Because Ponies Are the Size of Cats and They Love to Cuddle

by shortskirtsandexplosions

Sighs

"Hmmmm..." Applejack lies against my chest with a drunken smile plastered across her freckles. Two empty plastic snack bags lie on the floor beneath the couch. "This really is a prettiful movie..."

I giggle, stroking a hand down her head, mane, and hoodie. I lay on my back, glancing aside at the holo projection. "'Prettiful,' huh? That's a new one."

"Mmmm... reckon I'm full of nuggets like that."

"You're full of Chex Mix is what you are."

"What's this here flicker called again?" she asks.

I glance aside at the image of a shirtless young man undergoing hard physical training. His sweat glistens in aged, faded colors. "'Drunken Master,'" I say. "And—to be perfectly frank—I've never used 'prettiful' as a means as describing it. Or 'pretty' for that matter."

"Wow..." Applejack coos, snuggling tighter against me. She rests a cheek against my sternum to see the movie better. "How's he kickin' them people's heinies so dancer-like?"

"It's because Jackie Chan's drunk," I say. Then, a smirk. "Like you."

"Pfffft-hah hah hah!" She guffaws, slapping my chest with a well-toned hoof. "I am not drunk!" She smiles and shuts her eyes. "Salt just makes me relaxed..."

I'm too busy resisting the urge to cry from the hard swat to my chest. "Yeah, well..." I wheeze. "You're certainly h-healthy!"

"Ahem... b-beg yer pardon, darlin'."

I clear my throat as well, drying my eyes with a blink. "It's quite alright."

"Yer super sensitive there, aren't ya?"

"Aren't we all?"

"Heheheheh..." She chuckles. I feel every vibration of her tiny lungs through my tummy. "Y'know, some of the thangs you say are just so plum weird..."

"Yeah, and?"

"I dunno..." She nuzzles tighter against me, her breath wafting across my shirt. "It's... it's fine... everythang is just fine when I'm spendin' time here..."

I gently stroke behind one of her ears. "And when you're on the farm?"

"Hmmmm... a d-different kind of fine," she murmurs, her breaths growing longer and longer apart.

I glance aside at the film. Our hero is fighting a stick-wielding bully with a giant wine jug. "So... uhm... the picnic...?"

"Hmmmm?" Applejack's eyes are closed and she is smiling.

"You down for that? I mean, my friend Aynrandy will be there, and he'll definitely be bringing Maud. That's Pinkie's sister, right?"

"Mmmmmhmmmm..." Warm, warm freckles.

"Three or four other people beta-testing articles will be showing up. I bet there'll be a hand—er... a hoof-full of ponies you're bound to know."

"Mmmmmhmmmm..." Her fuzzy ears twitch involuntarily.

So I rub them gently between two fingers, smiling up at her. "And it'll be in a big green park. The trees might be fake—but the grass is real as it gets. Plenty of room to gallop around. I bet you'll feel like you're right at home! Aside from the purple sky, of course."

"Hmmmmmm..." She trills one last time, and then her muzzle hangs open ever so slightly, allowing for slumbering breaths to filter in and out of her tiny body.

I stare at her, rubbing her ears, then stroking along her cheek. She stirs slightly, then leans her chin against my shirt. A golden smile hangs off her face.

"AJ..." Silence. "AJ...?" I chuckle slightly. "Think maybe now's a good time for me to send you home to bed?"

She says nothing. She does nothing. She just exists in my arms.

I realize that I've brought both hands up, enfolding her. It's a very gentle embrace, like clutching a cloud... a very warm cloud that expands and contracts with tiny fragile undulations against my chest. She's like a present, in a way, wrapped in a soft felt hoodie with nowhere to go but dreamland.

"If I had known that some things in this universe could be so tiny and yet so full of life all at once," I hear myself murmur. A lump forms in my chest, and I feel like I've stolen her Element for a brief minute. "I would have gone out searching for it much, much sooner." I feel my eyes watering. "You think I'm really alive...?"

She doesn't have a response to that. How could she?

I sniffle. These are good tears. I tilt my head up until my nose brushes against the top of her golden mane. Is it a kiss? A nuzzle? I can't tell anymore. I'm glad that I haven't the need to.

"Good night, Applejack." I'm already tugging at the drawstrings to her article's hood. "May you find dreams that are somehow as adorable as you are."

She murmurs something, or maybe it's just my imagination. Either way, before she has a chance to stir, she vanishes.

I hug the empty jacket to my chest. It's suddenly a lot colder. Perhaps it always has been, but somehow I'm no longer startled by this realization. A strange, lingering bliss clings to me. There's a ringing in my voice, and it sounds an awful lot like the twang in her voice. I turn towards the flickering holo-projection, and I let loose a sob and a laugh all at once.

"You're right." A fractured grin. "It is 'prettiful.'"

I'm wait until Jackie Chan is done kicking someone's ass. Then, plugging the article in, I trudge towards the kitchen—sighing—for a long night of cleaning.

Comments

[Wacky]

A beautiful ending to a chapter. I've missed this series and glad it's updated.

...still waiting for that picnic though!

[Tatsurou]

...

[The Elusive Badgerpony]

3.bp.blogspot.com/-pfz4D-_wtlY/UOR2rBMLGSI/AAAAAAAAGmY/Npp5wC58deo/s1600/tumblr_ma0d9oDEs71r52o1u.gif

[Aatxe360]

[Neutral Mike]

Drunken Master, is still one of my favorite Jackie Chan movies.

I'm looking forward to the picnic.

[TheWannaBeWriter]

These ponies, man. They make you realize life is an ass without them.

[The Chronicler]

D'AWW!

[Dawn Stripes]

Hmm....wait a sec....knowing you....

I, Dawn Stripes, hereby call this plot twist. The pony is a lie!

That is, Applejack, Maud and every other beta-test 'world-traveler' is nothing more than a sophisticated tactile-holographic illusion created by the nefarious Professor as a psycho-social experiment upon the innocent citizens of Ganymede.
Or whatever moon it is we're standing on.
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. These people live in space, far away from the environment they evolved for. They live in a dense urban environment, with artificial supports of a hundred kinds. And thus the stresses of modern urban life are magnified tenfold into the future. The stresses must be immense. Clearly, a massive government program is underway in secret to find the ways to salve their broken psyches, and prevent massive social disorder. Here we see them investigating a chance to do this through an elegant story--a story passed on as the truth.

Recall that the Professor never asked about Applejack or the hoodie when our un-described hero came in. He was all about the mindset of the human subject. He's really interested in THAT because the beta-'testers' are in fact the real test.

Or I'm just completely spouting nonsense.

[PiMan]

4805208
That doesn't adequately explain the food that's been transported.
I accept that the professor may care more about the humans than the ponies, but I don't think either is any less real than the other.

[Chiroknu]

4805208

Not to push away at things- I just have a question for you. While this plot twist COULD work? It would have to explain why a holographic apple that AJ brought back with her, was able to be not only enjoyed but interacted with for things like the Thermal Expander and the like.
No food was interacted with until this update to the article happened, remember.

[Dirty Bit]

From adorableness to feels in a thrice

Haven't seen Drunken Master yet. Love the fighting style

[TheTownCrier]

It's clear to me they have feelings for one another. And it's adorable.

Keep up the good work.

[Lightning Bearer]

I'm not sure if Dawn Stripes is right or not - frankly, it doesn't seem to add up - but I agree that there is definitely more to this experiment than meets the eye.

That said, for now I'm content to enjoy the onslaught of cuteness.

[Noble Cause]

awwwwwwwww... this is beautiful...

Also, echoing the others about eagerness for picnic. I wanna see who shows up!

... ... I'm suddenly imagining Dash being one of them, and havoc ensuing.

[krad09]

..........................for a moment there I thought there might be a posibility that the protagonist was a robot for some reason, a very advanced robot

[Shumiry]

Suggestion! Take it or leave it!

I'm wait until

I think this should be "I wait until".

Aaaaaaaah so cute! I'm sitting in my cubicle grinning like a lunatic. Well I mean, I am a Lunatic, but, you know, you get what I'm saying! Just sweet and wonderful and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy and sad and cold all at the same time. The joy of having something so fantastic, and the pain of always being separated from it by that knowledge you can't go there. I think anyone who's every really been engrossed in a good story knows that feeling.

Well done indeed. I eagerly await your next installment.

Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!

[metallusionsismagic]

Ahh, filling us with excitement for what new ponies will be introduced. You sly devil.

Sighs does matter!

[Tineid]

My co-worker gave me a "what the heck?" look because my face just lit up when I saw new chapters had been added.
Three more chapters of warm fuzzy feelings

[Lerris]

Dammit. I want a cat sized pony to hug.

[pahnazd]

Adorableness and feels keep coming and I have no idea what to feel!
Can't wait for more
So, when's the picnic happening? It's bound to be awesome

[FanOfMostEverything]

So friggin' cute. Looking forward to more, especially if they ever get that pie made properly.

4805208
No, no. You're looking at it from the wrong angle. Consider the "You think I'm really alive...?" line. Clearly, humanity is extinct, Ganymede is actually a massive server farm, and the people here exist in a virtual reality.

[Dillo64]

4809656

And CelestAI is behind the whole thing!!! 0_0

[WorldWalker128]

4808328
Well there are the dolls you can buy at Walmart, but the head, in my opinion, is disproportionate to the body. The smaller ones about the size of a golden retriever's puppy, are closer in proportion.

[grayhound]

Wait he said "you think i'm really am Alive" in what sense of the word do you mean alive?
although It would explain why he hasn't called her out on her whole "i really like you more than a friend but i don't know how to tell you" thing. because he is a robot or clone or some stuff like that.

Man i love this fic.

[Chewed Pencil]

4809656 My mind... it hath been blown....

[Wacky]

4810671 That's a good attitude to have.

[DeathMetalDashie]

I figure here is as good a place as any to ask. I registered just to be able to do so. What the hell does "poni poni poni/poniponiponi" mean?
*recent convert to the wonderfulness of ponies, former hater extraordinaire*

[sandwich8]

4813638 yeah screw that.

[InMyMind]

4814134

It means 'pony', over and over again, forever.

[DeathMetalDashie]

4814778 I can't seem to reply to you from my pos phone, but thank you :3

[InMyMind]

4814871

No problem.

By the way, your reply did work. Fimfiction handles replies in a way that's a bit odd, and such might have confused you.

[DeathMetalDashie]

4814994 x3 its more that my phone browser doesn't always render everything correctly. I had to guess which button was the reply one x3

[paintom_phan]

4818684 It's a man-made structure. Even if it's mostly some nondescript spacefuture material, there's gonna be thousands of tonnes of steel involved.

[Aatxe360]

I just had a thought:

If ponies are the size of cats, aren't the apples they bring the size of plums?

[Lonelydarkness]

4827759 More like dates, or cherries.

I loved this chapter! It made me contract a fatal case of the feels- I have a month to live now.
YOU'VE KILLED ME, SHORTSKIRTSANDEXPLOSIONS! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!!!!11!!!ELEVEN!!

[RoboRed]

4845975
No, "lava cake".

Not that I don't appreciate the reference...

[Pony With A Box]

4878647
Precisely!

[PiercingSight]

*finishes chapter*
*quickly goes to check the status of the story*

Incomplete

Oh, thank goodness!

[Crusading Cutie]

"Yer super sensitive there, aren't ya?"

Given that AJ didn't thump him in the crotch I'm gonna take this as evidence that I was right and our protagonist is in fact a she.

[Pony With A Box]

NASA, this is next on your projects list: Hoodie that brings technicolor cat sized ponies from another world to this world.
I call dibs on first beta test.
Screw Mars, this is MUCH more important.

[Pony With A Box]

4905815
Well, considering AJ's strength, she may have hit him/her in the area between the ribs, so In my opinion, it could still be either.

[Grabnock]

4952083 Solar Plexus. While you can tense up and use muscles to absorb the impact pretty much anywhere else, that's a kinda weak spot.

It's gonna hurt if you get hit there.

[Pony With A Box]

4980232
Yeah, that.

[arch]

Somehow, I have a feeling that the other two ponies in the picnic also are Earth ponies...
just saying.

[Aatxe360]

Emergency! Applejack Cuddle Capacity at Dangerously Low Levels! Needs Imminent Updating!

[Dustchu]

Awww man, this is sad, but awesome!
Nice job once more SS&E

[arancaytar]

I realize that I've brought both hands up, enfolding her. It's a very gentle embrace, like clutching a cloud... a very warm cloud that expands and contracts with tiny fragile undulations against my chest.

This kills the reader.