Author's Notes:

I'm certain there are grammar mistakes left but I have done my best to correct them, if you see any point them out and I'll fix them as soon as possible.

Samuel couldn't have been more relieved when the princesses had decided he wasn't a threat. Of course he couldn't blame them for their cautious behavior towards him after all he did suddenly appear before them in court within a somewhat ostentatious display. Though no one blamed him for it, how could they? It's not a normal occurrence for a wormhole to appear out of nowhere and take you to a magical place filled with colorful talking human shaped ponies. At least the colorful human equines thought it was a wormhole, that was after the magic theory was disproved it was the most logical explanation anyone could conjure up.

It had been quite a shock to his system and presumably to the ponies present when he appeared. Initially he went into a panic and ran. The ponies took some time to catch him what with a mixture of fear of the human and his apparent lack of responsiveness to magic. Later on it would be discovered that he was totally immune to magic which is why the leading theory on how he appeared in this world is the wormhole theory.

After catching him he was brought before Celestia herself where she personally interrogated him. About an hour in to her interrogation it was clear that he was no threat and in fact was just as confused as she was on the whole situation, so a decision was made. Court would be cancelled for the next couple of days so that she may further understand the predicament and hopefully find a solution to it.

A year and a half later and Sam is not only up to date on where he is and the society he's in but he's successfully integrated into it, luckily it happened without much trouble too. He still couldn't believe how kind the ponies surrounding him were, yes there were and still are those that think he's a freak but the majority of these kind creatures treated him fairly and had sympathy for his situation, without that kindness the transition wouldn't of been so smooth.

Celestia had explained everything she could about Equestria over the course of a couple months before she set up a whole system to help him integrate into pony society, the plan was to get him into a normal life that he would be comfortable in while she had ponies researching a way to get him back to his world.

The first of the steps on that system was getting a job. The first option had been a secretary for Celestia in the castle but he quickly declined, despite her kindness he didn't want to be a secretary for her or anyone else. Going through a few of the choices he decided to try being a farmer, after all what's a more honest job. He currently works for the Apple family on their farm and while he can't kick apples off trees because he doesn't have the hooves to do that he does help carry apples to the barn, move hay bales, plant new trees and all the other chores an apple farm requires.

~

It was mid summer and the harvest season was going strong in fact it's been a very good season, they could work all day and barely scratch the amount of apples the orchard had.

"Hey AJ these buckets are full, I'm gonna take them to the barn!" He called out.

Turning to him she nodded,"They sure look full, make sure yer careful with em', wouldn't want a repeat of yesterday now would we?"

"No ma'am we wouldn't." Turning from his employer he began slowly making his way to the barn, careful to not damage the ripe fruit.

Applejack had been wary of him at first what with the fact that she'd never seen anything like him before but after the first couple days he proved to her that he was a hard worker and over time they had become pretty good friends often taking their breaks together and helping each other work.

The sun was almost down signaling the end of the work day, it had been a long one. He finally reached the barn and opening the barn door he was greeted with the sight of Big Mac in his signature unbuttoned flannel shirt placing hay in a pile.

"Howdy." The large red stallion welcomed him as he walked in.

Setting the buckets down with a grunt he turned to red stallion,"Hey Mac, how's the day gone for you?"

Mac stretched his back and cracked his neck then dusted his hand off on his worn jeans,"Ah it's been okay, pretty hot but what else can ya expect in the summertime."

Mac had been quiet towards Sam when he began working at the farm but after a while he'd opened up more than he had with most other people that had worked on the farm, when they worked together they would talk about a whole plethora of subjects.

"Yeah I know what you mean, it was pretty hot today I was trying to keep myself under the shade all day." The pale skinned man leaned against the wooden wall and crossed his arms.

"At least ya had shade, where I was there weren't any trees in sight!" He shook his head to show off his sweat soaked mane ,"I'm not moving hay again any time soon, might have to make you do it tommorow."

Sam chuckled,"Well maybe I'd do better in it, after all I don't have any fur."

Mac smiled,"Thats actually a pretty good point Sam, I'm gonna point that out when explaining to AJ why it'd better fer ya to work in the field than me."

Sighing Sam shrugged,"Yeah I just dug my own grave huh?"

Mac opened his mouth to reply when the barn doors swung open revealing Applejack her shirt tied up under her chest giving her stomach some air. She wiped the sweat off her brow and smiled,"Pretty good haul today wasn't it Sam."

"Yeah it was, can't say I'm unhappy that the day is over but It is nice to have something to do." He smiled,"Especially when I'm getting paid for it."

Mac and Applejack nodded at the same time,"Yeah it is nice to make money." Mac agreed.

"Say Sam have we ever invited you over fer dinner?" AJ asked tilting her head towards him and placing her hands on her hips.

Shaking his head he answered,"No... why?"

"Well how would you like to stay for dinner tonight? Granny's making a lot of food and we can't eat it all."

Mac nodded,"Yeah she makes a lotta food all the time so I think we can accommodate ya tonight, yeah it'd be nice to have ya over Sam."

He shrugged with a smile,"Well it's not like I have anything else to do tonight so yeah I'll stay for dinner."

"Good well then let's get back to the house and wash up then," she gave Sam a toothy grin and put her hand on her hips,"You can use our shower sugar cube after all I wouldn't want ya to stink up the dinner table."

Sam's eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted into a grin,"Oh so I stink so bad that I'd stink up the table huh?" Applejack smirked and stuck her tongue out at him in response,"Well I guess the element of honesty has to be honest."

He stepped away from the wall and made his way towards the barn door,"Well yeah it comes with the job." She shrugged as he past her.

"Don't worry I know where the shower is and I'll be quick so you still have some hot water, thanks for letting me use it." He left the and the door swung back in place.

Applejack turned to her see her brother who started moving towards the door,"Ah'm glad we decided to keep that boy working for us he's a mighty helpful pony."

"Person," Applejack corrected,"and yeah he is a nice guy ain't he."

~

Swiping his hand over the the fogged up mirror in the Apple's bathroom he bent over slightly and looked at himself. His blue eyes traced over the small amount of lightly colored freckles that resided under his eyes and on his nose,"Thank god, no pimples." He muttered to himself before turning his attention to his hair.

It was a dark red and kind of wavy like rocker hair. It reached down to his shoulders, generally he cut it shorter but was starting to like it kind of long,"Like a Viking." He smiled to himself at the thought of that, maybe add a braid when it got long enough or even better grow a beard and add a braid to that. He smiled at the stupid thought.

Running his hand over his chin and down his neck he concluded he would shave tomorrow. Then standing up straight he grabbed a white t-shirt and pulled it over his somewhat defined chest and toned stomach. Reaching down he grabbed his jeans, put a foot in each pant leg and lifted the pants up over his legs. Then put on his socks and shoes then left the bathroom.

Walking down the hall he heard Mac call out,"All done up there?"

"Yeah," he started down the stairs,"If you hurry the water will still be hot."

Mac got up from his seat and rushed to the stairs, passing Sam he went up. Reaching the bottom of the stairs he turned to the living room where granny sat in her rocking chair knitting something and Applejack laid on the couch almost asleep. He smelled the cooked food in the kitchen and realized they were just waiting till everyone was cleaned up to eat, so he sat down in a recliner laid back and closed his eyes.

~

Sam jolted up and which made Applejack gasp in surprise, she had been shaking him to try and wake him up,"Jeez Are ya in a hurry?"

He put a hand behind his head and smiled sheepishly,"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Ah it ain't no problem, probably shouldn'ta' spooked you like that." She stood all the way up and smiled down at him,"Now hurry up, dinner'll get cold if you don't get up soon."

"Oh yeah, thanks for waking me!" He pulled himself up in a swift motion and accompanied her through the house to the kitchen,"I'm starving!" He announced and his stomach growled as if to accentuate the point which made Applejack giggle lightly.

At the head of the dining table sat Granny, to her right Mac, to her left Applebloom. Sam sat next to Mac and Applejack sat next to Applebloom, before them lay a holy grail of food. Corn on the cob, asparagus, broccoli and even apple fritter for desert!

Samuel smiled as looked over the table and his face lit up when he saw it, he hadn't seen something like it in nearly a year. A turkey leg.

"I see how hard you been workin' out there and I heard that you eat that stuff so's I decided to make ya sum." Granny explained as you reached out and grasped the warm meat in your hands.

He smiled with joy and almost let out a whoop,"Thank you," he turned to Granny,"Thank you so much, I- you don't know how much this means to me." After all she did go out of her way for him, he didn't even know how she got the leg in the first place.

"Ah don't mention it, I really don't mind a meat eater n'fact when I was younger an' grandpa Apple was still alive we used to have a griffin workin' this here orchard." She looked to the left and out the window which granted a view of the setting sun over the orchard, a lovely purple and yellow light pouring over the trees,"I ain't as disgusted as some o' the other ponies are when it comes to meat."

"We had a griffon work on the farm once?" Applebloom piped up.

Mac nodded,"Yeah we did, from what I heard he was a bit of a troublemaker."

Granny let out a snort and turned back to the table,"He was always up to something, he loved getting your grandad riled up over anything, he thought the face grandad made was funny!" She burst out laughing and slapping the table from the memories.

"Well come on Granny don't jes' leave us in the dark like that, tell us about what he did!" Applejack exclaimed happily throwing her arms in the air.

The dinner was great, the turkey was done perfectly, it wasn't to dry or to juicy but rather just right. The corn was magnificent though it had a good amount of butter on it, almost to much for Sams liking but he endured. Yet even with the food being as good as it was the company he enjoyed, it was what made the meal it great.

Granny shared stories of the past with them, some Applejack and Mac already knew and some they didn't. Applebloom also told stories of her adventures with Scootalo and Sweetie Belle. Even Even Mac and AJ joined in and told tales of their childhood, some of which not even Granny knew, though Sam understood why they had neglected to tell her some of these particular stories till now.

Finally everyone at the table had talked about their lives, everyone except Sam.

Applebloom was laughing at Applejack's story and Sam had to admit it was funny,"So wait my sis' really did that?" Bloom breathed out between laughs.

"Yeah, I shouldn'tve' but that dang teacher deserved it." She smiled with a slightly nostalgic look on her eyes.

"I dont know if grading ya fairly on a bad test constitutes having a cow patty placed in your pillow but I ain't one to judge." Mac replied smiling through the tired look on his face.

When Applebloom had calmed down she looked over to Sam who in turn looked back with a raised brow and a slight smile,"Yes Applebloom?"

"Uh... do you mind if I... ask about when you were younger?" She grimaced as if expecting him to be angry with her for asking, it was a subject no one really touched on for fear of upsetting him.

"No I don't mind, I've accepted that I'll probably never leave this world, so it's best to accept it and try to be happy, at least that's what my parents would want." He concluded with a smile, by now the others had quieted down and were listening as much as Applebloom was,"Now, what's your question?"

"Well I was actually wondering about your family, ya know like who they were and what they did?" She asked relieved that he wasn't upset about being asked.

"Well they were conservative but not overly religious, they didn't go to church but they believed in god. All in all they were very considerate. They always told me if I had a different political opinion than them that no matter how much we might argue they would never throw me out or treat me differently." He brought a hand under his chin and leaned forward on the table recounting his memories,"I never had that trouble with them I myself tend to lean a bit more right in politics but I won't get into that or this becomes a boring rant about things that don't matter here on this world," he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest," you sure you still want to know more about me?"

Mac and Applebloom nodded while Applejack let out an affirmative yep. Granny simply listened.

"Okay, well my brother was an interesting one, he liked to collect coins and heh cassette tapes, I mean I collected records but I never got why he liked cassette tapes, ya know." He let out a breath and went on,"He was also a type one diabetic but never let it get him down and always had high spirits. I don't know if I'll ever be as strong as him." He smiled and looked at Applebloom,"Always remember to spend as much time as you can with AJ and Mac okay?"

"I will..." she nodded, Applejack and Mac smiled slightly at hearing that.

"Now my grandfather he was cool, a master blacksmith. He could make anything and man am I glad he taught me what he knew."

"Wait," Mac interrupted,"Your grandfather taught you to forge things?"

Sam nodded and smiled,"Yeah he started teaching me when I was little up till he died, I can make a whole variety of armors, weapons, shields and car parts but there aren't any cars here so..." he shrugged with a laugh.

Applejack asked,"Well what kind of stuff do you like to make?"

"Well I've always had an amazingly huge obsession with history and especially European history so I like making the armors and weapons." He answered with a smirk at the memories of things he had made.

Granny chimed in,"The question I have is can you use those weapons and such?"

Samuel smiled widely a small amount of pride making itself known,"Yes I can." He smirked at Mac's surprised look,"I took an interest in it when I was young and since I was learning to forge exactly the things I was interested in I decided to learn HEMA, I asked my parents and they agreed to pay for my lessons. So yeah I can use what I make. Effectively too."

"Uh... what's a hemuh?" Applebloom asked confused.

Sam let out a chortle at her pronunciation of it,"It stand for historical European martial arts," the looks of confusion from his friend's faces were almost comical,"It means I can use most medieval or in your case modern weapons and armor effectively. In fact I was pretty good at it when it came to sparring."

"That," Mac went on,"sounds pretty badass."

"Oh I don't know it's kind of nerdy when you think about it..."Sam trailed off.

"I don't know what your calling nerdy but in ma day we called it useful." Granny replied placing her hands on the table,"Them timberwolves and manticores was a bigger problem back in the day so we used to need stallions that could fight and we needed stallions that could forge the weapons for the fighters. You're both o'those in one."

"I've never actually killed anybody though I just trained to do it-"

"Doesn't make a difference fact is you can use a sword right," Mac interrupted,"Which is more than most ponies."

"Well I appreciate the compliments, thank you."

"Hey Sam," Applejack started,"We actually have a forge in the barn, it's from our grandad if we could clear it out and dust it off could you actually make something with it?" She asked leaning forward and placing her head on her closed fist.

"Well I suppose I could, if you get it up and running I could buy the supplies from somebody and I could very possibly make something from it." He looked at her an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Alright then its settled," she stood up and smiled at Mac,"Tommorow morning Mac and I will get it running,"she looked to Sam her going widening,"and you'll get the right stuff to make something."

"What are we doing this for?" Mac asked.

"I wanna see what Sam here can make and if he proves he can make what he says he can then I'll pay him for fixing up farming equipment and the like." She beamed at her idea," That way we won't have to buy new over expensive tools or go out of town to look for some pony who'll repair our stuff!"

"That's a might good idea child." Granny nodded in approval at her granddaughter.

"Yeah that is a good idea AJ, you get it up and running and I'll buy some supplies on my way home tonight." Sam stood up and smiled back at Applejack,"If your serious about paying me for fixing tools then I'll have a set of perfect armor and weapons ready by the end of the month to prove to you what I can do."

~

The second step on the integration system of Celetia's was to find adequate lodging for Samuel, which he did find except it was across town. At the moment he lives with princess Twilight in her castle, the origin of which he still doesn't know if he believes even after seeing what magic can do.

As he made his way there he stopped by a couple of stores before he found one that sold the right materials for his armor and weapons.The shipment he ordered would arrive at Sweet Apple Acres in the morning. It was lucky too he got there right as it was closing.

There weren't many ponies out as he made his way out of the store, a few here and there but not much and as the light finally faded away completely he couldn't help but notice how creepy a deserted town at night was. Making his way down the street he couldn't help but notice that there were no street lamps leaving him in total darkness. For a time it was deathly quiet as he slowly walked the empty streets. His footsteps were louder than he'd ever heard them in the extreme silence of the night. That was when he noticed not even crickets were chirping.

Turing around he felt the need to look over his shoulder like someone might be there everytime he looked. He was in the town square when he finally started to hear what sounded like footsteps mirroring his, not hoofsteps but footsteps. His pace picked up, the sound of his footfalls were louder than before and echoed across the whole town. He felt like something or someone was watching him as he moved and the footsteps matched his even as he ran. By the time he reached the castle he was nearly sprinting.

He ran to the front gate and hurriedly pushed it open, quickly getting inside he slammed it closed. Taking a few steps forward he let himself fall into the wall, his back to the wall while he sunk down he whispered to himself,"What the hell just happened? Why was I so scared?"

Shaking it off to the best of his ability Sam stood up and warily made his way down the hallway, he was grateful when nothing seemed to be following him. Before he went to bed he would have to go talk to Twilight, after all he wasn't here for dinner and she might be worried.

Twilight had been the second one after Celestia to show Sam kindness in this new world, she had been the one to help him learn all about Equestria and its culture. They became fast friends what with their shared interest in history, often times they would stay up all night regaling different part of each other's people's history.

Pushing the door open Sam was greeted with the familiar sight of Twilight reading a book as she often did when she wasn't fulfilling her princess duties. She sat in a nice chair with a beautifully carved wooden table by her side and she was positioned to the left of a roaring fireplace, which was odd considering it was mid summer. Her tiara was off her head and she wore a loose fitter night gown rather than her normal royal clothes.

"Twilight?" Sam tentatively called out.

She jumped taken by surprise at his presence,"Oh goddess Sam you scared the Tartarus out of me."

Sam smiled and walked into the room,"I'm sorry about that didn't mean to, by the way why do you have the fireplace going if it's summer?"

"I love the sound of it crackling and yes I know I could go outside and get the same sound but it's definitely not as comfortable out there as it is in there." She anwsered his question quickly.

"Hmm I guess it isn't and I can't fault you for liking the crackling, I do too." He took a seat in a chair adjacent to hers and yawned.

She marked the page she was on before closing the book,"So why didn't you show up for dinner?"

"Applejack had me stay to thank me for all the work I've put into the farm." He answered with an apologetic smile,"I'm sorry about that I'll try to warn you in advance next time."

"Well it's okay you don't have to, you are your own pony-re person, your just a good friend and I don't want anything bad to happen is all." She answered with genuine care in her voice.

"Well thanks for caring about me but what bad thing might happen?" Sam questioned.

Twilight sighed and looked to the fireplace,"The diamond dogs that are in the area, you remember the story I told you about what happened between us and them?"

Sam could see the fire dance in her eyes and nodded,"Yeah I do, why would they be dangerous now I thought you took care of that besides weren't there only a few?"

"Recently," she swallowed thickly,"A whole new pack moved into the old groups hideout, this group is known for its dealing in pony trafficking." She sighed and looked towards Sam,"The leaders name is Bone Claw because he uses bones he's sharpened down to razor like sharpness. Supposedly he's killed off at least two other pack leaders and taken their tribes."

"Why doesn't anybody do anything about it?" Sam asked eyes narrow amd his voice lowered to a more serious tone.

"The dogs are naturally in different packs they fight over land and each alpha wants everything, they can't get along, but one time in the past the griffons did try to get rid of them. A full scale war, multiple griffon armies organized together to defeat the dogs, at first it was working the griffons were winning but out of nowhere the dogs united, they actually put aside their differences and united. Together in one huge battle they defeated the griffons, the griffons still argue that it was the amount of dogs that caused them to lose and that may be why but the point is is if we attack one the others might unite against us and we don't know how many there really are. It could be disastrous," She finished her frustration showing clearly on her face.

Sam thought for a moment before attempting a solution,"How about mercenaries?"

"Hmm?"

"You could hire mercenaries who belong to no country, who don't have a flag that can be united against." He licked his lip and continued,"Don't go for a war just go clear one pack at a time with mercenaries."

Twilight thought about such an action for a few moments before shaking her head,"It could work but Equestria doesn't deal with mercenaries, it's a law Celestia made years ago after a band of Equestrian hired mercenaries turned on us."

"Well I'll try to think about ways you could get rid of em' and tell you if I come up with anything.",Sam stood up and stretched,"Right now I need sleep."

She nodded and let out a breath through he snout and smiled,"I have faith in you, after all from what you've told me it seems your people are good at warfare."

He laughed while heading for the door,"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Goodnight Samuel."

"Night princess."

It was a short walk before he ended up in his room and after taking off his clothes he fell fast asleep. It had been a long day for him.