Chapter 9
John stared at the cover of the comic book that his mother had placed before him. Johnny Appleseed. John Apple. Sure, the names were incredibly similar, he had always known that, but it was just a coincidence. It had to be.
“Excuse me, but could I take a look?” He was brought out of his thoughts by the voice of the purple unicorn.
“Hmm? Oh, sure thing, Miss..?”
“Twilight Sparkle. I’m the one who found you outside the Everfree Forest and brought you to the hospital.”
“Ah, right. Thanks fer that.” He said as he passed the comic to her.
“Don’t mention it.” She answered with a smile before examining the comic, flipping through it after she had enough of the cover. “So...is this what you looked like as a human?”
“More or less.” He admitted somewhat hesitantly. She probably thought that he was crazy now. To be honest, he thought he was crazy too.
“Fascinating. It mentions something about being inspired by a world of humans through a mirror. Maybe that’s where John came from.”
A world of humans through a mirror? That was absolutely ridiculous. Part of John's mind began to wonder if this really was a dream after all.
“Hold on, missy!” Granny cut in. “That’s jus’ a legend, it says so right in the book!”
Twilight’s eyes rose from the comic long enough just long enough to answer. “So was Nightmare Moon.”
“Um...do you think Princess Celestia might know something about it?”
“I don’t know, Fluttershy, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. I’ll have Spike send a letter for me when we get back to the library.”
“Hmph!” Granny huffed. “Yer all barkin’ up the wrong tree. Honeycrisp probably jus’ bumped his head an’ got his memories mixed up.”
“Maybe,” Twilight conceded the possibility as she finally set the comic book back into its box, “but that wouldn’t explain where he’s been all these years. There’re still the glowing creatures that Big Macintosh mentioned to look into too, and I’d like to run a few experiments on John himself.”
“Ya wanna what now?” John asked as his eyes widened. He really didn’t like the sound of that.
“Ah’m not all that keen on ya experimentin’ on my father,” Applejack came to his aid, “even if he may not really be my father.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine, and it may give us some answers.”
“Well...if yer sure—“ John began.
“Wonderful!” Twilight exclaimed as she latched onto John with a hoof, interrupting him.
“Hey now, what’re ya—“
Applejack’s objections were cut off by a sudden popping noise and the sensation of being dragged across a great distance very suddenly only to come to an equally sudden stop. As the world came back into focus after seemingly being stretched into infinite, Twilight’s hoof removed itself from his shoulder and John fought against the urge to retch.
“Spike?!” Twilight shouted as she trotted out of the relatively dimly lit room. “Spike?! I need you to send a letter to the Princess!”
As his protesting stomach began to settle, John took stock of his new surroundings. A machine that looked straight out of a cheesy science fiction movie dominated the space. It was huge, at least twice as tall as he was and just as wide as it was tall. It was covered with all sorts of buttons and screens, and several ominous looking wires were protruding from its side. There wasn't really much else in the room beyond a desk with some writing implements and a few books. How did he get here? Where was everyone else?
John took a few shaky steps towards the door that Twilight had just left from and peered outside. He appeared to be on the second floor of some kind of library if all the books lining the shelves that he spied down a nearby staircase were any indication, likely the one that his captor had mentioned earlier. As he grumbled over being placed so near some back breaking stairs again, he heard Twilight’s voice drifting towards him from below.
“Dear Princess Celestia. Do you remember that pony I mentioned finding in my last letter? Well, it turns out...”
John chose to ignore the unicorn as she continued voicing her letter aloud. It would be rude to listen in on somebody else’s mail, even if it was about him. He turned away from the door and went back to examining the machine. He had absolutely no idea what such a thing could be used for, nor did he know how it could have possibly fit through the door. Either it had to be transported much like he had been earlier, or it would have to have been assembled on location. Any and all mental images he had of a deranged scientist building the device and ransoming the world for unimaginable amounts of money were just examples of his imagination getting the better of him. That he refused to touch the machine had absolutely nothing to do with the possibility of it being a doomsday device that he could set off with the slightest prodding.
“There you are!” John jumped at Twilight’s loud re-entrance.
“Ah’m right where ya left me.” He grumbled in response as he tried to slow his racing heart.
“I know! Most ponies try to leave when I bring them here!”
“Well, ah didn’t.” He stated flatly. He refused to admit that he probably would have made a run for it too had he not had to go down some stairs to do so. “Now what are ya gonna do to me?”
With a sudden jerk, John found himself lifted into the air, and his back protested tremendously over the sudden movement.
“Oops, sorry. I’ll try to be more gentle.” Twilight apologized upon seeing him wince in pain.
She set him softly next to the end of the machine with the plethora of wires coming out of it. With an admonishment not to move, she began attaching the ends of them to various parts of his body until he felt less like a pony and more like some sort of weird octopus. Just as he thought he couldn’t feel any more ridiculous, Twilight placed what appeared to be a big, metal, wired colander on top of his head and latched it solidly in place with a chin strap. Seemingly finished with her task, she flipped a switch on the machine, causing it to fire up with a whirring sound which was accompanied by the occasional beep.
“There! Now you just need to sit still for awhile while the machine scans you, it shouldn't take long. In the mean time, I’ll look into those purple creatures that Big Mac saw.”
Just as Twilight turned to leave him alone again, the sound of a door crashing open in the distance filled the air.
“Twilight!” An incensed Applejack screamed from the source of the crashing door. “Where are ya?”
Twilight winced. “Oh...she doesn’t sound happy.” She poked her head out of the room, “I’m up here, Applejack, and so is John!”
The thundering of hooves charging up the stairs was followed by Applejack barging into the room, nearly running right over Twilight who barely managed to get out of the way in time. She was covered in sweat from running all the way from Sweet Apple Acres, though her steady breathing displayed her superb endurance. She glared at her friend when she saw the nearly unrecognizable form of John beneath a dense forest of wires.
“What the hay do ya think yer doin’ takin’ my dad like that without even warnin’ us?”
Twilight chuckled nervously. “Oh...ummm...I just thought it would be important to get answers as soon as possible.” AJ’s glare intensified. “Okay, fine, I was excited by the prospect of examining a potentially alien life form.”
“Ya can’t do this sorta thing, Twi. Even if he ain’t really a pony, that’s no excuse to treat him any different from one.”
“Oh, come on, he’s fine!” Twilight assured AJ. “Isn’t that right, John?”
As tempted as he was to say no out of annoyance over her attitude, he really was okay and didn’t think it would be a good idea to start lying again so soon after he came clean from his last one, so he nodded.
“Hey! I told you not to move!” Twilight chastised him, much to the irritation of both present Apples. “Anyway, I’m going downstairs to look for my copy of Animals of the Everfree, I’ll be right back. Make sure he doesn’t move until it’s finished scanning him, okay?”
John watched helplessly as the unicorn once again left the room. Being forced to remain still was doing a number on him, he had never before wanted to go for a run more than he wanted to right now. His back was beginning to ache too, and if that wasn’t enough, his hind left leg had fallen asleep. No matter how much he wanted to move, the humming and infrequent beeps from the machine served as a reminder for him to stay still. At least his nose didn’t itch.
After a couple minutes of silence, due in part to John not being allowed to talk, Applejack wandered up to the machine he was connected to and looked it over.
“Ah wonder what this thing does.” Applejack pondered aloud as she poked a corner of the machine with a hoof, eliciting an eye twitch from the immobile John. Moments later, the whirring of the machine began to crank up in volume, getting louder and higher pitched with every second and sounding almost as if it were going to explode. AJ took an involuntary step back as she looked over to John with widened, panic filled eyes. Practically stumbling over her hooves, she dashed towards him.
“We gotta get outta here!” She hollered as John tripped over the cords emanating from him in his struggle to get away. AJ helped him to his hooves and was about to tear that which had entrapped him from his body, but she froze when the roar of the machine stopped, replaced by a soft hiss and then silence. The two ponies stared with trepidation at the now quiet device.
“Ah think ya broke it.” John stated. Applejack turned back to him, still tense from their recent scare.
“How was ah supposed to know it was so fragile? All ah did was give it a little tap!”
The two stayed silent for a few seconds longer until John suddenly began to chuckle and, despite her protests that it wasn’t funny, Applejack soon joined him. Their laughter grew until they had to lean on each other for support to avoid falling to the floor.
Gradually, their convulsive laughter died down and the two were left cleansed from the stress of their perceived near death experience. Once he had been able to catch his breath, John started plucking the wires from his body.
“Better?” He asked her as he wiped a tear from his eye.
“Yup.” She confirmed with a relaxed smile. “Ah’m sorry fer how ah’ve been treatin’ ya these last couple o’ days.”
“An’ ah’m sorry ah didn’t tell ya the truth ‘bout who ah really am earlier.”
“Ah guess we’ve both not been at our best recently.” AJ observed with a thoughtful frown.
“Maybe we can both start over?”
Applejack’s nodded. “Ah think ah’d like that.”
The two of them sat there, avoiding eye contact in awkward silence, unsure of where to go from there.
“So...” AJ finally piped up. “What was yer life like livin’ as a human?”
A frown settled onto the older pony’s face. “Ah wish ah could say it was great, but ah’d be lyin’. Ah did try to kill myself an’ all.”
“Ah meant before what made ya do that.”
John closed his eyes and leaned his head back as he tried to remember details of his prior life. It was all so blurry in his mind, as if he were looking at his life through a foggy night.
“Ah can’t remember too much. Ah owned the family farm an’ ah’d run it fer a couple dozen years, maybe. It was my life. Everythin’ ah cared ‘bout was on that farm.”
“An’ ya didn’t have no family? Not me, or my siblings?” John shook his head sombrely. “What ‘bout Mom?”
“Ah never even talked to Rosewood.”
“But ya knew her? She existed?” John nodded. “Why didn’t ya talk to her?”
“We were in school together, but ah was too shy to say anythin’. Before ah could work up the nerve, she ended up dead in an accident.”
Applejack looked away with a frown on her face and her ears plastered to her skull. Silence fell between the two for a few moments. Her eyes lit up and she turned back to John.
“What ‘bout those animals ya said ya had? The ones named after us?”
John smiled at the memory of his horses. “Ah had three horses an’ they were named Mack, Jackie an’ Blossom. Blossom was jus’ a foal, but she was a right curious sort.” He chuckled. “Funny thing is that ah saw them as somethin’ akin to my children. Ah sure hope they’re okay.”
“Ah’m sure they miss ya jus’ as much as we miss our own Dad.”
Silence fell again, though it was considerably less strained, even if no less sad. John looked to the door that Twilight had gone through.
“If it turns out that ah’m right ‘bout me not bein’ yer father an’ that ah’m really a human...well...ah don’t have much reason to try an’ go back home. Ya think maybe that ah could stay on here with y'all? Ah mean, ah know ah’m not really yer father, but maybe ah could still be some kind of family to ya?”
“What ‘bout those animals ya were talkin’ ‘bout? Don’t they need ya?"
John shook his head. “Ah left ‘em with Jacobs, remember? They’ll be taken care of jus’ fine.”
Applejack smiled warmly and slid her forelegs around his neck in an embrace. “Ah think we could arrange somethin’.”
Their tender moment was interrupted by the return of Twilight Sparkle, causing the pair to separate hastily.
“Ah! It’s done! I thought I heard it finishing up!”
“Done? That’s what it sounds like when it’s done? Ah thought that thing was gonna blow us up to Cloudsdale!” Applejack exclaimed.
“Why would you think that? I keep all of my machines in impeccable working condition to ensure that they never break down on me!” She boasted. “To think that one of them might explode again is just plain silly!”
“Again?” John’s voice cracked as he honed in on that one troubling word.
“Oh look! It’s done!” Twilight blushed and quickly changed the subject by manner of repeating herself as she trotted over to one of the machine’s monitors and tapped a few buttons, causing it to light up. “Time to check the results!”
The other two ponies stared at Twilight impatiently as she mumbled to herself while reading the results of the experiment.
“So...What’s it say?” John spoke up hesitantly, almost afraid of what the answer may be.
Twilight looked away from her work. “I can’t be sure, but a cursory glance at the results seems to indicate he’s pretty normal. I’d need to do a more in depth comparison to be sure, but so far he seems like any other pony.”
“So he’s really my dad?”
“Not necessarily.” Twilight answered. “It could just be that whatever turned him into a pony was very thorough.”
AJ raised an eyebrow. “If it didn’t prove nothin’, then why’d ya bother with all this in the first place?”
“Well, if it had shown he wasn’t like other ponies, then that would have been very enlightening.” AJ groaned in frustration at her friend’s answer.
“What ‘bout that book ya were lookin’ fer? Did that have anythin'?” John interrupted before his daughter’s annoyance had a chance to grow even further.
Twilight shook her head. “I’m afraid I didn’t find anything there.”
“Are ya sure? Ya can’t have looked through all of it, ya weren’t gone that long.” He added, causing Twilight’s face to scrunch up.
“It’s a really short book.” She stated with distaste. “It’s so incomplete that I’ve seen foal’s picture books with more information in them.”
“Oh...Ah see.”
From somewhere just outside the door, a belching sound could be heard, and moments later, Spike walked into the room carrying a scroll of parchment.
“Twilight! The Princess answered your letter!”
“Well, that was fast.” Twilight commented as she snatched the letter from Spike’s claws with her magic and scanned its contents.
“What’s it say?” Applejack inquired.
“Huh...she says that there really is a way to get to the human world through a mirror that she has in the Canterlot treasury and even that those who travel through it transform into the natural inhabitants of the world they are entering.”
“So, that’s how ah got here?”
Twilight’s eyes flew across the page a few seconds longer before she shook her head. “I’m afraid not. She says it only opens up once every twenty eight moons and isn't due to open for several moons yet.”
“Oh.” John said, more than a little disappointed that such a promising avenue for proving he wasn’t just crazy had been closed to him. “So the answer after all this ruckus is jus’ ‘we don’t know’?”
“Maybe at the moment, but we haven’t finished looking into those glowing creatures yet.”
“But ah thought yer book didn’t have nothin’ on ‘em.”
“It doesn’t.” She admitted to him.
“Then how do ya plan on findin’ anythin’ more on ‘em?” He asked, tensing up as he had an inkling as to what the next step was.
“We’re going to go see somepony who knows more about the Everfree Forest than anypony else!”
John sighed with relief. He had feared that she had planned on taking him into that forest or something. He learned not to be so quick to relax, however, with Twilight Sparkle’s next words.
“You’ve got tonight to prepare, everypony. Tomorrow we’re going into the Everfree!”
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Okay, that was hilarious.
'Again', Twilight? Yeah, there is something a little... concerning about your word choices there, I'll have to admit
Send the Princess a question about the friendly blue glowing critters too, while you're at it. Johnny took remarkably well to Twilight's sudden foalnapping and teleport, and her mad scientist grade device, I must say.
Nice update! Glad to see him and AJ had a moment. I hope he stays.
I have a question, is this the same machine that she used on Pinkie? If so that can't be 'upstairs' as you said that would have to be in the basement as that's where it was and the only place that seemed to have the room for it. The upstairs in the show looked to be living areas like her bedroom and bathroom areas while the basement held all her science stuff.
7291955
Ah, I suppose that's a potential issue. It's been awhile since I had seen that episode. The machine was certainly inspired by that one. I'm not going to get too horribly concerned about the contradiction here, a slight modification to the layout of the library isn't that big a deal I don't think.
I suppose it wouldn't change much to have it be in the basement. Though he finds going downstairs worse than up, he still doesn't much like going up, either.
Isn't Twilight an alicorn in this story?
7295077
A quick check of the very first chapter shows to me a description of Twilight as a unicorn, so unless I screwed up somewhere in the middle and called her an alicorn, she's always been a unicorn in this story.
It's supposed to be set somewhere after the season two finale and before the season 3 finale. I can't quite remember if it was before or after the season 3 premiere.
7295136 Ah, ok. I can't remember if you specifically mentioned she was an alicorn in any of the previous chapters. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention.
Aaaaaand, into favorites.
And that’s why Twilight kinda scares me!!