I don’t realize I’ve fallen asleep until I’m woken up.

“Rarity, I’m home!”

“Oh, hello, Sweetie Belle. Don’t forget to wipe your hooves on the mat.”

“I know, I did.”

There’s silence for about three seconds, then a scream. “What’s that!?”

I pick up the little white pony by her midsection and reply. “Something that doesn’t wanna be disturbed.” I put the shaking filly back on the ground and fold my arms. “Am I clear?”

Somehow, she manages to stammer out a reply. “Y- yes mister...”

“Smart move, kid.”

She dashes up the stairs as fast as she can. I assume there’s a living space up there. What business buildings don’t have sleeping accommodations around here?

Rarity, still at her sewing machine, addresses me. “Did you have to be so harsh, Anthony?”

“No.”

“But why?”

“Because remembering something is easier if it scares you.”

“You are absolutely terrible.” She fumes.

“Yep.” Strangely, she actually continues with the clothes. If it were me, I’d kick the bastard out in a second.

After a while, I’m woken up again. My leg is being poked. Out of all possible happenstances, it’s most likely that filly. Obviously she doesn’t realize I’m awake, as she continues her ‘inspection’. Why is it that the first thing kids try is poking me?

I can still hear the sewing machine running. That’s expected, I doubt anyone in equestria has made any clothes for a human.

The filly has changed her tactics. She’s lifted up my pant leg and is feeling around my calf. I decide to remind her of our agreement. “Enjoying yourself, kid?”

I get a startled “Eep.” as my response. This time I pick her up by her tail. “Now, what do you think I’m going to do?”

I watch as her mind races, trying to come up with what might be her fate.

“L- let me go?” That tone is so hopeful, it sounds almost deluded.

“Well, let’s go over what I could do.”

She gulps audibly as I begin.

“I could boil you alive, I could throw you into a fridge until you either freeze or suffocate, I could bury you alive with three minutes of air and see if you can dig yourself out in time, I could stomp on you so hard your spine snaps...”

She’s crying now. Tears are pointless.

“I could tie you to a board and throw knives at you until you get stabbed, I could squeeze your head until your skull cracks, I could tear off body parts until you die from blood loss, I could find out what roasted filly tastes like, I could do all sorts of things. Now, what do you think I’m going to do, furball?”

She whimpers.

“I’m going to give you one more chance.” I set her down again. “Dont. Screw. This. Up.”

She nods rapidly and rushes back up the stairs. I turn to Rarity, staring at me, looking like she’s going to be sick. Finally she finds words. “You’re an animal!”

“Aren’t we all?”

“That’s not what I meant, that was the most disgusting display I’ve ever witnessed! To suggest you’d do such things, and to a filly no less!”

“Nobody said you had to like me.” I head for the door, and then the door swings open and I am magically pushed outside.

“Don’t show your face around my boutique again! Nopony does that to my little sister!” The door slams shut. I head back to the library.

I’m walking along, when there’s suddenly something in my path that wasn’t there before, and I trip. Once I pick myself up off the ground, I realize that whatever tripped me is groaning.

Again, another young pony, this one orange with a helmet on. She gives me a weird look, then looks down and yells. “What the hay!?”

“What’s your problem, kid?”

“You broke my scooter, jerk!”

“You were in my way!”

“What are you anyway? Doesn’t matter, you owe me a new scooter!”

“The heck I do, if you can’t watch where you’re going, you deal with your own problems.”

“Pay. Me. Back!” This kid has attitude. Well, so do I.

“Soak. Your. Head!”

Then, the most unexpected thing happens. She tries to punch me. “You think that’s gonna hurt?”

“Not as much as Rainbow Dash will hurt you when she hears about this!”

She’s ran off, leaving her broken scooter at my feet. Weird kid...

I realize I’m kind of hungry, and I see a bunch of market stalls. One of them should have food.

Unfortunately, every market stall I approach immediately closes as soon as I’m within five feet. Jerks. I keep going, and eventually I see Applejack. At least she’d sell me something.

“Howdy Anthony. How’re ya doin’?”

“Hungry. And nobody here seems to want my business.”

“Yeah, but hey, more business for the Apple Family!”

“That’s the attitude, AJ.” I hand her some bits and she passes me three apples.

Then I feel a tug on my pants. Looking down I see another kid, this one is yellow with a red mane and a pink hairbow almost bigger than her head. “Uh... hi mister...” At least she’s nice. “Are you, uh, Anthony?”

I’m a little surprised at this. “Yes, I am. Do you need something?”

Applejack responded for the filly. “I’ve been tellin’ mah kin ‘bout ya. They all wanna meet ya, but there never seemed to be a good time for it. This here’s Applebloom, she’s my little sister.”

“I see. Well, I’m actually free right now, nothing else to do for the rest of the day.”

“This’s perfect! Ah’m gonna close up here in a few minutes and head back to Sweet Apple Acres. Ya can come with and meet the rest o’ th’ Apple Family.”

Well, that does sound better than doing nothing. “Deal, but uh... I think I’ll keep my distance for now. I’m not very good at attracting customers.”

“Yea, they jus’ needa get used t’ya. Don’t know how long that’ll take, tho’.”

Now AJ, Applebloom and I are headed back to Sweet Apple Acres. It’s actually the first place I’ve heard of which has a name that is completely relevant to their business. Carousel Boutique didn’t look like a carnival ride, Golden Oaks library isn’t even yellow, let alone golden, so that just sounds weird. Sugarcube Corner comes close, but misses the mark if you ask me.

It’s quite the trek to the farm, I’m not tired, but I’m pretty sure we aren’t in Ponyville anymore. A big red barn comes into view, so I at least know we’re close.

As Applejack leads us to the farmhouse, a big red stallion comes up. And I mean big. This guy is built like a freaking army tank. Also, he doesn’t even blink when he sees me. Props, big red guy, you have my respect already.

“Howdy, Big Mac, this here’s Anthony, we’ll get you met proper once we’re settled and Granny’s awake.”

“Eeyup.”

Not big on talking apparently. I don’t like chatterboxes much anyway.

After a while, I’m sat down at a table with a bunch of ponies, Applejack informs me that they planned on having me for dinner. Since I’m getting free food, complaining is the last thing I’m going to do. Anyway, introductions start before we actually eat, but that’s fine with me. Applejack begins, pointing to Big Mac. “This here’s Big Macintosh. He’s my big bro and he does all the really heavy lifting and plowing around here.”

“Eeyup.”

“Heh, he don’t usu’lly have much ta say.”

“Nnope.”

“Ya’ll already met ‘Bloom back at th’ market.”

Applebloom asked me a rather sudden question. “How strong are ya? D’ya think you’re stronger than Big Mac?”

I just shrug. “I see no reason why we’d have to compete over something like that, I honestly don’t care.”

“Nnope.”

“Heh, guess ya ain’t gettin’ yer answer from them, sis. Anyway, that over there is Granny Smith. She was here when Ponyville was still just a patch o’ dirt”

“Howdy-doo, young’un.”

Well this mare was... old. Very old. But I wasn’t about to suggest she was weak, oh no, my own grandmother proved that old people could be strong folks.

“Hiya.” I paused. I noticed something was missing. Brother, Sister, Grandma... Where’s AJs parents? “So AJ, is this really everyone?”

“Well... not really. But they ain’t... uh... here.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yeah, they’re at their own farms all over Equestria.” She then proceeded to list off the most spectacular amount of names I’d ever heard in one sitting. This was one huge family. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, Nephews, and the she mentioned their extended family including the Oranges. Heh, Apples and Oranges, that’s funny.

Anyway, Applejack produced name after name after name, enough to drown me in words if such a thing was possible. As she kept on a tirade that I had to assume either involved extreme memory or lots of practice,  the rest of the family, well, the ones that were here that is, set the table and brought out the food.

When dinner was finished, it was time for me to leave and the Apples to go to bed. As I walked down the path away from the farmhouse, I noticed someone was following me. I stopped, and eventually my tracker, Applebloom, caught up. She handed me an apple fritter.

“Here, ya can have this for free. I made it mahself!”

“Thanks ‘Bloom, that’s great!”

“I hope ya come visit again soon, this was fun!”

I agree that we should do this again sometime and continue to the field by the schoolhouse. I take a big bite out of the treat. Applebloom did a fantastic job. I think she’s the nicest filly I’ve met today.

Next Chapter: Chapter 14 Estimated time remaining: 32 Hours, 49 Minutes