The Survivor

John, Twilight, and Applejack are picking the last few zap apples from the trees when the last few rays of sunlight disappear from the ground when he eyes them curiously. Unable to resist his curiosity, he asks, "Hey Applejack, what does a zap apple taste like? Is there anything special that sets it apart from other apples?"

The two girls chuckle while looking at each other, Applejack and Twilight smile as the farm pony says, "Why don't ya just eat one and find out."

With a puzzled look on his face, John shrugs and plucks the last, almost square zap apple off the tree he was working on. He turns the zap apple over in his hand and examines it, deciding to go ahead and take a bite out of it. He tries to ignore the giggling ponies in the background and opens his mouth and bites into the zap apple.

As his teeth sink into the zap apple, he starts to feel tingling around his mouth and gums. When his teeth meet and remove a chunk from the apple, then begins chewing when he feels a funny electric charge run through his body. Though it does not hurt, it is just enough to make him tingle all over. Finding it very similar to the feeling you get when you stick your tongue on a new 9-volt battery, John has an indescribably electrifyingly delicious taste hit his taste buds, causing his hair to rise into the air, trying to take his hat off his head.

He bursts into laughter himself saying, "God DAMN that is one fine taste, thanks for waking up my taste buds, Applejack. I would rather eat one of these over an MRE any day, now I really wanna try that experiment with a few zap apples when I get my own place." Loving the taste of the zap apple, John quickly resumes eating it.

Remembering that he is in a new world, John pulls out his wallet and pulls out a 20-dollar bill and shows it to Twilight asking, "Umm, is this by chance worth anything in your world, you two?"

Twilight takes a closer look at the strange piece of material and feels it with her hoof, then sniffs it curiously asking, "What is this John?"

Getting a bad feeling in his gut, John says, "Where I come from this is one form of currency, there are a few other forms but I don't think they're worth anything here either if you don't recognize this." then pulls out a credit card and handful of change containing quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies then shows them to the two girls.

Looking at the items he holds in his hand, the two ponies shake their heads as Applejack says, "Unfortunately not, the coins we use here look different from them. We call em bits here, let me show you what they look like." She then reaches into her mane and removes something then holds a few gold bits in her hoof for John to look at.

He hangs his head slightly and sighs saying, "Figures... New world, new money. Oh well, guess this stuff I have is garbage then." He returns the change to his pocket and the bill to his wallet and wonders how he will make a few bits to afford things in this world when an idea strikes him and ask, "Applejack, would you happen to need a hand around here to help you guys catch up?"

As Applejack places a hoof on her chin, she thinks of what to say to his question. She finds the answer to his question a few moments later and answers, "It may not be a job that could last a year...but ah think we could use an extra hand for a little while, so come to our house around noon tomorrow okay?"

Smiling, John answers, "Sure thing Applejack, I will see you tomorrow around noon." he then helps the two carry the full barrels back to the barn so they can be put away. With the zap apple harvest finished up, John and Twilight wave goodbye to Applejack then start heading back to Twilight's castle.

Remembering what John said after biting into the zap apple, Twilight asks, "Hey John, what is an Emary?"

As he walks beside Twilight, he chuckles and says, "Not Emary Twilight, M-R-E. MRE stands for Meal Ready to Eat, it's a variety of sealed packages containing food, some of which need to be placed in a warming pouch called a Flameless Ration Heater, which contains mostly magnesium combined with metallic iron particles and table salt. Pouring some water into the heater gets it hot enough to cook the food inside of the pouches, the food itself is designed to be able to have a shelf life of five years if kept at or below 75° Fahrenheit."

Hearing something related to science brings a gigantic smile to Twilight's face as she excitedly says, "Flameless heat! I can't wait to start experimenting to find out how that works! How can food last for five years without going bad?! I would love to know how that is done so I can come up with a way to make our food last that long!"

He chuckles and stops Twilight's rambling saying, "Twilight, the heater is a single-time use only. It is safe to discard after that, but when it is activated, it rises to a temperature of 100° Fahrenheit and creates a very dangerous hydrogen gas that can be toxic in confined spaces and flammable if near fire. I am not sure how they were able to make the food last that long, but you are welcome to have one of my MREs so you can find out."

Bouncing along while having a big smile on her face, Twilight excitedly says, "New experiments, oh my gosh new experiments! Thank you, John! I'm so happy right now I could just explode!" Without really thinking, she jumps up and gives John a kiss on the cheek, and resumes making their way home.

Arriving back at the castle still socked by Twilight's sudden action, John's mood turns sour thinking to himself, 'What the FUCK just happened? There was no call for her to kiss me like that, I was only being nice.' Rubbing his head in confusion as his heart starts to ache for his dead girlfriend and daughter, he looks at Twilight in sadness and sighs saying, "Twilight, I know you are happy with what I said, but please don't do that again because I'm still hurting over what I lost back home." Then turns around and heads to his room to lay down and get under the covers.

She stops in her tracks as her mood turns somber when she remembers what she did, then turns around to apologize for it to see him already gone as a door slams shut. With a heavy, and sad sigh she returns to her room to get some sleep and berates herself in her thoughts, 'Way to go Twilight, you let yourself forget about the pain your guest is in and lose yourself in the excitement over new experiments then up and kiss him... What the buck is wrong with you?'

He has difficulty falling asleep at first due to Twilight's action but manages to fall asleep when he curls his legs under him a bit to keep them from sticking out into the cold night air.

John gets up early from habit as the horizon begins to brighten then starts putting on his Army shirt, shorts, and shoes then moves on to his morning exercises. Beginning with a warmup of twenty-five pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, he then silently exits his room while leaving the door ajar so that he knows which room is his. He spots Owlowiscious on the edge of a chair and walks past him saying, "If anyone asks, let them know I'm doing my morning exercises okay?" He then shakes his head thinking to himself, 'I can't believe I'm actually telling a bird what I am doing.'

He then looks back at the owl and swears he saw it wink at him, then silently exits the castle for his morning run. As he passes through the town, he waves at the few ponies that are out and about at this hour saying, "It's a good morning to get some exercise, isn't it?"

As he is on his second lap around Ponyvile, he keeps an eye on the fields around the town when the sunlight finally hits the tops of the buildings. Deciding to do another unofficial patrol around the town, John slows his pace to a swift walk and looks for any obvious signs of trouble around town.

Noticing nothing from his small exercise patrol, John makes his way back towards Twilight's castle by cutting through the center of Ponyville. As a few ponies watch him curiously as he passes by before returning to what they were doing before, he sees young foals start to make their way towards a red building on the edge of town and assumes it must be a school and looks to a random passing mare with a light sapphire blue coat and a blonde mane and tail then asks her, "Excuse me for my curiosity miss but is that red building the young foals are going to, a schoolhouse by chance?"

The mare stops and looks at the human, then smiles saying, "Yes it is, my daughter Dinky goes there. My name is Derpy Hooves, and you are Sergeant John Benson, is that correct?"

He nods his head as he sees that she has a wonky eye, finding it rather adorable when feels his heart ache, wincing slightly at her mention of her daughter but ignores the pain saying, "Yes I am. I won't keep you from your task, good day, and thank you for answering my question miss Derpy Hooves."

Derpy watches him continue on by, cocking her head in curiosity as she wonders, 'Why did he wince when I mentioned having a daughter?' She stands there wondering about it for a few seconds before returning to her business.

John returns to the castle after exercising his body and opens the front door of Twilight's castle, then walks through it. Noticing that Twilight has her head buried in a book she borrowed from him, he sees Spike look up at him from a comic he's reading. He then holds a finger to his lips, signaling him to keep quiet for a second. As he sees Spike nod and grin, he quietly closes the doors and walks up behind a completely oblivious Twilight and suddenly grabs her firmly around the barrel and shouts, "BOO!"

As she is startled by the shout and being grabbed roughly around the barrel, she screams, "EEEK" as her eyes shrink to pinpricks, causing her to instantly teleport herself beside spike breathing heavily as her eyes dart around the room for the pony responsible, seeing that it was John who did it, she waits for her eyes and breathing to return to normal so she can scold him for doing that to her saying, "JOHN, WHY IN TARTARUS DID YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT, I COULD HAVE BLASTED YOU WITH MY MAGIC!"

John laughs harder as he watches Spike fall out of his chair from laughing so hard with tears coming from his eyes at her reaction saying, "You have really great reflexes for having your head buried in a book, Twilight." He continues chuckling as her mane has a wild look to it as a blush crosses her face and then crosses his arms with an accomplished smile on his face saying calmly, "We are now even for yesterday.

Twilight's eyes and breathing slowly return to normal as she spots John leaning on the back of the chair she was just in, still laughing at her reaction. She tries to get herself to stop blushing from the surprise by trying to act mad about it saying, "Jeez, you could have at least warned me you were going to do that John, before making me scream so embarrassingly!" She then huffs in minor annoyance and asks, "Besides that, where did you go?"

With his laughter subsiding, John replies, "I exercise every morning a little before the sun rises to keep myself in shape." Getting a sinister idea, a grin spreads across his face as he asks, "You know, you could join me if you want in the morning. I can give you a special wake-up call."

Going back to her book, Twilight huffs saying, "Thank you for the offer but I will pass on that. Could you bring one of those MRE thingies to me before you go to Applejack's?"

With a smile still on his face, John walks past her as she sits back down, he says, "Of course I can Shrieklight." Unable to help himself, he chuckles as it causes Twilight to scrunch up her face at the name and then asks her, "You said that you lived here with three others, right? So where is the other one I have yet to meet?"

She looks at John with a scowl on her face and says, "The one you haven't met yet is my student, Starlight Glimmer and she has yet to return from a mission to set up a Cultural Exchange festival between Yakyakistan and the Crystal Empire. She should be back in a couple of days. Are you eager to meet her so you can annoy her too?"

Spike chuckles at her reaction as he watches a blush return to her cheeks as John grins at Twilight before looking at him and asking, "Sorry for being rude, but why are you so small?"

He smiles and replies, "It takes a few years for a baby dragon to be as tall as Lord Ember is unless I let myself get greedy, though I don't like doing that because I lose some of my intelligence but regain it when I return to normal. Also, my current diet is primarily gems, though it has been too long since I had meat. I try to avoid eating it around ponies because it tends to really freak them out."

Thinking on that John says, "I can understand that, but fear is meant to be gotten over. When I was in my world, I ate in front of vegans all the time while they fought to keep down their food because they thought that what I was eating was disgusting."

Looking back with a smirk on his face, Spike says, "I bet doing that didn't make you any friends though."

He looks at Spike and laughs saying, "I made one friend when I did that one day, they were eating a tofu burger and looked at what I was having and said, "Yuck, how can you eat such greasy and disgusting processed food that is so unhealthy for you? I just grinned and replied back, Wouldn't you rather have food that you can actually taste? Not that paper mache burger that looks like it came out of a trash can? Poor bastard came up to me a week later sicker than a dog yelling, You bastard, that food you ate tasted like it fell out of a garbage truck I then said back, What, I never said that it was a good taste. We both laughed and were friends from that point forward." Remembering that event brings a smile to his face.

John then looks back to Twilight and asks, "So Shrieklight, what time is it?"

Twilight looks at him in annoyance and huffs saying, "It's noon, you better get going or Applejack's gonna be displeased."

He then stands up straight saying, "I better get going then, see you later Shrieklight." then closes the door behind him.

Spike looks to Twilight with a smirk on his face saying, "You didn't have to mess with him that much Twilight, it's only 9 am."

She then huffs in irritation saying, "Well he made me make a sound so embarrassing and then called me Shrieklight more than once!"

John pulls his hat out of a pouch on his leg and puts it on, then takes off down the road at a swift jog, taking him five minutes to get to Sweet Apple Acres. He sees Applejack in front of the barn sorting apples and slows to a walk as he approaches her saying, "Sorry for being so late Applejack, I was doing my morning exercises and teasing Twilight."

Applejack watches John approach, hearing him claiming to be late makes her laugh saying, "What'cha mean late, yer three hours early."

He sighs and chuckles saying, "It seems Shrieklight pulled a fast one on me for creeping up behind her and grabbing her around the barrel shouting boo, causing her to scream eek."

She laughs at the prank saying, "Yep she definitely got ya back for that, wanna help me finish sorting these apples so they can be sold off?"

John nods his head saying, "Of course, you sorting them out by type?"

Applejack nods her head saying, "Yep ah am, ya catch on quick pardner. Be sure to fill the half barrels with one of each type, then load 'em onto the wagon alright? Oh, if they have any brown spots on 'em, toss them into the two barrels that are painted black so the livestock can enjoy 'em."

With a nod, he gets started, saying, "No problem."

It takes them a couple of hours to sort through the apples when Applejack wipes her forehoof across her forehead, removing the sweat and then smiles saying, "Well John, lets go find mah brother Big Mac and the rest of the famly so we can start this interview."

Following Applejack to find her brother, he spots a stallion with a brilliant amaranth coat and a cross-section of a big green apple on his flank, an orange mane with sap green eyes pulling a cart full of barrels towards the barn.

Stopping close to her brother, Applejack introduces them by saying, "Hey Big Mac this is John, he wants to help us out around the farm, let's go find Granny and Apple Bloom so we can start the interview."

Following the two ponies to their farmhouse, John taps his shoes against the stone step to get the dirt out of the grooves so he doesn't dirty the floor. Entering the house after Applejack and Big Mac, John sees two other ponies standing in front of him. One on his left appeared to be an elderly pony, having many wrinkles on her coat and bony knees. She had a light lime green coat with a pie on her flank, and a light gray mane complemented by light orange eyes. To the right of her stood a young filly only rising to just above his hip, having a pale light grayish olive coat with an apple in the middle of a shield on her flank, and a brilliant amaranth mane and tail that were complemented by her brilliant gamboge eyes and the light crimson bow she wore on her head.

Standing off to the side of her family, Applejack smiles at hearing John clean the dirt from his shoes to keep it outside, and waits for him to finish. With John inside at last, Applejack starts introducing her family to him saying, "John, left ta right is Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom. Family, this here is Sergeant John Winston Benson, he is a human that comes from a world very different than ours. Right now, he has asked me if he could work fer us here on the farm."

Upon hearing the introductions, Granny Smith says, "I run things here on the farm, mister Benson, but we all have a say in if you'll be permitted ta work here. Now let's get this interview started!"

After hearing her speak, John readies himself for the coming questions. Each question that Granny Smith asks requires John to remember when he used to help out on his family's ranch before joining the army. Thinking of what it was like back then, John spaces out a little.

Seeing John space out a little makes Applejack wonder why and ask, "What'cha spacing out for, John?"

Realizing he had been staring into the air thinking about the past he answers, "Sorry, ah wus jus thinkin' o' the days when ah lived an' worked the farm fer mah granpappy and pa." Immediately realizing his Southern drawl came back, he clears his throat and apologizes again. "Sorry about that, my accent tends to change back whenever I think back on those memories."

Stunned at hearing that he once lived and worked on a farm, Applejack can't help but ask, "Please tell us more bout that John, ah find it hard to believe ya had a peaceful life before being a soldier."

Smiling at her curiosity, not even noticing the deep blush that had appeared on her face after hearing his accent, John answers, "Ok then Applejack, get ready for a tale, this is gonna take a little bit."

Applejack and her family take a seat to hear John tell his tale, with Apple Bloom excitedly clapping her hooves together saying, "Wow a new story, I love hearing new stories!"

John chuckles at how excited Applebloom is and begins his story saying, "The days were long an' hard bein' farmers, havin' ta git up before the crack o' dawn each day an' work late into the night ta get all the chores done on time when plantin' season came round. It sure wasn't easy havin two thousand acres ta plow, cultivate, and plant. Even with bigger tractors, planters, plows, an' disks or cultivators it takes the best part of a day ta git the fields turned over. Sorry, ah digress."

"It was a chilly Friday morning in April, the fields had finally thawed from winter, an were dry enough to turn over after the second harvest last season. It was mah turn ta feed the animals, so ah decided ta use the temperamental John Deere 4520 tractor, which had a front-end loader and a bale spike attachment on it."

"Ah started it up without issue, raised the loader up and took off ta spear a one thousand pound round bale to drop into a big mixer, first cuttin' off the strings that kept it from fallin' apart. Before droppin' the bale into the big mixer, I stopped the tractor, got off o' it and started the stronger Massey Ferguson 8160 that was hooked up to the mixer already and engaged the power take-off drive shaft, turnin' the mixer on."

"With the mixer goin' I got back onto the 4520 and dumped the bale in. I then went back fer another bale, removin' the string and dumpin' it in as well before switching to the bucket. Switchin' to the bucket took a few minutes, after that, I drove to the silage pile to fill up the mixer to make Total Mixed Rations fer the cows to eat. After fillin' up the big mixer, I parked an' shut the 4520 off."

"Walking to where the 8160 was runnin' with the mixer stirrin' together the silage an' hay, I climbed up into the cab an' drove to the pasture where them cows were located. Takin' twenty minutes to get to the pasture, I stepped out to open the gate an' shut it after I drove through it ta keep the cows from gettin' out, I started passin' by the line o' feed bunks an' dumpin' the mix in as I went."

"With the mixer empty, I drove back an' parked the mixer to hook up to a five-bottom plow to the 3-point hitch. Liftin' the plow off the ground, I took off fer the fields to catch up to the others that were already half done with their fields. Startin' from a corner of the field, I drove a few laps around the outer edge so I could drive back the way I came. By the time I was finished, it was past noon and the others were waitin fer me in the beat-up '79 Dodge W-150 we used for goin' to town for lunch."

"After lunch, we'd all go back to finishin' our fields so we could begin plantin'. Drivin' the plow back to its spot an' droppin' it off, ah hooked up ta' a 12-foot disk ta smooth out the turned ova' field. Drivin' back ta the field I turned ova' first, an' I once again did a couple laps round the outer edge ta drive back."

"Takin' another couple hours, we finished our fields and hooked up ta machines called planters that do three things in sequence. First, they open a furrow fer the seed to drop into. Second, specially designed smaller plastic disks control the seed spacing, and drop the seed into the furrow that is made. Three, two small spiked wheels push dirt back into the furrow, leavin' no air pockets in the dirt 'round the seed."

"After takin' the rest of the day plantin' the fields, mah older brother Jack and younger sister Susan fed the rest of the animals. Susan always hated havin ta feed the pigs, due ta the smell of the manure we had to suck out of the pits. Usin' the slurry tank we'd spread the manure onto the fields ta help the plants grow for a higher yield an' better harvest."

"Once them crops we planted became tall enough, sprayin' season began. We only had to spray three times during the growth stages ta control insects and weeds. Once the crops became ready to harvest, the really long days began, sometimes leavin' the combines and grain trailers runnin' all night to get the crops in."

Seeing everyone looking at him in awe, John figures they would have questions to ask and replies, "Alright then, whose question is first?"

Closing her mouth and raising a hoof, Applejack waits for John to pick somepony.

Seeing Applejack raise her hoof first, John briefly raises his arm and points a finger at her saying, "What do you got for me Applejack?" then puts his arm back down, resting his forearm across both thighs.

Upon being picked first, Applejack asks, "What is a tractor, John? We don't have them here."

"A tractor is a machine that operates under its own power using an internal combustion engine, it is not able to think for itself, but can perform different functions through different controls. It can also pull various implements that carry out various jobs around the farm." John answers.

John thinks that answering the questions was going to take a while, and he was right. It takes an hour to answer all of their questions about the things from his world. Patiently answering the last few questions they had, John takes a little time at the end of it to ask, "So Granny Smith, do you think that you can allow a has-been farmer like me to work here?"

Granny Smith took a moment to think on the answers she asked him during the interview. Finally reaching a decision, she said, "Ah do believe that you will be a fine addition to our farm. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres John, can you start today and help us get ready to make zap apple jam tomorrow? We fell behind due to the regular apple harvest and a couple of us were sick."

John Looked at her and answered, "Not a problem Granny Smith, where do you need me, what will I be doing, and how do I do it."

The elderly pony looks at Applejack first, then looks at her family and smiles saying, "Ya did great with finding this one here Applejack, now let us all inform him of how we do things here."

Later in the day as John helps the family with their preparations, he finds a few things they do that are weird but keeps quiet about how embarrassed he feels.

Applebloom finishes up her tasks as she looks at the sun sitting low in the sky near the horizon, then shifts her gaze to look around the farm and sees John sitting by himself with a blush on his face. Wondering if he is feeling embarrassed, she makes her way toward him.

He sits with his back against the barn and looks to his right to see Applejack's sister heading toward him saying, "Well, it looks like everything is prepared for the big day tomorrow. I wonder how much jam you are going to make and sell?"

She sits next to him and chuckles saying, "I'm sure that we will make and sell lots of jam, because everypony in Ponyville loves it as well as several other ponies throughout Equestria." She then looks out at the apple trees and smiles gently saying, "Did you know that a few years ago, I was super embarrassed about the way my family acts around this time of year?"

John grins and half chuckles saying, "I had no idea, how did you deal with that?"

Applebloom smiles and says, "Well at first, ah handled it badly and tried to keep Granny from coming to school during Family Appreciation Day and embarrassing me in front of the others in my class. However, she still made it despite my best efforts. As she started talking to the class, I slowly learned to take pride in it because if it weren't for Granny's discovery of the Zap Apple Trees...Ponyville would have never existed."

He then chuckles and says, "Ah so it is the Ripple Effect then, meaning that one thing affects a larger area around it."

She then cocks her head in slight curiosity, saying, "Uhm, yeah...ah guess so. What ah'm tryin' to say is, you shouldn't let the opinions of others affect you and just be yourself."

Applejack stands beside the door and rings the triangle while hollering, "DINNER'S ON EVERYPONY, COME AN' GET IT!"

John then chuckles and says, "Well Applebloom, I think that you should head inside and eat. I should be heading back now to wash up and eat dinner, catch you later." then gets up and starts heading towards the road to Ponyville.

Applebloom smiles and walks alongside him asking, "Do you want to stay for dinner, we always have lots of food available?"

He looks down at her then shakes his head with a gentle smile on his face saying, "I'm sure that the food that your family cooks is amazing, but I need to wash up and get started with my evening exercise routine. I'll see you tomorrow, Applebloom."

Applejack sees Applebloom walking beside John and smiles saying, "There ya two are, come inside fer some grub before it gets cold."

John looks over at Applejack and smiles saying, "I would stay Applejack but I need to return to Twilight's to wash up after doing my evening exercises, what time should I be here tomorrow?"

She thinks on it for a moment and then says, "Well alright then, yer always welcome to stay and eat with us. Ah'd say around a half-hour past sunrise if that is alright with ya."

He then nods his head and keeps walking towards the road as Applebloom turns and heads toward the house, then waves to the two of them saying, "That sounds good, I will see you all tomorrow."

Applebloom stops to turn and wave to him saying, "See ya tomorrow John, it's gonna be a fun day."

Applejack also waves goodbye to John saying, "Goodnight, and be sure to rest up good! Yer gonna be workin' hard!"

A few minutes later, John returns from Sweet Apple Acres and heads to his room for a change of clothes. Seeing Twilight still at the table reading one of his books, he chuckles and says, "Having fun reading that book Twilight?"

Twilight is startled by whoever just spoke and looks up from the book in front of her and says, "This book by Sun Zoo or whoever is confusing! What does that even mean...be like water?"

He chuckles and nods his head saying, "Yeah, if you have a mind for military tactics you would have a better time understanding that book. Perhaps your brother would have a better chance of understanding that. Well, I'm going to change clothes and head outside."

She then groans with frustration and returns to the book saying, "Ugh, alright then."

After John returns to his room, changes his clothes, and heads out the front door, he looks to see Twilight focusing on the book again and grins saying, "Act weak when you are strong, and act strong when you are weak."

Twilight grumbles and says, "Stop trying to confuse me!" and returns to reading the book.

He then opens the door and goes outside, then turns around saying, "Much to learn, you have, Grasshopper."

She looks up from the book with a glare and shouts, "Be quiet and go exercise already, I'm trying to understand this confusing book!" and then grumbles at hearing him laughing, which disappears when the door closes with a soft bang.

After John returns from his exercise and a jog around Ponyville, he heads back into Twilight's castle and closes the front door behind him, and says, "Alright Twilight, I'm going to take a shower, eat an MRE, then go to bed. Try not to stay up too late reading, your only going to drive yourself crazy from frustration trying to make sense of that book." then continues toward his room to prepare for his shower.

Twilight mostly ignores what he said and continues reading saying, "Uh-huh...goodnight."

Back in his room, he gathers a fresh pair of socks and underwear, then exits his room. Returning to the bathing room, he reaches into the shower and turns it on, then adjusts the temperature to his liking. After setting his clean clothes on the counter by the sink, John grabs a clean towel then takes his clothes off and tosses them into a pile on the floor. He then steps into the shower after setting the clean towel within reach.

A few minutes ago

After having a miserable trip back, Starlight Glimmer gets off the train from the Crystal Empire on a mission to help arrange a Cultural Exchange Festival to improve relations between Yakyakistan and the Crystal Ponies. She then heads back to Twilight's castle and grumbles quietly about how hard she had to work to make the mission succeed which has left her smelling worse than a sweaty yak rolling in dung.

Almost taking the doors off their hinges, Starlight enters Twilight's castle and sees her reading a book on the friendship table and says, "Well the mission was a success Twilight. Now if you'll EXCUSE ME, I have to go wash up!"

Not really hearing what her pupil just said, Twilight says, "Okay, I hope you had fun."

After returning to her room, she uses her magic to pick up a few brushes and soap. Starlight then quickly makes her way to the Bathing Room where she hears the water already running, and thinks that Spike must have been thoughtful and started the shower for her. The idea brings a smile to her face as she enters the room and shuts the door behind her thinking, 'How very thoughtful of Spike to start the shower for me.'.

In the shower a few moments ago...

Sitting down in the shower, John pours some of the gel onto his head as water drips down the side of his head from his wet hair. He then sets the bottle on a shelf and vigorously works his fingers into his medium-length thick black hair. Working the gel into a thick lather, John continues to wash his hair as some of the soap trails down his face over his eyes.

As she enters the room, she smells a strong, yet sweet scent of mint and rosemary coming from the running shower. She then takes a deep breath to savor the pleasurable scent, then lets out a blissful sigh and starts sliding the curtain back. After pulling it back halfway, she sees something using the shower already. With another whiff, she can tell the scent is coming from the suds on the creature's head and asks, "By Starswirl's Beard, who and what are you!?"

Startled by the sudden question, John is forced to keep his eyes closed due to the suds and replies quickly, "I'm a human being and my rank and name are Sergeant John Winston Benson. Whoever you are, you really smell so either jump in or get out of here and wait your turn."

Starlight's jaw hangs slightly agape at the greeting from the incredibly rude creature, eventually recovering enough to say, "I have never met such a rude creature as you before. W-What are you anyways, some kind of monkey?"

Recalling what Twilight had said about one other pony that lived here, John tries to remember the name while answering, "Ummm...that is an understandable mistake but no, technically we are great apes. Are you just gonna stand there stinking up the room or will you wash it off?"

Growling, Starlight tries to remain cool and replies, "There better be room in there, so keep your paws to yourself, Ape."

Finally remembering the name Twilight said, John says, "Twilight said that she lived with three others, Owlowiscious, Spike, and one other pony named Starlight. I take it that is you, right?"

Fighting back a frustrated scream, Starlight answers, "Yes that is me, now let me in!"

With a twisted smile on his face, John answers, "Alright Stinklight get your rump in here before I change my mind, but do watch your step, I had to sit down just to fit in this ridiculously small shower you ponies use."

With a small frown immediately crossing her face, Starlight yells, "It's Starlight, not Stinklight! How can that be, this is one of the largest ones in Equestria?!"

John then chuckles and replies, "Well what you see now are just my legs, and as you can tell my feet nearly touch the far side. I am sitting up so my rear is against this side over here, I would look at you but unfortunately for me, I have soap suds in my face." Bending his knees and pulling them up toward his chest for the pony to fit, he says, "Okay there should be just enough room for you to fit, just be mindful of where your hooves land or you may either pinch skin, step on me, or seriously hurt me. Oh if you didn't already know, I am a male so try not to stare at my manhood too much."

Blushing furiously at having to bathe with a male, Starlight focuses her eyes on the space where his legs used to be and steps into the combination tub/shower, carefully maneuvering her hooves in front of the legs of John's body. Finding her face so close to his, she finds herself curious about what might be under that mass of foam. She turns her face to the side and stammers saying, "E-Excuse me while I t-try to turn myself around, so don't you dare open your eyes or I will kick you in the head!"

Finally able to wash off the stink from her body, Starlight carefully turns around to face the stream of water coming from the wall. She then grabs some soap and starts to rub it into the side of her neck, working up a nice lather. Putting the bar of soap back, Starlight uses one of her brushes to rub the suds into one side of her neck.

Ready to wash the shampoo out of his hair, he says, "Excuse me, but do you think that you could raise the stream up higher so I can wash my head?"

Starlight then looks up at the shower head and adjusts the angle as high as it will go then says, "That is as far as it will go, if that is not enough for you, you will just have to wait until I'm finished."

John then searches around with his arms to find the stream of water to wash his face off and bumps into a soft coat asking, "Uhm forgive me for touching you but what did I just bump into?"

She then sighs and continues scrubbing her filthy neck saying, "You just bumped into the side of my left flank, the stream is currently hitting my hindquarters. So move your hand up higher and to the right, you should then find it no problem."

Not sure of where she is exactly, he uses his fingers to get an idea of where she is. Reaching further forward, his fingertips land on a soft coat saying, "Forgive me, but I'm trying to figure out exactly where your body is, I'm not trying to be a pervert."

Starlight sets the brush aside and uses her magic to adjust the stream so she can wash the suds off her neck, when she feels a hand bump into and start touching the left side of her barrel. Hearing that he isn't trying anything weird, she huffs in annoyance and says, "That is the left side of my barrel you are touching, I moved the stream down so I can wash the suds off my neck. Give me a moment and I will put it back to where it was."

John then waits for a little bit, then starts to feel some stray droplets strike his hand when he hears her say, "There you go, I moved it back."

As she uses the bar to lather up the right side of her barrel, she hears him thank her and ask her to shift her stance wider so that he can get closer to the stream and says, "Alright, but try not to bump into my hooves or I may slip and hurt you." Starlight then tries to shift her front hooves wider while trying to avoid slipping. Once she is finished, she then grabs her long-handled brush for her tail with her mouth while using her magic to pull her tail to the side of her body so she can brush out the clumps of mud in it saying, "There, now be careful not to bump into my legs, my hooves are on a slippery surface and can slip very easily."

He then puts his hand on the left side of her barrel and runs it back toward him, trying to feel how long her body is when he feels a slight bump saying, "Ok, I'm guessing I'm touching the front side of your left flank right?"

Starlight fights the urge to whack him with the brush and then growls out around the brush in her mouth, "Uh-huh!"

John then runs his hand down the side of it, feeling the muscles lead down to a sturdy limb. He places his fingers around the limb and says, "Okay, this is your back left leg. Now I can feel down to where your hoof is and figure out where my foot is exactly, bear with me just a little bit longer Starlight." He then feels down the inside of her leg to her hoof, then to the floor and back to his foot saying, "Ah ok, my left foot can go straight forward under you without bumping you."

She continues to work out the clumps and sees a foot stick out under her chest, then groans, "Ugh, will you hurry up already?!"

He then reaches out with his right hand and bumps into something soft but firm, and uses his fingertips to feel what he is touching when he feels something like hair touching the back of his hand and sighs nervously saying, "Sorry, but this is your rear right?"

Starlight growls back at him and snorts, "Yes it is, but you are not my special somepony so move your hand or lose it!"

John quickly moves his hand along the side to the right, then slides his fingers down to find her leg. After finding the inside of her right leg, he runs his fingers along the bottom of the tub towards him to find his foot saying, "Alright, now where is my foot...ah there it is." and begins to extend it slowly so he can scoot forward.

She stands there, getting really annoyed with how touchy-feely he is getting when she hears him grunt. She looks back to see that he has a well-toned body that triggers a light shudder to course through her body, also causing her heart to skip a beat. Seeing that he also has a few long scars across his chest and a few smaller ones along his strong upper arms, she watches him slide his body forward as she feels his skin brush against her hooves and looks down beneath herself saying, "Be careful, your upper legs are touching my hooves."

He then nods his head saying, "Okay, sorry bout that...wish I could see." and moves his body a little further ahead when he feels her legs touch the sides of his lower abdomen. Lowering himself back down to the bottom of the tub, he reaches forward to find the stream saying, "Alright, now where is the water at..."

Starlight watches as he sits up straight, his upper body coming to rest against her backside, allowing her to feel his skin against her rear. As he continues to lean forward, she is forced to lean forward as he finally gets his head underneath the stream of water and starts to run his fingers through his hair vigorously.

John feels his cock harden as he continues washing the soap out of his hair, leaning his head forward further to wash the back of his head saying, "Almost done with my hair, then you can return to washing yourself."

As she watches him wash off the suds while blowing a few raspberries to get the soap out of his mouth, she chuckles and says, "Didn't anyone tell you not to talk with your mouth full..." when her back hooves start to slide forward as he shakes his head side to side like a dog, then slip completely and startle her while exclaiming briefly, "WAH!" She then feels her rear fall and slam down on his lap when she feels a sharp pain coming from her marehood, causing her to hiss in pain and then look back to see what happened. What she sees back there robs her of her ability to think and speak as shock and pain overwhelm her.

Last Point Edited

He feels her land on his legs and then leans back out of the stream, shaking his head side to side asking, "You ok, Starlight?" He then feels a tightness and warmth around his cock and gasps, then looks down to see a light pink unicorn mare with moderate persian blue eyes, a moderate purple mane and tail with a light blue streak through them. He shifts his eyes down her back to see that her rear is right up against his abdomen and sighs sadly saying, "Oh fuck..."

Still unable to think of what to do, Starlight feels his member twitch inside her when her eyes shrink to pinpricks and screams to herself inside her head, 'My first time ever is with an ape from Tartarus, what kind of hell-spawned nightmare is this!' She looks ahead and sees blood run into the drain in front of her, then jerks her head back around to get a good look at the face of the human that just claimed her virginity. Having chin-length thick black hair, green eyes, and tanned Caucasian skin, she finds him strangely handsome for a creature she had never seen before.

John lifts his head up and looks into her eyes to see them wide with shock, pain, and fear. Trying to find something to say to apologize for what he did, he places his palms over his eyes with a heavy sigh saying, "Damn it...fuck I'm so very sorry this happened Starlight, I understand if you never want to speak to me and want me to leave."

Starlight's eyes slowly return to normal at hearing that he was seriously sorry for what just happened, and fights past the urge to scream and blast him with her magic then groans and says, "What's done is done, you have taken my first time with this unfortunate accident but I can't force you to leave because you didn't do it intentionally. The only thing to do now is to move forward, now please wash my body off and carefully wash my mane and tail. I have a difficult time getting them really clean."

He then places his hands on either side of her flanks and uses his strength to help her stand back up, ignoring the pleasurable sensation of pulling out of her. John then starts washing her body like she asked and grabs the bar of soap saying, "So uhh...how long did you know Twilight?"

She feels him run the bar of soap over her left side first and adjusts the stream further down to get her barrel wet and says, "Well we didn't get off to the best start when we first met at a small village called Our Town. Twilight and her friends arrived one day and spent some time there, eventually learning about my scheme and ruining my plans before chasing me out of town to regain their cutie marks that I have stolen from them."

John continues washing her body off saying, "So you were a villain then, what happened to make you change?"

Starlight feels him use his fingers to scrub her sides, letting out a sad sigh saying, "Well after Twilight and her friends wrecked my plans, I sought to get revenge on them by using a time spell to interfere with one key moment that led to them earning their cutie marks and eventually becoming friends. Each time Twilight went back in time to stop me, it resulted in a different fate for Equestria. Then after a while, she managed to talk to me and got me to stop. Once we went back, I let things continue their course. A little after that, she took me on as her pupil to teach me the magic of friendship."

He finishes the left side of her body and then moves to scrub the rest of her and smiles saying, "It seems that you are very lucky to have a pony like Twilight to teach you that. Things are much different and even tougher in my world, be glad that you have a peaceful world here that is free from gruesome things like war."

She struggles to stay awake as she feels him scrub along her back and right side, not understanding why it is feeling so nice as her head hangs a little lower and says, "What can you tell me about yourself?"

As John begins telling her what he can remember of his childhood, he sets the bar of soap aside and rinses the suds off of her before moving to scrub the rest of her saying after a while, "After I graduated high school, I signed up with the army and took a few courses in college. After earning a degree in Brewing Science and engineering, I began trying to make my own liquor. After a few years of trial and error, I broadened my horizons and sought a different course in special ops. When I got bored of that, I switched to being a sniper." He then goes quiet as he hears gentle snoring, making him lean to the side to see her head hanging low with her eyes closed and chuckles saying, "I guess you had a long day too, let me finish cleaning you up, then you can hop out and dry yourself off."

Starlight's eyes slowly flutter open as she hears the sound of water hitting her back and remembers she is in the shower, causing her to shake her head and say, "Ugh, I can't believe I fell asleep taking a shower..." She then feels something rubbing her rear and tugging lightly on her tail then gasps and looks behind her to see John rubbing soap onto her rear and into her tail, then asks, "What in Tartarus do you think you are doing?!"

He sighs and then continues cleaning her up saying, "Well I am scrubbing the blood and mud off of your backside, do you have a problem with that?"

She then huffs and narrows her eyes at him with a glare on her face saying, "I am still not happy about you taking my first time, but at least you are cleaning up after taking my virginity."

John loathes himself for the choice he made that led up to the accident and finishes washing out her tail before handing her the bar saying, "Here you go, now you can finish your face and then dry off."

Starlight feels him wash the suds out of her tail and quickly snatches the bar of soap from him saying, "Thank you, I intend to do just that and get out of here then go to bed." She hurriedly starts to scrub her face and foremane, then sets the bar aside and adjusts the stream downward to rinse off. She slaps him across the face harshly with her wet tail before stepping out to start drying herself off, then retreats to her room a few minutes later after gathering her shower supplies.

After returning to her room, she sits down on the bed and starts to brush the tangles out of her mane and tail. Unable to keep herself from thinking back to what happened a little while ago, she slowly starts to sob and lies down on the bed. Burying her face in her forehooves, she breaks down in tears and stops in the middle of brushing out her mane sobbing, "Oh Celestia why did this have to happen to me!"

Feeling like shit for taking her first time with that accident, John cranks up the heat to as hot as it would go to punish himself for what happened. Resuming his now absolutely scalding shower, John continues to wash his body slowly to make the pain last and burn his own skin.

As Twilight heads to her own room, she hears crying coming from Starlight's bedroom. Worried about her, she trots over to the door and gently nudges it open to see her pupil lying on her bed crying and mumbling, "Why me?" She trots over to her pupil with a concerned look on her face and asks, "Was the Cultural Exchange Festival that bad, Starlight?"

Taking a deep breath in between sobs, Starlight says, "The Exchange Festival was a success Twilight, but it wasn't that mission that caused me to cry like this, it was what happened after that mission..."

Twilight gives her a big hug, wrapping her hooves and wings around her to comfort her pupil asking, "Okay then Starlight, tell me, what happened that makes you cry like this?"

Starlight hugs her back and starts her story by saying, "Well it all began when I got off the train." She then tells the story as it happened, not leaving a single detail out. As she reaches the end of her story, Starlight asks, "Did I do something to deserve this?" After a few moments, she looks up at her face to realize that Twilight isn't responding.

Twilight sits on the bed beside Starlight with her face frozen in shock which starts to slowly turn into rage at what happened. As her rage builds up to her limit, she looks toward the door as her vision changes to a slightly red haze and shouts, "HOW IN THE BLAZES OF TARTARUS COULD THIS HAPPEN!!" Madder than she has ever been in a very long time, Twilight hops off the bed and hastily trots off to the Bathing Room to give John a piece of her mind.

As Starlight cries out, "I'm not ready to be a single mother..." Twilight gets a little angrier at John for allowing that to happen to Starlight and stomps down the hall to where John is. When she arrives, she throws open the door but has a hard time seeing through the thick steam in the room, making her start to sweat. A bit of her anger fades away as she feels how uncomfortably hot it is in here, throwing open the curtain and yelling, "John, how could you be so thoughtless, giving her a decision like that!? Don't you have any common decency in that head of yours? She is not ready to be a mother yet, you better hope she doesn't end up pregnant after that, or you WILL be taking care of them both!"

Still feeling the pain from the scalding water, John slowly answers, "I do regret my choice to mess with her like that, I never wanted that to happen. Believe me, I hate myself for creating that situation and am punishing myself for it as we speak." He then takes a breath and then tells her, "She won't get pregnant because in my world humans can only reproduce with each other, not with different species. Aside from that, it takes more effort to bring me to release during intercourse, which means I did not cum inside of her so pregnancy is not a danger."

Stepping closer, Twilight starts to see the form of him sitting in the shower through the thick steam clouds filling the entire room and responds, "Well we will have to find out for sure if you are able to reproduce in this world by running some tests, because things work differently here, John."

As he finishes washing, John turns the water off and reaches over the side of the tub to grab the towel to dry his head off first. The steam continues to block his body from Twilight's eyes and stands up to dry the rest of his body. Starting with his back, he grabs the ends of the towel with one in each hand, bends his arm around, and shifts his hold on the towel before running it across his back. Moving to the front of his body, he quickly dries off his arms and starts on his lower half. He then begins drying off his legs and privates saying, "When do you want to do those tests? It can't be tomorrow because I'm helping Applejack and her family make the Jam." He then wraps the towel around his waist and pushes open the door to let the steam out.

She looks at John through the thick steam as it starts to billow out through the door, finding herself marveling at how toned John is, bringing a thought to her mind and making her blush fiercely. She averts her eyes to keep herself from fantasizing and thinks about when to run the tests saying, "I am not sure, but I will talk to you after I look at my schedule."

John then looks down at the hazy shape of Twilight as the steam continues to roll out the door saying, "Okay then, well if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to wear something besides a towel out of here."

Twilight blushes a little, but nods saying, "Very well then John, I will see you later." She heads towards the door and stops just in front of it then looks back at John, noticing discolored patches of reddish-pink skin all over his arms, torso, and legs. Feeling a bit concerned, she asks, "Are you okay, John?"

Not wanting her to treat his burns, John lies to her saying, "Yes I'm fine, now scoot on out of here so I can get dressed."

Being reassured that he is ok, Twilight exits the room saying, "Alright then, I hope you have a good day tomorrow over at Applejack's." She then walks down the hall and enters Starlight's room, knocking on the open door.

Looking up to the door to see who was knocking, Starlight sees her mentor standing just outside with a smile on her face. She then invites her in saying, "Come on in Twilight, I hope you didn't hurt him too badly over the accident."

Entering the room, she shakes her head and replies, "Oh Celestia no, Starlight I wouldn't hurt him over something that was really just an accident. I did give him a good scolding though, so you know, there is very little chance of you becoming pregnant due to John telling me it takes more of an effort to bring him to release." Sitting at the side of her bed, Twilight comforts her and strikes up a conversation to take her mind off the unfortunate event.

John tosses the towel into the basket with the others and then collects his underwear from the countertop, then tugs them on and collects his dirty underwear and shower supplies then heads towards his room to get some sleep.