Pinkie Pie invites me to join her for breakfast. And by breakfast, she means that we eat the grass around us.
“Uhhh...” I uhhh as I watch her chew the grass she just pulled off the ground with her mouth. She’s also eating the roots and the dirt! I make a face as she swallows what she was eating.
“Mm...” she licks her lips and looks down at the grass. “I always love breakfast! The morning dew that clung on the blades of grass always makes the grass taste delicious!”
I’m not too sure if all those are morning dew if everypony sleeps on it... And by the way, Pinkie’s sisters are back, eating the grass close by.
“You should try some!”
“Er...” I force a smile. “N-no thanks. I’m...not that hungry anyway...” And then my tummy says otherwise. What can I say? Seeing others eat while I haven’t eaten anything makes me hungry.
“Really?” she asks. “Huh... I thought that was your belly yelling that its hungry.”
“It was just your imagination,” I say as I start to leave. This pasture is surrounded by trees, so maybe there are fruit-bearing trees around. I hope. Also, Pinkie just...lets me leave. Aw well...
Hm... So Pinkie Pie and her sisters live here, and she doesn’t know what Ponyville is, and she doesn’t know who Twilight or Celestia or Luna are. This is a problem. And here I thought I could go back home much faster. I guess I’m wro—no. I’m going home, and I’ll find a way.
But... What is this world, anyway? It’s not the same Equestria I’ve seen from the show. Well, there’s Pinkie Pie, and most likely Twilight’s here as well. But that’s it. Only the ponies are the same. Where are the houses? The castle? ...Fluttershy’s cottage?
I take a deep breath and let out a sigh through my pony nostrils. So, I guess it’s safe to assume that the ponies here do not know how to build houses and other structures. I look around and stare at the many different ponies and horses. I think I’m just going to generally call them ‘ponies’ now because of lazy. Anyway, none of them have any Cutie Marks either. I look at my thigh and nope, no Cutie Mark.
...Maybe I’m in an alternate universe. An alternate Equestria... An alternate timeli—
And my tummy reminds me of something more important, so I go back to walking towards the edge of the pasture.
“Howdy!”
And if I am not hearing things, it seems that Applejack’s here as well. I turn around, blink and eeyup, that orange mare who’s approaching me definitely is Applejack, but without the hat and the strings that tie her mane into a ponytail. Applejack is best pony, but this Applejack is weird pony, but still best pony.
“So you’re the new pony that I heard about,” she says. “Name’s Applejack. I heard from the Pie sisters that you’re Jay?”
I smile. At least she still has her lovable accent. “Yeah.”
“Weird name for a pony, if I do say so myself.”
Aaand I’m frowning now. Applejack is no longer best pony.
“Uh,” she smiles awkwardly. “No offense there, sugar cube.”
She calls me a sugar cube! Applejack is best pony! “None taken,” I say with a smile.
Reason why I’m not squeeing like an idiot is because I’m cool like that. Hahah, no, I was just kidding. Real reason is because I’ve learned to control myself. Being the eldest, my parents have taught me to behave and all that boring stuff. I’ll spare you the details.
And then my tummy decides to introduce itself.
Applejack chuckles while I smile nervously. “Looks like somepony’s hungry. Care to join me for breakfast?”
Another frown is threatening to break the small smile on my face. “U-uh... No thanks...” I turn my head down and stare on the grass. “I’m...I don’t like grass?”
Applejack chuckles. “Heh, that makes the two of us.”
“Oh?” I look up at her, and I feel my ears standing in attention. It feels strange.
“Yeah. I dunno when I decided to hate grass.” She shrugs. “I guess I wanted to try and eat something different.”
“Let me guess,” I grin. “Apples.”
“Heheh. I guess my name gives it away, huh?” She gestures with her head, pointing at the trees on the edge of the pasture. She leads the way, me following close behind. “You know, it’s really nice to meet another pony who hates grass like me.”
Not sure how to respond to that.
“Of course, I only hate eating the stuff. But I love lying on it and sleep on it like every other pony.”
And I still don’t know what to say to that. Now, normally, in conversations like this one where I don’t know what to say, I just stay quiet and smile or nod to let the one who’s talking know that I’m still listening and still paying attention. Applejack is looking ahead, so I feel the need to say something. “I...can relate.” ...Hey, it’s something.
“You all right there, sugar cube?” she asks. “Or are you a quiet type?”
We reach the line of trees, but Applejack walks on, so I follow. “Yeah, I usually am.”
She chuckles. “Ah. You’re like my brother then. Then again, maybe not. I swear, I sometimes think that ‘eeyup’ and ‘eenope’ are the only words that stallion knows.”
“Come now, that’s a bit harsh,” I say.
“Well, it’s true!” she says as she stops in front of a tree and turn around to face me. Well, I thought she turned around to face me, but instead she turn her head over her shoulder, takes aim, and gives the tree a kick, causing the said tree to shake and—
“Ow!” an apple falls on my head. First time experiencing an apple falling on my head, and I do not want to experience that again.
“Oops, sorry about that,” she says as the last of the few apples fall on the ground around us. She grabs an apple with her mouth. Er, no. She bites and eats an apple while it is still on the ground. “Mm...”
I blink at her. She’s not using her hooves to eat? Then again, Pinkie Pie and her sisters didn’t as well. I raise my hoof, turn it and stare at my, uh, underhoof? For hands, it’s called palms. I dunno what it’s called for ponies. Wait, I remember a few fics that it’s called a ‘crook’ or ‘inner hoof’ or ‘frog’ or something. Sigh... Where’s my English major brother when I needed him?
“You don’t like apples?” she asks before taking another bite.
“Ah, no,” I quickly reply, shaking my head. “I was...just thinking.”
“About what, sugar cube?” she asks in between chews.
Sheesh. My mom always told me not to speak when my mouth is full. I look down and stare at the apple before me and...try to pick it up with my hoof. I’ve read a few fics that there’s ‘magic’ in pony’s hooves that ‘magically magnetizes’ stuff on it so we can hold stuff. Aaand nope, I press a hoof on the apple, and it’s not sticking on my hoof.
“What are you doing?”
“...Trying to make a fool of myself,” I sigh as I sit down. I pick the apple up with both my front hooves, pull it closer to my pony mouth and start to eat it.
“Hey,” Applejack smiles. “That’s some fancy way of eating.”
“Uh...thanks—” and derp, I spoke while my mouth was full! My mom’s gonna be so angry with me...
And then I hear faint swooshing noises up above. I look up and, through the large gaps between the sea of leaves, I see low-hanging clouds quickly passing by, and of course, those clouds are being pushed by a number of pegasus ponies.
I hear a sigh. I look back at Applejack and see her fixing her glaring eyes above.
“Well, it’s about time those airheads delivered the rain clouds,” she says angrily as she stands up. She looks at me, trying to mask her scowl. “Well, sorry ‘bout that, sugar cube. But I need to get going before they decide to start the rain on the wrong spot again.”
I nod in understanding as she walks pass me. Looks like she doesn’t like pegasus ponies that much. I stand up on my four hooves and turn around. Pinkie mentioned that the pegasi might know something about Twilight, so I’ll just ask them and hope that they know something.
And then my tummy growls. Fine, after a few more apples then.
I like the stories that you can't tack all the information of the show for granted or that it reveals that you only have an incomplete image of what it rely like being in Equestria. I wander if Flutershy prefer to stay with the earth pony or stay on the ground or she is a cripple that can't fly.
6066994 i think i like it to, that the show isn´t law here, or that it doesn´t rule the fanfiction.
I mean i enjoy those storys too, but it is really interessting to have this situation.
I don´t know why i started to think that every story should have at least a small part of a romance in it, even if it doesn´t take the most attention, but i want to ask if it would be possible, i don´t remember which tags aren´t able to combine.
I guess for now it would be enough, if there would be someone, that starts to like him a bit, somehow that they are like wild ponys, makes it even more necessary for me, i get the feeling that these Ponys maybe are more focused on basic stuff, like eating, getting a Stallion, familly, and mosty stuff like that.
moar plz
tbh this story deserves a lot more love than it's getting right now. very unique. i think this is the first fic that's done this kind of alternate universe, unless i just haven't found and read one that does. cudos to you m88 (matey eight)
Not bad.
Ponyville sans Ponyville. That's an interesting idea. I like how you have the ponies creatively solving their um, needs in this world, though the way the protagonist comments on it I have to wince at how picky they sound. So don't eat the roots, problem solved! Sheep are the only things that graze like that anyway, thus why shepherds were devastating to the ecology in the middle east. Horses generally cut the blades off pretty high, so it doesn't kill the grass. And you have a nose, don't you? Why would you even be worried about eating grass with pee on it?
now if you will excuse me I'm going to go hunt a bowl of freeze dried kibble
(Reading).
"Applejack is Best pony..." thumbs up story.
"Applejack is no longer best pony..." thumbs down story.
"She calls me a sugar cube! Applejack is best pony!". thumbs back up!
I love how unique this story is. An author is finally willing to address the fact that a race of hooved quadrepeds would likely not evolve as tool users.
MY theory is that Celestia and Luna weren't a thing, thus the ponies never truly unified under them, and they are stuck in the pre-unification system of working.
6165040 sounds plausible.
Unicorn where known as the stuckup and smug kind back then, especially the nobles and royalty. We haven't seen much of the Pegasi who were battleprone, but the earth ponies were pretty simple living... although they still had houses according to the heartswarming tale.
Yet, this really seems to take it a step further, with the unicorns showing outright distaste, disrespect and aggression towards the earth ponies, they probably think themselves highly superiror.
Same goes for earth ponies to have no homes... but who knows? The heartwarming tale may not have been accurate at all, depicting the earth ponies in robes and other clothers, with houses and homes during that time.
This maybe a retelling of how it was back then with slight changes, and either in this universe Twilight and her friends lived much earlier in time, alternatively those are just her exact copies of ancestors, or this is a dystopian future, where neither discord nor the princesses ever happened, along with the unification of the tribes.
You could take the opportunity to discover the laws for gravity, devise a formal system of calculus along with Eeyup pony who knows fancy mathematics, and then derive the laws of planetary motion. Then when Luna and Celestia come around to raise the sun and moon you can go all 'Burn the heretics!'
6582981
That's beyond gruesome and I like it.
This story seems wonderfully unique! I’ve no idea how many others completely rewrote the show in this way, but I think I’m hooked.