3: To Love A Pegasus

Applejack was tucked under the covers of her soft bed, lightly snoring away as she dreamt of all of the great times she had shared with her friends. She rolled around in her sleep, getting just snug enough to lay still and fall deeper into her sleep.

That is until an explosion woke her up.

She sat up straight, rubbed her eyes, and jumped out of bed. She trotted grumpily towards her window to investigate the loud noise.

“What in the hay was that?” She asked herself. She grabbed her stetson from the bedside desk and ran for the front door.

Callum, Jack, Rhys, and Evan were sitting around the fire, dirt and tree sap covering their fur. Evan had a twig stuck behind his right ear and Callum had a piece of bark impaled on his horn.

“…then it ends with Scootaloo saying ‘you have beautiful eyes’. I thought it was pretty good.” Callum ended his story. In return, he got two disgusting looks and one amused look.

“That was horrible.” Jack commented.

“That was weird.” Rhys followed.

“That was awesome!” Evan shouted.

Jack and Rhys exchanged looks with Evan, who just sneered back. “Don’t tell me it was crap. The only thing crap about it was that it wasn’t graphic enough.”

“That was the last story I had.” Callum noted, “Do we have anything else to do beside a campfire?”

“How about we try to see if fire is edible? I’m starving!” Jack moaned, throwing his hooves to his face.

“Good point.” Rhys said, “We should tr-”

“Shh!” Callum put a hoof to his lips. His left ear twitched.

Rhys was about to question him but stopped himself when he heard the rustling of leaves. They all looked towards the source of the noise and saw a figure slowly coming into view.

“What in tarnation is goin’ on here?” Applejack questioned the trespassers.

“Applejack?” Jack blurted out thoughtlessly.

The earth pony was taken back a bit. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, “How’d you know my name?”

“Yeah,” Evan interrupted, “How did you know her name?”

Jack just stared blankly at Applejack, trying to think of an excuse to how he knew her name. He had to thank Callum later for stepping in when he did.

“Well…” Callum interrupted, “You’re the element of honesty, right? You’ve saved the world, what was it…” Callum put a hoof to his chin, looking for an answer he already knew, “…twice?”

Applejack tipped her hat forward, pulling it slightly over her face. “Well, I suppose that was pretty important.” She shook her head and went back on topic. “Anyhow, what are y’all doin’ in my orchard?”

“Uh, orchard?” Rhys questioned.

“Yeah, my apple orchard.”

Rhys looked up to the trees to see that they were spotted with ripe, juicy apples. Rhys face hoofed at his stupidity. How the hell did I not see those?

“W-we don’t know.” Jack answered. “We just sort of… woke up here.”

“Ah, too much cider.” Applejack nodded in conclusion. The four stallions looked at each other and just shrugged. “Well, who are y’all?”

“My name is Fire Strings.” Callum was quick to say his name. He thought of it while writing a fan fiction once. “This is…”

“Light Speed!” Jack finished for him.

“Uh, yeah…” Callum smiled at his nephew’s quick thinking. He pointed a white hoof towards Rhys “This is, uh… Ignite.”

Rhys nodded in approval of his new name. “And over there is uh… Strength… Brute Strength.”

Applejack looked over to Evan and her jaw dropped. He stood up and stretched his limbs, giving Applejack a good chance to see the muscles in his body flex.

“Well hello there.” Applejack greeted Evan with half lidded eyes.

“Uh, hi?”

Applejack strolled over to Evan’s side and rubbed her left foreleg against his right one. “Mind showin’ me what them muscles o’ yours can do.” She spoke in a sultry tone.

Evan just stood there with his right eye twitching. He eventually reacted when Applejack’s hoof started stroking his back. “Look, women, I didn’t come here to get touched up by… well, anything! I didn’t even wanna be here!” Evan threw his hooves into the air.

“Well, you’re here now. May as well make the most of it.” Applejack smiled at him.

“NO! Get the hell away from me!” Evan galloped in the direction the others had started to walk off in.

“Damn.” Applejack spoke to herself while watching Evan’s rear fade into the trees “I wouldn’t have minded buckin’ apples with him.”

Evan had caught up with the others and stared at each of them. Rhys was lying on the floor holding his sides, Callum was failing to hold back his laugh and Jack was just grinning sheepishly.

“You.” Evan focused his gaze on Jack. “You fucking pony faggot!”

“Whoa.” Jack put his right fore-hoof up in defense. “Calm down, man.”

“I can’t calm down! I’m stuck in a place filled with magical sparkly horses with 3 gaylords!”

“…Well that was mean.” Callum spoke up.

“Shut up and go listen to your emo music.” Evan pointed to the floor a few metres away.

“…My…music?” Callum looked around to see that his headphones and iPod were sitting on the ground atop a pile of leaves. “My music!” Callum did a standing long-jump just to land right in front of the magical device he’d come to know and love. He fell to the ground, picked up his iPod and rubbed it against his cheek. “Did you miss daddy? Daddy missed you too! Yes he did! Yes he did!”

The others just stared at him for a few minutes, wondering what kind of medical treatment he needed. Rhys was laughing at the unicorn on the ground while Jack just rolled his eyes; He knew how passionate Callum was about his music.

Jack craned his head to look towards his green unicorn friend and…

“Wait. Where’s Evan?”

Rhys came to his senses and looked to his right where Evan was supposed to be standing. “Oh crap.”

“C’mon Callum!” Jack shouted to the stallion still caressing his iPod. “We need to go find Evan. Who knows what he could do in this world!”

Callum finally processed the words spoken by the yellow pony and threw his headphones over his neck. “Let’s just hope Applejack didn’t catch him.”