> PonyFall: Falling Apples
>  by Belgianchief
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Day One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack stood in the middle of what ponies used to call Ponyville, even though one could hardly recognize it. Every building in the town was either gone, burned down, floating, upside down or distorted. The land surrounding the town was every colour from pink to brown. The trees and flowers had become lollipops of various sizes. In the middle of it all stood Discord the draconequus. A pink aura of chaotic magic was leaking from his body, changing whatever it reached.

He had been encased in stone for over a thousand years, but had broken free. Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy had managed to lock him back up in his stony prison using the Elements of Harmony. Now, he was free once again, and this time he hadn’t been fooling around. He had come straight for Ponyville with a vengeance. Applejack and her friends, along with the two princesses, had come out to face him, but they hadn’t even had the time to gather the Elements of Harmony. Discord had been his joking, random self, throwing insults wherever he could. Princess Luna, however, had lost her temper and charged Discord, who had simply dodged her assault and was now holding her throat in his talon-esque hand.

“Oh, now isn’t this so very delightful. I do hope you didn’t really think that brute force could overcome my stunning wit and charm,” he mocked. His expression instantly changed into one of sadness. “Do my words not impress you? What about my latest interpretation of Ponyville, hm? Does it not scream chaos?” Getting no response, his face showed signs of boredom. “Very well then. I suppose I’ll just have to make things more interesting for you all,” he said while letting his paw glow with pink magic.

This is nothing like the Discord from last time, Applejack thought. He’s just crazy, and he’s enjoying it too? I don’t like this one bit.

Discord brought down his paw, flaring with chaotic magic, to Luna’s now-glowing horn as Rainbow Dash charged in.

Gosh darn it, Applejack thought while Rainbow flew towards Princess Luna. Can’t ya see he’s just lurin’ ya in?

Applejack charged after Rainbow Dash, hoping to catch up to her friend before she could do anything too stupid. Rainbow, however, was accelerating much faster than Applejack could run. Realizing the chase was futile, Applejack stopped and watched the scene.

She saw Discord’s paw touch Luna’s horn, causing a massive pink eruption of magic. Applejack heard Princess Celestia yell for her sister, and also saw her taking a step back. Shielding her eyes from the explosion, she could barely make out Princess Luna, who had been shrinking. Not a moment later, Luna disappeared. Discord managed to scream, “What? Oh for the love of... ”  before disappearing in the pink explosion as well.

Applejack looked in front of her and saw Rainbow Dash trying to turn away from the explosion; but it was too little, too late. She had too much forward momentum and flew right in the shockwave, vanishing immediately.

“Run, my little ponies!” Celestia yelled before being engulfed by the chaotic pink magic, and disappearing from sight.

“Horse-apples,” Applejack muttered, only now realizing that the shockwave was quickly coming her way. She swiftly turned in her tracks and ran the opposite way towards Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. The former had a confused look on her face, and the latter was trying to fly away.

Applejack looked the other way to see Twilight Sparkle trying summon up a magic shield.  She saw Rarity running from the explosion, yelling, “You heard the princess. Let’s get out of here!”

The chaotic magic hit Twilight before her shield spell was fully completed. “I... can’t stop it!” Applejack heard her scream before she disappeared in the pink chaos. 

She turned her face when she heard a squeak. Fluttershy, was the first thought that popped into her mind. She looked back to see Fluttershy on the ground along with Pinkie Pie, who had covered the pegasus with her hooves in an attempt to protect her from the blast. Applejack immediately wanted to turn back to save the two, but her momentum caused her to scoot on for a second. Facing the pink shockwave, she saw the two ponies vanish.

Realizing there was now no escape from the wave of chaos, she turned her head back to Rarity and yelled, “Warn mah family!”

She saw Rarity turn her head and nod, then continue on her way to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack looked back at the pink wave, straightened her hat, and braced herself for the inevitable impact.

Ah hope this doesn’t hurt, was her last thought before chaos engulfed her and darkness took over.

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Beep Beep. I smacked my alarm clock, trying to look at the time. 7 o’clock. Friday 13 April. Last day of the week for me, filled to the rim with classes. Just one more day of chemistry. Last week the Easter holidays had ended, and after just one week of classes, I couldn’t wait for the weekend, just to get some well-earned rest. The professors were picking up the pace with their teaching. Even though I enjoyed living on my own very much, which I did during the week, it was tiring, and not being the greatest cook, I missed the nice dinners my mom made. 

My alarm went off for the second time, notifying me that I had been sitting in bed for five minutes. Sighing, I climbed out of bed, put on my clothes, and dragged myself to the kitchen which seven people shared besides me. But they didn’t have to get up as early as I did, at least this morning. I praised myself lucky to find this place so close to the campus. Because of classes starting at 7:45, it meant that you either had to live close, or get up even earlier in the morning. I quickly poured some cereal and ate them even quicker. My wristwatch beeped, warning me that it was 7:30, time to leave for classes. I rushed down the stairs into the garage, jumped on my bike and went on my way.

Riding out of the building, I noticed the weird colour the sky had. Pink. And not sunrise pink. Fluorescent, flashing, pink. Not paying attention where I was going, I smacked against a traffic sign and got thrown off my bike. I quickly stood up to monitor the damage. Nothing broken, a bit of blood on my elbows, nothing major. When I looked at my bike, however, I noticed that my steer had snapped right off. I cursed myself and everyone for having to buy a wreck, just to make sure someone didn’t steal it, as was common tradition at the university. 

Taking another look at the skies, seeing it was still pink, it freaked me out. Also the clouds were... Brown? And everywhere hung the strange smell of... Chocolate? no... Fudge. This was getting too weird. Now realising I was going to be late, I left my bike where it was and started running for the forest separating my home from the campus. There was a small path which I usually rode my bike when I was going to be late, and it could usually make up a minute or two, which was huge on such a small distance.

Running as fast as I could, I suddenly heard a moan. Stopping to check it out, I see a girl, a somehow familiar girl, lying on the ground. Dressed like a cowgirl. Okay, this is one of the strangest days ever. As I approached her, she threw up. The sight of it almost made me barf as well, but I managed to hold it down. Remembering it was Friday, she was probably a girl that had been drinking too much yesterday night, because Thursday nights were the nights to go out here in Leuven. I wondered how she got here however, the campus was quite a ways from the town centre.
“Hey, gaat het?” I said to her.

“Wha?” she said with an accent from the southern US.

God, she’s so drunk she’s even keeping up the apparent act from last night. Is she serious? “I asked if you were OK?” Let’s go with it then.

“Ah’m fine. Where are we?” Not even a second after she asked that question, she threw up again.

“I can see that you’re fine. C’mon, let’s get you to an actual bed.” I put my backpack behind a tree, out of sight from everyone, so that I could come pick it up later again. I then pulled her on her feet, lifted her on my back, and gave her a piggyback ride back to my apartment. She was clearly not used to the concept, and nearly fell off a couple of times.

She’s weird, yet somehow, I know her, even though I’m positive I’ve never seen her. And she smells like fudge. I made it to my flat, then realising she had fallen asleep on my back, meaning that now I had to carry her seven floors up. I cursed to myself for going with a place that didn’t have an elevator. I knew it would come back to haunt me one day.

When I finally made it to the seventh floor, I tried to walk to my door as silently as possible. Other people were still sleeping, and I wanted to keep it that way. Trying to find my keys in my pocket, I apparently moved so much that I woke her up. I heard a sound that I did not want to hear, and not a second later, I felt a splash of warm fluids against my neck, then dripping down my back.

Just great, why was I the one to find her? My keys were, of course, in my other pocket, so I opened my door and let her fall in my bed, took a quick shower and changed into my spare clothes, then went to clean the mess on the hallway, hoping we hadn’t woken anyone up. Looking on my watch, I noticed it was 8:30 by now. Carrying this girl all this way had exhausted me, and I didn’t feel like going to class anymore. I went to get a bucket and placed it besides my bed.
“If you ever feel the need to... you know, here’s a bucket. Anything else I can get you?”

“Water,” was the simple response.

I went to the kitchen to get a bottle, and from my room I heard the sound of vomit hitting plastic. Glad I gave her that when I did. I returned with the bottle, only to find her sleeping. Man, she must have been exhausted. I put down the bottle next to my bed. Seeing her sleep, I suddenly felt tired myself, because this had been an early day. So, I closed the curtains again, having one last look at that strange pink sky, but it was just blue. Did I imagine it? I just wanted to go back to sleep on the couch. I laid down, but my mind kept wandering at all the things that had happened in the past hour. Everything that just happened is connected... somehow...

Suddenly remembering that I left my backpack in the forest, so I went out to get it back, a bit hesitant to leave that girl alone. She’s fast asleep, and I’ll only be gone for ten minutes tops. I rushed down the stairs and walked outside. I suddenly realised that I left a complete stranger alone in my room. Then my mind jumped to the fact that she was a helpless girl and, before my mind could freak out more than it already did, I remembered that I had locked my door.

Now a bit calmed, I ran past my wrecked bike. Damn, I’m gonna have to buy a new one, well I suppose my parents will pay for it if I can explain it. I rushed to the forest, grabbed my backpack and ran back to the main building, straight back up the stairs to my room. I suspected to find my laptop missing, or find everything in a mess. But nothing had transpired, the girl was still sleeping on my bed. She looked a bit better.

I turned on my laptop to try and think this all through. I googled for “Flashing pink skies” and I got articles from all over the world. From the UK, to the USA, Australia, China, Russia... Everyone everywhere had seen the pink skies... “Scientists are clueless...”
Perhaps this has to do with increased solar activity? A wave of electromagnetic particles could have... no, they would have been blocked by the Earth’s magnetic field. Maybe some photochemical reactions... What gasses would colour pink when under increased radiation from light... None, pink is a purely synthetic colour, certainly so for gasses... There goes that theory...

“This is not making sense” I grumbled. Frustrated with having no results, I had a look on Facebook... Religious groups saying it’s judgement day, of course... Nothing special. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon as soon as possible. I  wonder how many people killed themselves in pure panic, afraid of the Apocalypse, or whatever.

“Where am Ah?” I heard a faint whisper behind me. I turned to see the girl wake up.

Still talking English? “Uhm, hi. I found you passed out on the road to campus and I brought you to my place.”

When she saw me, her face suddenly turned into a face of fear. “What the heck are you supposed to be?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’ am I?” Ok, she’s crazy, you need to get her out of this place, quickly. You shouldn’t have brought her in anyway.

She looked at me with doubt in her eyes, and then she looked at her hands, and then she screamed.

“Shh, you’ll wake my neighbours. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Wh-wh-what am Ah? Is this some kinda magic? Ya better turn me right back, ya, ya... Whatever ya’re.”

“Okay, you are completely making no sense. Did you lose your memory? Do you remember your name?”

“Ah’m Applejack”

Southern accent, blond, cowgirl-like... No way... I stared at her for what seemed an hour. “Applejack... THE Applejack? The Applejack from Sweet Apple Acres?” She nodded through all of it.

Oh man, I’ve lost it. I’m imagining ponies. “Okay, considering the possibility that this is no side effect from me smacking my head against the ground when I crashed my bike, and you are actually here, and you are not just some figment of my imagination...” I didn’t know where to go with this.

“What the heck are ya mumblin’ about, get me back to Ponyville, right now.” She had walked right up to me, her face a few inches from mine.

Okay, this is real, somehow, but I can feel that it’s real. How’s this possible? “Okay, listen. This might not make much sense, but I know who you are. I just have no idea how you got into my world from yours, and even less how you got turned into a human for that matter-”

“What did ya call me?”

“A human. You’re on Earth, a planet mainly populated by humans, about seven billion of them. Like I said, I know who you are, and I know a lot about you and your world Applejack, but how you got to our Earth from Equestria, I have no idea. Do you remember what you were doing before you got here?”

“Well, me and mah friends and the princesses were fightin’ Discord-”

“Discord... I bet he’s the reason behind all this. Right before I found you, the sky was flashing pink, the clouds were brown, and there was an odd smell of fudge hanging around. Do you think he teleported you here?”

“Ah... dunno.” She said with a soft voice. She sat back down on the bed, looking down. “Ah can remember us fightin’ Discord, but after that... Nothin’, just...Pink... What if he did teleport me. They need me. This isn’t good.”

I sat down next to her. “Hey, don’t worry. I’ll get you back to Ponyville, somehow. First though, you need to recover. Are you feeling sick still?” She shook her head, still keeping silent. “Okay, that’s good. Just go lay down and try to get some sleep. Meanwhile, I’ll try to figure this mess out.”

I waited for her to fall asleep, trying to get her as comfortable as I could. Then I went over to my bookshelf to get some books of basic chemical theory.  The basic solutions are often the best, Andrew, think. Discord... being of Chaos... Chaos... Entropy? If the entropy of a system rises, it can explain unnatural reactions. Pink skies flashing... flashing.... light... Laser? Pink lasers would be close to red lasers, the minor change in wavelength could be explained by means of concentration. Red lasers are mostly made by having an electric current go through fluorine gas. Ok, a high increase of entropy could mean that fluorine could start emitting wavelengths by itself. Considering Discord is a being of pure Chaos, the rise in entropy shouldn’t be a problem. Now in order to achieve the pink wavelength, the concentration of fluorine gas in the atmosphere would need to be... 20%... That would have killed us all in a matter of seconds.

“I guess there’s no point in explaining how Chaos works. There probably are a million other explanations for what happened circulating right now, and I’ll be damned if they don’t all end in ‘that would have killed us all’. I’m done philosophizing about this,” I mumbled to myself.

Looking at my bed, Applejack was still sleeping. Realising it was Friday, I had to call my parents to say that I wouldn’t be coming home this weekend. When they asked me why, I told them I had some work to do with a friend of mine for one of my classes. It was a lie, but that way my parents wouldn’t investigate further. They cared for my studies more than anything. Telling them I’d miss them, I laid down my phone, and looked at Applejack. Suddenly, I hated myself for lying, but it was the only thing I could’ve done. Right? I shook my head. Suddenly feeling tired, I decided a nap couldn’t hurt. I set my alarm clock for 12, took my spare blanket and lied down on the couch. I fell asleep immediately.

I woke up from the sound of a phone call. “Andrew” I answered.

“Hey Andrew, why weren’t you at class?”

“Something came up. Did you see the skies this morning?”

“Yeah, weird huh? Anyways, I was just calling to make sure you were fine that’s all.”

“Yeah, I am. I’ll see you Monday?”

“Sure. See ya.”

I hung up. Apparently my conversation had woken up Applejack, as she was staring at me.

“Oh hi, What’s up? Are you feeling better?”

“What the heck were ya doin’? Ya just kept talking to yerself. Should Ah be worried?”

“What?” Then I realised she was talking about my phone call. “Oh, that.” I showed her my phone. “This is a phone. It’s a device that allows me to talk to friends who have a phone as well, no matter how far they are.” Then I realised something. “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about this world. If you want, we can go over the most important stuff, just in case you... Just to not make you appear strange to other people.”

“Ah want to know one thing first... How did ya know who Ah was?”

Should have seen that question coming. “Right. Okay, this will be weird for you. Basically, there’s this cartoon of... well, you guys... Maybe I should show you...”

I looked up the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on YouTube and let it play. While it played, I thought of all the things I’d need to go over with Applejack. I should get a world map, maybe... Oh crap, meat. People are going to be eating meat... Oh god, horse meat... This isn’t good. I wonder if now that she’s human she’s going to have to eat meat too. Oh god, how am I going to break that to her...

“How do ya stop this thing, this is gettin’ too weird.” I closed the video for her and looked at her, worried. “Okay” she said, turning to face me, “That’s not how we looked at all. Not even close.”

“Well, I suppose. They say the camera adds a few pounds. It is a cartoon, made for children, so-”

“Right, okay” I could see her mind trying to grasp things, and it wasn’t going too well it seemed.

“If I’m going too fast explaining stuff, just say something.”

“Ah’m fine, keep going” She urged me on. I went to get a world map, and spread it open on my desk.

“This is a map of our world, Earth.” I pointed at it and said “We’re right there in that little country, Belgium. You got all that?”

“Wow, this world is big. Sheesh.”

“And the last thing you should know for now...This is going to be really strange. But what I’m saying is the truth, and nothing but the truth. In this world, animals, including ponies, cows and horses... They aren’t... self-aware.” Applejack kept quiet, so I continued. “Also, a lot of animals are...”

“Yeah? Just tell me already, better to get this over with as soon as possible.”

“Humans eat... Humans are omnivores, not like ponies who are herbivores.”

“So that means... you eat... We eat...”

“Meat, yes” Pow! I did not expect the punch, and I certainly didn’t expect it to be that hard. I got knocked back into my couch.

“Yeah, right. Like Ah’m gunna believe that. This is all some trick from Discord. You’re Discord. Nice try, but ya’re gunna change me back and take me back to Equestria.”

“I should’ve seen that coming. You’ve got to believe me, Applejack. Everything I just said is the truth, I swear. I’m not Discord, I’m twenty years old and chemistry student. I don’t know how I can prove it to you, but this is all real, honestly.” I looked her in the eye as I said those words, hoping she could see the honesty in me.

“Ah’ll only believe ya if ya can prove it to me.”

She seems less sure of herself. Maybe I can convince her. “Okay... You were Smart Cookie in the Heart’s Warming Eve play.” Thank god for seeing that very episode last night.

“Yeah... And?”

“Well, if I were Discord, I wouldn’t know that, since I would have been a stone statue.”

“Well ya could’ve heard that from somepony.”

“I suppose” I wiped my mouth, wiping a bit of blood from my face. Ouch, she really hit me hard.

“Is that blood?” Applejack asked, genuinely concerned. When I nodded, Applejack started apologizing like a madman. “Ah’m sorry, really sorry. Ah really thought ya were Discord. Ah’m sorry.”

“Why do you believe me now, all of a sudden?”

“Right before the battle with Discord, Princess Celestia told us that Discord doesn’t bleed. And ya did. So ya can’t be Discord. Ah’m sorry for doubtin’ ya. And, ya know... hittin’ ya”

“So Discord doesn’t bleed, huh? Well, that’s good to know, I guess...”

Beep beep! My alarm went off again, which meant it was noon. “Are you hungry?” I asked Applejack.

“No, not really.” Her stomach however, let out a thundering roar, and seeing it was only the two of us in the room, I quickly figured what was the matter.

“There are ways for humans to live a completely normal life without eating meat. We call the people who do that vegetarians. However, they have to eat more and they have to eat special stuff which is either not tasty, or very expensive in my opinion. I’m not saying you have to eat meat, I am saying, however, that you are going to have to consider it, that’s all.”

“Tell me... Do ya eat ponies?”

“No, not ponies... Here in Belgium, though, some people eat horses, and about everywhere in the world they eat cows, pigs and chickens. Those are the main 3 sources of meat.”

We were both silent for a minute, until Applejack’s stomach decided to growl again. “C’mon, let’s grab something to eat.” I said to her, as I showed her the way to the kitchen.

I grabbed us both a place and a glass, and poured us some water. She waited for me to take a sip, before doing so herself. “You really can trust me” I said, a bit hurt.

“Ah know, Ah just... didn’t know how to grab that with these... So Ah waited for ya to show me.”

“I’m such an idiot. I totally forgot you never had hands before... How are you liking them so far?”

“They’re strange, but good. Ya can grab things way more easily than with hooves, but they lack a bit of strength though.”

“Lacking strength? Tell that to my face!” I started laughing, hoping to get a smile on her face for the first time today. It worked for a couple of seconds.

“You did what you thought you had to do, so I’m fine with it. Now, to eat...” I handed her a jar. “You should really try putting this on your sandwich.”

“Nut...ella? How in the heck are ya supposed to even say that?”

I grabbed her a knife, showing how to smear it on the bread, and waited for her to take a bite.

“Oh, thish ish good,” she said with her mouth full.

“I’m glad you’re liking it. There’s plenty more of those jars, so take as much as you want.”

She had four more Nutella sandwiches before she said she was stuffed.

For the rest of the day, we discussed more differences between our two worlds. She told me about her friends and family, I told her about college and my own family. We had dinner together, I made us a simple salad, not wanting to freak her out by starting eating meat myself. But sooner or later, it would happen. Sitting at the table, I realised there was no reason to stop our learning session, and so I taught her the basic principles of table manners here on earth, how to use a fork, knife and a spoon, and others. After that I taught her some of the basic vocabulary that might differ between our worlds. We ended our little teaching session talking about different types of apples, which I knew a bit about, since my sister had been studying them. It was starting to get late, so I gave her a towel and showed her where the shower was, and how to use it. When she got back, I had changed my bed sheets.

“You can sleep in the bed, I’ll take the couch.” I told her.

“No, Ah’m the guest, so you just give me whatever place ya have left.”

“And you’re a lady, and I wouldn’t be so impolite to give a lady a place on the couch to sleep. So please, take the bed.”
She considered this for a second.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile.

“You’re welcome.”

As she got into her bed, Applejack asked me one more thing. “Actually, what’s yer name?”

“Oh god, I never told you, did I... I’m Andrew Hughes, nice to meet you” I said sheepishly.

“Hi, Ah’m Applejack” she said, before falling asleep.

I logged into my IRC to check out with my online brony friends, only to see that everyone was discussing the pink skies. Not wanting to appear crazy by saying I found Applejack, I quickly left a comment “It’s like Discord did all of this, lol” before going to sleep myself, but keeping the IRC on.

> Antonio and Maria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up from a gleam of sunlight passing through a small crack in my curtains. Smiling, I opened the curtains all the way. The sky was clear, a perfect day in April. I looked at the clock to see that it was 11am. I just had the best of dreams, so I felt I could handle anything the world threw at me. But then, I heard a moan behind me. On my bed laid Applejack, like I thought I had dreamed about. But apparently, it was all very real, or this was just a continuation of the now very long dream. I smiled, knowing that this was all very real. She was waking up, so I decided I would be as cheerful as I could be.

“Good morning Applejack. Did you sleep well?” She looked at me with her big green eyes, and then turned them away, with sadness. 
She must have hoped it was all a dream as well. I don’t blame her, it’s a little too strange to be real, and yet it is. Sighing, I went over to look her in the eye.

“Look, Applejack. I am going to tell you this right now. I have no idea how you got here in the first place. I have no clue how to get you back to Equestria. But I’m going to give it my best shot to get you back to your friends. I know how much they mean to you. You don’t have to worry.”

She gave me a smile, but I could see it was forced. I couldn’t blame her. If I were teleported to Equestria, I would be heartbroken as well, no matter how much I would like it there. I would have left my parents, my friends. Those thoughts caused my cheerful mood to plummet. I forced a smile as well, and invited her to have brunch with me. I made my way to the kitchen, noticing that Applejack was only following me very slowly. It broke my heart to see her so sad, so I decided I was going to make her something sweet to cheer her up. I decided to make French toast the way I liked it best.

There was still plenty of old white bread, so I took six slices. I didn’t have to think long about which fruit to use. Apples of course. I poured some milk in a bowl, cracked some eggs and mixed the two together, while adding a bit of cinnamon and a little bit of salt. I cut the slices of bread in half, covering them in thin slices of apple, then stacking them. After placing them in a big soup plate, I poured the mix over the slices of bread. Now, they needed to soak for a couple of minutes in the mix. Applejack still hadn’t joined me in the kitchen, and I was getting worried. I looked for her, but then I heard the shower. Good, that gives me enough time to have her plate ready when she comes back. I hope it’ll be nice.

I waited for a few minutes till the mixture had completely soaked in the bread, making sure I turned the ‘apple sandwiches’ now and then. I melted a piece of butter in a pan. I baked the sandwiches til they were brown at both sides, while sprinkling a little of sugar over the top, letting it caramelise. Just when I was about to serve the plates on the table, I heard the door open.

“Oh, it’s smellin’ mighty fine in here.” Applejack called out. I smiled to face her, and almost dropped the plates. In the door stood Applejack, completely naked. I quickly turned back around.

“What’s the matter?” Applejack asked, clearly not understanding the situation.

“C-c-could you please get dressed before j-joining me at the table?” I managed to stutter out while I was facing the wall.

“Oh darn it, Ah’ll be right back.” She left the room and came back real fast. “I’m back” she called out.

“Are... Are you... presentable?” I was now shaking, still facing the wall.

“Yeah, yeah. Ah know ya told me clothes were common ’ere, but Ah just forgot to put them on again after having showered. Ah’m really not used to wearin’ clothes. Ah'm still wondering how Ah got in these ones in the first place."

I slowly turned towards Applejack and let a sigh of relief when I saw that she was fully clothed. She, however, started laughing like no tomorrow. “Yer face, haha, it’s as red as one of mah apples. What’s the matter, didn’t like what you see?”

I had told her yesterday that clothes were common here because the male population (and probably female too, but that was beyond my expertise) could find the naked body very... enticing, so to speak. for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was all some kind of test.
I felt my face growing into an even deeper red, so I quickly put down the plates and poured some brown sugar on top of the French toast.

“What’s this, sugahcube?”

“It’s called French toast. It’s kinda my own recipe, with fruit. This one is with apples. I also make them with bananas or mango, basically any fruit that still tastes good after heating it.”

“Hmm, thish ish good” she said with her mouth full. I smiled, it felt good for someone to compliment me on my cooking. Usually I cooked for myself and no one else.

“Thank you. It’s actually been a while since I’ve made this. It’s kinda a waste to make this for one person.”

“Don’t ya share this kitchen with 7 other pon... people?”

“Yeah, I do, but I don’t really consider them to be friends, just... acquaintances. I mean, we’ve cooked together a couple of times, but we had to plan it way ahead for people to be able to attend. Now we just don’t bother anymore.”

“Ah see. Well, with your cooking skills, Ah dunno why they aren’t asking ya to cook for them all the time.”

That made me smile even more. “You really think my cooking is that good?”

“Yeah, Ah’m wondering though, do ya still have some o’ that Nutella stuff?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think you’ll like it on your French toast. I’ve tried it before, and it just doesn’t see to work with fruit.”

“Why not?” She really seemed to like the stuff, and I couldn’t blame her for it. Hell, Nutella pretty much saved my life when I first got to live on my own without any cooking skills.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll make some French toast another time, but this time I’ll make sure you can eat your precious Nutella with it. However, now I have a question for you.” I said in a very serious voice. Also waiting a couple of seconds before asking the actual question, seemed to make Applejack very nervous. “What’s best, my French toast, or Pinkie’s cupcakes?”

“Gosh darn it Andrew, ya made me real nervous there. Ah have to say Pinkie’s cupcakes though. They’re just the best.” She seemed quite sad after saying that.

“Oh well, I just have to keep practising then.” I said while cleaning up the plates. Applejack remained seated at the table. I sighed. I shouldn’t have mentioned Pinkie, I’m such an idiot.

After cleaning the dishes, I went to check my computer. I noticed I left the IRC open last night, so I scrolled up to see what people had been talking about. I read the usual stuff, apart from a small discussion of fudge. Apparently some guy had smelled fudge, but said nothing further on the matter. After that, there were people who said they had or hadn’t smalled fudge. I had some fudge lying around, while a theory formed in my head. I went back to the kitchen, heated up my frying pan again and put some fudge in it, in order to spread its aroma. Immediately, the entire kitchen smelled like sweet fudge. I asked Applejack, who was still in the kitchen if she could smell it.

“Smell what?” Applejack said with a confused look on her face.

“Exactly. Now, Applejack, I may have some news for you, but you’ll have to decide whether it’s bad or good.” Applejack looked very interested, but still very confused.

“I’ve been heating fudge here, which, normally, gives off a very strong aroma. But you can’t smell it. Now, I have a theory. When I found you, you were smelling like fudge as well, which is fine. Actually it’s pretty nice” I said while Applejack tried to smell herself. “Now, my theory is that everything smells like fudge in Equestria, including you, so you’re used to the smell, thus you don’t smell it anymore.”

“Okay, but Ah don’t see why that should be important.”

“Well, some people wrote that they’ve smelled fudge too. This probably means that they’ve found somepony. So it’s possible that there are more ponies who have gone to Earth. I don’t know if all of them have, or who have, or where they are, or even if it’s true, I just want you to consider the possibility.”

I turned around from the furnace, to see Applejack standing there, in tears.

“Are you ok?” I asked her, hoping that I hadn't upset her even more. God, I'm such an idiot. All I do is make her sad, make her cry...

She hugged me, and I was completely taken aback from her sudden burst of emotion.

“Thank you Andrew. Ah had no idea what happened in Equestria, what happened to my friends, to my family, to me even. Ah was worried mah big brother and mah little sister thought Ah had abandoned them. Ah was worried that my friends thought Ah had deserted them in the final battle. Ah can never thank ya enough for telling me that.”

She stood there, crying, while hugging me. I had to give it my best shot to not start crying myself.

After a minute, I told her. “Applejack, if something like that is on your mind, you have to tell me. I can’t blame you for not trusting me immediately, but I’ll tell you again that I’ll do anything to help you. You really can trust me.”
I pulled myself from the hug, and looked her over. Her cowgirl-ish clothes were too strange for Belgium. Trying to cheer her up, I stated in the best Rarity impersonation I could do.
“We simply have to give you a new outfit, dear. This simply won’t do.”

Applejack snorted. “Why? I like these clothes, they’re nice and comfy.”

“I have no doubt about that, it’s just that those clothes are a bit... uncommon on this side of the world. I say we both go to town and get you some new ones.”
She nodded, and a few minutes later, we were waiting at the bus stop. I paid for both our tickets to town, and we got off the bus in the main street. Having being brought along on numerous occasions to carry the shopping of my two sisters and mother, I probably knew more about clothes than I had ever wished. I pointed to the first clothes store across the street.

“That there is a pretty good store.  The clothes there are often very nice and high quality.”

“Lead on, pardner” Applejack said, but she didn’t seem to be too enthusiastic.

After a couple of minutes of trying clothes, Applejack said to me. “Ya’re right an’ all that these are good clothes. It’s just, they never feel good to wear. They’re really uncomfortable.”

“It’s ok, AJ, we’ll just go on to the next store.”

“Did ya just call me AJ?” Oh dang... She said that it was creepy that I knew all that stuff about her.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. Do you mind me calling you that? I should have asked you first, of course.”

“Ah don’t mind it, but why?”

“Well... Don’t take this bad, but Applejack is a really weird name here. I was hoping I could shorten it, to make it sound less strange. I’ll still call you Applejack if you like.” Okay, that was a pretty good lie... Dang it why do I feel so bad about lying to her?

“Nah, AJ’s fine. Mah friends call me AJ, so you can too.”

“Thanks... AJ”

“So where to next?”

“Well, there’s another store that’s very similar to this one just around the corner, so I don’t think you’ll like that one either. Then there’s that store” as I pointed her to a big store diagonal from our location, “But the clothes from there are, frankly, rubbish, they’re cheap, but they don’t last long. Lastly, there’s a small store a bit further down the street which I think you’ll like, so I guess we’ll go there next.”

“Again, lead the way, pardner.”

As we entered the small shop, we were greeted by the shopkeeper, and asked if we needed her help choosing anything. I turned to Applejack.

“Well, to be perfectly honest, I have no sense of fashion at all. She could probably help you more than I could.”

“Okay then, Ah’ll go with that.” She turned to the shopkeeper. “Ah just need some new basic clothes, is all.”

“Any colour you prefer?”

“Uhm, Ah dunno, really”

I couldn’t really blame her. After all, she was not even used to the concept of everyday clothes. So, I sat myself down in one of the comfy chairs (which was why it was my favourite shop for my sisters to shop at) and watched Applejack discussing colours and taste with the very friendly shopkeeper, who, like most young people in Belgium, had no trouble speaking English.

“The most important thing is that Ah feel good in mah clothes, the rest doesn’t really matter. Just gimme something that ya think’ll look good on me.”

“But don’t you want to look your best?”

“Sure, Ah guess, but Ah’m not wearing it if Ah don’t feel good in it.”

I yawned... Comfy chair...

“Wake up, ya sleepyhead.”

I shook up immediately. Falling asleep in public was something I didn’t like doing, but with the stress from university, it seemed to happen more and more. Walking up to the counter, I asked Applejack what she bought.

“Just a couple of those jeans and T-shirts, they feel real nice. Listen, I’ll be waitin’ outside for ya, Ah hate being in the same place for too long. It kinda creeps me out in some way.”

“Sure thing, don’t go too far, though.” I called out to her as she walked out the door.”

“That’ll be 160 euros.”

I frowned. Luckily, I had been cheap the last few weeks and saved quite a bit of money from my weekly allowance. And why the hell not, it was freaking Applejack. I’d gladly pay several times that amount just to...

Just to what? Why do I want to pay for AJ? I know she is, well was, well I guess kinda still is, my favourite pony. Do I want her to stay, even knowing how much she misses her family and friends? No, I’m just helping a … friend, I hope, in need. Besides, feeling guilty about having to pay for someone else? That had be a first. And she’s been concerned about the price, too. 160 euros for all these clothes, was actually not all that much. She really tried to keep it down for me. 

I quickly shrugged away the thoughts, paid for the clothes, and went out to see Applejack, sitting on a bench, just looking... sad.

“What’s up?” I said to her. “There’s something on your mind.”

“Ah’m jus’ so useless...” she sighed.

“You’ve been in this strange, new world a single day. And you already feel guilty? Please, for both our sakes, think of this as a small vacation. Enjoy yourself. I’m gonna try everything to get you back to Equestria as soon as I can. I promise.” Only I have still no idea how, and I doubt if she ever will without the use of some magic. I just hope that the other ponies are fine too, and that they will get together and figure it out for themselves.

“Thanks Andrew, Ah’ll try and cheer up.” Being the Element of Honesty, she was a terrible liar. I could tell that she knew that I had no clue how to take her back.

“I’m sorry, AJ, I really wish I could help. The only thing I can think about is maybe finding the other Elements, but I have no idea where they are, if they are here at all. I’m sorry, but this is something magical, and I’m afraid it’s gonna take magic to solve.” We both stayed silent for a minute, just looking straight ahead of us.

All of a sudden, my stomach growled, breaking this tense moment.

“I’m sorry” We both called out. Looking at each other, confused, again we both called out “I thought I...” I facepalmed, hoping somewhere that she did too, for that would have been awesome. I’ll never know though, since I sprang up from the bench, and almost yelled. “Fine then, let’s get something to eat!”

“Sure, whatcha got in mind?”

“I’ve actually been wondering some things about Equestria for once, rather than the other way around. One of them is the food. Tell me, do you know pizza?”

“Nope, what in the hay is that?”

“Only the best type of food in the world. During the summer, I work at this very nice place, and their pizzas are the best you'll ever have.”

As I started to walk, Applejack grabbed my hand.
“Andrew, it’s not... meat is it?”

I pondered how to tackle this question, not wanting to ruin the small surprise.

“Some are, some aren’t. That’s all I’m gonna say for now. C’mon, let’s go.”

As we walked to the pizzeria, something else popped in my mind.

“Just to let you know, I am gonna take a pizza with meat. I hope you can respect that.”

She pondered that for a second. “Ah don’t have a problem with it. Ah mean, Winona eats meat too.”

That made me stop in my tracks. “So I’m like a dog to you, is what you’re trying to say?”

“Exactly.” And she walked on, leaving me behind.

Confound these ponies, they drive me to pizza.

Not wanting Applejack to walk past the place, I quickly caught up with her. I stopped at some double doors, which were open. If you didn’t know where this pizzeria was, you weren’t going to find it on your own. I’d only found it myself when looking for a summer job last year, because there was a small paper with “help wanted” stapled to it. Looking at the doors, Applejack asked. “Are ya sure this is the place? Doesn’t seem like no restaurant to me.”

I sighed. “Antonio, the owner, likes it that way. He says if the place is crowded, he can’t make his pizzas as special as he does now. So he keeps it hidden from the plain eye on the street. Even though I don’t agree with his marketing strategy, he’s right. He puts a lot of effort in his pizzas and they are the best you’ll ever have. It’s just a damn shame that he doesn’t nearly make enough income to be sustainable. He’s way too generous for his own good.” I opened the door and stepped in.

“Andrew! Buon Giorno!”

“Antonio! Nice to see you again!”
Antonio was a bear of a guy. Being almost 2 meters tall and having muscles like I’d never seen before, the first time I saw him I wondered what I had gotten myself into. But the man had a heart of gold, and would never even hurt a fly.

“Well Andrew, who’s the lovely principessa right there eh?”

“Where are my manners. Antonio, this is AJ, she’s a friend of mine who’ll be staying at my place for a couple of weeks.” Or more. “AJ, this is Antonio. He can make the finest pizzas in the world.”

“It’s my pleasure, principessa.” He walked up to Applejack, took her hand and kissed it. She giggled. I just smiled, Antonio was being his old charming self.

“Antonio! What are you doing this time?” I knew the voice that came from the restaurant. Behind the bar stood Maria, Antonio’s wife. “I’m not looking for two minutes and there you are, charming a girl.”

Antonio looked at me, pleading. During my summer job, Maria had gotten a soft spot for me, as the son they never had. I sighed, stepping out from behind his back. “Maria, how very lovely to see you again.” I called out to his wife.

“Andrew!” She rushed over to give me a big, motherly hug, lifting me from the ground. “How have you been? Are you eating well? You must be starving.” “Antonio! What are you waiting for? Get these two a table!”

“Yes dear.” It kept surprising me how Maria could order the giant bear that was her husband around, even though I had seen it many a times before. I chuckled.

“So Andrew, why don’t you tell me about your girlfriend over there?”

“She’s not my girlfriend!”

“Well then, where are your manners?!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. AJ, this is Maria, Antonio’s wife. Maria, this is AJ, she’s just a friend.”

“I’m just teasing, darling. Now, go inside. Antonio should have set up a table for you two.”

As we entered the restaurant, I could see that it hadn’t changed a bit. The walls were cluttered by anything that was even remotely Italian. The tables were far apart from each other, and the chairs were very well cushioned, for maximum comfort. Everything was in shades of red, white and black, the typical Italian restaurant. Antonio showed us to a table close to the big open hearth. He pulled out one chair and motioned for Applejack to sit. She smiled as she sat down. Meanwhile I sat down on my own, while Antonio handed us both a menu. He made a small bow and went to the kitchen.

“Andrew, ya really gotta tell me what a pizza is, else Ah’m not gonna to be able to pick something.”

“Well, fine. Basically, a pizza is a round, flat piece of dough. On it they put tomato sauce and various toppings. Then they put it in the oven to bake it. Just pick a mix of toppings you think you like.”

“Okay, sure.”

“Have you decided?” Maria stood at our table with a simple notepad and a pen.

“Ah’ll have this one here.” She pointed at the menu. “But without the ham please.”

“Would you like something instead of the ham?”

“No, jus’ more of the rest Ah suppose.”

“Okay, a Quattro Stagioni without ham, coming up. How about you, Andrew?”

“I’ll have the Giovanni special.”

“Of course you will. Anything to drink?”

“Just some water for me please” I responded.

“Uhm... Do ya have some... apple juice maybe?” Applejack asked nervously. How did I not see that coming. That reminds me, I really should get some apple juice for her.

“Of course dear.” As she started to walk away, I called out to her and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and went to the kitchen.

“What was that all about?”

“Noth-”

“Antonio! La Bambina! She’s never had a pizza before!”

Suddenly it was completely silent. That eerie silence lasted until my palm came into contact with my face, causing a small slapping sound. The hand stayed there, as I felt redness creeping on my face. Through my fingers, I saw the head of a shocked Antonio through the kitchen door.

“Mamma Mia!”

My other hand quickly joined the first one on my head, burying my face, trying to cover as much as possible of my now completely red face.

“Ah suppose that was what all that was about.” Applejack said, chuckling. I groaned, causing Applejack to chuckle even louder. What’s keeping the pizzas...

After a couple of humiliating minutes, I saw Maria carrying two big plates to our table.

“A Quattro Stagioni for the lady, and an Antonio Special for you, Andrew. Buon Appetito.”

“It’s looking really nice, Maria. Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Andrew. Be sure to call for me if you need anything.” She said as she walked back to the kitchen.

“She’s a mighty friendly lady.” Applejack commented. “So, Andrew, just how are ya supposed to eat this?”

“Simple, you just cut off a slice and eat it with you hands.” I did just that, and failed miserably, as half of my toppings went tumbling back on my plate. “Of course, if you have too many toppings, like I do, you can just cut it up and eat it with knife and fork, but that’s nowhere near as fun” I said disappointed.

“Just what do ya have on yer pizza for toppings?”

“Uhm... Pretty much everything. Four types of cheese, mushrooms, peppers, ham, chicken, onion, seafood, anchovies...” With everything I said, Applejack’s eyes seem to widen more and more, clearly wondering how you could eat all of those things together. “It’s why I love Antonio’s pizzas, it binds everything together so nicely. Now, let’s eat.” I said with a smile. I tried to take the same slice, but again the toppings just slid off. Sighing, I took my knife and fork and started cutting it up in smaller pieces, while Applejack had a chuckle at my misfortune.

After we both had finished about half of our way too large pizzas, I could see that Applejack was having trouble completely finishing it. “Hey, if you’re full, just leave it. It’s fine.” I said to her.

“I don’t wanna waste all of this. This is great.” She said with a guilty face.

“Who said anything about wasting? Wait here.” I walked up to the counter to find Maria and Antonio whispering. I waited for a minute to hear what they were talking about.

“They’re such a cute couple.”

“Uh-hum!” I immediately cleared my throat, getting both of their attention.

“What is it, dear?” Maria asked.

“Two things. Firstly, could we get some pizza boxes to take the pizza home with us?”

“Sure thing, Andrew, two pizza boxes coming right up!” Antonio replied.

“Secondly” I added, “Me and AJ are not a couple. We only met yesterday, under some weird circumstances, and I’m just helping her out a bit.”

“Sure dear, we’re only teasing you a bit. Just go back to your table, we’ll be right there.”

I returned to my table, finding Applejack trying to eat, but I could see from her face that it wasn’t working so well for her. I smiled as I sat down in front of her. “I’ve taken care of it, we’ll be taking the rest of these pizzas with us back home, so we can finish them later. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure, as long as we’re not wasting anything.” she said, clearly looking relieved. I chuckled at the sight. Just like that, Antonio came to our table, carrying two pizza boxes. He put the remainders of our pizzas in the boxes and put them in a bag. “So, AJ, how did you like your first pizza, eh?”

“Oh, it was delicious, the best Ah’ve eaten here so far. Thank ya kindly, mister.”

“Please, call me Antonio, principessa.” Just as he spoke those words, Maria approached him behind his back and gave him a slap on his head. “Get back to the kitchen, you!” She turned to us. “Don’t mind the big monkey I have as a husband. I hope you enjoyed your meal.”

“Most certainly. I’d send my compliments to the chef, but I have a suspicion he already knows.” I replied, laughing. “Now, how much do I owe you? And you know I don’t take ‘nothing’ for an answer.”

“Nothing” Maria replied. “This one’s on the house.”

“I can’t have that, you hardly get costumers so I’m going to pay for this, whether you like it or not.”

“Let’s have a compromise, then. Are you planning to come work here in the summer months?”

“Yeah, I was, but I don’t know what that has to do with any of this.”

“How about you come to work here in the weekends as well? If you do, this pizza and every pizza from now on is on the house.”

I thought about it for a couple of seconds. “I missed  the both of you, and I’d really love to work here again, and I could use the money, but I'd have to ask my parents first.”

“Sure thing, Andrew, you have our number. Give us a call once you find out. I’ll be looking forward to it. For now, you two, enjoy your evening together.” She walked us to the door. “Get home safely, Andrew, and take care of that charming lady you have there.” She quickly closed the door, knowing that I’d want to react to that. Applejack gave me a chuckle when she saw my annoyed face. “C’mon, let’s go home” She said, walking to the bus stop.

When we arrived back home, I turned to Applejack. “Say, AJ, do you have movies in Equestria?”

“Well, there’s a movie theatre in Canterlot and there’s one in Manehattan, but Ah’ve never been to neither one of them.”

“How ‘bout watching a movie with me? If you want we can eat the remainder of the pizza along with it.”

“Sure thing, sounds nice, what did ya have in mind?”

“Well, I have quite a few movies, but I think I know you’ll like the one I had in mind.”

“What’s it called?”

“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It’s a classic western, located in the far west... Uhm... think of the scene around Appleloosa. It’s pretty action-packed, though I’m not gonna spoil the rest.”

“Sure.”

I placed my laptop on the table in front of the couch and motioned for Applejack to sit. I loaded the movie from my hard drive, and we started watching, while eating the remainders of our pizza.

About halfway through the movie, I felt Applejack’s head on my shoulder. I looked at her to see that she was asleep. I stood up carefully, allowing her to gently fall into the couch. After turning off my laptop, I scooped her up from the couch and laid her gently on my bed. I went to lie on my couch and fell asleep not long after.
	
> Feelings and Football
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up to find myself with a smashing headache, because for some reason, my body had decided it would be way more comfortable with my head hanging besides the couch. So, for the last few hours, my blood flow had mostly redirected to my head, causing me to have a headache, as well as probably being the reason why I woke up. I tried to look through the curtains, only to find that it was still dark outside. Now, I was annoyed, because today was Sunday, and that was usually the day I choose to catch up on sleep. And once I wake up, I don’t fall asleep again, especially with the headache I was having at this very moment.
 
Still sleepy, I let myself fall out of my couch causing a minor thud. I heard some muttering and that’s when I remembered why I was sleeping in my couch in the first place. Applejack was in my bed, and I really didn’t want to wake her up. I tip-toed my way to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and stayed there, pondering what I would be doing for the remainder of the day. It was Sunday today, but I recall checking the episode list and sadly finding that there wouldn’t be a new episode on April 14. So that was out of the question. This also made me chuckle, considering that one of the Mane Six was sleeping in my bed right now, I wondered if Applejack would still be in the episode.
 
If AJ is here, but there are still episodes being made, which are no doubt going to involve her... How does that work... She’s a character from a cartoon show, but somehow transported to Earth, yet the cartoon is going to keep going as if the events that clearly did happen, namely the pink skies and all that, didn’t happen. So we have a split timeline on our hands here... I don’t think AJ is going to understand any of this. I don’t understand any of this, so let’s just stick with our old explanation of “Discord happened”. It doesn’t make sense, neither does Discord, so in total this makes sense. Yay! Problem solved. Ow, headache...

For some reason, every time I got out of bed way too early, I was incredibly active, more active than I was supposed to be for not getting enough sleep, anyway. My brain especially had a tendency of going into overdrive in these situations. This included random outbursts of thoughts in my mind, which was quite annoying with the headache I was having. I poured myself some cereal and started eating.
 
I wasn’t really a cereal-guy, but having cereals around was very useful for both quick and early breakfasts, as well as midnight snacks, which I often had due to both my studies and the distractions of the Internet in general. Which reminded me, I had some work to do for school, and even though Applejack was around, I couldn’t slack on my homework, or my parents would kill me. So, as quietly as humanly possible, - Hmm, what would be the pony equivalent of humanly? Ponyly? Ponyngly? “Shut up Brain!” - I entered my room again, grabbed my laptop and books, and went back to the kitchen so I could study while letting Applejack sleep.

Industrial and technical chemistry. It was one of my favourite subjects, not because of the contents, more because of the professor. He didn’t just teach us our subject, he actively asked for our opinion on some matters, asked for possible solutions for problems, suggested we do experiments ourselves. He was enthusiastic about his course, he cared. The experiments were the reason for me to want to study chemistry in the first place.
 
But, frankly, that was more a child’s view of things. Every experiment so far had to be hurried; a race against time, and therefore it was inaccurate. It wasn’t what I expected chemistry to be. Somewhere in my mind I wanted to know the thrills of finding some new substance after working with substances that essentially could kill you, not some rushed job of following commands written on a piece of paper and where nothing possibly could go wrong. I sighed, I had chosen chemistry, my parents had paid for my studies and I was going to have to make the best of it. And it wasn’t all that bad, which brought me back to the book that laid open in front of me.
 
“So, whatcha doin’?”
 
            “God, AJ, don’t scare me like that, I’m gonna get a heart attack this way.”
 
“Hey, Ah told ya good morning an’ everything, I even had breakfast right in front of ya, but ya didn’t look away from those books. So Ah checked what ya were doin’ is all”
 
            “Well, I didn’t notice you, sorry, I guess I just was engrossed in all this school work.”
 
“Ya remind me of a certain purple unicorn sometimes, ya know that?”
 
            “Was it that bad? What time is it?” I looked away from my books now.
 
“Ah keep forgettin’ that you know who Ah’m talking about. But yep, it was that bad. And it’s 10 in the morning.”
 
            “Okay, I definitely need a break. Would you care for some tea?”
 
“Tea would be nice, yeah.”
 
While I was boiling water, a couple of other things popped into my mind, things I had been wondering about. I decided that asking them over tea would actually be a nice time to ask them.
 
“AJ, do you mind me asking some questions? There’s just some stuff that I’ve been thinking about that I’d like to know.”
 
            “Sure, Andrew, ask away.”
 
“Which question would you like first, the easy one or the hard one?”
 
            “Ah’ll take the easy one first, because if Ah can’t answer that one, don’t even bother with the hard one.” she said with a chuckle.
 
“Do you still have your cutiemark?”
 
            “What kinda question is that? Of course Ah do.” And before I could stop her, she pulled down her pants and turned her hip to me, revealing the three red apples that were already familiar to me. “See? Now Ah’ve been willin’ to ask ya the same thing, what’s yer cutiemark looking like? Ah haven’t been able to see it with all the clothes ya’re wearin’”
 
“I don’t have any.” Seeing Applejack’s face, I chuckled at her shock-filled, confused look. “Humans don’t get cutie marks. They never have, and I doubt they ever will, seeing as we’re a species that don’t use magic. Hence my question whether you still had your cutiemark.”
 
            “If Apple Bloom knew about that, she would be freakin’ out. What was yer other question? Ya know, the hard one. And don’t let it be any of that fancy mathematics, because I never was any good at that stuff.”
 
“Well, I’m wondering why you were so accepting when I showed you the “My Little Pony” stuff. I mean, I wouldn’t have understood a thing of it.”
 
Applejack pondered that question for a moment, putting her hand to her face and tapping her chin. Finally, she said “Ah believed ya because ya immediately showed me that. Even though everything here looked like some kind of bad dream and Ah didn’t know what to believe. But back home, ponies have said that Ah was too quick to judge sometimes, and they were right. Ah could tell that ya weren’t lying, and Ah woke up in a bed, so Ah knew that ya had tried to help me.
To be honest, Ah thought ya were crazy when ya said all o’ that stuff. But Ah decided to give ya a chance. Ya showed me that ‘My Little Pony’ stuff and Ah thought that this was all crazy, but somehow very believable. Then ya showed me that world map, and I had a lil’ harder time believin’ ya.  But then ya told me that we were both... ya know... meat eaters, and something inside me said that something wasn’t right at all, and Ah snapped and punched ya. Sorry about that, because it seems Ah was wrong yet again.”
 
“You know what, if I would have been transported to a world I didn’t know, I probably would have reacted way worse than you have, honestly. Especially considering you are stuck in a different body... I can’t even imagine it... I’d probably hurt myself and any others who would be helping me. Thinking about it, if you ever need any help with anything in this world, be it customs or names or whatever, don’t wait to ask me. I never realized this, but everything must be very strange to you. And hey, I would have punched someone in the face too if I couldn’t eat bacon anymore.”
 
            “Bacon, huh? What’s that?”
 
“Oh god, you are going to have to try it at least once. You just don’t know what you’re missing.” Realizing who I was just speaking to, I quickly added, “You know, if you feel like it. It is meat; after all, I mean I’m not forcing you to eat meat... never mind...” I just continued drinking my tea.
 
            “Ah’m not gonna eat meat. There’s just no way Ah’m gonna. Ah understand that you do, but it’s just not for me. Sorry.”
 
“It’s fine; it’s my fault for bringing it up. And I’ll never force you to eat meat. Like I’ve said, I want you to consider it, that’s all. Now, let’s change the subject. What are you planning to do during the week? I mean, I’ll be in classes, which you are welcome to join, but I don’t think you’re a science kind of pony... girl... lady. So that means you’ll be alone for the most time. Any ideas for what you wanna do?”
 
            “Well, Ah’d love to get a job to pay ya back for all this. Ah mean, Ah’m very grateful for all that ya done for me and probably will do for me, and Ah kinda feel guilty for eatin’ yer food and buying me those clothes.”
 
“I’d gladly pay for whatever you need, but I won’t stop you from getting a job. Unfortunately, I don’t think there are any apple orchards close by. But when I think of something I’ll let you figure it out.”
I finished my cup of tea and sighed. “Well that was refreshing, but I have to get back to work. Anything you wanna do in the meantime?”
 
            “Well, Ah’d love to finish the rest of the movie from yesterday, if that’s no problem for you.”
 
“Sure, I’ll just get everything set up for you then.” I moved my laptop from the kitchen to my coffee table in front of my couch, resumed the movie from where it had stopped the night before, went back to pick up my books, and then started another subject. Cellular Biology. This was one of the subjects I absolutely detested. Boring as hell, and almost no relation to chemistry, but apparently enough of a relation to be an obligatory course. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about what the differences were between an apoenzyme and a holoenzyme. I had to study it nonetheless.
 
            “Andrew, what’s this?”
 
“Hmm?” I looked around to find Applejack snooping around in my wardrobe. She pulled out one of my shirts, my favourite one even. Then, I remembered why exactly it was my favourite. It was my brony T-shirt of Applejack. “Oh yeah, that. Uhm... Well, I’m a fan from the show, and I liked the design so I bought it.” For some reason, I even had difficulties admitting to a character from My Little Pony that I was a brony. I guess that shows just how much of a closet brony I really am, huh?

            “Ah thought ya said the show was for children?”
 
“Well, there’s nothing wrong about liking a show for kids, right?” I didn’t tell her about the brony community, because there were some things about that community I’d rather not let her find out.
 
            “Ah suppose not. But Ah don’t see any other pony T-shirts in here. So why this one, huh?”
 
“Well... uhm... I guess you could say that you were my favourite pony in the show.” God, I hope she doesn’t take that the wrong way.

            “Oh... Okay Ah guess.” She folded the T-shirt back up and went to sit on the couch. Yup, definitely the wrong way.
 
I didn’t have any experience with women, and my favourite pony being transformed into a woman surely didn’t help in the matter. So, not knowing what to say to that, I just ignored her and went back to work.
 
            “Hey, Andrew, the movie’s done, ya know, got any ideas for any other stuff?”
 
Not looking up from my books I said to her “No, I don’t know what you could do. Just figure something out alright?” I focused on my books again. About half an hour later, my stomach started to growl. “Hey AJ, you wanna eat something?” There was no response. “AJ?” I asked again, turning my chair around. She was gone. Oh god, what did I do? Good job Andrew, ya screwed it up again, like you always do. I gotta find her, now.

I rushed out my door, and down the stairs, hoping that she hadn’t gone too far. As I opened the main doors of the building, I saw Applejack sitting on the sidewalk.
 
“I’m sorry, AJ, there’s no reason for me to have snapped there.” I sat down next to her. “It’s just that I didn’t have a good sleep. And I get really cranky for no reason when I don’t sleep enough. And frankly, I was so frustrated with all of this. I mean there’s a girl living with me. I knew her before she even heard of me. She wants to get back home and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
 
            “It’s okay, Andrew, Ah shouldn’t have been looking around in your wardrobe anyway,” she said with a sniff. Has she been crying?

“AJ, is something the matter? C’mon, let’s go back inside. Mi casa es tu casa. My home is your home.” I tried to cheer her up.
 
        “Home...” Oh God, Andrew, ya did it again. You are such a great person, you have no idea. “Ah miss them, Andrew...”
 
“I’m sorry, AJ, I really should pay more attention to what I’m saying...”
 
            “Ah hope they’re fine.”
 
“I hope so too AJ. Could you tell me just what happened that day?” I asked, while throwing my arm around her in a friendly hug.
 
            “Sure, Andrew. Well, Discord got loose again and...” She told me the tale about what had happened. “And then you showed up and carried me to yer bed.”
 
“Well, the way I see it, you don’t have anything to worry about. Either the wave of chaos didn’t reach your family, which means they are fine in Equestria, or they got caught in it and are now here.”
 
            “But what if they aren’t found? Ah mean ya were lucky to find me in the first place. What if they aren’t that lucky? And what if the people who find them don’t know who they are?”
 
“Trust me; with both the pink skies and the fudge smell, people are bound to find them. Also, even if people don’t know who they are, they will help them out, in some way or another. So trust me, they are safe either way. C’mon, let’s grab something to eat.” I stood up and pulled Applejack along with me. We started walking back up the stairs.
“Frankly, Ah haven’t been entirely honest with ya. Ya asked me why Ah believed ya, well it’s because Ah thought Ah should have been dead...”
 
“And to be perfectly honest with you, I haven’t been saying everything either. You found my shirt in my wardrobe, and well, it’s actually frowned upon to be an avid fan of a children’s show, especially as a guy being fan of a little girl’s show. You know, macho culture and stuff like that.”
 
            “Oh, is that why ya were so upset when Ah found that?”
 
“Well, it’s a part of my life that I haven’t been willing to share with people so far. There’s actually a community consisting of teenage and adult fans of the show, calling themselves bronies. I am what they would call a ‘closet brony’, meaning that I haven’t gone public with it yet.” My stomach growled, causing me to burst out in laughter for no reason at all.
 
            “Why are ya laughin’ like that?” Applejack was suppressing a chuckle as well now.
 
“I just feel happy, isn’t that reason enough to laugh? I mean I haven’t felt this genuinely happy in a while, just because I said I was a brony to someone I knew wouldn’t judge me for it.” We reached our floor. “C’mon, I’m making you a salad. Have you ever had a boiled egg?”
 
            “Can’t say Ah have... but it doesn’t seem too bad from the sound of it. Sure, I’ll be willing to try it.”
 
“Like I said before, I’m not forcing you to eat it. I’ve been looking up some guidelines as to how to live a vegetarian life. If you don’t like eggs, there are still plenty of other ways to get your proteins.”
 
I placed a big bowl of salad in the mid of our table. I took out two plates and scooped up a large portion for myself. “I don’t know what vegetables you like, so take whatever you want.” Man, I haven’t eaten this healthy in years. I suppose there are some benefits about this entire mess. That, and I have freaking Applejack living at my place.

After lunch, we both sat there in the kitchen, doing nothing. “So, what do we do now?” Applejack asked. I shrugged, not really knowing what to do. If I had spare time during the day, it usually went to my schoolwork. My life was boring, but that was going to have to change. I then reminded the offer Antonio had made me.
 
“What would you think of working for Antonio and Maria? That way you won’t be alone when I’m off for classes and you’ll have a job like you wanted to.”
 
            “Ah dunno, Ah’m not that great of a cook, so Ah don’t know if they could use me...”
 
“Well, would you mind giving it a try?”
“Sure, Ah guess...”
 
“I have to call my parents first though to see if they allow me to work during the weekends. I’ll give them a call right now.”
 
My parents agreed to the deal. They didn’t need all that much convincing, seeing it would be a way for them to reduce their allowance. I then called Antonio and Maria to take her up on her offer, as well as asking if they had a job for Applejack during the week. They said that if we were both okay with it, I could help in the kitchen, while she could be a waitress. I asked Applejack, and she said she was fine with the idea. We could start our jobs tomorrow, with our free days being Tuesday and Sunday.
 
            “Well, that’s that sorted then, thanks Andrew,” Applejack said. “So, do ya have any plans for tonight?”
 
“Not really, I’ve pretty much finished all my schoolwork for this week.” I sighed, just realizing how boring my life was. I went to classes, cooked dinner, did my homework, watched a movie or read some fan-fics, and then went to sleep. “I’m sorry for my boring life, I’d do something with you, but I have no idea what.”
 
            “Well, what do ya do normally for fun, apart from stuff like reading or watching those movies?”
 
“I play chess... God, I’m so boring... Well I suppose we could play football. I mean I used to play it before college, but now I just don’t have the time for it.”
 
        “Football it is, though ya’re gonna have to explain it to me.”
 
“I’ll explain it on the way there. It’s about a fifteen minute walk from here. I just gotta dress into something a little more appropriate.” I took out my football shoes from the bottom shelf of my wardrobe, as well as my Barcelona shirt and shorts. I needed to inflate the football again after a year of not using it, which took a while. When I was ready, we left for the football field.
 
“Football is a game of two teams, each consisting for eleven players. The purpose of the game is to get the ball into the other team’s goal. You can’t touch the ball with your hands or arms, except for one player on each team, the goalkeeper. Minor contact between the players is allowed. That’s about it really. Those are the rules of the game, but since we’ll be the only two people playing, we’re just gonna kick the ball around a bit.”
 
When we arrived, I went over how to properly pass a ball, how to keep the ball close to the feet when running, how to put force behind kicks, among others. Applejack was a quick learner, and we went over some minor training exercises. Her shot is pretty strong, and her passing is very accurate. It probably has something to do with her applebucking. We were taking turns shooting the goal and goalkeeping, when I saw three guys approaching.
 
“You guys wanna join in?” I called out to them. I saw that one of them was wearing keeper gloves. “We can do two versus two on one goal.”
“Alright, sounds cool,” the keeper says. “My name’s Nick and these guys are Jimmy and Tom.”
 
“My name’s Andrew and that’s AJ,” I pointed at the goal. “So, let’s get started all right?”
Applejack ran over. “Is everything okay?”
 
“Yeah, care for a little competition AJ?”
 
            “Let’s show ‘em what we can do”
 
Apparently, we couldn’t do anything. Nick was an amazing keeper, and the John and Tom could play the ball around like it was nothing. Final score: 12-1. Applejack and I said goodbye and we went back to my place. On the way back Applejack seemed sad.
 
“You’re not sore about losing, right?” I said to her. “I mean they knew each other for a couple of years probably, and looking at them they were probably a duo of strikers in the same team.”
 
            “What do ya mean, strikers? And how can you tell?”
 
“Right, I haven’t talked about football positions. Basically there are six positions in football. The goalkeeper, central defenders, wing defenders, midfielders, wing attackers and strikers. As for how I can tell, it just comes with experience. Keepers are usually tall and have great reflexes. Central defenders are pretty tall and sturdy. Wing defenders are usually fast, but still pretty sturdy. Midfielders have great stamina and their passes are accurate. Wing attackers are fast and nimble, and usually know tricks to pass defenders. Lastly, strikers are usually pretty fast and they know how to score. Seeing that they are friends, it wouldn’t surprise me that they play in the same team.”
 
            “You can tell all that just by looking at them?”
 
“Yup, years of experience. I’m guessing you can tell which trees are ready to bucked just by looking at them?” Applejack nodded. “Same thing. My old coach said I had a good eye for things like that, so I always looked out for weaknesses on the opponent’s team.”
 
            “So, what position do you think I should play?” Applejack said with a grin.
 
“I think you’d make a pretty good midfielder, from what I know of you and your style of play. Your stamina is great, your passes are very accurate and you have a powerful shot. I was a wing defender myself. I’m pretty fast, yet sturdy and I can give an accurate pass.”
 
 My stomach growled. “Let’s grab something to eat, and I know just the thing. Belgium has a whole culture on fries, so that’s something you just have to try. There’s a ‘fry house’ real close to my place.” Applejack agreed, and after a couple more growling stomachs, we both entered the place.
 
            “Ah never thought you could have an entire meal just eating fries... But man, were they good,” Applejack stated when we were both back at my place, about an hour later.
 
“You bet. Belgium has the self-proclaimed best fries in the world,” I said, laughing with Applejack. I had a look at my watch and saw that it was 7:30. “All right, you have work tomorrow. Antonio asked that you be there at 10 tomorrow. So you take the bus at 9 and you’ll be fine. I won’t be there to wake you though. I already have classes then.”
 
            “It’s still a bit early to go to bed though, so what do we do now?”
 
“Do you want to watch another movie?” Applejack shrugged and then nodded. “Okay, how about The Fellowship of the Ring, it’s the first movie in a trilogy of fantasy books called Lord of the Rings, which have been filmed.”
 
            “Sounds good to me, Andrew.”
 
We both watched the movie in silence, apart from Applejack immersing herself in the fight scenes. I had a laugh, and then thought about how magical and strange everything must seem for her. I only hoped that I was doing a good job of helping her.
 
When the movie ended, we both yawned. “All right AJ, time for bed.”
 
            “Are ya my dad all of a sudden?” She chuckled. “Good night, Andrew. Thanks for spending time with me.” She climbed into bed.
 
“My pleasure. It’s been a while since I just went out and did something, rather than study all day long.”
 
            “Nice goal by the way. Doesn’t it hurt to hit the ball like that with yer head?”
 
“Nah, as long as you put more force on the ball than the ball puts force on you, it doesn’t hurt. Newton’s Third Law of Mo-” A loud, clearly fake snore interrupted my explanation. “Good night, AJ.”
 
            “Good night, Andrew.”
 
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Author’s Note: Sorry for the long wait before the update. The team at Ponyfall had to sort out a lot of stuff, and when that was over, I got a little bit ill and then I went on holiday. So don’t worry, the following updates won’t take as long. Also my story now has a prologue, as was demanded by the admins. It’s written in chapter one, and it’s also the story that Applejack tells me.