As I step out of the library I immediately get bombarded with questions. Everything from my ancestral beginnings to if I wanted to go to a zoo. I just cross my arms and stand there, listening to all the unusual questions until Storm walks up beside me.

"Still think this was a good idea?"

"Yup, but only because you just gave me an idea. EVERYONE, PLEASE QUIET DOWN FOR A MOMENT!" Everyone goes silent from this and as they begin to take notes. "Thank you, now, I will not be answering any questions... but this," I say, as I pick up Storm and lift him above my head, making him squirm around in an attempt to break free, "is my liaison, Storm Cloud, he will answer any and all of your questions." I toss him into the group and they immediately swarm around him with questions. I see him try to fly away, but some of the paparazzi grab him and start to pull him into the mob. The last I see of him is a single hoof reaching out, sinking into the mob. I'm sure he'll be fine. I sneak away while the mob is distracted and begin to head to Applejack’s.

As I walk I notice something following me, so I stop and look back. A pegasus pony woma—mare is following me, taking notes. She's a light blue with bright red hair that has a strand of purple going through the center. Her mark seems to be a quill and notepad surrounded by stars.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, actually, you can. My name is Starry Notes; I was wondering if you could answer a few questions..."

"Take it up with Storm, I've got places to go," I say as I turn and resume walking, only making her walk with me.

"Well now, what help would that be, he can't answer the questions the same way you could." I ignore her and continue to walk at a faster pace, only making her quicken her own pace. Fucking bloodsucker... "So, where are you from?"

"My mom..."

"And what would her name be?"

"Dunno..."

"You don't know your mother’s name... what about your father?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Why am I talking to this person...?

"That's too bad... do you have a marefriend?"

"A what?"

"A special somepony?"

"Why would you need to know something like that?"

"Oh, so you do... who's the lucky mare? Is it..."

"Look, I don't have a special someone, I don't know who my parents are, and I'm done talking to you, so just leave me the fuck alone alright!?" I yell, making Starry stop in her tracks. I continue to walk until I finally make it to Sweet Apple Acres and walk up to the front door.

Knock knock knock...

"One second!" Applejack yells from inside.

"Is this your marefriend?" Starry asks from behind.

"No... why are you still here?"

"You didn't answer my questions..."

"That's because I told you I wasn't going to answer them, go take it up with Storm." The door swings open to reveal Applejack, who’s looking between the two of us with slight confusion.

"Uh... Miles, who’s this?"

"She's..."

"I'm Starry Notes, I'm with the Hoofington Report, are you in a relationship with Miles?" I look over to her in bewilderment. Did she really just say that?

"Uh... no..."

"Then why would he need to come here so early? Is there another mare inside?" She asks, getting closer to Applejack, forcing her to step back into her home.

"Well... ah... he works here... an' no, no other mares inside..." She writes something down and looks back up to Applejack.

"So, how long has he been working here? When did he get here? Is this..."

"Excuse me," Big Mac says as walks in front of Applejack and looks down at Starry. "This is private property, ah'm going ta have ta ask you ta leave now," he says in his usual calm manner. Starry looks between me and Big Mac before she turns and flies off towards Ponyville.

"*sigh* Thank you Big Mac. Damn bloodsucker’s been following me around ever since I left the library."

"Eeyup," he says as he turns back and walks away.

"Sorry about that, Applejack."

"Ah, dontcha worry about that. But, iffin ya don't mind, I'd like ta have a word with you."

"Of course, what do you have on your mind?" She motions for me to follow her inside with her head, so I do. She takes me to the kitchen, where she takes a seat at the table and waits for me to do the same, so I take the seat across from her. She looks at me for a bit before she pulls out a newspaper and lays it on the table before me.

"Do ya mind explaining ta me what happened?"

"Well... when I woke up I had a premonition that something horrible was going to happen, so I acted. When I found Twilight and Storm in the park, they were being attacked, so I stepped in and defeated the Minotaur."

"Why would ya need ta kill 'im though?"

"Because he almost killed Storm and was about to rape Twilight." Applejack shakes her head and looks at me in disbelief when I say this.

"How could ya possibly know he was gonna do that?"

"Let's just say I've seen that look before... I did what had to be done in order to protect my friends. Luna has already talked to me about it, and I'm in the clear for now. If there's anything else you want to know, go ahead and ask, but I would prefer to move on from this." Applejack sits straight up and looks me over for a bit, deep in thought. I sit back and wait for whatever's going to happen to happen.

"Ah have one more question. Why do ya have yer sword with ya?"

"Ponyville has been attacked twice in the last week that I've been here, and I have a feeling that that's normal. I'm not going to sit idly by and let those close to me be put at risk."

"Would ya mind settin' it aside fer when ya work here?"

"Not at all. This is your home and I'll abide in all of your rules while here," I say as I take my sword from my back and lay it on the table. Applejack sighs in relief and takes my sword to a nearby closet, where she hangs it against the wall.

"Ta be honest, ah like the idea of having somepony protecting Ponyville, stuff like that happens way too often. But ah don't want any weapons around mah kin, thank ya kindly fer understandin'. Now fer work, yer gonna be with Big Mac in the southern field, so why dontcha go out an' get started." I nod as I stand and leave through the back door. I look around and soon realize I have no clue which direction is south. I look back to Applejack, who chuckles and points the way. Right, so I head down, south apparently, and walk into the tree line. After a while of walking I can hear light creaks in the distance. I follow these until I find Big Mac pulling a cart.

"Hey Big Mac, Applejack says that I'm working with you today."

He looks to me and says, "Eeyup."

I run up to him and walk beside him. We stop after several meters and he instructs me to start on one side while he does the other. The work is monotonous, just a lot of kicking and picking up. Big Mac is clearly experienced in this line of work. What would take me two or three kicks he does with a single kick. We quickly fill our first cart and walk to the cellar to store them. Once we’ve unloaded them, Big Mac instructs me to grab another cart and to head into the west part of the southern field. After some deep navigational thinking I head in what I think is the general direction he wanted me to go. After some walking I decide to stop and get to work. Being alone and at work, I unknowingly start talking to myself.

"Wonder how long it would take to buy a place of my own... living with Twilight is fun and all, but I can't help but feel like a mooch... the currency system looks fairly similar to Terradisian currency, heh, after all that saving I finally need to spend money, but now I don't have a single credit to my name... fucking life." I finish filling my cart and take it to the cellar. I can’t pull it by myself, so I have to remove my shoes and socks and rely on my magic to pull it there. Once I unload the cart I put my shoes back on and head back to the area I was in before. I get back to kicking the trees and collecting the fallen apples, but I can't help but feel as if someone is watching. I stop and look around, but only see trees and apples, so I go back to work.

"The fuck am I doing... what happens now? I guess I could try and become some sort of militia personnel for Ponyville... but then what? I guess I've got to get used to this. Just me and my thoughts... I should’ve taken Tenera on her offer, then I could’ve at least known that simple pleasure... too bad a week later she would hate me, still can't believe that happened to Fidus... I should’ve taken Dare's advice, but at the same time, I don't think I could’ve broken another promise... heh, can't fix it now, may as well drop it..." I finish filling my second cart and begin to bring it back to the cellar, after removing my shoes again. By my count, I should have around twenty trees done by this point. When I make it to the cellar I meet up with Applejack.

"Sup Applejack?"

"Howdy Miles, how many carts does that make?"

"This would be my second cart, about..."

"Second, that should be twenty trees, give or take. That's pretty good progress for a greenhorn. Why do you have yer shoes off?"

"I can't pull the cart without my magic."

"Hmm... alright. We don't usually allow magic ta be used on the farm, but I'll make an exception this time. It's almost ten, how many do ya think you'll be able ta get done by twelve?" Hmm... well, two done in forty-five minutes... *math math math*

"I'd say three, four if I really go at it."

"That'll do just fine. When it's twelve, go ahead an' head to the house, we'll provide some lunch fer ya."

"Oh, thank you, I'll be sure to do that." She gives me a big smile as she turns and heads north. Pay and feed, these people are too nice.

I spend the next several hours in silence, focusing on the work at hand. After three more carts I head out to the field for the last cart before lunch. As I get to kicking, I start talking to myself once again.

"Well... at least the manual labor will help me stay fit, being this long from the gym is starting to get on my nerves... wonder how Applejack and Big Mac could do this as a daily routine and still look fairly similar to everyone else... except for Big Mac being... well, big.... wonder what kind of trouble Luna's sister is giving her, I can't help but feel bad for putting her through all this stress... rubbing the side of her head like that probably didn't help that much either... why did I do that to begin with? Something about those beautiful eye—WHOA!" I stop mid-kick and shake myself a little. What did I just say? Did I really just call a pony beautiful?! Not like she isn't but... FUCK! I just did it again! Okay... Luna is an attractive person, but I'm a human. We would never be able to be together in a million years, so just leave it at us just being friends. I get back to work and quickly fill up the cart. I take it down and unload it as quickly as possible. When I leave the cellar I run across Big Mac.

"Oh, hey Big Mac, heading to lunch?"

"Eeyup."

"Cool, cool. Mind if I join ya?"

"Nnnope." We walk into the kitchen, where we find Granny Smith and Applejack at the counter working on lunch. We sit at the table and wait patiently for our food to come to us.

"So... Big Mac... you don't talk much... do you?"

"Nnnope."

"Care to shed a little light on the subject?"

"Nnnope."

"Hmm... alright." After a few minutes of silence, Applejack and Granny Smith come to the table and set our plates down. It looks to be some sort of fluffy brown substance, with flat strands of fried apples in between it. on the side is a small pile of light brown mush.

"What's the matter... er... Inches? Don't like fried apple sandwiches wit' apple sauce?" Granny Smith says as she begins to eat from her own pile of what I assume is the apple sauce.

"It’s Miles, and sorry, but where I come from we don't really eat anything like this." I take the sandwich in my hands and give it a skeptical look. How good could something be if it's named after sand? I take a bite and... WHAT THE FUCK! This is nothing close to sand! The brown outer part is fluffy while the apple part is crispy. I like the contradicting textures and the flavor is just as good. I quickly eat it up and start on the sauce. It seems to be just mashed up apples with some kind of flavoring added. Once I finish I sit back and relish in the new found flavors. I'm going to have to keep track of all the food I come across that I like, so when I learn to cook I can make them myself. Once everyone finishes their food Applejack takes all of the plates and washes them in the sink.

"So what's next for the workload?" I ask.

"Yer done fer the day. Just give me a minute an' I'll get you yer pay."

"Do you want any help with that?"

"Thank you kindly, but ah've got it. Go ahead and get your stuff and wait fer me in the living room." I stand and walk into the living room. I walk over to the closet to retrieve my sword when I notice a picture on the wall. It seems to be of Big Mac when he was little, and Applejack when she was just a baby, with two other ponies. One is a large orange male with dark green hair, while the other is a female that's all red with light green hair. She looks like she might be pregnant, but it also may just be me being rude. I think it's their parents. Strange, I didn't see them around. I wonder if...

"Miles, ah've got yer pay," says Applejack from the side, holding a small bag in her mouth. I turn to her and step back rubbing the back of my head. I want to ask, but it would be really rude to just come out and ask. I need to think of a more...

"Ah... Miles? Are you going to take it? Or was today free?" I shake my head and take my pay. I then turn and retrieve my sword from the closet and turn to Applejack as I strap it to my back.

"So, same time tomorrow, or..."

"Same time should be fine. We'll be sure to have more work fer ya in the future so be sure to come prepared."

"Will do," I say as I turn and walk out of the building. This morning was far more stressful than it should have been. Even worse... what should I do now?

Next Chapter: Chapter 36 Cutie Mark Crusaders Estimated time remaining: 80 Hours, 28 Minutes