Chapter 6: Meeting the Family

You were finally released from the hospital after a month of recovery from the accident, all while spending time with Applejack, your new marefriend, but that wasn't the most important thing about today. Today you were going to go meet the rest of the Apple family. As you made your way up the dirt trail towards the farm you heard somepony call you from inside the orchard.

"Hey, come here for a second!"

"Who is it?" you asked, not sure if you really wanted to listen to a mysterious voice from inside a bush. When there was no reply you moved towards the bush and leaned over to try and see who was calling to you. Just as you were going to turn around and continue walking you were pulled into the bush, a hoof across your mouth so you couldn't scream.

"Thanks for actually looking in the bush" somepony said in a gruff voice.

"Who are you?!" you asked while trying to escape.

"It's me, Big Mac" he said, turning a flashlight on to show himself.

"Big Mac!" you shouted as you tried to run away, only to be stopped by one of his gigantic hoofs, "What are you gonna do to me?"

"Nothin'," Big Mac said as he let you go, "I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted"

"Really?" you asked, not believing him.

"Eeyup" Big Mac said as he walked out of the bush, "I was extremely stressed out at the time, and then with you accidentally pushing my sis and then punching me back, I just sort of lost it"

"What got you so stressed that you would hit your own sister?" you asked, barely believing his story.

"Well, we are understaffed at the farm, which means I have to do a lot of work, and on that day I learned that an entire field of trees had died due to worms eating the roots" Big Mac said, kicking a nearby tree, leaving a hoof sized hoof in it.

"Oh, damn..." you said as you looked around, noticing now that every tree was dead, "What's this going to do to the farm?"

"Well, if we're lucky it'll only cost us a tiny bit to replace them," Big Mac said, lowering his head, "but if we're unlucky we could lose the farm"

"Seriously?!" you shouted, finding it hard to believe they could lose their farm so easily.

"Eeyup. Unless we make at least a thousand bits more than projected this season we won't have enough to support the farm" Big Mac said as he looked at a decaying apple on the ground, "This orchard usually covers that thousand bits"

"Wow..." you mumbled as you though over the chances of them successfully making the extra thousand bits. The chances were slim, but it could be possible if they could create some kind of product that everypony would want. You idly followed Big Mac as he led the way towards the farm house. When you got out of the dead orchard you looked up to see Applejack standing at the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, looking depressed.

"Hey Applejack" you said as you walked up behind her causing her to jump.

"What are you doing behind me?" Applejack asked, noticing Big Mac standing where you had come from, "Did you two talk?"

"Yeah" you said as you wrapped a foreleg around her neck, "I think we've reached an understanding"

"Well, that's good" Applejack said as she started to walk towards the house, "Now, it's time for you to meet the family". She lead you towards the house as an older light green mare came outside slowly. As you and Applejack neared the house the older mare spoke up.

"You must be Applejack's coltfriend!" the older mare said, making her way towards you slowly, "I'm Granny Smith"

"Nice to meet you Granny Smith" you said as you shook her hoof, "I'm Choco"

"Well, no use standin' outside, come on in" Granny Smith said as she walked back inside the house. Knowing it was rude to stay outside when invited in you went inside, only to find three young fillies sitting at their table. When you got inside their heads snapped up and they rushed over to you.

"Is it really you?" the little orange Pegasus asked, followed by nods from the other two fillies.

"I would assume I'm me" you said sarcastically.

"Yeah, it's him, I remember him from when he pushed me!" the yellow Earth pony said to her friends.

"That means you're Applebloom right?" you said, remembering what Applejack had told you about her family, "Sorry about that"

"It's fine, I'm a big pony, I can take it" Applebloom said as she pushed out her chest. Her friends laughed as you walked away to sit down on the couch next to Applejack. When you sat down Applejack leaned moved up next to you, and then Big Mac came inside, a bucket of apples on his back.

"I got the apples for the pie Granny" Big Mac said as he took the apples into the kitchen.

"Thank you Macintosh" Granny stood up and started walking towards the kitchen, "Care to help Applejack?"

"Of course Granny" Applejack said as she got up, stopping to give you a quick kiss, "I'll be back in a bit". You nodded in response as she ran towards the kitchen, leaving you alone in the living room. After a few minutes you got an odd feeling of being watched, so you turned around to see the three fillies staring at you from the stairs.

"Can I help you with something?" you asked, staring straight at them.

"Well, uh..." Applebloom stuttered, not sure what to say to you.

"We were wondering if you could help us" the orange filly asked.

"Help with what?" you asked in return.

"With getting our cutie marks" the white Unicorn said, causing you to now notice that none of them had their cutie marks yet.

"I don't see why not" you said as you got off the couch, walking towards the front door, "But maybe we should do it outside". As you opened the door you heard the fillies run past you and out into the yard, eager to have you help them find their special talent.

"So, what are you three good at?" you asked, hoping to find a starting point.

"Uh, nothin' really" Applebloom said, kicking the ground slowly.

"Well, I can ride scooters really well" the orange Pegasus said.

"I can sing fairly well" the White unicorn said.

"Okay, then what do you like to do?" you asked, hoping to get more information out of them.

"I like working on the farm with my brother and sister" Applebloom said.

"I like riding my scooter really fast" the Pegasus said.

"I like helping my sister make dresses" the Unicorn said.

"Oh, well..." you said as you started to think. Applebloom with probably have something farm related, as it has been with the rest of the family, and it seems like the Pegasus likes her scooter a lot..., then you thought about the Unicorn's talent and likes, She says she can sing, but she likes to make dresses....

"Uh, mister?" Applebloom asked, noticing that you had started to zone out.

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about what we could start with" you said, smiling sheepishly.

"Well, uh, we just thought we should introduce ourselves" Applebloom said, nodding to her friends.

"I'm Scootaloo!" the Pegasus said.

"And I'm Sweetie Belle!" the Unicorn said.

"And we're..." Applebloom said, the three of them pulling their heads back.

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" the three of them yelled at once, nearly knocking you back onto your ass.

"Well Cutie Mark Crusaders, why don't yall come inside for lunch?" Applejack said while standing on the porch.

"Yay! Cutie Mark Crusader Food Testers!" the three yelled as they ran up the the house. You quickly followed suite, your stomach growling at the mention of food. When you got to the porch Applejack kissed you on the cheek.

"Don't mind them, they just really want their cutie marks" she whispered before she went back inside. I can understand that, you thought as you followed her inside, eager to feast upon whatever sort of food they had prepared. Upon entering the house the smell of apple pie filled your nose and you were greeted by a table covered in all manner of food, from plain old sandwiches, to delicious apple tarts. You quickly sat down at the table, and after Granny Smith said grace everypony dug in, happily devouring ever bit of food that was on the table.

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"I think I ate too much..." you said as you rubbed your belly, which was now protruding from your body. You looked around the table to see that everypony else felt about the same as you, Big Mac being the only one that could move. He quickly got out of his chair and made his way to the door, until he was stopped by Granny Smith.

"Where are you going?" she asked as he grabbed an axe.

"I have to go cut down the dead trees Granny, you know that" he said as he walked out of the house, quietly closing the door behind him. As you sat there you noticed Applejack coming towards you.

"You should go help him" she said as she nuzzled your neck, "He'd really appreciate it"

"Okay, I'll go help him" you said as you struggled to get out of your chair due to your full stomach. After you got up you quickly ran outside, hoping to work off the huge lunch you just had by helping Big Mac, and hoping to patch over any issues he had with you. As you close to the dead orchard you could hear the chopping of the axe on trees coming from deep inside. Knowing that you would get lost if you used the ground you took to the sky, knowing that you would be able to see him better from up above. It didn't take long to find him among the dead trees, as his big red body stood out like a sore thumb.

"Need some help?" you asked as you landed next to him.

"Nope, I got it" he said through the axe, which he was holding in his mouth. Knowing that he was probably just going to say no if you asked again you moved over to the tree beside him and bucked it as hard as you could, uprooting it completely. He turned around when he heard the tree collapse, and dropped the axe when he saw you standing next to it.

"How did you do that?" he asked, not willing to believe a Pegasus would be strong enough to uproot an entire tree.

"I bucked it, really, really, hard, and it came out" you said, as if it was nothing, "You sure you don't want my help?"

"Well, if you can keep that up then sure" he said as he turned back to the tree he was working on. He attempted to buck it out of the ground like you had, but his strength caused him to buck a hole through the tree instead. You heard him mutter something under his breath, probably a swear, as you continued to buck up the other trees.

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"That was hard work..." you spat out as you slowly walked back to the farm house as the sun set. You and Big Mac had spent all day in the orchad, clearing it all out in one day thanks to you being able to buck the trees out of the ground.

"Thanks for the help" Big Mac said as he put the axe on the porch and headed inside.

"No problem..." you said as you collapsed, your legs were tired beyond belief, it was a wonder you made it as close to the house as you did. A few minutes later you heard the door open again, but you were too tired to lift your head to see who it was.

"You okay?" Applejack asked as she got closer to you.

"Yeah, just really tired..." you said as you tried to get up, your legs not allowing it. You felt Applejack put her hooves on your shoulders and pull you up, draping one of your forelegs across her back so she could carry you inside.

"Oh dear, he looks mighty tired" Granny said as Applejack carried you through the living room, stopping knitting so she could say something.

"He helped me clear out the entire dead orchard in one day, if he wasn't tired I'd think he was a robot" Big Mac said, laughing at his own joke.

"Well, he's welcome to stay here for the night, as long as nothing happens upstairs" Granny said as Applejack slowly brought you up the stairs.

"Granny! You know I'm not like that!" Applejack said back, knowing what Granny Smith was really saying. Granny didn't reply, instead she just laughed as she went back to knitting something. Applejack managed to get you upstairs, and opened a door to one of the rooms. She quickly tossed you on the bed and then climbed in next to you.

"Shouldn't I be in the guest room?" you asked, knowing that this was most likely Applejack's room.

"I think you're fine right here" she said as she hugged you, nuzzling her head into the space between your wings.

"Well, okay then" you said as you drifted off to sleep, happy that you were spending the night with your marefriend hugging you.