!"

"Alright, get the ice cream out," I said as I began to tear off parchment paper and spread it evenly around one of the cake pans.

Pinkie brought me the ice cream and a scooper. Taking the ice cream, I pressed it around the cake pan until it was as flat as I could make it around the edges. "Alright, put it back in the freezer. It's gotta sit there for an hour," I said.

The excitable Earth Pony did as she was told, then came bounding back. "What next?"

"Now we make the chocolate cake," I said.

"Ooh! Ooh! I can do that!" Pinkie Pie began tossing ingredients in the mixing bowl.

"Great. While you're doing that, I'll look over the recipe," I said, looking at the recipe again. I was a bit sad I didn't have any Oreos or Magic Shell here, so I couldn't make the crunch layer, but that was alright. "Okay…do you have heavy cream and powdered sugar as well as a mixer?"

"Yep!" The ingredients appeared out of practically nowhere. "Mixer's over there!" she said, pointing to another counter where an old-fashioned mixer sat.

Eventually, the cake mix was finished, and Pinkie Pie put it in the oven. "Now what? Pinkie want cake now!"

I laughed as I finished up the first batch of heavy cream icing. "Well, Pinkie is going to have to wait," I said, poking her snout again, making her giggle.

All in all, it took about an hour and a half, but eventually we had two cake pans next to each other, one of a completely cool cake and the frozen ice cream layer. Pinkie watched in astonishment and excitement as I pulled out the ice cream layer and carefully placed it on top of the cake layer. Grabbing the icing, I began scooping it on the cake and spreading it. Once I had placed the icing on as evenly as I could, I asked, "You wouldn't happen to have a turntable and a serrated knife, would you?"

"Yep!" She brought them out and set them down on the counter.

Carefully placing the cake on the turntable, I brought the serrated knife up to the side of the cake. "I'm gonna need your help. I need you to very slowly turn the cake while I hold the knife in place, got it?"

"Okie dokie loki!" she said, putting her hoof on the edge of the turntable. "Ready!"

"And…begin." I was surprised at how careful the pink bundle of energy was while doing this, but in the end we had a gorgeous cake. "Alright, now we need some sprinkles and a frosting bag. Oh! And some food coloring."

Pinkie Pie eagerly provided me with each. I made the icing pink, then began spreading it on the corner of the cake. With the frosting, I decorated the top edge with the sprinkles. "Aaand…done! Now don't dig into it just yet! I want to share this with Mr. and Mrs. Cake and get their opinion," I said. "Get some plates, please?"

When I shared this recipe with the Cakes, both were astonished. "It's so simple, yet so revolutionary!" Cup Cake exclaimed with wide eyes.

"I hope you don't mind if we start selling these in our shop," Carrot Cake added.

"Not at all," I grinned.

"This'll be perfect for Diamond Tiara's Cute-ceañera!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she bounced around the shop excitedly.

"Cute-ceañera? What's that?" I asked.

"It's a special celebration for when a Pony receives their cutie mark," Cup Cake explained. "Pinkie's hosting it for Diamond Tiara in a couple of days."

"Well, I'm glad it'll be put to good use. I'll go ahead and write down the recipe for you." Turning to Pinkie Pie, I said, "Pinkie, think we've got enough to share with the others?"

"Yeah!" And just like that, she vanished, the rest of the cake gone as well. However, before she did, she turned and deepened her voice. "Next time, we eat healthy! YEAH, RIGHT!"

"That floofball…" I chuckled, before turning to the Cakes. "Got a pen and paper I can borrow?"

"Tsumugi-chan is so cute," Fluttershy said, sitting next to me as I slowly scrolled through the Sweetness and Lightning manga. "I feel bad that she caught a cold, though."

"Well, let's keep reading and see what happens next," I said, slowly scrolling up on my laptop. The two of us were at Fluttershy's cottage in the early evening. We'd been meeting up a couple times a week to read some Earth manga and Neighhon manega. I was more than a little surprised when she admitted that she liked romance manega.

"Alright," she giggled sweetly. She looked down at the pure white bunny nestled between the two of us. "What do you think, Angel?" The bunny chittered up at Fluttershy, who giggled again. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if Kotori did."

"Did what?" I asked.

"Had a crush on Kohei," Fluttershy said.

"Heh, guess you'll have to wait and see, huh?" I put my hand on the mousepad, but paused. "Fluttershy?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at me with those gorgeous light blue eyes.

"About what happened between you and Rarity recently, well…are you doing alright? I know Rarity said things were cool between you two, but I wanted to be sure."

She giggled, and reached up with her hoof. To my surprise, she touched my nose. "Don't worry about it," she said softly, "I made up with Rarity."

"Alright, glad to hear it," I replied, feeling more relieved now. "I just wanted to be sure."

"Thank you," she said sweetly.

The moment was interrupted by some chittering from the little bunny sitting in between me and Fluttershy. His arms were crossed impatiently and staring at the screen. "Alright, alright, little guy," I replied as I reached down and scratched the bunny behind his ears. He tried to remove my hand with a huff, and I pulled away from him. Turning back to Fluttershy, I put my finger on the mousepad again. "Ready when you are."

"Whoooaaa!" The wind blew through my hair as I soared twenty or so feet off of the ground. I was still a bit wobbly, but Rainbow Dash's constant training was producing fruit. I was able to hover easily enough now, and gliding wasn't much of an issue. It was the actual flying that I still had a tough time with. Of course, since it had only been two weeks since I'd started training, I was pretty proud of myself.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was still her normal, brash teaching self. "Weak! You're still not balanced enough!"

"Well, excuse me for not being a Perfect Prancing Pegasus Pony," I rolled my eyes as I went around, prancing. I knew Rainbow Dash was only ribbing me, but that didn't mean I would let her trot all over me.

The Pegasus began sputtering, causing the others below to laugh. "I-I don't prance!"

I soared up to her and reached out, poking her nose with a grin. "Suuuure," I laughed as I headed down towards the ground. "Blue, prancing Pegasus dancing on rainbows! Blue, prancing Pegasus dancing on rainbows!" I sang up at her.

"Get back here, Private!" she growled, and I could tell she was chasing me.

I looked over my shoulder, catching a glimpse of a blushing and angry looking Rainbow Dash. With a jerk, I turned around and held my arms outstretched. She gasped and tried to dodge, but her momentum threw her into me. I laughed as I fell, arms around the cyan Pegasus as I used my wings to slow my own descent.

Crashing into the ground, I looked down at Rainbow Dash with a knowing grin. "Come here often?" I quipped, causing the others who were watching to laugh. Rainbow Dash blushed harder, but soon even she was laughing. I let her go and stood, brushing myself off. "Welp, time to continue?"

"Ready, Jethro?" Twilight asked, her horn glowing.

"Ready," I replied, grinning with my hands outstretched.

"Good!" She fired off a magical blast directly at me. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted with a grin.

"Nerd!" My hands glowed immediately and I used the magic to deflect the magic blast away from me. It crashed into a nearby boulder harmlessly. She fired off another and I deflected it into the sky. I began to run, not only deflecting the blasts of harmless energy away from me, but jumping and dodging them as well, utilizing my wings to dodge in ways normal humans wouldn't be able. "I should never have shown you the Harry Potter movies!"

"Just keep dodging, muggle!" she laughed as she sped up her firing.

"I'm not gonna learn, am I?" My reflexes had been getting better ever since I'd been training with all three of my new friends. As I continued dodging and deflecting the harmless magic blasts, a thought occurred to me. I decided to try out a certain spell I'd read about. I stopped moving and held out my hand in a familiar pose. Twilight's magic blast stopped directly between us. Twilight watched in awe as I approached her, passing the blast. Kneeling down to face her, I did my best Kylo Ren interpretation. "Where is the map to Luke Skywalker?" I released the bolt, which flew harmlessly into the ground.

"Wow," Twilight said, eyes wide in astonishment. "That was really impressive!" She grinned. "And you thought it would take forever to learn magic."

"Well, maybe not forever, but a long time," I said, reaching down and stroking her mane.

She sighed in contentment and nuzzled into my hand. "You're really…getting good, you know," she said, sitting down.

I sat next to her and looked at the landscape. "Thanks for saying so," I replied. We sat there for a while, me stroking her mane the entire time. As we did so, I remembered the Cute-ceañera. "Hey, I heard you went to someone's Cute-ceañera recently. How'd that go?"

"It was actually really nice," Twilight said. "Well, aside from a little argument."

"What kind of argument?" I asked.

"Well, Diamond Tiara and her friend were making fun of Apple Bloom for not having a cutie mark," Twilight said, ears flattened a bit. "The two were calling her a Blank Flank."

"Sounds like a derogatory term," I frowned.

"Well, it is," she sighed. "But fortunately, Apple Bloom found two new friends in the end. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo. They don't have their cutie marks either. I overheard them forming something called the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

I smiled. "That's actually pretty cute. I'm glad something good came out of it."

"By the way, I heard you're the one who came up with those ice cream cakes," she grinned. "Why weren't you at the Cute-ceañera?"

"I've got a feeling it's because of Spoiled Rich," I replied. "She's one of the few Ponies in town who still gives me the stink eye whenever we pass on the street."

"Oh…I'm sorry," she said sadly.

"It's alright. I've tried being friendly, but that always seems to set her off. So I've just downgraded to being polite if we pass."

"Just please don't do anything stupid," Twilight said. "I've heard she's got a lot of influence."

"I wasn't planning on it," I replied. "You know the old saying, kill them with kindness."

Nodding, the two of us went silent for a little while longer. Finally, Twilight cleared her throat. "Well…we should really get back to practicing."

"Alright," I replied, standing up and stretching. Turning to my magic teacher, I clapped my hands. "What next?"

"Ah can't believe ya made so much progress in only two weeks," Applejack said slackjawed as she looked at the three rows of empty apple trees.

I smiled. "I have an amazing teacher," I replied. "Seriously, I owe you a lot. You, Rainbow Dash and Twilight all. I know I haven't exactly been the easiest student."

"That's for dern sure," she muttered, but then she smiled widely. "But it's payin' off. I ain't never been a teacher before, so I was a mite nervous. But ah'm proud of ya." She slugged my arm playfully.

"Ow!" I winced, but grinned as I rubbed my arm. "Thanks, AJ."

She chuckled. "Not a problem!" Just then, she got a thoughtful look on her face. "You know, ah reckon Granny would hire ya on our farm lickety split if she saw this amount of work ya did," Applejack said. "Ah could vouch for ya, too. We'd pay ya too."

"I appreciate the offer," I replied, "but I really couldn't accept that. Not that the job wouldn't be rewarding in its own way, but I wouldn't be able to accept your pay." I stopped and stroked my five o'clock shadow. "I could definitely volunteer a couple days a week, though. If your family would have me, that is. Some honest work like this would be really rewarding. And it would be great exercise and practice for me."

"Ah'll let Granny know," Applejack said. Looking up, she chuckled. "The sun's settin' already. Ya wanna stay for dinner? We're makin' that apple crisp recipe ya gave Granny."

"I know better than to turn down an invitation from you," I smiled sheepishly. "I'd be honored. Lead the way!"