[AiE] PPPPP 2 : Do Not Go Gently

>And so, the three of you began to walk.

>Where to? You had no idea.

>Hopefully, things would start to make sense soon.

 

 

>Except that they didn't. At all.

>As you're walking through the orchard towards Applejack's supposedly smart friend, you take note of your surroundings.

>And mostly of how... wrong they look, for lack of a better word.

>There's just something about this place in general that sets you off. A certain vibe you can't grasp but that agitates you none the less.

>Everything around you just seems so bright, to the point of being gaudy.

>It's hard to put your finger on it, though. Just looking at the trees you pass by, you wouldn't say they were any different from the ones you were familiar with.

>But in the grand view of it all, it seems to lack something.

>Something that makes it feel real.

>Things just looked different here. Small details, but enough to distort the entirety in such a way that it made you somewhat uncomfortable.

 

>Looking at your side, you reach the same conclusion when it comes to Ashy.

>She looked different somehow. Though it's hard to place what had changed about her precisely.

>As you walk down the gravel path, you keep running your eyes over her, looking for what it was that made her seem at odds.

>If you had to single out one factor, it would have to be her eyes. Her eyes were just so much bigger.

>It made her look... more emoting. There was something in her eyes that just told you she was happy right now.

>The ability to read her facial expression like that was jarring.

>And as unnerving as it might seem at first... it had a certain endearing effect on you as well.

>But all things combined, there was just something more to it.

>She looked differently, proportionality-wise.

>Maybe you were just imagining things.

>You have been in a more stable state of mind in the past, that much is certain.

>Perhaps it would be wisest to just focus on reaching your destination.

>You might find some answers there.

>But still...

 

>The fact that your guide was a bright orange pony with a Stetson didn't really help to make the situation feel more real either.

>Looking down on her, you saw that there were apples on her swaying rump.

>Was that a branding mark? No... The coloration indicated it to be painted on.

>More questions arose with every passing moment in this situation.

>Was that because you were around apple trees right now?

>Some sort of mark to indicate that she was confined to these grounds perhaps.

>Or... the other way around? These grounds were hers then?

>Were there others like this? Were there ponies with marks of other fruits too? Or vegetables? Was it food-related? Perhaps it—

>Wait. Wait for a moment.

>Either you try to figure out every single possibility and deduct which one would be the most likely...

>Or you could ask her.

>Somehow, the latter seems like it'd require a lot less effort on your end.

 

>You break the silence that had been lingering in between the lot of you so far.

"Hey Applejack, can I ask you something?"

>She purses her lips and genuinely seems to think about the answer to that question.

>It was clear that she still didn't trust you much.

>"Ah guess so. What do ya wanna know?"

"What's the deal with those apples on your flanks?"

>And once more, she seems to cock her head at your question. This was looking to become a habit for her.

>"What do ya mean? That's my cutiemark, I'm sure Ashy's—"

>She grinds to a halt as she looks at the grey mare, walking close to your side.

>"Where's her cutiemark?" she asks you, an undertone of panic unmistakably present in her voice.

"I don't even know what that is." You throw your hands in the air in your defense.

>"This," she nods towards the apples marked on her hindquarters, "is a cutiemark. Every grown pony has one. It shows what they're good at."

>Redirecting her attention towards Ashy, she addresses her, "Didn't you ever find your special talent?"

>Ashy stares blankly at her and blinks.

>Applejack looks at her, her brow furrowing as time passes, before turning to you.

>"Why doesn't she answer me?"

"I... I don't think she understands you," you reply.

>"Ya mean mah accent?"

"No, that's not it. It's just that she's never spoken before. I don't think she knows what you're saying."

>Crouching down, you rustle through her mane to catch her attention.

>Looking her in the eyes, you let your lips curl into a small smile. "Am I right, Ashy?"

>Upon hearing her name said by you, she cocks her head. "Walk?"

>A sparkle scintillating in her eyes signals her exuberance at the prospect of a walk.

"You wanna keep walking?"

>She enthusiastically nods her head up and down. "Walk! Walk!"

"Well, I did promise you one..."

>Standing up straight, you look back at Applejack.

"See? She doesn't understand you."

>"B-But she's a fully grown mare. Ya can't tell me she never spoke before..."

"Not where I come from..."

>"Ah'm beginning to wonder where that is exactly."

"And I'm wondering where I am right now, so I guess that makes two of us," you reply in a mixture of apprehension and agitation.

 

>She begins walking once more, though this time she doesn't allow silence to sink in.

>"This right here is Sweet Apple Acres, second biggest apple orchard in the whole of Equestria."

>She casts a look over her withers, to see if that elicited any kind of response in you.

>Which was not the case.

>"And right now, we're headed towards Ponyville."

>Did... Did you really hear that correctly?

>Equestria? Ponyville?

>Was this some kind of joke?

>Your lungs fill themselves with a breath of fresh air and with a heave of your chest, you let loose a labored sigh.

>For now, perhaps you should just go along with it all.

>This place didn't seem to make much sense —if any at all— so breaking your head over it wouldn't do you much good either.

>And that's still assuming this isn't some kind of extravagant hallucination...

>Something bumps into your side, causing you to side-step and nearly lose your balance.

>With that, your troubled train of thought immediately gets broken.

>At your side, a small grey pony happily trots along without so much as a care in the world, her hooves sending up little tufts of dust in the air as she merrily walks next to you.

>Your lips turn slightly upwards as you ruffle through her amber locks.

 

 

>The remainder of the walk goes by in silence, for which you're quite grateful.

>The more Applejack told you, the more confused you got.

>Hopefully her friend would have some more conclusive answers for you.

>After a few more minutes of walking, the trees began to thin out and in the distance, you could see the outlines of buildings making themselves more defined with every step you took.

>And though you told yourself not to, you began to wonder again.

>Who'd built them? Where were you? What was actually going here?

>You quietly shake your head, convincing yourself not to delve into matters like this.

>There was no need for you to know that. All you needed to know was where you were and how to get back home from there.

>You needn't concern yourself with anything besides that.

>As you left the orchard and officially entered the village now, you took in the buildings that you passed.

>Some of them seemed like regular houses, save for some odd colors here and there, but some of them looked like they came straight out of a fairy tale.

>At one point, you passed by a gingerbread house.

>An actual house, built out of gingerbread.

>If this entire situation hadn't bordered on the edge of phantasms before, it seemed to had dived head-first into it right now.

>Things just kept layering on top of one another, only making this entire ordeal seem less and less probable with every passing moment.

>The sooner you got out of here —or woke up—, the better.

 

>Applejack came to halt in front of an enormous tree with a wooden sign stood in front of it.

>"GOLDEN OAKS PUBLIC LIBRARY" could be read underneath the outline of a book that was etched into the sign's panel.

>The things you'd seen before had left you wondering whether any of it was real, but this left you awestruck.

>This tree had to be a few hundred years old, at the least.

>It easily spawned over thirty feet tall, and on the outside, several balcony-like platforms had been built.

>On top of it, you saw a telescope aimed skywards.

 

>"Ya comin' or not?" the southern voice called out to you.

>Looking downwards, you saw that Applejack was holding open the door for you that was mounted in the tree trunk.

>Shaking your head to clear the clutter that were your thoughts, you quickly make your way towards her, making sure that Ashy kept close to you.

>Bending down a bit, you step inside with Ashy following close by.

>And as the door fell shut, your jaw fell open.

>The interior of the tree had been carved out completely, making room for walls of books that were kept in shelves that were carved into the tree itself.

>You'd never seen anything like this before. The foreign sight left you speechless.

>"Twi?" Applejack called out into the empty room, "Yer gonna want to see this!"

>A muffled voice came from upstairs, "AJ? What are you talking about?"

>The voice grew louder as you heard the clopping of hooves against wood, "Hold on a minute, I'm coming!"

>From the stairs on your right descended a pony with a purple coat and... a horn?

>Well...

>You'd say you were surprised if you were.

>But considering the rest of your surroundings, this actually seemed to fit in fairly well.

>Unicorns. Of course. Why not?

>Talking unicorns at that.

>Who needs sanity anyways?

>"What's the matter, App—" she began to ask, though quickly shutting herself up to stare at you wide-eyed.

>"W-What's this, AJ?" she asked, letting her eyes glide over you with a cocked head.

>"This here's Anon. Ah found him in mah orchard. Says he's lost but Ah haven't the faintest where he's supposed to come from..."

>The purple unicorn squinted her eyes at you before suddenly snapping her head at Applejack.

>"Wait... 'says'? "Can you talk?" she asks, looking back at you again.

 

"I'd like to think that I can, yeah..."

>Her mouth falls open for just a second before she straightens herself, coughing once to clear her throat.

>"Oh. Right... well then... My name is Twilight Sparkle, owner of Golden Oaks public library," she greets you in a very business-like voice.

"I'm Anon... but you know that already. And this here's Ashy," you say, pointing at the mare behind you that currently seemed to enjoy herself simply with looking at the interior of the tree.

>Far too entranced with the foreign creature talking to her, the purple unicorn merely casts a glance at your pet.

>Cocking her head, she begins to walk back and forth in front of you, measuring up every aspect of your posture it seems.

>"Might I ask which species you are? I don't recall coming across something with your size and build in any of my books, I'm afraid..."

"Uhm... Human," your reply comes somewhat delayed, slightly taken aback by her questioning.

>You were hoping that she could answer your questions, rather than the other way around, actually.

>Though, you suppose it'd only be fair to answer some of hers first.

"Male, in case that wasn't clear enough," you follow up.

>That caused her to halt her pacing, instead bringing her to look at you with a furrowed brow.

>"Hyuu - man?" she mimicked.

>Shaking her head, her brow falls even further.

>"That's... a name I'm not familiar with."

 

"Uh, does Homo Sapien Sapien ring a bell?" you attempt.

>"Homo Sapien..." she repeats, gaze cast at the floor with her muzzle scrunched up.

>Then, in a flash, she gallops off towards one of the bookcases quickly scanning over the titles.

>"No... No... Not it..."

>"Aha! Equestrian species: a collection from Alicorn to Zebra!"

>The book suddenly becomes coated in a translucent maroon cloud before floating out of its position.

"WHAT THE—"

>The thud of the book falling on the floor causes you to halt your exclamation.

>"What?" Twilight turns towards you. "What's wrong?"

"What the hell was that?!" you nearly shout, a combination of panic and amazement fighting for dominance in your voice.

>"What was what exactly?" she asks, one brow raised in confusion as she steps towards a reading pedestal, the book floating behind her, once more coated in that maroon clouding.

"That!" you exclaim, pointing towards the book. "How is that thing just floating mid-air?"

>"Levitation spell," the unicorn replies, wagging her horn back and forth.

>Noting that her horn was surrounded by the same ethereal composition as the one encompassing the book, you feel the instability you'd felt when you heard Ashy talking once more taking place.

>Your vision quickly distorts and it becomes increasingly harder to tell which way is up or down.

>Hanging onto the edge of consciousness, you hear three voices call out your name before your head causes a dull thud to sound through the library upon impact with the floor composed of solid oak.

 

 

>"...non?"

>You're on a boat.

>"..non!"

>If the rhythmic swaying back and forth is something to make conclusions off, anyway.

>"Anon!"

>A sharp poke in your ribs causes you to jolt awake, a pair of amber eyes burning into your own.

>"Nonn~" she cooed as she laid her head in your lap, softly rolling it against your abdomen.

>Gently stroking her mane to comfort her a bit, you use your remaining hand to tentatively rub the stinging pain at the back of your head.

>"That's a nasty tumble ya did there, partner," a familiar voice sounds from your right.

>You blink a few times before you realize you're lying in a sofa.

>Only seconds later, you remember what had caused you to be in this position in the first place.

>Sighing, you lie back down as you let the memory sink in properly.

>A voice from behind you spoke, "Here, this'll help a bit against the headache."

>Turning around, you saw Twilight holding up an ice-bag with her telekinesis.

>Hesitantly you reach out towards it, but you can't bring yourself to grab the bag.

"I... I'd rather not touch... that," you say, pointing towards the blood-red aura surrounding the frozen pain-killer.

>Tilting her head to the side, she looks at you with a pained expression, unable to hide the hurt you'd invoked in her.

>"Oh, of course... Sorry."

>She levitates the ice-bag onto a table standing next to the sofa, from where you retrieve it once the maroon wafts had dissipated.

>"It's just that I've never heard of somepony being afraid of magic ever before."

>You wince, both from placing the ice against your sore head, as well as from the mention of the word 'magic'.

>Shaking your head in disbelief, you simply have no clue what to do.

 

>Instead it was Twilight who spoke the first, "Uhm... Anon, can I ask you something?"

>You nod, causing you to wince once more from the stinging at the back of your head.

>"Are you an ape?"

>Still somewhat groggy from the smack on your head, you're not quite sure you heard that right.

"What?"

>"It's just that," Twilight began," you said you were a Homo Sapien Sapien, right? Does that mean you're in the family of Hominidae?"

>Your brow raises skywards, signaling your confusion, which she acknowledges with an uncertain smile.

>"Primates?" she tries again.

"Oh!" you exclaim, nodding in affirmation.

>The pain causes you to wince again. You really got to stop doing that...

"Yeah, that's where we're placed. Big talking monkeys, I guess. Not so much hair, though..."

>"Hmmm," she mulls.

>The encyclopedia she'd searched for earlier now floated towards her.

>Placing it down on the table, the pages began flipping themselves over with her supposed 'magic'.

>As she scrolled through the pages, she began shaking her head.

>Softly at first, though growing more annoyed with each page she passed by.

>"I've never heard of your kind before and there's nothing in my books either..." she concluded, closing the book shut with the last glow of her horn.

>She turned back towards you, her eyes measuring you up with intent.

>Her brow lowered itself in something that seems to linger in between curiosity and distrust.

>"Where do you come from, Anon? Applejack told me about her condition," she spoke as she pointed towards Ashy with a hoof, "and I've never heard of anything like either you or her before..."

 

 

>Groaning in discomfort, you prop yourself into an upright sitting position.

>The stinging pain flares up, but you quickly force it back down with a grimace. There were more important matters at hand right now.

>Ashy simply sets herself down at your side, content to see you up and about again, her tail swishing to and fro over the floor.

>A sigh leaves you as an undeniable sense of certainty descends on you.

>No matter how hard you'd hoped it to be the case; this wasn't a dream, nor an illusion.

>The fact that this was all real —so very confusingly real— began to set in.

>There was simply no way this was a figment of your imagination.

>The consistency of it all, the fact that you were perfectly aware of everything that surrounded you, and lastly, that godforsaken headache...

>This was actually happening.

"There's some things I'd like to know myself first, Twilight."

>On your free hand, you begin to count as you sort through things the way they come to you.

"First of all, I'd like to know where I am. And how I got here."

>With two fingers raised, you continue, "I want to know why you are talking."

"Why she is talking," you say, nodding at Ashy, barely containing the ever-growing annoyance in your voice. "I want to know why you can make books float in mid-air."

"Why there's a horn on your head and lastly, how to get home from here as fast as possible."

>Your chest is rising and falling much more frenetic than it was before and trembling motions in your peripheral vision tell you to calm down before you black out again.

>A wave of nausea forces you to look at the floor and collect your breathing.

"And I would genuinely appreciate a glass of water," you say much more quietly, your gaze still burning into the wooden floor.

 

>You hear the clopping sounds of hooves taking off, returning shortly after.

>Looking up, Twilight attempts to shove a glass of water over the table with her hooves rather clumsily.

"Thank you."

>The cold water flooding your throat calms you down considerably and even ebbs away a small amount of the pounding in the back of your head.

>With a sigh, rationality begins to take place again.

>So far, these creatures had gone out of their way to help you as best as they can.

>Perhaps that wasn't the best way to thank them for their efforts.

"Sorry about that. It's... it's just too much to take in at once for me."

>Looking down on her, Ashy lets her head fall on your leg, which earns her a light scratching behind the ear from you.

"Her talking... and you talking... and the floating books..."

>Shaking your head, you can only come to one conclusion, "This isn't normal."

 

>Applejack seems to glare at you, clearly displeased by your attitude, while Twilight on the other hand simply seemed to stare at you with both interest and confusion.

>With a demure shake of her head, she speaks, "It's okay. I'm certain you're just as confused as we are, if not more so. I promise I'll try to answer your questions the best that I can."

>Her hoof makes small tapping noises against the oaken underground as she seems to mull over what you said.

>"Okay, you wanted to know where you were, right?"

"That'd be a nice start..."

 

>Whether it was your small outburst earlier, the desperation that was unmistakably present in your voice now instead, the kindness of her heart or something else entirely, you didn't know but the unicorn immediately turned tail, only to return with a scroll floating behind her moments later.

>The scroll rolled open, proving to be too large for the simple table to contain as its edges dangled downwards.

>With a short nod of her head, a luminescent pawn appeared on the map.

>"That's Ponyville," she pointed at the marker floating above the chart.

>Squinting her eyes slightly, the aura flickering around her horn grew more intense and a circle-esque shape of the same luminescent nature spread around the pawn.

>"Which is part of Equestria," she continued.

>Another small nod of her head and the outline of a familiar shape marked itself on the map. "Continent: Equis."

>Your mind is flooded with 'what'-s, 'how'-s, and 'why'-s.

>And you don't intend on answering any of them for now.

>Instead, you shake your head.

"That's North-America," you state in a blunt tone.

>"North-whatnow?" Applejack buts in, brow nearly touching the brim of her hat.

"That," you repeat, pointing at the outline on the map, temporarily forgetting your distrust of magic, "is North-America."

>On a whim, an option you'd never once held possible flashes before your eyes.

"This is Earth, right?" you blurt out, earning you an incredulous look from both mares.