//------------------------------// // Applesass // Story: Rise and Shine // by ZettaGolden //------------------------------// "What time should we be expecting him?" Princess Celestia inquired of her purple student, Twilight Sparkle. "Well, Applejack probably has a lot of chores to do today, so she likely won't be able to find the time to bring James around until this evening." She responded in a respectful tone. "Of course, we could go to them if you wanted, or I could send word that you came to Ponyville personally to investigate. Applejack would probably bring him posthaste." Celestia considered her offer for a moment, but merely shook her alabaster head. "No, Twilight, we should let Applejack bring him in her own time. The less we disrupt everyponies lives, the better. But, while we wait, I would appreciate it if you could fill me in on what I should be looking forward to." "Uhm... well... he's pretty big. Maybe the same size as a Minotaur. He seems to have a sense of humour, and he didn't freak out too much when he first saw the girls and I, so I suppose he doesn't get fazed too easily. Apparently his world only has one form of creature capable of concious thought, so meeting new species doesn't happen too often. Oh, and his name is James. James West." The Princess of the Sun nodded, her brightly colour flowing mane bobbing behind her, but she didn't say anything. Unsure of how to break the silence, Twilight just stood awkwardly and watched her mentor consider the options. "Uhm... Do you think you'll be able to send him home, Princess?" The unicorn asked nervously. "Patience, Twilight. I will explain when Applejack and our interstellar visitor arrive." I rubbed my shoulder as the final apples fell into the bushels awaiting their golden-delicious payload. "Alright, AJ, I'm all done on my end. How are things with you?" I asked, turning around to find my little orange friend. To my surprise, she was napping under the shade of one of her apple trees. "Aww, sugarcube, Ah finished my half 'bout an hour ago. Hay, I even did most a' yours for ya." All confidence in my level of fitness quickly dissolved as I was upstaged by a pony half my size. Sighing, I circled my arms, trying to get some of the dull ache out of them. "Well in that case, can we head into town? I'd like to see about that cloak... oh, and I think I forgot my sweater at Fluttershy's yesterday." "We can get the sweater later, right now we should head into town. Ah got a message from Twi sayin' she wanted to talk to you in her library, and that was about an hour ago, so we should hustle up." Nodding, we quickly put the filled apple bushels by the house for Granny to sort before we got on our way down the road to Ponyville. Curious about what lay ahead of me, I decided to pound Applejack with a few more questions. "Alright, AJ, so what's the town like?" Looking at me with a curious gaze, she blew a strand of hair that had come loose from her pony tail out of her eyes. "Well... It's a small town. It's got buildings and houses and whatnot. Don't rightly know how to describe it. It's just... Ponyville. Not terribly busy, most folk who live there are pretty friendly. 'Cept Cranky, but ah never really see him." "Have you ever considered becoming a tour guide, AJ? The way you described it just made it come to life," I teased. "Have you ever considered becoming a comedian, James? 'Cause if ya were, you should stop." She retorted with a small smirk. Ouch. Applejack: 1, James: 0. "You know, Jackie-" "Don't call me that." "You know, Applejack, I'm kind of worried about how I'm going to be received by Ponyville. I mean, if we're right about the whole Discord thing, wouldn't we be playing into his hands by just sort of... waltzing in to town and showing off the new alien on the block?" Applejack considered this for a moment as we walked, her hooves and my shoes leaving starkly different prints in the dirt. "Ah suppose it would, be we don't know how long y'all are gonna be stuck here. 'Could be another hour, or another year. We may as well just get introductions over with so that ponies have more time to warm up to ya." Well, makes sense to me. We continued down the path, breaking the silence here or there with a cutting quip or two. If I'm being totally honest, it felt weird to get along so well with her. I mean, I've known her for maybe a day, and yet we were chatting as if we were lifelong friends. Even among human's I had trouble with that. Then again, maybe that was precisely the reason I could open to her so easily. She wasn't human, I wasn't pony, so there was no awkwardness. We were already so different from one another that awkwardness had no place in our relationship. Besides, I might be out of here by tomorrow, so I might as well enjoy whatever time I get here while I can. "Well... here we are, sugarcube." "Have I ever mentioned how adorable that pet name is?" I blurted, not really thinking about it. She blushed, and scraped a hoof awkwardly along the ground. Well, so much for our unbridled level of comfort. "Uhm... thanks, Ah guess..." I noticed that she refused to meet my green eyes with hers, and I rubbed the back of my head a little bit, unsure of what to do to defuse the situation. Nice, James. Real smooth. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. "So, Apples, where's-," "You're really bad with nicknames, huh?" Applejack asked wryly, the mischievous light returning to her face. 'Atta girl. "Maybe. So where's this library of which you speak?" "C'mon, sugar, I'll show ya." And that's why they call me James the... Jammer? I really was bad with nicknames. We made our way through the town, attracting some shocked expressions from the local populace. Of course, I had been told the names of everyone in town yesterday, but for some reason I only remembered Lyra's. Even that was useless to me, however, as I had no idea what she looked like. It was a little disconcerting to be watched by what seemed to be the whole town. I gave them a little wave here, and a nervous smile there, but the look of abject shock on their faces (and in some cases, terror) was disconcerting. After what seemed like a sea of adorable, frightened faces, we finally arrived at the giant tree that housed the local library. "Shall we?" I asked, pushing the door open for Applejack, who smiled at me and entered. Following close behind her, I crossed the threshold into what seemed to be a cacophony of colour. All six of the ponies that I had met yesterday were here, as well as a huge unicorn-pegasus hybrid with a flowing rainbow mane. I spotted the purple dragon, Spike, in the corner eyeing me suspiciously as well. The alicorn took a step forward and stared sharply into my eyes. "Greetings, James West of Earth. My name is Princess Celestia, co-ruler of this land of Equestria." Her voice was sure and authoritative, and I could practically feel power radiating off of her. She was around the size of a proper horse, though the wings and horn made her somewhat more threatening. On the flip side, she also had intelligent, human eyes, and softer features than an earth equine. "Uhm... Hello, Princess. You already know me, apparently, but I'm James." Glancing at the ponies behind her, I noticed Twilight and Rarity making obscene gestures at me. "Bow!" The mouthed, and my eyes lit up with understanding. Complying with the requests of the two unicorns, I bent at the waist and clapped my hands together. Celestia chuckled, and waved a fore hoof at me dismissively. "You need not bow to me, James. I am not your ruler." "Right..." I replied rising back to my full height. "So uhm... Princess... have you been filled in by Twilight?" She nodded at me, her pink eyes locking on to my green ones. "Yes, I have. She mentioned seeing some bright, purple lights coming from the Everfree, and when they arrived, they found you. She also mentioned the Discord Cultist that was watching you from outside Fluttershy's cottage." Fluttershy shrunk back at the mention of her name and hid her face with her mane. Feeling sorry for her, I flashed the little yellow pegasus what I hoped was a winning smile. This only caused her to shrink back even more, but at least I tried. "What's a Discord Cultist?" I asked, confused. "The Cult of Discord is a society who worships the avatar of chaos, though their agenda is a mystery as of yet. We believe they are attempting to free the imprisoned deity, however. Now, these purple lights and your sudden appearance lead me to believe that whoever this pony was, he was practicing summoning arts, a kind of magic outlawed thousands of years ago." "Outlawed?" I interrupted. "Why was it outlawed?" Celestia sighed, and placed a hoof on my shoulder. This probably wasn't going to be good news. "Well, the process of summoning is extraordinarily dangerous, to begin with. The summoned creature, if being summoned from another world, is not always guaranteed to survive the journey. A great number of things can go wrong due to the spell being so complicated, and often times summoned creatures didn't arrive... whole." I winced, picturing a gruesome image of a James West missing it's entire left half. "I see... Well can you send me back?" The Princess dropped her hoof and turned to look out the window, a look of concern marred her equine features. "Unfortunately, no. Summoning requires three things; a summoner, a summoned being, and a pact." "A pact?" Twilight repeated, cutting in. "What kind of pact?" "Well, it depends on what the creature was summoned for." Celestia answered patiently. "Only one thing is certain, however. The only way for the creature in question to return home is to fulfill the conditions that the summoner created. In some cases, horrible monsters were summoned to bring about untold destruction. In other cases, creatures were commissioned to help with manual labour." "Is that all?" Rarity asked, flicking her mane with a hoof. "In that case James just needs to fulfill his pact, and he can go home." The sun monarch just continued to stare out of the window. "Do any of you actually know what the pact is?" Silence fell upon the library, and some eyes turned to me. "I have no idea," I admitted, "but can't we just find the summoner and get him to tell us?" A pair of pink eyes met mine again as Celestia considered this. "Yes, I suppose we could. But until the day comes in which we can be certain why you were summoned, you're going to have to remain in Equestria. Furthermore, if this mystery unicorn really is a member of the cult of Discord, he likely brought you here to be some kind of weapon." A chill ran up my spine as I tried to imagine what a servant of chaos would need me for. Could I bring myself to bring Equestria to it's knee's by freeing the imprisoned Discord? What would happen to it's inhabitants, to Applejack? But... what will happen to dad if I don't...? I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. Speculation was a fine mental exercise, but I didn't actually know why I was here yet. And until that time came, I didn't have to do anything that could possibly hurt anyone. "I'll do everything in my power to prevent any kind of suffering in your kingdom, Princess." The ponies in the room gave me a worried look. "And what happens if ya were brought here to free Discord, or hurt somepony?" Applejack asked in a hushed voice. For a moment I remained silent. Turning to my freckled friend, I knelt and met her eyes. "I'll find a way to make things work for everyone. I promise." "Spoken like a true hero," Celestia replied warmly, and I got a major case of the warm and fuzzies. "I will ask the Royal Guard to begin searching for this Discord Cultist immediately. Until the day comes where we know for certain why you are here, you are a welcomed guest of Equestria, James. May I suggest that you try and educate yourself on pony culture?" "Oh! Ohohohhohohohohohoh!!!" Pinkie screeched, hopping up and down. "I just had super terrific-liffic idea! Why don't we throw a-!" "A party?" Rainbow Dash interjected, rolling her eyes. Pinkie's expression grew thoughtful. "Well, I was gonna say a small get together, but Dash's idea is WAAAAAAAAAAAY better! I wish I thought of that!" "Hang in there, Dad." I thought to myself. "I might be a while..."