//------------------------------// // Contact! // Story: Name's Ellis // by MAGO5 //------------------------------// Ellis’s eyes shot open as he half-gasped, half-snorted awake face first on the ground. He coughed and blew out the dirt that he inhaled from the sudden air intake. He grunted as his head throbbed, which sent dull pain up and down his spine. Attempting to move only proved to him that his muscles were far too weak at the moment to possibly stand up. Ellis relaxed and focused on what he felt brushing against his skin. With some effort, he turned his head to the side and cracked his eyes open. Grass... soft, green, healthy grass... ”Where am I?” Ellis thought. Through the cloudiness of his head, he tried to grasp a vague shadow of emotion, but to no avail. Like waking up from a dream, the memory of everything that happened before dissipated like fog, possibly lost forever in the annals of Ellis’s mind. His limbs still too exhausted to move, he lay there for what seemed like half an hour, trying to move every few seconds, each time being rewarded with another throb to his head and a little extra distance. Finally, he extended his arm forwards as far as it would go and let it fall back down to the ground. It landed landed in a puddle of cold, clear rainwater sending an icy shock through his systems. The sensation hit his cerebellum like a train. Wait... Water... Ellis’s eyes shot wide open as everything that happened prior filled his head like a divine light. The bridge, the tank, the explosion, him falling to meet the heaving, frigid waters. Strength was suddenly injected into his limbs as if he just took an adrenalin shot. He pushed off the ground and attempted to stand straight up, but stumbled backward as his blood rushed out of his head and crashed against what felt like the bark of a tree. Ellis’s eyes were screwed shut from the pain. Something was wrong with him, he knew it without having to see it. He felt it by the way his body moved, the way his skin felt. Something was different about him, and his breath got heavier as he debated whether or not he actually wanted to know. His eyes cracked open ever so slightly as he raised his hands in front of his face to see. But they were not hands. They were... THEY WERE...! Still hands. He was still exactly the way he’d always been. “Ah guess ah just ain’t feelin’ right. Coulda sworn I’d been turned into somethin’ else or some other crazy shit.” Ellis mumbled to himself. Meanwhile, in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, on the forgeworld of Kirrac, a techpriest inspecting a Baneblade super-heavy tank suddenly collapsed to the floor in hysteric laughter, much to the confusion and worry of his peers and superiors, and shouted something about how “bipedalism rules.” With his fears diminished, Ellis scanned the scenery around him. Vibrant colors and blinding bright sunlight assaulted his corneas, causing him to cringe at such a sharp contrast from the depressing, smoke-filled, zombie infested cities. This wasn’t a city, this was right smack-dab in the middle of a countryside, more specifically right in the middle of an apple grove, completely untouched by any kind of strife or apocalypse. Apple trees as far as the eye could see, their perfectly ripe, red fruit hung heavily upon their branches, glistening with morning dew. “That tears it. Ahm in heaven!” Ellis exclaimed with glee. Ellis had only ever been in a peach grove before, but he assumed that the rule of finding all kinds of cool shit still applied to apple groves. Combined with the prospect of eating juicy, fresh fruit, as opposed to junk food, army rations, and beef jerky, made Ellis giddy with excitement. ”First thing’s first,” He thought, ”Time for some eatin’s!” +++++ Applejack coiled her body and struck out with her hind legs, her back hooves hitting the worn bark of the apple tree. A satisfying thump resounded and reverberated throughout her entire body as the tree leaves rustled and apples fell neatly into her wooden buckets. She cracked a grin of satisfaction. It was apple-bucking season at Sweet Apple Acres again. The prized fruit was at its prime, which meant it was time for the Apple family to get to working. Applejack, Big Macintosh, and even Applebloom were all out in the grove doing an Apple’s honest work. Applejack wiped the sweat from her brow with her front hooves. She began to hitch the buckets to her harness when Apple Bloom galloped up to her. “Big sis! Can ah help?” Cried the bouncy filly. Applejack chuckled. “Sorry, Apple Bloom. Ah got this covered.” Apple Bloom sank dejectedly to the ground. Applejack sighed. “Maybe yer older brother needs some help. Granny Smith could also use an extra hoof with baking them apple pies.” She spoke earnestly, but lil’ Apple Bloom was not swayed. An idea came into her head. “...Maybe if you help them out, then later ah can teach you a secret er two ‘bout applebuckin’.” That got her attention. She shot back up, a smile sitting on her face. “Can do, big sis!” With that, Applejack’s little sister ran off towards the farm. Applejack huffed in relief. She didn’t have anything against her sister, but the filly was just too much energy for her to deal with. ”Oh well...” She thought, ”She’ll get ‘er cutie mark an’ then she’ll settle down and stop all the ‘Cutie Mark Crusader’ nonsense.” Applejack, now with a load of fresh apples on her back, cantered off on the direction of her apple cart, ready to bring the full wagon back to the farm to be dropped off. Then, her work begins anew. It was only mid-morning, so the farmpony had a whole day ahead of her. Whistling the “My Little Pony” jingle as she got closer to the cart, her ear perked up, catching a distant sound carried by the breeze. To anypony else, this would have been nothing, but to Applejack the noise registered instantly in her brain. She had heard it many times before, the bane of her apples and the blight of her family. Rustling of leaves, a sharp snapping sound as her hard work of growing and tending of her crops was stolen from her. “Varmints...” She spat with venom. +++++ Ellis sank his pearly-whites into the juicy, tender red skin of the fruit. “Ho, man. That’s the best apple I ever did taste.” A few more bites and he tossed the core off to the side and picked another. “Well, best apple so far...” Ellis leisurely laid on the tree branch, devouring the delicious ruby gems without a care in the world. The fruit’s runoff dribbled messily down the sides of his mouth and dripped on his shirt. It was going to get sticky, but he didn’t care in the slightest. The only thing that was on his mind was the apple in hand and the next one after. Beyond that, Ellis didn’t really ponder upon how he got here, where he was, or what happened to his friends. All that mattered now was snacktime. Another apple core thumped to the ground, followed by the snap of another one being picked. Ellis inhaled the scent of it before beginning to consume it like the last. It wasn’t out of place for him to suddenly forget his worries and just enjoy life for the moment; it’s what made Ellis Ellis. Right now, he couldn't imagine spoiling this moment fretting about the “small stuff”. It was just him and the apples. At least until something else showed up. +++++ Applejack was trotting towards the source of the disturbance, her load now discarded for the moment. Annoyance was set in her expression. She had tangled with all kinds of inconsiderate, thieving critters before, and none of them ever elicited forgiveness from the earth pony. In the distance she could see an apple core being carelessly tossed to the ground. This made her blood go hot. She increased her pace, determined to get rid of this nuisance once and for all. Applejack arrived at the tree where the pest had littered the ground below. She couldn’t clearly see what was up in the branches, but that didn’t matter to her at he moment. She was fuming at the sheer audacity of whatever was eating her apples! Applejack inhaled a deep breath and, with a voice that would make Princess Luna herself recoil, bellowed at the top of her lungs. “QUIT EATING MAH CROP YA APPLE-THIEVIN’ VARMINT!!!” +++++ The shout literally knocked Ellis right out of the tree. He tried flailing his arms to regain balance, but to no avail. With a cry, he slipped out of his comfortable resting place and ended up face-first on the ground. Thoughts raced through his head: He had no idea this was someone else's apple grove! Quickly, he began his patented “frantic apology”, honed over many years of getting into all kinds of trouble in his hometown. “Oh shit oh shit oh shit ah am so sorry! I really didn’t mean... to...” Ellis’s sentence trailed off as his head craned up to see the accuser. What he expected to find was an angry human being. What he got was an orange, hat-wearing pony. Ellis’s jaw dropped to the ground +++++ Applejack’s slack-jawed expression mirrored that of the... thing that laid before her. She had never seen anything that looks remotely like the creature, except maybe the monkey Fluttershy showed her once. But this was no monkey. It had a face capable of a full range of expression, fingers that were slender and more flexible, and a posture that was perfectly upright. It had clothes on... it TALKED! Applejack was the first to break the long pause of silence between them. “...Just what the hay are you?” She asked tentatively. Just after she spoke, though, the creature’s face spread into the widest, goofiest grin she ever saw. Then, it exclaimed something to the affect of the following: “OH MAH GAWD A TINY TALKIN’ HURSE!!!” The next thing Applejack knew was that she was plucked off the ground and submitted to a near bone-crushing hug by the creature’s lengthy, strong arms. Her face started to turn purple as her bouncy, gibbering captor continued to exclaim a long, unending stream of baby-talk. She struggled with all her might, flailing her hooves furiously in front of her, but to no effect. She was nearly out of breath, and this upright-walking ape wasn’t any closer to relenting. “Is... this any... way... tah treat... a laaAAAady?” She spouted with the last ounce of her breath. The creature’s face lost its expression and loosened its grip on Applejack considerably. Using this chance, she twisted her body back and fourth, finally breaking free of its grip. Before the creature could sputter out another apology, Applejack blindly lashed out with her back legs, her hooves contacting a soft spot on the creature’s body. Which happened to be right between its legs. The creature howled, its voice rising at least three or four octaves. I collapsed to the ground in front of the orange-colored earth pony, groaning and writhing in agony. Applejack stood over it, berating its behavior. “Now what the hay was that for! Ah don’t know what you are, or where yer from, but ya can’t just go around squeezin’ the life outta every pony ya see!” It continued to moan, its hands cradling its crotch as it rocked side to side. Its face was screwed up in severe pain. Applejack started to regret hurting it like she did, seeing how much pain it was in. She had no idea that her kick would put it in such a state as it did, knowing next to nothing about its biology. A few more minutes passed and the creature was still hurting, albeit a little less intensely than before, but Applejack felt even worse. It tore her heart to see anything in pain. She timidly stepped closer to the creature. “Uh... you all right there? Ah didn’t mean tah hurt you that bad.” She spoke softly. It gave an exhausted chuckle, pain laced through its voice. “That’s all right. Ah figured ah didn’t need kids anyway...” Applejack’s face went shockingly pale as understanding hit her hard. “Oh mah gosh! Ah am so sorry! Ah really didn’t mean to! Oh no oh no oh no...” She understood what virility meant to a stallion, and she assumed the same rules applied to other animals as well. The creature only gave a half-smile. “Don’t sweat... the small stuff.” It said between groans, “S’all mah fault... anyway... That’s no way... fer me tah act...” But Applejack already had tears welling up in her eyes, felling really low for what she had do to... him, apparently. “Are... are ya gonna be okay there, sugarcube?” She sniffled. “They might swell up fer a few days, but ah’ve had worse. A lot worse.” He replied, struggling up to his knees. “If ya can forgive me fer the way ah acted, ma’am, I’d feel a lot better. Ah just never thought I’d see myself talkin’ to a talkin’ horse! What’d a story that’d make!” Applejack smiled a bit, her tears started to subside. “Pony, actually, ahm a pony. And yes, ah forgive ya. We all can get a bit excited ah guess...” A question popped into her mind. “Now can ya tell me what ya are, if it’s not too much trouble?” “Oh none at all, Ma’am. Imma human: walk on two legs an’ work with mah hands.” He wiggled his digits. Applejack giggled a bit at that. She decided she like this “human” fellow. He had a friendly accent that sounded almost like hers. Besides his earlier actions, he seemed non-threatening enough, not to mention polite and easy-going. She held out her hoof, a gesture she used for meeting new ponies. The human seemed to recognize it and gripped her hoof with his hand and shook firmly. “Mah name’s Applejack,” She spoke proudly, “How ‘bout yours?” The human smiled warmly. “Name’s Ellis.”