Equivalence of Two Worlds

I was in the Human world again, walking down a dimly lit street. I was going nowhere in particular, just trying to clear my mind of the traumatising death of my mother, but it wasn't working very well. I just simply couldn't drive my thoughts from her...

It was approaching the evening; when gangs started hanging out. The last thing you wanted was to be caught out alone at this time. Unfortunately, I was too deep in thought to realise that.

Then I saw a group of boys walking in front of me, immediately slamming the breaks on my train of thought. Fortunately they hadn't seen me. I began panicking.

I immediately recognised them. They called themselves the 'Federation' (a terrible insult to 'Star Trek', if you ask me). They were the most feared gang in all of town. Their leader the most. He had been terrorising since 2012 and had accumulated a small army of 50 followers. He and his Elites – the Notorious Nine- were right in front of me. Was the leader born that way, or had something terrible happened to him? No one knew, and no one dared to find out.

I felt the urge of the fundamental 'Fight or Flight' response. Fighting was WAY out of the question (they all carried knives, some rumoured that the leader had a disguised pistol!) and running away was just going to get me noticed. I concluded that the best thing to do was to just keep on going until I came across an alleyway or other hiding place and hide.

The suspense was metaphorically killing me. I knew that getting noticed was going to get me in hospital, if not beaten black and blue. What is more is that there are so many control variables that could go wrong. If there isn't a hiding place, I will eventually get notice. If a noise goes off behind me, I will get noticed. If someone says "Hi!" to me, I will get noticed. If just one of them decides for whatever reason turn round, I would get noticed.

I was walking in the suspense for 10, maybe 20 seconds, but those felt like days. Finally, I saw an alleyway, but precious seconds too late. One of them turned round with a shout of "Hey!" and I pegged it down the alley at speeds that I didn't know I could achieve.

Three seconds later and I came to the end. The gang was still catching up. My heart was racing and I was breathing rapidly and deeply. I looked around me and saw that there was no weapon I could use. I was trapped.

"Well hello, little mouse!" taunted one of the members

"Trapped in the corner, are we?" said another.

I saw an escape ladder from a balcony, but there was no way I could reach it. Unless…

A plan formulated in my mind. It was reckless, un-orthodox, unlikely to work and perhaps even a bit stupid! But it might just save me my skin.

I grabbed a discarded garden rake and used it to pull down the ladder. I jumped up, heaving myself up. Still holding onto the rake that saved my life, I swung myself over the fence, panting as I recovered from the adrenalin rush.

I heard the gang swear with such profanity that it would have made a sailor blush. They yelled insults of me being a coward, etcetera, etcetera, and left

"Come on, let that [BLEEP] hide in its [BLEEP] hole."

I saw a bright light which made me close my eyes.

I shielded my eyes while I got used to the light.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that the light the sun, peeking over the mountains, coming through the window. I was no longer in an alleyway, or a balcony, but I room full of old books and boxes. What I just experienced was another dream.

"Why am I getting all these dreams all of a sudden? And why of my past? I hardly remember any of my dreams…"

I stretched and yawned, before climbing out of bed.

I walked downstairs, and saw Twilight sleeping on a book.

"Why was I expecting this?" I asked myself, smiling. I debated whether to wake her or not, but eventually decided against it.

"Nah, she looks cute like that... Wait, why did I just think that? I am probably still tired…"

I was going to leave for 'Sweet Apple Acres', but then thought it would be a good idea to leave a note.

"Wait, I can't write, I should probably wake her up then..."

"Twilight!" I said in a loud whisper.

She mumbled something which sounded like "mushroom".

I chuckled at the randomness and again said "Twi-light!"

She blinked, then yawned.

"Good morning Jonah…" she said sluggishly

"Good morning Twilight. Sorry I woke you. I was going to leave you a note saying I was going to go to 'Sweet Apple Acres' instead, but I realised I didn't know how to write as a Pony."

She smiled "I will need to teach you how to do so, then".

"Anyway, I need to get going."

"Sure, I needed to go to the 'Sugar Cube Corner' to – umm… - help Pinkie with something."

I immediately felt a wave deception coming from her.

I frowned "You do realise that I know when you try to deceive me."

She smiled sheepishly.

I paused for a couple of seconds while I attempted to deduce what she was actually going to do.

"You and Pinkie are planning a surprise?" I guessed.

She gave an innocent smile. "Maybe."

I sighed. "Well, I am not going to push you to spoil it. Anyway, I don't know about your world, but in mine farmers are known to get early in the morning, and I don't want to be late on my first day."

"Alright, just when you are finished, meet me at the 'Sugar Cube Corner'."

"For the surprise?" I enquired.

"Maybe!" she replied.

I facehoofed in frustration with a groan.

"Well, see you then."

"Bye!" she waved back.

I began walking instinctively to 'Sweet Apple Acres', wondering what 'Surprise' Twilight and Pinkie were brewing.

I was walking down the dirt road, when I finally saw the 'Sweet Apple Acres' creep over the horizon, which was quite a sight to behold. It certainly held up 'Acres' (note the plural) part of its name. It was positively huge!

Next to the plantation of apple trees, there was a red farmhouse.

"This must be where Applejack and her family lives."

Applejacks POV

"My, Granny Smith! Ya' never fail to surprise with ya' baking" Ah' complimented, before digging into my fourth slice of pie.

"There are something which ya' don't lose with age. That reminds me of the time when…" But Ah' tuned out at that point.

To some folks readin' this (thanks, by the way Muranuse, for letting me write this myself), this might seem ah' bit rude. However, Ah' had heard that story +301 times. She does have a habit of going off on a tangent, if Ah' am being honest… But Ah' am being as hypocritical as a bull herdin' a bunch of cows, so let's get back to the story.

While she continued on about her diving into a small tin tub, which for those of ya' who don't know, ended up with…

Redacted to prevent spoilers

…then the doorbell rang.

"Ah'll get it!" Ah' announced (Granny Smith completely oblivious).

When Ah' opened the door, Ah' saw Jonah standing outside.

"Good mornin', Jonah! Ah' didn't think you would be up this early."

"Eh! I have been doing it for 5 years now. I'm used to it." he replied

"Would you like to join us for breakfast? Granny Smith has baked some of her delicious pie!"

"Don't mind if I do!" he answered with his stomach growling in agreement.

"You know…" he chuckled. "…One problem with becoming a Pony is that you have re-learn just about everything: writing, cooking, how NOT to bump into a tree (due to a minor lack of depth perception), life in general!"

"The longer you make that list, the more of the pie will have disappeared!"

"Right… Well, then lead the way, AJ!" he replied with ah' hint of wit in his voice.

"Follow me, JC!" Ah' retorted with a smirk.

When we approached the kitchen, Ah' announced "We have ah guest for breakfast!"

"…and Ah' leapt off the board like a majestic..." said Granny Smith.

Ah' could see that Jonah was confused, so Ah' explained.

"She kind of loses touch with reality when she is tellin' one of her stories."

He nodded in comprehension just as she finished.

"… and that is why Ah' never swum again…" she replied rather solemnly, but she brightened up as soon as she noticed that Jonah was in the room.

"Oh! We have ah guest for breakfast?"

Ah' resisted the urge to facehoof, instead saying "Yes, we do. Ah' thought that he might enjoy your famous pie!"

"Well, Applebloom and Big Mac finished it off…" pointing towards my two siblings.

"Ah' might have had a couple of slices…" said the little Filly.

"'Eeyup!" was the Stallions reply.

"…But Ah' always bake a spare!" she announced triumphantly.

Jonah smiled. "Back from where I come from, there is an old saying which goes: 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating'…" he said rubbing his hooves together. "…or in this case, the pie!"

After breakfast – Jonah's POV

I was still smiling from the wonderful breakfast I just had. Was it just me, or was Equestrian food better than Human food?

"So, what should I do?" I asked as we entered the apple plantation.

"Well, Ah' suppose we could see how good you are at applebucking…" she replied. "Just let me get the baskets."

After a few moments, she returned with several woven baskets on her back.

"How did those get there?" I asked myself, but it was pointless to try to find any logic in that.

When I snapped out of my confusion, I noticed that the baskets somehow moved underneath two of the apple trees.

"What… the… Okay, goodbye logic! Nice knowing you."

"Applebucking is pretty simple, you simply buck the tree at the centre to shake all the apples off." Apple Jack instructed.

"You need to hit it hard enough for the apples to get shaken off, but not so hard that you injure yourself. Like this…" She proceeded to demonstrate. She turned around and bucked the tree. It shook, with all the apples gracefully landing in the baskets.

"Now you try."

I approached the towering tree, holding its red appley prizes. I turned around before bucking it with moderate strength. The tree barely even shook, and didn't yield its prize.

"Well, this is a bit embarrassing!" I thought to myself.

"Well, your technique was perfect! Impressive for a beginner. But it just lacked ah' bit of strength." She said.

"Alright then." I replied with iron determination.

I went and bucked the tree as hard as I could, but the tree – again – barely even shook.

"Right! This is seriously getting to me now!" I said, exasperated. I thought how to hit it with the most impact. I could take a run up, but most of the power came from my back legs, so that would be counter-productive. After a few moments thinking, a plan formulated in my mind. I backed up about 10 paces.

"Jonah, what are you doing?" Asked a worried Apple Jack

Ignoring her question, I galloped towards it. When I was two paces away from it, I took off from my front hooves into a somersault. When I was upside down, I twisted so I was the right way up – a manoeuvre which Olympic swimmers did in water, except I did it in the air. With the added momentum from the run up, my back hooves made contact with tremendous force. Then, gravity decided to pay a visit.

*Thump*

I landed in a basket.

Above me, the apples were still swinging from the 'tremendous' force I hit the tree with. The stalk of one apple was particularly thin, which eventually snapped. The mass of red started falling down, until…

*Thump*

…it landed on my head.

I looked up and saw loads of red dots which were apples, almost taunting me.

"Of course, the only apple I actually manage to get down lands on my head. 'Cause how else will it comply to this worlds already crazy logic(?!)" I thought sarcastically.

A light blue Pegasus landed a couple metres away from the tree.

"That was a pretty cool move you pulled off! Where did you learn that?" Rainbow Dash asked suspiciously. "Are you a spy?" she continued, a little less subtle than last time.

"Actually…" I replied, getting up. "I just made it up, to get those apples down." pointing to the tree. If it was sentient, I bet it would be laughing its apples off. "And no, I am not a spy. I am just a human who ended up here due to a freak magical accident." I continued with a hint of irritation in my voice.

"Seriously?" Rainbow Dash asked, approaching the tree. "Why didn't you just do this?" she proceeded to buck the tree, releasing all the apples.

"Right, this is no longer embarrassing, this is borderline HUMILIATING!" I thought to myself angrily.

"Don't you think I just tried that?" I replied in a dangerously soft voice

"Well, if Applebucking isn't your thing, I suppose you could help with carrying the baskets to the cart. It isn't as demanding, and it is actually more helpful than you think!" suggested Rainbow Dash.

"Well, I suppose I could try that…" I replied. I went on and bit the one of the handles, Rainbow Dash taking another. It was a bit heavy, but not too much to handle. We carried it over before depositing it into the cart.

"That wasn't too bad! Thanks Rainbow Dash." I thanked.

"You're welcome!" she replied. "Normally, Big Mac or somepony else helps carry the baskets, seeing as it is a two pony job. With you helping it gives AJ more time to rest, so we can get the harvest done earlier."

We continued the process, with Apple Jack bucking the trees and me and Rainbow Dash transferring the baskets. It was tedious at worst, but it was something I could get used to.

At the end of the day

"Whew! Thanks for the help today, Jonah" thanked Apple Jack.

"Yeah, well I need to be going." said Rainbow Dash rather suddenly.

When we arrived at the farmhouse, Apple Jack detached herself from the cart, and headed in.

"Mind waiting here, Ah' need to get something." She told me.

A few seconds later, she returned with a small pouch.

"Here are your wages."

I opened the bag, and inside was a number of golden coins.

"Just out of curiosity, how much will this buy me?" I asked, curious as to the value of the currency.

"Enough for 3 meals, rent and a bit extra for savings." She replied. "Enough to live a decent life."

"Thanks!" I replied, popping it into my saddlebag. "I need to get to the 'Sugar Cube Corner' for a surprise."

Her eyes widened as she just remembered something. "Aw, shoot! Ah' just remembered something! A- Ah' need to go!"

She rapidly moved the cart with the apples to the barn, before taking off to Ponyville.

"I wonder where she is off to!" I thought to myself.

I began heading to Ponyville myself, except not in a full gallop. If you looked at me now, there would be no way you could tell I was worried, but inside, I really was. Seeing as I didn't spend much time with people, I wasn't exactly used to surprises. I hoped that I wouldn't take it too badly.