It was just a few days later that our clothes were ready to be picked up, and I must say that Rarity did a stunning job! It felt good to slip out of my nasty old protective suit and into something much looser. I drew my t-shirt over my head as I let my arms slide into their holes. My jeans were snug around my waist, but were nice and roomy around my shins and ankles. Somehow this little bit of familiarity amongst all the strangeness that my life had become over the past few weeks was an incredible feeling: the 'normalness' of it made things a little more comfortable.
"For an outfit so simple you wear it quite well," Rarity commented before she gestured my way towards the other stall, "Let's see how Lyra's coming along, shall we?"
As we turned, the changing room door opened slightly, and Lyra stepped out, "Well, for starters, I'd say I'm coming along very nicely."
I have to admit that I had to stop for a second to admire her. Her formal dress was styled like a toga, where it wrapped around her chest and over her shoulder, secured by a golden pin shaped like a disk. Emblazoned on that disk was an image of her Cutie Mark. The edges of her dress that reached back over her rear end and towards her hooves faded into a yellowish-green color. My words fail me here, I'm afraid, because I can't give its description the justice it deserves. I did, however, come to recognize the choice of coloration for her rear half, as she turned her head and I saw a single Lily's blossom held behind her ear on some kind of ribbon.
She twisted her dress back and forth a little before doing a small curtsy with a happy, but slightly shy smile, "How do I look?"
It took me a minute to compose myself, I was so shocked by the difference in how she looked normally and now, "Incredible."
"Well I'll say," Rarity said with an almost teary smile, "She looks absolutely stunning!"
Lyra blushed at our praise, "You know you made this dress, right Rarity?"
Rarity waved her hoof dismissively, "Oh posh. It's just like I told Adam: my creations only cause what's already present to shine brighter!"
With our clothes in hand (and hoof), we began our trek back to the cottage, albeit with one slight deviation.
"Now, Applejack's our 'in' at Sweet Apple Acres. We may have to check around a bit first before we actually find her, but hopefully we'll be able to sneak in while she's on break from bucking the apple trees."
With no one around us to hear the mysterious voice coming from nowhere I was able to speak freely, "Is she anything like Pinkie? I know she said she was going to handle meeting with her."
Lyra gave a little chuckle, "They're veeeeery different from each other. AJ's a lot more down to earth, but neither of them would break a promise."
"And with being the 'Element of Honesty-"
"She can keep a secret, don't worry."
We turned to the right up the dirt road that led further into Sweet Apple Acres, guided onward on both sides by beautifully painted white fences. To my left I saw rows of carrots, then heads of lettuce, and then stalks of corn, each reaching nearly six feet tall. Harvest time had to be around the corner as I thought about it, though my knowledge on agriculture was obviously pretty limited. To my right there were a few haystacks every fifty feet or so, and after that a small enclosed area for chickens to roam, with a few henhouses not far away. A very large cherry red barn rose up out of the horizon. To the northwest appeared to be some sort of storage building; it was topped by what looked like a carrot. I felt it necessary to describe all this because I wanted this next part to put things in perspective: in almost every other direction or place I looked, all i could see were apple trees. They were everywhere! I'd never seen so many on such a enormous scale! Where I had grown up maybe one person I knew of grew their own fruit, a pear tree, and only because it helped them ensure they were eating all organic, no additives. This was an orchard if ever I were to see one!
From the barn we heard the loud but merry tinkle of a metal triangle.
"Sounds like we're in luck," Lyra exclaimed, "That's gotta be the signal for lunchtime!"
It wasn't long at all before we saw the few members of the Apple clan come back to their homestead. A large, deep red colored stallion, his mane and brow covered in sweat, gently lumbered up from the trees in the east. He looked our direction and gave a small, respectful nod, "Ms. Heartstrings."
"Big Mac," she replied.
"Ya here ta see AJ?"
"You're right on the money," she said as she took a step closer, "Any idea where she might be?"
He nodded his head back in the direction he had just come from, "She's back yonder in the valley with Apple Bloom. Ya might catch'em on the way up."
"Thanks," she said with a wave as she began the trek in that direction, with me not far behind.
"Eeyup," was his only reply.
Once we'd put some distance between us I said aloud, "He's not much of a conversationalist, is he?"
Lyra looked up in my direction, "Who, Big Mac? Nah, he's not. Of course, he always manages to get his point across one way or another. Maybe he's better at it than we are."
I squinted my eyebrows unseen skeptically, "How do you figure that exactly?"
"He's more efficient," she said with a smirk.
It wasn't too long before we found the mare we were seeking; we just followed the persistent thumping sound. Just as we spotted them, it seemed that work was being wrapped up for the moment. An orange pony wearing a stetson was now headed up towards us, a little yellow filly with a bow in her mane not far behind.
"Well hi there Lyra," Applejack exclaimed with a smile as she looked up.
"Hey Applejack," she exclaimed, then looked back at the filly, "Hey Apple Bloom!"
"Hey Ms. Lyra," she replied with a weary but happy smile, "What're you doin' here?"
"Well, I've come here to ask your sister for some recipe ideas! I've got a friend coming into town who's kind of a picky eater, and they don't like daisy sandwiches, grass, or a lot of other things."
The little filly looked up at her incredulously, "How's that even possible? Ah thought everypony liked daisy sandwiches. Tha's like a law er somethin'!"
Lyra chuckled a little and gave a covert glance up at me, "Yeah, but my friend's a little weird, so I've got to get creative."
"Well fortunately you've come to the right place," Applejack declared with an upturned grin, "We've got plenty-a good food here and ideas ta go along with it!" She gestured with a wave to her little sister, "You go on ahead Apple Bloom, we'll catch up. We've gotta discuss some of the boring stuff behind her friend's visit."
Apple Bloom gave a little shrug and slowly began to walk up the path, "Alright, AJ: if you say so." She looked back once quizzically as the two mares started talking before she disappeared above the valley ridge.
"Ah got a bit of the skinny from Pinkie when she came by," Applejack murmured, "You've got some new type-a critter hangin' out at your place, one that can talk?"
I cleared my throat a little, "'Critter' is just the tiniest bit not nice, don't you think?"
Applejack stumbled back a little with a tiny 'guh' sound as she realized she wasn't alone with Lyra. She righted herself though, and she straightened her hat in mild frustration as she tried to recover her dignity, "Land's sakes! If you were here why didn't ya say somethin' then? Come on out from wherever you are!"
Lyra grimaced a little, "We're pretty sure the farm's safe, but the skies aren't always. The last thing we need is for him to be spotted out in the open without his shroud of invisibility."
"Fair 'nough Ah suppose," the earth pony replied grumpily, "Still, can't ya just keep it over yer head without taking it all the way off? Ah wanna see who Ah'm talkin' with!"
I quickly glanced around just to put my mind at ease, and then lifted up my shroud. The earth pony's eyes widened, I was glad to see not out of fear, but out of curiosity. "Hmm," she breathed as she scanned my figure up and down before letting out a quick 'huh.'
"Alright," she exclaimed, "Ah suppose we should just go on an’ get the elephant in the proverbial room outta the way: you a carnivore?"
"I eat vegetables and fruits too," I replied indignantly, "I just can't eat your guy's sandwiches, or burgers, or your grass-y stuff." I then silently thought to myself, Oh dear God how I miss burgers.
The farm pony nodded, "Legumes should do nicely fer a start. Do you eat eggs?"
"Yeah, those would work," I said, "Is there anything else you need to know?"
"Business-wise, nope. All that's left is personal intrigue on mah part."
I never really thought I'd have to do this many introductions, and I certainly didn't expect all the background knowledge I had to give each time it seemed, but with a quick sigh I played my part, waving my right hand in gesture, "Go ahead."
"It's pretty clear yer not around from this neck of the woods: just how far away is the place you call home?"
"Worlds apart," I replied, then with a small smirk added, "Both figuratively and literally."
Applejack squinted with a smile as she brought a hoof up to her mouth, "You don't exactly seem to fit the stereotype of 'alien' all that well, unless you're hiding a flyin' saucer around here."
"I'm not," and then I fired back, "But you seem smarter than the 'redneck' stereotype, so I guess we're all subverting expectations."
Lyra snickered a little and clopped her right hoof against the ground, while Applejack gave a single hearty laugh and a smile, "Now's mah turn ta ask for sensitivity! Ah'm country, not redneck. Maybe one day Ah'll teach you the difference."
We quickly decided after that to head back up towards the Apple homestead, as we didn't want Applejack's absence to be conspicuous, and so she could actually have a little time to eat before she had to get back to work. It was as we were making our way back that my shroud snagged on some bushes momentarily, but thinking nothing of it I quickly dislodged myself. What I didn't realize was that while I was snagged some very ripe wild berries burst on my sheet, leaving some telltale hanging speckles of juice in the air as they merrily floated away.
It was only later that I found out that we had been eavesdropped on. From out of the bushes a very quizzical Apple Bloom leapt after we were out of earshot. The way her sister had acted was pretty funny she thought, but when whatever it was had touched that berry bush its shroud had flickered, revealing a very strange shape underneath. The inquisitive filly ran ahead of us to provide the illusion that she had been back at the barn getting food all along. She watched her sister and Lyra, waiting until she had bought a modestly sized care package with her bits and was half way down the dirt drive before she made her move.
"Granny," she turned to her elder, whose ear twitched at the sound of her little one's voice, "Ah helped out Applejack this mornin', but could Ah please get the afternoon off?"
The old earth pony mare shrugged, a smile on her wrinkly face, "Ah don't see why not Ah suppose: run along Apple Bloom!"
The little filly was out the door before she had even finished her sentence. Making sure to tail us from a safe distance, she stalked after us all the way back to the cottage. Stealthily she peeked in through the cottage's front window, just as I tossed off my shroud and shook myself free of the cramps from constantly being under it.
"Ooooh," I exclaimed as I began stretching, "It feels SO GOOD to be home and visible again!"
"So the trip went well," Bon Bon asked us from her pillow seat, flipping a page in the book in front of her as she did.
"About as good as could be expected," Lyra replied as she went to unfold and hang up her formal dress, leaving me to put away the food stuffs that would feed me for the next week. I turned towards the front of the house as I picked them up to put them in the kitchen, and I thought I saw some sort of motion outside of the cottage. When I didn't see anything else move I just shrugged and set about my task.
Meanwhile Apple Bloom sat outside just out of sight: her eyes were like saucers, and her left ear twitched sporadically. After she had collected herself she bolted from the cottage, running back towards the center of Ponyville, "Wait until the gals hear 'bout this one!"