//------------------------------// // Homeskickness // Story: The new arrival in Equestria // by Blazer787 //------------------------------// It was harvesting time on Sweet apple acres. So I decided to help pitch in, it was the least I could do after this small, strange pony had taken me in. "Apple bucking's a good job" said Applejack as she kicked a tree, apples came raining down into buckets below. "It's hard honest work, *KICK* outside, *KICK* and we won't go hungry because ponies will always want apples." I watched in awe and said "Your legs are AMAZING! I can't imagine any human having that much power in their legs. You've got to be the fastest runner around here." "Well, I think so" Applejack chuckled for a second "but Rainbow Dash doesn't." "Hold on I'll give it a try." I walked up to an apple tree; it threateningly loomed over me as the feeling of nervousness shot through me. I slowly lifted my foot back and swung at the tree as hard as I could. As the kick connected the tree shook violently and apples rained down. Ground shock surged up my leg. "Yer mighty good for a beginner." "Huh, I guess these trees aren't as tough as ours. Maybe you're not the fastest one round here after all" I taunted with a smirk. "Is that so? Well then how about we make a race out of it?" "Alright then, from the gates of the barn all the way back to town." "Yer on!" "The only bad thing is that we've got to clear these apple trees. We can go for the bet after that." Then I realised that my leg was still in a bit of shock from that last buck, so as we walked into the orchard I punched myself in the knee, the awkward feeling seemed to stop. Eventually I developed a technique of kicking the trees that left me with little or no chock in my legs, which was good "because I'm going to need all the energy I need to beat her!" I thought to myself. Almost every time I managed to get away from Applejack I would slouch down under a tree trying to deal with the feeling of fear. I don't know why but I was scared to death. Usually I felt pumped with adrenaline before a race but this, this was different. It felt like if I lost I'd be kicked out of their town forever, like I'd be shunned, like it was life or death. Once we had both felt that the orchard was cleared we head back to the farm. Applejack got Big Macintosh to start the race off. "Ok then, now as soon as that stick hits the ground we run for it" Applejack explained pointing to the stick held in Big Macintosh's mouth. Big Macintosh stamped 3 times then dropped the stick. We both sprinted past Big Macintosh and through past the acres. At first I was only running half-heartedly, and then I noticed that Applejack had already passed me and was getting a lot of distance. I had to kick it up a notch; I was all out sprinting now. After around 10 seconds I finally caught up to her, it seemed like forever though. "You're quite a good runner" I managed to blurt out. "You aint seen nothin' yet" replied Applejack. She increased her speed and passed me again. "Oh no you don't" I whispered to myself. I had to put everything into the running, my muscles were burning with pain, my arms were pumping, and sweat was dripping down my brow as we neared the bridge to town. Somehow Applejack hadn't even broken a sweat yet. I was running faster than I had ever ran before, I don't know why I was so determined, I just was. While I was running my vision got blurry, something was coming back to me, and the pain of my legs seemed to melt away. Old memories of primary school, back when I was 7 years old. Me and my friends on the playground together, running on the school field, shooting hoops. "God those were the golden days" I heard a familiar voice say. The feeling of falling snapped me out of it and I crashed face first into the dirt road. I looked up and noticed that I had tripped just before the finish line. I picked myself up off the ground holding my painful nose. Then I noticed how exhausted I was, and collapsed on the ground again, I was flat on my back. "Ya'll okay there?" Asked Applejack. Still panting I managed to sit up and say: "Shit Applejack *huff huff* you weren't kidding when you said*huff huff* you were fast." "Course I wasn't, I wouldn't lie to ya'll." "Must of faded out there for a second. But it's amazing how fast you can run, you didn't even break a sweat. You're not even adult yet but you could probably run as fast as an Olympic runner." "A what runner?" "An Olympic runner" I picked myself up off the ground, to my feet. "Basically the best of the best at running and sport back home. They'd train day and night to become one." I paused for a few seconds, just catching my breath. "Oh man I think I'm gunna pass out here….WHEW!" "We were Appelbuckin' for a whole day" Applejack said as she pointed towards the slowly setting sun in the distance. "Oh daaaaaaaaaaaaamm! Time really passes quickly around here; either that or we were out there for waaaay longer than I felt it to be. I think we should get back to the farm." I said turning back. "Uhhhhh…." "What?" I asked looking back at her, "another huma-ahhh!" I yelled as she bit the back of my shirt and flung me around so I was facing the town. I could see a crowd of at least 10 ponies staring at me with mouths hanging open and eyes as big as plates. "Don't worry I've planned for this" I leaned down and whispered to Applejack. "Ya have?" "Yeah, we're going to…RUN!" I yelled as I bolted through the orchards. I ran until I couldn't see the town or even the road anymore. Seconds after Applejack jogged towards me. "That was ya'lls plan?" She said eying me. "Better than nothing" I chuckled back at her. "Well, we should get back now, before they catch up to us." "Yeah, but can we walk this time? I've had too much running and kicking for today" She chuckled at me "sure, let's get going." She started walking off. "Uh…Do you even know where we are in the orchards?" She looked around quickly, studying the surroundings. "Now I do, it's this way." She started trotting off in a direction more off to the right than before. "Well I hope so." "Years of workin' the field, I know my way 'round it." My paranoia kicked in shortly after we started walking through the maze of apple trees. "Oh god what's going to happen?" I thought. "How'll they all react? Will I get Applejack in trouble? How long will I have to keep hiding for?" "Were here!" Said Applejack. "Dammit why does time seem to move so fast! Oh well, I'm going to bed, been a tiring day." "Alright then" said Applejack cheerfully as she trotted into the barn. I went upstairs and waited for around 5 minutes, grabbed my sketching pencil and rubber, and snuck downstairs. On the way I grabbed a sheet of paper and a flat piece of wood then slinked out of the front gate. I went to a hill where I had a fantastic view of the sunset. I sat down started sketching as best I could, it came out surprisingly well. I just sat there and stared into the scene, uncontrollably smiling into its gaze. The sunset, the hills spotted with apple trees, the mountains over the horizon. *sigh* "home…" More things were coming back to me. The way my brother and I always argued, but we still loved each other. Back when school felt so simple and when life felt so free. But then again I felt so angry at our world, all the bullying, the crime, the fighting, and the injustice. It was a strange whirlpool of emotion. "I know how ya'll feel" said Applejack sympathetically as she sat there next to me. "Ahh!" I half yelled almost falling over. "How'd you find me?" "I saw ya sneaking off through the apple fields. I followed ya all the way out here." I forgave her and said back: "It's a sad, lonely feeling being homesick isn't it?" "It's the same way I got my cutie mark." "Huh?" I said back in confusion. She began telling me the story, and by the end of it I felt much better. She stared over at the sketching I had done. "Did you draw this?" She said taking the plant of wood and the drawing from my lap. "Yeah, I've always been good at drawing, and at writing. It's kinda a hobby of mine." "Well it's nice to know another someone 'round here that can draw." "You can draw?" "No, but we have artist ponies in ponyville. Some but not many, can't make a good livin' off of drawin'. Well some can I guess." "Well" I said getting up with a grunt. "The sun's going to be getting over those mountains soon, we'd better head back, and I don't think it's going to be very warm here at night." Applejack handed me back my pencil, rubber, drawing and the piece of wood. "Up for another race cowgirl?" "Ya want a head start this time townie?" She said competitively as she got up off the ground. We both got into starting position. "Ready?" I asked. I flung my hand up in front of her face and over her head, knocking her hat to the ground. "GO!" I laughed as I ran off. "Hey!" I heard in the distance, and then quickly heard her running up behind me. She reached out with her mouth and yanked my pencil and rubber to the ground. "Hey!" I said ironically, I could hear her laughing as she jogged off leaving me to pick up my stuff. I quickly did and ran to catch up; she was waiting for me by a tree. We both laughed and walked off towards the barn again. We got back and both went to bed, for real this time. I put the piece of wood and my drawing down on the desk, my pencil and rubber back on the bedside table. I climbed into bed and thought: "Hmm…Might as well see what's on my IPod" So I reached over, started it up, and got my headphones in. As soon as it had started up a weird, loud as hell sound started coming through the headphones. It sounded like a mix between electricity sparking and some sort of magical sound that you would expect so find in a fantasy game. I dropped the IPod on the sheets and yanked my headphones out in surprise. "AARRHH! God dammit! What the hell was that? Whatever, probably just something with the volume." So I turn the volume completely down to mute but then instead of the sound coming out, it had started vibrating and glowing with a purple aura. I had an 'of course' look on my face. "WHO THE HELL WRITES THIS SCRIPT!" I asked myself, waving my hand at the IPod. When I tried to get into my music the whole screen started screwing up, it was impossible to make anything out. Everything was wavy and the screen had static all over it. "Crap, now I can't even listen to my music while I lose my sanity." I decided it best to shut it off, and go to sleep. I woke up next morning with the sunlight flooding through the small window above my desk. I laid there and sleepily came back into reality. I wondered about what had happened with my IPod last night, and then everything started to make sense: The glow outside my window before I was here, the levitating scroll and quill, the aura around my belongings, and even my IPod. It was all pointing to one thing, or one pony. I flung the covers off my bed and ran towards the door. Then I stopped half way through the door, ran back and grabbed the piece of paper off the bedside table. I ran downstairs. *yawn* "Mornin'" Sleepily greeted Applejack. "Quickly Applejack! Who's the best unicorn, magician, or magic whatever in ponyville!" *yawn* "Well that'd we Twilight, but I don't see why-" I had ran out the door before she could finish. I determinedly ran down the dirt path still tightly clutching the piece of paper in my hand, I paced myself this time so I didn't completely run out of energy by the time I'd gotten to the bridge. With a clunk, clunk, clunk I ran over the pink bridge and through the town square. A lot of the ponies in the marketplace looked at me in awe and shock, I didn't care. I burst through Twilights front door. "Twilight!" I yelled "I know you had something to do with all of this!" She was still brushing her mane when I burst in. "GAAH!" She stumbled in surprise. She magically shut the door behind me. "Did you just run through the whole town? Every pony could have seen you! Do you have any idea-" "I know you had something to do with me being here Twilight! Coming into this whole new world." "What are you talking about Michael?" She sleepily asked rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. "I've looked at everything that's happened and it all adds up. When you levitated the parchment and quill, or my pencils and pen, they all had a purple glow around them." "So? That happens with every unicorn, but in different colours." "And last night I tried to use my IPod to get some clues on how I got here. It started making weird noises, when I turned the sound off; it started shaking and glowing again, glowing purple!" "Well, that does all add up, and magic can work like electricity sometimes." She shook her head, "but really Michael, you think I brought you here? I didn't even know you existed" "You may not have done it on purpose but I know you had something to do with it." "Hmm…" Twilight eyed me suspiciously, her horn started to glow and a purple aura surrounded me. "Hey what are you-" *gasp* "You still have that piece of paper on you. What's so important about that anyway?" "I already told you, it's a bit personal." "Michael, that piece of paper has extremely powerful magical ozone around it, it could be vital into figuring out how you got here." *sigh* "Fine then, go get the others. I'm sure they'll all want to know too." "Okay then, just let me finish brushing my hair." *sigh* "Girls" I thought. "Mind if a read a bit while I wait?" "Sure." I picked out a book from a desk called 'the fundamentals of magic' I sat down on a sofa and started reading. I skipped ahead to some basic magical spells, it was fascinating stuff. After I had read through one spell I heard a sound come from the upper level, I looked up and Twilight was gone. Around half way through another spell I heard a yelp from something. I looked up from my book and saw the baby dragon before me again. "WH-what are you doing here again?" He asked, sounding afraid. "Oh come on I'm not that bad…Wait…It's you again! You're that baby dragon! Hey I've always wondered, can baby dragons breathe fire?" "Y-yeah" he hesitantly replied. He inhaled deeply and blew out a short spout of glowing green flame into the air. "Whoa, that's awesome!" A smiled appeared on the little dragons face. "Well, Twilight can do the real awesome stuff" "Can she breathe fire?" "I don't think so but-" "See? I'm telling ya, dragons are AWESOME!" "Yeah…So um…What are you?" "Well I'm a human in a world of talking ponies and dragons that's slowly losing his sanity" I said jokingly. "Uh…okay…." "Anyway if that's it I'll get back to readin'" The spells in that book were amazing, but some of them didn't even sound possible. 'Walking on clouds' when that blue Pegasus said she lived on a cloud I thought she was joking. 'hatching a baby dragon'…'giving an earth pony wings'…'moustaches'? Shortly afterwards Twilight teleported back into the room with all of the ponies I first met with her. I looked up and said: "Okay then" I closed the book. "Don't touch that dial kids." "Uh…who are you talking to?" Asked the baby dragon. I explained to everyone how I found the small bundle of items near where I woke up, the clues that are pointing to Twilight, and how I didn't want anyone to find out about the picture because it was personal. "So Michael, what is that picture about?" Question Twilight. "Fine I'll tell you all. Here it goes…"