//------------------------------// // Apple // Story: Apple // by zanderlex //------------------------------// It has been a little over a month before Jax found himself in this strange new world, though only two weeks since he began to call it his home. When he first arrived here in Equestria, he had been viewed as a monster, any pony who laid eyes on him would run indoors. That made life difficult for Jax. Until he was finally able to find some friends in this world, he would always worry about what the next day would bring him. He thought nothing could be harder than living alone inside of a makeshift tent while having to fend for himself. He was wrong. Once he befriended six of the locals, he realized that he brought onto himself a task that was much more difficult that staying alive. That task was explaining human technology to them. Sure, the ponies were perfectly fine with their magic and whatnot, but they just couldn’t wrap their heads around stuff that was simple to humans. Jax couldn’t go one second without hearing “What’s that do?” or “are you sure there’s no magic involved?” At times, showing off his gadgets was fun, and it wouldn’t have been all that bad if it hadn’t been for the purple one, Twilight. Her need to learn caused her brain to overload when met with the human technology, and she wouldn’t stop asking questions. For Pete’s sake, I show her my shoelaces and she demands that I write her an essay on them, complete with diagrams and pie charts. Color coded to top it off!! Thankfully, one of Twilights friends, named Applejack kept her in line whenever she went overboard. She was the one who eventually offered Jax a place to stay, a small but comfortable room at Sweet Apple Acres. Jax was very grateful and had offered to help out on the farm in whatever way he could in exchange. When Jax first arrived, the idea of staying with Applejack was laughable. They hadn’t exactly started off on the right foot, er hoof. However, as time went on, they quickly became really good friends. She was cool to hang out with, she was a hard worker, and she was pretty down to earth, so Jax couldn’t find any reason to dislike her. They also really enjoyed spending time talking to each other, especially telling each other about their respective planets. One thing about earth that stood out to Applejack was their music. She wasn't as big a music fan as some other ponies, but couldn't turn away from a good country song. She was pleasantly surprised to find that his phone not only had more than a hundred songs on it, but more than a few that she liked as well. Jax was surprised to find out that she recognized some of the artists names that were on his phone. He quickly learned that many of the artists from earth had Equestrian counterparts, such as Twenty One Pegasi. Thought he also learned that the music was the same, many of the lyrics were swapped out. It wasn’t just singers either. Jax found out that nearly every celebrity he knew from back home had some sort of “animalized” counterpart here. At a local convention, he had the opportunity to meet the counterpart of his favorite animator, Alex Horsch, along with one of his favorite actors, Kevin Bacon. That was a fun day, but today was more or less like most others, fairly boring. He spent the better part of the day either working on the farm or reading up on Equestrian history at Twilight’s library. He was grateful for the opportunity for both, but could easily pick off a hundred things he would rather be doing. Right now, it was his favorite time of day. That time between getting into bed and falling asleep where you can relax and let your mind wander. He shut off his phone and placed on his desk and was about to reach out to turn off his lamp when Applejack walked into the room. “Hey Jax. I can’t seem to fall asleep, do you mind if I listen to a few of your songs for a while?” “Sure. Just put my phone back on the desk when you’re done with it, I’ll probably be knocked out in a bit.” Jax pulled his phone from the desk, turned it on, and slid it across the mattress to Applejack. She picked it up in her hooves and just stared at it with squinted eyes. Jax stared at her with a confused look. “Are you just going to stare at it or are….” Jax was abruptly cut off by the sight of Applejack popping the phone into her mouth. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open as he blurted out “WOAH! That’s not what you do with a phone AJ!” The sudden outburst caused Applejack to jump back a bit as she spit the phone back out into her hoof and began to stare at it some more with a confused look on her face. She turned the phone around so that the screen was facing Jax. “But it’s an apple” she said. “Ah thought ah was supposed to eat it.” If Jax was any stronger, he would have broken his skull with the face palm he just performed. “No AJ, it’s not THAT kind of apple, it’s just a picture.” “But why would they put a picture of an apple on it?” “Because Apple is the company that made the phone” “Why?” “Because they know how to make good phones, sometimes anyway” “Why?” “Because the guy who created the company was really smart” “Why?” “YOU’RE ACTING JUST LIKE TWILGHT!” Applejack smiled and let out a small giggle before turning around and heading out the door. “Ah promise ah won’t try to eat it again.” Sure you do. After Applejack left the room, Jax reached over and turned off the light. With her occupied for a while, he was free to get some rest. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and as much as he liked Applejack, right now sleep was his best friend. Or so he thought. CRASH “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!” Jax shot up at the screaming and rolled out of his bed. “Don’t hurt me! Take what you want!!” He screamed into the blackness before he tripped over his own feet and fell with a thud. He scratched his head and quickly glanced up at the clock. He lets out a quiet curse under his breath, he hasn’t even been asleep for 10 minutes There’s more important things to worry about, what was that noise? Jax stood up and began making his way towards the door. He could barely take one step forward before the door crashed open and a figure dashed in, causing him to leap back onto the bed. He grabbed the lamp from the desk and held it out in front of him, as if he were holding a weapon. He then flicked it on to reveal the intruder was Applejack, who was crying and holding something in in her hooves. “I’m sorry!” she cried out. “What?” Jax replied, who has never been more confused in his life. She responded by placing what was in her hooves onto his bed. It was his phone, or at least what was left of it. It looked as though it was attacked by a hammer, smashed into a dozen tiny pieces. “What happened?” “I didn’t mean for this to happen! I barely touched it and…” she held out her hooves and mimicked a tiny explosion, “poof, it shattered.” Jax looked back and forth between Applejack and the phone and face palmed again before petting her. “It’s all right AJ, I’m not mad at you.” “You aren’t?” “No, it’s an iPhone, this tends to happen a lot.”