//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: First Impressions 
// Story: The World is Beautiful in More Ways Than One 
// by Shepard of Peace 
//------------------------------//

	It was a beautiful day out...
The birds were chirping, the river was making a lovely rushing sound that's actually kinda hard to put into words, I've never been as good at describing things than I am at feeling them. The wind was blowing through the trees I was walking past, last time I checked fall was around the corner so the leaves should be changing color soon, I always liked the way trees look during the fall. The wind was a bit chilly though but that didn't bother me much, I prefer more of a temperate climate myself but the slight chill does wake you up in the morning. The  road was starting to change a bit, it went from being rough to a sort of smooth dirt, again terrible at describing things sometimes, so I assumed that a town was coming up, it'll be nice to sleep in a warm bed after walking for so long.
As I got closer to the town I could start to hear the sound of something slamming against a tree and as the distance closed I could her someone grunting in time with slamming so, since it had been a while since I actually talked to someone, I decided to go and introduce myself.
“Hello?” No response. “Hellooo?” More grunting, still no response. Deciding to step my game up, I noticed I was next to a tree, so the most logical thing (in my head anyway) was to rear up and buck the tree next to me as hard as I could to try and get the persons' attention. “HEY!!” 'SLAM' 
“Huh? What?? Oh! Howdy stranger! Sorry I didn't see ya there, I get so wrapped up in bucking sometimes that I can barely notice the sun in the sky, ha ha!” 
It was at the moment I knew three things; One: the person I was talking to was a pony and a mare for that matter, Two: the pony I was talking to was a farmer cause only ponies buck things from trees to get whatever is growing on top, and Three: the mare I was talking to was strong, real strong, and not just physically.
“Uhh stranger, ya'll right there?” 
“Hmm? Oh, sorry, I get wrapped in my thoughts sometimes and sorta lose track of what's around me” 
“Aw shoot sugarcube, no need to apologize, I know somepony who does the same thing and she's one of the nicest ponies I know.” 	
“Thanks for understanding, I'm not the most socially adept ponies so it's nice to meet someone who can brush off one of my quirks from a first meeting.” 
“Think nothin' of it stranger. Hospitality, along with honesty, is one of my best qualities if I do say so myself.” 
Before I could even think of the next thing to say, my stomach made a growl for the ages, seriously, you could put this in the history books as one of the loudest noises in history made by a stomach.
“Hooo weee stranger, when was the last time you ate?”
Huh, that was actually a good question, when was the last time I did that? “ Well... uhhhh... let me think... hmmm...? If my guess is right, I don't think I've eaten anything in the past two days.” Before I go on, the body can last without food for a good while, that is if your drinking a lot of water, else I probably would have been crawling here rather than walking. 
“WHAT!?!!? Damn stranger we gotta get you something to eat right now!” 
It was at that moment that the mare grabbed my hoof with almost as much force as a dragon chomping into it's morning meal. I wasn't so much following her at a quick trot, as she was dragging me through the dirt while I stood as still as a board, since I honestly didn't have enough time to get a single sound out by the time she started dragging me. It wasn't long until I was being shoved up the porch and through the door of a nearby house. I guess the whole farm was where she lived, I wonder how big it actually was?
“GRANNY!!! GET INTA' GEAR, WE GOTTA A HUNGRY PONY HERE AND HE NEEDS FOOD NOW!!!” 
“I'm on it!” 
Suddenly I'm on a couch and I hear the sounds of ponies rushing to and fro in a kitchen, the whole thing moved so fast that I had to actually move my leg back down since it was still holding strong from when that mare dragged me to her house.
Before I knew it, I was seated at a table and the scent of fresh, hot food was filling my nose, there was also a strong scent of apples coming from the table, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say these ponies are apple farmers. Now in normal circumstance, I would be devouring everything in front of me since I realized how hungry I actually was. But I staved off my normal action since I knew I wasn't just in some common restaurant, I was in the home of a family of kind farmers who likely made, from scratch, everything on the table in front of me, so I was going to show respect and waited for when they were ready.
“Apple Bloom, Big Mac!! Wash up and get down here, supper's ready and we got a guest so make it snappy!” “Don't worry sugarcube, we'll be all set in just a bit and then you can eat to yer' heart's content!” 
Strong, nice and hospitable? What strange universe did I walk into, you'd almost never find this kind of thing in Manehatten. The hoofsteps coming from the stairs alerted me that more ponies were arriving, one set was really really loud and heavy so I'm going to assume that is Big Mac, the other set was very soft but definitely there so I'm going to assume that Apple Bloom was either small for a pony or just a foal, either would make sense.
“There you two are!” 
“Sorry Applejack! I was messing with ma' chemistry set so I had put everything away real careful like and Big Mac was doing some wood work in his room so he had to get off all the wood shavings offa' him.” 
“E'yup.” 
Oh yeah, he was definitely a big one. 
“Well take a seat everyone so our new friend here can git some food in him.” 
Now normally I'm a very patient pony, but like I said, I realized how hungry I actually was so, while I was keeping my cool, I was also tensing up a bit because I was really reallllyyy hungry.
“ So whatda'ya hungry for stranger? We got apple pie, apple firtters, apple sauce and jelly sandwiches, cinnamon rolls with an apple filling and-” 
“I'll take one of everything.” It got quiet for a bit after that. 
“Well alright then sugarcube, I guess you really are hungry, welp grab a plate and pile on cause we definitely got food to spare.” 
“Ummm... I don't really like saying this but... uhhh... do you think you could do it for me?” 
“Why is that, your plate and food are right in front of you so why can't you just do it?” 
“Well the thing is... ummm... I'm actually blind.” After I said that it got a lot more quiet than before and for a lot longer. Awww crap...