I had just arrived to a place called Ponyville. From what I could see, it seemed like a town filled with everyday, ordinary ponies, peaceful grounds, and more importantly, no changelings. After I got a chance to relax my wings from my escape in the clouds, I finally walked into the village. I looked around to see if I could find something to eat, after all, I had been starving ever since that outbreak. I checked to see my bit amount in my satchel, but I forgot, I had left all my bits back in Fillydelphia. It was then I heard my stomach begging for food, it sounded like one of those creatures you'd hear in the Everfree Forest. At this point, I was desperate, I wasn't going to let myself die of starvation. When nopony was watching me, I grabbed some blades of grass and I ate it. What else was I supposed to do? Starve? Beg for food? I'm not like that, I have much more pride than that. The taste wasn't exactly what I'd call appetizing. And just when I thought I had my brief moment of privacy, I heard a voice.
"How's that grass tastin' for ya?" said the voice. It had somewhat of a southern accent to it.
"Hey, a mare's gotta eat. Don't judge." I responded back to the southern pony.
"Ah'll admit, ya got a lot a guts eatin' like this in public," said the blonde-haired, orange-coated mare. "Are ya new around here?"
"Was it that obvious?" I said with an embarrassed tone. "I would've bought some food, if I had the bits for it."
"Well lucky for ya, Ah happen to live on an Apple farm; Sweet Apple Acres," said the southern pony. "Yer more than welcome to visit the orchard."
"Wow, I don't know what to say," I said thankfully. "Thank you so much!"
"My pleasure," the southern pony replied. "Ah'm always there to help out others in need. Ah'm Applejack by the way, but y'all can call me AJ."
"I'm Ready Steady." I told her.
"Ah bet you are." replied Applejack. "Ah can still hear yer stomach growling from here. Sounds like one of them Timberwolves, ready to pounce."
"No AJ, that's my name," I corrected her. "Ready Steady, most ponies call me Steady. Not to sound impatient, but how much longer will it be until we reach the orchard."
"Relax Steady, were almost there," she replied.
About 5 minutes later, we had reach the apple orchard, and I could not have been anymore excited than I already was. As I was just about to dart right into one of the apple trees to retrieve one apple, Applejack stopped me from doing so.
"Now now, Ah know yer hungry and all, but the food's inside, these apples are waiting to be bucked."
She was right. It would've been rude of me to take at least one of their apples right from the orchard, even though I was starving to death. Once we got inside, there were some apples in the kitchen that looks fresher than the ones on the trees, and many more types of food and drinks like apple cider, apple pie, apple fritter, caramel apples, if there was one thing you knew about this family, it's that they have a lot of apples. When Applejack finally gave me permission to eat the food, the whole buffet of food on the kitchen counter was almost completely gone. It felt so good to get some food in my stomach.
"Ya sure must have been starved now, huh?" Applejack said in a joking matter.
"Thanks again for the food AJ," I replied. "You really do know how to make a pony feel welcome."
"Well ya did look like ya coulda used it," said Applejack.
"I guess I did," I admitted. "Well I appreciate what you've done for me. I'll see you around, hopefully." As I was getting ready to leave, Applejack stopped me again.
"Wait, where are y'all goin'?" she asked.
"I mean, I got what I needed, not to sound selfish and all," I started to tell her, "but I need to keep going; find a place to live while I'm here."
"Well, if ya need someplace to stay, why not here?" Applejack insisted. "We don't have an empty room for ya, but you can stay in the barn for as long as ya need. Not that comfortable, but better than sleepin' on the dirt floor."
"Well you don't have to do this," I said thinking about her offer some more. "I mean, the buffet is nice and all, but it all sounds too good to be true."
"Why don't ya stay here for a while? Stay for dinner, meet my family, stay the night. What do ya say?" offered Applejack again.
I was still a little bit hungry, and I do need a place to sleep. Like AJ said, I could sleep in her barn, better than sleeping on dirt. And, I do need to converse with other ponies. Ever since the outbreak, I've lost all of them. All I have left is my sister, and she's Celestia knows where she could be. The decision was obvious.
"Alright, I'll accept the offer." I answered.
"Yeehaw!" exclaimed Applejack. "Ah'll get dinner ready, y'all wanna help?"
"Sure," I said as I helped AJ set the dinner table.
Later that night, I got to know the rest of her family. That includes herself, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith. The dinner table was filled with, you guessed it, apples. My plate consisted of a couple of apples and some apple pie, followed by some warm apple cider to go along with an Apple family dinner.
"So deary," said Granny Smith. "What did you do before you came to Ponyville?"
"Not much really, just playing track and field events. My favorite is the relay race." I responded.
"Hehe, oh you remind of dear old, Applejack here and the times she won all of them rodeo competitions." said the elderly pony.
"Well Ah don't mean to brag, but Ah do have more blue ribbons than anypony in Ponyville," said Applejack. "Though Ah wish to win all of 'em..."
"You're just one pony," I said, cutting her off. "Plus, if what you say is true, then I don't even think I'm even close to AJ's athletic abilities."
"Yeah, it's hard to have fun when yer losin'," Applejack claimed. "Then again, nopony's perfect."
"Ah've been meanin' to ask, but where are y'all from?" asked the young filly, Apple Bloom.
"If I tell you, you probably wouldn't believe me," I told her. "But if you're anxious to know, I'm from..." I paused. For some reason I couldn't say it. Rather it was because they'd think I'm crazy, or it would bring back those awful memories.
"Sorry, Ah didn't quite catch that?" Apple Bloom said.
I had to get it out, one way or another. "I'm...from Fillydelphia." I admitted as the everypony dropped their jaws.
"Fillydelphia?" Applejack asked. "Ain't that where them changelings attacked?"
"Yeah," I said with disappointment. "There weren't many survivors. A few of us, including myself, got lucky."
"Tell us what happened." Applejack said anxiously.
"Everything was going really swell," I started off. "It was just an ordinary day for all the ponies of Fillydelphia. I was gonna play my sister in a hoof race, when all of the sudden, many changelings can to our village and tried to invade our homes."
"Wait, why would the changelings be invadin' Fillydelphia?" asked Applejack. "It's just a small town, not much they can do with that."
"I was wondering the same thing myself," I said, continuing with the story. "Anyways, they did more than just invade our homes, but making sure there was nopony left in town, whether that meant getting killed by those beasts or chased out of town, but they would have much rather kill us if anything. When we found a nearby train station..." I stopped and started to tear up.
"It's okay sugarcube, just let it all out," Applejack said, trying to calm me down.
"I had to put my little sister on the train," I continued. "I told her to stay on that train no matter what, while at the same time I was trying to save my parents. I went back for them, but a group of changelings kept me from doing so. And they..." I stopped again only to sob and cry in front of the Apple family.
Applejack put her hoof on my shoulder while the others watched and she said, "It's okay, Ah think we've heard enough."
"Wait," Apple Bloom interrupted. "What about yer sister?"
"Apple Bloom," said Applejack trying to get Apple Bloom to be quiet. "We've heard enough."
"It's fine," I said, wanting to continue the story. "She was still on the train, but I wasn't able to go with her." I started to tear up again but continued. "At least I know Set will be alright, as long as she stays away from home."
"Who's Set?" wondered Apple Bloom.
"Get Set's my little sister," I explained. "I just hope she's alright."
"Ah think we should all hit the hay, what do ya think Big Mac?" Applejack ordered.
Big Mac just said a simple, "Eeyup," and everypony went straight to bed.
I made my way to the barn where I was free to sleep anywhere I wanted. I saw a couple of blankets, AJ must've place them in there for me. It was hard for me to sleep with all the hay poking me while I'm trying to find a comfortable position, but I managed to fall asleep somehow.
I was sleeping in the Apple's barn, trying to get along with everypony, when a huge swarm of changelings comes attacking Ponyville. I thought to myself "Oh no, not again." Some of the changelings broke into Sweet Apple Acres and destroyed the farm, and soon, the family. Many of the changelings went for the barn since it was bigger than the house. I tried to fly out of there like I did in Fillydelphia, but my wings were still sore. So once again, I had to fight them of. Once I fought off enough changelings as to where I could escape, I tried to do so, but Applejack might need my help. As I raced back over to the house, I heard a familiar scream,
"Steady, help me! I don't wanna become changeling food."
The voice of my little sister made me want to protect her, but I had a difficult choice to make, my little sister or my new friends. In the end, I made up my mind, but before I did anything...
I woke up, hyperventilating for a few seconds, realizing I had awakened from a nightmare. At first, I was happy to know I wasn't being attacked, but then I got a little sad knowing that Set could possibly be in danger.
"What in the hay is goin' on in here?" Applejack asked making her way into the barn.
"Nothing AJ," I tried to explain. "It was just a nightmare I had, that's all."
"Ah assume it's about the changeling incident." she said with a confident smile.
"It was awful," I said, giving her details of the nightmare. "The changelings came to attack Ponyville, some came for Sweet Apple Acresand destroyed the farm. I managed to plan my escape, but then I thought about you guys, and then I heard Set's voice from a distance, and..."
"Ah think Ah get the point," said Applejack. "Ya just had a hard choice to make."
"Honestly," I said, telling her my decision. "I probably would've saved Set over you guys, she's just one filly, you've got a whole family."
"Ah appreciate yer honesty," Applejack said with an understanding tone. "And yer choice made much more sense, savin' a helpless filly over a family that's capable of defendin' themselves."
"Sounds like I made the right call," I said.
"Ah know y'all did," Applejack said. "Well, Ah guess Ah'll see ya in the morinin'. Good night."
"Good night," I said back to her. Then I told myself, "Don't worry Steady, Set is gonna be alright."