Chapter filled with Zaps...

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Pretty chill chapter, and at the same time pretty rich in plot haha...Try to figure out everything! And Like always ENJOY!!!

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It was a sunny autumn morning. Birds were singing. Zap apples were ripe for harvest.

On days like this, Starfall could really feel the freshness and beauty of this wonderful world.

"Thank you for the apples Jackie. You can't begin to understand my curiosity when it comes to those pretties." Starfall said, patting his saddleback filled to the brim with the enchanted apples.

"It's totally fine Sugarcube! You know you can ask me anything right?! I'm always happy to help!" Applejack replied, before giving Starfall a kiss on the lips.

"Even so... I'm going to make sure you understand how much you mean to me Love. I want to see you at home tonight. Are we clear?" He asked with a smirk, that Applejack returned.

"I'm always ready for a rodeo!" She replied with a snort.

"It's a date then. Oh, right! Just don't forget that tomorrow is Spike's birthday. Pinkie and Meena are throwing him a party and I expect that it can go for longer than the children are awake."He wiggled his eyebrows to Applejack bemusement.

The mare rolled her eyes and kicked Starfall in the rear in exasperation.

"come on ya lewd stallion. get on the road!" She said and Starfall chuckled.

"You know you love it darling." He said walking away with a smirk.

Applejack rolled her eyes at his departing back.

"Yes I do..." She whispered so that he didn't hear her, but who was Starfall if not an extremely powerful pony.

"I heard that!" He called back without turning, and followed it by dodging an apple that Applejack threw at him in exasperation...

_________

"And Remember, Spike. Greed is dangerous, especially for a dragon. Thankfully you had some smart and loving relatives if I do say so myself haha." Starfall said, hugging Spike who smiled at his father figure. "You grew up to be such a caring and nice dragon Spike. I'm really proud of you." He added rubbing his headfin playfully.

"He's right Spike. What you did for Rarity was the most generous, kind thing I had ever seen you do! I never saw her so happy." Twilight added, hugging spike from his side and making him blush profusely.

"I-I just saw how much she loved that gemstone...You taught me to always prioritize my friends' happiness before mine and...It really made me happy to see her smile so much..." Spike said with a blush remembering how happy Rarity was when he gifted her his fire Ruby.

Starfall laughed warmly.

"Well, if she ever had any problems with your relationship with Sweetie Belle, you can be certain that they're all gone haha... Although I advice you to do something for your Fillyfriends too Spike, hahaha... They're gonna be jealous when they see Rarity with that Ruby." Starfall warned Spike whose eyes suddenly opened wide. He wanted to do something nice for a friend, but ended up giving a pretty expensive jewel to an older sister of his Marefriend... He was in trouble...

"Oh no! What do I do! Sweetie Belle is going to flip!" Spike jumped onto the floor in horror but Starfall just laughed.

"Don't worry Spike! They are still young. They won't put so much worth into jewelry. Also don't forget that it's your birthday. If you could figure out some way to entwine a date into the celebration, I'm sure you'll like the outcome." Starfall gave Spike a hint, which the young Dragon caught as his expression brightened.

"Thanks Dad! You're the best! I need to prepare!" Spike exclaimed before running out of the room to the amusement of Starfall and a pout from Twilight.

Starfall noticed her expression and grinned, annoying Twilight further.

"Well?..." He said and she scoffed, turning her head away.

"...You win... this round..." She said not looking at him.

"Haha! Who's a better parent? Yes Ladies! It's me!" Starfall exclaimed with an excessive bravado, while Twilight just facehoofed and started to giggle through her annoyance...

________

The party was in full swing as everypony enjoyed the food and attractions, or just passed the time exchanging conversations.

Starfall sat on a couch surrounded by some of his Marefriends, chatting about his latest experiment idea, while Applejack supplied everything she knew about the magical apples she provided.

"Do you think, you could make magical vegetables?" Asked a curious looking Midnight.

"The idea crossed my mind." Starfall nodded.

"Oh! OH! What about Magical Pancakes!? Or even Cake! We could even make Candies with funny effects!" Exclaimed Pinkie and starfall had to laugh hearing her idea.

"All of this can be made with the right potion Pinkie. You don't need to magically mutate a pancake. I'm sure if you asked Zecora, she'd be happy to help you in their creation." Starfall hinted to Pinkie, wondering if he didn't just create a monster judging by her expression...

"That's actually a pretty cool idea!" Pointed out Rainbow Dash.

"Or rather really dangerous..." Muttered Twilight.

"You are both right girls. But I'm sure if she listens to Zecora, nothing bad will happen. Right Pinkie?" He gave the pink mare a pointed look to which she blushed but didn't stop grinning.

"I'll be extra careful! Don't worry! This is going to be so, So super Great!" Pinkie Reassured And Starfall looked at Meena who smiled.

"I'll keep an eye on her." She whispered with a wink and Starfall sighed in relief...

"They look to be having fun..." Luna suddenly said warmly, changing the topic, and everypony looked in the direction she was looking.

Spike the "dragon of the hour", and the CMC, were currently sitting in a corner, with Silver Spoon, playing some kind of party game for children, and trying not to act too cozy with eachother, which only made the situation more adorable.

"They look so cute together..." Whispered Fluttershy and everypony nodded.

"Yes they do...but... isn't there somepony missing?" Asked Little Strongheart, who sat close to Starfall, lightly caressing her slightly but not noticeably bloated belly.

Starfall noticed that she was right.

"Huh... Yeah. I don't see Diamond Tiara. I wonder where she is..." He said, suddenly wondering if something happened.

His eyes traveled the room, finally stopping on the silhouette of the young filly...She was looking straight at him from behind a doorframe. The moment their eyes met, he could see her blush and instantly hide herself...

"Maybe she went to the bathroom?" Asked Luna.

"Probably..." Starfall said, deciding not to mention her weird behaviour...

_________

"Fascinating! The magic is Imbued into those apples' very being! It actually alters their entire nature without changing what they are in principle." Exclaimed Dr Whooves looking at the test results of the Zap Apples.

"I have to agree with you Whooves. They are some of the more amazing examples of magic currently in Equestria.

Starfall looked at the Apple currently broken into particles, floating in space above a special magic formation. He could tell from the test results that the magic had achieved harmony with the apple's DNA becoming a part of it and its nature. It wasn't something shocking, after all, wasn't creatures of this world the same? No, what fascinated Starfall the most was how the magic ingrained a set of behavioural patterns into the apples that acted as a part of its natural growth cycle. While the research on itself wasn't truly groundbreaking, it brought up some answers and new questions about magic, that Starfall had never asked before...

"I never expected that Zap Apples his so many mysteries...Do you think this level of magical adaptation can be artificially created?"The Science loving Stallion asked Starfall who rolled his eyes at his question.

"Of course! How else do you think the so called "monsters" were created? Do you think Chimeras, Bugbears, Manticores or Cockatrices were naturally born magical creatures?" Starfall asked rhetorically but received only a confused gaze from Whooves.

"Uhh...And weren't they?..." He asked and Starfall realized that the Stallion didn't know the Pre-Ancient history of Equestria.

"Oh...No they weren't. They were actually created by the very first evil emperor of Equestria, way before even Lord Tirek or King Sombra came into power. His name was Grogar, and he was one of the most powerful beings in history, in his full power easily outclassing even the Alicorns and Discord, or that's at least how the story goes. Thankfully, a hero of that time managed to steal the source of his power, and...well...we don't really know what happened to Grogar. But that's the gist of how most of those monsters came to be in Equestria. Of course it isn't like he made ALL of them, some of them did emerge naturally, but he was famous for oppressing the ponies using his armies of twisted creatures, and ruling with an iron hoof." Starfall said really surprising Whooves.

"I had no idea! How do you know all this?" Asked the Stallion, now full of curiosity.

"The archives of Canterlot. It might be hard to imagine but I got the full access..." He said with amusement.

"Ah...Right. I could have guessed that..." Said Whooves sheepishly.

"You could have, yes." Starfall said amused, but he noticed that the stallion still had something he wanted to ask.

"Yes?" He asked him, waiting for his question.

"So... Who's King Sombra?... Or Lord Tirek?" Asked Whooves, and Starfall realised that none of those guys were actually common knowledge, if you weren't interested in ancient history...Seems like they are going to stay here talking for a good while more...

__________

Starfall walked down the streets of Ponyville humming a song in a particularly good humor.

*Hmm...hmm hmhm...My name is Pinkie pie...Hm Hmhm gonna make you Smile... Nana hmhm brighten up your day... Hmhm... Smile, Smile...*

"Hey Starfall!!!"

"Woah?!?" Starfall screamed in fright as a familiar Pink mare appeared right in front of his face.

*Giggle*"Oh my, did I frighten you? Sorry. I was just looking around. My Pinkie sense told me that somepony was stealing my songs around here. Have you heard anything suspicious?" She asked with a grin, before looking at Starfall with a scary expression as her hoof slowly took out a pie out of her saddleback...

"Pinkie... What-what are you doing?..." Starfall asked now scared.

"Why, What do you think darling! I made you a pie!" She said with a creepy smile.

"Oh boy! What flavor?"He slipped out before he could stop himself, and he knew at this moment...he bucked up...

"Pie flavor!"*SPLAT*

_________

After an unexpected dessert, Starfall continued on his way down the streets of Ponyville. He licked his lips. Yep. that pie really tasted like Pie...Wonder what she did with it to make it have that taste...

He didn't try to hum any more songs of Pinkie despite being curious if she'd hunt him again, but instead opted to sing a bit of the This Day Aria... That Day was coming soon anyway so he should probably start some preparation. And the villain songs in the show were always awesome so that is that...

His eyes slowly passed over the ponies of Ponyville, and just out of habit, he activated his Mage sight. He didn't expected though to find one of the Ponies walking down the street to actually show itself not as a pony altogether...

It had the shape and looks yes... but it's magic...well...he knew enough about magic to figure out that it wasn't a pony but a Changeling...

"Speak of the Devil..." He muttered, just about ready to follow the creature, when a sudden shudder went through his entire body. He looked around confused, failing to notice his Cutie Mark lightly flashing with multicoloured light, and tried to figure out what happened.

His only conclusion was that his magic for whatever reason became unstable. Even now he could feel that his magic wasn't as calm as before. This needed further studies...But first let's...

"Oh... he's gone..." Starfall muttered realising that he had lost sight of the Changeling...

"Who's gone?" A voice suddenly came from his side startling Starfall.

"Wah!...Oh. Mrs Cake! Sorry. I didn't see you there... It's nothing. I think I just saw somepony I knew, but I lost sight of them." Starfall explained to the older mare, who nodded in understanding.

His eyes roamed on her body. Her belly was quite big. It was clear that she was going to give birth very soon.

Everything is going well for you Mrs Cake? Why are you here alone?" He asked giving a pointed look at her large belly.

"Oh don't worry about me Starfall Sugar. It's still a while before I'm due. And for me being alone... My husband is just over there. Have no fear, He's way more overprotective than anypony else haha!" She laughed warmly while pointing at Mr Cake, trying currently to buy some groceries while sending his wife a worried look every few seconds...

Starfall smiled. Was he going to act like this when his babies were due?...Probably...

The thought filled him with warmth...but the memory of that changeling wandering Ponyville made him worry...

He needed to get stronger...

A zap of colorful magic passed through his Cutie Mark as he made that declaration to himself...