Chapter 3 - Sweet Apple Acres

Chapter 3 - Sweet Apple Acres*Twilight’s P.O.V.*

When I stepped into the library, I certainly wasn’t expecting Princess Celestia with a small bipedal creature.

“Twilight,” Celestia said, “This is Joshua, a human from another world.  Joshua, this is my faithful student and fellow princess, Twilight Sparkle.”

Joshua walked up to me slowly and bowed before me, “Nice to meet you Princess Twilight,” he said.  I could tell he seemed a bit tense, even though he tried to hide it.  I gave him a smile and placed a wing over him.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Joshua,” I said, “You don’t need to bow to me at all.  Could you tell me why Celestia brought you here from where you came from?”  He looked up at me with a sad expression and told me what had happened.  “Oh my,” I said when he finished, “I’m awfully sorry that had to happen to you.”

Nyx came up to Joshua and wrapped him up in her forelegs.  “Me too,” she said.

“Thank you,” he replied as he returned Nyx’s hug.  Celestia then walked up to me.

“Twilight,” she began, “His parents gave him a letter requesting that whoever finds him will take care of him.  Luna and I are unable to do so ourselves because we have a lot of duties to take care of at the castle, we have to ask you to do that for him.”

A small sense of unease came up in me.  It would be tough with four mouths to feed in this library, and that wasn’t counting Owloysius and Peewee, but I couldn’t ignore this poor child who just lost his family and home all in one day.  Who am I to refuse?

“Of course I will,” I replied.  Joshua must’ve heard me because next thing I knew, he was hugging one of my forelegs.

“Thank you Twilight,” he said.  He looked up at me and I saw some happy tears in his eyes.  Then Princess Celestia lowered herself to his eye level.

“I’ll visit you as often as I can little one,” she said to him.

“Thank you for bringing me here princess,” he replied.  Soon Celestia walked out the door and flew off toward Canterlot.

“Well Joshua,” I said after the princess left, “Would you like to meet my friends?”

“That sounds nice, Twilight,” he said.

“Why don’t you come along too Nyx?” I said, “You can introduce him to your friends too.”

“Sure!” Nyx said walking up, “Maybe Joshua can join the Cutie Mark Crusaders too.”  So, I lit up my horn and levitated Joshua onto my back.

“Spike?” I called to my dragon assistant, “Keep an eye on library while we’re gone, okay?”

“You got it Twilight,” Spike replied.

Soon the three of us were walking along the streets of Ponyville.  Joshua was taking in his new surroundings as he was riding on my back.  Then I saw the hyperactive Pinkie Pie walking up.

“Hey Pinkie,” I said as we walked up.

“Hi Twilight!  Hi Nyxie!” she greeted.  She then noticed Joshua on my back and instantly froze up mid-trot.  Joshua waved one of his hands at Pinkie.

“Hello,” he said.  Pinkie suddenly jumped up, gave a loud gasp, and suddenly rushed off.  Joshua looked a little concerned.  “Did I scare her?” he asked.

“No, don’t worry,” I replied, “That was Pinkie Pie.  She gave me that same reaction when I first came to Ponyville.  She can be random at times, but that’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.”

“You’d better expect something special when we get back to the library,” Nyx whispered to Joshua.

“Okay,” he said, “So where are we going first?” he asked me.

“Well, I’m going to show you to Applejack first, and if we’re lucky, you’ll get to meet Apple Bloom, one of Nyx’s friends,” I told him.  After walking for a little bit, we came up to Sweet Apple Acres.  We then saw little Apple Bloom rushing up to us.

“Hey there Nyx!” she said giving my daughter a hug.

“Hi Apple Bloom,” Nyx replied.

“Hey there Twilight,” Apple Bloom said.  She then noticed Joshua.  “Who’s that on your back, Twi?”

“Apple Bloom,” I said, “This is Joshua.”  I then levitated Joshua off my back in front of the two fillies.  “Joshua, this is Apple Bloom, Applejack’s little sister.”

“It’s nice to meet you Apple Bloom,” Joshua said.

“You too, buddy,” Apple Bloom replied, “What kind of critter are ya?”

“I’m a human,” Joshua replied.

“Apple Bloom,” I said, “Is Applejack around?”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom replied, “She’s doing some applebucking in the north orchard.  Follow me!”  She then started walking toward where the north orchard was with us following her.  Soon enough, we saw my honest friend bucking trees as usual.  She noticed us coming up and placed a welcoming smile on her face.

“Howdy Twi!  Hey Nyx!” she said.  She then took of notice of Joshua standing next to me.  “Who’s that little feller, Twi?” she asked pointing a forehoof at him.

“This is Joshua, Applejack.  He’s a human from another world,” I replied, “Joshua, this is my friend and Apple Bloom’s older sister Applejack.”

“Hi,” he said waving at Applejack.  Applejack trotted up to us and rubbed his shoulder.

“Nice to meet ya, sugarcube,” she said, “What brings ya here to Equestria?”  Soon, Joshua told the two Apples what happened to him earlier.  I noticed some small tears going down his cheeks.  I could tell he was still upset about it.  Applejack and Apple Bloom had sad frowns after Joshua finished.  “Mighty sorry ‘bout that,” Applejack said.

“Me too,” Apple Bloom said.  She came up and reached a forehoof behind Joshua’s back and started rubbing it.  Joshua let out a little smile at Apple Bloom.  He then turned to Applejack.

“What’s it like working on a farm, Applejack?” he asked.

“Well, everyday is a hard day of work,” Applejack said, “In fact, Apple Bloom and I were about to get to our daily chores.  Would you like to watch?”

Joshua nodded his head.  Soon the two sisters went off to where apples were lying on the ground.  Some were rotten, others were still ripe.  Apple Bloom lifted an empty basket up onto her head.  Applejack started kicking the rotten apples up, and Apple Bloom caught them in the basket, the two of them laughing all the while.  Joshua was watching them with a smile at their laughing.

“That kind of work looks fun,” Joshua said giggling.

“Applejack and I always make a game out of our chores,” Apple Bloom said placing the basket down, “It gets the work done faster.”

Next they went to a big basket that was on top of four legs.  Next to it was a big pile of grapes.  Applejack tossed the grapes into the basket, then Apple Bloom hopped in and started stomping on the grapes.  Joshua noticed some juice coming out of a tube into a small jar.

“Is that grape juice?” Joshua asked.

“Yep,” Applejack replied, “We also grow other crops here on the farm.”  Suddenly, some grape mush splashed onto Applejack.  “Apple Bloom!”

“Uh oh,” Apple Bloom said.  Applejack quickly jumped into the basket with Apple Bloom and started giving her a noogie, the two of them giggling.  Joshua looked confused at Applejack’s retaliation, but laughed all the same.

The rest of their chores, they did in a way that made us smile and giggle from time to time.  While watching the two sisters, their dog Winona came up to us.  Joshua looked over to see Winona coming.  Winona took notice of Joshua and started sniffing him all over.

“Hi there,” he said.

“That’s Winona,” Apple Bloom said looking over, “She’s our family dog.”

“I like dogs,” Joshua said, “I had a friend who had one.  It’s nice to meet you Winona.”  Winona barked happily and began licking Joshua’s face with him giggling.  “H-h-hey!  That tickles!” he said.  Winona gave Joshua another lick and sat down next to him.  Joshua started patting her head then went back to watching Applejack and Apple Bloom.

A few minutes later, the two of them finished up.

“Well, was that enjoyable Joshua?” Applejack asked.

“That looked like a lot of fun Applejack!” Joshua said.

“Maybe next time you come around, you can help us.”

“I would like that.  It was nice meeting you Applejack.”

“You too sugarcube.”  Applejack then gave Joshua a small hug.  Apple Bloom and Nyx came up as Applejack and Joshua broke their hug.

“Hey Joshua,” Apple Bloom said, “Nyx and I were talking and we were wondering if you’d like to be a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“That sounds like fun,” Joshua said, “I’d like that Apple Bloom.”

“Okay then, I’ll go and let our other friends know.  See ya later then?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yep,” Nyx said.

“It was nice meeting you Apple Bloom.  I’ll see you later, okay?” Joshua said.

“You too Joshua,” Apple Bloom said wrapping her forelegs around Joshua.  Soon, Apple Bloom ran towards Ponyville, excited about a new member begin added to her and her friends’ club.

“We’d better get a move-on, you two,” I said to Nyx and Joshua, “We’ve still got more friends to see.”

“Who are we going to next?” Joshua asked as I levitated him onto my back.

“Well, either Rarity or Rainbow Dash next,” I replied.  Joshua turned his head back and waved bye to Applejack, and she waved bye as well.