stranded

by johntheanimefan

chapter 2: laying low

Chapter 2
Laying Low

The changeling awoke once more, this time in late afternoon, and also to three more faces joining the one from before. One much younger, one male and around the same age, and finally a much older woman. All three looked down at him, concern painting their features. “Ah think he’s wakin up sis,” said the youngest one.

“Glad to have ya back amongst the livin, young’n,” said the eldest. “Ya had us worried there for a second.”

The changeling sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and groaning. “whe-where am I?” he asked.

“Easy,” said the male, who kept the changeling from making any sudden moves.

“Yeah, you were pretty banged up back there,” said the young lady from before. “My name’s Applejack, it’s nice to meet you. Now, what’s your name?”

The changeling looked at Applejack and grunted out. “Grey Ash, my name is Grey Ash. Can I have a mirror, please?”

“Sure, here ya go,” said applejack, who reached for a mirror on a nearby desk. Grey took the mirror and looked into it to examine his new features. Grey hair, fitting. A touch of freckles across his nose. Green eyes, lightly tanned skin. Grey was unsure if this was an appealing appearance, given his unfamiliarity with the species. But it was as good a form as any.

“Thank you. But you still haven’t answered my question. Where am I?” he asked.

“You’re on our farm,” said Applejack. “Sweet apple acres. This is mah family, Applebloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith.”

Seemed wherever he landed kept equestria’s strange fixation on naming. “I see,” Grey said. “Not to sound ungrateful, but why did you save me? You owe me nothing, you don’t even know me. Why waste your medical supplies on a complete stranger?”

“Now what kinda hoo haw question is that?” asked Granny smith just as Applejack was prepared to say the same. “We saved you because you were in trouble. You washed up from the river, lookin like you just had a kissin session with a missile. Of course we patched you up.”

Grey looked at Granny as she said this as if it were the first time he had ever heard such words. “Well, then…thank you,” he said.

“Oh never you mind,” Grany said with a wave of her hand. “Now then, you should be able to move in about an hour, give or take. I’ll whip up some breakfast for ya then.” Granny stood up and walked out of the room, beckoning Apple Bloom to follow. Big Mac, remembering the work he had to get done, also left, leaving Grey and Applejack alone.

“Don’t you have to leave as well?” Grey asked.

“You were at death’s door when I found ya,” Applejack replied. “Until you’re up n running, I ain’t leavin ya alone. Sides, I got nothin better to do.”

Grey laid back down, looking over at her. “Thanks. Also, sorry about the thing with the singing. I was…delusional.”

“Eh, it’s alright. I pride myself on my singing anyway, so I get asked to sing a lot.”

Grey smiled up at her. “You really do have a beautiful voice.”

A bit of red dusted over Applejack’s face as she chuckled sheepishly. “Well shucks, thank ya kindly. A-actually, I remember, I do have somethin that needs mah attention, I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Alright, I’ll be here,” said Grey as Applejack darted out of the room. Grey laid his head back on the pillow, wondering what had gotten into her.

------

Two days…

For two days Silver had been stuck here. His recklessness on the night of his arrival had come back to bite him, as it seemed the entire city was currently looking for him, and his face was on wanted posters on every street, forcing him to descend into the sewers for a hiding place. Well, he had to give these “humans” as they called themselves credit, they worked fast. In any case, Silver decided that, at least for now, he needed to find a way out of town and hide until the police were off his trail. Turned out the portal was in the courtyard of a school smack dab in the middle of town, so there was no way he was going to be able to get there without getting shot at. Best to just wait it out and then return. Once the police had cooled their heels, he’d come back, sneak over to the statue, and get the hell out of this world.

Besides, he thought to himself, there was no way that changeling survived his blast…right?

-------

Grey walked down the stairs from his room after donning some clothes left to him by Granny. They must have belonged to Big Mac, given the flannel pattern that he seemed rather fascinated with. They were adequate, though he didn’t see the point in such garments. He walked around without any clothes on all the time in equestria, hell ponies only dressed up on special occasions. But he decided to put up with it, after all, these people didn’t have to help him, the least he could do was adhere to their admittedly strange customs. Grey entered the living room, where he came into contact with one of the loveliest smells he had ever encountered. It was coming from the kitchen. He walked in to see Granny Smith setting the table.

She looked up and saw Grey walk in. “Ah, glad to see ya up n’runnin,” she said.

“Thank you,” Grey replied. “May I ask what that smell is?”

“Why don’t you sit at the table and find out?” Granny asked with a smile and a wink. Grey chuckled before sitting at the table. Granny walked to the door, opening it to call out to those outside. “Lunch is ready!” Applebloom rushed into the kitchen at top speed, while Big Mac walked in shortly afterward, wiping sweat from his brow.

“Where is Applejack?” Grey asked.

“Oh, she had a class assignment with her friends,” said Applebloom. “She should be back for dinner, though.”

“In the meantime,” said Granny. “Let’s eat!”

-------

“So, AJ,” said Sunset Shimmer, who was working at her laptop while sitting on her bed. “I hear you have a new guest at your house.” The girls had all come to Sunset’s house to work on an English paper together, and were all hard at work. Except for Pinkie, who was balancing three pencils on her nose…because pinkie

“Just until he gets back on his feet,” Applejack replied. “He was pretty banged up.”

“That poor dear, what do you suppose happened to him?” asked Rarity.

“I’d imagine it had somethin to do with that guy who was tearin up downtown last night.” Applejack turned to Twilight, who was hard at work on her computer. “Speakin of which, Twi, how’s Flash’s brother doin?”

Twilight pushed up her glasses, not even looking up. “I talked with Flash this morning. Bolt’s set to make a full recovery, but he’s going to be in the hospital for 2 more days.”

“Jeez,” said rainbow, who was thoughtlessly bouncing a ball against the wall. “He’s been in there for two days already, is he that beat up?”

“Well, getting tossed through a window and into the hood of a car hard enough to crush said hood and shatter the window will do that.”

“I guess,” Rainbow said before turning to Applejack. “Ya tried calling his family?”

“We couldn’t up until he woke up,” Applejack said with a shrug. “We only got his name this mornin. I imagine Granny’s gonna get right on that though, so he shouldn’t be there much longer.”

“So,” said Rarity as she sidled up to Applejack. “Is he cute?”

“A-a little bit, yeah,” Applejack replied, a blush washing over her cheeks.

“You gonna keep in touch?” asked Rainbow Dash

“We just met, I don’t even know all that much about him. So probably not.” It was then that Applejack’s phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered it. “Hey Big Mac, What’s up?”

------

Big mac leaned against the doorway of the kitchen, staring out into the fields of sweet apple acres, where he could see Applebloom teaching Grey how to play horse shoe. “Applejack,” he said. “I’ve been looking into our new house guest, and what I’ve found is interestin to say the least.”

“What did you find?” asked Applejack.

“Nothin,” he replied. “Not a single thing on Grey. No social security, no home address, no relations, not even a name in the phone book that fully lines up with the guy currently getting his butt whooped at horseshoe by applebloom. Simply put, the guy might as well not even exist.”

“You’re kiddin me, there has to be somethin on him.”

“If there is, I can’t find it. So, what should we do?”

“Well, keep an eye on him. I’ll think of somethin.”

“Alrighty. See ya.” Big mac hung up the phone and went back to watching Grey, who had just scored a point, prompting him to pump his fist into the air with excitement.

-----

“And that’s about the jist of it,” Applejack said, having explained the situation to her friends. She turned to Sunset. “So whaddya think? Think he may be from equestria?”

“It’s definitely looking that way,” Sunset replied. “Though it doesn’t explain who that guy was that was tearing up the city last night. Magic doesn’t usually work in this world.”

“I’d say that’s a bridge we can hold off on crossing for now,” Twilight said. “In the meantime, We should probably learn what we can about this Grey Ash, see if he’s dangerous or not.”

“Don’t worry, after this, I don’t plan on lettin him outta my sight,” Applejack said. She then saw Rarity wry smirk. Applejack went deadpan. “Oh you know what I mean.”

“It probably is best that you do it,” Twilight said. “Since you saved his life, he’s probably going to be more comfortable around you.”

“But keep us posted, just in case you need our help,” Sunset chimed in.

“Got it.”

“Uh guys,” said Pinkie, who hadn’t really been paying attention, but had now decided to lean into the group. “Isn’t this project due tomorrow?” With widened eyes of realization, the group rushed back to work.

-------

“And that makes ten points, I win again!” Applebloom shouted, bouncing around haphazardly.

Grey chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck. “Truly you are the master of horseshoe,” he said with a grin. The scamp was a handful, but she was a really fun handful.

Applebloom perked up when she heard a car rolling up. “Applejack’s home!” she said, running to the driveway. Grey followed after her, as applejack stepped out of her car.

“Hey sugarcube,” Applejack said, ruffling her sister’s hair. “Have fun today?”

“Yeah, though Grey sucks at horseshoe, we still had loads of fun.”

“Is that so?” asked applejack, sending Grey a smirk. Grey simply gave a good natured shrug. “Well, glad to see ya’ll getting along so well. Now go wash up, it’s almost time for supper.” Applebloom ran off back to the house, leaving Applejack and Grey. “Well if nothin else, Mr. Grey Ash, you’re certainly great with kids.”

“Something on which I pride myself,” Grey replied with a smile. His smile then dropped when he remembered his situation. “Look, I don’t mean to impose. I’ll be leaving pretty soon.”

“Do you have anywhere to go?” asked Applejack.

“Yes I do,” Grey lied. “I live in the next town over and-“

“Big mac did some digging,” Applejack interrupted. “Turns out as far as the internet is concerned, you don’t exist.” Grey’s eyes widened as he tried to think of an excuse, but Applejack stopped him once again. “Chill partner, It’s okay. You think you’re the first to come through that portal? Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Wait,” Grey said holding up his hand. “You know about the portal?”

“Me and my friends have had to deal with it in the past, so yeah. And don’t worry, you can stay here.”

“A-are you sure?”

“Positive. Now c’mon, I can smell dinner and I am starvin.” Applejack walked past him and headed for the house.

Grey turned around. “T-thank you ma’am,” he said, his cool veneer melting away. “Anything you need done around this farm, consider it done. I’ll make it up to you for this, I promise.”

“I’d say no need, but from the sound of it, your mind’s made up. But let’s eat first.” Grey caught up with Applejack, and the two walked to the house for dinner.

Author's Note:

Here's the second chapter, folks! Hope you like it. Meanwhile, I just hope I can finish this one. There probably wont be chapter 3 for a while, since I'm heading home to georgia after christmas and won't be back until the 3rd of january. But I'll get right back on the horse when I get home.

see you then!

Comments

[PonyJosiah13]

One question: which Twilight is this? Pony Twilight or Human "Science" Twilight?

[johntheanimefan]

6757784 human twilight

[Technovore]

I really like this story! Keep up the good work!

[johntheanimefan]

6802396 thanks, I will ^_^