“Hey Apple Tarts,” said the neon green pegasus aptly named Thunder Bolt said as he trotted into the room of the red-orange pony, who’s Stetson lay on his bed, and who’s focus was on a bright screen as he sat his desk. “What’cha doing?”
“Oh, hey Thunder Bolt,” replied Apple Tarts, pulling his attention away from the screen to greet his friend. “I’m just reading some fan fiction here on the internet.”
“Oh that’s- Wait, what?” Thunder Bolt asked as the words reached his brain. “What’s fan fiction?”
“I’m not one hundred percent sure what it is either,” started Apple Tarts, returning to the screen as his left hoof rubbed his chin. “But from what I’ve been reading, it appears to be a fan’s, someone who has great liking or affection for an art form, writing of original adventures featuring characters created by someone else. It’s quite interesting.”
“It doesn’t sound very interesting,” said Thunder Bolt. “What are fan fictions about?”
“Oh, ‘bout anything really,” replied Apple Tarts. “If you can name it, there’s a fan fiction for it.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Eeyup.”
“How about the Wonderbolts?”
“Uh-huh, they’ve got a pretty big archive going here.”
“What about CSI: Manehattan?”
“That too. It’s circulating ‘round since it got canceled, of course.”
“Fallout: Equestria?”
“Yessiree, that too. There’s a lot of that especially. Gets kind of creepy though, with all the POV stuff.”
“Dang...Okay, what about After Equestria?”
“Since it’s recent and not very popular, or well received for that matter, yes but very few stories.”
“Wow, fan fiction sure is expansive,” said Thunder Bolt. Then, he got an idea. “What about us?”
“What?” Apple Tarts asked.
“Is there a fan fiction about us?”
“Fan fiction doesn’t work that way,” replied Apple Tarts. “You can’t write a fan fiction about reality. That’s just fiction. Like actual stories and there are plenty of those.”
“Come on Tarts,” said Thunder Bolt as he waved his hooves around. “This is reality? A bunch of technicolor ponies and unicorns and pegasi that talk and fly and do magic and go on adventures? That’s reality? Reality is in fact a bunch of fat sweaty guys, sitting around, writing stories about us and throwing them on the internet. Then, when their parents are out of the house, they sign onto other websites and do horrible, horrible things to other kinds of pony stories and pictures. But in your defense, I’d rather have this reality than that one.”
Apple Tarts, who swiveled around in his chair half way through Thunder Bolt’s speech, looked at him with incredulity and said, “Thunder, what in tarnation have you been smoking?”
“Um...nothing,” Thunder Bolt looked away nervously, rubbing his arms. As he said that, Stars Shine entered Apple Tarts’ room.
“Hey guys,” Stars Shine said excitedly. “What are you two up to?”
“Hey Stars,” said Apple Tarts. “We’re just reading some fan fiction.”
“Neat,” replied Stars Shine. “Have you been reading the ones about us?”
“Told you,” Thunder Bolt commented.
“What’d you mean ‘ones about us’?”
“It’s really cool,” Stars Shine began, trotting over to Apple Tarts’ computer and typing in the address bar. “Some pony at school started publishing stories about us online. Most of them are fake but really interesting. I haven’t read through them all but I think it’s cool.”
Once Stars Shine finished typing, a screen appeared with a long listing of stories, with blue highlighted titles and small icons for pictures that were sometimes related to the story, but usually not. As Apple Tarts read through some descriptions, he recognized some names from the kids of schools and even saw his own name quite a few times.
“That’s...creepy,” said Apple Tarts. “Who’s the pony doing this?”
“I...come to think of it, I don’t remember her name,” said Stars Shine, holding a hoof up to his face in thought. “Weird. I just talked to her about this, not half an hour ago. Ah, well.”
“These are some wild stories,” said Thunder Bolt, looking through the descriptions. “There’s one about a filly at school getting pregnant after a one night stand.”
“What?! That’s messed up” Apple Tarts exclaimed in surprise.
“Yeah, I kind of skimmed over some of them, they get really crazy,” said Stars Shine. “I really liked the one about you, Thunder, Prized Gem and I where Autumn Mane is dead and she comes back to haunt us.”
“Dead?” Apple Tarts repeated. “Hasn’t anyone reported these stories?”
“Yeah, but in her defense, they are all fiction,” replied Stars Shine. “They’re just for entertainment.”
“Here’s one about you, Stars,” Thunder Bolt pointed to a listing on the screen. “It’s called Lust and Trust. Click on it, Tarts.”
Apple Tarts clicked on it and a large amount of text appeared on the screen. Slowly, he began to read it.
“Oh yeah,” Stars Shine blushed, as he spoke. “I, uh, don’t think you should read that one...”
“ ‘ “But what will the others say,” replied Stars Shine, as a blush appeared on his face,’ ” Apple Tarts read. “ ‘ “Don’t worry about them,” said the dark pony with a grin. He pulled Stars Shine close with his strong hooves and planted an equally strong kiss. At first Stars Shine resisted but he relented and allowed the dark pony’s kiss to continue, as his hooves traveled his body and explored his every curve. After what seemed like an eternity, the kiss broke with a string of spit trailing between their mouths. Stars Shine grabbed the dark pony close and whispered to him, only audible enough for him to hear: “I love you.”’”
Awkward silence filled Apple Tarts’ room as Stars Shine embarrassed blush filled his face. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Thunder Bolt started to snicker and after he started, Apple Tarts followed with snickering too, till the duo burst out laughing at the story. In the midst of their laughter, Stars Shine left, running home. While they felt bad, they also couldn’t help themselves.
“Ah ha ha ha,” chuckled Apple Tarts. “I feel terrible but that was just so...ha ha ha!”
“Ha...I know, I know,” said Thunder Bolt and the laughter continued.
Soon, the laughter died down and as it did, Apple Tarts returned to the listing of the fan fictions about their lives. Then, he noticed one that was at the very last page, at the very bottom of the listing.
“Hey, here’s another one,” said Apple Tarts.
“Oh man, who is it this time? Prized Gem and Dusk Wings?”
“No, actually it’s about Laughy and you.”
“Me?” Thunder Bolt raced over to the computer and looked at the listing. “‘Isty-Bitsy’? What’s it about?”
“I don’t know,” said Apple Tarts. “The description says: ‘After being made fun of by the other ponies at school, Thunder Bolt goes to his older, experienced friend Laughy Daffy for some advice and help. He ends up getting a lot more than he bargained for.’”
“Strange,” said Thunder Bolt. “Well, no point in guessing. Pop that sucker open and let’s read it.”
Apple Tarts moved the mouse, moving the cursor onto the story link and clicked on it. Immediately the text appeared, this time sparse and spread out over the page. Together, the two started to read: It began with Thunder Bolt coming to Laughy Daffy’s room after a bunch of schoolmates made fun of him and called him gay. Angry, Thunder Bolt announces that he hates being called gay and hates all gay ponies. Laughy cheers him up and tells him that there’s nothing wrong with being gay. While initially, Thunder denies it, he reconsiders and asks Laughy how he could possibly know whether he’s gay or not. Laughy decides to give him a test and presents him with his colt hood. It was at this point, Thunder’s own colt hood began to grow and Laughy called it ‘Itsy-Bitsy’ because of it’s small size, in comparison to Laughy’s size. Following that, Thunder, in the tale, proceded to give Laughy a blow job which resulted in the two starting a relationship.
It was near that point, horrified by what they were reading but for some reason could not stop, Apple Tarts and Thunder Bolt, the real one, started to grimace and frown at what they were reading. Finally, it ended and the two gave each other a very long look. During this look, they didn’t hear the door to Apple Tarts’ room open once again and the blue pony slowly creep up behind the two.
“Hey you guys!” Laughy Daffy cried as he grabbed the two on their shoulders. Apple Tarts and Thunder Bolt screamed and leapt into the air. “Whoa! I didn’t think I scared you two that badly!”
From the ceiling, Apple Tarts and Thunder Bolt shook, their eyes wide in fear. Eventually Apple Tarts responded, “H-Hey, Laughy...Wuh-Wuh-What’s up with you?”
“Not much, just stopping by to say hello,” Laughy Daffy said, before looking at the computer screen and asking excitedly, “Hey, what are you guys reading?!”