Fugue - Volume 1

"Soup's on, everypony!"

Huey moaned miserably as the clanging of a triangle roused him from his sleep. He immediately grasped the ends of the pillow his head was laid on and clamped them over his ears to block out the racket.

"Kill me now," He mumbled lethargically. Sadly, his attempt to prevent the noise from reaching his ears failed, due to the sound being too loud for the pillow to absorb. Defeated, Huey yawned and rolled over to look at Twilight's bed. He had been allowed to move his "bed" into her room for the duration of the crisis, since Huey had reservations regarding his sleeping with the refugees that had slept downstairs. As expected, the lavender unicorn was nowhere to be seen, however the sizeable bulge in the small basket beside her bed indicated that Spike was a late riser too.

"I'm up," Huey cried out in despair. "I'm up, just... Stop the noise!"

Much to his relief, the clattering of metal suddenly stopped, causing him to sigh happily. Sluggishly, Huey grasped his trousers, which he had carelessly tossed onto the floor beside his sleeping spot last night, and tugged them on. The conversation with Twilight regarding his underwear, and its current usage as sleepwear, had been much easier to do in comparison to Luna and Celestia. Admittedly, the incident with Celestia was the first time he had, as far as he could remember, taken his clothes off in the presence of another, while Luna had discovered that caveat of human behaviour after forcibly stripping him into total nudity. In contrast, Twilight had been completely understanding of the fact that it was the exact opposite of her kind's norms. Her only interruption during the brief lecture Huey had provided had been to allow her the opportunity to fetch writing tools to scribble down notes.

"Five more minutes," Spike burbled sleepily, causing Huey to raise an eyebrow at how the cacophony of noise hadn't irrevocably roused the dragon from his slumber. Shrugging, he put on his socks and shoes before heading downstairs. Unsurprisingly, the masses of blankets that had been laid out in neat little rows to permit maximum sleeping capacity were showing their own signs of who owned each spot. The unoccupied sleeping spots ranged from their respective blankets being neatly folded to just being haphazardly screwed up and deserted on the floor. Meanwhile, the spots that were still occupied had all manner of equines that were either waking up due to the racket or, much to Huey's disbelief, had been able to sleep through it entirely.

After greeting those who were awake, Huey stepped outside. Congregating around the library were a horde of equines, who were lining up in front of a table Applejack had set up to dish out what appeared to be breakfast. Huey walked past the queue and approached the apple farmer.

"Hi, Applejack!"

"Howdy, Huey!" Applejack greeted with a tip of her brown stetson. "If yer here for grub, you need to get in line like everypony else."

"I can wait," Huey replied, as he glanced over the array of apple-based edibles being handed out. As far as he could see, every conceivable dish that could be made of apples had been made in vast quantity, such as apple pie, crumble, strudel, brown betty and cobbler.

"Is there anything here that doesn't have apple in it?"

"Nope!"

"Fair enough," Huey murmured before turning towards Applejack, who was busy handing out platefuls of food with her teeth. The human grimaced at the blatant lack of hygiene standards, but said nothing.

"So, how may I help?" Huey asked. "There doesn't appear to be anyone helping you, and there's a lot of ponies to feed."

"Oh, I'm not all alone!" She corrected. "My brother and sister, Big Mac and Apple Bloom, are bringing more supplies from the farm!"

"Ah, I see! It'd be delightful to meet your family."

"Ha!" Applejack chuckled. "I hope you humans live long lives, my family's pretty darn big."

"I assure you, we can," Huey replied cheerfully before turning to a pegasus mare that was impatiently waiting for their attention. "Sorry for distracting Applejack! What can we get you?"

"About time," The irate pegasus grumbled. "I'll have some apple cobbler."

"Sure thing!" Huey chirped, and quickly put a generous portion of the sweet treat onto a plate. "Again, sorry for the delay!"

"It's fine, I guess. Thanks, AJ." She muttered, while snatching the plate and flying away.

"Someone got out of the wrong side of bed this morning," Huey murmured to Applejack. "Although, considering the 'beds' that most of the towns’ had to cope with... I can understand their anguish."

"Yeah, I heard there were problems with getting mattresses and sleepin' bags," AJ remarked, while serving another equine. "So, they had to sleep on the ground. Ain't no problem for me, personally, but some ain't never slept like that before."

"Indeed, must have been quite a shock for them," Huey added. "Still, once everyone's all good and ready, we can knuckle down and get building!"

"Too right! I bet The Apple Family tradition of barn-raising could be mighty helpful."

"I'm sure it will," He agreed with a nod. "Out of curiosity, have you seen Twilight? I woke up not so long ago and she was nowhere to be seen."

"She's been busy with the mayor!" AJ answered. "Twilight told me she didn't want to disturb you and Spike when she woke up, so she left you two alone."

"Well, a metallic clanging woke me up," Huey mused. "Followed by you declaring that 'soup's on', so even though I would have preferred sleeping in... I'm grateful you jostled me out of bed, AJ."

"'T weren't nothin'!"

"Still, let's feed these ponies!"

"You're tellin' me you yoo-mans don't have cutie marks!?"

Huey looked down at the lemon yellow filly sporting a bright red mane tied up with a massive pink bow, who was staring back up at him in shock.

"We don't have magic either," He added, causing Apple Bloom to gasp with renewed horror.

"No magic or cutie marks!?" She blurted out, causing AJ to tilt her hat down so that it covered her rolling eyes.

"Apple Bloom," She began firmly. "Some species don't have magic or cutie marks here in Equestria. You know... Timberwolves, Winona, the farm animals..."

"But that's different, Applejack!" Apple Bloom protested. "This yoo-man can talk and stuff!"

"Griffons can talk, but they don't have them," Huey countered. "So, the point stands. Also, it's pronounced 'human', not yoo-man."

"But how do ya know what your special talent is!?" The filly enquired. "Don't you wanna be able to sport what makes you special proudly?"

"Two points against that," He replied bluntly. "Firstly, humans aren't exactly the type to walk around naked, so very few would actually get to see it. Secondly, humans are very flexible creatures. We can do many things, if we put the effort in. I really don't see why you're so flabbergasted, after all, you don't have your mark yet."

Apple Bloom immediately flinched at that remark, while her tail immediately shifted so that it could wrap around and cover up her blank flank.

"Y-Yeah, but..." She stammered in shame. "I'm workin' on that!"

"Is it common for foals, like yourself, to hunt for their mark as soon as possible?"

"No," Apple Bloom stuttered. "It's just that my cutie mark's late."

"It ain't late, Apple Bloom!" AJ protested. "You're just a late bloomer. Your cutie mark'll arrive when it's good and ready!"

"But everyone else has got theirs, Sis'!"

"You know that ain't true. Remember Twist, she ain't got hers yet!"

Apple Bloom huffed in defeat and wandered away towards her massive brother, Big Macintosh, who had silently, and wisely, stayed out of the discussion by busying himself with unloading supplies in preparation for lunch and dinner. Huey glanced over at Applejack and shrugged.

"Is a cutie mark really that important?" Huey enquired. "Is it like... A mark of reaching adulthood or something?"

"No, it's a mark that represents an integral part of who you are," She explained. "It's unique to everypony. However, it don't mean that's all you can do. After all, I turned out to be The Element Of Honesty, yet you don't see nothin' about that with this, do ya?"

Applejack turned slightly to display the three red apples on her backside, that contrasted prominently with her orange coat.

"Then why is your sister so eager to find hers?" Huey wondered. "If it's something that everyone eventually gets. Surely, it's just a matter of waiting for the moment where you realise that special quality that makes you... You."

"I dunno, Huey," AJ mused with a sigh. "I tried tellin' her that, since there's plenty of foals her age that don't have their mark yet, and I know even more who didn't get their mark as quickly as the rest too... But she don't want to listen."

"I'm sure she'll learn that lesson at some point, AJ," He comforted with a gentle pat of the farmer's straw coloured mane. "Apple Bloom's just a kid. Maybe, once she's grown a little older and wiser, she'll realise that having one isn't ones only defining characteristic. I mean... If that was the case, wouldn't that be pretty boring? In your case, all you'd ever do is farm apples."

Applejack cringed and looked up at him.

"That is kind of what I always do, Huey."

"Y-Yeah, but..." Huey stammered, while wincing in embarrassment. "It's not the ONLY thing you do. Your entire existence isn't devoted to apples alone. You have your own personality, experiences, desires and needs. Yes, your occupation as an apple farmer takes up a lot of your time, as it would, since farming is labour intensive, but you do other things too. You are, as you mentioned, The Element Of Honesty, so you're more than just 'that orange apple farmer', Applejack."

"You're right there, pardner." She agreed before sitting down and leaning back against one of the wheels of her brother's cart to relax. "Still, thanks for helpin' with feedin' time. That was quite a large crowd."

"Hey, you're graciously helping with feeding the entire town!" Huey exclaimed. "Of course it's going to be a big job. How could I just leave you to do all that on your own?"

"Heh... You know that there reminds me of somethin' I learned, while you were away in Canterlot."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, the day after you left, my brother over there hurt himself real bad. Yet we needed all the hooves we could to get the apples harvested. So, I said I'd do it myself."

"I'm guessing from this, you bit off more than you could chew?"

"Darn right! I was workin' so hard that I began to lose my precious sleep. I don't remember much, but I do remember poisoning about half the town with some badly made muffins."

"You caused mass food poisoning!?"

"Yeah, I'm ashamed to admit it, but my stubbornness and pride caused a heck of a lot of trouble round town. Plus, I only harvested a tiny amount of the apples we have in the orchards back home. It was then I realised that I can't do everythin' on my own... And it ain't no sign of weakness to admit that and, when needed, ask for a helpin' hoof."

Huey sat down next to Applejack and wrapped an arm around her to provide a gentle half-embrace.

"Damn right!" He agreed with a smile. "When all of this rebuilding is over, I'd be delighted to come over and visit... Maybe even help out around your farm. You said that your family is large, and if they're as pleasant as yourself, Apple Bloom and Big Mac, then I'm sure I'd get along just fine with them."

"Well, that depends..." Applejack mused, while her hoof tapped her chin thoughtfully. "What you like with applebucking?"

"Applebucking?"

"Yeah, that's how we apples get them off the tree," She explained. "We give the tree a good kick in the trunk and make the apples fall right off."

"Ah, I see," Huey muttered. "Well, to tell the truth, I could never be able to do that. Back where I'm from, we pick apples by hand."

He presented a hand and wiggled its fingers.

"Harvest time takes a couple of months for us humans, since we have to pick each apple, individually, off the tree. Yes, that does mean we have to climb into it to grab the fruit that grows on the higher branches."

"Phew! That there sounds like a lot of work, if you ask me," AJ remarked. "Me and my brother do the work all by ourselves."

"How many trees do you have?"

"I couldn't tell you, I lost count."

"I guess I'll just to have to see for myself then," Huey sighed. "Although, if it's as large as you're making it sound, I think I might be kind of useless when it comes to picking apples."

"That's fine, you can always help out with other chores, like the pigs, chickens, other vegetables..."

"You have a massive apple orchard AND other crops and animals!?"

"Yeah, I mentioned the farm animals when I was talkin' to Apple Bloom, remember?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, that slipped my mind," Huey admitted. "Still, that's quite impressive if only you and your brother are the ones doing the work!"

"I guess it is, but it's what we always done."

"From my point of view, it's staggering," He insisted firmly. "If my kind had the opportunity to have someone like you, they'd leap at the chance to ask for your help."

"Well shucks," Applejack muttered with a slight blush, which she immediately concealed with a tilt of her stetson. "My brother and I are a bit too busy to help out your farmers, even if I'd like to help."

"That's okay," Huey soothed, while patting Applejack's mane. "I found out that it's impossible for me to go back to my kind, so you wouldn't be able to get there to help anyway."

"You what?" AJ spluttered. "You can't go home!?"

"Shhhhh!" Huey hissed, his hand clamping over the farmer's mouth to silence her outburst. "Not so loud!"

After she nodded in acknowledgement, Huey let go, allowing AJ the ability to speak again.

"But why!?" AJ enquired urgently. "What about your family? Friends? Your life back home? Won't you miss your fellow humans?"

"No memories," Huey replied, while tapping his forehead to emphasise the point. "I know literally nothing about my life before I came here. As for it being impossible, Princess Celestia explained to me that it would take hundreds of years to discover the exact circumstances that brought me here. Humans are lucky if they can live to the age of a hundred, so I'll be dead long before they finished."

"That's real sad, Huey," AJ sighed. "I'm sorry for you, I really am!"

"Don't worry, Applejack," He said quietly. "The princess helped me get over the shock. I've accepted it's the way things are. Anyway, it's nice here. Twilight, you, the others, the princesses, you've all been great!"

"Yeah, but... The familiarity and stuff. Don't you wanna be with your own kind? Be around other humans and such?"

"Not particularly, no," Huey admitted. "After getting used to being around colourful ponies, I've not that out of place. Everyone seems to be rather tolerant... Sure, I get a few funny looks, but I'm the only human in existence here. It's bound to get a few looks, hushed whispers and such."

"I guess, it just sounds a bit scary."

"In the beginning, it was!" He explained. "But I'm not facing this alone. I've got dependable friends like yourself. So, how can I go wrong, eh?"

Applejack turned her gaze towards Huey and smiled proudly at the compliment.

"Thank you kindly," She drawled. "Like I said, anypony that appreciates apple pie's okay in my book."

"Speaking of which," Huey interjected. "I must admit that since I remember nothing of my personal life, that means I don't actually know if I've ever tried apples or anything like that before."

"You mean you lied?" Applejack clarified, her expression melting into one that oozed sadness and a hint of anger at possibly being deceived. Huey grimaced and hummed in thought.

"I don't think I did," He mused. "When I said that, I was sincere about liking it, yet when I thought about it just now... It's impossible for me to have that appreciation for it, if no memories exist."

"Maybe the taste of pie's so good even losin' all your memories can't bury that?" Applejack suggested, while standing up. "Still, if you don't really remember, you should come and try some!"

Huey was suddenly hauled to his feet by the earth mare, after she grabbed his hand and pulled him effortlessly. The human was swiftly dragged to the table that had been loaded with food for distribution to the townsfolk.

"You just take a seat right there, Huey," AJ ordered. "I'm gonna get ya some samples of our home-made apple eatables!"

The human obeyed and sat down, his gaze fixed on the farmer as she swiftly began to stack a plate up with scores of apple-based comestibles. Within a minute, an impressive tower of food was placed in front of him.

"Tuck right in!" AJ urged. "There's plenty to enjoy. Oh, before you do!"

He watched as she placed a tankard of yellow-brown liquid next to his plate.

"Apple juice!"

The human let his gaze drink in the sight of the teetering tower of grub, before nodding at AJ.

"Thank you."

"Urgh... I ate too much pie."

Huey clutched his stomach miserably as he trudged towards his allocated building site. He desperately wanted to blame Applejack for his current discomfort, but he knew, deep down, that he had overindulged on apple pie. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the texture of the pastry, accompanied by the sweet, warm apples, proved to be too much to resist. Severe stomach pains and overwhelming nausea were the factors that finally caused him to cease his gorging on food.

"Damn apples," He cursed under his breath. "So sweet and delicious."

Sluggishly, he meandered towards the remains of an unknown house. The allocation of labour had been organised, mostly, at random. As agreed, every team had a professional builder as the leader. They were accompanied by nine other ponies, selected at random, who would assist with the simpler jobs and, under direct supervision, perform some of the more complex jobs. After finally finding Twilight, Huey found himself assigned to a team that were given the job of rebuilding the home of Nightjar, a pegasus stallion who was the proud father of a young, hyperactive filly named Zipporwhill.

"Hey, Huey!"

He looked up to see the familiar face of Drill Bit waving at him.

"You're late!" He shouted, as Huey redoubled his pace. "Not exactly off to a good start, are ya?"

"Sorry," Huey apologised. "I got caught up with helping Applejack feed the town, followed by finding Twilight to be told where I was going to be helping out... It kind of just went downhill from there."

The builder hummed nonchalantly before turning towards the rest of the group.

"Alright, everpony!" He cried, causing them all to turn towards him. "Now that we're all here, let's get down to brass tacks. The lovely pile of rubble around you is the former house of Nightjar and his kid, Zipporwhill. It's our job to begin putting it back together. Crafty Crate's ponies will be here soon with a tonne of stuff to begin rebuilding, but before that... We need to clear this site up."

The group, consisting of pegasai, earth ponies and unicorns, nodded and murmured in acknowledgement. Huey folded his arms and opted for merely listening intently.

"So, without further ado!" Drill Bit declared. "Let's get busy. All this rubble needs to get shifted off the foundations of the house, so get it loaded up into them wagons and baskets over there."

The stallion pointed at a selection of containers. The largest was a four wheeled wagon, which clearly required more than one equine to pull, if it was to be loaded with rocks. The smallest containers were large pairs of baskets that would be loaded with rubble and carried, like saddlebags, by individuals. Bridging the gap were a few two wheeled wagons that could be pulled by a single pony.

"All clear? Good. Let's roll!"

Huey took a deep breath and exhaled, his stomach still griping due to his overeating, but he ignored it and approached the pile with the group. Most began to bite their lips in thought at where to start, but Huey boldly stepped forward and tapped the largest slab of rubble that was close to him.

"What's the matter?" Drill Bit asked the nervous equines. "Never done hard graft before?"

"Well, um..." A grey pegasus stallion with a black mane and a four leaf clover cutie mark stammered. "It's... Kind of... A big pile."

"Start with the bigger bits," Huey suggested, drawing the attention of the entire group, as he picked up the slab of rubble he'd found and staggered towards the largest wagon. "It'll get easier once we've got the large parts shifted."

"You doing alright there?" Drill Bit asked. "That looks mighty heavy."

Huey laughed and nodded, his arms already aching.

"It is, just a minute," Huey groaned, before dropping the slab onto the ground, causing the group to jump away in surprise. "Damn... That hurt."

The group of unskilled equines began to mutter amongst themselves, discussing how they were going to be able to do the job if it was going to be so heavy. Huey, on the other hand, was busy mulling over how to make the job easier for himself.

"Drill Bit," He began. "Do you have a hammer and a chisel?"

"Indeed I do, why?"

"May I borrow them for a minute?"

The builder warily took the two implements from his tool belt and passed them to Huey. After thanking him, the human knelt next to the trouble slab of rock and placed the chisel against it. After readjusting the position a few times, he raised the hammer and slammed it onto the handle of the chisel. The slab suddenly gained a sizeable crack down the middle. After a couple more hits, the slab broke in two.

"There!" Huey declared. "If we encounter anything that's too big, we'll break it into easier chunks. Now, come on, everypony! Let's do some heavy lifting!"

The group erupted with an energised cheer of optimism before immediately diving into the work. Unicorns levitated the smaller chunks by the dozens, while the pegasai, Huey and earth ponies focused on the larger pieces that the unicorns' magic could not cope with.

"So, who do I have the honour of working with?" Huey asked indifferently. The group began to list their names off sequentially. Disregarding himself and Drill Bit, he found himself learning the names of the unicorns; Sea Swirl, Shooting Star and Golden Grape. Followed by the earth ponies; Berryshine, Lucky Clover and Lucky Star. Lastly, the pegasai identified themselves as Flitter and Thunderlane.

"I'm glad to meet you all," He replied warmly. "Once you see past the differences, you'll find that I'm, basically, just another individual you might meet... Only not a pony."

"Pardon me for asking," Flitter, a light greyish-blue mare with a flowing opal blue mane, accompanied by a bright pink bow and raspberry pink eyes said. "But where do you come from?"

"I come from a place called Earth," Huey stated honestly. "A different planet, in a completely different dimension."

"How do you know it's in a different dimension?" Thunderlane, a black pegasus with a cyan-grey mane and golden eyes asked. "I mean... I've seen some sci-fi films and stuff, but none of that's real, since it's science-fiction!"

"I can understand your scepticism, Thunderlane, in fact I would actually be asking the same question if I were in your shoes," Huey admitted. "The reason I know is because of the following three things; Pegasai and unicorns exist, equines can talk and magic is real. Where I'm from, none of those are the case. The fact that magic exists here must mean Equestria is somewhere entirely different on a fundamental level."

"If you don't have magic, how did you get here then?" Flitter mused.

"Accident." Huey said bluntly. "Apparently, a unicorn miscast a spell, which caused me to be brought here, instead of the intended effect. As a result, I'm stuck here, because it would take centuries to discover what part of the spell went wrong."

"Oof! I'm sorry to hear that!"

"It's fine, I've already gotten used to it. In fact, it's not that bad here, everyone I've met's been awfully nice." Huey remarked. "Plus, I don't have any memory of my personal life back home, so... This is a new start for me."

The group murmured their agreement regarding Huey's assessment of his situation, but the grim nature of it had stripped them of their desire to continue talking about it. As a result, they focused solely on the task they had been assigned.

"Watch it, Derpy!"

Huey looked up from the rock he was breaking to see who was yelling. Before him was a grey female pegasus with bright golden eyes, a blonde mane, and a collection of bubbles for a cutie mark, being berated by Drill Bit. Huey deduced from the broken sack on the ground, along with the mass of cement powder covering the construction worker, that a minor mishap had occurred.

"I'm sorry!" The mare whimpered. "I didn't mean to do that!"

"Yeah, yeah, your eyesight ain't good!" Drill Bit replied nonchalantly. "Well, if you got your head screwed on right, maybe your eyes wouldn't be all over the place!"

Huey frowned and dropped the hammer he had been using to crack rocks in half before approaching the two arguing equines.

"Hey, what's going on here?" He interrupted.

"Just Little Miss Klutz dumping a bag of cement over me," Drill Bit explained. "It's all good, Huey, I'm just telling her how it is."

"Didn't sound like that to me," The human countered. "It sounded more like you were being a complete jerk."

"Well, maybe you should try working with her!" The stallion simmered in response. "Every single time I've had the misfortune of meeting her, she's dropped the ball big time!"

"I'm sorry." The mare whispered, her ears and gaze drooping towards the ground.

"Sorry doesn't cut it! Just... Go away, before you break something."

Huey watched as she flew slow, and sadly, away, before turning towards his team leader.

"Forgive me for being clueless, but why are you giving her such a hard time?" He asked. "What's so bad about her that justifies such harsh words?"

"Listen, Huey," Drill Bit replied bluntly. "When I said that she drops the ball, she does it in the worst possible way... Every time. She's one of Crafty Crate's bunch, but I honestly don't see what he sees in her. Everything she touches breaks, that's how clumsy she is."

"Don't you think that she feels bad enough when her clumsiness causes a problem?" Huey countered, his voice raising slightly. "Do you honestly think giving her a verbal smack down is going to make a difference?"

"Probably not," The pegasus admitted. "But at least it makes it clear to her that she's done wrong."

"She's not blind, Drill Bit!"

"She might as well be. If you don't believe me when I say she's useless, go to her. You'll change your tune by the end of the day."

Huey huffed in disbelief as Drill Bit flew away to continue supervising the rest of the group. After mulling over the construction worker's words, he scoffed and began to pursue the forlorn mare.