Chapter Eleven: Meet The Apples
Part Two
Chapter Eleven: Meet The apples
Many thanks to Silver Wrench for Co-authoring this chapter, and for the help with some military terms...
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Granny Smith and Apple Bloom carried the great many dishes of the dinner out to the dining table. Sliver Wrench noticed that the place settings were already on the table, and that there was an additional place set for him. Silver waited patiently for everyone to take a seat before he took the only remaining chair which was right between Applejack and Big Mac. Silver was excited for a home cooked meal. Even though he had no idea what to expect, he was sure it would be good. While he’d been out on his tour of duty, he’d had nothing but MRE’s to eat. He could have had the mess tent food when he’d been at base, but the MRE’s were usually marginally more edible than what the marine cooks came up with.
Granny Smith started the meal by dishing out what appeared to be some kind of soup. It looked good, and as it sat steaming in the bowl, Silver allowed himself to take a deep whiff of it. He couldn’t quite place the smell, and he wanted to know what was in it before he took a bite. “Ma’am, if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of soup is this?”
“First off, the name’s Granny Smith, but you can call me Granny, sonny. I’m not quite old enough to be a ma’am yet.” Granny Smith told her little joke with a kind smile. Apple Bloom sighed along with her older brother and sister; they were all a little tired of Granny’s constant little jokes. Silver noticed that Granny Smith had all the features that in humans would have indicated old age, however his manners and common sense told him to keep his mouth shut. Granny Smith continued, “As for the soup, Apple Bloom made it, and she used my granny’s old recipe. It’s her world famous Apple and Butternut Squash soup.”
Apple Bloom chimed in, “Granny did most of the work, I just sort of helped.” Silver thought that it was incredibly cute the way that Apple Bloom held her head down and kicked at the floor a little, as if she was ashamed of admitting that she’d only helped.
“Don’t you go try and be modest now, you did a lot of the work, and you did well for your first time sugar plum,” Granny Smith said. Applejack took the opportunity to pull her sister in for a noogie.
Silver steeled himself for the worst. It smelled good at least, and he hoped it tasted as good as it looked. The light brown liquid swirled enticingly and he picked up his spoon. Silver said a quick prayer of thanks to whatever spirit had taught him to manipulate things with his hooves out in the orchard. He took his first sip of the soup. It was better than he’d expected, in fact it was downright delicious. He quickly started really going for it. The speed with which he was eating his soup brought a chuckle out of both Granny Smith and Applejack.
“Apple Bloom, you outdid yerself this time sis. It’s really a great soup tonight!” Applejack had finished a good bit of her soup already, having eaten while Silver tried to figure out what it was. Something about Silver seemed different than the other stallions she’d met. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it yet, but she was darn sure going to figure it out.
Big Mac nodded in agreement with Applejack’s endorsement, and Apple Bloom sat with her cherubic face beaming with pride. Something about the little exchange over the soup reminded Silver of the perfect little families from the 50’t.v. sitcoms. It was almost eerily too perfect. The little girl learning to cook and praising her about how it came out was almost classic June Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver. Silver silently hoped that the whole meal wouldn’t keep on like this. He hadn’t really liked those shows all that much.
It seemed that Granny Smith was serving the meal, and the next course was a salad of some sort. Silver didn’t know what to expect from it because there were some things that he’d never seen in a salad before. The tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce were immediately recognizable, and after a closer look he thought he saw dandelion leaves and even daisies. As a Marine, Silver understood that some flowers were edible, and had even learned most of them in a survival course he’d had in what now seemed a past life. He’d never even dreamed that he would ever be served a meal with those flowers as ingredients.
The flowers threatened to freak Silver out, as he was still having some trouble processing everything that had happened today. But a part of him was still just happy that he was having a home cooked meal. Having traveled to different countries and experiencing different cultures, Silver was open minded to things that appear strange, but when it came to his food, strange was not something that he was exactly good at dealing with. He’d learned to enjoy some of the strange and exotic cuisine in the Middle East, which was food that was as strange to him as his favorite Baltimore steamed crabs would have been to the people of the Middle East.
Applejack took a moment and watched Silver. She didn’t feel odd at all to invite another pony home for dinner, but she did like to check up on them to make sure that they weren’t about to do something odd, like eat the tablecloth… Silver was staring at his salad with a mixture of both confusion and horror. “Problem with your salad Silver?”
Silver looked over at Applejack. He could only say one word. “Daisies…” His wide eyed look of horror conveyed all the rest of the unsaid statement.
“Oh, you’ve never had Daisies on a salad before?”
Silver didn’t want to insult Applejack by not responding, but he didn’t want to come right out and say that he wasn’t from this world either. He took a few seconds to think of a response. He used the first one he could come up with. “Ummm, yeah. I’ve actually never had daisies at all.”
Apple Bloom chimed in rather loudly, “I’ve never met a pony before that had never even eaten daisies.” It seemed like she was gonna say more, but one look at Big Mac’s face silenced her. Big Mac had the expression of ‘If you know what’s good for you, you will stop right there.’ It was amazing how much could be conveyed with a raised eyebrow.
Silver guessed from Apple Bloom’s response that around here eating flowers such as Daisies was a natural part of life. If that was the case, he figured he’d respond much the same way at home if he’d heard that somebody had never had potatoes before.
Applejack looked directly at Apple Bloom. “Don’t be rude Apple Bloom. Silver Wrench ain’t from around these parts, and folks where he came from might not have had the Daisies to be puttin’ on salads.”
“It's okay, I’m sure Apple Bloom didn’t mean anything by it. I wasn’t offended at all really.” Silver took deep breath and dug in
to the salad. If eating flowers was normal here, he’d eat flowers. He carefully chewed the first bite, not noticing the Apple family watching him. The daisies were crisp in the center and soft on the edges, and didn’t taste all that bad. Perhaps his taste buds had changed when he’d become a pony. He’d never liked salads before, but now he felt he’d have trouble finding anything that tasted as good.
The meal continued on in semi silence, with Granny, Big Mac, and Applejack talking about the harvest and plans for getting it done on time. Apple Bloom just stared at Silver, her curiosity plainly written across her face. Silver, who had no ability to read pony body language, simply missed it.
Apple Bloom’s curiosity finally got the better of her a few moments later. “Well then, if you ain’t from around these parts, where is ya from Mr. Wrench?”
Silver looked up from his half eaten salad and looked around the table, instantly nervous. Yet another question that he had no idea how to answer. He didn’t have to be good at reading body language to see the curiosity that was written on the faces of the Apple Family. Oddly, it was at just that moment that Silver realized how human like a pony’s facial expressions could be. He took a few breaths to calm his nerves, and more so to keep from cursing. As a non-com in the Marines, curses had been a part of his every day language, but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t go over so well here.
“I’m not sure how far way from here my home is, but unless I got my geography all wrong, I am from really, really, far away.”
“You mean from somewhere like Appaloosa, or Las Pegasus?” Apple Bloom’s youthful exuberance was charming.
“I’m from Baltimore.” Silver said automatically. He hadn’t even thought about it. The way he’d grown up, and the number of times he’d answered that question must have drilled it into him.
“Baltimare isn’t all that far way though,” Applejack said. “It’s just past Canterlot. Maybe three or four days by train.”
Baltimare? What in the world was going on here? Was it a pun on Baltimore, or maybe a mispronunciation due to the accent known to local Baltimoreans as Balmerese?
Granny Smith perked up a little bit. “Didja say Baltimare or Balty-more?” The way Granny put it, the differences sounded as clear as day. Apparently, Granny’s hearing wasn’t as bad as she pretended.
“Baltimore,” Silver said, trying to put the same emphasis on the last syllable that Granny had.
“Never heard of a Balty-more before. It must be pretty far away,” Granny said. “What cities are near Balty-more dearie?”
Silver felt that this was more of an interrogation than a casual dinner conversation. Maybe he should have lied or kept his mouth shut, but the cat was out of the proverbial bag, and so he’d just keep telling the truth for the time being. At least, as much of the truth as he could without giving too much away. Who knew, maybe he could get a clue about where he was and what was going on with his Unicorn body. These ponies had been so kind to him that he would feel bad if he lied to them outright. “It’s about an hour away from Washington and…” Silver had to think a little bit. He’d been away from home long enough that he was having trouble with city names.
“Washington? Sounds like the name of some famous pony or somethin’!” Apple Bloom piped up. Silver realized that Apple Bloom might be smarter than she seemed, and being able to pick up that the name Washington had some significance was not an easy feat.
“Washington is the Capitol city where I’m from.”
“Wow! You’re not even from Equestria then mister! No wonder you’d never had daisies before!” Apple Bloom was more correct that Silver wanted to admit. Luckily he didn’t have to as Apple Bloom continued, “ The capitol of Equestria is Canterlot.”
Silver grinned a bit, noticing how much Apple Bloom sounded like a student answering a teacher’s question in school. As he thought for a moment, he realized that the names of places here sounded like ponified puns of actual places back home. First there was Baltimore/Baltimare, and now Canterlot. That could almost be Camelot from the legends of King Arthur, and if wanted to venture a guess, Las Pegasus would probably be Las Vegas. He didn’t notice the look of confusion on his face. But others did.
Granny Smith looked like she thought that Silver was insane, and Applejack had to admit that the look on Silver’s face didn’t do much to dispel the notion. Applejack was starting to put the pieces together. When she’d met him, he seemed startled that she was a pony, and had almost gone into shock when he found out he was a pony too. Then there was the freak out when he found out he had a horn. That part had actually been a little amusing. Now the places he’s talking about sound like puns of Equestrian cities. It was entirely possible that he’d gone crazy or had amnesia or something like that, but hadn’t Phantom come from another world? Fluttershy and Phantom both had mentioned something about Phantom going through something similar when he’d first gotten here. That had been a couple of months ago, and while Phantom was doing fine now, he’d been lost and confused when he’d first gotten here.
Silver was still trying to figure things out, such as what he could and couldn’t talk about. He was literally lost in his thoughts. Only Applejack’s voice broke him out of it.
“Granny, I believe him.” Applejack said with a tone of finality.
The rest of the Apples turned and looked at Applejack. It wasn’t often that she used that tone. She really meant it.
“It’s not all that uncommon for ponies to come here from other places? Twilight’s from Canterlot, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are from Cloudsdale. Why shoot, Zecora is from another country all together.” Applejack could have kept going on, but Big Mac raised a hoof to silence her.
“Well if Applejack believes ya, then I believe ya. Never known her to be wrong about people.” Granny Smith’s words of praise brought a bit of a flush to Applejack’s cheeks.
Silver was relieved to hear that. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to lie to them after all. If they’d kept asking him questions about his life, he’d slip eventually and tell them all that he wasn’t originally a pony.
“So, since you’re not from around these parts, where are ya staying?” Granny said kindly. Finally the questions were less interrogation like. But this brought up a good point. Silver had not thought about that at all. He’d been more concerned with getting a handle on what was happening to him than worrying about what he’d do now that it had happened to him. The reality hit him hard. He was a foreigner in this place, with no money, and completely dependent on the kindness of strangers.
“I don’t have any place to stay yet.” Silver’s voice was dripping with the sadness and self pity that he suddenly felt. “I don’t have any money to get a place either.”
Apple Bloom was the first to break the sudden stifling silence. “Granny, couldn’t he stay here with us?” Apple Bloom’s generosity was touching and Granny suddenly smiled. She leaned over and whispered something almost conspiratorially to Apple Bloom who only giggled.
“I think that’s a great idea.” Granny said. “Silver, you’ll stay with us.”
Silver shook his head. As overcome by the generosity of the offer as he was, he still wouldn’t feel right just accepting it. It was something his mother had taught him, that you never take anything for free, you always pay your dues.
“No, I insist,” Granny Smith said. She was a quick old mare, and realized Silver’s hesitation almost immediately. “Of course you’d have to help us with the Harvest though. With Big Mac bein’ hurt, he can’t buck those trees, and I’m getting a little too old for such work.”
Silver smiled and nodded. “That’s fine by me.” Now he had a place to stay and hopefully food for a couple more days, and he wouldn’t just be taking, he’d be paying for his room and board in a way. He was starting to like it here, especially being around Applejack. Not out of a feeling of safety or to avoid loneliness like he had earlier, but as a person. Silver didn’t realize it but thinking of them all as people rather than some strange kind of pony creature was helping him deal with the situation. They might look different on the outside, but they weren’t all that different from the people back home. Maybe they were a little nicer, but that was just the icing on the cake.
Silver was still confused about how and why he was here, and why he had become a Unicorn of all things. So far the only other unicorn that he’d seen was that purple unicorn that had visited Applejack earlier that afternoon. Of course there had also been her dragon, Spike. Of all the things that could actually exist, he’d never actually dreamed that Unicorns or Dragons would be real. He also thought that they’d said something about Pegasi earlier too. Silver’s mind raced, hoping that other mythological creatures, like Griffons, Manticores, Minotaurs, or Hydras, didn’t exist in this world too.
“Hey, I was wondering, but I thought you said earlier that Pegasi existed a minute ago?” Silver looked a little confused. The entire Apple Family just stared at him for a minute.
“Yeah. There are three kinds of pony. Earth ponies like us, Unicorns like you with the horn, and Pegasi with wings.” Applejack stated matter-of-factually. The thought that Silver was another one like Phantom was starting to make more and more sense to Apple Jack.
“Didn’t they have Pegasi where you came from?” Apple Bloom asked.
Silver shook his head. “No, where I’m from we don’t really have Pegasi.” Apple Bloom’s look was a mixture of horror and confusion. Silver wanted to explain further but had no idea how to go ahead without spilling the beans. He was rescued by Granny serving up more of the meal. Apples with a side of hay.
“Eat it while it’s hot. It tastes terrible cold.” Granny smiled and dug into her plate, eating ferociously. Silver suppressed a laugh, Granny was acting like somepony was going to steal her food from her. Silver looked down at his own plate and sighed. Hay. He was really in for it now. Well, in for a penny, in for a dollar, and with his earlier potato analogy fresh in his mind, he dug in.
The taste and texture of the Hay were a little different than he’d expected, but not altogether unpleasant. The feeling of fullness was the same however, and he found himself wondering if they had hay fries. The roasted apples were what he expected, although he felt somehow that he’d never had a more perfect roast apple. The insides of the apple were soft, the outside crunchy, and the sugars had caramelized just enough to give the apple a slightly tan color inside. He finished his plate last, having enjoyed every bite, even of the things he wasn’t too sure about. Silver felt stuffed. As meals went, this had been one of the best he’d had in a long time. Never mind the part about it being an actual home cooked meal. Granny got up and went back into the kitchen, and Silver waited patiently. He had no idea what was about to happen to him.
“Now fer some Apple Pie!” Granny cried out joyously as she came out of the kitchen with a tray of steaming apple pies. Silver’s mind came to a complete stop. Had she said apple pie? It didn’t matter to him if it was American apple pie, or some kind of odd pony variant, it was apple pie! It was a far cry from the dry pound cake that was occasionally in the MREs he’d been eating. It was true that the Marines often looked forward to the dryish semi-cake as it was one of the few parts of the MRE that didn’t taste like dog food. It was a dryish lump of food like substance that had been sitting in some government storehouse for the better part of a decade. Only three weeks ago, Silver had gotten an MRE with a bag of M&Ms from the 2000 Olympics.
Silver had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t noticed Granny put a whole pie right in front of him. He took a deep breath, and the aroma of fresh apple pie invaded his nostrils. Silver didn’t wait, he dug in fast as lightning. He was lucky that he had remembered to use his silverware, and not started going in like a pig. Apple Bloom and Applejack both giggled, and he looked up, mouth full of pie.
“Apple Pie is my favorite.” Silver said only a bit before going after it again. Applejack said it was good to hear, but Silver didn’t really hear that part. He had an insane idea. He must have died back in that explosion and this was some kind of insane heaven. As he thought back to the last few minutes before the explosion, he tried to figure out if there had been anything about the machine that could maybe explain this. There hadn’t been any strange markings or advanced technology that could have transported him. It was just a device that seemed like it was used in manufacturing explosives, although it had also apparently been rigged with a bomb that blew when he’d started tinkering with it. So there was the explosion and then here. So he was either dead or dreaming. Since he could barely get a grip on this world, and he’d hurt himself trying to buck that tree, that eliminated the dreaming part. Great, so he was dead. Maybe he was like Cthulhu, dead but dreaming. Either way trying to figure it out would give him a headache, so he’d better just accept that this was real for the time being.
Before he’d realized it, everyone had finished their apple pie, and Applejack and her sister were clearing the table. Big Mac, who’d been silent for a good part of the meal moved over and looked hard at silver.
“You look like there’s something on your mind.” Big Mac’s voice was strong and powerful, deep and resonating. Even though he spoke slowly, it seemed like it was more from wisdom than actual stupidity.
Silver looked back and replied, “Just trying to start some things out. It’s an unusual situation for me, and a lot of things are new.”
“Seems like where you’re from is rather far away. If you’re having some trouble adjusting, take a couple of days before going into town. You might need some time before you’re comfortable around other ponies. We get a few here, mostly friends of Applejack or Apple Bloom, but they’re easy enough to get along with.” Silver just nodded. There was a weight behind Big Mac’s words, as if he had the wisdom of seeing the world, and accepting it all for what it was. “I want to say Silver, that I appreciate you helping us with the harvest. Ever since I hurt my leg, we’ve needed all the help we can get. It’s mighty kind of you to help us when you don’t have to.”
“It’s not a problem at all. I’m just glad for the opportunity to help.”
“When the unexpected happens, you have to take things as they come, and work through them one day at a time.” Big Mac waved his injured leg a little bit. “I have to wait for this leg to heal, but I’m tryin’ to do all that I can til the doc clears me to start bucking again. I think for you, that you should just take each day as it comes until you’ve had the chance to sort everything out in your head.”
Silver nodded at the sagely advice from Big Mac. He was right of course. Taking each day as it came would give Silver the chance to work through things and keep from freaking out. Well, he wouldn’t freak out unless something big happened, like apples appearing out of nowhere in front of him. Big Mac had turned to leave, but just before he hobbled out of the room, he turned back.
“Just to give you a little bit of warning, a couple of Applejack’s friends are coming over to help with the harvest tomorrow. One’s a unicorn like you, the other two are pegasi. I know how Applejack can be, and I don’t think that she’d think to mention it, so there ya are. You know, the one who’s coming tomorrow, Twilight is pretty smart, I bet she could help you figure out what is going on.”
Silver blinked, realizing that Twilight was the Unicorn he’d seen earlier today. That also meant that Spike the dragon would probably be coming with her too. “Thanks, I’ll ask her.” Silver was really grateful to Big Mac for all the advice, and the heads up about the new ponies he’d be meeting tomorrow.
“Eeyup,” Was all Big Mac said as he left. As he left, Applejack came back in.
“Well, we all best be gettin’ off to bed. Got an early day tomorrow.” Applejack walked right over to Silver. “Let me show ya where you’ll be stayin’ tonight.” Silver followed Applejack to a small but comfortable looking bedroom. “Here’s a spare room that you can use. I reckon you’ll be welcome here as long as you need to stay, judgin’ from the way Granny was talkin’ bout you.”
Silver couldn’t help but notice that there was a smile on Applejack’s face, and unconsciously he started to smile too.
“Alright. I’ll see you in the morning. And thank you for everything.”
Applejack blushed. “Yer welcome Sugar Cube. I’ve got a friend who’s pretty smart, the book-worm type, who might be able to help straighten out what’s going on with you.”
“I hope so,” said Silver. “Just figuring out what is going on would help put my mind at ease.”
Applejack nodded. “I hope so, sugarcube. Well, g’nite.”
“Night,” Silver replied as Applejack left and closed the door behind her. Silver thought for a few minutes as he tried to find a comfortable position on the bed. He was used to sleeping on his back, but that didn’t exactly work now. Once he’d gotten comfortable, he thought about the day. It hadn’t been all that bad, and he really liked Applejack. He hoped he wasn’t about to start falling for a pony, but if he had to, Applejack wouldn’t be all that bad. Cowboy hat and all, she was really nice, and he’d always had a thing for blonds. Whatever else he thought about would remain a mystery to him as sleep took him that night and carried him on to tomorrow.
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Silver Wrench is adapting, and
already is starting to like him.
Always pleased when another chapter comes out, though I really hope you don't peter out like some authors do :)
537241
Don't worry I already Drafted 3 more chapters and after Lt Bubbles makes sense of my writing and edits them for spelling, grammar, dialog, content It will go up. Some how I keep writing at one section of the story the name Apple Dash instead of Apple Jack.
537341
LOLS
I kept making similar mistakes while working on part 3: Some more hilarious ones follow::::
With that last one, i don't even....
I feel sick....