Appleloosan

Good morning world! Oh, what a wonderful day! Sun is shining, birds are singing, and I'm still human! Oh, joy of joys!

Yes, you read that right. Still human. It's a long story. Well, stories. It's hard to explain, but I'll try my best.

So, basically, people are becoming ponies. No, no, don't leave! Trust me, this isn't a lie. This is all true. I can't prove it just now, but trust me. It's all true. Anyway, these people would just wake up, and find themselves as characters from the show. Or OCs. The OCs don’t show up on the news as often, though.

But, of course, I wouldn't be writing this story if I stayed human the entire time, would I? That would be boring. So, of course, the 'still human' part doesn't apply to me at this moment. But, I shall start at the beginning, back when I was still human. So, take two...

<< REW <<

Good morning world! Oh, what a wonderful day! Sun is shining, birds are singing, and I'm still human! Oh, joy of joys!

I rolled off my bed onto the floor. Ow. That wasn't very smart. Slowly, I lifted myself off the floor. Okay, quick check. Hands, yes. Fingers, ooh, lots of fingers. Legs! Still got legs. Excellent.

I swung open the wardrobe and began browsing through the small selection of clothing I had. Hmm, how about this plain simple t-shirt? Nah. This weird thing that I don’t even know why I keep? Eh, why the buck not. I pulled the plain brown leather vest thing off its hanger, remembering why I had such a thing in the first place. It was part of a costume for a school play, I was ‘Generic Background Cowboy #5’. Yeah, I didn’t really have much of a role in the story, but I got to keep the costume, for some reason.

Wait... there was a hat too. Lemme just... Aha! I took the hat out of the wardrobe and flipped it onto my head. Fabulous. Add an old, worn pair of jeans and voila. Instant cowboy.

I walked down the stairs... well, more like tumbled. Stupid legs.

Stepping into the bathroom, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Whoa. I look... well, like a cowboy. Once I had finished going about the morning routine, I stepped back out and into the kitchen.

I looked around the rather small kitchen. Hmm... what should I have today? ...apples. I want apples. Ineed apples.

Scrambling around in the fruit bowl, I pulled out a suitably red and juicy apple.

...wait, what? I hate apples! Apples are rubbish! Why would I even think of eating this? Throwing it back into the bowl, I searched the cupboards for other options. Nothing that caught my eye.

I looked back over to the fruit bowl. Eh, guess I could do worse... I picked out the same ripe, red apple and looked over it. How bad could it be? Shrugging, I bit into it.

...sweet Celestia this is the greatest thing I've ever eaten why haven't I tried this before oh wait I have and I hated it what is going on here. I’d practically died of joy biting into a stupid apple. I hated apples. Why did I suddenly love them?

Eventually, I recovered from the unexpected deliciousness and looked down at the apple. How the hell was such a small bite so... powerful? Shaking my head, I threw the apple into the bin. No way I was going through that again...

I walked back out and into the living room. I glanced at the clock. 7AM? Huh. Well, guess it’s good that I’m up this early, at least now I’m back into a more normal sleeping schedule. Today was the last day of the holidays, and I’d have to go back to school the next day. I sighed and flopped onto the couch and turned the TV on. What shall I watch today?

...Doctor Who. The answer is always Doctor Who.

I browsed through the menu until I found a good classic series story and hit play. Ah, that cheesy 80’s CGI...

>> FFW >>

I blinked, looking around. Was that really it? Four episodes already? I got up from the sofa. Huh. Feeling a little dizzy. Well, I did just sit through two hours of Ace being a badass, the Doctor being a badass, and the Daleks killing people. An awful lot of killing, actually. What a shame. Why couldn’t they just be friends?

I stopped in my tracks, blinking. What the smeg was all that about? Did I seriously just think that? Perhaps I should stop with all this pony. It’s hurting my ideas.

I made my way back upstairs to my room. My parents had woken while I was sitting on my fla- arse watching Doctor Who, and my sisters were still lazing about in bed. I almost never got up before them. I hadn’t questioned it before, since I had been thinking about other things. Why did I get up so early? And why was I so happy about it?

The sound of the door slamming open interrupted my train of thought. My sister burst through screaming.

“What are you doing?” I said, turning to face her.

“Screaming,” she said, looking me over. “What are you wearing?”

“I... don’t know,” I said, taking the hat off. Why did I still have this stupid thing on?

“Hahah, you look like Braeburn!”

“I... guess I do. Well done,” I said. “Now, what do you want?”

She stood completely still, blinked, then walked back out. Okay, then. That was... something. But now, I had stuff to do. To the internet!

Right, let’s check EQD... apparently, the Mane 6 are further in their quest to New York. And more ponies on the news. Let’s see... Pinkie accidentally an IHOP, Time Turner accidentally the space/time continuum, and an OC accidentally his wings.

Wait... that looks familiar. The image was very blurry, but I could barely make out the area surrounding. A street in a city center. My city’s centre. There’s a pony, right here in Perth?

Wait... is he... he looks like... nah, I’m probably just being paranoid. I mean, it’s not like anyone else would turn into my OC, right? ...right?

Shaking the thought out of my head, I opened up my IRC client. Let’s check up on my bros over on PonyChat, shall we?

== Ambureon has joined #home

* Amber waves! Hallo!

* Ambureon waves.

How are you?

I’m good. Feeling a lot more friendly.

That is good.

Must... hug... everyone...

* Ambureon hugs EVERYONE. Yes, even you at the back.

It is nice to see you being so friendly. You usually just sit there and say nothing.

* Ambureon smiles.

After that, the room dissolved into a cuddlefest, and I reverted back to my usual, awkward self. Not really worth putting more of it here. Eventually, I just gave up trying to get back into the conversation and disconnected.

Bored, I decided to laze about on my bed. Well, I tried, but I found myself with an unbeatable urge to get up and run around outside. Of course, I did no such thing, instead choosing to go downstairs and play some videogames.

Hmm... what to play? Metroid. That’s always fun. I put the disc in, and sat on the sofa, controller in hand. I decided to start afresh, since, on my other save, the Omega Pirate was being a dick and refusing to die.

Upon entering the Frigate, I saw many Space Pirates lying wounded, but still conscious enough to aim and fire. I was encouraged to kill them, but for some reason avoided them, letting myself take damage and leaving them unharmed. I ended up dying to the first boss because I couldn’t get ‘in the zone’ or whatever. Oh, well.

I decided to stop playing at that point, for some reason I felt like I wasn’t really in the mood for space adventures. I felt more inclined to roam the old West, so, I switched out the disc for Red Dead Redemption. It felt a lot more natural to be in the setting of dusty free roaming adventures... riding a horse... wait...

>> FFW >>

“Alberto! It’s time for lunch!”

I blinked, looking away from the screen and towards the source of the shouting. Okay, then. I paused the game, set the controller down, and made my way into the kitchen.

“So, what’s for lunch today?” I asked.

“Steak,” my mum answered, still busy preparing stuff.

Steak? My stomach lurched at the thought. What the hell? I usually loved steak. Why do I suddenly hate it? What is going on?

“Hello? Is there anyone still in there?” my mum said, suddenly right in front of me. Guess I must have spaced out or something. “Could I get past, maybe?”

        I awkwardly shifted to the side and let my mum walk past carrying the plates. I followed her into the living room and sat down at the table.

“What up?” my sister said, almost crashing through the door and flopping onto her chair. She was always so random, even more so after I introduced her to MLP. Pinkie was like some sort of role model to her or something.

“The sky,” I replied, completely deadpan.

My other sister skipped in, smiling. She jumped into the seat she always takes. Always. No exceptions. Her seat. ALWAYS.

Eventually my dad arrived too, and the nomming could begin. Except no, because I really didn’t want to eat for some reason. I mean, I ate the salad just fine, but the steak? Did not want it. How odd.

“Alberto, eat,” my mum said.

“I want to... but...” I poked the steak with my fork. “I just... can’t.”

“You ate the salad well enough,” my dad said. “Oh dear god, are you turning vegetarian? I cannot believe it.”

“No, I just...”

“If you want to be a vegetarian, that’s fine, honey,” my mum said.

“It’s not natural, Nikki!” my dad shouts. “First that pony stuff, and now this!”

My mum glared at him. “Corrado, I swear, if you don’t shut up right now, I’ll walk straight out that door, and I’ll take the kids with me.”

“You’re threatening to leave? Great! Just great! I won’t have to deal with your nagging all th-”

“Stahp it! Please!” I shouted, on the verge of tears, knowing that this was my fault. “Why cain’t ya just get along? Is this really so ‘portant to ya?”

Everyone stopped. There was no talking, no eating, nothing. For a good minute, everything was quiet. Then I got up, took my plate and cutlery, walked into the kitchen and dumped them in the sink. I walked back up the stairs and into my room, closing the door behind me.

If I had known what would happen to me the next day, I would have avoided the bed at all costs. But, silly me, I lay on my bed and cried. I cried until I... well, I don’t remember. One moment I was crying, the next moment... nothing.

I sometimes heard voices, drifting in and out, but other than that, nothing to remind me that there had ever been anything other than the black void in which I floated at that moment.

And that was that. End of the first day. If only I’d known what was to come...