Applejack skidded to a halt in front of me and Twilight, a number of Ponies I didn't recognize behind her.
"Alright, what the emergency? Rainbow here flew in like her tail's on fire, talkin about Matthew here dyin and needin the whole apple clan. What's goin on?"
"MATTHEW'S DYING!?" Pinkie screeched, appearing from out of the middle of the group of ponies. Considering I didn't see a single spot of pink in that area before she popped up, I'm not sure what to think of that.
"Girls, relax! Matthew's not dying! He does need our help though. I'm glad you're here Pinkie. Do you think you can whip up some food for Matthew here? He hasn't eaten since dinner yesterday. Some apple goods would probably help as well, Applejack."
Pinkie gasped, "I'll get started right away!" and in a pink blur, Pinkie was gone.
"I can get started on that, but did the whole Apple Family really need to come out here for that?" Applejack questioned.
Twilight shrugged, a motion I wasn't sure would be anatomically possible on horses back home, and said, "Well... not really, but since you all are here... I've heard the Apple Family is the best in Equestria for raising buildings quickly?"
"Darn tootin! We can raise any barn in less than half an hour!" Applejack boasted while several of the Apple family nodded or clapped hooves together.
"Alright, well, do you think you could raise a shelter large enough for Matthew? It's true that he's in danger. Without fur like us, his skin is unprotected and the sun is burning him." Twilight explained.
Applejack turned to me and looked me over. "Well shoot, is that why you're lookin so pink, sugar cube?"
I nodded.
Applejack nodded and tilted her hat, "Good enough for me. Come on Apples! We got a barn to raise! The biggest barn Equestria's ever seen!"
A chorus of 'yee-haws' and other exclamations that made me think I'd stumbled into a rodeo or the set of an old western went up, and I got to watch as the Apple family scattered, and like a well oiled machine started throwing up a large barn, complete with song and dance number. It can't have been five minutes before they finished, and a rather impressive shed done in barn colors stood in front of me. It wasn't very big by my standards, but to them, this must be one of the largest buildings they'd ever thrown up, ever. At the very least it's got enough floor space for me to stretch out, but that's about it.
"Yee haw! Now that's what I like to see, Apples!" Applejack said as the others of the Apple family. I clapped in appreciation, calling out, "Bravo! Encore!" grinning. Applejack blushed and tilted her hat further to hide the red on her cheeks.
"Aw shucks, twernt nothin special..." she said, a small pleased smile on her face regardless.
My eyes bugged in my head, "Are you kidding!? You all just threw up a building in five minutes that would've taken me days to do by myself, and that's only if I even had the resources to do it with, never mind the fact that what I'd pull off would be nowhere near this quality! And heck, back home, even a professional foreman and construction crew that tried to make a building as big as this as it is to you wouldn't be able to pull off what you all did in the time you did it! I am seriously impressed here."
Now the majority of the Apple family was both embarrassed and pleased. "Well, I right thank ya on behalf of the Apple clan for the gratitude you've shown. Now git in there for yall burn up anymore than ya already are!" Applejack said, swinging her hat at me as if to give me a swat to get moving.
"Alright alright. Thank you again." I said, then moved into the shade my new shelter provided and sighed with relief. No A/C, not even a fan, but after sitting out in the sun this whole time, just having proper shade was such a relief. I laid back against the ground and sighed in relief, eyeing my new surroundings.
Twilight followed me in along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. I guess Applejack sent the rest of the Apples home, though I did still hear some talk from outside. I stretched, then winced as my skin pulled taught, and I sighed, eyeing my pink skin, and remembered from experience that this is only the beginning. It would only get worse and sting like nothing else until it'd all finished peeling off.
Sitting up, I pulled my shirt off and dropped it in the corner, only to hear Rainbow Dash hiss, AJ make an exclamation I didn't make out, and Twilight outride said, "That really doesn't look good..."
I blinked at them, looked at where they were looking, and realized they were noticing the difference between the skin covered by my shirt and the sunburn on my arms, neck, and face. I waved them off, "This is actually not the worst sunburn I've ever had. At least it's still pink."
"How could it possibly get worse than that?" Rainbow asked.
"One time," I answered, "I and a large group of friends got together to float down a river on some inner tubes, er, floatation devices,"
"We know what innertubes are, sugarcube," Applejack said.
I nodded, "Right. Anyway, we decided as an activity to float down the river. I forgot my sunscreen, but I still had a shirt on. Unfortunately I didn't realize how long we'd be floating down the river. It was about midmorning when I got in the river. It was about early evening when I got out. A couple hours after I got home, I was shivering and crying in bed as every single brush of cloth, or twitch of my body, or even a simple brush of air caused every single bit of my angry red sunburnt skin to flare with excruciating pain. I was bed ridden for two days before I could stand to uncover myself."
All three ponies were looking at me with varying degrees of sympathy and/or horror.
"I'm sorry I asked," Rainbow muttered.
"I'm sorry you asked too," Applejack said, but without any heat.
"I think we should bring in somepony to take a look at him. A healer would have some experience with burn injuries, since that's covered in the medical textbooks I read so I know someone from the hospital here would have learned about them while getting their license." Twilight said.
"If you've read them, why can't you do it?" Rainbow asked.
"Because I'm not certified and while I've read the books, I didn't take the classes, so anything I could do would not only be illegal, but I'd also be subjecting him to my inexperience with attempting to heal anypony, let alone a human!" Twilight answered.
"Alright alright! I'll just go get Nurse Redheart then." Rainbow Dash said before taking off.
Almost immediately after Rainbow left, Pinkie's chipper voice called out, "Who wants breakfast!"
Pinkie then ran in, pulling a cart covered in pastries, the largest of which looked like a mini muffin sitting in the center of the cart. "Or would it be lunch?" Pinkie mused to herself. She looked skyward as if she could see the sun. "Oh no! Maybe I should have stopped at the Hayburger to get some lunch food!"
Before she could take off again dragging the cart with her, a purple violet glow surrounded Pinkie, the color of which matched the same glow coming from Twilight's horn which appeared all of a sudden. The glow lifted Pinkie slightly in the air. "Pinkie! It doesn't matter! In this case, food is food, and our guest needs some."
I nodded, my stomach growling again, "We can just call it brunch. Besides, breakfast food is good just about any time of the day."
Pinkie giggle snorted from her limp position at the sound from my stomach, "Okie dokie lokie! Your stomach sounds like a bear! We should probably feed him before he tears out of you to get the food itself."
I gaped at the surprisingly disturbing imagery that prompted, then cleared my throat, "Quite." and reached for the muffin sitting on top of the lot. I popped it into my mouth and grinned at the explosion of berry flavor. It eased my stomach a little, and I started picking up more of the tiny pastries and putting them in my mouth, though they were a bit on the large side when compared to the ponies themselves.
While I ate, I saw Twilight step over to the side and whisper with Applejack. Whatever was said caused Applejack to look over at me with a startled look before Twilight's whispering drew her head back down. I wonder what that was about, but I was too busy trying to appease my hunger to pay attention.
Soon, Pinkie's cart was empty, and Pinkie started handing me more from behind her mane. Her 'storage space' I guess, going off what Twilight said earlier. Tiny cupcake after tiny cupcake went in my mouth, not even large enough to need chewing before I swallowed.
"Um, girls? You should probably get some more food here, I'm actually starting to run out..." Pinkie stage whispered to the others, a look of concern on her face.
At that, I slowed down, and looked down at the cupcake in my hand, embarrassed, then slowly handed it back to Pinkie. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to eat so much..." My statement was punctuated by my stomach growling again, though slightly softer this time, and for once I'm glad I'm sunburned because I think I might have actually blushed for the first time in my life as I looked down further.
Pinkie narrowed her eyes at me, pushing my hand back towards me with surprising strength, "Hmmm... did you get possessed by Fluttershy while we weren't looking?" she gasped, "Is that even possible!? Oh no! What if someone is possessing me!? What if I'm not me! But if I'm not me, who am I? But wait, if I'm not me, does that mean me is somewhere else, or is me here, or-"
Applejack interrupted her by stuffing an apple in her mouth. "None of that now," Applejack somehow addressed to both her and me at the same time. She then looked directly at me, "Look, you're a big fella. You're obviously gonna need more food than we do. No shame in that."
Twilight nodded, stepping forward, "Applejack's right. Proportionately, that cart can't have equaled much beyond a single muffin for someone your size. How about you draw on the ground the size of a plate of food you're used to, and we can then match it?"
I nodded and hesitantly started drawing a plate on the ground, before pausing, then making it a bit smaller than normal. Applejack narrowed her eyes while she watched and whacked my hand with her hat. It didn't hurt, but it did cause me to jerk back, startled.
"None of that now. I ain't the Element of Honesty for nothin'. Draw a proper sized plate, sugarcube." Applejack said.
"But, if you guys keep trying to feed me the amount I'm used to eating, there's going to be a food shortage!" I said, worried.
Applejack waved me off, "Yeah, maybe things'll be a bit tight at first, but we'll recover, sure enough. Ponyville can weather anything we set our minds too."
Twilight nodded, "Applejack is right. While I may not have been here long, I've read up on the town's history and current economics. We can handle an increase in food demand in the short term until we get a larger supply imported. It'll increase food costs, but not only can we handle it, you simply being here, and the Princess giving us royal backing means any costs accrued taking care of you while you're here will be covered by the crown, and Equestria as a whole is almost filthy rich. You can dig just about anywhere and you'll find precious gem stones worth trading."
I frowned, even as I went ahead and drew a proper sized plate on the ground. "But wouldn't the abundance of gems mean that their value would go down, considering just about anyone can dig them up?"
"They're not our only export," Twilight answered, "And normally you'd be right, if not for the fact that we're the world's main supplier of gem stones, and seeing as the Dragons consider them a delicacy and are willing to pay large amounts of gold from their hordes from them, and gold is good just about anywhere..."
I nodded, "That makes sense. Probably a lot more to it than that though, I'm guessing?"
Twilight nodded, "Those are just the main highlights. And that's not even accounting for the revenue brought in by Cloudsdale for maintaining the weather worldwide. Griffons can manage their weather somewhat, but our techniques are not only unique, but thanks to our cutie marks and special talents, most of us ponies can do things that nothing else can."
"Wow. Ponies certainly have their place certainly carved out for themselves." I said, wide eyed.
"It also helps that, while she doesn't flaunt her power and would never use it against anyone, Princess Celestia does control the Sun and the Moon and their movements in the sky. Although now that Princess Luna is back, that might change so she's controlling the moon soon." Twilight said thoughtfully.
For my part, my brain was stuck on something she said earlier. "Princess Celestia... controls the sun."
Twilight nodded, "And has for over a millennia."
"And the moon."
"Uh huh!" Pinkie Pie replied.
"Only her sister can control the moon now, most likely."
"Eeyup." Applejack said.
"So... you're telling me, that not only did I just meet a magical, multicolored, flying, pony princess, I met a magical, multicolored, flying, pony princess who just so happens to pretty much be this world's Goddess!?"
"Um... yes? I mean, what's a Goddess?" Twilight asked.
I set my face in my palms. "A Goddess, or God, otherwise known as a deity-"
"Oh! Yes, Princess Celestia is our deity. She likes to play it down and just act as our Princess, but the fact that she's part of our pantheon has never really strayed very far from pony's minds." Twilight answered, Applejack and Pinkie nodding along.
I simply groaned and laid back, my head thumping against the hard dirt floor. "Lovely," I muttered. "Here's hoping she doesn't cast me into the sun if I accidently piss her off then."