“Why do I keep making such an ass of myself…” Apple mumbled as he exited the bar. A frigid wind whipped down the street, biting through his thin scarf and cloak causing him to wince and pick up his pace. He may have only had to go across the street to get home, but on nights like this it might as well have been across town. “Nobody wants to hear about her. The sooner I figure that out, the sooner I can get out of this shit hole and away from him...”

The pony of his disdain was his brother, Pippin Apple, a rather burly earth pony stallion who was bigger than Apple. He was a heavy-drinking college dropout who got lucky and landed an easy-ass job that enabled him to sit on his ass at home all day flipping real estate. Apple hated him for how easily he stumbled into money and by association, mares (and even the occasional stallion, but that was on really drunken nights). Pulling the worn key from his pocket and fidgeting with the temperamental lock, Apple finally shouldered the front door open and kicked it shut behind him. He made his way up the front staircase leading to the third floor where they shared a cramped apartment. As he walked down the dimly lit hall, he could hear the various ponies going about their own lives in their respective apartments. He came to the door with the crooked number “315” nailed to the front and sighed as he pushed the door open. A pony with the same coat color as Apple but a blue mane with a green stripe was sitting on the couch playing a game on their Neighstation.

“Aw fuck you you piece of shit camper!” Pippin yelled into a headset mic. “You spawned in the same spot three fuckin' times you fuckin' hacker.” Apple just shook his head as he hung his scarf on the doorside hook, then closed his eyes as he heard it fall off the wall as he began to walk away. Celestia he hated this place…

The apartment he shared with his brother was by no means a spacious place. In fact, it was probably the example one would use to describe the exact opposite of the term. The front door led to a small, cramped hallway through which he could barely fit due to the oversized radiator and the hook on the wall where some jackets hung. This led to a living room which was filled with two computers, a mass of cables, a small couch, a TV with a gaming console, and a bookshelf. Overall this didn’t leave a lot of space for movement. The apartment’s only redeeming factors were the large panoramic window on the other side of the living room, and it’s rather well equipped kitchen. It was a bit behind in modern upgrades, but that was expected of a cheap apartment.

“I’m home Pip,” Apple said reluctantly, hoping Pippin wouldn’t hear him and he could get behind him and to his room undetected. But he wasn’t known for his luck.

“Oh hey bro. Score any hot ass at the bar tonight?” Pippin said over the back of the couch. “No I wasn’t talking to you asswipe. Get back over there and snipe you useless scout.”

“No Pip…” Apple said. He hated when Pippin asked him about his sex life, or lack thereof. Everyone in the building saw their apartment as a revolving door of sex and booze thanks to Pippin. The bar being right across the street didn’t help this scene one bit.

“We gotta get you laid bro. When was the last time you got it wet? Oh yea, never,” Pippin sneered. “You can’t tell me you didn’t see at least one hot piece of flank over there tonight.”

“Well… I did talk to two ladies over there but not in that way,” Apple replied, looking anywhere but his brothers now huge grin. Never had he wished to not have said anything so much.

“Spill it. I wanna know who they were. Maybe I’ve tapped that already and can give you some pointers. I’ve gotten around town a few times,” Pippin smirked.

“It’s not like that. Only one was a mare. The other was this griffin I’ve seen around town before. I think she owns that moving company over on Blackjack Blvd. I think her name is Ember or something. Didn’t catch the mare's name though,” Apple muttered.

“A griffin huh? I hear they like it really rough. Bet I could rut her something good,” Pippin said, kinky ideas filling his polluted mind.

“Please, she’d rip you to shreds with the talons she has. Those things are terrifying up close,” Apple said as he made his way to the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal. Wonderful, down to the last box of Cheerileeo’s again. Pippin always ate the good cereals, but Cheerileeo’s were too bland for his tastes. Apple found them just fine though. “Besides, I’m more interested in the mare that was with her. All I remember was she had a coffee cup cutie mark and was this ridiculously sexy shade of blue.”

“Sexy shade of blue huh? I’d like to fill her coffee cup with something,” Pippin yelled from the living room. “Oh you no-scoping piece of shit! No! NO! Oh fuck me with Celestia’s forehooves…”

“I take it you lost again,” Apple said as he came out of the kitchen and sat beside Pippin on the couch.

“Yeah, fourth game in a row. Fuckin' disgraceful…” Pippin said as he put the controller down and took the headset off. “So how’s the job search coming? Ever since Twilight kicked your cult-loving ass to the curb you’ve been even more mopey than usual. It’s annoying.”

Apple immediately looked away. His brother always gave him a hard time about his beliefs and would never let it go. A lot of ponies were like that actually. “It’s not too good. Nobody is quick to hire me once they find out the Princess of freakin' Friendship fired me… I just don’t know what I want to do, or what I’m good at really.”

“Watermelon?” Pippin asked as he bit into a large slice he got after a short walk to the kitchen. Apple shot him a level stare. Pippin knew he had an aversion to the cursed fruit ever since the time when Pippin stuck one on his head when they were younger. “What? Just trying to help. It’s good.”

“Moving on. I really want to find a place of my own; start my own life. Preferably away from you,” Apple said, muttering the last part.

“Oh so I guess all those long nights we spent cuddling meant nothing to you. I see how it is.” Pippin got up and walked to the door, putting on his coat and faking tears. “You never loved me! I gave you sweet release and you never loved me!” Pippin wailed.

“Would you shut the hell up you lunatic! Celestia it’s bad enough the neighbors think this place is the front for the biggest pimp company in Ponyville but you don’t have to add fuel to the fire!” Apple said, pulling Pippin away from the door and throwing the coat on the chair. Pippin leaned up and planted a quick peck on Apple’s cheek. Apple’s pupils contracted to pinpricks as his jaw dropped in disbelief. The ear-splitting grin on Pippin’s face was legendary. “I hate you so much,” Apple whispered, still staring off in shock.

“Keep telling yourself that Salty,” Pippin cooed into his ear. Apple finally broke from his stupor and pushed Pippin back onto the couch, not breaking his grin in the slightest.

“I’m going to forget that,” Apple said while sitting down on the chair behind his computer desk, still trying to process what just happened. He put on his headphones, blocking the distracting noises of the outside world, including Pippin, who after a while got on his own computer to rage on the Armada II forums. Nevermind that, he had his own worries. Things were already off to a bad start when he visited his favorite message board only to see a lot of posts containing misconceptions, prejudgments and general hate concerning Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight Glimmer... The name sounded like music every time Apple let it slide through his mind. He simply had to close his own eyes to see hers, which were like lakes without a bottom, glistening and calm, yet not defenseless when it came down to it. Apple could stare into those eyes forever; listen to that voice, that incredibly soothing voice that could tell him anything it wanted to. Every time Apple thought about Starlight, he wished he could feel her, stroke her beautiful mane and tail, stare into those eyes, hold her hooves if she was sad, run through the fields with her if she was happy. He wanted to be with her. It was incredibly frustrating knowing that it could never be. He was restricted to his dreams and to spreading her teachings throughout Ponyville, as unsuccessful as that may be.

He got increasingly angry as he read the hateful and prejudiced comments and posts regarding Starlight. He set out on correcting all the fools, explaining Starlight’s noble morals for them, showing them they were wrong the entire time. But they would not give up. They would not admit defeat, constantly claiming they were in the right, that Apple had no idea what he was talking about. An hour had passed before Apple realized that he was getting nowhere.

He was just about to lay the final smackdown on one of the neighsayers, when suddenly his screen went black accompanied by the low hum of a computer turning off, making him look up. He noticed how the apartment was completely covered in darkness. The light from the street was very dim on the third floor, so he quickly cast his luminary spell. The first thing he saw was Pippin’s face, who quickly covered his eyes with his hooves when Apple shone the light on him.

“What did you do?” Apple asked.

“Nothing! I just… turned on my desk lamp,” Pippin said, gesturing towards the lamp in the darkness.

“You know our breaker box is a piece of junk, right? We can only power so many things at once and with two computers, a video game console, and some other things, something small is all it takes to blow it.”

“I know Elstar, I’ve lived here for just as long as you have.” Pippin stretched. “I have to go to the toilet. Be a good little brother and fix this, ok?” He left before Apple could even protest.

“Great,” Apple mumbled to himself as he stumbled his way to the kitchen, tripping over loose wires and nearly smacking into a wall. “‘Be a good little brother’, he just wants me to fix it!” Apple jeered as he made his way to the breaker box, fumbling with the semi-detached lever. Once the panel was open, he had to be very careful not to break off the part of the very outdated knife-style breaker switch that was still attached. Slowly pulling it back with his levitation, he felt the lever bump out of the tripped position. Now he had to put some force on it. Closer, closer… the lever snapped up into the top connector, restoring the power. He sighed in relief, then shook his head. Science really outdid itself every time. He could swear the tolerance that breaker had lowered every day. Science...

Technological development was on an all time high in Equestria ever since scientists discovered that arcane magic could be used as a source of power. Shortly after that discovery, the first power plants were erected, utilizing semi-regular magic input from a unicorn projecting some basic arcane spells into a generator which were then multiplied and distributed across the country. Ponyville’s own power plant was situated at the dam, where it could use the water to boost output. It was something Ponyville’s mayor was rather proud of.

It was strange, Apple thought, that even with all this technology available, Ponyville had retained its traditional look. Save for an antenna here and there, not much technology was seen outside the houses. Arcane-powered vehicles did exist, but were barely used. Most ponies preferred to pull their own carts. Not all developments were as great however.

Ever since the Equestria Wide Web was invented by Cee Code, an officer of the Royal Guard, and made available to the public, ponies from all over Equestria had the power to unite, converse with like-minded ponies, and to advance society as a whole. What Cee and his associates didn’t realize was that this would also allow the world’s idiotic, mean spirited, and sometimes even criminal ponies to meet up as well. Indeed, it didn’t take long before the first hacker’s collective was founded under the name Pseudonym.

But hackers weren’t as common as the ponies who truly received Apple’s ire: the uninformed, simple-minded, ‘trollish’ ponies that he met on an almost daily basis online. He fought and argued with them, but to no avail. Never did they give up, never did they give in. On the flip side, a blessing was that he had also met some of the nicest ponies ever on the Net. He supposed it had at least fulfilled its function there. He conversed with his internet friends as much as he could, since he had no friends in real life. It was something he spited himself for, even if he had forsaken his chance of making friends by spreading Starlight’s teachings the way he had, or attempting to anyway. He was grateful for it since it at least gave him something to do in all those unemployed hours.

Chatting, however, was not the main way Apple spent the majority of his time at home. Most of it was spent playing an array of video games. His computer back on now, he booted up his old copy of The Ponies 3 with a bunch of expansion packs. Tonight, he wasn’t in the mood for a game of Age Of Ponies, or Pegasus: Total War, or even Nation V; just playing with some virtual ponies going about their lives was going to do tonight. Things already got off to a good start when a burglar tried to rob his innocent ponies of their desk lamp. The police arrived just in time to catch the burglar, who had just sat down to read some books. Apple cracked a smile as he controlled the lives of these virtual ponies like Starlight did in real life. ‘If I ever meet her,’ he thought again, ‘if ever…’

Apple was disrupted when Pippin stood up from behind his computer and pushed out his chair with a very audible rumble. He was so absorbed in his own game that he didn’t even notice Pippin’s return from the bathroom some time ago.

“I’m going to bed, Elstar. It’s almost 1 AM,” he said, accompanied by the low buzz of a computer shutting down.

“Well alright, but keep yourself from calling your sluts over. It’s been a shitty enough night as it is,” Apple said.

“Nah, none tonight. I got some sweet tail from that Pinkie character the other night though. Dude, that mare can do things with her tongue that would make a pony eat pork...” Pippin said before heading to the bathroom to clean up before going to bed. Apple merely shook his head as he slid back behind his monitor. He wasn’t going to dignify that with a response even if his life depended on it.

Not long after Pippin had left the room, Apple’s thoughts began to wander as they tended to do late at night. Why did Pippin always get everything? And Apple meant everything. He got the money, he got the mares, and he got the seas of free time. And what did Apple get? No job, no money, and definitely no mares. It stung him in the depth of his soul. Apple had always told himself that relationships were a waste of time and money; that romance was a sad excuse to spout nonsense, and for most of his life he acted accordingly, staying far away from girls, saying no to dances and gala nights, and in general tried his best to not earn any affection. His efforts have proven to be quite successful thus far.

But recently he started feeling a desire; an urge every time he saw a couple together. It took greater and greater effort to banish the thoughts of romance. Surely he was above such idiocy… but he wasn’t. Pippin constantly talking about how great love and the making of it was didn’t help matters in the slightest either. Apple wanted it more and more, and it was also getting more and more difficult to ignore.

He shook his head to himself again as he clicked around to find the pony who had gone missing in the basement of his virtual house. He snickered when he opened up the pony creator to make a household containing Starlight Glimmer and that blue mare from the bar.

A few minutes later, a notification sound made him alt+tab out of the game. While he didn’t mind talking to his friends a lot, when it happened while he was playing games then it could become a nuisance ever so slightly.

He cut the conversation short, even though he felt really old and heartless doing so. For now, he just wanted to forget some of the things that happened today. Closing the chat window, Apple sighed and returned to his game.