Written by AshtonSSG.

Keith woke up in a barn, which wasn’t an unusual thing, be he had never be in this barn before.

It had an odd atmosphere to it, nothing like he’d ever felt. Everything was different, the way things looked, smelled, felt.

I think what stuck out most was that I couldn’t remember what had happened.

“Where in Tarnation am I?” he laid on the dirt and looked around for a moment.

He looked down at himself, only to notice that his hands and feet had been replaced with hooves.

“Hey, now what’s happening here!?” Keith stood up, quite surprised within himself on how well he could stand and walk in this new body.

“What is this? Where am I?” he asked himself these questions over and over again, pacing up and down the barn.

The barn had a few animals inside, but all the doors and windows locked, but some holes in the roof let enough light in so Keith could see.

He looked over, the see his white cowboy hat, something he always wore. He trotted over and put it on his head. He felt somewhat relieved inside.

Outside the barn was many a tree, full of apples, quite a sight to see. There was also a family, A brother, two sisters, and a grandmother, who all lived on an apple farm.

Applejack was standing right outside of the door. She was headed in to the eggs from the chickens, until she heard Keith voice from the other side.

“Well how did somepony get in there? All the doors and windows are still locked, and there ain’t no way they got up on that roof.” She put a hoof to her chin and thought about it.

“Well, he don’t sound like he’s doin’ anything. I’d better go in there and see what’s up.” Applejack started to unlock and open the door, and Keith heard it.

“Hello? Who’s there?” Keith tensed up, having no knowledge of who or what could be on the other side.

But, instead of what he expected, in front of the open door and stood a orange coated pony, with a defined figure. The only thing she wore was a cowboy hat, much like his. From out and under the hat flowed a long golden hair, brought down to a ponytail.

“Hey there, Sugarcube!” she smiled and asked Keith. Even though she knew it was a little foggy on how he got inside the barn, she still showed complete kindness. “Now tell me, How’d ya get in here, pal?”

“Well…Umm…I’m not really sure, Mam.” He looked down and kicked the dirt, and frowned. “I was home, and then something happened…and then I woke up here.” “Well, what’s your name?”

“Country Smash.” He told her. “Country Smash? What in the hell made me say Country Smash? My name was Keith…our maybe it was Country Smash? I’d try to say Keith, but it would come out Country Smash. and now that I think about it, my actual human memories are somewhat muddy…I could remember certain things, but they didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’m guessing that Country Smash was my pony name.” he thought to himself.

“Well Country, we’ll see if we can find you some help. Here, follow me.” Applejack headed out of the barn, with Country Smash right behind.

They headed into the house, which gave off a strong scent of assorted apple goods. The house itself had a very country presence, much like his house did, or at least what he could remember of it. The décor of the house was very southern, which pleased Country.

Applejack sat in the main room, and Country also took a seat. “Now Country, you said you couldn’t remember anything?” “No, mam. I just remember waking up in the barn out there.” “Alright, Sugarcube, were gonna figure this out.” Applejack left the room the room, but soon came back with three other ponies, all different shapes and sizes. A small yellow filly jumped over to him and shouted, “Howdy! How are ya?” The small little filly continued to ask questions far to fast for Country to ask, until she was stopped when Applejack stuck a hoof in here mouth. “Sorry…She likes to meet new people.”

After Applejack scooted Apple Bloom over to the side, an elder pony walked over to him and told him, “Young man, Applejack has told us what happened, and will get you help. But you can’t think on an empty stomach, and it’s late anyways. Please tell me you’re going to stay here and join us for dinner?” Country told the sweet old woman he say, but where would he go had he said no? He had just woken up on the dirt in a place he’d never been before.

They soon sat down at a table, and ate a pasta dinner. Country wondered what food ponies would eat, since he could somewhat remember eating meat quite often when he was human. It was just a normal pasta, but everything had a hint of apple, just a pinch of apple, or the secret ingredient is apples, and oddly enough it was quite satisfying.

They sat around the table after dinner and talked, but Country just sat and listened until Apple Bloom asked…”So, how’d you get your Cutie Mark, Country?” His cutie mark as Acoustic Guitar, but the image seemed quite familiar to him. “Now, Now, he may not remember all this.” Country sat and thought for a minute and said, “Actually, that story is actually something I can make sense of. You said that a Cutie Mark shows what your special talent is? From what I can remember, a lot of the images I see of me holding a guitar like this, and from what it sounds like, I’m singing Country Music, with a lot of people around. So I guess that my special talent is country music.” Applejack looked at him and smiled, “Well, I think your name makes a lot more sense now. Do you think you could remember the guitar?” “Maybe, I could try.”

Applejack had walked over to the Bigger Red pony, who hadn’t talked much at all that night, only saying scare words when he did speak. He left up the stairs, and came back with a Guitar, and handed it to Country.

Country Strummed, and it made noise. Country the placed his hoof on the Fretboard, in all the right places to play a few chords. “See, look! Sounds like you still know a thing or two!” Applejack told him.

Country continued to play some chords for a few minutes, but soon he started to play small pieces from songs, until…”Well, this may be something I know better than I thought.” Granny Smith looked over at him and told him, “Your special talent is something you never forget. You see this Cutie Mark I’ve got here? I was the best darn apple baker around when I was your age, and I still am.” She smiled.

After that was told to Country, something surged through him. “Thank you Granny Smith, now if you don’t mind, I’d like to play you a little song I wrote.” Country Cleared his throat, and began to strum.

“Autumn's almost over, the gentle winter's on the way. Still, I sit here on this balcony, and smoke my brain away. Waiting on that phone to ring, wondering which day that it will be…”

Every pony became very quiet and focused in on Country, and watched the stars dance in his eyes.

“Oh Baby, I pray one day you'll go back home, To the warmth of the ponies you know back home, And leave all the pain you've felt from me, here in Saddleveil.”

“Oh you were just a young girl, and I swore I could change. Every day that you forgive me, is just another one you'll waste. You came here in search of something true. I hope like hell your searching isn't through.”

He sang the Chorus again, then said these words…

“It's hard to think that everything around her, to know that won't be happy ever after…”

He sang his Chorus one more, then finished his song.

“Hmm…I don’t remember the song going like that. When I thought it in my head, it was the original…or was it? I still can’t remember, maybe my brains making things into a pony language, so it’s better understood here…if this is even MY brain.” Country thought to himself.

“My, My, Country, that was Beautiful!” Applejack told him. “Thank you, Mam, but it is awfully late, and I’ve had a long day. You wouldn’t mind to show me to my room, would you?” “Oh, of course not Sugarcube!” Applejack trotted out of the the room with County, showing him upstairs into an empty room.

“Well, here we are, this is where you’ll be sleeping for the night.” Country walked over to the bed, and laid down, only to feel all comfort the bed gave him. He sat up and looked at AJ, “Why thank you Ms. Applejack, But…may I ask you something?” “Sure, Hun.” “You’ll still be here tomorrow, right?” Applejack stopped and gave him a funny look. “Well I ain’t going anywhere, but why do you ask?” “Well Ms. Applejack, ever since I arrived here, you’ve already taken me in for the night, and you barely know a thing about me. I trust you. I don’t know anything about where I am, and I want you to show me…but most of all, I want to get to know you, Applejack.”

Applejack smiled at him and blushed, “Yes, Country. I’ll be here tomorrow, and we’ll talk, I’ll show you around, and I’ll tell you about myself. Country, you’re a gentle and kind pony, much like me, and that’s why I trust you. I want to know more about you too, but tell me this… You’ll still be here tomorrow, Right?”

“Yes, Mam.”