Regaining consciousness, I sit up and heal my head to get rid of the headache from being knocked out. Looking around, I find that I am now in a cellar of some kind with my hands and feet bound together. Growling slightly at the fact someone was able to sneak up and kidnap me, I glance around the room for a door but only spot a set of stairs leading up and out of sight. Leaning against a wall on the opposite side of the stairs, I decide to wait and see who exactly put me here and why. Thankfully it wasn't long before I heard a door open and close and hoof beats coming down the stairs. Bending my legs so that I was able to charge electricity in my hands without it being seen. To my surprise, a red stallion with half a green apple on his flank came into view before stopping and staring at me.

For a couple of minutes we just stared at each other in silence before the stallion finally continued down and stopped a few feet in front of me and sat down. "So... What were ya doin on mah family's farm?"

I blink a couple of times before my expression goes blank. "You're part of the Apple family aren't you?" When the stallion nods I groan slightly and a short blast of electricity fries the ropes off my wrists. "Well this was completely stupid. You had my guild mate Lutano working here for a couple of days and Applejack herself has offered me a place to sleep among the trees."

The stallion frowns slightly. "Why haven't ah heard of ya than?"

I shrug slightly. "It was probably something that just slipped their minds since I didn't plan on actually staying around here. Thanks to the Princesses though, I'm not allowed to leave Ponyville without two of the Elements of Harmony with me at all times so I was forced to use the orchard for my source of nature." Noticing the stallions confused expression, I sigh at having to re-explain. "I'm a druid, we have to be around nature or we go into a blood frenzy and our magic turns us into some kind of creature where we then go around killing everything until our mana runs out and we turn to ash from the last of it burning out our bodies."

The stallion blinks a couple of times before shaking his head. "Ah don't understand the whole magic deal, but if ya already have Applejack's trust than I suppose I can give ya the same. Ah was comin down to check on ya just before dinner so why don't ya come up and join us?"

I go to shake my head but nod instead. While I wasn't happy about my situation or the fact that I was stuck in a world of ponies for the time, I couldn't bring myself to outright push them away and act rude. "I don't see why not, though I won't be going like this." Before the stallion could question what I meant, a swirl of leaves surrounds me and I step out as the white pegasus with golden flames. "Not exactly normal but will cause less problems than my elven form. By the way, what is your name?"

The stallion shrugs off my shape shifting before holding a hoof out. "Big Macintosh but everyone just calls me Big Mac."

Ignoring the laws of physics being broken, I shake his hoof before gesturing for him to lead the way. "Mine's Sarikasin, though most shorten it to Sarik." Following him up the stairs, I look around the barn we exit the cellar into. "You brought me to a cellar underneath your farm after finding me coming onto it... isn't that kind of counter productive to trying to stop me? Especially considering you don't know anything about what I can do."

Big Mac shrugs slightly. "Ah was sure ah could handle ya, ya didn't have a horn like the unicorns so ah figured it was a safe bet ya couldn't use magic."

I couldn't deny the logic so I let the subject drop and instead turned my attention to the orchard as we exit the barn and head for the house nearby. Half way to the house, Applejack steps out the front door and blinks in surprise at Big Mac and I. "What are you two doin out here?"

I shrug and gesture to Big Mac with a hoof. "Big Mac here decided to knock me out and tie me up in your cellar to find out who I was and why I was 'sneaking' onto your orchard. Apparently you and Lutano failed to mention that I was around as well and it lead to a bit of a problem."

Applejack gave a sheepish smile and ducked her head so the brim of her hat hid her face. "Sorry about that, it kinda slipped mah mind with all the work we needed to get done 'round here."

I shrug slightly. "No worries, a bit of healing and a bit of electricity and I was free without injury. Though your brother nearly was beaten into one big bruise when he checked on me to see if I was awake." Stepping up onto the porch, I look to Applejack. "Speaking of, Big Mac invited me to have dinner with your family as an apology for the kidnapping, will that cause any problems?"

Applejack shakes her head and looks up at me with a grin. "Not at all, we'd be happy to have ya here. Though Granny might get a bit carried away with how different ya look."

I smile slightly and look at the door. "Understandable if you think about it though. How many flaming pegasi do you know of?"

Applejack laughs and nods before heading through the front door. "Ah guess ya have a point there, though Ponyville is full of strange ponies." Leading the way through the house and into the kitchen, she pauses beside the table and looks between me and it with a slight frown.

I look at her for a second before finally having to ask. "What is the problem?"

Applejack shakes her head. "Ah don't know how yer gonna sit at the table with it bein so much smaller. Yer twice the height of a normal pony so everythin is half the size ya need."

I think for a second before smirking. "I think I have a solution for that." Taking a moment to concentrate, there is a slight pop as a small blue gem appears on the ground in front of me with a doll etched into the surface. "Glad I bought this the last time I was in Qeynos." Placing a hoof on the gem, I feed a bit of magic into it and a second later shrink to the point I am just slightly smaller than Big Mac. "The joys of mixing shape shifts and illusion forms." Looking up at Big Mac and Applejack, I can't help but laugh at their shocked expressions. "The magic in Norrath is vastly different in uses than the magic you have here."

Shaking her head slightly, Applejack goes into another room mumbling something about strange magic. Returning the gem to my bags with a small amount of magic, I then turn to Big Mac. Being equines I would imagine you don't eat meat?" At Big Mac's horrified look I chuckle. "Being a druid, I don't eat meat so as long as there isn't a difference between your diets and the ones of the horses, pegasi and unicorns back home than we are good."

Big Mac sighs slightly. "Ah almost thought ya were gonna say ya ate it yerself."

I shake my head and smirk. "No, though I will have to find a way to get Lutano some. He can't survive off of just fruits, vegetables and plants like we can, his body won't allow it."

Big Mac frowns slightly. "What do ya mean?"

I place a hoof over the kitchen table and use excess wood that I grow from it to form the shapes of a lizard like humanoid and a dragon. "Sarnak's are the fusion of a dragon and Iksar, both of which are carnivorous in Norrath, though Iksar's can eat both meat and plants. So while they can go for a few days off of just plants they eventually have to resume eating meat or their body will shut down and die."

Big Mac shakes his head slightly. "Ah'm surprised he didn't tell us while he was here. We may not have liked it but if he had explained, we could have figured somethin out."

I frown slightly before summoning a portal that showed only a forest green disc at its center. "We weren't planning on staying long, I was planning on only staying here for the night before opening a portal back home but for some reason I can't connect to any of the druid rings back home as an anchor point. He probably assumed that we wouldn't be staying long enough for it to be a problem." Looking up as Applejack comes back into the room, my head tilts slightly to the side as an elderly green mare comes in behind her. Bowing my head slightly once the mare looks at me, I smile. "I assume you are Granny Smith, it is a pleasure to meet you."

The mare smiles at me before nudging Applejack with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Finally found yerself a stallion, AJ? It's about time."

I chuckle slightly as Applejack turns bright red, and had I not caught the look in her eyes I might have been in a somewhat similar state from what Granny Smith said. Moving my hoof over the dining table, the figures I had created sank back into the wood. "Unfortunately my profession stands in the way of forming a relationship with anyone, so even had I an interest in your granddaughter it wouldn't come to anything."

That made all three ponies blink and look at me before Granny Smith speaks. "Ya mean tah tell me that ya let a job stand in the way of makin' a family?"

I shrug as best I can. "I don't really have much of a choice to be honest. There are creatures trying to take over my home and if I don't stand on the front lines with my guilds there is a very high chance that my world will be over run and destroyed. It's a small sacrifice, especially since my guild can be called my family with how close we all are."

Granny Smith shakes her head. "There ain't nothin worth bein alone in life. Ya need to find yerself ah nice mare to settle down with."

Sighing to myself, I decide to let the subject drop because as much as I claimed it didn't bother me, it was a sore subject. Sitting down at the table instead, I look to the others. "You may be right.... but enough about my personal life, I heard you had dinner being prepared and I would hate to delay your meal."

Author's Note

A little shorter than I wanted but I was getting stuck on ideas of how to continue it. So the next one will be a bit of a time jump.