Rise and Shine

by ZettaGolden

Apple bucking sounds gross..

“And what do you want to be when you grow up, James?”

“A hero!” I shout with all the confidence in the world, looking her right in the eyes as I say it.

She just chuckles, shakes her head, and walks away to talk to the next student.

I frown as I watch her interrogate her second grade class about their dreams and aspirations. I don’t understand why she doesn’t believe me. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. I’ve known it for days. Ever since I got my Nintendo, actually. Saving princesses, slaying monsters, dodging traps… It just felt right. Oh well. She’ll see. When a giant gorilla comes and abducts her, she’ll see who shows up to save her.

They’ll all see…

I’m at home, watching as my father enters the door with a weird look on his face. He stands in the doorway for a second, staring at me, and then breaks down in tears. I don’t understand what the problem is. Death is a foreign concept to a seven year old.

It’s my eighth birthday, my father doing his best to make the day memorable without mom or Jessica. I laugh, I smile, I pretend to be having a good time. I couldn’t break dad’s heart by telling him that without the rest of the family, things just weren’t the same. Later that day, he gives me a present. It’s a Nintendo game, The Legend of Zelda. I smile, say thank you, and immediately start playing it. It’ll be good to escape to another world, where I don’t have to pretend all the time.

That night, I have a dream. Mom and Jessica are standing in front of me. We’re in the huge church that their funeral was in. They’re both so pale, and the details of their face are fuzzy. I can feel their stares on me, hollow and invasive.

“Why didn’t you save us?” They rasp, low and disconcerting.

I feel so frustrated; all I want to do is bring them back to dad and me. But I know that there’s nothing I can do. No one can save them, now. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I can’t…”

“But James…” Comes the low rasp, “I thought you were a hero?”

I can’t take it anymore, and I start to cry. Suddenly, I’m awake in my bed. Dad runs in. He must have heard me. Sits on my bed and brings me into a tight hug, my tears soaking his t-shirt. We stay like that for almost half an hour, moonlight pouring onto my bed through a gap in my drapes.

“James… I love, so, so much," He finally says after a long silence, broken only by my sobs. "You’re the most important person in the world to me.”

“I love you too, dad.”

I can feel his chest heaving against my head, which is pressed tight against it. I can tell he’s trying not to cry, too. He misses them just as much as I do, maybe even more. He always tries to stay so strong in front of me, but I heard him crying in his room, when he thought I wasn’t around. Losing his wife and daughter broke him. I’m scared I can’t save him either

I’m suddenly wide awake. I grit my teeth and keep my eyes squeezed shut, desperate to not let any tears escape me. Thoughts of my father sitting alone in our home, staying up all night long, wondering where his son has gone, flood into my mind. Losing me is probably killing him.

I roll over in the bed that’s slightly too small for my body, and shove my face into a pillow that’s slightly too small for my head. I imagine my father waiting desperately at the kitchen table, hoping to God that I come home. I picture him calling the police, and staying up for days, not daring to sleep in case I call home and he misses it. If I don’t make it home… Dad will have lost everything important to him. His wife, his son, his daughter. It would kill him long before he actually died.

No.

I’ll find a way. I’ll make it home. Whatever the cost.

Sighing, I blink back a few more tears and try and get comfortable again. After what seems like hours, I manage to drift back to sleep, my troubled mind once again attempting to shut down and rest. All too soon, however, it feels like I’m woken up again. This time, by visitors.

“…ure he’s not dangerous?” Comes a voice, slow and sure. It’s kind of soothing, actually.

“Well, if Ah’m bein’ honest, no, Ah’m not. But he’s given us no reason not to trust him, and honestly, he seemed pretty nice.” Applejack’s voice replies. I guess she’s introducing me to her brother, Big Macintosh. Unless there are any others men in her family that she forgot to mention on the walk over here last night. We had gotten back pretty late, and I never got the chance to meet any of them before bed.

“Well alright, AJ. But he’s you’re responsibility, y’hear? If anything goes wrong-“

“Nothing will go wrong.” I say, deciding to just speak for myself. I sit up and roll out of bed, feeling slightly embarrassed about being in just boxers. But hey, they were naked. So I still have one up on them.

“Oh… Uh… Hullo…” He stutters. He seems kind of nervous, and I feel a little guilty about being so short with him. Figuratively, I mean. While he’s big by pony standards, his head only rises to just below my chest. Even so, I can see muscle ripple under his red coat, and I make a mental note to not get on his bad side.

Deciding to backtrack and change tactics, I smile in what I hoped was a disarming fashion, and held out my hand. “My name is James West. As you might have noticed, I’m not from your world.”

“The names Macintosh, but folks ‘round here just call me Big Mac,” he says, extending a hoof, which I promptly shook. He seemed surprised, and I realize that handshakes probably weren't common in this world. Considering the lack of hands, and all.

“Pleased to meet you, Mac. And thanks for letting me stay on your farm.” I wondered if I was pushing things saying that, as Applejack had just kinda thrown me in the guest room without consulting her family, but he didn’t actually seem to mind too much.

“’T’aint no trouble at all, partner. Ya might wanna introduce yerself to Granny Smith and Apple Bloom if you’re gonna be stayin’ here any longer than just one night. Ah’m sure they’d like to know who they’re sharin’ a house with,” Big Mac said, not quite brusquely, but I could tell that he was a little uncomfortable with my presence.

“Thanks for the tip,” I turned to Applejack, who had been watching our exchange nervously. “Are you terribly busy today?”

“Ah’m afraid so, James. Since Ah wasn’t here to help out yesterday, Ah’m gonna have to work double time today.”

“Alright. Well, it seems I owe you for your hospitality here, so if you’d like, I can help out a little bit,” I grinned at her. I did have an ulterior motive, however. The sooner she finished her chores, the sooner we could head in to town to speak with Rarity and Twilight about their respective homework assignments.

“Well that’s might kind of ya, James. Ah would really appreciate the help. Why dontcha come on down for breakfast in fifteen minutes, and meet the rest of the family. We can get started after that.”

I nodded to her and Big Macintosh, and then closed the door. Sighing and wrinkling my nose at the prospect of wearing the same underwear two days in a row, I reluctantly put on my dirty jeans and t-shirt. I had forgotten my sweater at Fluttershy’s cottage, but judging by how warm my small room was, the day would be hot enough that I wouldn’t need it.

After visiting the washroom and realizing that toilets were, mercifully, existent in this world, I cleaned up and decided to head downstairs, mentally preparing myself for the awkward line of questioning that usually followed being introduced to somepony new. I grunted, took one last look in the mirror to fix my hair, and walked out of the bathroom. Turning, I headed downstairs and found myself in the family room of the Apple’s home.

When I arrived here last night, it was too dark to make out the photos on the mantle above the fireplace. In the daylight streaming through the windows, however, it was quite easy to make them out. Walking over, I examined the pictures, smiling as I recognized a small blond filly with her triple-apple cutie mark, proudly displaying what must have been a newly adorned flank to the camera. There were photos of who must have been Granny Smith and Apple Bloom, photos of Big Mac and AJ as they opened the cider stalls, and, most heart-wrenching of all, a photo of a tiny AJ, Macintosh, and a somewhat younger Granny Smith as the family stood around what were probably Applejacks parents, tenderly holding a newborn filly. Apple Blooms birth? Perhaps. I remembered what Applejack said about her parent’s demise. While she hadn’t gotten into how it happened, I knew from experience that sometimes it was best to not ask too many questions about these kinds of things.

I swallowed hard as I gazed at the picture. These were ponies with lives, a family, and children. Ponies that had their own, independent and rather successful farm and all the reason in the world to live. In the end, it wasn’t really up to them whether or not they got to continue. Sighing, and trying to drive thoughts of my father out of my mind, I placed the photo back on the mantelpiece, my gaze lingering just a second longer before I turned and headed into the kitchen, where the rest of the Apple family was waiting.

Granny Smith and Apple Bloom, being the only two members of the household who hadn’t seen me yet, took my presence surprisingly calmly. Granny Smith just eyed me up with a critical eye while Apple Bloom did the same, but with an air of wonder instead of… well… grumpiness, I guess.

Awkwardly, I stood there, suddenly very aware of my arms and how stupid they looked just hanging there. I shoved my hands into my pockets and tried to give another disarming smile, but it came off as more a queasy grin. I really wish Granny would stop staring at me like that.

“He’s taller than I expected.” The old mare said, finally breaking the awkward, frosty silence. “Pleased to meetcha, James.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Granny Smith,” I replied, without actually knowing why I cared what she thought of me. All I knew was that it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. “It’s nice to meet you too, Apple Bloom.”

“Are you really from another world?” She asked, wide eyed. I guess kids are kids, no matter what world they’re from.

“Yes, I am,” I chuckled, “And it’s actually pretty similar to this one. Except for the cars. And the giant, concrete buildings. And I’m guessing the technology, too.”

“What’s a car?” She squeaked excitedly.

I smiled, and took the empty seat at the table, digging into apple waffles (which were surprisingly good) and describing Earth to my new pony friends. I felt a little guilty that I wasn’t out in Equestria trying to get home, but I’m not gonna lie; these guys were way too adorable to just walk away from.

As we talked over breakfast, I noticed that Big Mac was being awfully quiet. While I had heard that this was just his way last night as ‘Jack and I approached the farm, it still made me uneasy. It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch.

Finally, breakfast finishes and everyone gets up to go do their respective chores, with Big Mac plowing the fields, Apple Bloom running off to find her little cult, Granny Smith cleaning the kitchen, and me and Applejack heading out to “buck some apples,”. I wasn’t sure I liked the sounds of that, but I needed to talk to Applejack alone anyways, and this would be the perfect opportunity.

As the white freckled earth pony and I walked out to the fields, I tried to get all my thoughts in order. Applejack would need to fill in some gaps for me, and I wasn’t gonna stop pestering her until she answered my questions. Not that I thought she wouldn’t answer, but these were desperate times for me.

“Hey, Applejack?”

“What’s up, sugarcube?”

I blushed a little at the pet name. I had heard her call other people that but I still thought it was sweet. No pun intended.

“What where you ponies doing in the Everfree, yesterday?”

“Oh! Well, Twilight said she saw some weird lights comin’ from the forest while she was stargazing a couple nights ago, so she rounded us all up brung us out into the Everfree to investigate it.”

We reached the apple trees, and Applejack gave me a short tutorial on bucking apples. Realizing that my body wasn’t designed to do that kind of thing, I compromised by ramming shoulder first into the tree. It had the desired effect, and apples rained down on us. Shrugging and rubbing my arm, I moved on to the next tree.

“So!”-THUD- “Did you ever find out what caused those lights?”

She looked at me quizzically for a moment, before shaking her head and returning to the task at hand.

“Well… Ya,”-SMACK- “A kinda figured it was you.”

“Ya, right,” –THUD- “But what about me? Do you think it was my… I dunno… Journey here?”

“Well Ah’m not rightly sure, James,” My orange friend answered slowly, taking a break from her toils for a moment to think. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead and gazed into the distance before answering.

“The last time that magic powerful enough to be seen for miles around was used, Changelings invaded Canterlot.” Again with the Canterlot. “That was some nasty business. The power that Queen Chrysalis had harvested from Twilight’s brother allowed her to overpower even Princess Celestia. If anypony was powerful enough to summon you here from another world, it would be one of those two, Ah reckon.”

She looks at me in the eyes again, and sighs. “But,” she continues, “If that cloak you nabbed yesterday was any sign, it might mean that Discord, the Avatar of Chaos, has returned, or at least has a fan. It could just as easily be one of those two. Ah’m willing to bet Twilight knows more, though. She’s the resident magic expert of Ponyville.”

“Alright. Thank you, Applejack.”

“No problem, James, though I wish I could be of more help.”

I just shrug in response. Privately, I wish that she could be of more help too, but she did what she could, and gave me a place to stay, and I’m deeply grateful for that.

But then, something dawns on me.

“Hey Applejack,” I begin slowly, “What happened to Discord? Rainbow mentioned yesterday that you had re-sealed him in a statue. How did he break out in the first place?”

“Hmm? Oh uh… Apparently the spell that was holding him had weakened enough that even a little bit of chaos unfroze him.”

“A little bit of chaos, huh? And now that the seal binding him has been renewed, it would take a whole LOT of chaos to free him, right?”

“Ah suppose so.”

“And it seems to me that every new pony I meet is surprised, or even disturbed to meet me. My very presence here is enough to make ponies freak out.”

“What are you tryin’ ta say, James?” Applejack worried.

“I think that pony with the cloak yesterday summoned me to free Discord.”

Author's Note:

This'll be the last chapter for a while. I got the Nightwing DLC for Arkham city and was so overcome by fanboyish emotion that I decided to create a new story about him. I'm really excited about it, and I think it'll be good. On a related note, I only proof read this one once, before I just decided to end it, so I would appreciate it if you guys could point out some mistakes.

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