Chapter VI
“Well howdy!” Applejack greeted us with a big smile as we walked up to her stand. It looked like an apple stand.
“Hi!” Link said cheerfully.
“Hi, Applejack,” Twilight said. “Did you sell a lot of apples today?”
“Yup! Almost sold them all. All ah got left is a bushel, and that'll be gone before too long,” Applejack said showing off a proud smile.
“I'm glad to hear that. Well I think that I have kept Link and Epona for long enough,” Twilight said, “Would you like to take them now?”
Way to make me feel like a common farm animal, Twilight.
“Sure, like ah said, ah shouldn't be for much longer,” Applejack said.
“I don't mind waiting for a little bit, do you Epona?” Link asked me.
“Not really no,” I said. It wasn't like I had much to do today anyways.
“Though I must get our stuff from your library, Twilight,” Link said, turning towards Twilight.
“Oh my gosh! I completely forgot!” Twilight exclaimed.
“It's alright, can we go now?”
“Sure,” Twilight said. Link and Twilight started to walk back to the library and I started to follow but Link spoke up, stopping me in my tracks.
“Why don't you stay here, Epona? Try to get to know Applejack better,” Link suggested with a smile.
“Oh. Um, ok,” I said. Link and Twilight continued walking and I hung back with Applejack. She was currently busy with a customer so I just sat down, off to the side of her stand. The customer was a light gray pony with a bright orange mane that fell around her face. She was trying to haggle down the prices of a bag of apples. I ignored them and looked around, familiarizing myself with what was in the market, and the vendors.
I saw a light yellow mare, with an orange mane selling carrots, a beige mare with a pink and dark blue mane selling what looked like candy but I wasn't too sure. I saw a brown stallion with a dirty white mane selling various fruits and vegetables, I saw-... How odd. I had gotten a feeling running through my spine as if I was being watched. I slowly looked around but I didn't see anybody staring at me. How very odd.
Applejack finished with the customer that she had and looked at me.
“So, Epona, how are y'all doing?” Applejack asked.
“Um, fine I suppose,” I said hesitantly.
“Ah know y'all haven't been in Equestria for a while yet, but how do ya like it here?” she asked, a friendly smile on her face.
“Uh, again, fine I suppose. Not much has happened to me yet that would count for bad I suppose,” I said.
“What about good?” Applejack asked, fidgeting slightly. I wonder what was up with her, she was acting a little weird. Then again I don't know her so maybe she was acting normal.
“I got cake,” I said.
“Er, well ah suppose that's good,” she said, her smile faltering a little. Perhaps she was expecting more?
“Was there something you wanted to ask me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. It seemed like she had something she wanted to say but didn't want to say it.
“No, no, ah suppose not,” Applejack said, she turned back to the crowd of ponies that wandered the streets and I went back to observing the market.
I saw a green mare with a lighter shade of green mane, selling soybeans, I saw a pure white stallion a light red mane and top hat selling what looked like books, a deep purple mare with a deep blue mane selling berries, a-... There it was again! The feeling running through my spine. I slowly look around again. Nothing in the market, but when I looked behind me I think I saw a flash of red duck behind a bush. I'm not too sure I didn't get too good of a look.
I stared at the bush, flicking my tail out of curiosity, for a few seconds before turning back. I spared a glance Applejack's way just in time to see her advert her eyes.
“Was there something you wanted to ask?” I asked again.
“No!” Applejack said in a hurry.
“Ok,” I said.
“Er, well. Maybe.” I let out a silent sigh.
“Go ahead,” I said. I was starting to get a little impatient, but I kept the impatientness out of my voice. And yes that is a real word, at least I’m pretty sure it is. I'll ask Link later.
“Well, now ah don't mean to sound rude or anything, but how evil is your world?” she asked.
That... is a good question.
“I am going to guess that you want to know because of me and Link will be sleeping around your family, right?” I asked.
“
Well, er,” a blush was growing on her face, “um, yeah. Ah did kind of just invite you into mah household without really knowin' ya.”
I think I got what she was saying. She didn't know if me and Link would slaughter her family and decorate the hall with their entrails while they slept.
“In my world there is so much more evil than there is good,” I said. This made her flinch slightly. “Though, lucky for you, me and Link are about as good as they come,” I said with a smile. Applejack calmed down and put on a big smile.
“Well, great! Ah'm sure Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith will love ya!” she said with a lot more energy than she had before.
“Um, excuse me?” a male voice said. I looked over and say that Applejack had another customer. I left her to it. I went back to observing the market.
Or at least I tried to. My horsey senses were tingling. Er, well I guess that would be pony senses? It was that thing that all horses have that made them know if they were being watched or not. But that's not important. What was important was that I was being watched, and I didn't like being watched. It made me feel exposed. Instead of looking around the market like I did the other times I quickly whipped my head around!
“Gah!” I yelled out as I tried to jump back, but I had forgotten that I was sitting down. I ended up rolling over my back and onto my stomach. I’m pretty sure it looked absolutely ridiculous. I let out a soft “oof” when I landed on my stomach. Luckily I managed to not land on my cut.
“Applebloom!” Applejack shouted suddenly.
I looked up at what had been spying on me for the past ten minutes. It was a yellow little filly with a red mane that had a big pink bow in it. She did not have a tattoo on her butt. She also had a very big smile on her face as she looked down at me. For a second I feared for my life. But that passed when I realized how adorable she looked.
“Applebloom! What are ya doin', startlin' ponies like that. Y'all know better,” Applejack scolded the filly. Ah, Applebloom, Applejack mentioned an Applebloom in her family. This must be her.
“Ah'm sorry Applejack,” Applebloom said, the smile on her face gone and she was kicking at the dirt a little, her ears splayed back.
“It's not me y'all should be apologizing too,” Applejack said. At this point I was able to get out of the dirt and started to brush off my fur. I looked up when I realized she meant me and I saw the little filly looking quite apologetic up at me.
“Ah'm sorry, Miss.-” she stopped when she realized she didn't know my name.
“I am Epona,” I said flashing a smile of my own, trying to tell her that I wasn't mad. After all I was a child once, I’ve done worse. “And it is alright, it was my fault for falling down. You were just curious, right?”
“Well sure! I've never seen you in town before,” Applebloom said.
“Well I’ve never been in this world before,” I said.
“Huh?” Applebloom asked, her eyebrow raised at the question.
I was about to explain, but Applejack cut me off before I could.
“Why don't you let her explain at dinner,” Applejack said. Applebloom's eyes grew at the words.
“Ya mean she's gonna be stayin' with us?” she asked, a big smile growing on her face.
“Yup! Her and her friend, Link. He should be here soon,” Applejack said.
“Yes, he went back to the library to retrieve our equipment,” I added.
“Wow,” Applebloom said, still in slight awe.
“Say, where are the rest of the crusaders?” Applejack asked, a tilt to her head.
“Oh, uh, well Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both got detention,” Applebloom said, nervously kicking at the ground.
“They did? Why? What happened?” Applejack asked.
“Well, Diamond Tiara kept picking on me at lunch today and Scootaloo told them to stop or else they would have to deal with the consequences. They didn't stop and Sweetie Belle went and tackled them out of nowhere and started to beat them with her daisy sandwich!” Applebloom said, throwing her hooves in the air.
“Hmm,” I hummed. Not bad. Not the most effective way of dealing with an enemy, and certainly not the weirdest I’ve seen. That goes to Malon when a giant skulltula got into the ranch.
I looked over to Applejack and she just had a look of trying to understand. Like the look on Link's face when someone tells him off for entering their house and breaking their pots. He understands what they are saying, but he can't make sense of the words.
“That doesn't sound like Sweetie Belle at all!” Applejack exclaimed, scratching her head. Applebloom only shrugged her shoulders.
“Scootaloo got detention because she started to yell bad words at them. You know, the words that you put soap in my mouth for,” Applebloom said.
“She did?! Why I 'otta give Rainbow a piece of my mind!” Applejack growled, furiously. She open her mouth to speak again, but the sound of footsteps cut her off.
“Hey, what did I miss?” Link asked. He was dragging all of our stuff in a small red wagon.
“Oh, er, nothin',” Applejack said, fixing the hat on her head.
“Where did you get that wagon?” I asked as I moved to stand beside Link once more.
“Oh, Twilight is letting my borrow it. I have to give it back tomorrow,” he said.
“That was nice of her,” Applejack said. “You're just in time, ah sold the last of the apples, and y'all can meet my sister Applebloom while I pack up,” Applejack said, pointing to Applebloom. Link's smile got even bigger when he saw Applebloom.
He knelt down to her height so he could properly look her in the eyes. “Wow, you look absolutely adorable.” Applebloom blinked once.
“Uh, thank you?” she said, her cheeks taking a red tint. Link gave a hearty chuckle. Leave it to Link to think everything is adorable. Well she was adorable, but that’s besides the point.
“No problem!”
“Well, we should probably get goin',” Applejack said, I turned and saw that she was now pulling a big wooden wagon that had empty baskets inside. “Big Mac could use some help on the farm, so it's best that we should get back as soon as possible.”
“Right,” Link said, standing up. I walked to Link's side and then we all took off.
Applejack and Link walked up front while me and Applebloom walk a little behind them. I’m not sure why Link liked to talk so much. When he wasn't fighting he either talked a lot, or not at all. I guess this is his talking day. He might not talk very much tomorrow, as he switches on and off. He use to not talk at all as a child. Well, except when he was talking to Saria, but even then he only gave one or two word answers.
We walked through the rest of town and I was surprised to see the ponies of the land not entirely shying away from us. I mean the still did it, but not as much. I guess being seen with respected members of society does well for our image.
It didn't take long for us to get out of Ponyville. Link and Applejack talked the whole while, and Applebloom talked to every pony we passed. It looked like she knew every pony in the town. I, unlike everypony else, kept to my thoughts. I thought back to my meeting of the other ponies. Twilight seemed like she was happy to help, Pinkie seemed like she was always having a good time, Rarity seemed like she was more curious of Link's tunic than anything, and Fluttershy seemed very nice, though very shy. I’ve noticed that we haven't meet Rainbow again, and I don't really know much about Applejack other than she cares deeply for her family.
We soon crossed into the country side and then soon onto a dirt road that had a big sign. Link muttered “Sweet Apple Acres” to commit it to memory. We started to walk down that road and for as far as my eye could see, I could see apple trees. There must have been hundreds. Way to much for just a family of four.
“Um, Miss Epona?” a squeaky little voice from my left asked.
“Yes?”
“What is your life like? You know, back on your world?” Applebloom asked.
“Hmm,” I though. How could I explain being a war horse to a filly? “Well, I carried Link around to whatever place he needed to go.”
“How? He's to big to ride you,” Applebloom insisted.
“Well in my world I am much bigger.”
“How much bigger?”
“I was taller than Link with my head raised.”
Applebloom turned and studied Link for a few seconds.
“Does that mean you were as big as the Princesses?” she asked.
“I don't know. How big are your Princesses?” I asked.
“I don't know their exactly how tall they are, but they are pretty tall.”
“Hmm,” I hummed. I didn't respond and kept my eye forwards. Applebloom also seemed like she ran out of questions because she didn't ask any more.
We soon came upon a big barn like house. It had a few shutters missing, but it didn't look bad. It looked homey. Standing by the door were a big red stallion with a yoke around his neck and a dirty blonde mane, and a green old looking mare with gray hair and wrinkled skin.
“Well, here we are! Sweet Apple Acres!” Applejack yelled out.
I think I might like it here.