The first thing Optimus noticed was the signs of great respect he received from these “ponies.” And since he didn’t know what his real name was, they all just called him “Optimus Prime.” The name was an appropriate filler for now.
Those white ponies wearing golden armor saluted him when he passed by. Optimus noticed that large quantities of these ponies were stationed in the town of Ponyville, his only safe haven. Optimus didn’t know what this world had to offer, but it definitely wasn’t safe beyond that evil forest he encountered earlier.
The same forest he met her.
So far, those two regal-looking ponies he met yesterday seemed to want to help him. Optimus found favor in those two. But there was one other…one he trusted more than any other pony in this town.
Twilight Sparkle.
Of course, he didn’t trust her that much. She seemed willing, though. A strong heart, a true leader, Twilight was something he didn’t see in these other ponies. She cared for him deeply, even when the rest of the world and those…evil ponies wanted to see him gone. Twilight and this town, those were the only things he could believe in to feel safe.
That’s why he acknowledged her request to travel to Sweet Apple Acres.
She didn’t say much, only telling him that he needed to learn how to defend himself and Applejack could help him with that. Optimus questioned why he would need to know how to defend himself in the first place. Wasn’t Ponyville a safe haven like she told him in the first place? Twilight responded with an unsure glance at the dirt, and an explanation telling him to trust her. A fairly long explanation to be exact.
He was slowly starting to lose that trust.
Pushing all arguable thoughts aside, Optimus finally arrived to his destination. It was the land he awoke to when he was first attacked by the ponies. It was oddly majestic, not at all like the previous days where the dirt was littered with bleeding ponies. No, today it was littered with red fruits.
This “Sweet Apple Acres” appeared to be a farming location. He could see a large red stallion and smaller yellow pony carrying supplies far too big for them to carry, however; they seemed to manage. An elderly-looking light green pony sat at the front of the large house. She appeared to be asleep.
From what Twilight had told him, Applejack was a close friend of hers. She could be spotted as the orange-colored member of the family wearing a large Stetson hat. He had no idea what a hat was, but Optimus did know his colors, and he found the orange pony rather easily.
She was clear across the land…kicking trees?
Intrigued, Optimus made his way onto their property, his massive footsteps causing quite a ruckus on the quiet morning orchard. Winona suddenly jerked her head up from the tremor making its way over to the house. She barked rather loudly, waking up Granny Smith.
The elderly mare looked down at the barking mutt, suddenly bringing her attention to whatever she was barking at. She saw the sun’s intense glares reflect off of Optimus Prime’s armor. The massive giant paid her no heed and disappeared beyond the high hills in the apple orchard.
Granny Smith chuckled, and with seemingly no purpose faced her gaze forward and winked.
_______________
Applejack noticed him from a mile away.
He seemed to be taking his time, so Applejack used what precious time she had to finish bucking the remaining trees. Applejack would need all the time possible today, because Twilight seemed to be counting on her to help out Optimus. It was a pretty big task, but Applejack could manage. Heck, she’s been up all night setting up the targets.
The slowly rising sun began to finally peek over the mountains, and it finally began to start bringing its heat down upon the mare. Applejack was used to the heat, even if it was only going to get hotter.
Despite the increasingly rising temperatures, Applejack sent a hard buck into the tree behind her. All the apples went tumbling down, landing perfectly in the baskets laid around it. Applejack smiled at both her work and at Optimus coming downhill towards her. It was hard to ignore his heavy footsteps.
“Mornin’, Prime,” she announced brightly, “how ya doin’ this here fine day?”
Optimus stopped when he was directly in front of her. His blue eyes stared down at Applejack, his head tilting to the side.
“I should be asking you the same thing,” he said, causing the mare below him to raise an eyebrow in suspicion. Optimus pointed to his own eye and asked, “Would you be so kind as to tell me what happened to your eye?”
Applejack seemed surprised at first, but laughed it off rather quickly. She brought her hoof up and gently touched her black eye. She immediately pulled back, hissing in pain.
“Aw don’t worry over me. Those ponies from a few days ago jus’ gave me a good lickin’ is all,” she told him. Optimus shook his head after hearing about those ponies again. Applejack smiled, her attention elsewhere, and said, “A lucky shot they got, that’s all it is.”
Optimus still didn’t buy it. “You’re still out here working with your injured conditions?”
Applejack waved her hoof. “Pfft! Aw shucks, sugar cube, Ah’ve been through a lot worse than jus’ a sore leg. In fact, Ah’m actually feelin’ a lot better Ah did today than yesterday!” she exclaimed with much enthusiasm.
She was a hard worker, something Optimus would keep in mind. He noticed a silence approaching between the two, which was something he didn’t want to find a way out of. Optimus quickly remembered the point of coming here instead of spending the day trying to find himself.
“Well…” Optimus began awkwardly. Applejack imagined his tone to sound awkward, though it was very hard to tell with that deep voice he had. “Twilight wanted me to visit you, Applejack. She said something about…learning how to fight.”
Applejack smiled as bright as the morning sun. She nodded her head once and said, “That’s right! An’ you better keep yer game up; Ah got some pretty nasty challenges fer you today!” Applejack shared a chuckle with herself, noticing Prime’s confusion start. “Ah’m jus’ pullin’ yer leg, Prime! They’re easy enough for ya.”
She turned around and began to walk towards a large open portion of the apple orchard. Something was off. She didn’t feel his heavy footsteps behind her. Applejack turned her head around and noticed Optimus with his eyes closed, his arms crossed, and his head low. She stopped and wore a bemused expression, though there were some hints of concern breaking through.
“Hey, Optimus!” she shouted, catching Prime’s attention. “Come on! Follow me!”
Optimus almost didn’t want to follow her. A day alone with himself would seem much more enjoyable. But it would be rude, especially after everything these ponies in this town were doing for him. Also, defending himself might come in handy later on if the time called for it. He didn’t know how this pony named Applejack knew anything about fighting but…he was always eager to give it a try.
Sooner than he expected, Optimus arrived to a large dirt field. More of those trees he had seen earlier were lined up to the far left and right of him, and directly in front and lying in the dirt field were large piles of-
“Hay targets!” Applejack shouted, breaking Optimus’ train of thought. “Ah figured this would be simple enough for ya, considerin’ you went through a pretty rough patch the past couple days.”
Applejack brought her head up to see Prime’s reaction to this. It appeared very confused at first, and then got worse with each passing second.
Optimus blinked at the large hay piles with a crudely painted target on each one. He stared down at Applejack and met her gaze. “What is it that you want me to do?” he asked with his heavy voice raining down on the mare.
“Well,” Applejack began, stamping her hoof in the dirt, “Ah was thinkin’ you could bring out yer gun first of all, an’ then we can start on testin’ yer aim! Then Ah-“
“Gun?”
Applejack closed her eyes tightly and clenched her teeth. That’s right; Optimus didn’t remember anything about them or his own being. Heck, he didn’t even know what a gun was, and he was the one who brought the meaning of that word to this world…the hard way.
She thought for a clear way she can explain this without sounding too confusing or stupid. Nothing popped up, and Optimus was clearly losing interest.
“Um…uh…well a gun…oh shoot how can Ah put this…” she turned to Optimus and said, “You have…a weapon in yer arm that can shoot blue…stuff…bullets…Ah don’t know, but you have it!” Applejack wore the cheesiest of grins she could’ve mustered.
Optimus stared at her silently.
Applejack facehoofed. As her hoof left her face, she tiredly looked up at him and said, “Ah swear you do. Jus’…” she tried to think of way Optimus could achieve this, “try clenchin’ yer fist a couple times then point it at the hay bales. If it doesn’t work, we’ll move on.”
Optimus sighed. He didn’t know whether to believe her or not. But…she was Twilight’s friend. He nodded his head in understanding and did as he was told. Applejack backed away to his side just in case her crazy plan turned out to work.
He clenched his black fist over and over again. Optimus’ eyes narrowed on the red target on the hay bale. In one quick motion, Optimus pushed his hand forward, his fist pointing towards the hay. Applejack bit her lower lip in anticipation for a loud bang to occur. Her anticipation was left untreated, and Optimus remained frozen in that position for a solid fifteen seconds.
Optimus’ concentration was to the point where his fist was shaking. He imagined a weapon that fired blue bullets (whatever that was) just like Applejack had described. And just as he expected, nothing happened.
Optimus lowered his hand and let his fingers relax. Applejack brought her eyes to see Prime’s deteriorated emotions. The rust covering his body only made him appear ageing and worn down, not the leader of the Autobots that Applejack had befriended before. He didn’t look anything like he used to. He looked sad, broken.
Applejack walked over to him and gently patted his foot. “Ah don’t worry about it, Optimus. Ah didn’t really expect ya ta learn everything in one day, anyways.” Prime brought his eyes down on the farmpony at his foot. Applejack smiled up at him and said, “Let’s move on, shall we?”
The sun was now right in Applejack’s vision. She lifted her foreleg up to shade her ways from the sun’s harmful rays. Applejack quickly noted the distance and separation each hay bale had.
“Alright, now Ah want you ta try and pull out yer sword and slice those hay bales as fast as you can, see if you can still handle a sword.”
“Applejack, I-” Optimus was saying.
“Don’t worry none about the hay bales! We’ll let you slice these ones up!”
“Applejack-”
“You don’t have to worry about the mess, either! Ah’ll get Big Mac and Apple Bloom to help!”
“I don’t know anything about a sword.”
Applejack stopped and looked up at Optimus again, suddenly feeling very stupid.
“But…you always had a sword on ya,” Applejack told him, stopping herself from continuing when she remembered that he didn’t know anything about himself.
“I don’t know who I-” Optimus began to tell her, only to be interrupted once again.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, Optimus,” Applejack said. She sighed and kicked at a lone rock sitting in front of her hoof. “Ah jus’ don’t know how Ah’m supposed ta teach ya anything about fightin’ when ya can’t even remember how to control yerself,” she said, her eyes drifting sadly to the side. “Maybe Rainbow Dash will have better luck with ya later today.”
Optimus’ hopes for the rest of the day were diminished when Applejack had said that. Not only was he not learning anything here, but now he got to spend the next couple hours with that rainbow-haired daredevil. Great. He could only imagine what she had in store for him.
Applejack brought her eyes back to the hay bales. She sighed once again. “Well…Ah spent all night settin’ those up…might as well knock ‘em over,” Applejack said, turning her attention to Optimus and smiling at him. “How ‘bout you try out yer punch on those suckers? Ah’m sure ya still got it, Prime.”
He didn’t know what he had to begin with. Without a single word said, Optimus walked into the dirt field and stopped right in front of the first hay pile. He turned his head around to stare at Applejack. The orange pony nodded him forward, her friendly smile never wavering.
Optimus couldn’t believe what he was doing.
He brought his fist back and punched the hay pile into a million tiny pieces. How embarrassing. Being degraded to this level left Optimus without a purpose to continue on the rest of the day. If he couldn’t even know to fight then how was he supposed to defend himself in case those ponies came back to finish the job? Hearing Applejack’s supportive shouts from behind didn’t help Optimus feel any better, if anything it made him feel worse.
“Awesome! You did it! Good job, Optimus!” Applejack shouted and clapped her hooves together.
“I don’t feel like I’m learning anything, Applejack,” Prime told her, his shoulders sagging in obvious signs of disappointment.
His large shadow cascaded across Applejack. The farmpony stopped clapping. She finally noticed his body language and the loss of life in his voice. Her eyes took on a new shade of sorrow, sorrow she felt for Optimus and his dilemma he had to deal with. It was truly something she could not imagine.
At least he wouldn’t be going through it alone.
“Don’t worry, Optimus,” Applejack said to him as she approached from behind. She laid her hoof on his leg and smiled up at him, supporting him. “Maybe Rainbow Dash can help ya learn how ta fight. Not that Ah hate to admit it, but she is a heck of a lot better fighter than me…that one time,” she muttered the last three words under her breath.
He didn’t respond. Applejack noticed his eyes were focused on the scattered hay bits lying around his feet. She noticed…sadness in those twin blue orbs of his. He looked lost, forgotten, abandoned. Applejack didn’t know if her eyes took the same shade of sadness as his, but it really did feel like it.
Come on, Rainbow. This time I really need you.