Apple of Another Color

Chapters

Yeehaw!...really?
What's a Human?
Applebucking The Human Way
Whatcha need, Applebloom?
Hour of Twilight
Making Amends
A Day Off
Apple of Another Color
Cutie Mark Crusader Sleepover Yay!
Chasing Fillies
Race Against Time
Into the Inferno
My Guardian Angel
Epilogue

Yeehaw!...really?

If you had told me a year ago to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I probably would have called you a faggot and walked away laughing. However, after a few episodes, I was undeniably hooked.

My name is Johnny, and I'm a college boy from a small town in the middle of Tennessee. Don't let the background fool you, though, I am by no means a Bible thumping redneck that some people think I am. Studying medicine, read books for fun (yes I am an egghead) and just all around hanging out, like a normal guy. However, there is one little pony that makes that seem unlikely. Her name is Applejack, and she is by far my LEAST favorite pony in the entire show.

It's nothing personal, well maybe it is, but she just really grates on my nerves. This is the redneck pony we're talking about, the pony that personifies all things Southern and country, so when she first spoke you can imagine my dislike.

Her first line in the entire show, not counting the opening when she sings, but the first real line that would forever be branded into my brain.

"Yeehaw!"

What...the...hell? Just like that, I knew this pony was going to be the stereotypical redneck that is everyone's vision of those of us who live in the Bible belt. Oh there have been lots of situations where she's not been the brightest candle in the shop, my personal favorite when she claims that "My sister is speaking in fancy!"

I honestly wanted to punch the freaking wall.

"Dang this rain, I can't see a thing." I muttered to myself as I drove down the highway from my night classes. Leave it to me to be stuck with the crappy evening Biology course. Then again, it was the somewhat good professor teaching this one. I had been pushing my luck severely when my gas light had come on in my truck halfway up there, and now I had barely started on my way back when it began to slow down.

And to top it all off, it was raining. Hard.

"No no no, don't do this to me!" I sighed as my truck groaned to a halt on the side of the road. I got out and tried to push it, but somehow it had gotten stuck in the mud. "Perfect." I groaned, getting back into my truck and trying to turn on my phone. The phone came on with a buzz, but was really low on power. I had one shot, so I called my dad.

"Hello?" He answered over the phone.

"Hey dad, it's me, I need some help on the highway. My truck is out of gas." Is what I said over the phone, but I'm guessing it came out more like "H y da, i m I ed sme he on the hihway. My trk is t of as." or something, because my phone cut off after that.

"Freaking great." I got out and tried to push again, but the truck wouldn't budge. Phone dead, no car, and to top it off it felt like a hurricane outside. I decided to walk a little ways down the road to what looked like an old farm. Crossing the tall grass and barely falling into a few holes, I came across a large barn that had been abandoned for what looked like years.

There's worse places to hide out during a storm, I though to myself as I forced the doors open. Sure enough, the inside was just as ragged as the outside. I sighed as I lay down on a bale of hay and tried to force myself to sleep.

"Come on, Johnny, you've been through worse." I smiled as I closed my eyes. "Just think, what would Rainbow Dash do?" I laughed. "Be awesome, that's what." I drifted off to sleep, letting the sound of the pouring rain fade away as my subconscious took over. I would find a gas station in the morning and use a payphone to talk to my dad again, or just call a tow truck. Either way, things would be ok as long as the cops don't show up.

"What in tarnation are ya'll doin' in here!?" A Southern belle accent flung me out of my sleep and into the waking world. A set of teeth, or what I thought were teeth, suddenly grabbed the back of my shirt and hauled me up and out the door in one quick motion. "Tryin' to make off with our apples?!" She yelled at me.

"Applejack?" I said in confusion, rubbing my back from the impact of the toss. "Dangit, girl, that hurt!"

The orange mare tilted her head and stared at me.

"You know who ah am?" She asked, looking confused.

"How would I not, that voice could wake the dead." I teased her.

"Now hold on, partner, you got a slight accent yourself. Don't be makin' fun of us down here." It was true. Try as I might, I always had a bit of a Southern accent when I was annoyed or excited.

And if I ever started saying ya'll or git, then duck.

"Sorry, hehe, well umm..." I tried to find the words to say to this pony. "How did I get here?"

What's a Human?

Never in my life did I think that apple pie could taste this good. I scarfed down at least half the pie, a few mixed vegetables, and a few apples on the side. The orange mare didn't seem very happy about me being there, but she must have thought it was the least she could do for nearly killing me earlier. I nearly choked had it not been for Big Macintosh bucking me in the stomach.

"Thanks, man." I choked out.

"Eeeyup." The red stallion replied. I guzzled down a glass of water as though it were part of my last meal. The small, yellow earth pony came trotting inside with a cake on her back.

"Anypony up for some dessert?" The little filly asked.

"No thank you." I replied.

"I'll take some!" Applejack and Bic Macintosh grabbed some slices and ate them quickly. "Now back to business, what did you say your name was?" Applejack looked at me,

"Johnny, Johnny Sullivan." I answered, trying to be as polite as possible. The pony tilted her head and adjusted her hat.

"That's an odd name for a pony." She chuckled lightly.

"Well, see, I'm not a pony. I am a human, and I-"

"What's a human? Is it something ah can get a cutie mark with?" Applebloom stood up and placed her front hooves on me, looking up at me with her large eyes.

"Uh-" I stumbled, it was hard to find words with a pony actually attacking your thighs. Though I had to admit, she was kinda cute, almost like a puppy. "I'm not sure how much help I would be getting a cutie mark, I don't even have one myself." I said, but that didn't discern her, she pointed at my shoulder.

"Then what's that?" She saw the tattoo of a cross on my bicep and her eyes widened. "That's an awesome cutie mark! What is it?"

"Oh this? It's just a cross. It's a Christian symbol that-" she didn't even let me finish before she hopped around the room.

"Ah don't know what that is, but the cutie mark looks awesome! Ah'm gonna go tell Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle first chance ah get! Cutie Mark Crusader Christians!" She galloped out of the room in a hurry. I couldn't help busting out into laughter.

"She's always like this?" I asked, stifling my giggles. Applejack couldn't help but join in.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it, sugarcube. She'll find anything to try to get a cutie mark with. Ah keep tryin' to tell her that-:

"It'll come when it's time?" I finished her sentence, sounding somewhat annoyed by the look of her expression.

"Uh, well yeah. Hehe." She nudged me with her hoof. "You seem like a fine one, how's about you work off that free meal?" She tossed a hat over onto my head and nodded her head towards the door..

"Sure, why not?" I accepted and placed the hat on my head. I had always loved farm work since it was the only job I ever had for a long time. Maybe I was wrong about Applejack, maybe there was more to her than a stereotypical hillbilly vernacular and work ethic. She seemed somewhat smart, and an excellent cook.

As much as I disliked her, I at least owed her this.

Applebucking The Human Way

Here I am, standing in front of an enormous apple tree. Applejack stood next to me, apparently about to teach me how to do it from the way she was turning around to face the opposite direction.

"Alright, the key is in the hooves, or feet, at the moment of impact." Applejack raised up on her front legs and bucked hard into the tree. In one motion the tree shuddered and tons of apples came falling out of the tree. "Hit too hard, and you'll hurt yourself, but if you hit too soft you'll not knock any of 'em out of there." She flung the basket onto her back and walked to the next tree. Big Macintosh painted a white "X" on the base of the trunk, which I assume was for me.

"Ready to try, partner?" She asked me. I raised one foot up, knee to my chest as I kicked hard against the tree, hoping to knock down at least a few apples on my first try.

Wow, I am an idiot.

"Ow!" I felt a shockwave of pain rocket through my leg as my foot connected to the tree hard. I guess I hit the tree too hard as I felt the pain begin to subside. Applejack tried to stifle a giggle as I put my foot down onto the grass when it finally stopped hurting. I tried again, this time sending my leg into the side of the tree with less force. As it hit I felt no pain, but the tree only shook slightly with only a few apples falling out.

"Well, ya'll didn't do too bad for a first time." Applejack said matter-of-factly. "But you need a little more-" I didn't let her finish. I kicked the tree again, this time with my right leg, and slammed it into the tree. More apples fell out, but only a few. However, it was a lot more than the last attempt.

"How's that for a first time?" I said, now looking at the half empty apple tree. It was exhausting, though. For one, ponies were a lot stronger than humans it seemed, and I couldn't shift all my weight into a kick without toppling over. Also, Applejack had four legs, where I only had two. Unless I got down on my arms and tried bucking like she did, I wasn't going to be as good.

Also, it would look rather ridiculous.

"Not bad, not bad." Applejack nodded. "Ya only got two legs, so ya can't buck, but still yer a bit stronger than I thought ya'll were." She smiled. "Ya wanna just put the fallen apples in the baskets?" She kicked a basket over to me. It wasn't as big as it looked, I could easily hold it in one hand. I looked up at the trees, which actually weren't that high. In fact, they reminded me of the trees that I used to climb as a kid. These trees were actually shorter in a way.

Then it hit me.

I grabbed the basket and took off running towards a tree.

"Wait! Don't-" I didn't listen to her, I jumped up and grabbed a branch and hauled myself up. Fifty apples were left in the tree. Not a lot, but enough to fill the basket. I grabbed the tree branches and shook them violently, knocking the apples out and into the basket. Granted I missed a few, but the majority hit their mark. Applejack stood under the tree, her mouth gaping open in astonishment as I shook the tree clean.

"Still not bad for a first time?" I yelled from the top of the tree as I scanned the landscape for the nearest one. Before I found my target I let the basket fall and land on the ground beneath me. "Aha!" I climbed down to the firmest branch and darted across it. With one motion I jumped from the edge of the branch and grabbed the top of the tree, coming to a stop on the lowest branch.

"How in tarnation did you do that?" Applejack yelled up to me.

"One advantage to being a human, I suppose." I yelled back. "Toss me another basket, would ya?" I commanded with authority from atop the tree. This was really fun. I felt like I was getting to her, though.

The first hint came when the basket came rocketing towards my head. I barely managed to grab it before I fell out of the tree.

"What was that for, you jerk?!" I snapped at her.

"To distract ya'll." She kicked the tree and a ton of apples came pouring out. "I can't have a funny lookin' guy showin' me up on ma own farm." She said with a smug grin. "Though I gotta admit, you sure do look cute." She smiled.

I picked myself up off the ground, dusting off the dirt and grass, and climbed back up into the tree.

"Stupid pony..." I put my hat back on and went back to work.

And did she really just call me cute?

Whatcha need, Applebloom?

It was about three hours before we heard the banging of Granny Smith's dinner triangle. I had dropped out of a tree just beside Applejack when she tossed me another basket.

"Hey, I thought we were done for the day." I complained.

"Oh don't worry, we are. I was just wantin' ya to carry the basket inside the barn. My legs are plum tuckered out." She sighed. "Boy I tell you, I've never seen a human move like that before. Course I reckon I've never seen a human at all til today." She chuckled. "See ya inside, Johnny." She gave me a wink and trotted into the house, leaving me to carry the last basket of apples into the barn.

This isn't too bad, I thought to myself as I opened the door to the barn and sat the apples down onto the hay floor where the rest of the baskets were lying. As I was leaving, I heard a grunting noise coming from the corner of the barn. I closed the door behind me and walked over to the corner to find a little filly playing with what appeared to be a saw.

Oh dear God, fillies and saws do not mix!

"Applebloom!?" I jerked the tool out of her hooves where it looked like she had been trying to make something out of a chunk of wood. "Silly filly, that's not how you use a saw." I grinned as she looked up at me.

"Hey! I was usin' that!" She jumped up and grabbed the saw out of my hands with her teeth and continued to saw away at the wooden chunk. I felt kinda bad for ripping it out of her hooves at first, but then it was kinda funny watching her.

"Need some help?" I asked as I noticed the block of wood turning into something that not even the best professors could identify the shape of. She replied with a sheepish nod and dropped the saw into my hand and scooted the wood over to me. I sat there for about two minutes sawing off the edges of the wood to make a nice round shape. "How's this?" I asked her as I flipped the thin, round piece of wood over to show the young filly.

"Not too bad, but ah reckon it needs somethin'." She trotted over behind the baskets and grabbed a paintbrush dipped in orange paint.

"What, are we painting a mask of your sister?" I asked, which must have been right on the money because she started laughing like crazy.

"Ah didn't even think of that, but that sounds great!" She giggled as she started painting. We stayed in the barn for a few minutes finishing up the mask when at last we were done.

It was glorious!

I have to admit, something about Applebloom reminded me of someone. Like a little sister or niece I left back home on Earth in Tennessee. Just something about her felt like family to me.

"Hey Johnny, can I ask how you got your cutie mark?" She pointed at the cross shaped tattoo on my arm. "I don't think ah've ever seen that mark anywhere in Twi's books." She frowned as she examined it again closely.

"Well.." I tried to think of something to say, mainly because I didn't want to ruin this traditional Southern TV moment. The younger girl asking the older guy how to do something she doesn't understand, only for the guy to make it sound ten times as epic than it really is.

Oh yeah, this was a cinema worthy explanation.

But as I searched for something to say, the words wouldn't come. I wanted to say something along the lines of it being a mark of someone who was braver than the bravest man, but that would seem conceited. In fact, a lot of things seemed conceited when I tried to find an explanation.

Everything but the truth.

"Well Applebloom, humans don't just have their cutie marks appear on their arms. There are people called tattoo artists who can put something that is special to the person on a part of their body. Something that defines them." I began.

"Mine doesn't mean I'm a hero, nor does it mean I'm good at something that no one else can do. It just means..." I trailed off, trying to remember why I had gotten this thing on my arm. I know it had been a bet, loser had to tattoo something on their arm and show it off for a week, but there was a particular reason I chose this one.

"It means I came back to life." I finally said, causing her eyes to widen.

"Beg pardon?" She asked, wondering what in the hell I had meant by that.

"Before I got this on my arm, my life was a total wreck. I hated everything, honestly. I skipped school, I took drugs, and I did a lot of things I'm not proud of, all ending with me ditching my family and just being an all around idiot. Finally when Sunday rolled around, and I had nowhere to go, I went to a place called a church and listened to the people talking there. It had been my first time in a building like that, so I had no idea what to do. I met an old man there who asked me if I was lost. Long story short, he told me that even when things look horrible, there's always a place where I can come home to. Also he told me, that even when no one else is there, someone would always been watching over me. I ran home right after that and begged my parents' forgiveness, and now..." I paused as the wide eyed filly looked at me with genuine understanding, something I didn't really expect from her.

"Ma sister Applejack did somethin similar when she was a little filly too." She told me. "Ya'll are a bit alike." She smiled.

"Yeah, I guess we are." It was kinda true, and something about me regretted my horrible judgement of the orange workhorse. I guess that I really owed her an apology next time I saw her.

"Hey Johnny?" Speak of the devil, she showed up just as we were talking about her.

"What do you need, Applejack?" I asked her, expecting her to tell me to get to dinner after a hard day's work, but what I got instead was the opposite.

"I want you to leave, now."

Hour of Twilight

"Wait, what?" I asked her, shocked at this sudden change in her mood. Applebloom looked up at her with a pleading look in her eyes, wondering why this sudden revelation.

"Ya'll heard me, I want you off mah farm." She seemed a little more stern now as she inched back and motioned for Applebloom to come with her. "Applebloom, git your flank in the house." She said sternly, to which Applebloom reluctantly obeyed, dropping the mask. As Applebloom walked through the door and almost out of sight, Applejack closed the door behind her and faced me, this time with an expression of hate in her face.

"Ya'll thought I wouldn't find out about your kind?" She growled.

"What are you talkin-"

"I stopped by Twilight's when I headed into town, asked her what a human was. She told me ya'll are a bunch of meat-eatin', pony-violatin'-"

"Whoa whoa, hold on. I've never-"

"To top it off, ya'll think of us like we're nothing but a kid's show! You don't give any regard to how we feel, how our lives are. 'Things' like you aren't welcome at Sweet Apple Acres, so ya'll can just git movin'!" She bucked the door open and motioned for me to leave. "Well? Ah said get the hay off mah farm!"

"Hold on, Applejack. Ah don't think of ya'll as just a kid's show, honestly! I mean-" She grabbed me by the back of my jacket and hauled me outside in the cold evening as I struggled against her. "Let me go!" I jerked around trying to get her to let go of me as she began to tear the fabric in my hood. She mumbled something I couldn't understand, and as she finished mumbling she began to jerk against me, nearly tearing the hood of my jacket clean off. I managed to struggle enough to get an arm out of the sleeve and grab her by the snout. It was hard enough getting my arm out, now I had to get this mare to get her teeth out of my clothes.

"I said, let go!" Without thinking I punched her hard in the jaw, finally causing her to let go and grab her mouth with her hooves. I saw a trickle of blood coming down her hooves as her eyes welled up with tears, but these weren't tears of pain, I could clearly tell she was angry.

Oh now I've done it, I thought to myself.

"Applejack, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" She didn't give me a chance to finish as she whipped around and bucked me so hard in the chest that I flew a couple feet into the wall of the barn. The crack of the impact was so loud I could have sworn something had broken, but my interest was more on the weeping pony in front of me. Her anger turned into sadness as I saw her weakly sobbing in front of me.

"Just go, and don't touch my sister again." Now I knew what had set her off, what made me out to be like the other people that saw the darker side of the fandom. I had been in the barn helping Applebloom for a lot longer than I realized, what she had heard from Twilight about the rule 34 things.

She didn't want to believe it, did she? But when she saw me in there, with her sister, alone.

The things she must have thought.

I picked myself up off the ground and started walking away from the farm, every step bringing a new kind of pain. I felt an excrutiating amount of pain in my chest and right arm. What really hurt was when I saw her crying though, when Applejack just assumed I was like the humans she had heard about. Like all my life, being judged by appearances alone. That was what hurt the most.

What always hurt the most.

"Damn redneck!" I shouted back at the barn when I was sure I was out of earshot, and kept walking along the dirt road into the Everfree forest.

It had become so dark that eventually I couldn't even see where I was going. The dirt path had vanished, and everything in the forest seemed to blur together. I really hoped that I wouldn't end up in a field of Poison Joke or meet any Timberwolves as I kept walking aimlessly, but then I wondered who would I go to?

Fluttershy? She lived on the edge of the forest, if I could find it from here.

Zecora? Honestly I felt safer with her considering she faced the same problem as I did when she came to Equestria. However I probably would have less luck finding her than I would Fluttershy.

I honestly felt alone here, completely. So alone, that there was no one to warn me about the edge of the river as I fell in, cracking my head on a stone in the process. My head hurt horrible as I tried to stay afloat, but the world around me began to fade as the pain in my chest became even sharper as my heart started feeling like it was about to burst.

Oh crap, not here, I thought to myself as I clutched my chest for dear life, knowing my history of heart problems. The buck to the chest must have really hurt me internally as well as broken a bone or two. I started to feel light headed, and finally began to pass out before hearing the sound of hooves racing towards me.

"Is it going to be ok?" I heard a young boy's voice ask someone I assumed was near.

"Spike, it's a boy, or can you not tell when someone has similar body parts to you?" A familiar voice rang out. Wait, asking him if he can't tell his own-

Am I naked?!

I jumped up and looked all around me, thank God I still had pants on, but I noticed my chest bandaged and arm had a cast on it. I heaved a sigh of relief as I gazed upon a young purple dragon, and a very familiar lavender unicorn.

"Well, someone's a bit jumpy." She giggled.

Making Amends

It didn't hurt as much after I had woken up, despite the fact that Twilight is most certainly not a doctor. To the best of her knowledge, I had a broken arm and a few broken ribs, as well as a cracked sternum. My heart was also in pretty decent condition now, even though I did still have a lot of chest pain. Though that was the least of my worries as I gazed out the window of the lavender unicorn's library, staring off onto the horizon.

"I can't believe I punched her." I whispered to myself.

"Excuse me?" Twilight chimed in, coming upstairs levitating a plate of food. A small salad and a glass of soda. While it's not my favorite dish, it's not really in me to turn down food when it's given to me. Southern culture, I guess.

"Me and Applejack, we kinda got into it, and..."

"Hold on! YOU'RE the human she was talking about?" Twilight exclaimed as she ran back downstairs and tossed a few books around looking for the right one. "I wondered when I would meet you, not many humans visit Equestria." She pulled out a book titled, "Worlds Among Us, an Insight Into the Planets Beyond."

"Wait, others have been here?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, but only a fair few. Mostly male, but we do get the occasional human female tumbling into our world. Usually it's the same, a fourth wall, Pinkie Pie does something, magic spell, falling, yada yada..." She trailed off as she mumbled into the book, then looked up at me again with an embarressed expression. "Oops, got distracted. So can I ask how you got here, Mister..."

"Johnny, and it's none of those things." I chuckled. "I actually fell asleep in a barn in my world and wound up here."

"Really?" Twilight's eyes grew wide as she flipped through the book as if looking for something. "That sounds...very strange. I mean most have been completely coincidental based on the alignments of our worlds, but this..." She flipped through the book until she came across an illustration of what looked like a portal that connected two areas. She gasped as she levitated the book and slammed it in front of my face.

"Oh my gosh! You actually-" She was so excited she dropped the book for a second when she lost concentration. "Sorry." She picked it back up. "You actually came across a doorway!"

"What are you talkin' about?" I asked her. It sounded like something too good to be true.

"Most humans have come here through circumstances involving planetary alignment, just random events in the patterns of our worlds. This, however, is slightly different. According to this book it's possible for a doorway between worlds to exist and, under the correct circumstances, can be utilized almost freely. In layman's terms, you could essentially return here anytime you wanted." She grinned as she closed the book and placed it back onto the shelf.

"The storm...so that's how I got in her barn! Those two places must be connected somehow." I realized.

"Correct! You ended up here because of an electrical surge, which in a way is its own kind of magic. I believe if you slept in that barn again, you could return here. I assume it would work the same going back as well." Twilight explained. I had to admit, it was kinda interesting listening to Twilight explain things. But then I remembered that, in a way, she was responsible for what happened to me.

"Why did you do it?" I asked her coldy.

"Do what?"

"You told Applejack horrible things about humans, that we take advantage of them sexually and that we don't think they have any value." Her eyes grew wide as she heard what I had said.

"I didn't say that! Well, it did come up, but she left right after that. I told her the base facts, about how you are omnivorous, how you build cities and towns, it was all going well up until I got the subject of the rule 34 business and, what did you call it again? Oh right, clopping." She looked down at her hooves and back up at me. "I swear I didn't know she would act like this, or hurt you. I guess she just assumed-"

"She assumed I was like them." I said softly. Wow, I felt like such a jackass. I had judged her this whole time because of how she acted, and now I was being judged because of the circumstances she had found me last night. It actually kinda hurt, the way it was ironic. I felt cold and heartless, like some of the things she thought about me...we true. That I didn't feel like she had any value. And honestly, part of me did feel that way at first.

I hated myself for it.

"Twilight, can you come with me back to Sweet Apple Acres?" I asked her.

"Why, if I may ask?"

"I want to apologize to her. I feel like I've really hurt Applejack." I said, remembering how I'd punched her and been a real jerk. She had just been protecting her family, and I had no right to act the way I did.

"She may not be happy to see you by yourself, so of course I will." Twilight smiled as she lifted a saddlebag onto her back and opened the door. "Spike! We're going out for a while, hold down the fort til we get back!" She yelled upstairs, answered by a "will do" from the balcony.

And we were off.

"So Twilight, how many humans have shown up here anyway?" I asked her as we walked down the country road leading to the farm.

"Oh, a fair few. Mostly guys though, it's very rare to see a female human pop into Equestria. They usually either turn into ponies themselves for a while or they stay human."

"What do they do?" I asked, wondering if any of them have had any adventures besides me, who had been working on a farm with Applejack.

"Mostly just hang out, either with me, Rainbow Dash, or Pinkie. I've seen a few with Rarity, Fluttershy, and even Lyra or Vinyl. I think some have visited Canterlot, too." She explained.

"Wait, has Applejack ever seen a human before?"

"Well, no. I mean, she has a few times, but none of them have ever gotten to know her I suppose. She usually just catches them in passing or talks a bit before going back to work. I think you're one of the few who have ever spent this much time with her."

"Really?" I wondered. "I guess it's no surprise, they'd rather hang with you all."

"I know, but I guess in a way Applejack is scared or jealous. You know she's never had a coltfriend, right?"

"Wouldn't surprise me, she's always working." I chuckled.

"It's true, never been on a date, never had sex, never even thought about it. She's never even kissed anypony." Twilight said.

"Oh wow." I thought aloud. I had never even had a date til I was 18, I can imagine how AJ must feel about everything. Her friends have done so much while she's been so close to home.

"I know! You two should go on a date!" Twilight squealed as she jumped up.

"Whoa what?" That completely came out of nowhere.

"It's the perfect way to make amends. Even if you don't exactly make it to the bedroom, it's the perfect way to talk things out and get to know each other professionally." Twilight tried explaining it to me. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea, I don't exactly go on many dates.

Yeah, a night with Applejack might actually be fun!

"What in the hay is that thing doin' here?" An orange mare with a bandage on her jaw met us outside the gate.

Oh crap.

A Day Off

"Well?" Me and Twilight stood dumbstruck at the angry mare as she confronted us at the gate to her farm.

"Applejack, Johnny came to apollogize to you, and-"

"Oh he already did, right before ah bucked him across the yard. Needless ta say, apologizin' ain't gonna help in this situation." She stomped on the ground as if to scare me off.

"Look Applejack, I wanted to-"

"No, you do not speak round these parts. Far as ah'm concerned, you're a pest after my crops. You humans know better than anypony what happens to pests, right?" She beared her teeth and gave one last warning stop before Twilight levitated her into the air.

'What the hay are you-"

"Applejack, stop! Johnny is sincerely sorry, and he wants to make amends, right?" I nodded my head and walked over to her as Twilight set Applejack on the ground.

"Applejack I'm really sorry about the other night, but I swear I didn't do anything to Applebloom. We were just making something in the barn. I honestly didn't know she was there until I found her playing with a saw."

"What in tarnation was my sister doing with the saw?" Applejack exclaimed.

"Making a mask." I remembered the little orange pony mask me and Applebloom had carved and painted in the barn.

"That silly thing? Big Mac's taken a liking to it." She chuckled. "Oh wow, ah guess ah really owe you an apology Johnny. Ah must've really hurt you." She hung her head. "All them bandages, and-" I put my hand on her mane and knelt down to her level.

"I'm the one who nearly broke your jaw." I said.

"Ha, this?" She chuckled. "Ah've gotten worse on the farm when I was just a filly. You didn't cause no harm, ah'm the one who should be sorry. Ah completely judged you based on the worst ah heard from Twi, and came back here ready to buck you out the front door." Which actually wasn't too far from the truth of what happened.

"Can ya ever forgive me?" She pleaded.

"Already have." I smiled.

"Good! Now how bout that date?" Twilight chimed in to a very bewildered Applejack.

"That came outta nowhere." She mumbled. "Why in the hay would ah go out on a date? Ah got work to do, Twi, you know that."

"Nope." Big Macintosh showed up unbeknownst to us. Someone really needs to give this guy a medal for the most subtle pony ever.

"What do ya mean, brother?"

"You're takin' the day off, AJ." He smiled. "Bout time somepony took an interest in ya enough to take ya off the farm for a day." Applejack tried to protest, but Big Macintosh wouldn't allow it.

"But big brother-"

"No buts."

Giving up, Applejack turned to me and gave a sigh. "Wanna hang out?"

"Now Applejack, it's traditionally the male who asks the female out on a date." Twilight added, reading out of a book she must have brought for this occassion.

Dammit Twilight.

"Umm, Applejack..." I said quietly. "Would you like to go and hang out somewhere?" I mumbled.

"What's that sugarcube?" She asked, apparently I was too quiet.

"Will you...go out with me?" I said it louder this time.

"Well since ah have plenty of time, thanks to SOMEPONY, ah reckon we can go somewhere. Meet me at the edge of the woods in about an hour, ok? Ah wanna take ya somewhere." And with that she was off to her room to grab some things.

Twilight giggled beside me.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, romeo." She giggled as she teleported off, leaving me alone with Big Macintosh.

"I promise not to do anything bad." I smiled.

"Long as mah sister doesn't show up pregnant or beaten up, we won't have no problems."

Oh trust me, I'll likely be the one beaten after this little adventure.

Apple of Another Color

Walking along the edge of the Everfree forest, I had waited for the hour to end and went looking for Applejack. The orange mare was pretty hard to find, but eventually I happened across her with a large saddlebag on her back.

"Ready to get goin'? Ah'm ready when ya'll are." She said as she tightened the rope around her. I simply smiled and nodded as I tugged on the bag Big Macintosh had lent me for the day.

"Where are we headed?" I asked as she began to march forward, barely giving me time to tag along.

"We're headin' to a place ah've been goin' to ever since ah was a little filly. It was a special place for me and mah folks a long time ago." She said with her eyes straight forward. We began our march into the Everfree forest, passing rows and rows of long trees, and even the place where I fell into the river.

"Your folks, huh?"

"Yeah, but thing is ah don't see 'em anymore." She said with a sigh.

I didn't want to pry, so I dropped the subject and immediately changed it.

"So, is this your first date?" I asked with a sheepish smile.

"Well, yeah." She chuckled. "Ah gotta say, Ah've never in mah life been alone with a colt like this, or whatever ya'll are." She said. "Don't take it the wrong way, sugarcube, ah meant what ah said before."

"What did you say?"

"Forget it already? Ah told ya that ah found ya pretty cute." She grinned, slightly blushing.

"Cute how, exactly?" I asked her. Here it comes, the part where she says I'm like a friend, or even worse. A pet. Yes, I am totally the equivalent of Winonna.

"Well, how could ah put this? Umm..." She searched for the right words, thinking hard about how to best describe what could only be compared to a long, hairy baby dragon in their world.

"Ah guess ah could say you're just an apple of another color." She finally said.

"Do what now?" I asked her, wondering where she could have gotten that analogy from.

"It's kinda like somethin' Twi said, once. How different species can think alike and even talk or act alike. KInda how cows, mules, and even griffons have the same language 'round here. Even you talk just like us. Ah think the point was that even though we look different, we share so much of the same things that we might as well be like apples on an apple tree. Just different colors ah guess."

Oh wow, cue Applejack's wisdom of the day.

"That actually sounds pretty interesting." I said, astonished at the way she explained this all to me. I really owed her an apology. We continued our walk through the forest until we reached a small pool of water at the beginning of the river just under a small waterfall below a cliff face. The pool was relatively shallow, with a visable gravel surface that looked almost perfect.

"Well, here we are." She smiled as she set her saddlebag down and took off her hat. I took that as my cue to start getting my jacket off.

"Hold on there, partner. Don't go naked in there. Pretty sure ya'll look a little too unique under all them duds." She giggled. "How bout ya just leave the pants on and jump in like that." She said with a smile as she readied to charge into the pool.

"Geronimo!" She made a huge splash in the deeper end that soaked me to the point where I didn't even feel like I needed to get in anymore.

But I did anyway.

"Banzai!" I followed her into the pool and managed to splash her with my entry. She laughed and brushed it off before she took the bandage off her jaw. We spent a good ten minutes playing around in the water. Playing tag, seeing who could hold their breath longest, and even a splash competition. Needless to say, Applejack loved a challenge.

"Hey, doesn't that hurt?" I said, pointing to the still slightly bruised jaw.

"Oh it ain't no thang. Ah'm feelin much better after Twilight healed me a bit with her magic."

"Well I'm still sorry." I said again.

"Sugarcube, ah told you it's-"

"No, I mean..." I sighed. "When I arrived here, I thought you were just a stereotypical hillbilly like in my world. Poor, uneducated, close-minded. And, after a while, I realized that there is so much more to you than I thought. You're smart, you're dedicated, you're loyal, you're beautiful, you're-" I stopped myself as I saw her eyes widen and her cheeks begin to blush slightly.

"I guess I misjudged you as well, and I'm really sorry." I said as a faint smile crept across her face. The water around her seemed to glow in the sunlight as we were bathed in the rays of sun as it shone through the trees.

"Nopony's...ever called me that before." She said, still smiling.

"Why not?" I asked her. "Ever word is true, you know."

"Ah've never considered myself worthy of any colt's time. Not only that, ah've been taught to save myself for marriage, ya know? Ah gotta be honest, not many stallions in Ponyville are interested in waitin' that long. Needless to say, not many wanna even get to know me cause they only seem to want one thing outta this mare, and they know they can't have it." She said. "But ya'll are doin much better, since it's been a good twenty minutes and the word sex hasn't even crossed ya'll's lips." She said proudly.

"Well," I can't believe we're having this conversation. "I've kinda beenr raised the same way, but instead of strictly marriage, I'm just waiting on the right one. Personally, why wait if you truely love the person, or pony. If it happens, great. If not, oh well, no big deal." I explained.

"You're not gonna ask me, are ya?" She raised an eyebrow.

"To have sex with me? No." I said sternly. "I don't do it on the first date."

"Good." Applejack smiled a really large smile.

"But if a certain pony would perhaps want a kiss, maybe..." I said, trying to be as silly as possible with this. I really didn't expect a kiss, I mean she was a pony. I doubted she would have the slightest interest in me. Though, despite that, something about her just called to me. A kind of emotion, like a crush or a slight attraction, that really wouldn't mind just a small kiss from her.

"Well..." she began to blush. "Ah-ah really don't know how ta...ya know?" She stuttered, seeming very nervous with the entire thing.

"I could teach you." I offered, to which she must have been interested in because the next thing I knew the orange mare darted through the water to get closer to me.

"Yeehaw! Ah'm ready when you are." She grinned as she floated beside me. I spent a few minutes trying to help her get it down. From puckering her lips to just slightly parting them, but I left out anything involving the tongue for obvious reasons. She seemed to be pretty good, though for the first few attempts she looked like she was trying to imitate a duck's bill.

"Am ah doin dis right?" She said with her lips still together, pushed out.

"A little more like this." I showed her, which she noticed and imitated the way my lips were just slightly apart.

"Hey, ah got it." She exclaimed as she did a small flip under the water.

"Take it easy, AJ." I laughed. I was having so much fun. It went from working on a farm, to being public enemy number one, to being on a date with the pony I used to despise, but have gained so much respect for.

So much liking for.

Gah! What am I saying?

"Hey, Johnny. Can ya'll close your eyes for a second? Ah gotta do somethin." She smiled nervously.

"Umm, ok." I said before I closed my eyes. I expected her to go use the bathroom somewhere or go grab something out of one of her saddlebags. What I didn't expect was to feel a pair of lips press softly against mine. My eyes darted open as I saw Applejack closer to me than ever, kissing me softly with her lovely green eyes closed. I expected it to be strange, but it honestly was no different than kissing a human girl. While the lips were a different size and shape, the basic feeling was the same, and the taste wasn't bad either. In fact, it was good. The taste and smell of apples and cider filled my nose and rested on my lips as I returned the kiss, closing my eyes again.

I didn't want it to end.

But all good things must come to an end as her lips left mine. Breathless and blushing like crazy, she floated in front of me in the water, trying to form words without babbling.

"Th-thth that...was..." She stuttered happily. "Dear sweet Celestia, why did ah wait so long?"

"I assume you liked it?" I smiled, blushing a little myself.

She didn't say anything, only nodded furiously and came at me again, this time pushing me up against the wall of the pond. Her lips met mine as we darted back, kissing for nearly a minute before we finally broke contact to catch our breath.

"Sorry, Johnny. Ah really like kissin' you." She blushed madly as she held her forelegs around me.

I couldn't lie, I enjoyed it too.

Cutie Mark Crusader Sleepover Yay!

It had been a few hours before we began walking back to the farm, but it's a shame the day was already coming to an end. It was sunset, and Applejack was walking beside me with the biggest grin on her face. I myself was happy, but I tried not to show it as much. On the inside however, I was happy as could possibly be.

"What's got you so happy, pardner?" I asked her, imitating her southern drawl. She didn't mind, in face she found it kind of cute from the way she giggled.

"Oh, ya'll know what's got me happy." She grinned.

"Geeze, am I really that good?" I wondered, considering she had spent the last hour alone at the pond trying to make out with me and hugging me.

"Considering ah've never done that before, yeah." She chuckled. "Ya know, Johnny, ah've been a real fool. Here ah thought you were a pervert like them other bronies, but ya'll turned out to be quite the gentleman."

"Aww, why thank ya kindly, ma'am." We both shared a few laughs as the farm came into view, as well as Twilight Sparkle, Big Macintosh, and Applebloom. Applebloom darted from Bic Mac's side and all but tackled me in a hug.

"Johnyy! I knew ya'll would be back!" She seemed happy to see me, despite all that had happened. "Ah tried and tried to tell Applejack that ya didn't do nothin to me, but she just wouldn't listen."

"Easy there, Applebloom. Everythin has been taken care of. Me and Johnny here are on very good terms now." She winked at me, and we both ended up blushing a bit.

"Mah sister ain't pregnant is she?" Big Macintosh said sternly.

"No!" We both said in unison.

"Sounds like someone had a very decent evening." Twilight Sparkle chuckled. "So Applejack, tell me all about it. Was it any fun?" Applejack looked up for a while wondering what to say as she adjusted her hat and smiled.

"Oh, it was great, Twi. Me and Johnny played around for a while at mah old watering hole, we saw who could make the biggest splash, hold their breath the longest, and then we talked for a while about some stuff. And then we.." She blushed a bit more as she tilted her hat down to hide her eyes.

"What?" Twilight asked quizzically.

"We um, kissed...a lot." Applejack blushed and giggled as she looked over to me.

"Well then." Twilight smirked and gave me a slight nudge with her hoof. "Sounds like you did more than make amends, Johnny." She giggled. "Oh, Applejack, there's something you need to-"

"Hi Applejack!" Two small fillies darted past us and joined Applebloom. "Cutie Mark Crusader Sleepover at Applejack's!" Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo exclaimed as they hopped around Applejack in excitement.

"What is this thing?" Sweetie Belle pointed at me with a confused expression on her face. Well thanks, I wanted to say, but I just kinda smiled nervously. I had forgotten that not many ponies had seen a human aside from the Mane Six and the Princesses from time to time.

"Guys, this is Johnny, the human I was tellin ya'll about." Applebloom explained. "He and my sister just got back from a date."

"Your sister went on a date with that guy?" Scootaloo tilted her head, looking at me like I was some kind of freak. Not gonna lie, I kinda wanted to punt her at this point. "He looks kinda funny, though."

"Well, Ah like him." Applejack glared at Scootaloo. "Now when did this sleepover thing get planned?" She wondered, because I didn't hear anything about it the other day, and apparently neither did she.

"Umm..." Big Macintosh muttered.

"Oh for pete's sake, you said yes didn't you?" She glared at her brother as though he had just committed a murder and tried to hide the body in an apple cellar.

"Eeeyup..." He said sheepishly. Applejack rolled her eyes and groaned. I wondered where I was going to sleep, seeing as how my first idea was to climb into the clubhouse. Then the idea that all the fanfics about Scootaloo living there might be true hit me and I decided against it. Perhaps I would just go to the library with Twilight until tomorrow, since in all the episodes I've ever seen of the show the Apple family doesn't exactly have a guest room.

"Hey Applejack, can I ask you somethin?" I turned to her. "Where do I sleep?" She paused for a moment before adjusting her hat again.

"Why don't you sleep with me?" She said. "Uh, not in the sleep with as in sex kinda sleep, I mean-" She hurried through her words embarresed before I stopped her. "I mean, there's room for two." She grinned sheepishly. Well this was a surprise, I never thought I'd end up sleeping with Applejack.

"Alright, fillies are in their clubhouse, everypony is in bed. Looks like it's just us two who are awake." She pulled her hat off and set it down on her dresser. "Ah swear ah never wear half these clothes." She chuckled as she pulled the ties out of her hair to let her golden mane flow freely.

"Oh wow." I said. I had never seen Applejack with her hair down before.

"What? Ah don't let mah hair down for just anypony, but you're not just anypony." She winked as she motioned for me to go to bed. "Don't get no ideas, though." She gave me a playful stare that seemed a bit stern as well. "This ain't no invitation to jump mah flank or nothin, ya hear?"

"Loud and clear." I told her. I stripped down to my shorts and jumped onto the good-sized bed. It was very comfortable. Applejack's room seemed just like a girl's room, with its bed, dresser, and even a mirror. The walls were painted a lovely shade of green that complimented the hardwood floor beneath.

"Hey Applejack."

"Yeah?" She slid into the bed beside me.

"You don't think I'm funny looking, do you?" I asked her, still a bit insecure about what Scootaloo had said. I had no idea how she could possibly have any sort of attraction to me, nor did I know how I could have any attraction to her.

"Well no, honestly ah find you quite handsome. Ah mean, ya act and smell just like any colt in Ponyville, not to mention you're sweet and pretty brave, a hard worker..." She turned to me and smiled, her quiet green eyes staring into mine. "Ah mean, ah really like you." She smiled and kissed me on the nose. I returned the favor and kissed her on the lips as she returned it. She didn't want to stop as her eyes closed while she kissed me. I don't think she ever wanted to leave my side, and part of me didn't want to leave hers.

"Goodnight, Johnny." She smiled as she closed her eyes.

"Goodnight." I said with a yawn and held her close to me. The peace didn't last long as Granny Smith's hollering shot through the night and jolted us both up out of the bed.

"Help!" A voice came from outside. "Somepony help! The girls are gone!"

Oh no...

Chasing Fillies

"What happened?" Applejack ran outside as I followed close behind her.

So much for sleep,I thought to myself, but it must have been urgent if Granny Smith was yelling herself silly beforehand. The clubhouse looked a bit banged up, but we didn't pay much attention to it until we walked inside. That was when my heart sank, and from the look of Applejack's flushed face, so did hers.

The interior of the clubhouse was in shambles. The floor had been scorched from something, Applebloom's little table had been shattered into several pieces, and there were obvious signs of a struggle from the look of the scuff marks on the floor.

"Oh my goodness." Applejack cried. There I saw it, Applebloom's ribbon torn in two and blood was on it.

"Who coulda done this?" Granny Smith asked, tears in her eyes.

"What kind of monster takes kids?" I wondered myself. I had never heard of fillies being taken out of their home in the middle of the night before. Granted this was their treehouse, but it was the same principle. Maybe there was a darker side to Equestria than I thought, or maybe someone horrible was out there, with Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.

"I don't know, but ah'm gonna find 'em." Applejack ran back to the house to grab her hat.

"Anything I can do, Granny Smith?" I asked her politely.

"Couldja look after mah granddaughter? Make sure she gets home safely, with Applebloom." Granny Smith told me. "Ah know it's a lot to ask fer, but-" I stopped her.

"I was planning on helping Applejack anyway." I smiled.

"Johnny, ah appreciate the offer to come with me, but ah don't want anything happening to ya. This is mah sister and her friends we're talkin' about." Applejack protested as she tied her hair up into her usual ponytail and placed the hat onto her head. I tried talking to her, telling her I could be useful in case they were up a tree or something, but Applejack kept refusing me.

"Ah can just buck 'em out." She replied.

"And if they're tied up?"

"I'll chew through the ropes!"

"What if they're at the bottom of a lake?" Applejack froze with a look of sheer horror on her face. "Right, nevermind." I guess that would mean instant death.

"Ah don't care where they are, ah'm gonna find 'em!" She declared before running out the door. I followed her, much to her dissent.

"Johnny! Ah told you ah will handle this, so just-"

"Granny Smith told me to come with you!" I shouted. Applejack froze, processing what I had just told her. "She wants me to keep you safe, and to help you find Applebloom and her friends. I know I'm just human, but I can do something for you. I can-" I was stopped short by a pair of lips meeting mine.

"Thank you." She smiled, then looked around outside in what I saw as a confused state.

"Beggin' yer pardon, Johnny, but ah do need some help." She muttered. "How do you know which way they went?" She sighed as she looked around furiously as though praying for some clue to pop out of thin air. I examined the ground outside the treehouse, trying to find some kind of trail. Finally, I saw a few hoofprints trailing towards the woods.

"How'd you do that?" Applejack asked me, a look of happy curiosity on her face.

"Just something I picked up." I winked at her before I led her to the trail.

And hopefully to her sister.

Race Against Time

It was hard to see my own nose in front of my face as the night grew darker the further we headed into the woods. Applejack was right beside me, following my every step while I kept looking down at the hoofprints beneath us. The forest seemed to get darker the further in we went. None of that mattered, though, because I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to those three fillies. I was thankful that my dad had taken me hunting a few times in my childhood, or else I wouldn't be of any use to Applejack now.

"Dear Celestia, please be ok..." I heard Applejack say. I had never seen her this scared before, not even in any episodes. Here she was, running down a foalnapper who took her own sister and her friends, and now we were on the hunt for them. "Johnny, are we goin' the right way?" I had to admit, it was getting harder to see the ground as we ran, but I couldn't tell her that. I just nodded as we kept following the trail.

"Huh, you hear that?" The sound of faint barking followed behind us. Applejack and I turned swiftly as we met a small dog at our feet, or hooves in her case.

"Winona?" Applejack sighed. "Gosh, ya scared me, girl." Winona barked as she circled around us. I wondered what she was doing here, but Applejack seemed to mind her company. "Winona, ya'll need to get back home. We're trying to find Applebloom and the girls." Winona stared at her as if she knew what she was saying, tilting her head at the mention of Applebloom. That gave me an idea. I took the ribbon out of my pocket and held it to her nose.

"What in the hay are you-"

"Shh." I watched as Winona sniffed the ribbon before barking madly, running around us once more. "Winona, follow the smell, girl." She barked as she darted off into the woods.

'How'd you do that?" Applejack asked me while we ran after her, darting around trees further and further into the woods.

"Back in my world, some humans can befriend dogs and teach them to track specific people or animals. Mostly dogs help human law enforcement to track down drug dealers and bring them to justice."

"Oh wow, that sounds pretty useful,Johnny." She smiled. I didn't want to tell her about hunting dogs, as that might be a little too much. What I told her wasn't far from the truth though. It looked like we were on the right trail, and it seemed like Winona was a born hunting dog. She practically knew exactly where to go.

Before we knew it, Winona had stopped at a tree and began growling at the space in front of us.

"What is it girl?" Applejack asked. Soon after we began to hear a sound like someone or somepony coming after us from the front. Applejack looked like she was ready to jump on whatever was coming. I took a step in front of her to see closer into the darkness. Before we knew it, something was panting heavily as it ran, and from the pitch it sounded like a young filly. The purple mane and orange coat finally alerted us to who was coming after us.

"Scootaloo?!" Applejack and I exclaimed as she crashed into my knees, knocking me over. "What's going on?" Applejack held her as she cried her eyes out with her head buried in her chest. Scootaloo hyperventilated, gasping for breath as she tried to form words from all the excitement.

"Apple...apple..." She gasped. "You gotta help, please." She cried.

"Scootaloo, what's wrong? Where are Sweetie Belle and Applebloom?" I asked, trying to console her. She looked at me, tears falling from her eyes.

"Johnny, you can climb stuff, right?" She asked me.

"Uh, what now?"

"You need to climb up something... get to her... be careful." She cried. "Applebloom, they hurt her really bad. I tried to fly out, but my wings aren't that good, so I fell." She showed us her broken wing. Applejack looked like she was about to cry herself.

"What did they do to my sister?" Applejack asked, horrified.

"It all happened so fast. They tied Sweetie up in a sack and stuffed her in one of the rooms. When they came for Applebloom, she fought back as hard as she could. I wanted to help her, but all I could do was stand there, frozen. They..." She whimpered. "They kicked her around and threw her against the wall. There was so much blood coming from her face, I thought she was going to die. I ran as fast as I could out the window, hoping I could fly away to get help, but... Oh Applejack, I'm so sorry!" She cried hysterically.

"It's not your fault, Scoots. There was nothing you could do. What do these ponies look like?" I asked her.

"They were pretty tall. Both were stallions, I know that. I couldn't see their faces, they kept something over their heads to keep us from seeing them. Oh, they were also unicorns, I think." She said, still sobbing. "Please help them."

I looked over at Applejack, who was practically shaking with rage. I could scarcely imagine the images running through her head right now, two stallions beating up her defenseless sister. She could only be assuming that the two had something terrible planned for the little filly.

"Scootaloo, where are they?" Applejack finally said.

"I wasn't running long, they're just up a-" She didn't finish before Applejack barreled past us, tears welling up in her eyes. It didn't take long before Scootaloo and I turned around and followed her to whatever lay ahead.

And hopefully we'd get there before something worse happened to Applebloom.

Author's Note

Hey, really sorry for the long wait. I've been really busy for the past month. Hope you enjoy this chapter, there will be about 2 or 3 after this one.

Happy reading! :)

Into the Inferno

There comes a time in every man's life when he feels a certain bravery when he's risking his life for the common good of another. Here I was, running after Applejack in an effort to save her sister towards a brightly lit building in the distance. When I smelt the distinct aroma of burning wood and heard screams just a few feet in front of us, I realized something.

This is not that moment.

Because the only thing that awaited Applejack and I was a blazing warehouse with a terrified Sweetie Belle hanging out the window. You could smell the scent of burning wood and trees from a long ways away, from the way it was on fire. It felt like an inferno, everything was smoking and there was no sign of Applebloom anywhere.

"Dear Celestia, no!" Applejack screamed as she bucked the door down, only to be met by a wave of heat and cinders. "Johnny, watch Scootaloo!" She darted inside, leaving me alone with the filly. Sweetie Belle continued screaming until she finally saw us.

"Johnny! Scootaloo! You gotta help us!" Sweetie Belle cried.

"Sweetie! Where's Applebloom?" I called out to her from the ground.

"I don't know! They took her into another room before they left. I managed to get out of that sack just after the fire started, but I couldn't open the door. It's blocked off by something!" We heard a crash as what sounded like burning wood came falling through another part of the house. I knew if we didn't get them out soon then the entire building was going to fall.

"Sweetie Belle, jump!" I yelled. I could see the fear in her eyes as she looked down from the second story window at the fire that was climbing the wood beneath her. "I promise you'll be safe, just trust me!" She climbed onto the windowsill, practically vibrating with terror as she prepared to jump. Without warning she leapt from the window and came crashing down into my arms. Thankfully she wasn't very heavy, because I caught her and managed to set her down on the ground.

"Where's Applejack?" Sweetie asked me, still trying to get over the shock. Scootaloo was trying to cheer her up by huddling close to her, wishing she had been there for her earlier.

"She's trying to find Applebloom, don't worry." Scootaloo told her. I had to admit, I was getting really worried about her. It wasn't a large warehouse, only a little bigger than the Apple family's barn with two stories. It shouldn't be taking her this long We waited outside the warehouse for several minutes, still with no sign of Applejack anywhere inside or outside. I was starting to get scared. I wasn't about to let the girl I was falling for die in a place like this, so I did the only thing I knew to do and ran into the warehouse myself.

"Look after each other, I'll be right back!" And with that I ran into the inferno that awaited me. Smoldering beams and random goods were everywhere, all covered in fires. Whoever did this did not want anyone to survive, I thought to myself as I searched for the two ponies. I searched around everywhere until I finally saw Applejack running towards me with a limp.

"Johnny, you fool! What are ya doing in here?!" She yelled at me as she hugged me. "Ah can't find her, and ah can't get up to Sweetie Belle." She motioned toward her skinned leg. It looked like she had fallen from somewhere, as she seemed a bit bruised and was beginning to feel tired from inhaling all the smoke. I told her that I had already gotten Sweetie Belle out of the burning building, or rather she had jumped down onto me. "Can ah give you a boost up there?" She pointed with a hoof up to the second floor where burning debris began to crash down from the roof. She could make out a faint door that was practically coming off its hinges until I finally saw it as well.

"Buck me." I told her.

"Do what now?" She asked me, wide-eyed.

"I'm going to run towards you. What you need to do is lift yourself up on your front legs with your hind legs in the air. When I jump and my feet meet your hooves, I want you to buck as hard as you can towards the roof. Can you do it?"

"No way, ah don't want to risk it." She said, a bit nervous about this plan. I could tell she didn't want to risk hurting me, as one wrong move could end with her seriously injuring me or herself. But I convinced her it was the only way to reach it. She leaned forward and balanced herself up off the ground with her hind legs just flat enough for me to step on. I walked back a few feet and took a short breath to prepare myself.

If this fails, I'll never have kids, I joked to myself before I went running towards her. Just as I met her head I jumped over her and landed my feet onto her hooves. What happened next could probably be described as a gunshot in pony-world terms as her hooves literally blasted me up over the floor and into a beam of the roof.

WHACK!

I smacked my head hard into the wall just by the door Applejack showed me. A bit disoriented, I reached for the handle and jiggled the locked door before slamming my full weight into it. The door came crashing down, revealing a small bedroom with a beaten filly inside.

"Applebloom!" I yelled as I ran towards her. She had been tied to the bedframe and left there to die. She moved slightly before her chest began to stop rising and falling, as though she were dead or passed out. Her left eye was coated in the blood that had been pouring from a gash in the top of her head. I looked at her legs, one of them had clearly been fractured and her hooves were slightly bloody as though she had been walking on nails. Did they torture this little filly? I wondered as I untied her and felt for a pulse. I felt nothing. She wasn't even breathing.

I began to panic.

"Applebloom look at me! Stay with me!" I yelled as I turned her over onto her back and pressed hard onto her chest, trying to remember what little of CPR I learned. I kept going until she finally coughed up a little blood and started breathing again.

"Johnny?" She asked weakly.

"Don't worry, you're gonna be ok." I tried to assure her, hugging her tightly to my chest. Now all that was left to do was get her and myself out of here.

I yelled as loud as I could. "Applejack, go outside and wait beside the window!" I prayed she heard me as I lifted Applebloom over my shoulder and carried her to the window that I threw Sweetie out of. Thank God, Applejack was there.

"Johnny, is she ok?" I heard them all yell at me.

"I need you all to catch her, ok?" I hauled her off of my shoulders, being as careful as I could be. "She's hurt pretty bad, but still alive."

They all prepared themselves as I prepared to toss her to them. "Don't be afraid, you're going to be fine." She meekly nodded towards me when I walked closer to the window. In one swift motion I threw her as best I could towards the trio of ponies on the ground. The result was better than I could have asked for. Applejack and Scootaloo caught her with ease as she met their hooves and was set softly on Applejack's back.

"We got here Johnny, now come on!" Sweetie Belle yelled up at me. She didn't have to tell me twice. I ran as fast as I could to the second floor ladder, or lack thereof, and just as I prepared to climb down, the floor gave out from beneath me. I landed hard on my leg, shattering it from the immense pain I was in. I was just infront of the door, and the look of the ponies' faces were those of sheer horror. I looked down at my leg, and instantly I felt sick. Not only was it broken, but shards of wood actually pierced through it, breaking off into splinters that "decorated" my torso and leg.

"Johnny!" Applejack cried. She ran back into the building towards me.

"Don't!" I yelled back. "Get out of here, now! It's going to come down!" The pain I was in made me want to pass out right there as the flames grew hotter and hotter around me. A beam blocked off my view of Applejack and her way to me as The space around me began to burn. I could faintly make out Applejack screaming and hearing the familiar thud of hooves of wood as I could tell she was trying her best to get me out. I felt hotter and hotter, but as the seconds ticked by, I started to feel numb, and finally sleepy. I almost didn't notice that the building I was under began to move away until I finally beheld the night sky above me, with a frantic Applejack standing over me yelling something, tears pouring from her eyes.

Until everything faded to black.

My Guardian Angel

"Need something, sir?" An old man in his Sunday best approached me as I stood in the foyer. I had never been to this place before ever since I had a car and could drive myself to places I wanted to go.

"No thanks, I'm just kinda here." I told him. Truth is, I always hated going to church. I didn't believe in God, so why did my parents always insist on me being here all the time? Every Sunday it was get dressed, and go waste about 3 or 4 hours of your life listening to someone tell you how to live your life.

"Now, I may be old, but I know a thing or two." He told me. "And I've watched you grow up, Johnny, and your parents too." He said with a stern look on his face. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't need something." What did he know, he didn't know me.

"Look, can I just go now?" I said. "I really don't like being here, and my parents are probably just going to yell at me when they get out of service anyway." I said with a sigh. The man looked at me and smiled softly. "What?"

"You complain that they yell at you, but did it ever occur to you that they want you to be happy in life? Of course it's tough, but there's always a place to go back to, and I think that's what you need to do." He motioned towards the door as it opened to the sanctuary, and two figures came out first.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep

I really hate that sound.

I felt myself slowly awakening in a small hospital room in Ponyville, seeing my chest hooked up to a life support machine. How long had I been out was all I could ask myself, that and if the fillies and Applejack were alright. I looked down at my body, my entire midsection was bandaged and an IV have been placed into my forearm. My leg was in a cast, and I mean the whole leg, not just one small part. I leaned back in my bed, exhausted, wondering if I would ever see them again.

"You're ok, huh?" A familiar voice came from the door before I could look around. Twilight Sparkle stood in the doorway, holding a letter by her side. "Applejack hardly left your side while you were out until they discharged her and Applebloom from the hospital." She levitated the letter over to me. "She had to take Applebloom home, and she didn't know when you would be up, so she wrote this for you." She smiled. "You know, she really cares about you."

"How long was I out?" I asked her, puzzled.

"Not long, only a few days." She told me. My jaw practically dropped. How in the world could I have been passed out that long? "Go ahead and open it." She motioned towards the letter.

I opened up the letter, and began to read..

Dear Johnny,

I don't know what I can say besides thank you for what you did, and I really hope you wake up soon. I am really happy that I met you, Johnny. When you came to Equestria, I thought you were a monster, and even after ya'll helped me on the farm I still didn't trust you after what I had heard from Twilight. I feel so stupid for it. When we kissed at the pond, though, that was the first time I had ever done anything like that. It was magical to me. I hope you'll be up and at 'em soon so I can tell you everything I want to tell you in person. There's something I really need to say, so please...

Get better soon,
Applejack.

I looked down at the letter and saw a few places where words had been crossed out due to misspelling and a few spots on the paper that appeared to be water stains. Then I realized they were tear stains, Applejack had been crying when she wrote this.

"They found out who kidnapped the girls, and who burned down the old warehouse. It was Flim and Flam from the whole cider thing. They've been tracked down and hopefully they'll be brought to justice." Twilight assured me. Like you couldn't see that coming a mile away.

"Hey Twilight?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Did the doctor say when I could leave?"

"He said you could leave as soon as you woke up, that's what he told me."

I looked down at my leg, concerned about whether or not I could make the trip across town to the farm. I looked up at Twilight again and smiled. "Mind giving me a lift?"

Sweet Apple Acres looked the same as it did when I first arrived, but no one was working. It seemed like everypony was inside, except for Applejack. I was thankful that Twilight had let me ride on her back for a little way here.

"Twilight, this is enough." I said as I struggled to get off comically. I finally fell off her back and onto the dirt road. "Ouch!" I yelled. She couldn't help but giggle.

"You really should be more careful, and try not to be so dang heavy!" She complained, but still laughed a bit as I tried to get myself up. I noticed Applejack sitting outside the gate, barely asleep as she leaned against the fence. Her right foreleg was bandaged and had a splint on it, so I assumed it had been at least fractured. "Go get her, cowboy." Twilight winked at me before teleporting off. Applejack stirred a bit, but fell right back asleep.

I limped over to where she was, trying hard not to wince at the pain as every step I took felt like a barrage of needles shot into my leg. I really wanted to know what she had to say to me, and I had to admit I was preparing for her to never want to see me again. I had put her life in danger and thrown her sister out of a window. I punched her in the face and completely disrespected her. I could understand if she never wanted me to stay again. Finally I stood in front of the orange mare, her hat on the fencepost and hair undone as she waited for me. I tried to find the words to say, but all I could muster was;

"Applejack?" I said softly. Her eyes slowly opened as she looked up at me. The blank look on her face turned into one of sheer joy as she tackled me in what was the most precious and agonizing hug of all time.

"Johnny! Oh Celestia, Ah'm so happy you're ok!" She cried. I could tell she had been out here for a while, her hooves and body were dirty from the way she was hanging around on the dirt road. Tears welled up in her eyes as she stood over me.

"How's Applebloom?" I managed to choke out. She was kindof crushing me, sadly.

"She fine." She noticed her mistake and moved off so that I could breathe. "Just a few fractures, but nothing too serious. They said you were lucky to be alive." She said sadly. "I was terrified." She looked down at her leg. "Ah nearly broke this thing in two trying to get you out of there. Lucky Twilight was coming back from Zecora's when she heard the screamin'." Applejack said. Twilight must have moved the beam of wood that collapsed on top of me, I thought to myself.

"I'm just happy you're ok." I told her. She looked back towards me, and her smile turned into a sad frown again.

"No, you're only alive because of Twi. Had it not been for her, you wouldn't be here. She's the one who saved you, not me." Applejack sighed. "Ah'm not as great as she is, and ah probably won't be. You risked everything to save mah sister and her friends, and ah couldn't even help you. Ah-" I stopped her when I placed my hand on the side of her face, stroking her hair.

"Applejack, I'm alive because you risked everything to save me. That's all I could ask for. Besides, you're a great pony to me, and I..." I trailed off. She looked up at me again, tears falling from her eyes again.

"Johnny, there's something ah wanted to tell ya'll in person. Ah'm not sure if it matters now or not, but it's gotta be said." She took a deep breath. "When you rushed into that building to save mah sister, all doubt vanished from my mind. You're kind, strong, handsome, and everything a plain mare like me could ask for. You ain't nothin' like the humans Ah've heard about, and to me that means everything in the world. Ah've never had a special somepony or a coltfriend before, so it feels weird saying this for the first time, but..." She smiled softly as she looked at me.

"Ah love you, Johnny."

She finally spoke those words, and right then I hugged her tight. She stood up on her hind legs so she would be an even height with me standing up and stared into my eyes with the most genuine look of happiness I had ever seen. Then she leaned in for a kiss, and I followed. Her good foreleg wrapped around my neck as my arms held her waist close to me as we stood there for what seemed like an eternity. I didn't mind, in fact I was really happy. I didn't want this moment to go away, and I knew it never would. She finally moved away and stood there, her foreleg still around me, smiling her sweet smile as she blushed like a girl just meeting her lover for the first time. It seemed even longer as we stood there alone in front of the farm, ignoring the pain in my body until I finally broke the silence between us.

"I love you too."

Epilogue

Dear Princess Celestia,

You probably don't know me from Pony Joe, but I really wanted to write to you, considering not many humans do, I'm sure. Applejack and Twilight convinced me to do this, so might as well. When I came to Equestria, I expected to go on some wild adventure or end up getting into a bunch of silly shenanigans. The result, however, was much better than I thought. I ended up on Sweet Apple Acres, working with Applejack, falling in love, and saving her sister and the CMC from certain doom.

Yes, you read that right, I fell in love with Applejack. To be honest, I was a little unsure at first, but everything about her is hardly different from those in my world. The thing is, though, I thought she was a stereotypical hillbilly or country redneck or something of that sort, but the truth was much better than I expected. She's kind, strong, funny, dependable, honest, and absolutely beautiful. She judged me too, thinking I had raped her sister or had thoughts of raping her! In the end, however, everything turned out alright. I'm helping out with her work on the Acres, reading with Twilight on pony history, and from time to time I go back to my world to take care of business there. And here's the best part; I can literally come back anytime, and time barely moves when I'm gone! I know that there's a chance that this thing with Applejack might not last, but I know that even if it doesn't, there won't be any bad blood between us. We'll still be friends, and maybe things will work themselves out. In the meantime I'm climbing trees, doing homework, helping with the daily harvests and chores, and dodging random questions about how to get a Cutie Mark from Applebloom and her friends. And you know what?

I'm the happiest man on Equestria.

Your newest subject,
John