Chapter 3: The Apple Family

We arrive after a few minutes to the red wood house, home of the Apple family. And after all this walk I ask myself one small but very important question 'How will her family react to me entering their house ?' After all, I'm a stranger and I've the nerve to ask them to host me ,for only god knows how long. 'Will they kick me out ? Will they get angry at AJ ? I'm beginning to feel worried so I ask Applejack about it.

"Oh ah'm sure it'll be just fine. It's no big deal, I assure you" she replieswith a confident smile on her face as she approaches the door and knocks. After a few seconds an old lady opens the door: she arrives at my shoulder, has green skin and has a white bun. She wears a white shirt under an apron and a green skirt. 'Okay here's the moment of truth...'

"Hello AJ, I wonder where you were !" She then drifts her gaze towards me "Who's this fellow ?" She asks with a confused expression 'Called it, she's suspicious...' Before i can present myself, AJ cuts me.

"His name is Zack. He comes from another world called Earth, my friends and I found him unconscious at the town square and after we talked for the afternoon, I suggested that he could maybe stay home until he can find one..." 'Wow, thanks AJ...' I stood still for what seemed like an eternity until a smile appears on her face.

"Of course he can stay ! After all, we can't let him sleep outside, right ?" I let out a sight of relief and she says to me "I'm Granny Smith but you can call me Granny !"

"Nice to meet you Granny !" She lets us enter and guides us (or rather me) to the living room. It's a large room with a rocking chair, two leather red armchairs and a two person black sofa all put in a circular arc with in the center a lit fireplace. On the other side of the room there was a table with six chairs. AJ and I sit down on the sofa and Granny goes upstairs. We wait a few minutes for her and she comes back with a big bulky red earth pony with a brown mane and... a plaster on his right arm ? 'Why is that ?' I'm asking myself but I guess he'll explain it to me... My gaze drifts towards a tiny yellow a girl with a red mane with a pink bow on it, they're both wearing casual everyday clothes. I hear someone coughing as Granny speaks up.

"These are the big brother and little sister of Applejack: Big Macintosh and Applebloom" They stare at me for five seconds and then introduce themselves. I present myself back and we talk as Granny goes to the kitchen. A few minutes later we can hear Granny say,

"Dinner's ready !" After hearing that, my stomach growls telling me to go for it. We set down and begin to eat and...

"Wow, it's really good !" I can hear myself saying as I eat another fork of the delicious meal.

"Oh thanks a lot ! I'm glad you appreciate it !" Granny smiles brightly as I continue eating, after a few forks I suddenly begin to feel really bad... Not that the food is bad, it's just like I feel like abusing them...

"Can't I help you with something ?" Everyone then looks at me with a confused look upon their faces, as I begin to realise the weirdness of my question, I continue "Huh, what I mean is, you feed me, you give me a shelter, can't I pay you back in some way ?"

"Well if you insist, as you can see Big Macintosh broke his arm while apple bucking and maybe you can take his place ?" Applejack says hesitant.

"Of course I can ! And maybe I can do something else..." When I say these words the eyes of Applebloom enlighten as she shouts,

"Maybe you can take me to school after the apple bucking ! This would be so cool !" I agree and we finish eating. As we finish Applejack looks at me and says "We will wake you up so be ready !" I say that I'll be and we climb up the stairs to get to the second floor. The second floor is a basic hallway with 6 doors, 5 bedrooms and a bathroom. As everyone goes in their rooms, AJ indicates my room and before she leaves I say.

"I gotta say AJ, thanks, thanks for everything...
-Aw, shucks, you're gonna make me blush...
-No, really ! You found me a home, you took my defense, oh and by the way, sorry for the crying in the street...
-Ah'm telling you it's fine. And after all you did lost your family so don't worry, I feel ya...
-Huh ? What do you mean ?" After I say that she shivers for a bit as I continue "You know if you don't want to talk about it I can just leave...
-No, it's okay, I'll tell you..." We sit down at the side of the hallway as she looks at me with a sad smile "My parents were both explorers and one day they left home to travel Equestria. They sent us letters every week telling us their adventures and then aafter one month we received a letter from another adventurer telling us that... they were dead..." Tears fall from her eyes as she says this as I grab her into a tight embrace as tears fall on my shoulder

"It's ok, AJ, sorry to open an old wound...
-It's ok... I needed to share it with someone else..." We then separate and we get up. We were about to go in our separate bedrooms when she kisses me on the cheek and says

"Thanks for listening to me, Zack, it means a lot..." Without letting me react she enters her rooom at a pretty fast pace. I'm frozen for a bit and I enter the room. It's a pretty small room with just a wooden closet a red king size bed and a window with shutters. 'I'll sleep in my pants until I get a pajama from Rarity...' I close the shutters, undress and go in my bed. After this long day, I fall asleep almost immediatly...

I wake up by the sound of someone knocking on my door, judjing by the light coming from the shutters the sun just rose. Guessing it'll be someone from the family I say :

"Enter !" The door opens and Applejack appears wearing a simple white and sky blue striped pajama. She then approaches my bed.

"Hey AJ, what are you doing here ?
-Oh nothing, I just wanted to wake you up with a bit of pleasure..." As she approaches me even more, I'm beginning to feel butterflies in my stomach. I get up but she instantly pinns me down.

"AJ what are you..." She puts a finger on my mouth to stop my talking.

"It's okay, Zack just relax..." She looks at me with a lustful expression as her face approaches mine, she puckers her lips and continues to get closer to me. My body takes control over my mind as my face begins to drift towards her. We get closer and closer, our lips are only inches away and we...

"COCORICOOO !" I wake up suddenly as the rooster shouts, I open my shutters and I look at him. I'm boiling inside and even though it's an animal, I need to let out my rage...

"OH COME ON ! ARE YOU KIDDING ME ! THE ONE GOOD DREAM I HAD IN YEARS ! AND YOU NEED TO WAKE ME UP ! CURSE YOU !" 'Aaah... I feel much better now' After this torrent of rage, I hear a knock on the door, I open the door and I find AJ on the other side. She's wearing the same pajamas from my dream which instantly makes me blush. She speaks up:

"Are you ok Zack ? You're red and you were shouting like a mad man !
-Sorry AJ, I know these animals from my world but I didn't expect them... I was just having a great dream and I was woken up so I was a bit angry...
-Oh ! And what were you dreaming of ?" Her question hits me like a truck as I get redder and I stutter

"Oh... N-nothing important..." She waits for me to answer the question but ultimately gives up.

"It's alright, if you don't want to talk about it... Anyways, take a shower, dress up andwe can get ready to work !" I agree and make my way toward the bathroom as a question pops towards the
front of my mind 'Why did I react like this in my dream ? Why did I even considered it good ?" Out of curiosity before entering the shower, I imagined how this dream would have turned out if it continued... I let my imagination wander off far, far... Until it was to far to stop it... 'COLD. SHOWER. NOW.' I enter the shower and put it as cold as possible (which I normally hate) but it cools me off. Now that I'm calm, I can now question myself about the reason of this whole dream. I search for five minutes before the reality that my mind was trying to repress suddenly became crystal clear 'I have a crush on an anthropomorphic AJ...' I can't believe it but my actions up to this point make a lot more sense now: the blushing, the frozing, the fact that I got so mad when RD said that I had a crush on AJ... This stay at AJ's home is gonna be much harder than I first thought it would be...
I try to get that thought out of my mind and get dressed and go downstairs. The whole family is taking their breakfast and I join them.

"How are you today Zack ?" Big Mac asks me.

"Perfectly fine..." I try to sound as convincing as I can while trying to forget the whole imagination and internal conversation thing.

"You sure, you sound a bit off...
-I maybe got an idea why but he doesn't want to tell me" As AJ says that I try to calm down and say.

"Anyways, I'm ready to work !" We take our breakfast (which is delicious by the way) and we get prepared for work.

'This is going to be a long day...'

Author's Note

And that's it for this chapter ! Sorry for the delay, life caught me off guard: the exams, two weeks of holiday with my family...
But anyways ! I hope you liked the chapter, comment, like and follow and I'll see you in the next chapter !