It took less than 5 minutes for Rainbow Dash and Joshua to meet back up with Twilight Sparkle and Spike and now, after Josh had dazzled Spike and Twilight with his new outfit and left his other clothes with Pinkie Pie for the time being, the 4 of them were on their way to a place called Sweet Apple Acres, which from what Josh was gathering, was some kind of farm.
"Heh, looks like there ARE some things that would be expected in a pony town.", Josh muttered, earning a small glare from Twilight Sparkle.
"You know, you really need to stop calling this a pony town. I know you're the first human we've had come here, but it tends to get a little annoying!", she scolded.
Seeing the nods of agreement from Rainbow Dash and Spike, Josh chuckled sheepishly. "Ok, I'll try to stop that habit. It's just a lot to take in, ya know?"
"He's got a point, you know.", Spike admitted, gaining a groan from the unicorn. It was then she noticed they were at the threshold of Sweet Apple Acres, their discussion having passed the time of their trek to get there and as he looked around, again Josh felt his breath taken away by the beauty that surrounded them. There were glorious apple trees as far as the eye could see, a dirt path leading from the brown ranch arch reading "WELCOME!" all the way to what Josh could make out as a big red farmhouse and a well-sized barn. It had a warm, country feeling to the landscape.
"All that's needed is someone saying yeehaw!", Josh quipped.
"YEEHAW! 100 APPLES IN 100 SECONDS!"
Hearing the loud southern-sounding voice echo out, Josh turned towards the others. "That wasn't one of you guys, was it?"
Shaking her head, Twilight took the forefront and led the others down the path towards what appeared to be a big clearing of apple trees and plowed fields and in the middle, holding a lasso in her mouth, was yet another pony whose appearance pretty much blew the teen away. She was an orange-coated pony with a long blonde mane ending in a set of short pigtails and a wave of her hair hanging out underneath the cowgirl hat that donned her head. On her flank, by her bundled blonde tail, was a cutie mark depicting a set of delicious looking apples. Just the sight of them made the teen rub his tummy in hunger... yet at the same time, similar to Rarity, he was a little unsure about disrupting her during her hard work. But this time Rainbow Dash beat him to the punch at the same time he'd looked up and noticed something in a nearby tree.
"HEY AJ!", she called out, "We got someone for ya to meet!"
Setting the lasso down, the pony turned and gave them all a friendly look before she spoke, the southern accent more pronounced. "Well howdy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Spike... What brings ya'll down ta Sweet Apple Acres?"
"Well...", Twilight said calmly, "We've got someone we'd like you to meet, like Rainbow Dash said.". It was then she looked around and realized Josh was nowhere in sight. "Josh? Where are you?"
"I'M UP HERE!"
Looking up, the 4 of them could see Josh waving from a branch of a nearby tree, an apple in his hand. "Josh? What are you doing up there?"
"I saw one of the apples had been left up here, so I thought I'd give your friend a hand... only it's a lot farther down than I thought... Can someone lend me a hoof?"
This got a big laugh out of them as the pony picked up her lasso and used it to whisk Josh off the branch and onto one of the full baskets of apples, making the laughter grow hysterical from the others and leaving the teen dazed.
"Ugh... thanks..", He groaned as he boosted himself to his feet, dusting himself off and placing the apple he had been holding amidst the others before walking over to the laughing crew and giving a sarcastic chuckle. "Yeah, ha ha."
"I... I'm sorry...", Spike managed to wheeze out between bales of laughter, "But that was hilarious!"
Even Twilight Sparkle, one of the calmest and coolheaded ponies in Ponyville, was laughing. "I got to admit, you looked pretty funny!"
Josh sighed and blew a small gust of air upwards before he turned to the orange equine, "From the way Rainbow Dash called you AJ... you must be-"
That was all he was able to get out before the pony had grasped his hand and started shaking his enthusiastically. "That's right! The name's Applejack, one of the proprietors of Sweet Apple Acres!"
"N-n-n-n-n-n-nice t-t-t-t-to m-m-m-m-m-meet y-y-y-y-you!", Josh managed to gasp out as he was lifted upwards from the force of her shaking his hand before she finally released him and sent him crashing back to the ground for the second time in a row, landing on his knees and palms. "My god, all you ponies are full of more energy than bottles of coke!"
Applejack giggled at the comparision before she spoke again. "Well ain't that truer than the sun in July! I see you've met Pinkie Pie already... and from the looks of that there jacket, Rarity as well?"
Josh nodded as he dusted himself off. By now, nothing really fazed him about Ponyville and he'd just given up trying to deny its existence as nothing more than a big gag. "That's right, I have... although I came with the black jacket beforehand."
"Josh is here to help us learn about some more lessons in friendship, as well as maybe give us some wisdom from his world."
At this, a worried look ebbed onto Applejacks face as she rubbed her hoof against another in nervousness. "Yeah, uh Twilight... you know what humans like him usually eat, don't ya?"
"Yeah.", Josh piped in, "Sweets and cheeses!"
"Well not just that, Sugar... I mean don't your kind usually eat... well...". The cowpony's voice trailed off as if she was afraid to offend him, being the Element of Honesty after all.
"You can tell me, Applejack. I won't get mad... heck, Twilight and Pinkie didn't after we talked about bathrooms."
Applejack, Spike, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but give an odd look to Twilight Sparkle, who merely shook her head. "You don't wanna know.", she whispered.
"C'mon. Just tell me."
Sighing in defeat, Applejack motioned for Josh to come over and as soon as he did and knelt down, she whispered into his ear. Immediately a look of disgust came onto his face and he backed away.
"EW NO!", he sputtered out in horror, "My god, NO human eats THAT!"
"But aren't your kind carnivores?", she asked.
"No, we're omnivores... and we don't eat THAT! What made you think we ate..."
Not wanting to startle the others, Josh leaned in towards Applejacks ear and whispered. "What made you think we ate horsemeat?"
Applejack sighed again and looked down. "Let's just say I've got some books I need to get rid of now... Please don't be mad..."
"I'm not. But for the sake of Celestia and sanctity, it's probably wise you don't say that out loud..."
"You mean you really don't eat-"
"No, I eat SOME meats, but special made ones... and NEVER ponies... in fact NO human does!"
After their conversation, Applejack felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she gave the teen a big hug, one that was happily returned much to the amusement of the others looking at them with grins.
"What are you two whispering and hugging about?", Rainbow Dash called out to them as they broke up the hug.
"It's nothing, Rainbow Dash!", Josh replied, giving a wink to Applejack, which she returned.
"I was just on my way to take some of these here apples down ta Granny Smith to get made into pies and juices. Y'all wanna come along?", she chirped kindly.
The 2 equines, dragon, and human eagerly nodded, the former 3 knowing she usually treated them to a couple pies afterwards and the human eager to see how this farm worked.
"That's fantastic! But um.. could you gals maybe help me.."
Twilight chuckled before she nodded. "I think we can give you some help!"
"Yeah, count me in!", Rainbow Dash added.
Applejack turned to Josh and opened her mouth to ask him, but the teen beat her to it.
"AJ, it'd be my pleasure.", he smiled as he bent down and picked up a couple of baskets before following her to the farmhouse with the others trailing behind him. It took them all of a few minutes before that'd made it into the giant red building Applejack and her family called home and gotten the apples put away and sure enough, to Twilight Sparkles delight, she immediately got out the fixings to make a couple giant pies.
"I can't let ya'll go out without a reward for helping me!", Applejack chirped as she started using her forehooves to roll out the sheets of dough for the pie tins.
"As always, you're much too kind!", Twilight gushed. But the teen next to her was just in absolute amazement.
"Applejack, this place... it's amazing!", he marveled, looking around at the fancy kitchen and breakfast nook, admiring not only the knickknacks, but the picture of her with a wise-looking old greenish pony and a young yellow philly with a red mane.
"Well thank you kindly, stranger!", she grinned as she cut up the apples, using her hooves to hold them steady and the knife in her teeth to slice them. As she got done cutting them and spat out the knife, she noticed Josh looking at the picture and chuckled as she put the apple slices into the pies, "That's Granny Smith and my little filly sister, Apple Bloom!"
"Apple Bloom... She's out with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle right now, isn't she?", he couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah.. how'd you'd know?", Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Rarity told him.", Rainbow Dash piped in, "She said they were trying to become Cutie Mark Crusader Tire Swingers."
The orange equine couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. "Those silly fillys... last time they tried that, Scootaloo got sick all over Apple Bloom and I had to spend half a day cleaning her off!"
"Wait wait...", Josh sputtered, putting his hands out, "You guys... you get sick too?"
"Are you kidding?", Rainbow Dash answered, "Thanks to Applejack's exhaustion and a set of bad muffins, there were ponies losing their cookies everywhere!"
"I still don't see what made them sick!", Spike murmured, crossing his arms, "Those muffins were great!"
"Well if they tried it once, why are they trying it again?", Twilight couldn't help but ask.
"Maybe they figured they didn't do it long enough last time?", Josh shrugged as they watched the nearly-complete pies, now filled with apple slices and cream and covered by flaky dough, being set into the oven to bake. Trotting from behind the baking table, Applejack looked at the teen and grinned.
"While the pies are baking, why don't I show ya around the farm?", the cowpony suggested, to which the teen smiled.
"I would love that very much.", he nodded.
"Fantastic!", Applejack smiled herself before leading him out of the kitchen towards the main part of the farm, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Twilight Sparkle following behind them. Applejack had made so many pies she had a built-in clock into her head so she knew when to take them out to cool.
The first them she showed them was the groves of apple trees, a shining look in her eyes. "This here is the pride of the Apple family... our ochard of apples! We got everything from Golden Delicious to MacIntosh to Ridington!"
"Well they look amazing!", Twilight spoke up, "It looks like a great crop is headed for Ponyville!"
"What do you expect?", Rainbow Dash added, "Applejack's one of the best bakers and growers in all of Equestria!". This remark brought a deep blush to the orange ponys cheeks.
"Who knew a pony t-", Josh started to say, but then he remembered what Twilight had told him and he cleared his throat before starting again. "I mean, who knew such delicious treats existed!". Turning to Twilight Sparkle, he was given a nod of approval and breathed a sigh of relief as Applejack laughed.
"Now, Sugar, I wouldn't say they're THAT delicious yet..."
"Oh! Can we try some, please?", Spike pleaded. Applejack merely grinned and nodded.
"Go on, all of yas. Take yourselves nice big ones! That's what they're there for!"
Eagerly, all 5 of them, including Applejack, plucked a couple big juicy red ones from the tree, Josh using his hands, Applejack her lasso, Rainbow Dash flying up to one, and Twilight Sparkle using her magic to bring the apple to her mouth and in near unison they all took a big juicy bite. Josh seemed to enjoy his the most!
"Oh good gracious, this is juicy!" he said through a big mouthful, making Applejack grin.
"I told ya!", she said before taking another big bite and speaking through her own mouthful, "The Apple family's apples are second to none! Come on! I gots more ta show ya'll!"
With that, the cowpony continued leading the 4 of them through her giant farm, all of them munching happily away on the big red fruits. What they didn't notice was a figure watching from the trees surrounding it...
A figure who was NOT happy that a human was there.
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It took a half hour for Applejack to show them all the workings of her farm and get back into her house and all 4 of them were fascinated by the workings, even Twilight. They'd been to her farm lots of times, but the tour had shown them parts of the workings and lodgings they'd never seen! As Applejack opened the oven, she couldn't stop beaming from all the questions they'd asked. It showed they were actually interested in what she was saying and it made her happy.
"So what do ya'll think of Sweet Apple Acres?", she asked as she took the pie out, wearing potholders on her hooves.
"It's amazing!", Twilight marveled, "I never knew how much work went into getting everything ready for the market!"
"It's awesome!", Rainbow Dash added, "I mean some of those lasso tricks to get down more apples... those were so cool!"
"I gotta admit," Spike piped in, "The whole thing WAS pretty cool!"
Applejack blushed before she spoke to the one being who hadn't said anything. "Josh, sweetie, what do you think of my place?"
"It's... it's unbelieveable...", The teen was barely able to stammer out, "It was just un-be-lieveable!"
The cowpony smiled and set down the pie just as she heard arguing outside and a knock at the door.
"I told ya Tire Swinging was a bad idea!"
"Well if you hadn't spun it so fast, I wouldn't have thrown up!"
"Do you have idea how long it'll take to get cleaned up again?"
"Please don't fight... please..."
With a sigh, Applejack opened the door and immediately a foul smell entered her snout. Looking down, she saw her sister Apple Bloom covered in a thick pink liquid, bits of colored chunks ebbing out, her filly friends and a yellow pegasus beside her. The smell made her gag and she had to cover her nose before she could open the door fully, the odor of the liquid reaching the others and making them gasp for breath.
"What on blue blazes happened?", Applejack managed to gasp out, "Did Scootaloo get sick on you again?"
"No.. it was Sweetie Belle this time...", the young filly replied sadly as she and the others walked in, giving Josh a good look at them. The one covered in vomit was a young yellow filly with a reddish mane and a curiously blank flank. The two fillies by her, one an orange pegasus and the other a white unicorn similar to Rarity only with a lighter purple mane, also were missing their cutie marks as well. But the yellow pegasus's flank bore a set of pink butterlies, almost as if symbolizing a caring and kind nature, her rosy mane hanging nearly over her eye and her tail hanging behind her smoothly. They were so preoccupied with Apple Bloom that none of them noticed the others at the table.
"I told you this would happen if you tried being Cutie Mark Tire Swingers again!", Applejack scolded.
"It wasn't my fault! Scootaloo insisted we try making it spin three times the normal!"
"Well how was I to know Sweetie Belle had a big breakfast?", the pegasus shot back, "It's not like she told us!"
"But I did tell you!", The unicorn replied, "I was telling you "STOP I'M GONNA BE SICK!""
Applejack just placed a hoof to her head in frustration before she went and fetched a washcloth to try and clean her off. "Sweetie Belle told ya she was getting nauseous and you still spun her?"
"I thought she was joking!", Scootaloo admitted, rubbing her hoof behind her head.
"Even when you saw her cheeks bulge?", Apple Bloom complained as Applejack used the cloth to wipe as much as she could off her sister.
"I... I don't think you should play on that swing anymore...", the yellow pegasus said timidly, "Both times you tried being Cutie Mark Tire Swingers... Apple Bloom ended up covered in someone's lunch... Why can't you be something simple like Cutie Mark Knitters?"
Spike and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but snicker a bit at that, bringing him to the attention of the 3 fillies and the pegasus and it was then that they all saw Twilight Sparkle and the human sitting down and looking at them, the latter fascinated and clearing his throat.
"May.. may I make a suggestion?", he offered.
"Uh... sure, I guess." Applejack replied as Josh got up and walked over to Apple Bloom, examining how messy she was. The filly was more puzzled than scared of the human checking her out, but he did seem friendly.
"Well, it does look like your friend threw up quite a bit on you.."
This brought out an embarrassed laugh from Sweetie Belle, who Josh had by now figured out was the unicorn, leaving Scootaloo as the pegasus by proccess of elimination. "Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have had that extra serving of pancakes..."
Not even batting an eye anymore that they had pancakes here, Josh continued to look over the filly. "I'd say just a nice bath and scrubbing should do the trick, although some extra shampoo couldn't hurt. I'll even help!"
"Well that's plum nice of ya!", Applejack remarked.
"Your friend.. he sure does seem friendly...". the yellow pegasus said shyly, making the teen look up at her.
"I could say the same about you... but why so shy?"
"That's just how Fluttershy is." Twilight Sparkle answered.
"Well I guess it's better than... well.."
"The Equestria Pony Alliance?"
Hearing Fluttershy mention them made everyone turn towards her in shock.
"Fluttershy... you know about them? What do you know?", Twilight asked.
"I'd... I'd rather not say..."
"C'mon tell us!", Applejack added.
"No.. please..."
"Please, Fluttershy?", Josh piped in, "They made fun of me... I'd like to know why..."
"Well... if you really want to know...", Fluttershy relented before taking a deep breath and answering, "They're a group of uneducated bigots who think that just because they come from pure-bred equines that they're better than everyone else. They think that anyone who's different shouldn't be in Equestria and they're determined to do whatever they can to keep Ponyville "pure" in their eyes. They think humans are the lowest of the low and were born from mud, believing only in violence and hate, when in reality THEY'RE the ones filled with such atrocious feelings. They'd have gone after Zecora if they'd known about her, which is PROBABLY why she's stayed in the Everfree Forest so much. The worst part is they keep saying that Celestia hates humans when, from the human being here and your calmness around him, it's apparent that he's been brought here WITH Celestia's help!"
After she got done with her rant, her voice unusually strong for such a timid pegasus, she found herself staring at 8 shocked faces. It was rare for nearly any of them to hear her so confident in her speech.
"But... you know... it's just what I think...", she admitted as she reverted back to her soft voice.
"I see...", Josh replied, noticeably a little crestfallen at hearing what the EPA thought of him, "So I'm born from mud and filled with violence and hate?"
"What did I tell you?", Rainbow Dash reassured him, "They're just a bunch of nutjobs!"
"Yeah, I've told my kin and her friends to stay far away from them! They don't even let their children go to school, teaching them their warped lessons at home!", Applejack added with a growl, "They're brainwashing them and it makes me sick!"
"Please...", Sweetie Belle spoke up, "Don't mention being sick..."
This got a bit of a laugh out of Josh, one that made the others besides Apple Bloom laugh as well, before Twilight turned to Applejack. "Well, AJ, if it's ok with you, me and Josh need to head back to my place. It's nearly dinnertime and I thought maybe I'd treat him to a bite to eat."
"Actually, before that, I'd like to help Apple Bloom get cleaned up with Applejack." Josh said before turning back to the cowpony, "That is if it's ok with you."
"Why... why of course it is!", Applejack stammered before turning to Apple Bloom, "C'mon lets get ya in the tub!"
As the two of them headed upstairs, Josh turned to the others. "I'll meet you all back at the library, ok?"
Twilight nodded, hiding an inner grin at realizing what this would give her a chance to do, before she led the others out of the farmhouse, bidding goodbye to the teen for the time being as he joined them upstairs...
It would be the last time any of them saw the teen in such good shape for awhile...
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As the gathering at Sweet Apple Acres was happening, another was taking place in the Ponyville Lodge, where a meeting was taking place... one that was not remotely happy.
"MY FELLOW EQUINES! A FOUL BEING HAS COME UPON OUR HOLY LAND!", Thoroughbred Phelps called from the pulpit at the back of the lodge, the rows ahead of him filled with ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, as well as their children, "A HUMAN HAS DARED STICK HIS GREEDY HANDS IN OUR PURE COMMUNITY!"
A chorus of boos and jeers rang out as the gray pony lapped it all in, "WHEN CELESTIA, NEIGH WHEN GOD ITSELF ALLOWS SUCH A TRAGEDY, IT IS OUR SACRED DUTY TO PONYVILLE AND TO ALL OF EQUESTRIA TO RID IT OF SUCH A PARASITE!"
Almost all at once, a chorus of fevered ideas rang out, all of them vile and ugly.
"Kill him!"
"String him up!"
"Rip him to pieces!"
"Hang him!"
Thoroughbred sighed in sick glee at knowing his clan was on the same wavelength as him just as the doors opened and a red pony with a cutie mark shaped like a black X rushed in. "Yes, Elrad?"
"I heard talk of a possible gathering at the bakery! They're gonna celebrate the human's arrival and I even saw them at Sweet Apple Acres just afterwards!"
"Thank you, brother Elrad...", Thoroughbred nodded before turning back to his clan, "EQUINES! WE KNOW WHAT WE MUST DO! WE CANNOT LET HIM BE CELEBRATED, NEIGH HE MUST BE CAST AWAY BACK TO THE HELL HE HAS SPAWNED FROM! IT IS TIME TO MAKE PONYVILLE PURE AGAIN!"
The cheers and laughter that echoed from Ponyville Lodge would have turned even Pinkie Pie's stomach and if she'd known what was going to happen... she'd have cancelled the party and gone straight to Celestia herself...