//------------------------------//
// Saved by a God 
// Story: A New Purpose in Life 
// by Tx Avenger 218 
//------------------------------//

 “Is it alive? What is it?”

“Ah’m not sure.” 

“I don’t know either. I’m gonna go get something in case it attacks.” I begin to hear voices. Even through my muddled and dizzy head, I can make them out as female, although they don't sound like grown-ups.

Then someone begins pocking my back. I shift a little in my sleep, seeing if they’ll stop.

“Well, it’s alive.” The southern accent voice says. The source of the voice begins poking my back harder. I open my eyes and I give out a groan. I sit up and I turn around to face whoever it is that’s disturbing the best sleep I’ve had in forever. 

“What?!” I lightly yell. These ponies I haven’t seen before. One of them has eyes of a light red color to them, a mane of a maroon red, a coat of a pale light olive, and another feature of her is that she’s got a large pink bow on the back of her head, which looks way too damn cute for me. She is a regular pony who looks very shocked at me and neither does her friend. The second little filly pony has eyes of a sap green, a mane of a pale mulberry, along with some light pink streaks, and her coat can either be classified of a light gray, or just white, depends on the light. She is unicorn, unlike her friend. They both just stare at me, a look of shock on both their faces. We just stare at each other for what feels like minutes but only just a few seconds. I give a weak smile:

“Hey, um… are you-.” Is all I say before they both give off a scream.

“AHHHHHHHHH!!” They both immediately take off into another room. Crap.

“Wait!” I yell to them and I take off, hoping to try and catch them so I can calm them down.

“Get it, Scoots!” I hear the southern voiced pony yell.

“I’m on it!” Another voice replies, different from the other two. The room we go into is the kitchen from the stove, table and cabinets that are obviously visible. As I poke my head into the doorway, a shadow looms to my left. I turn my head to be greeted by an orange and purple blur, and a frying pan.

I wake up later with a massive headache, my hands bound, and three voices cheering. I open my eyes to reveal I am in the middle of the living room where I was sleeping in with the three ponies dancing around me. The other two from before are here as well, but the third, the one I think knocked me out, has eyes of a grayish purple, and a mane of purple. Her coat is also a light brilliant orange color and she’s a Pegasus. The throbbing in my head slowly disappears and I can now understand what they are saying. 

“Yay! We did it! We did it!” they keep yelling while bouncing around me until they stop in front of me and look at each other.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Alien Capturers!!” All three yell and nearly blow out my ear drums. 

“Do you think we got our cutie marks?” the southern pony asks and it’s now that when I recover from their yell, I notice that they don’t have cutie marks like the others. Looks like they haven’t found their calling in life.

“You think so?” The white unicorn says and they check each other’s flanks to see if they got them; they don’t, obviously.

“Aw, man.” The Pegasus moans in defeat. The other two look disappointed as well, but right now, I’m starting to get a cramp.

“Ahem!” I say and they snap their gaze to me.

“Is um, there an explanation as to why I’m tied up?” I ask and the unicorn comes right up to my face.

“We’re the ones asking the questions here! Now, what are you doing in my house?” She asks me. Her house?

“Your house? This is Rarity’s place.” I answer. Something tells me that that wasn’t the answer she wanted, because now she looks mad.

“What do you know about my sister?!” She almost yells at my face. I move back a bit so our faces don’t hit each other.

“Sister? She didn’t mention anything about a sister.” I say and she still looks a little mad but the regular pony stops her.

“Easy there, Sweetie Bell.” Then the Pegasus steps in.

“Back to the first question, why were you sleeping here?!” she asks me in a more aggressive tone, making me sweat a bit from what’s happening. They may looks like children, but covers aren't always the best first impressions.

“Because Rarity let me! I didn’t have a home so she opted to let me stay here until I get a place of my own.” I answer back. The regular pony comes right next to her friend:

“Likely story, but how do we know you ain’t lying?” I just squint at them giving them a type of ‘really?’ look at them.

“*Sigh* Rarity! Could you come down her for a sec?!” I yell and the three little fillies look at each other. There is a groaning sound coming from upstairs and hoof steps.

“This had better be important, Swift! You ruined my beauty sleep!” she replys in an annoyed but slightly angry tone.

“Oh, it is!” It really is.

“Now… what is it?” she says a bit tiredly and now she’s standing in the doorway, some bags under her eyes and a sleep mask just above her horn. She looks and sees me tied up, with the three pony’s right in front of me. 

“What’s going on?” she asks and the three fillies jet over in front of her.

“Oh, sis! We caught this ugly monster sleeping on your couch. We saw the door broken and I got scared and worried!” the unicorn, Sweetie bell I think, says to her sister. Ugly?

“Yeah! Once we woke up from our sleepover at the clubhouse, we decided to come back here and that’s when we saw it!” the Pegasus says. I'm not ugly. I know I'm not the best looking but-

“But we were able to take it on all by ourselves!” the regular pony says a bit modestly. Yeah you took me on, with a surprise attack with a frying pan.

“I thought everyone in town knew about me?” I ask in an annoyed tone. Rarity shakes her head.

“My sister, along with her friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo…” she gestures with hoof. It’s now that I realize that the knots on my hands aren’t very good.

“They were hiding when the wolves attacked a couple days ago and I and the others mentioned that something saved the town, we just didn’t specify ‘you’ exactly since we didn’t know anything about you at the time. These three were also having a sleepover at their little clubhouse over near Sweet Apple Acres at the time of your party, so they didn’t get to meet you. I was going to tell them today, but I didn’t expect them to do anything like this, or succeed.” She explains and says the last part a little surprised. I don’t blame her. I took down a pack of timber wolves, my wounds healed in only a couple days… and I got knocked out my three little pony’s. I smirk and chuckle a bit:

“Well… don’t underestimate the power of a frying pan.” I look at the three, who now look a little ashamed at what they did.

“Right?” I gesture to Scootaloo and they look at her as she fiddles with her hoofs against the floor.

“Right.”

“Well! Now that all that has been taken care of, am I free to go?” I ask and Rarity nudges her sister.

“Sweetie Beellll.”

“Your free.” She says in a sorry tone and begins walking over to me.

“Good.” I say and I slip my hands free of my binds. The three fillies look a little surprised while Rarity doesn’t exactly care since she probably just wants to go back to sleep.

“How’d you do that?! Those were my best knots!” Apple Bloom says and I chuckle.

“They weren’t very good, plus I’m kinda used to it.” I start to unravel my legs. Rarity yawns:

“Alright then, now that that is done with, I’m going back to bed.” she begins walking back up the stairs.

“Sleep tight, sis!” Sweetie Bell says to her sister. Rarity only replies with a bit of a mumble before we hear the door close upstairs.

I free my legs and I roll back to plant my hands on the floor, and I shoot myself up onto my feet. I almost lose my balance since it’s been awhile since I did that, and it doesn’t help that I woke up a while ago, but it’s a good way to get the blood flowing. I regain my posture and I pop my neck. I let out a sigh and I go over to my bag near the couch. 

I grab the strap, sit down and lift it up onto my lap and I search around for the snacks I had gotten from Sugarcube Corner. I grab the bottle and it’s a little cold to the touch, the cool room temperature with the coldness of night and inside my bag made the bottle not so hot or anything. I place the bottle next me and I grab the muffin bag and place them next to the bottle as well. I move the bag to the ground and I open the bag of muffins and take one out. 

I take a bite of it, reveling in the taste that immediately wakes up my taste buds, just like the first time.

“Umm… excuse me?” I hear and feel some tapping on my leg. I look down to see the three filly ponies right in front of me at my feet. All three of them are looking at me with these very apologetic and pleading faces. Too cute.

“We… um, wanted to say… we’re sorry for wha’ we did, we shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions so soon.” Apple Bloom says.

“And I’m sorry for calling you ugly.” Sweetie says while moving to Apple Bloom’s right.

“And for hitting you with the frying pan.” Scootaloo says from Apple Bloom’s left. I give them a slight serious look, I grab my uneaten muffin and I stand up. They back up a little and sit down but I move to the left and walk into the doorway on my left and find myself in the kitchen. I look around and I search through the drawers until I find what I am looking for, a serrated kitchen knife. I take the knife and cut the muffin into three equal sizes. I place the knife in the sink and I walk back into the room to see the three fillies’s still sitting there. They look at me a little scared but I give them a reassuring smile and I kneel down to them and present the cut muffin.

“Apology accepted…” They look at my hand and then back at me with a bit of confused looks.

“Think of it as a reward for being able to take me down. Not many others were able to do that.” I say and they smile before Sweetie Bell uses her magic to grab the muffin from my hand. 

I sit back down on the couch, grab my bottle of Chocolate milk and next thing I know, Apple Bloom jumps onto the couch to my right with her piece of the muffin in her mouth, and the same thing with Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo on my left except Sweetie Bell uses her magic to hold her piece. They take a bite of their pieces and I do the same to mine. 

For the next couple minutes, we just sit there eating and by then, we are done eating our muffins and I only have a couple sips left from my drink.

“Pinkie Pie definitely has a reputation.” I say and they nod. 

“Your right about that.” Sweetie bell says, then Apple Bloom nudges me in the side with her hoof.

“Do you think now you can tell us what you are now?” she asks and I look over to Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo and they look they want to know as well. I chuckle and take another sip.

“Alright then. Apple Bloom, sit next to them so I can look at all three of you at the same time.” I sit up so I can sit where Apple Bloom was sitting and she moves over to her friends. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo laying next to each other with Apple Bloom laying on top of her friends. I lay back and look at the three fillies:

“Alright then, shoot.”

“What are you?” the unicorn says and I smile.

“My species name is human. We’re a pretty powerful and determined race of creatures that most of the time focuses on our survival than on the well-being of other species.” I explain but they look confused.

“But ah don’t understand. Why can’t you just share with others?” Apple Bloom says and I give out a pretty big laugh.

“Hahahahahahahahaaa! I’m sorry! If you said that to some important people back in my world, they would just laugh…” I say and lean, ready to be serious.

“Most of my own focuses more on progress and results rather than coming to a compromise with the current inhabitants that are involved. Not everyone thinks like that, but the people that do, they’re the ones that have the most power and capabilities to do such things.” They look even more interested in what I am saying so I continue.

“On my planet, different kinds of our own focuses more on who is to be dominant. We have some groups of humans with different beliefs, each one saying that their own is the best. Because of that, its lead to many wars. Lots of fighting, lots of planning and advancing in our technology in order to try and best the other, but in reality, we’ve destroyed a lot of lives. There are some who share your ideal, Apple Bloom, but unfortunately, they’ve fallen on deaf ears. I wish we could have coexisted all together in peace, but some just feel that that’s impossible, so the fighting continues.” I finish and they look surprised.

“Wooooooooooow.” All three say at the same time and I chuckle a little.

“Ah’m sorry to hear that, umm…” Apple Bloom says since she and her friends don’t know my name.

“Swift.”

“Swift!” she quickly says after me.

“Yeah.” Scootaloo says in a sorry tone as well.

“It’s alright. It takes time to get used, but you learn to cope with it. But hey! Where there’s a will, there’s a way! If more people can share and express the ideals that you three and I have, things should turn around for the best.” I say leaning back, trying to lift up their spirits and it does. The three fillies give a cute nice smile, a smile that warms my heart, a feeling that I haven’t felt for so long, I think. They’re lucky that they don’t have to worry about anything major like what my people are used to.

“Alright next question.”

“What is that?” Scootaloo says while pointing to my gun in my holster. I forgot I still had it on, especially since I crashed out bad last night. I pull it out and make sure the safety is on before I lay it down in front of them.

“That is a gun. It’s a versatile long range weapon that can hit its target almost every time, depending on the environment, the person wielding the weapon, and the size and shape of the target, along with type of gun we use. They send projectiles through them with the help of a material called gunpowder. Gunpowder is lit with the help of a tiny spark and the projectile is sent flying out to its target. Some range with these small but widely made models know as pistols, like this one, very strong, very accurate, fast but expensive ones known as sniper rifles, fast shooting but not as accurate guns known as machine guns, and many other types of guns as well but I can’t name every single one of them right off the top of my head. When I have the time, I will.” I explain and they look amazed.

“Whoa!” Scootaloo says and I smile but sadness is behind the smile.

“Yeah, it is pretty amazing. Just another way for my people to end another life.” I say in a sad tone and their amazed expression turns to sadness again. I got to stop making them sad.

“Hopefully, they’ll be no need of these weapons soon.” I say and their expression changes back. 

“Anything else?”

“How long can you live?” Sweetie Bell asks.

“Well… the most, and if we’re lucky, 100 years. How long can you live?” I asked. Sweetie Bell answers:

“Around the same, maybe more.”

“Guess we have more in common than we thought.” I say with a smile.

“Anything else?” 

“Ummmm, you girls got anything?” Scootaloo says to her friends and they begin thinking.

“Not so smug now are you.” I say under my breath.

“Ah got nothin’.” Apple Bloom replies.

“Me neither.” Then Sweetie Bell. My turn.

“Alright then, my turn.” I say leaning forward.

“Two questions: 1, earlier you three yelled ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders,’ what was that? And 2, where’s Sweet Apple Acres?” I want to find it so I know where Apple Bloom lives and her sister, especially since I remember a lot of ponies talking about it a few times back at the party, and since Applejack had opted to let me stay at her place.” Even if it was the barn but still! 

“Wellllll, as you can see, we don’t have our cutie marks…” Apple Bloom moves off her friends and jumps onto the ground, followed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell, where the three of them trot sideways of me so I can clearly see that they don’t have theirs.

“So the three of us have banded together to work hard…” Scootaloo says.

“And find out what it is we are good at!” Sweetie Bell says enthusiastically.

“And to answer your second question, it’s on a road that leads out ah’ town, from the direction where the Everfree forest is, its opposite of there.” Apple Bloom gives me the directions. I go over to the window and see the sun is just about coming over the horizon, so it’s probably still early in the morning. I look over to the right and see a bunch of different buildings and a road that leads out of town. I look in the other direction for the same thing except I barely make out some trees.

“Alright then.” I say to myself and I go over to the door which is slightly ajar.

“Wait!” I turn around to look at the crusaders.

“We just wanted to say, we’re again, sorry for what we did.” Apple Bloom says and the other two have that same apologetic look on their faces. I give them a reassuring smile and kneel in front of them.

“It’s alright, little ones. You were just trying to protect your friends and family, I would have done the same thing.” I tell them. I stand back up and I walk back to the door.

“Where are you going?” Sweetie Bell asks and I turn my head back to them.

“Gonna go to Sweet Apple Acres. I’m wide awake now so I’m gonna see if I can make myself useful to anyone.” 

“Oh! Say hi to ma’ sister for me!” Apple Bloom says to me with happiness and I give her a thumbs up.

“Will do!” And I bolt out the door. I look to my left to see in the distance the many trees that are the Everfree forest just past the river, and behind me is another road that leads out of town to some twists and turns and a couple hills. I smile and I go into a light jog. I look around myself to take in the scenery. The different story buildings, the highest being 3 or 4 stories, the hard wood walls and supports, none of the concrete or rebar reinforced buildings that are on every corner of the street, side-by-side, what you walk on and so forth. I pass by Sugarcube Corner, amazed at how it kinda looks like a cake. However, something’s bugging me. There’s no wind.

I come to a stop and after I do, a small stream of wind hits me from the right. The wind continuously flows right at me for a few seconds so I decide to continue running, but when I do run at like, over half my top speed, the wind isn’t there, no wind or air resistance, I’m freely moving. My jog soon turns into a full blown sprint. The trees fly by past me, the dirt and gravel kicks up as my feet kicks them away with ease. I do what I can to try and stay with the trail but I’m not used to this type of speed. My path is mostly of anything close to a straight but curved path. I come to the foot of a hill and my speed lessens a bit due to the gravity but I only come to a stop at the top of the hill. I’m a little surprised to see that I barely broke a sweat. 

I look ahead to see in the distance to see a large red barn, a couple houses near it, and a large field of what I think apple trees. Well it is called Sweet Apple Acres.

I look back to Ponyville to see I’m a good distance away from it but I focus my vision to make out the unique design of Sugarcube corner, and a massive tree close to the center of town. Where did that come from?

I pay it no mind but again I’m stumped since my line of sight is much better than ever before.

“Did the food and sleep do something to me?” I ask myself. I shake my head and I start running to my destination. The food and deserts I’ve eaten are better than anything I’ve ever had the privilege of laying my taste buds on, and the sleep, not lumpy, no bug ridden beds or tattered and ripped, and the damn springs don’t dig into your back. It may have been a couch, but how it was, and the fact that someone ‘let me’ crash on it, maybe that helped. Maybe.

“Swiiiiffttt!!” I hear a loud voice and I snap out of my thoughts just in time to see I’m about to plow right into a cart. I can’t stop in time so I resort to another way. I push myself just a bit more and I jump. I manage to jump high enough to clear the cart after that proved problematic. I find myself coming straight into the doors of the barn but they open. A big pony with a coat of red crimson and a mane of light peach opens the door.

“Big Macintosh get out of the way!!” I hear that voice again and the pony jumps out of the way. I crash into the slowly closing door and I lose my footing. I crash to the ground and I roll violently on the ground until I stop via a support beam into my back. I groan as the blunt force against my back catches up with the rest of me. I roll forward unto my back and I open my eyes to be met with darkness at first but the windows high above light up the rest of the barn. I give a groan of pain and I look up to see something moving above. My vision clears and whatever it was falls straight down at me.

“Holy-!” I yell and roll away. I hear the sound of the thing hit the ground and I turn my head to see what it was that almost hit me, and my heart sinks. What I dodged was certain death; a pitchfork. I stare at it for a second until something breaks me from my stare. Too… fucking… close!

“Swift!” A bright light lights up the darkness in the barn and I look up to see its Applejack and the pony from before right next to her. 

“Hey Applejack, what’s up?” I say while giving my best smile just after I nearly get killed.

“What’s up!? What in tarnation is wrong with y’all?!?! One second your barreling down the hill as fast as Rainbow Dash, the next your breaking down my barn door!!” Applejack practically yells at me, and I can’t blame her. I was just on top of the hill away from the farm and now I’m laying on my back in the barn. 

“So, this the creature you were telling me about?” Big Macintosh asks Applejack and she nods. I roll over, grab the pitchfork and I pull myself up, with Applejack putting herself under my other arm to help support me.

“Thanks.” I say and I pull the pitchfork out of the ground.

“Anytime Swift. You sure your alright?” she asks me and I nod.

“I’ve taken worst spills.” Applejack then gets a look on her face and moves between me and Big Mac. Yeah, Big Mac. That’ll work.

“Swift, this is my older brother, Big Macintosh. Big Mac, Swift.” She says and I get a good look at her brother. From his voice and stature, he’s a male pony, a stallion I guess. His coat and mane are the color I described them before, along with his tail being shorter than Applejack’s and being the same color as his mane. His coat doesn’t fully cover his hooves so I can them, in which they are a yellowish gray color, his eyes a sappish green, and his cutie mark looks like the inside of a green apple. I extend my hand and he extends his hoof.

“Nice to meet you, Swift. Thanks for protecting the town the last few days ago.” He says and I smile as we shake.

“Likewise to you too as well, Big Macintosh.” We stop shaking.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?” he asks and Applejack moves next to her bother.

“Yeah, what are you doing here anywho?” she asks me and I lean the pitchfork against my shoulder.

“Well, after I got up and ate the food back from what I got from Sugarcube corner, I felt refreshed and ready for anything. But since most pony’s would be asleep at this time of the day, and if I remember correctly that you lived on a farm, so I figured, ‘Hey! Maybe Applejack is up right now and she could use the help?!’ and here I am! Although the whole jumping over the cart, crashing through barn and almost getting impaled by a pitchfork never came up in the plan.” I say the last part with a bit of a laugh but Applejack shakes her head.

“What too soon?” I say and Applejack begins walking away.

“Never mind. Look, Macintosh and ah were about to head out and buck some trees. Move along if you wanna help out.” She says as Big Mac follows after her. Buck?

“Wait, Buck?”

“Just come on!” Applejack yells poking her head back through the doors.

“Yes ma’am!” I reply and I take off through the door with the pitchfork. For the next couple minutes, I help Big Mac fit the straps to the cart that I jumped over onto him so he can pull it while Applejack hangs a wooden bucket on each side of her so she can carry theme easily. Once everyone is ready, we begin walking to where the trees are planted and ready for its fruit to be harvested. However we don’t move far as AJ stops me.

“Why are you carrying that thing?” she points to the pitchfork and I realize that I still have it. Why do I still have this?

“I have no idea.” I say and I look around to see a bale of hay near the barn. I grab the pitchfork in the position of a throwing a javelin, aim and fire. I throw it straight at the hay and it pierces deep into the bale.

“Nice throw.” AJ says and I smile. This new eyesight really helped.

“Yep. Let’s get moving.” I say and we continue moving but I stop soon after:

“Oh! I almost forgot! Apple bloom says hi.” Applejack and Big Mac look back at me with questioning looks.

“You met our sister?” Big Mac asks and I nod.

“Yeah, something happened and I met the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Applejack looks back at me suspiciously. 

“What kind of thing?” she asks and I chuckle.

“Sorry Applejack, I’d love to but I uh… don’t feel right with getting in between family Sojustaskherandtellmehowitgoesthenextdayalrightletsgo!” I quickly say the last part and I begin walking ahead of the others before they can say anything. They shrug and we go. It doesn’t take us long to get to the tree’s since they are pretty close to the farm but I look deep into the field of apple trees they have and I can’t see it ending. How many acres do they have?

“Alright this is good.” Applejack says as she places the buckets down on either side of the tree.

“Soooooo… you buck the trees?” I ask and she smiles, walks over to the tree, turns around and brings her legs back and hits the tree hard with her back two legs. I feel the ground slightly shake and the tree shakes as all the apples fall into both buckets. All… the apples?

I look around the base of the tree and I don’t see a single apple on the ground, they all fell into the buckets.

“How the hell…?” I trail under my own breath and Applejack notices my curiosity.

“What’s wrong, Swift?”

“How the heck’d you that?” I quickly say. She looks at the buckets, the tree then back at me with a look of confusion, just like me.

“Ah don’t rightly know. It’s just… natural.” She says and grabs one of the buckets with her teeth. 

“Wow. Can I try?” I ask grabbing the second bucket, with a little difficulty since its pretty heavy. Just as AJ finishes emptying out hers, I start unloading mine. I grab the second bucket from her.

“Sure, Swift. Go right ahead.” She says calmly and I smile before putting the buckets down on both sides of the next tree. I take a deep, I take the proper stance, and in the blink of an eye, bring my foot up and slam it hard against the brunt of the tree. The tree shakes just like it did with Applejack and all the apples fall, but only a few hit their targets, the rest, scattered all over the ground. I look at the results a little sadly. Damn. Would have been nice to have that talent.

“Huh. Guess it only works for ponies.” Applejack says as her and Big Mac grab the buckets. With how they grab the buckets, place them down, empty them and place them back down seems too time consuming. For the next hour or so, Applejack handles the bucking, Big Mac pulling the cart, and I unload and carry the buckets. As we do this, I notice the buckets in the position that they are when Applejack buckets the trees, and how close the cart is to the tree. I look between the two and I imagine something in the middle. That’s it!

“Hey Applejack!” I yell a little loud to her with happiness in my voice. After the apples drop, she looks at me:

“What is it?”

“Do you have an extra cart, some more buckets, planks of woods and a bunch of tools?” I ask and she thinks for a bit.

“Well we do have an extra cart in the back of the barn, its old but its still useful, and we do have an extra set of buckets too…” Applejack says, “And we did just get some new tools back before the attack!” I smile while rubbing my hands together.

“Can I use them?! I think I got a way on how to cut your time in harvesting the apples in half, more or less.” I say and the two of them look at each other, exchanging looks before coming to a decision with a smile.

“Alrighty then Swift. We’ll let you give it a shot. But if it doesn’t work, you’re paying for the cart and buckets, and any tools you break.” She says the last part sternly and I nod.

“Alright, sure sure, no problem!” I lie. I don’t have any money! Do they even use dollars like me, coins or something! If this doesn’t work, I’ll be in debt. Not a great way to start this. God I hope this works.

I quickly take off back to the barn. Thanks to my new found speed, I jump over the fences easily and this time I actually see the barn. I stop at the entrance and I prop open the door with a bale of hay. With the light, I can clearly see throughout the barn. I search around the barn and I find the old cart. It’s old, covered in cobwebs but it still looks useable.

“Perfect!” I grab the cart and I pull it out but it’s kinda hard since it hasn’t moved in god knows how long. Once I get it into the middle of the barn, I look around and managed to find some more buckets. Next was the tools which were close to the door and the planks of woods were stashed in a corner nearby. With all my ingredients in place, let’s see what I can whip up. Time to put my skills to use.

For the next couple hours or so, I attach two planks to the back of the cart, along with adding barriers to the sides of the planks so anything rolling on the planks leads straight into the area where the apples should go. I cut out the bottom of the buckets and attach them to be suspended above the ends of the planks. I look at my handy work and I give a smile at the results. 

“I think this’ll work just fine.” I say to myself and make my way to the front of the cart, grab the poles and I pull. I strain a bit since I haven’t really done much heavy lifting in the past while or so but I push on. After pushing open the doors and hauling the cart out. I look around to try and find Applejack and her brother but when I look to the tree’s I see a large number of them already empty of those little red specks.

“Never that easy.” I begin pulling the cart towards the trees in hopes of finding my friends. It takes me awhile but I finally managed to find them. Applejack just bucks another tree and all the apples fall into both buckets. I’ll never understand that but its still useful as hell.

“Hey guys!” I yell to them and I wave as they look at me. I grab the cart and I pull it as hard as I can to them. Applejack greets me with a wave and a smile but it turns to a look of confusion when she clearly sees my new invention.

“What the hay is that new fangled contraption?” she asks me and I chuckle.

“An advancement in technology!” I say happily. I back the cart up into an unbucked tree.

“Yes!” I’m glad to see the buckets are just in the right position.

“Applejack, will you do the honors please?” I ask while giving my most polite bow and gesture. She tips her hat and moves in position to buck. She rears her legs up and kicks. The ground shakes again and so does the tree. All the apples fall into the buckets but they go right through and begin traveling down the planks. However my heart sinks when they barely get into the cart, the back part falls to the ground and the apples stop traveling. AJ and Big Mac look at it and then me. My mind swims at the ideas of what I need to do in order to fix this problem. Then an idea pops into my mind.

“I got it! Big Mac over here!” I quickly say. He shrugs and follows me. We move over to the front of the cart where I strap him in. 

“Now the cart has a counter weight.” I point out and I begin picking up the apples.

“Try it with another tree. I’ll clean up this mess.” They nod and move. I start chucking the apples on the ground into the other buckets that Aj and Big Mac were using. Once I’m done, I grab both buckets and unload them into the other cart that they were using as well. I look over to them at the sound of AJ’s bucking and the familiar sound of the apples falling and rolling. The cart barely moves as every single apple that falls into the buckets, roll straight into the cart itself.

“Yes! It worked!” I say happily walking over to them.

“Yee-haw! Nice job there, Swift! Looks like your invention worked out!” Applejack says while rearing. I give a big smile. I never really was one to make things, but I’m smart and I can adapt to any situation. 

“Eeyup.” Big Mac says and I pump my arms once.

“This is good. Let’s get going! The faster we finish, the faster we get to relax! You two continue, I’ll take the other cart, buckets and its cargo back to the farm and work on it!” I propose. Applejack smiles and nods.

“No problem, Swift! Just leave the apples near the house and we’ll take care of them.” she says and I grab the first cart we had used and take off. From all the work I’ve done so far, I’m not as fast as I was before but I manage. Once I come back to the fence, I see the barn, then I look more to my right to find the house that Applejack was talking about, however I notice something that wasn’t there before. I see something moving on the front porch. 

As I get closer, it’s a pony, a pretty old one to be exact. The old pony is a regular pony with a coat of light green and her mane and tail are a light gray with some strands of hairs poking out of the bun she has them tied in. I stop the cart in the side of the house and I take a closer look at her while she rocks back and forth on her chairs and snoring a bit loudly. She’s wearing some kind of polka-dotted scarf and her cutie mark looks like an apple pie. I just stand there for a bit, thinking on how old she is, when I hear a creaking noise and I look back to the cart to realize I backed it up into a big pile of barrels.

“Eh!” I run at the barrels in hopes of stopping them from crashing into the ground and waking the elderly pony but I’m too late. The barrels, thankfully empty, fall over onto the cart, hit the sides of it, and a couple fall onto me but I push them away before they do any damage. After the next few loud crashing riddled seconds, everything goes quiet. I look at all the barrels riddled all over the ground and I sigh at the mess I made, again. I look back over to the pony to see she’s still sleeping.

“Wow, heavy sleeper.”

“Eh! Wha!” She doesn’t wake up from 7 barrels crashing into the ground but I say one thing and she’s up like she’s just had coffee?

“Of course.” I say sarcastically.

“Eh, who’s there?” she asks looking around and stops when she sees me. Her eyes are also light orange.

“I’m sorry ma’am! I was just dropping something off! I’ll clean up this mess and be on my way!” I quickly say and I go to grab the nearest barrel but she stops me:

“Now hold on there, sunny!” she gets off her chair and begins to walk over to me. Her legs lightly shake and buckle under her weight. She barely makes it off the porch in half a minute. A bit of sadness sweeps over me so I decide to lessen her work. I walk around the rails of the porch and I meet her halfway or so.

“Is something wrong?” I ask. She leans forward as she looks straight into my eyes.

“You that thing, that mah AJ's been talkin’ about ain't chu?” she asks and I nod.

“I guess so. I was just getting back from helping Applejack and Big Macintosh with their harvesting.” I answer. 

“Oohh! Then you must be famished! Come on in and I’ll give you something.” She says happily and begins walking to the door. I still feel bad, I want to tell her no so she doesn’t have to do this for me, but then again, I don’t want to feel heartless and deny her hospitality. 

“Well if its no trouble, thank you.” I sincerely say.

“Oh its no trouble.” Easy for me to say. I quickly go over to the door and I open it for her.

“Thank you. Oh, and the names Granny Smith.” She replies in a grateful but happy tone.

“Well, miss smith, it’s the least I can do. Your about to feed me, so the least I can do is be tolerable.” I reply and we go in. The interior of the building resembles that of the average farm back from where I’m from, just sprinkle in a bit of pony ingenuity and magic, and you got Ponyville’s farm. While Granny Smith goes into the kitchen, I look around a bit to see a set of stairs, a couch, a rocking chair, a living room chair and bunch of different pictures hanging on walls and on top of a fireplace. Some pictures with the individual apple family members I’ve met, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith. Another has all of them, then with few having a mix of them in the pictures. Another massive one I find is probably the biggest one I’ve seen so far, probably ever. It has the apple family I know in the front and a lot more other ponies as well; dozens and dozens of them.

“Wow, big family.” I comment.

“Dinner’s ready!” she yells from the other room. I turn around and am about to head to the kitchen except one particular picture catches my eye. It’s Applejack and five of the other ponies I’ve met, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. I grab the picture off the mantle for the fireplace to look at it more. They look so happy and free, not a care in the world. 

As I look at the picture from different angles, I notice there’s something written on the back. I turn it over and read:

“They may not be of blood relation to me, but I am proud to call them my family any day.” Family. I wish I can remember mine. I can’t help but let a tear escape my eye. I wipe it away and I place the picture back.

“Oh crap!” I lightly yell to myself since I just remember that I was supposed to be in the kitchen. 

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here!” I quickly say since she was about to yell again.

“There you are! Well dig in.” My eyes widen at what this old bag put down on the table before me. A small Apple Pie, Caramel Apples, Apple Juice, Apple Cobbler, and some Apple Sauce.

“How…?” I trail off in surprise.

“These here bones may be old, but they get around.” She says happily and I slowly sit down, reveling at the sight of the spread before me. I don’t care if it’s just desert, I don’t care if I’ve had nothing but desert, but right now I’m not picky and they haven’t disappointed in the taste department. She pushes a slice of Apple Pie on a plate with a fork in front of me. My stomach growls, I grab the fork, lick my lips, and I take my first bite. It may be a bit cliché but words can’t describe the taste. It just tastes so damn good! I’ve had my share of the crappy food here and there, but I know what my people’s food used to taste like, and they are pathetic compared to this! I practically dig into slice and before I know it, its gone. She’s about to grab another slice for me but I take the pie away and I dig in. 

“Hungry aren’t ye?” I barely listen to a word she just said. I never fucking knew apples could taste this good! I sip the apple juice and I almost chug the entire glass down. The pies are gone in a matter of minutes and I’m still hungry as hell. I never really realized how hungry I was until this beautiful buffet was spread before me. I grab a caramel apple and I begin biting into it, deep enough to almost hit the core. In only a few bites, the top, core and bottom of the apple are all that’s left. I pull out the stick and eat the core as well. This is just too damn good!

The other apples are soon gone the same and next is the Cobbler. I’ve only had peach cobbler like once, and I sort of stole it, but apple is new, and I’m not surprised with the taste. The cinnamon and vanilla taste of the dish is simply divine combined with the apples. Just how exactly can she take an ordinary apple and make it into something fit for a god. Once the cobbler’s done, I move onto the crumbles and those don’t last long from my perspective. My stomach aches a bit from the sudden onslaught of food I just ate but all that’s left is a fresh batch of juice that Granny Smith just poured for me, and herself of course, and the Apple Sauce. At least with those, they won’t make me burst.

I take a sip of the apple juice more slowly this time, the cool liquid easing my stomach a bit. I take a spoon and begin savoring the taste of the applesauce. I give a ‘mur’ of satisfaction from the taste, since before when I was shoveling everything down, I didn’t really savor it. However they still tasted better than anything I’ve ever eaten back on my world. I still don’t understand how she was able to make them taste like this, then again, how did Pinkie get a party going with over a dozen ponies to attend a stranger’s party? How did she get that music box thing to pop up right behind me when I wasn’t looking? How can it be equipped with a confetti cannon? 

I’m not really doing what I said I was to be doing, be prepared for the unexpected. With all the main dishes and sides gone, I grab the last glass of apple juice for the moment and I tip it back into my mouth. The taste of it is as divine as always, and it’s also good to note that my stomach begins to feel a lot better since its starting to settle. I place the glass back down and I breathe heavily.

“Thank you… so much.” I say in the most grateful of ways I can make it sound. She smiles and begins cleaning up the dishes.

“Oh shush, dear. My Aj saved yer sorry flank when those dern Timberwolves came and darn near destroyed our town. What type of pony would I be if I didn’t show you what I think?” she explains. I don’t remember Applejack coming in an helping me. Someone used their magic to  take off the wolf on my arm, and Rainbow Dash crashed into that one wolf on my back, and my other arm was because of a lasso-! 

“Is Applejack good with a lasso?” I ask just to be sure.

“She sure is! The best dang lassoer I’ve seen in all my years!” she says happily, obviously happy at Applejack’s talent. I nod in approval. I wipe my mouth to show I still have some food on me and on my hands.

“Um, can I use the restroom?” 

“Sure! Their up the stairs and down the hall to the left… or was it right?” she asks herself, trying to remember where it was.

“It’s alright. I’ll find it, thank you again for the food. I’ll pay you back somehow.” I say. I stand up and begin walking out of the kitchen.

“Oh, it’s no trouble dear!” she says to me as I leave. I walk up the stairs and I look to the left and the right. I first try the left. It has a window at the end of the hallway so I decide to try the last door for the hell of it.

I grab the handle and open the door and I realize I am right. Huh. Lucky guess. I turn on the water to the sink and I begin scraping the food that I have on my hands. Once they are clean, I cup my hands together and pool some water before I lean my head down and splash the water onto my face. I rub my mouth and teeth to make sure I get all of it off me so I don’t look like an idiot. When I’m done, I look at my reflection in the mirror. I take a long hard look at myself, remembering that for all those years ago, this face was wanted by the police and a few people who didn’t like me stealing from them. Images flash through my mind of the close calls I’ve had from almost getting caught, the times I was spotted… the people I’ve injured.

“Arrrrrrrrgh.” I suddenly grab my stomach in pain as an aching feeling shoots through me. I feel like I’m gonna throw up again. Damnit! I knew I shouldn’t have eaten so much so fast… but damn she knew how to make apple, well, anything! Something moves up my throat and I brace myself for what I expect, but thankfully it isn’t.

“*Buuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrpp!*” I let out a long belch and my stomach feels a thousand times better than I ever had before. I cough a few times afterwards. I sigh and breathe heavily for a bit. I stand back up again and take another look in the mirror. I don’t see that person anymore, I see someone with a lot of new friends, new people to meet, plenty of opportunities for a job, and a clean slate to do what it is need to for my life. I smile and head out the restroom. I look to the right down the hallway, then the left to the window. I walk over to the window, open it and let the cool air hit me square in the face. I lean forward and take a big whiff of the air. I hold my breath for a few seconds before I let it out. I look up to see that the sun is high in the sky, indicating that its past noon. 

“Today was a good day.” I say to myself, reveling in the fact that things just might turn out good for me. I look around towards the ground and trees, taking in the beauty for a while before a red and orange specs catch my eyes. Looks like their done. Better go see if they need anything else. I close the window and begin walking back down to the front door. 

“Thanks for the meal, ma’am! But I got to get going!” I yell into the kitchen as I pass it.

“Take care, deary.” She replies.

“You too.” I say back as soon as I open the door. After I close the door, I look around to try and find Applejack and her brother and I do just as they walk past the gap in the fence. I jog over to them in an instant. 

“Hey guys! How’s the harvest?” I ask and Applejack beams with a bit of joy.

“Well we're done now! That new contraption of yours really sped up our harvesting time. In just a few hours, we had already finished today’s work.” Applejack explains.

“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh says. I nod and smile.

“Well alright then. Listen, your grandmother was nice enough to give me a meal when I got back here, so she might need help with the dishes. I’ll take care of the cart.” I say and they nod.

“Alrighty then. Just leave the cart near the house.” Applejack instructs me. I help unstrap Big Mac and the two of them go on ahead. I grab both poles and begin hauling the cargo to where I need to go. I’m only half way to the house in the next few minutes while they are already inside. Maybe this can be my new job. The hard labor can help make me stronger, I can practice my running, I can help out a friend, and maybe I can keep an eye out if anything decides to attack.

“Yeah, I think this can work.” I say as I continue to pull the cart all the way to the house. When I finally get there, I kick and move some of the barrels that had fallen before out of the way so I can back the cart up next to the other one. Once I do, I look at all the barrels on the ground and I groan. I grab the nearest barrel and I start stacking them up into a pyramid on the side of the house. It doesn’t take long for them to be stacked and I decide to head on in. As soon as I make it on the porch, Applejack steps through the door carrying a few boxes on her back and wearing some kind of backpack as well.

“Hey, what’s all that?” I ask and she struggles to keep them all balanced. I go and grab a few off her back. There not all that heavy and with the shuffling noises inside, there’s more than one thing inside the boxes.

“Whew. Thanks, Swift. Ah’m here going to deliver these here desserts to Sugarcube Corner. I was supposed to deliver them later today, but thanks to you, I can go ahead and do that right now. Care to help?” she asks and I look at the boxes I’m holding before looking back at her and nodding. 

“Let’s go then. Oh wait, Ah almost forgot.” She says and moves her face into her backpack, being careful not knock over the box we she has on her back. She pulls out a small bag with her mouth and gives it to me. I put the boxes on the ground and grab the bag and find it jiggling with coins I think. I look at her:

“Ah’m fair, Swift. Ah owe ya for helping me with the harvest, and making that new fangled-contraption…” I decide to interrupt her.

“Harvester, let’s just call it a harvester.” She nods at my suggestion.

“Ah owe you for making that there harvester. It’ll sure come in handy for future Applebuckin’.” She finishes and I look inside to see about 40 gold coins. I pull one out to get a closer look at it. It’s something I’ve never seen before. For one thing it has a unicorn on it.

“Not enough?” Applejack says, snapping me out of my daze. I shake my head and look at her.

“No it’s not that! It’s just… I’ve never seen a coin like this before.” I explain and she comes closer to me.

“Well, this here is Princess Celestia…” she says, pointing to the pony on the coin. She turns the coin around. “And this here is the Ponyville town seal.”

The coin also has a large one on it as well. All the other coins have one as well, which leads me to my next question:

“Do you think you can tell me about your currency? I’m not familiar with this.” I asked.

“I don’t rightly know what you mean but if you didn’t have a place to stay, you can rent a room at our inn for a month with over half of that.” She says. Well, at least I don’t have to worry about change, I always hated that.

“I think I can make do with this. Thanks Applejack.” I say sincerely and she smiles. “No problem there. I owe ya’ll for your work.” She says but I also have another thing to be thankful for.

“Well, I still owe you for saving my life back with the wolves.” She looks a little surprised but before she can say anything, I continue.

“Granny Smith told me about your lassoing, and if I remember correctly, a lasso pulled one of the wolves off me. So thank you.” I say sincerely while looking into her eyes, being dead serious about what I said. 

“You’re welcome, Swift.” She says. I look at her for a second.

“Listen, you all have been more kind to me than anyone else I’ve met in years. I’ll do my best to make sure I don’t mess anything up for this town, especially my friends.” I say giving my best smile and she returns it. 

“Since we got all that out of the way, why don’t we get going.” She says and I place the bag of coins in my pocket and grab the boxes I put down.

“Let’s.” We begin walking back to town. After awhile, we leave Sweet Apple Acres and I realize something; I don’t know where Twilight lives.

“Hey, Applejack? Do you think we can stop by Twilight’s? I know where Rarity lives, obviously, then with you, Fluttershy, I can’t get to Rainbow Dash since she lives in the sky, Pinkie lives in Sugarcube Corner, and I don’t have the faintest idea where Twilight lives. Can we?” I ask. Since she seems like the smartest pony I’ve met, I can get more information if I need it.  She nods with a smile.

“Sure thing! If you need to learn more about us, Twi’s got ya’ll covered. She lives in the towns library and loves to read. We’ll stop by so we can show you.” She says and I’m grateful. I would still like to know where she lives so maybe she can teach me a bit more about magic. Back on earth, if you wanted to learn about magic, you would be disappointed later… sometimes. I still remember we used to have some famous magicians that were able to do things that seemed almost inhuman but crazy as well. At least here, magic is full blown real and comes in different varieties. I remember Twilight telling me that she can teleport; I’d very much like to see that, and not to mention that I remember seeing Rarity levitate those boxes the other day back at Sugarcube corner before my party. So many uses.

Plus I’ve never been one to read much unless it was extremely important, but now that I think about it, I don’t have TV, or video games, no constantly looking over my shoulder for the fuzz, and I’m a bit tired from all the work I did today, and the food sort of made me sleepy so I guess I can give reading a try. I’ll have to eventually. Without much in the way of entertainment compared back to where I’m from, maybe I’ll find something that interests me.

We keep walking to town, taking a longer route than the one I took before. Early today, the town was as quiet as a ghost town, now it’s bustling with life! A bunch of different stands are set up all along the main wide road that we are walking on. Some ponies are selling flowers, some pots and pans, cutlery, fabrics, food, books, quills, pencils, and a lot of other stuff. As I and Applejack walk through the so called market, some ponies give me the same weird and confused stare that I’ve kinda gotten used to, others a welcoming smile and a small wave, and lastly some prefer to keep to their business. Applejack notices the looks that I am getting:

“Ya’ll better get used to that, cause between you and ponies, you’re going to be getting some looks.” She says and I chuckle, not really bothered by the whole thing. “It’s alright. I’m used to these kind of looks. I used to be sort of a… rebel when it came to a lot of important things, so sometimes people supported me, others… not so much. But it’s all good.” I lie. 

I did help some people when I was on run, but evading the police, breaking and entering, robbery, and being a squatter tends to help make some enemies. At least now I can do some good. We continue to make our way to our destinations, but first something surprises me, a tree.

Not just any tree, it looks like a massive tree that was hollowed out to make a building because I can see the front door, windows, balcony’s, flowers in flower pots on the edge of the balcony’s, and a small sign near the front door that has the picture of an open book on it, which leads me to believe that this might be the library.

“So this is the library?” I asked to be sure. Applejack nods in approval:

“Sure is. That there is the biggest library in town, and home to our friend, Twilight Sparkle and her assistant, Spike.” She tells me. I didn’t know that Spike was her assistant. Huh. Learn a new thing every day.

“C’mon pardner, let’s move.” She says and we walk over to the front door. I gently kick the door since my hands are still full. We wait a bit until the door finally opens to reveal everyone’s favorite little dragon. And the only one I’ve seen so far.

“Oh! Hey there, Swift. Applejack.” He acknowledges the both of us, making me smile and Applejack tip her hat.

“Howdy.”

“Hey Spike. Listen, is Twilight home?” I asked. He turns around:

“Twilight! Swift and Applejack are here!” he yells and leaves the door. I hear some steps soon after and Twilight appears.

“Hey you two! What you brings you by?” she asks.

“Well, our friend here knew where everyone of us lives, except for ya. So while on the way to deliver these here goods fer Sugarcube Corner, we decided to stop by your place.” Applejack explains. At least she was right on the money.

“Plus, if I’m going to be living here, I think the library will be a good place for me to learn more about you all.” I add. With how these ponies are, I’m interested to learn more about their history, and if this ‘Princess Celestia’ and ‘Princess Luna’ are as important as I think, maybe I can find something.

“Can we come in?” I ask and she nods.

“Oh sure! Come on in.” She says happily and holds the door open for us. We walk right in where I place the boxes down on a nearby table. I see some like beanbags placed against the wall of a shelf of books, and speaking of books, there’s a lot of them. Almost every spec of the walls are covered in shelf’s of books, except for the doors, windows, and some stairs. The interior design definitely looks like the inside of tree.

“Wow. Never seen a library like this before.” I comment and it looks like Twilight appreciated it.

“Why thank you, but truthfully I didn’t always live here. The ponies here were just nice enough to let me stay here when I was supposed to help prepare for the Summer sun celebration.” I look back to Twilight with a confused look.

“I’m sorry, what?” I say bluntly since I don’t know what she meant.

“Oh boy. Ya’ll got a lot to talk about. Don’t worry Swift, I’ll take care a’ this delivery.” Applejack proposes with a smile. I feel a bit bad but about letting her do this all by herself but I need some information. I need to understand things a bit more around here, and it looks like Twilight’s my best bet at that. I look back at Applejack with a grateful look.

“Thank you, Applejack. I really appreciate that.”

“Spike, why don’t you go help her? I can take care of things here.” Twilight asked Spike, who looks ready for the errand.

“No problem, Twilight! I’ll see you all later!” Spike replies. He grabs the boxes I placed down on the ground and helps lift them onto her back with the help of a ladder nearby. For a little guy, he’s resourceful I’ll give him that. After the two of them leave, Twilight steps over to one of the bookshelf’s, looks around a bit and uses her magic to grab some books. She then levitates a couple beanbags away from the pile into the center of the room. She places the books down near one of them and lies down on it. I sit down on the other one and lay back a bit, trying to get into a comfortable position. She hands me a book and its title is, History of Equestria. It also has a picture of a large plot of land, and from my best guess, it looks almost as big as the United States.

“Shall we get started?” she asked me. 

“Before we start, I have one question?”

“What is it?” I remember that running I did earlier today, maybe Twilight can shed some light on it, hopefully.

“Today, when I was running to Sweet Apple Acres, there was this type of… field around me when I was running. I don’t know what it was, but it’s definitely something not know to my species.” I explain to her and she thinks.

“What happens exactly when you’re running?” she asks me and I recall what happened.

“When I reach a specific speed limit, this type of field forms around me. I can’t see it but there’s no wind resistance or anything. Just me, my feet and the ground. When it happens, I run faster than anything I’ve ever run before. It’s exhilarating, useful, and fun, but I’m a bit worried that it might be something else. You got any ideas on what it is?” I asked her. In truth, I definitely am wondering about what it could mean. Maybe it’s nothing and is a side-effect of being around all this magic. Could be that I got this ability when I came to this new world? I just hope Twilight or somepony has the answer.

“I’m sorry, Swift. I’ve never heard of anything like that. The best thing I can compare it to is the Sonic Rainboom. See, when a winged pony reaches a certain speed, a barrier forms around them, which is the air, wind and sound resistance to the pony trying to attain that level of speed. When they reach that speed, the barrier breaks, forming a cone around them that sends them going even faster than what they were before, leaving a trail behind them as they sore through the sky’s.” She explains. I’m just stumped at the information she just gave me, a look of surprise on my face.

“Are you saying…? I can do… a sonic boom?” I asked to be sure. She gives a look of uncertainty.

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to tell the Princess about this. Until then, I don’t think you should try it. We don’t know what might happen, and I don’t think you want to find out either.” The thought of doing a speed of Mach 10 sounds completely badass, but not being able to stop or turn as much, that would suck. Plus, with me not being supposed to be here, the blast might do something else.

“Alright Twilight. Your probably right. Until I can fully master this new ability of mine, I’ll ease up as much as I can.” I tell her. She seems relieved at my words. I guess she didn’t like the idea of me doing something drastic. The only reason why I lived this long is because I don’t make stupid or unnecessary risks. Still, I’ll practice to see if I can get better.

“Any other questions?” she asks me. I think for a bit but I got nothing. This ability of mine was the only thing on my mind so I guess I’m good.

“Nah, everything’s fine. Come on, time for you to give me a crash course on your history.” I say with a determined look and open the book to the first page. 

In reality, if I was in school, I would care less about history, but since I haven’t been to school in so damn long, I guess I’m alright with it.  

“Long ago, all the different species of ponies weren’t working together in harmony as you see right now…” Twilight narrates as I flip through the book, seeing if I can find pictures that back what she’s saying.

“There were three tribes of ponies, the pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies…” Earth ponies? Interesting.

“All the tribes lived, but none of them wanted to share with the other. However, one tribe couldn’t survive or prosper without the other two, the pegasi were the stewards of the weather, keeping the sky’s clear to let the sun shine and the rain to feed the crops; the crops that the earth ponies grew and gave to the other tribes, and the unicorns brought about the changing times of the day, making the sure the sun falls and the moon rises…” I find a picture of a circle divided into three slices, the earth ponies and their crops are in one, the pegasi and the weather in another, and lastly, the unicorns with the changing night and days. I guess for a species so friendly, happy and peaceful, even they started out to hate each other, just like some of mine.

“All was going well for a time, the three tribes still shared no love for each other and as time passed, tensions and grew hotter until they finally boiled.”

“What made them snap?” I ask looking up from the book and at her.

“A mysterious blizzard swept the land. Food was getting scarce, the temperatures to low for almost any sustainable food to be eaten, and not even the pegasi or the unicorns magic could find out what was causing it at the time. Because of the blizzard, famine is what took the ponies, so all three tribes left to search for a new home to call their own…” I look back at the  book, flip a few times and see two ponies from each side coming to a place that looks familiar. I look back to the front and realize it’s where I am now.

“Equestria.” I say in awe. Twilight nods with a smile and approval at my answer.

“Yes. The leaders of the tribes traveled to try and find a new home. They came together at the same time and the fighting took over again. It didn’t take long for the blizzard to catch back up to them, and so the paradise that the ponies had found was soon lost, buried beneath a thick blanket of snow, and hard feelings…” 

“Wow.” Is all I say.

“The assistants of the leaders of the three tribes found out why that wherever they go, the blizzard follows…” 

“What was it?” I asked. She gives a sigh and breathes in.

“Windigo’s.” I flip through the book to find what she’s talking about and I do. Windigo’s look like even bigger horses than the ones back from where I’m from, except they are ghost like. 

“Windigo’s feed off of the feelings of hatred and fighting, making it so that the more fighting somepony does, the colder things get.” I read from the book. Hence the Blizzard I guess.

“That’s correct. All three leaders and their assistants soon became trapped in a cave. Even at their assistants pleads, the leaders still fought, soon freezing them solid since they were the source of the intense fighting that had transpired for many years. The assistants were all that were left. But thankfully, they weren’t has hate minded as the others were. The three became friends and started laughing, being happy, helpful ponies to each other. Because of that, the Windigo’s began to lose strength with the loss of hatred and disappeared in time…” It can only take a few to save the rest. I find a picture of the three ponies frozen, an earth, pegasi and unicorn, while three others are in a circle with smiles on their faces.

“After the Windigo’s were gone, the three leaders then decided to join forces and found a country shared by all three tribes, and named it Equestria.” Twilight finishes saying with grace and I skip to the end of the chapter to find a picture of a flag. A white Alicorn pony is curved on the right of the flag, and a blue Alicorn on the left, giving the ponies a sort of Ying-Yang symbol, with a bright sun on top between the two ponies, and the moon just below the sun. I close the book.

“Wow, Twilight! That was pretty good! Thanks for the narration.” I say and she smiles.

“You’re welcome. It’s not that often I get to give private history lessons, or find somepony who wants to learn about it.”

“Yeah, well. I’m not some pony and I don’t regret learning about your history.” I say truthfully. The history definitely suits them.

“There’s still more in the later years, you wanna know about it?” she asked me. I look out the window to find the sun slightly low and I want to rest a bit after the events that transpired today.

“Maybe another time. I worked all this morning at Sweet Apple Acres so I’m a bit winded. For now I’ll just process what I know for now.” I state and she nods.

“Alright then, Swi-.” A loud sawing and hammering noise interrupts her. We look at the window and back to each other before we get up. We walk outside to see that a bell tower down the road is undergoing construction.

“What’s going on?!” I ask Twilight a little loudly so I can be louder than the work.

“After the attack, Mayor Mare decided to construct this watch/bell tower so we can keep an eye out for any more attacks and warn all of Ponyville to be ready.” Twilight replies. That sounds like a pretty good idea. Someone or somepony has shifts with another every day and night. When an attack is about to happen, they ring the bell tower so everyone in town can get ready, flee, or whoever it is to do what they need to do. 

“You have a mayor and named mare?” I asked her. Mayor Mare, really makes a hell of a title.

“Yes. Is that bad?” she asked me. I shake my head no.

“No no, it’s not bad… just that it makes an interesting title to go for a name.” I reply. 

“Ow!” I yell lightly because Twilight replied with a punch in the arm. She just smiles and I smile back. It’s been too long since I had a friend do anything fun with me. Maybe now, when I get properly settled, I can do something fun with my new friends. I then notice a yellow pink creature near the tower and realize it’s Fluttershy. She seems to have her head low to the ground and is backing up while leading a group of ducks I think.

“What’s she doing?” I asked Twilight while pointing to Fluttershy. She squints her eye’s a bit sees her.

“Oh. Sometimes the animals need to be moved from time to time and the only way to get them there is through Ponyville. She moves like that so no pony will hurt them and she can keep an eye on them a well. Although it could be kinda problematic.” She explains. Problematic?

“Why? What’s wrong with it?” I asked and before she can answer, there is a loud crash and I look to see that Fluttershy accidentally backed into a support beam for one of the scaffolds. The pony on it nearly falls off and brings his hammer around and accidentally breaks off a piece of the building that wasn’t cemented together yet. Everything goes into chaos in a matter of seconds. The building cracks, the pony’s flee, and Fluttershy is just standing there.

“!! Fluttershy get out of there!!” Me and Twilight yell but she doesn’t move. She’s backed into the side of another building as the tower looks like it’s going to collapse on her.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight yells and begins running. Damnit! She’s not fast enough! But I am. 

Twilight is the smart one of all the ponies I know. So she’s not the most athletic. I have to be the one to save her, I’m the only one that can save her. I can’t let her get hurt, I’ll never forgive myself if that happened! I plant my feet firmly on the ground, take a deep breath and push. I run as fast as my feet carry me, already feeling the wind disappearing around me as they kick as hard as I can against the ground, large pieces of the dirt and the dust kicking up into the air as I run. I easily zoom past Twilight, eliciting a look of amazement from the purple unicorn from getting a firsthand look at my new speed.

“Move, damnit!!” I yell loudly to her but my words fall on deaf ears.

As I get closer to the Pegasus, I come to a slow halt and slide to a stop against the wall. A glimpse at Fluttershy shows she’s scared and can’t move. The ducks are gone but I have to get her out.

I wrap my arms around her and I try to pick her up but she’s heavier than she looks. I can’t run her out because I’ll be too slow. Only one way to save her. I swing myself around and throw. I managed to throw Fluttershy away from the falling building just in time for her to be caught in the air by Twilight. I look up to the falling building to see it coming ever so close.

“This is it.” I mumble to myself. 

All those years of running, the close calls I’ve had, the people I’ve betrayed, all the scraping and scrounging I’ve done to survive… all the enemies I’ve made that wanted me dead or incarcerated, looks like they don’t get the satisfaction of doing it themselves. I drop to the ground out of reflex and prepare for the imminent pain that comes with it, or maybe it’ll be instantly, I’ll know in just a bit.

Everything around me shakes and crashes, the bricks, cement, metal and dirt all come together in one massive earth shaking collision. The sound hurts my ears… 

...just my ears. There’s no pain. I slowly open my eyes to see a bit of darkness since my face is pushed into the dirt with my hands covering my head. I look up to see the piles of debris around me, and... yellow?

Some type of field is around me, a yellow type of shield that’s keeping me from being crushed. It sparkles a little with tiny twinkling sparks and is transparent. 

Everything is silent; the only audible sound is my fast beating heart and rapid breathing. I reach forward to touch the barrier out of curiosity. As I place the palm of my hand against this mysterious barrier, a burning sensation shoots against my skin and makes me recoil in pain. I can’t see if any damage was done to my hand because the barrier doesn’t give me enough light, it still hurts like hell though. I look around to try and find any type of light behind the barrier but I don’t see anything.

“Hello?!” I yell, hoping for someone or somepony to hear me.

“Swift?!” I recognize that voice!

“Twilight?!” 

“Thank you Celestia! Are you alright?!” she asks me. Celestia? Is she referring her god?

“Besides the near heart attack I just had, I’m just peachy! Do you think you can get me out of here?! Its uhh... kinda hard to breathe!” I yelled. I then hear some more voices and muffled footsteps. Some shuffling noises are heard as well. I look around to try and find any indication of what’s going on in the outside. 

After the next few minutes of just laying on the ground, getting a bit cramped, until a sudden bright light hits my face and it quickly gets brighter and brighter until I make out the face of a pony. I curl up as close to the light but not close enough to touch the shield. The shield disappears and the rocks fall, some small ones lightly hit my body but a big one nearly smashes my foot. The sudden light blinds me a bit but the I make out a hoof reaching for me. I extend my hand to grab it and it pulls hard. 

Damn! This ponies strong! “Thank you! Thank you so much for your help I…” I trail off at the sight of the ponies hoofs. Their white with some type of gold shoes or something on them. I slowly look up and find the pony is much larger than the ones I’ve already seen. At the chest is a type of jewelry, a gold necklace with a purple pendant in the middle, she also has wings, her tail is a rainbow color of green, blue, and a light purple. Lastly, her face. I remember the book saying something about Celestia sometimes being referred as a god. They were right. Her eyes are a magenta color, she’s wearing a gold tiara with a purple pendant in the middle, her mane is flowing and the same color scheme as her tail, and her horn is three times longer than the ones I’ve seen already. 

She’s an Alicorn obviously, and to top it off on her appearance, she’s taller than me! A head taller. I just stare at this creature in front of me, completely in awe. Not to mention the power I feel radiating off of her. 

She's powerful. No denying that.

“Is this the creature you were telling me about, Twilight?” she asked the purple unicorn. Twilight nods in approval. 

“He is, Princess.” She replies calmly. The Princess looks closely at me. I back my head a bit as she comes closer. 

“*Gulp* Princess… Celestia… I presume?” I ask in my most pleasant but nervous voice. If she’s considered a god, then I don’t really want to piss off a god now do I! 

“So you have heard of me?”

“I have. I read a book about Equestria’s history and heard others talk about their princesses. I figured it would… only be a matter of time before we met.” She smiles at what I said and eases back.

“Then you must know, I need to find out more about you before anything else is too happen. You saved an innocent life right now, I saw, but that does not mean I will let my guard down for the safety of my little ponies.” She says and I try to regain my composure but it’s fucking hard right now!

“I can tell you all about me and my species, your majesty! If we can just talk somewhere private in town-!” I try to propose but she takes a step forward, making me step back and trip over a rock. I land hard on my back and sit up to see a lot of guards around. They all are wearing armor colored in solid gold, and those roman helmets with the fur on top. Some are flying with their wings; there are also some unicorns amongst them along with earth ponies. They all hold spears and are ready to charge or attack if need be. I look back up to the Princess.

“No! You will come to Canterlot tomorrow where you will be under guard to explain why it is you are here! Is that understood?” she says the last part in a calm voice but I’m still a little scared. Normally back on my world, I wouldn’t be intimidated by someone bigger than me, but she’s the one exception I’m going to make.

“I… understand your highness. I wish to not make an enemy of my friends princess.” I say and that’s the truth. In these short few days, they’ve treated me with more kindness, generosity, and happiness than I’ve ever been accustomed too. If I just have to answer a few questions in order to stay, hopefully, in this paradise compared to my world, I’ll do it!

“Good. First train that leaves for Canterlot tomorrow morning, be on it, or I will send a fleet of guards to every spot in this land to find you.” She says in a serious voice. I nod in approval. She must really care for her subjects. I guess I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same in her shoes

“I will, Princess.”

“Then I think it’s time for me to leave. I must make the preparations for your arrival. Do get some rest. I don’t need you to be half asleep for our discussion.” She says and begins walking away with the guards following suit. As she walks away, I notice her cutie mark is that of the sun. She steps into a chariot that’s being pulled by other ponies and is whisked away. The rest of the earth and unicorn ponies walk into bigger chariots are soon gone, the same with the pegasi as they fly after then.

I just sit there. Completely stunned with things that just happened right now. She seemed serious about everything she said. It sounded like she didn’t even like the whole idea of me being here. She wants answers and wants them as soon as possible.

“You alright?” A voice snaps me out of my stunned state and I realize it was Rainbow Dash. I look around to see a bunch of other ponies outside staring in my direction. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Fluttershy are all around me to see if I’m okay, from both experiences. Although Fluttershy still looks a bit shook up from the falling tower thing.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just… I don’t know. I think I wanna, I wanna… go to sleep.” I say while standing up and walking to Rarity’s.

“Wait! Are you sure?” Twilight asks and I nod.

“Yes. I just wanna get some rest so I can process all this.” I reply and continue to keep walking.

“Um, excuse me?” I hear that same familiar quiet shy voice from before. I turn back to see Fluttershy right behind me.

“Thank you, for saving me.” she says quietly and I give a weak smile.

“No problem, just be more careful in the future, alright?” she nods back and walks back to her friends.

“Will he be alright?” Spike asks the others. Looks like my hearings improved as well.

“Losing his memories of his family, getting attacked by timberwolves, nearly getting crushed by a falling tower and gaining an audience with the Princess is a lot to take in for anypony, especially him.” Twilight explains. These last few days have been more interesting than anything else I’ve ever done, but even this is still a lot to take in.

“What do ya’ll think got into the princess?” Applejack asked. Really, she’s never acted like this before? Crap. 

“I don’t know, she’s never acted like this before. But then again, how often are we visited by a new species? Especially one with his peoples history.” Damnit! I knew I should have kept quiet about that. The princess will probably want to try and send me back to where I came from.

“Maybe if I play my cards right, I can stay. God man, don’t screw this up.” I mutter to myself. I’m pretty far away now from the girls but I hear one last thing.

“I hope nothing bad happens to him or he gets sent away! I like him!” Pinkie Pie comments, making me smile. Thanks Pinkie.

“He does grow on ya’.” Applejack.

“And he is pretty cool.” Rainbow Dash. Coming from a daredevil, that’s pretty nice.

“Plus he still owes me for breaking my door.” Rarity adds.

“Well placed Rarity.” I mumble and now I’m out of hearing range. I soon make it to her door and notice that its fixed. She must have had it repaired while I was at the farm all morning. I walk inside and I sit down on the couch. I let out a sigh and just bury my face in my hands. I sit up and decide to try and find the restroom. I walk up the stairs and look around in different rooms, some being filled with supply’s for her work, another her room, and another I think is for Sweetie Bell. Once I finally find the restroom, I give a happy sigh and do my business. 

When I’m done, I walk out back down to the couch and take off my belt. I place it on top of my bag and I flop down on the couch. Throughout the day, things have definitely been interesting, but the end is what took the cake. Their Princess wants to talk to me and if she’s a god, she’s probably the only one that can send me back. Do I want to go back? Hell no! Do I want to stay? Hell yeah! But apparently my fate will be decided tomorrow. I bring my hand up to my face to see that its pretty red from the burn. What happened exactly?

I shake my head, give a depressing sigh and close my eyes, sleep and darkness taking over me in a matter of seconds.



Author's note: Hey folks! If anything seems out of place, message me so I can fix it.