Chapter Two: Day one
The next morning, Jace woke up feeling something warm up against him. Thinking nothing of it, he closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep in.
"Wait..." He realized.
His eyes snapped awake and he turned over, throwing off the blanket he used. Underneath was a cat that had apparently thought laying next to him would make a convenient place to sleep. Feeling its source of heat gone, it opened its eyes and looked at him. Jace was about to throw it off, when he noticed something about it. Those eyes seemed familiar. Almost...like...
"Opalescence?" Jace questioned.
The cat did not respond. If it was Opal, something was definitely different. Her fur was much shorter than it was portrayed on the show. Not to mention her body seemed l The cat crawled over next to him and tried to sleep again. However, Jace was already wide awake thanks to his initial reaction to a warm presence near him. He stepped up and left the bed. The cat followed behind.
Downstairs, Jace found Dianne making what looked like breakfast. Not bothering to look at what it was exactly, he sat down at a nearby table. His legs barely fit underneath it sitting straight up in the undersized chair.
"Good morning Mr... Umm... what is your name?" Dianne asked.
"My name is Jace. Huh, I thought Rarity would have asked that during yesterday's session of twenty questions."
"Speaking of which," Dianne started, turning towards him, "Rarity never asked what humans ate, so I decided to wait on your meal until you woke up."
"Really? Well then, uh, thanks?" Jace responded.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You seemed a little unsure."
"That obvious?"
"Very much so."
With a sigh, jace gave his answer.
"Okay, here's my little dilemma. I come out of nowhere into your life with you knowing almost nothing about me, and yet you still show hospitality to me. Why?"
"Well," Dianne started, "so far you haven't shown any sign of hostility against me or my friend, it's apparent you are a long way from home, and in all honesty, in that kind of position you need a friend. I'm just trying to help"
"Huh, didn't think of it like that" Jace said reclining in his chair.
Dianne grabbed the handle of the pan she was using and dumped its contents onto a plate. It looked like some kind of grass mixed into an omelette. She then turned and asked.
"So, what do you eat?
"Well... uh..." Jace tried to find something she may have that wasn't meat, "Do you have any more eggs?"
---------------{]-[}---------------
One two-egg omelette later and Jace was ready to tackle the day... Until he realized something.
"Um, Dianne?"
"Yes?"
"I just realized I have absolutely nowhere to go" He said
"What do you mean?" she asked. Her face was a mask of confusion.
"What I mean, is I can't go anywhere here in Ponyville," Jace responded getting slightly agitated. "I don't want to stay in here all day, but other ponies probably won't think well of me. Just think about it. Something that no one has seen before just waltzing in to Ponyville without warning. Don't you think that most ponies would react?" An image of Lyra chasing after him went through his mind.
"Hmm, I see your point," Dianne brought a hoof to her chin in thought, "However, I think I have an idea." She started running for the door. "I'll be right back."
"Wait!" Jace got up and managed to catch her by the tail, causing her to fall flat. Her hair seemed to have spontaneously curled in a familiar fashion. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to to get somepony who can help you with your problem," She responded hastily while trying to get back up.
"What am I supposed to do while your gone?" Jace asked.
"Angel will keep an eye on you," She told him. "Other than him you've already met Opalescence."
"Who? the cat?"
He didn't get a response. Dianne was already out the door and down the road headed to town. He looked at the cat who had watched him while he ate. Apparently this was Rare's pet cat, but what was she doing here? After a minute of silence, Angel came inside. He looked around and gave him a shrug and a look that asked, "Where is she?"
"If your looking for Dianne, she left to Ponyville for a quick errand," Jace said. "She also wanted you to keep an eye on me. So, yeah. Looks like it's just you and me for a while."
The rabbit seemed taken aback at this. He then made a gesture pointing to his open mouth.
"She forgot to feed you before she left, didn't she?" Jace said with an expectant look.
Angel nodded.
"Well, what does she feed you?" Jace asked.
The bunny sped off to a different room and came back with a book. Angel then sifted through the pages until he stopped and turned the book towards Jace, pointing at one of the pictures. That's when Jace realized just what Angel wanted.
"Are you sure this is what she feeds you on a regular basis... for breakfast no less?" He told the rabbit.
Angel seemed not to care and instead tried to make Jace agree by glaring and making his points at the picture more prompt.
"I'm sorry, but I refuse to make it," Jace said crossing his arms making a defiant face.
Angel continued to glare at him, but he put the book away. Jace stood up and walked to the fridge looking for something to feed the rabbit. He discovered a mass quantity of veggies and decided to make a salad. He cut some cucumber and carrots to add a bit of variety in it.
"I don't know what she normally gives you, but I think this will suffice." Jace told Angel while setting the bowl down.
Angel took a glance at the bowl and immediately stood defiant.
"If you don't want it then that's your choice," Jace said with a bit of sympathy in his voice. "I don't know when Dianne will be back, and for all I know she may not be back until lunchtime. If you don't want anything until then, than that's your decision."
Angel's eyes snapped open. He looked at the bowl again. Seemingly reluctant, he took one bite. After that first taste, he literally dived right into the bowl.
"Heh, You haven't changed a bit." Jace thought aloud. "So why is everyone else different?"
He never had time to ponder the subject. The door burst open and Rarity came in behind Dianne with an exuberant expression on her face.
"I'm back!" she sang out.
"Where were you?" asked a very surprised Jace.
"Well, I was thinking about your issue, and I knew Ra-. Oh no, Angel I forgot to feed you, didn't I." Dianne was looking at a very content Angel bunny, lounging in the bowl that previously held his food.
"It's okay," Jace assured her, "He came to me hungry and I found some stuff to feed him."
"Now," Rarity said trying to get back to the subject, "what seems to be the problem at hand? Actually, what is your name? I forgot to ask earlier."
"His name is Jace," Dianne answered for him, "And for your first question, didn't I tell you earlier?" Dianne said with a questionable look.
"Well, if it was you talking about your dilemma, you said it somewhat quickly." Rarity said remembering what happened.
---------------{]-[}---------------
"Spike! Have you found anything yet?"
"Rarity, I need at least some time to find it. You only told me about it last night after you got home. Besides, what's got you so interested in... Uhh... what are you looking for again?"
"I'm looking for anything on obscure animal species or historic documentation on anything called a 'human'."
"Human? Like that one unicorn likes to ramble on about?"
"Well, yes."
Ever since the night before, Rarity had been looking for anything on humans that could help her better understand just what the thing was. She had been looking for anything on the subject since last night to no avail.
And that's when the door exploded.
"Gagh! Dianne!?" both the pony and dragon shouted at the same time.
"RarityIneedyourhelpthehumanhasaproblemthatIthinkyoucanhelpwithYouneedtocomewithmerightnow!" Dianne said before finally inhaling. Rarity and Spike noticed her mane had curled considerably and she seemed winded.
"What? Dianne, what's going o-" Rarity was cut off mid-sentence. Dianne had grabbed her and taken her with her before anyone could say anything.
---------------{]-[}---------------
"Huh, I guess your right." Dianne said.
"However, my question still stands," Rarity began, "What is the issue?"
"Um, I can answer that," Jace said straightening up, "Like I said to Dianne, I don't want to stay cooped up in here, but I don't see how I can go anywhere as I am. Most ponies would probably react. And most of those who do probably won't in a good way."
"Hmm, I see your point," Rarity said with a contemplative look on her face. She began to pace back and forth across the room.
"So, do you have an answer?" Jace asked expectantly.
"No. I need time to think." She replied quickly as she continued to pace, not even glancing in his direction.
Five minutes passed and still no answer from the white mare, until she finally stopped pacing, looked up with a familiar expression and promptly sang out.
"Idea!"
"Finally!" Jace thought, "Rarity actually did something that seems familiar. So she's still the same girl... mare... whatever, but where has she been all this time?"
"So? what is it?" Jace was on the edge of his seat.
"Well, it's not a perfect plan, but there is a place outside of Ponyville with ponies we can trust," Rarity explained.
"Really? Where?"
---------------{]-[}----------------
"I think I can see why your species has developed more efficient modes of transportation," Rarity said to the human walking along side her.
"Well, [huff] some of us, [huff] are more used, [huff] to travelling longer distances. [huff] Jeez. How far are we?" Jace asked. He was out of breath and the long walk to... wherever they were going was tiring him more than his trek through the Everfree Forest
"Not to much farther. It should be visible once we're over this hill." Dianne assured.
"That is the best news I have heard all day." Jace said with a tired smile on his face.
Five more minutes of walking was all it took for Jace to see something that took his breath away.
"Is that?..." Jace wondered while simultaneously trying to tone down his exitement.
"Jace," Rarity said with a smile on her face, "welcome to Sweet Apple Acres."
The farm was much bigger in person. The trees spanned for miles. The whole place was amazing to say the least.
"Wow, it looks amazing." Jace said with an awed expression on his face.
"Um, I don't see what's so glamorous about a farm," Dianne deadpanned.
"You have no idea where I'm coming from," Jace responded.
"Well," Rarity began, "shall we?" She said pointing at the front gate.
The group eventually made it to the farm. The entire scene was breath taking (then again, the show probably had something to do with it). The sound of barking was soon heard and Winona came into view. Then he noticed she didn't seem to be barking in excitement of a new person to play with.
"Um, is she friendly?" Jace asked.
"Winona tends to be suspicious of new ponies," Dianne assured.
"So she shouldn't be to much of a problem?" Jace asked still unsure.
"Well, she shouldn't," She responded.
"Not really helping," Jace said shifting his balance in case of a needed sprint.
"Hmm, she should be here somewhere." Rarity said with a confused look. Her gaze shifted in search.
"Who?" Jace asked, focus still on the dog. Then it hit him, "That actually is a good question. Where is AJ"
They did not answer. Their undivided attention was at the farther trees looking for something. One of the trees shook.
"There she is!" Rarity exclaimed pointing. She galloped off with Dianne in close pursuit. Jace started running and, even though he was far behind, Jace passed them at full tilt.
"Yes! Yes!" Jace thought while running, "I can't wait to meet- Twilight!?"
Jace was in complete surprise when he saw who was in-front of him. Twilight was in a stasis of shock at the being that seemed to have stumbled along to her. There was a minute of uneasy tension until Rarity and Dianne galloped up the hill. , Finally, Twilight broke the silence.
"Ah, Rarity? What, exactly is, this?" She said making large gestures to "this".
Jace took this as a chance to look Twilight over. She had a wide-brimmed hat on and her hair was tied back into what looked like a pony tail (heehee). Her cutie mark was also different. It was a somewhat complicated looking constellation. Other than that, she seemed to be a bit bulkier. "Maybe she was working out?" Jace thought in an attempt to make sense of it.
"Twilight, meet Jace. Jace, meet Twilight Sparkle." Rarity introduced proudly.
Jace decided to do something origional.
"Uhh, hello?" Jace spoke tentatively.
She reacted almost immediately. "Did it just-?"
"Yes," Dianne assured, "it can talk."
"So Twilight, do you live here on the orchard?" Jace asked in an attempt to distract her while hoping that her answer wasn't...
"Well, yes actually." She answered. Her face was starting to loose the shocked expression.
"She what!? Just what is going on here!?" Jace was now the shocked one, though he managed to keep his expression down to his eyes widening in surprise. "Really? Do you do it by yourself, or do you have help?" Jace asked trying to make his reaction seem legitimate.
"Nnope," said a familiar voice from nearby. Big Macintosh stepped into view from behind a tree.
"You certainly are a big pony." Jace deadpanned. He wasn't just saying this. Big Mac was at least up to his neck.
"Eeyup," He replied without hesitation.
"You don't say much, do you?" Jace said crossing his arms and smiling.
"Nnope," Big Mac responded.
"So," Jace said turning his attention back to Twilight, "You guys in the middle of harvest time?"
"Here on the farm it's called applebuck season, but yes." She said jubilantly, "It's been going for about three days now."
"Speaking of harvesting, where's Jackie?" Rarity asked confused.
"Jackie? Are they talking about Applejack?" Jace wondered. Suddenly, a flash of light was seen, causing everyone to look away.
And suddenly, Applejack.
"Ah, there she is," Rarity said seemingly unfazed at the sight of a pony just appearing.
"Jackie! you're back!" Twilight exclaimed happily.
"Who?" Jace thought in confusion. Then he noticed the differences.
She was pretty much the same, except her hair was currently in a loose french braid and her hat was different. It was a white ten-gallon hat with a leather band. Her cutie mark was two balloons, one blue one green, with intertwining strings. At the bottom of each string was an apple on the bottom of one and an orange on the other. She was also wearing saddlebags, in which she was stashing an apple that seemed to have a bite in it.
"Yup, good to be ba- What is that?" She said looking very confused and somewhat freaked out at the sight of the human.
"My name is Jace, I'm what's called a human, and what the heck did you just do?"
"Well, for lack of better term: apple-portation. Name's Jackie." She said holding out her hoof.
Jace took the hoof and shook it, the whole time thinking, "This feels so wrong for some reason."
"So," Jackie started, "What are you gals doin' here?"
"Well, due to the fact that really can't go anywhere else, they brought me here," Jace explained.
"What do you mean you can't go anywhere else?" Twilight asked.
"What he means, is there isn't anywhere else that has ponies we can explain this to without too much trouble" Dianne elaborated, "We knew we could trust you with keeping this secret."
"Huh, well it's nice to know you trust us, but what do we do if someone else finds out?" Jackie questioned.
"If that happens, we try to get them to see reason, in the fact that I come in peace." Jace assured while holding up the vulcan hand sign.
"Uh, what, are you doing?" Rarity asked tilting her head while looking at his hand.
"Oh, uh, nothing. Inside joke." Jace said with a smile. He put his hand down.
"So," Jackie turned to Twilight and Big Mac, "where are we in harvesting?"
Twilight gave her the lowdown. "Well, so far you've missed a couple days, but we can catch up now that you're here."
"Well, what are we waitin' for? let's get bucking," Jackie said. She promptly lifted her hind legs and kicked her legs back into a tree, causing all the apples to fall. One, however, stayed hanging. Jackie stuck out her hoof in-front of herself and then the apple fell into it.
"How long did it take to master doing that?" Jace asked with an inquisitive look.
"You have know idea." She deadpanned.
"So I have a question," Jace began. The others leaned in."What would I have to do if I wanted to, I don't know, work here?"
The reactions were almost immediate. Mixed cries of "What!" and "Excuse me?" and "Eeyup" went up almost at the same time.
"Good heavens! Just why are you doing this?" Rarity asked after regaining most of her composure.
"Let me put it this way. I don't have any idea how long I'm going to be here, I don't have any money that I can use here. And for my last point, I need something to do instead of just sitting around all day." Jace explained in somewhat of a hurried fashion.
"Well I- Actually, I honestly can't say much after hearing that," Rarity said shifting her weight between her hooves.
"I really can't object. We could always use some help down here at the farm. But how exactly do you plan on helping?" Jackie asked with an objectionable expression still on her face.
"I can help with hauling the load back to the barn, I'm somewhat of a handyman, and for apple picking, I can do this!" jace said before jumping. He grabbed a low branch and lifted himself up. After a little more climbing, he then proceeded to shake the tree, which made the apples fall.
"Hmm. That's one way of doing it. I guess?" Twilight looked on with a bit of a questionable look.
"If that was a compliment, then thanks." Jace said jumping down. "So, now that that's settled, can we start?"
---------------{]-[}---------------
"Jace! quitting time!" Twilight's voice rang out.
"Finally! I thought this day would never end," Jace said setting down his last basket of apples. It was five hours after he started, and he was completely spent. He started walking to the barn door when he saw a shape in the doorway.
"So," Jackie began. "How was your day?" she asked with a smug smile.
"Seriously? don't give me that look." Jace retorted. "So, are you okay if I bunk in your place tonight?" He asked. "I really don't want to hike all the way back to the cottage."
"Well, you've worked hard. I'd say you've earned it." Jackie said with a contemplative look. "The house is over there. Guest room's to the left. Third door on the right side of the hall."
"Thanks!" Jace started running to the house. He opened the door to see that the main room was surprisingly empty. He followed Jackie's directions to the room. After closing and locking the door, he then fell into the bed. It was small like last time, but he didn't care. Instead, he was glad to be in a place that didn't need him to move. His arms felt like lead when he tried to lift them. He eventually rested enough from his exhaustion to think about the day.
"Four out of six," Jace thought. "All I need to meet now is Fluttershy and Rainbow. Then I can give my explanation. Hopefully I'll get lucky tomorrow. Ugh, so tired" He fell asleep into dream after dream of apples.
A/N: Chapter two done finally! I'm just now finding out why most stories usually take so long to update. So something I should probably point out: I did change the main character's name. And in doing so, I probably got at least five dislikes. In all honesty, I'm sorry. It was a poor decision on my part to do it last minute. I can assure you that I won't do it again. I did go through the first chapter and change it there however. So if you're coming into this story now, then you can disregard this whole explanation. So on that note, Happy Nightmare Night!