Where the Rainbows Touch Down

I’m not even sure when it could be said I woke up.  My eyes opened early in the morning, but I kept drifting in and out of sleep.  I pulled the blankets around me even tighter and stayed there.  My legs and knees ached and I didn’t care about moving from the bed, easily falling asleep as I sat there and let the pain fade away as my consciousness drifted along with it.

Simple things woke me up.  The bed shook as Garnet got up and out, followed by his hoofsteps receding as they left the room and eventually closed the door.  Then there was the gentle knocking what felt like seconds later, his eventual calling to me, and finally the feeling of being watched, which was confirmed by my opening a single eye only to find that there was a pair of blue ones on a white background staring at me, a look of pity in them.

“Trent,” Garnet called out softly, as though afraid he would startle me.  “Are you hungry?”

I didn’t want to move my head.  “No,” I told him, barely making any sound.

Garnet didn’t even move.  “What about thirsty?”

“No,” I told him again.

Garnet remained where he was.  “I have some fried eggs and toast with jam cooked.  Would you eat some of it?”

I remained quiet.

Garnet sighed and sat down in front of me, allowing me to see his whole head.  “Is there anything I can do for you?”

I could feel my eyes hurting as though his fur was too bright.  “There was nothing at the site?”

Garnet shook his head.  “I wish there was.”

I averted my eyes and looked down to his chest.  Garnet did not attempt to correct my vision or move my head back to face him.

“What can I do to make things more comfortable for you?”

“Nothing will ever be the same,” I told him.  “I’m essentially a refugee in a foreign country.  I can’t feel comfortable knowing I’m not supposed to be here.”

“Then… what can I do to alleviate it?”

I didn’t reply.

Garnet got up.  “I’ll check on you in a few minutes.  If you’re still not up, I’m going to bring your food to you.”  Then he left.

I watched him as he left.  I was simultaneously happy that he was leaving me alone, and wishing he hadn’t left me alone at all.  With him, I was reminded of the fact that I was alone and had no one here that could possibly sympathize with me.  Without him, I had no one that I could explain these feelings to and was aware I really was alone.  With him, I struggled to stay on my own two feet and felt like I couldn’t move a muscle.  Without him I had no one to help support me.

I eventually pulled myself upwards and sat on the edge of the bed.  I felt weak.  I felt lame, like I couldn’t even use my own legs.  I felt numb.  I was getting out of bed in a house that wasn’t my own in a place that wasn’t where I considered anywhere close to home and was sitting in a place surrounded by things that was scientifically illogical to me.

Garnet came back.  “Are you feeling okay?”

I barely shook my head.

“You haven’t eaten since yesterday morning,” he told me.  “Come.  Let’s get you into the kitchen.”

Garnet walked over to me and stood in front of me.  He turned around with his tail towards me and backed up to the edge of the bed.  “Come,” he said again, spreading his wings out to the sides.  “Sit on me.  I can carry you if I have to.”

I pushed myself off on the bed and onto Garnet’s back.  I watched as his legs steadied themselves and he adjusted to the extra weight.  I lifted my legs ever so slightly so that they weren’t touching the ground and Garnet pulled his wings back over my legs.  Garnet took a single step forwards and I found myself thrown off-balance, falling forward and landing with my arms around his neck.  Garnet gave a slightly delighted chuckle.

“Hang on, if you have trouble balancing,” he said kindly.  “I really don’t mind.”

Garnet took a few more steps forward.  I closed my eyes tightly, afraid of him buckling under my weight as I felt him sway from side to side, weight being placed more on the left, then the right, then the left, then the right.  Soon he fell into a simple rhythm and I opened my eyes.  Garnet walked easily and calmly through the door and into the main room while I held on for dear life, though it didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest.  By the time he had walked gently from the door of the room to the kitchen, I found myself calming down.  By the time we reached the kitchen, I felt strong enough to stand up, swing my leg over Garnet without kicking him, and set myself down on the pillow, albeit while holding on to the table the entire time.

Garnet gently picked up a plate with eggs, fruit, and toast on it and placed it in front of me on the table.  He pulled a similar plate over at the other side of the table where he sat and went to his pillow to sit down, from which he took a wing and used it to push a fork over to me.

I feebly took the fork and began to eat.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I took the first bites of egg, realizing that Garnet was right and that I hadn’t eaten anything for a long time.  I looked around and saw the sun shining brightly outside the window.

“How long was I in bed for?” I asked.

“It’s nearly eleven o’clock if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“…so you’re two hours late.”

“Not really.  I was charged with taking care of you.  This still applies.  I just don’t have to go into the office.”

I poked at the egg.

“Twilight tells me your reactions to the word association test are completely normal for a human and that the guard doesn’t have to constantly keep an eye on you.”

I nibbled at the toast.

“You might be wondering what this has to do with me.  Well, I’m really the only one of them who has to take care of you.  I will be the one helping you to start a new life here, settle in to Ponyville, make sure you’re fed and have someone around to talk to if you need it.”

I let the sound of an apple crunching drown out a few of his words.

“…occasional medical and psychiatric tests by mandate … are easily done at Ponyville Hospital.  There’s also … and multiple furniture stores for … ordering clothes from Manehattan … you even listening to … at the wall behind me …Trent?”

I refocused my eyes back on him.  “…what?”

“Are you listening?”

“…not particularly.”

“…why are you so withdrawn?”

“Why do you care?”

I must have snapped at him, because Garnet’s ears went back as though he was flinching.  “Because I… I…”  he sighed.  “The best way I can explain it is because you came here with nothing.  I want to be your friend.  I want to be someone who you can trust, someone you can turn to and tell me anything.  Any of what’s bothering you.”

I looked at him like he was crazy.  “How could you understand?”

“I won’t.  Ever.”

“Then why try?”

“Because that could give me a glimpse.  I may not understand fully, but I can try and help you process these things.”

I sighed.  “What could you do?  I can’t go home, I can’t go back to my family and friends.  I probably can’t even go back to my original job.”

“…we could try and get you a job with the guard.  I don’t think we have a forensic scientist here, and we could always use extra help in analyzing whatever data comes around.”

“Sure.  Fine.”

“…you don’t sound too pleased.”

“I feel sick.”

“There’s a bathroom out the kitchen and to your left.”

“Thank you.”

I left the kitchen, taking care not to hit my head on the ceiling, and ducked into the bathroom.  I knelt on the floor next to the available bucket and vomited.  I wasn’t sure why my body was rejecting the food, but after a fair amount of my breakfast had left me I ironically felt better.  I told Garnet about the bucket, but he said not to worry about it and that’s what it was used for and we continued eating.

It was eleven thirty by the time we finished and I was still feeling tired and somewhat unresponsive.  Garnet brought me an extra glass of water and I drank it before using the pegasus for support as we made our way over to the couch.  Garnet turned his radio on to some classical music and brought in the day’s paper from the doorstep before coming over to the couch and sitting next to me.

“Do you want to read a book?” he asked.

I shrugged.  “I don’t feel like doing anything.”

“You can’t lay around in bed all day.  Um… we could go for a walk around town.  Meet with some of the ponies.”

Garnet said this as though it was the obvious solution.  I just stared at him.

“Why would they want to meet me?  They think I’m a monster.  That reminds me, what is the Everfree?”

“I’ve told you before, but I’ll tell you again.  The Everfree is the forest you landed outside of when you first entered.  Now, here in Equestria, most of the weather and properties of the land and animals are guided and controlled with magic.  But the Everfree forest is different.  In the Everfree, these things take care of themselves, and it grows wild and out of control.”

“That’s fairly normal.  Plants and animals kept untamed for a while tend to grow feral and with abandon.”

“But in terms of everything else, this is strange to us.  Now, you didn’t come from the Everfree, but the ponies of Ponyville can be a suspicious lot, and your appearing next to it is enough information for them.”

“So… you plan on changing this by showing me to the others.”

Garnet shrugged.  “It’s a start.  At least they’ll see you being escorted by a guard.”

“It’ll take more than that to get rid of a first impression.  It probably won’t matter how nice I act to them, they just will run away and hide.”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing by just wanting to stay in bed all day?”

I couldn’t respond.  I just rubbed my hands together idly.

“We could go for a walk.”

“My knees hurt from being on the ground for a few hours yesterday.”

“Right… we could go to Sugarcube Corner and get some donuts or cupcakes.”

“That would involve meeting the other ponies, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, but trust me when I say Mr. and Mrs. Cake and their assistant Pinkie are some of the sweetest ponies you’ll meet.  I don’t think any of them were present among the crowds watching us at Twilight’s library.”

I was unsure.  Garnet was right that I needed to get out, but I did not like the fact that I could potentially be considered a monster.  If there technically was any place we could start, this place seemed like a better place than most.

“Alright,” I told him.  “We can go.”

* * *

We returned half an hour later.

I was once again sitting on Garnet and clinging to his neck, this time for dear life and feeling extremely dizzy, going so far as to shut my eyes tight as he opened the door and we went inside so as not to feel like I was going to throw up again.  Garnet’s own eyes were wide open, his teeth clenched together so much that the bag barely got in the door before it broke open and Garnet was spitting paper out of his mouth.

“Are you okay?” Garnet said between pants.

“I think so,” I replied.  “I can feel my limbs still, if that’s what you mean.”

“Ugh,” Garnet said, picking up the bag of pastries that had fallen at his feet.  “I can’t believe Pinkie Pie would pull out the Party Cannon at your first appearance.”

“That’s what that thing was?”

“You saw it coming?”  Garnet started stepping easily towards the kitchen with me still on his back.

“All I remember was a black hole with a blue ring in my face before waking up on the floor feeling like I had been punched in the gut.”

Garnet sighed.  “I keep telling Twilight to rein Pinkie in when someone new comes in to town.”  He gently set the bag on the counter before walking over to the couch.  “She always insists she’ll do better.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said.  “Now, do you have a shower?  I think I need to wash the icing out of my hair.”

“Might as well head there myself,” Garnet replied as he turned away from the couch and headed towards the bathroom.  “I need to brush the streamers out of my mane.”

“Hold on a minute,” I said, causing Garnet to stop just outside the bathroom door.  “I can’t strip down with you in there.  I’m a bit sensitive about privacy with that.”

“Alright.  Shower should work the exact same way it does back where you came from.  I’ll wait to brush until you say you’re in.”

I gently got myself off Garnet and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind me as I inspected the shower and tub.  It was a simple faucet-like shower with a lever going from cold to hot and either a faucet or shower head to come out from.  The shower head only went up to about my neck, but bending down or even sitting wasn’t a problem with how long the shower was, likely to accommodate a longer body or at least as long as my own.

There was a small counter with a sink and a few drawers nearby.  I turned the water on mildly warm and stripped down all my clothes until I was stark naked, folding them up neatly and placing them on the counter.  I got in when I saw a few wisps of steam and closed the plain white, thick curtain behind me as I entered, feeling the warm water rush over me.  At least they had some normal comforts despite all being horses.

“I’m in now,” I called out, “if you wanted to brush.”

Garnet opened the door and came in, but I couldn’t see him.  I could hear his hoofsteps on the tile floor, his rummaging around through the drawers, and eventually even the sound of a brush going through his mane.  I dunked under the water and watched as trails of pink, blue, and yellow started to come out of my hair.

“The blue is for the hair,” Garnet said.  “White is for the skin.”

It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about.  I looked around and soon saw two bottles, one blue and the other white.  I took the blue and squeezed a tiny amount in the palm of my hand and rubbed it around my hair, soap now mixing with water and icing and gently falling from my hair.

“Your clothes are kind of dirty after that,” Garnet said.  “You want me to wash them?”

“I got nothing else,” I told him.  “You told me Twilight was ordering something from someplace that made human clothes, but that could take a few days.”

“Oh, right.  I could probably do the shirt and pants tonight when we’re in bed and leave them to dry overnight.”

“I would feel awkward waking up here without something.”

There was a moment of silence.  The icing was out of my hair and I was just enjoying the stream of warm water.  “I’ll start with the pants,” Garnet said after a few minutes.

A short while later, Garnet left the bathroom and I shut off the water.  I carefully slipped my clothes back on and sniffed the inside of my shirt, which definitely had a new smell to it.  I ran my fingers through my hair, looking in the mirror as I pushed it back.

I came out of the bathroom to find Garnet with his hoof at an awkward angle, clearly trying to use the brush on his back.  Without saying a word, I went up to him and gently took the brush from his hoof.  I fit the strap on the back on my four fingers and gently started going down his back with the brush, noticing as the pegasus relaxed and didn’t even question why.

I don’t know why, but it was oddly soothing.  I took gentle, even strokes along the back, watching as the white coat went from slightly tangled and messy to soft, straight, and shiny.  A few moments later, Garnet took a wing and opened it up, bringing it over to him, and gently started nibbling at his feathers while I continued brushing his back.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Preening,” he replied between nibbles.  “It keeps the feathers clean and able to have air flow through them easier when flying.”

“I’ve never seen you fly,” I told him.

“I have to stay on the ground to watch you,” he said.  “I don’t mind,” he quickly added.  He was quiet for a while before speaking up again.  “So, what did you think of the Cakes?”

“Mrs. Cake reminds me of my mother,” I said.  “The moment anyone would come over, she would immediately welcome them and start feeding everyone.  Mr. Cake, meanwhile, reminds me more of my uncle.  Devoted father but a little stressed when my younger cousins were born but he was the one I’d go to with problems when my father was out of town.”

Garnet chuckled.  “I told you they were sweet.  In two senses of the word, even.”

I smiled.  “It’s weird.”

“What’s that?”

“I talked about my parents, but I don’t exactly feel sad.”

“Really?  How do you feel?”

“I don’t know.  I guess I’m still trying to process things, but I feel better than I did earlier.”

Garnet was silent as I moved down his back a little.  “Do you think you’d be able to meet other ponies after this?”

I shrugged.  “Maybe if we take it slow.  I don’t want another encounter like Pinkie and the party cannon.”

Garnet nodded.  “Perhaps tomorrow we could go by a little café where some of the locals play music.”

“Too many eyes.”

“Well, you survived Sugarcube Corner with Mr. and Mrs. Cake and two regulars, and then there’s Pinkie who’s like five or six ponies combined in energy.”

“Yeah… I’m a little afraid of that happening again.”

“But it wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be, right?”

“…initially.”

Garnet nodded.  “Maybe tomorrow we could head over and see the Apple family?  They’re a rather friendly bunch.”

I sighed.  “Alright.  We’ll try.”

* * *

The rest of the evening having been spent in relative calm while Garnet washed my pants, I felt better the next day about leaving for the Apple family orchard.  The weather had cooled since the previous days, as well, a light breeze coming through town; every once in a while, I could see a squadron of pegasi flying in sync over the town, the breeze kicking back up again as they passed by.  I put on the white lab coat for extra protection from the wind and felt comfortable as we walked along the road to the orchard.

I was also able to walk on my own again.  Three square meals the previous day had helped me get over my nausea and the evening of rest had helped stopped the pain in my knee.  A few drinks of water and I felt like I was almost feeling normal again, though we had to take it slow due to the knee which Garnet obliged.

Thankfully, Garnet’s home was not far away and we were at the edge of the ranch within minutes.  I must admit it was a beautiful sight, seeing a bunch of apple trees currently in bloom.  There were other smaller plots of land with smaller things growing from them, but the apple trees covered the hills as far as I could see.  Garnet led me through the shade of the trees up to a fair-sized farmhouse with a bright red barn only a few yards away.

Garnet knocked on the door of the farmhouse and we waited only a few minutes before someone opened the door.  It was an orange mare with a blonde mane and a rather traditional cowboy hat.  She looked over to Garnet.  “Good mornin’ to ya, Garnet.  You here for your checkup on the farm?”

Garnet bowed politely.  “Hello, Miss Applejack.  And no, I’m not on duty today.  You see, we had a human suddenly appear in Equestria and it seems he’s here to stay.  He’s a little timid at the moment, however, so I wanted to take him out and show him around Ponyville to meet some of the ponies.”

The mare looked over to me.  “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you!  My name’s Applejack, and you are…?”  She held out a hoof towards me.

I had no idea what to do with it.  I sat there and stared for a moment as I looked between Applejack and the outstretched hoof.

“You can shake it,” Garnet said quietly.  “It’s not considered offensive.”

I reached out and tentatively wrapped my hand around the end of the hoof.  Before I could so much as move a muscle the mare’s hoof was violently rocking up and down and she had a big smile on her face.

“Trent,” I spluttered out.  “Trent Phillip.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Trent.  Me and my brother were just about to go check on the orchards, ain’t that right, Big Macintosh?”

As though on cue, a stallion at least a head taller than Applejack with a red coat and a green apple cutie mark came out from the other side of the door.  He came up to me and looked me up and down before nodding.  “Eeyup,” he said, also extending a hoof.

I shook the stallion’s hand as well, though he was calmer and didn’t violently shake me around with it.  Eventually his hoof dropped and my hand let go and I stood there staring at them with a lack of anything to say.

“You’re the one that supposedly came from the Everfree, aincha?” Applejack asked.

I looked over to Garnet, who mimicked tugging at his own throat subtly enough that Applejack didn’t see him do it.  I looked back over to the mare and her brother.  “…yes…”

“Don’t you worry about it,” Applejack said.  “Big Mac said he saw the explosion outside the forest and not in it.  My brother ain’t one to lie, and you certainly don’t look like no monster that comes from there.”

“Nope,” ‘Big Mac’ agreed, shaking his head.

Garnet heaved a sigh of relief, though no one else noticed as we started walking through the orchards.  “Course my little sister Apple Bloom came home from school and talked about it non-stop.  She and her little friends are around here somewhere, but I ain’t botherin’ with them right now.”

“Um… AJ,” Big Macintosh spoke up.  “Wasn’t Apple Bloom supposed to be headin’ over to Sweetie Belle’s for a project?”

“Oh, they’ll just come and use the tree house out here and that’s fine,” Applejack responded to her brother before looking over to me.  “So, Trent, what do you think of Ponyville so far?”

I shrugged.  “It’s nice.  The air is cleaner than back home and the food seems fresher, too.”

“Well, I would have expected you to be a bit more talkative than that,” Applejack said as she walked over to a tree.  She jumped on the trunk and started looking at the flowers.  “Last few times we had a human come through here they just kept askin’ questions.  One spent a whole day here at the farm askin’ about my fruit and our locally renowned apple pies and fritters.  Should send you and Garnet home with a couple if I remember.”

“Forgive me for my relative quiet, Miss Applejack.  It’s just the whole transition happened quite suddenly and I’m not even sure how I got here, and I’m less inclined to believe I am.”

“Don’t worry yourself too much,” Big Macintosh said.  “Ponyville is normally a friendly place.  Shouldn’t have too much trouble settlin’ in.”

“Normally,” Garnet spoke up.  “The commotion even two days after he arrived I think might have been a bit much for him.  He’s looked at as a monster around town.”

“This quiet colt?” Applejack said, motioning to me as she raised herself up on another tree.  “He looks more like a filly that can’t find its mother.”  She suddenly grimaced and a blush appeared on her cheeks.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to offend.”

“It’s okay,” I said.  “You’re nicer than most I’ve met.”

“Well, thank you kindly,” Applejack said, still blushing.  “Anywho, who else have you met around town?”

There was a rustling in the bushes next to me, but when I looked over to see what was there I couldn’t find anything.  “Um… I stopped by Sugarcube Corner and met the Cakes.  And there was the Captain who—”

“Sugarcube Corner?  Please tell me you didn’t meet Pinkie Pie…”

Garnet scratched the back of his head with a hoof.  “Um… he might have gotten a direct blast from the party cannon.”

Applejack gasped.  “Oh dear lord…” she said.  “’S a miracle you’re still standin’.  I’ve heard stories about some folk who come through here and get thrown across buildin’s cause of that thing.”

“Well, he wasn’t thrown, but he was flung backwards a foot or two.”

“Oh, well, hopefully others aren’t so rough with you.”

“If you count standing back at a minimum of ten feet,” I said, “then yes the others haven’t been as rough.”

Applejack nodded but quickly smiled again and turned the conversation to a happier topic.  “Well, this here is all part of Sweet Apple Acres.  We’re one of the biggest farms in Ponyville and we grow almost all the apples and make almost all the apple juice and cider for the town.”

“Cider…?  Like fermented or…?”

“We have two kinds here.  We have a normal one we sell to the public, but a few barrels go to the local places that are fermented.”

“Ah.  So how long until—”

“HIYA!”

The shout stopped the conversation still.  “What was that?” I asked.

“There he is!” came another shout from off in the distance.  “Let’s get him!”

“…oh, no…” Applejack said.

“I told you you should have—”

“Don’t get started on that now, Big Macintosh!  Just find out where they are!”

The bushes nearby us crashed open and I saw a yellow, an orange, and a white blur come out at me.  I didn’t even have time to duck before a brown blue joined them and went straight for my head.  Thankfully, whatever the trajectory was caused it to hit me square in the chest instead of my head and I was thrown backwards yet again, this time aware of the fact that the brown blur was now going in the opposite direction.  It wasn’t long before I slammed into a tree and slowly collapsed to the ground, feeling dizzy.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MONSTER TA—”

“Apple Bloom!” I heard Applejack shout as my vision refocused itself.  “I told you not to go around doin’ stuff like that!  It’s dangerous!”

“I’m sorry, Applejack,” came the voice like that of a young girl.  “It wasn’t my idea, though.  It was Scootaloo’s.”

“Huh, what?”  This voice was another young girl’s, but was deeper and rougher.  “You went along with it too, Apple Bloom.  Anyway, Applejack, we were just playing.”

“Playin’ should not involve hitting things on the head with… with…”  Applejack scanned the area and picked up the wooden object that had bounced off me earlier.  “…with wooden swords.”

My vision had refocused enough to see the scene.  Garnet was looking me over and making sure I wasn’t injured.  Big Macintosh had a young filly with a yellow coat, a red mane and bow, by her neck with his teeth though he wasn’t injuring her.  There was another orange pegasus filly with a purple mane sitting in front of Applejack, while a third unicorn filly with a bright white coat and a light purple mane was looking at me.

“Sorry, Mister Human,” the unicorn filly was telling me.  “It was just supposed to be something fun; I didn’t think we’d actually hit you.”

“You should still know better,” Big Macintosh said through the filly in his teeth.

“Alright.  I’ll be tellin’ Rarity about this, Sweetie Belle,” Applejack said, looking over to the unicorn filly nearby.  “Meanwhile, I thought you three had a project you should be workin’ on for school.  Go to the clubhouse, pack up your things, and head on over to Sweetie Belle’s like you were supposed to.”

“Yes, Applejack,” the three fillies said in unison and trotted off across the orchard.

“Are you okay?” Garnet asked.

I nodded.  “Had the wind knocked out of me.  Better off than I was with Pinkie, though.”

Our walk through the orchards stopped there.  We went back to the house and Applejack served us all a piece of apple pie (even gave me a fork) and a glass of apple juice.

“Sorry if it’s a little under quality,” Applejack said as we all sat down around the table in the Apple family kitchen.  “It’s the last couple of batches before the new blossoms turn into first fruits.”

“Tastes better than most I’ve had back home,” I said, taking a bite of the pie, a buttery and flaky crust with a sweet and cinnamon-y apple filling.

“I know it ain’t enough to make up for what happened out there,” Applejack said, sitting down herself now that everyone else had been served and was eating.

“So, who were those fillies?”

“That was my little sister, Apple Bloom, along with two friends of hers from school,” Applejack replied.  “They made a little club since they don’t have their cutie marks quite yet and go off and do all sorts of little things, tryin’ to get their cutie marks while they’re playin’.”

“Called the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’,” Big Macintosh replied.

“Are they normally…”  I paused, trying to think of a word.

“Hyper?” Applejack guessed.  “Yes.  Their energy comes together and it seems only breakin’ them apart in the evenings will make them stop.”

“No.  I meant, um… what’s the word… energetic?”

“…ain’t that the same thing?” Applejack said.

“I think he’s asking about why they hit him,” Big Macintosh said quietly.  “Aren’t you?”

I nodded.

“It probably was influence from the other fillies in town and being nearby to where all the panic was,” Big Macintosh continued.  “They are quite excitable, and will get into almost anything with gusto.  Might have been an attempt to look brave when they go back to school.”

“I’ll need to have a talk with that silly filly about where she got those ideas,” Applejack commented.  “It ain’t right.  It’s like that town’s got a sort of group think mentality.  Normally that’s a good this, but this…”

“It’s alright, Applejack,” I said, poking at the pie more than I was eating it.  “It’s not your fault.”

Garnet said nothing, but I could see the look of guilt on his face.  I kind of understood it, but I didn’t ask him about it.

We left Sweet Apple Acres with a pie and a few fritters, Garnet saying he had some of the Apple family apple juice back at home.  I ended up riding him halfway home due to possibility of a concussion, but got off him and walked through town to his house.  Garnet took the pie and the fritters and placed them in the kitchen while I walked over to and sat on the couch.  Garnet came over and sat down next to me a few moments later.

“…I’m sorry.”

“There was nothing you could have done, either.”

“Yeah, but… I’ve just been sending you places where someone has been a little high-strung and something happens to you.  I’ve tried showing you some of the best of Ponyville, but every time it just seems like it goes downhill.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” I told him.  For a while, neither of us said anything, so I spoke up.  “I’m doing enough of that myself.”

I felt a wing wrap around me and Garnet’s head on my shoulder.

I don’t even remember how long I let it stay there.