“Another day, the same shit”, I though while getting out of bed. I just woke up, and my manly tears were already flowing through my face. Ever since Dashie left, I felt very lonely and sad. Nothing could cheer me up, not even my friends. The only things that could get a smile on my face were the pictures and memories of me and Rainbow Dash. Still, that smile wouldn’t last long, and would become tears seconds later. I couldn’t talk or eat a lot. And, with enough luck, I would get some hours of sleep. Still, Dashie could always get into my dreams, and wake me up.
I decided to make a toast for breakfast, and a cup of coffee. That replaced the hours of sleep I couldn’t manage to get last night. After finishing my breakfast, I got dressed and walked to my work. Walking used to distract me, but, it didn’t this time. The memories came back to my head right after getting out of my home, and I felt another tear coming out from my left eye.
After work, I noticed something. My routine changed back to normal, before Dashie appeared. Wake up, have breakfast, go to job, come back and sleep, then repeat. “Damn it”, I though. I couldn’t hold myself any longer, and I cried like never before. I tried to “be a man” and stop, and luckily, I could. Then I realized I was really tired, and went to my bed. Again, woke up, this time, satisfied that I got more than 5 hours of sleep. My brain decided not to troll me with sad memories of the last fifteen years, so I got breakfast, and seconds later, I was on my way to work. After work, I decided to take another route to my house. I was hoping something to appear, like the last time. But there was no box, nor a little pony on the street.
Sad, I finally was back in home. I was searching my house keys in my pocket, and suddenly, something fell from the sky. Though it was an airplane the first time, but it actually crashed in my field, which I bought for me and Dashie before my old neighborhood got transformed into a large factory. I ran as fast as I could, to see what happened. Though I was very tired, my curiosity gave me the strength I needed to continue running. As I got closer to what landed in my field, a giant ball of smoke appeared. I couldn’t see a darn thing, but I kept moving on. Then, a small figure showed up. It seemed to be a baby horse. But, I couldn’t see enough to make myself an idea. So, I slowly walked further to investigate what just landed near my house. Then, I saw it.
“No, no, it just can’t be!” I said. “No, this must be a dream. Yeah, I probably fell asleep watching TV in the couch. Now, I have to wake up”. I pinched myself, once, twice, and the third time; I realized it was not a dream. It was a young Applejack. I had no idea of how she got here, or how she survived the fall, well, ponies survive crashes, fights, races, so it ain’t a big surprise, the thing is, that she did survive, that was the only thing that matters right now. It was a cold winter, and it was snowing. I thought that the poor filly could be freezing, so I took off my jacket, and tried to grab her with it. Then, I felt that something hit me on the knee.
“She kicked me?” I though. “She kicked me! Christ, this is not a dream then!” The little pain that pony inflicted on me was a proof that this was real life. “Why would she kick me? Oh….” My brain finally realized that she was scared.
“Don’t worry. I don’t want to hurt you” I said as calm as I could. “Come on, it’s freezing out here, let’s go home alright?”
Seems that it did the trick, since I was able to take her home without her hitting me again. She was a young filly, with no more than 5 years. “Like with Dashie!” I though. “Wait a minute! What if these ponies are actually playing a really mean prank on me?” They probably knew that I was going to fall in love with Applejack, and then they would have to take her away from me, breaking my heart, again. I decided to stay a little away from her, so my lonely soul wouldn’t use her to fill the empty space in my heart.
As soon as we entered the house, I tried to give her something to eat. But she refused to eat what I had. “It’s Applejack” I thought. “I think she only eats apples”. I found a shiny red apple in my refrigerator, luckily. Gave it to her, and she ate it with joy. Then we had a tour of the house. There wasn’t much to see, but I thought she would like to choose were to sleep.
“Do you like the house?” I asked. Not a single word, as I was expecting. She couldn’t talk, but I did notice that she understood me, since she nodded.
“Choose somewhere to sleep, Applejack” I said. She then pointed forwards to the couch. “Alright then, here, have another apple before going to sleep” And I handled he a green apple I found. She ate it, and laid down in the couch. Brought a cotton blanket to keep her warm and, before going upstairs I said: “If you feel afraid or need something, you’re more than welcome to go into my room” and smiled. Then I went upstairs to hopefully get some sleep.
But, I awoke one or two hours later because I heard noises coming from the stairs. I got up to see what was happening. And there she was, trying to ascend the stairs, but, since she was only a filly, it was really difficult for her.
“Applejack!” I said, and went to help the young pony. When I got to her position, she jumped and hugged me. And, I couldn’t resist anymore, my heart exploded. “Come on, let’s go get some sleep” I softly said.
The next morning, I woke up thinking about how to tell Applejack that I had to go to work. I didn’t know how she would react. Would she understand me and let me go? Or would she be scared about me leaving her alone in the house? I decided to leave her a note. “How silly I am” I thought. “She probably can’t read, she’s just a filly”. I had to go, but, she was still sleeping, and I didn’t have the balls to wake her up.
“Looks like my work, will have to wait!” I said referring to Rainbow Dash’s fad: “Looks like my Skyrim, will have to wait” Memories of me and my little Dashie rushed in my mind, and I couldn’t stop a tear coming out from my right eye. I missed her so much, even when having Applejack with me. Luckily, my memories were interrupted by her coming into the kitchen.
“Good morning my young filly. Did you sleep well?” I asked with a smile, and she nodded. It was 9 o’clock in the morning, and I really had to go to work, so, I had to ask.
“Um, I’d like to ask you two things” I started. “First of all, I have to go to my job, and, that means leaving you alone in here. Is it ok with you? I’ll leave you apples and a bucket of water, and I’ll be back in some hours” Seems like it was my lucky day, after a long, long time, since she nodded. “Good, now, to the second subject. Is it ok if I call you Jackie? I can’t call you Applejack forever? I smiled, and she nodded happily again. “Ok, see you soon then” And I left.
On my way to work, I realized that I said that magic, yet terrorizing word. “FOREVER” “Damn” I thought. Anyway, I didn’t care too much; I was more worried about Applejack being all alone in the house, and about work. I continued walking, and, for the first time in weeks, it actually kept me distracted from any though of Dashie and me. Work went really fast, and, before I could notice, I was out of it.
One year has passed since Jackie landed on my house. She learned how to talk, and now we could fully communicate, thing which made everything easier. Today is her birthday, and we made a cake. My baking skill improved a lot since Dashie left, since I didn’t want to come out to get something to eat; I was “on my own”. The cake was really tasty, and was well cooked, however we couldn’t finish it. Six month ago, I bought four fully grown apple trees, and tomorrow, I’m going to take her out to kick them out. She already knew the territory, and had been investigating those trees closely.
Well, I must say these two days were fantastic. First day, her birthday, which I decided it to be the day I found her. Second, her Cutie Mark. After kicking those trees, their apples fell off, and she felt so good, that she decided to kick all the other trees, and after ten seconds or so, the cutie mark appeared in her flank. This time, I did know what to do; I had been through that.
After a long chat, about what a Cutie Mark is, and what it means, she had a lot more questions about it:
“Does this thing mean I can only buck apple trees and nothing else?” she asked.
“Of course not, you can do whatever you want apart from that.” I answered. What I knew, is that the Cutie Mark is the reference of what you enjoy most, and, you can do other things from that, but I didn’t know whether it would disappear if you just stopped doing what you liked.
“And, does it disappears, or is it permanent?” she said
“I’m sorry my young pony, I don’t have the answer for that” I admitted. “Anyway, it’s time to go to bed”
“But, I’m not tired!”
“Maybe you’re not tired, but, if you don’t have a rest, you will be tomorrow”
“Okay…. I guess you’re right”
“Common, let’s go to bed”
You know? Years go by really fast. I remember how I found Applejack, and it seems like it was yesterday I did. Five years, that’s a lot of time, and a lot of things happened. I mean, that’s five birthdays, over 1670 days of work, well, I guess you understand me. The apple trees are now fully grown, as well as Applejack is. I also noticed that she’s getting that little accent from the show, somehow. She hasn’t discovered about the show yet, I completely blocked the Hub, but I’m thinking about telling her about it, I don’t want to make the same mistakes.
So far, I’m enjoying her company, trying to avoid thoughts of when they’re going to take her back to Equestria, but still having in mind that that might occur. We’re having a lot of fun for now. I decided to bring home some more fully grown trees, and have a kind of man-made Sweet Apple Acres, so she can feel more “in home” (though she doesn’t know Apple Acres is her real home). I’m waiting for those trees to come here and be planted, so then I can talk her about the show, who she really is, and what is really going on. I’m just anxious for those trees to come, I must tell her the truth as soon as I can, she’s a grown mare, and she deserves it.
Two weeks later, some workers started to plant the trees. It has been the first time someone (not somepony) visits my house, and Applejack was quite worried about it.
“Wha’ in tarnation is that? She asked while going down the stairs.
“Oh, that? It’s quite a surprise, which will be revealed when those guys out there are gone” I said, trying not to mess anything up.
“Uhm, sugar cube, we don’t really need all those trees, ya’ know? We have plenty of apples with the ones we already have”
“You’ll know the tru—, the reason in a few moments, just be patient, alright?” Damn, I almost gave myself away; but she didn’t seem suspect anything.
“Alrite then, call me when they’re done”.
Minutes later, they were done planting the trees. I exhaled, and told to myself “c’mon! you can do this!”
“Applejack!” I called her. “They’re done, come here!”
“Okay, I’m commin’” she said from the other room. “What’s the matter, sugar cube?”
“Uhm” I hesitated. “I have something to tell you”
I took a deep breath before revealing the truth; I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, and that Applejack would have a lot of questions… I had to be ready.
“Uhm, what’s wrong dad?”
Boom… mindshot. I hadn’t heard that word in, what? Seven years? And it just hit me like the first time Dashie said that. A tear… no, this isn’t the time for crying! This is the time of being honest, of telling the truth to Applejack, the time to correct the mistake I did once before.
“Come over here, Applejack”. I said calmly. “Look through the window”
“Well, yeh, those apple trees sure are big”
“No AJ” at that time, I started to call her like that, Jackie just didn’t seem a good name for her. “What you’re seeing through the window, is a representation of your real home”
“What in tarnation are you tal—“
“Please, let me finish. You’ll see” I took another deep breath; just to be sure this was the right thing. Ok, here we go. “This isn’t your real home. You fell in my yard while I was searching for my house’s keys. Somehow, you survived the fall, but most importantly, somehow, you fell in my farm, in my world.” I said. I grabbed the remote control and turned on the TV. This was going to be hard to explain.
The TV turned on, in the Hub channel. I had enabled it a while before, and an Applejack episode of My Little Pony was airing right now. Everything was set up.
“This is where you belong. It’s a place called Equestria, were you live with other five ponies” I softly said.
“Is –“she murmured, “Is that me?”
“No, Applejack. You are the pony from the show, but you yourself are a different pony from the show” I said that, trying to remember what I said the first time that this happened to me. ‘Ha’ I thought, ‘it’s weird how this happened to me twice’
“Now, do you have any questions you want me to answer?” I said with a smile, trying to suffocate the shock that the truth had given to her.
“Yea, I actually have some questions!” she said with the best poker face I’ve ever seen. She really knows how to hide her emotions and feelings.
“Okay, go on”
Minutes later, all the questions were answered. Believe me, they were A LOT! Though, I could answer each one of them. But AJ didn’t seem to be really happy about the news. She now knows that she’s lost in another world, rather than hers. And, the worst thing, if that she now knows that she’ll have to go back someday, and, leave me here, thing which doesn’t make me happy either.
I came upstairs, to see how well she was doing. I knocked the door, but there was no answer. ‘No, falling from here would have hurt her, badly, and she knows it. She also has no wings, so can’t have escaped.’ I understood, that maybe it wasn’t the right time, so I decided to go for a walk.
“I’m going for a walk AJ! Be right back soon”
But, when I got out from the house, I saw her. She was bucking the apple trees, collecting those sweet and shiny red apples and putting them in buckets. Just like the Applejack from the show.
“Oh, there you are! I thought you were closed in your room, mad at me” I said
“Mad at you? Why would I be?”
“Because the truth might really hurt some times” I said while looking down to the floor.
“Don’t – worry, no – hard feelings” She added while bucking a tree.
She had really become an apple bucker. A real farmer. She was quite good, but needed practice, and she sometimes missed, which made the work harder for her. Her direction had to be corrected as well.
“WAIT, NO!”
*Boom* I passed out
I woke up, in the grass. I didn’t remember what happened, but I knew it hadn’t been something good, I felt really, really bad, I was having a terrible pain on my chest. I opened my eyes, but I didn’t saw a worried Applejack, nor apple trees, not even a farm. I saw, what was it? A park? I didn’t know how the hell I got there. I know that we can’t magically teleport in our world. So, I was either transported here somehow, by car or something, or this was a dream. I decided to find out.
I got up, with great effort. The pain was ceasing, luckily, but the biggest problem I had, was the unknown location I found myself into. “Where am I?” I said. I must add that I felt the weird feeling of knowing this place. Is there any park that I’ve been into before? “Yeah, the one near my old house. The only in which my little Dashie learned to fly. But this place was converted into a big factory, wasn’t it?” I didn’t know what to do, but just then, I saw a man walking through the street.
“Hello!” I yelled as hard as my chest let me. “HEEELLOO!” But, no answer was given by the stranger. “Maybe he couldn’t hear me from here, I should get nearer him”
I ran for a moment towards him, my chest pained a little, but my curiosity always wins, so I continued no matter what. I finally got next to him…
“Excuse me” I said “Can you tell me what place is this?”….
Still, there was no answer to my question. ‘Maybe he’s deaf? But, if he is, how will I ask him where am I?’ My next step was to touch him. My finger got closer, and closer to the man’s shoulder, only to pass through him, like a ghost.
“What? I can’t touch him? Is he an hallucination, or am I? Am I dead? Or is this a just dream?” A lot of questions passed through my mind, but, I preferred to think it was a dream. “Ok, is there anypony – eh, anybody else in here?” No, there wasn’t. The only person walking in these streets was him, so I decided to follow him. After some minutes of walking, I saw something beautiful, something that gave me a lot of joy, and pain, something that had changed my life forever. A box.
The man walked towards it, with a curious look in his face. ‘I think I know what’s going on in here, but I still need something that confirms my idea’ I though. And my idea wasn’t wrong at all.
He slowly opened the box, he couldn’t know whether there was something extremely fragile in it. After some seconds, you could see a big smile on his face. But, he stumbled, and hit the box. Moments later, you could see something yellow, no, red, wait no, orange, maybe all of them, coming out of the box. My heart stopped for a moment.
“That guy… that guy is me. I’m that guy” I said, very surprised that I couldn’t recognize my past self before. “That’s me, discovering what gave me the best 15 years of my life. That’s me, discovering Dashie. My, little Dashie” I saw that guy – well, myself, picking up Dashie. I closed my eyes, letting a tear flow through my cheek, and passed out.
I finally woke up, but I was in no other place than my home. I could see the farm, the trees, and lastly, Applejack next to me.
“UGH, darn it…. What, what happened?” I faked; I couldn’t just know that I had a broken rib, and that I had to get some medical attention.
“I thought you’d never wake up! I’m so, so sorry dad!” She said with tears in her face
“What happened?” I said, still faking.
“I missed, that’s what happened. I kicked you. I’m so, so sorry!” She said, still crying
“Don’t worry Applejack. It’s ok. Accidents happen you know that!” I answered.
I really felt bad again. In my dream, memory, or whatever that was, the pain had disappeared, but in real life, it hadn’t. It touched my chest, to see if I still had a broken rib, and, of course it was still there.
“Help me up AJ, I have to go to the hospital” I said, while trying to get up from the ground. She extender her hoof, and I held it tight. I got up, and walked to the car.
“I’ll go to the hospital so they can fix my rib, I’ll be back in a few da—. What are you doing?”
“Did ya think I was goin’ to leave ye alone? No, I’m commin’ with ya!”
“You can’t, everybody would see you. Also, even if I say you’re my pet or something, I don’t think they let you in”
“Then you’ll have to make yer best! Cuz I’m not leaving you alone!”
We drove to the hospital. It was a tough struggle, since the pain my chest was producing didn’t let me drive quite well. When we finally got there, I asked if my pet could come in. I said it was a young pony, since ponies, for most of the people, are like horses, just that a little bit different. I also hoped for nobody to know Applejack, or MLP:FiM.
Somehow, I finally got the nurse to let my “pet” in.
“Now, they’ll let you in. But, nor ponies, nor pets talk in our world. So you can’t say a single word, unless we’re alone, ok?”
“Alrite sugar cube” She answered, and we entered the hospital
“The doctor will attend you in a few minutes, when he’s done with the other patient” Said the nurse. Good, I wanted to be out of there as soon as I can.
The patient finally got out, and I could get into the office. Applejack came with me. I lied to the doctor that one of the horses I had in my farm had kicked me.
“Does it hurt if I touch here?” He asked, while putting his hand over my chest
“Yes, a lot”
“Yeah, you got a broken rib then. Let’s take you a x-ray of your chest shall we?”
“Ok” I said, expecting the worse.
The doctor left the room for a moment.
“Will you be alrite, dad?” Applejack asked
“Sure, don’t worry, we’ll get through this, and everything will get back to normal” I hope…
The doctor then returned with the results.
“You’ll need surgery sir” he said. Damn…
“What’s the risk if I don’t do it?” I asked
“Sir, your broken rib is really close to your heart. If you do not submit to the surgery, the least movement will probably move the rib, making a hole in your heart, causing a hemorrhage, killing you. You need the surgery”
“Ok then, but when will it be?”
“Tomorrow, we need to fix this as fast as we can. You’ll have to spend the rest of the day here, however” He said
Some questions later, I was in my own room, on my own hospital bed. I answered any questions Applejack had before closing my eyes and sleeping.
“I’m very, very sorry dad”
“Don’t worry, tomorrow, everything’s going to be fixed” I said, and closed my eyes.
