"What?!"

Alex couldn't believe what he'd just heard; he feared he had gone insane and now was just hallucinating all of this.

Applejack took off her hat, her ears pressing against her head as she knew Alex would yell at her for this. Part of her wanted to yell at herself for this.

"Wait, waitwaitwait. You will sell me off to some pony I barely even know?!"

"L-look here sugarcube, Ah know you don't like that idea, b-but this sorta stuff is normal around ponyfolk to do with their... so called slaves," the last part she spoke in clear disgust and hatred for the term, "Ah wish Ah could change the things, but Ah'm only one mare, and as Ah said this needs to happen so the towns-ponies begin to trust you." She was still keeping her look on the table, looking embarrassed to say this. "Also... yah said yah would think about it..." she mumbled.

Alex just shook his head; taking a deep breath he tried to calm himself down.

"Applejack... I did tell you that, but I didn't think you would ask for it this early! I'm not even sure if I would consider living here possible for a long time, let alone bang the towns' ponies! And again, this would be my first time, and well..." he blushed and looked to the side.

"Ya want it to be with someone yah hold dear right? " He nodded at the question. She hissed, feeling guilt grow and twist inside her. "O-okay, look here... Ah will talk to Berry 'bout ya and see if there is a compromise that can be made. But Ah make no promises, if yah absolutely are against it after that... then Ah say screw the customs. Alex... do yah trust me on this?"

Alex looked up, his eyes meeting hers; sighing deeply he gave a slow nod. "Fine, I trust you on this, but only this time; I usually don't trust easily you know?"

She nodded and smiled softly."Ya still a bit hungry?"

Alex shook his head.

"Nah; thank you though, this was delicious." He chuckled. "But... since we were kinda on the topic... do you have some of that hard cider? I would like to try it." He had full smirk now.

Applejack rolled her eyes at his behavior "Oh mah, okay okay, yah can have some, but don't yah get drunk, yah hear? Ah need ya ready for work tomorrow morning after all." She left for a while before returning with a tall bottle of the famous Apple family's hard apple cider. She pulled out two glasses and filled them with the beverage.

"To yer arrival here mah friend, it may not be a pinkie-party but it's somethin'." Their glasses slightly hit with a soft sound before the two downed the drink.

"What is a pinkie-party? I've never heard of that before... is it a party where everyone has to wear pink? " he drank the last sip from his glass. "Damn, this stuff is good..."

Applejack giggled at his question. "No yah silly filly, it's a party hosted by a friend of me-that reminds me, Ah need to introduce ya to mah friends!"

Alex raised a eyebrow at that questioningly.

"Are they all as pleasant as the princess... what was her name...Twilight?" he shuddered as he remembered that scene.

"Nah nah, Twi is a special case, since she is around the other princesses and royalty quite often now, she did pick up their bad habits, sadly. She was much kinder before she went up there to Canterlot and all that; now she tries to act like royalty to fit her title as princess."

"Huh. You know, I think that's a pretty weak kind of behavior; because you have a title now you act differently just to fit in with the people in your ranks..." Alex pondered out loud as he poured himself another drink, getting a warning glare from the mare for it.

"It may be from yer point of view but from ours, as ponies, she just acts like she is expected to do, though Ah can't believe how far she is going with poor Spike sometimes... she treated him better before all of that started." she seemed a bit glum there for a moment. "But that doesn't matter now; what does is that you need to get to know my other friends, and don't worry, we won't go to 'em all at once; two at a time or so should be good enough for a start eh?" she smirked as he drank down his second glass of hard cider.

"Yeah probably, as long as you don't bring me to anyone as bad as Twilight or the people of the market today." He drank down his glass as the dark slowly set. "Well I'll be getting some early shut eye, gotta work hard tomorrow don't I?"

To that she smiled and nodded. Alex made his way to the cellar after saying goodnight and let himself fall down on his hay stack again, slowly drifting off into the realm of dreams and nonsense.

He woke up later to a poke in his side and heard a whisper of a voice that he'd heard once before.

"Ah told yah girls Ah was not lying, we have a monster living in our basement." Another poke, he grumbled in his now half awake state.

"A-apple Bloom d-don't wake it, what if it eats ponies, or is violent, we should not be here..." Spoke a much softer but also higher voice, still obviously a kid.

"I don't care if it wakes up, if it does I will show it some of my moves that will knock it out for sure!" Spoke a third voice, this one being a bit more raspy, and Alex was not sure but he assumed it was also female.

He decided that this would be now the moment where he should show them he was awake. "If you want to show some moves to me, please do so when I'm awake; it is night time for pete's sake." It was indeed deep in the night; his comment was met with three gasps and shuffling noises. He opened his eyes with a groan and looked over to where he had heard the voices come from.

There stood three fillies, shaking in their fur as they looked at him now with big eyes. One of them was obviously Apple Bloom, that he could tell by her voice, but the other two he could not recognize.

"Who are you three, and what are you doing in here?

He threw a closer look at the two he did not know yet; one had orange color and seemed to have wings and a purple mane, a little pegasus then, she looked up at him with a mixture of bravery and fear.

The other one had a cream colored coat and a two colored mane and tail in shades of purple and bright pink. She clearly looked scared and hid more behind her friends.

Apple Bloom decided to step forward and speak up. "Well my name is Apple bloom, these are Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle... and we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

Alex blinked twice at that, now completely puzzled. "C-c-crusaders? I didn't know Equestria had wars like that." Strangely enough only Sweetie Belle seemed to giggle at that joke.

"No , we are looking for our cutie marks," Apple Bloom explained, "ya do know what those are right?"

Alex nodded."I didn't know until today but, yeah I do. Now... why did you come in here?"

All three girls suddenly looked very nervous until Scootaloo decided to speak up. "Well... we were trying to get our cutie marks in monster hunting and... Apple Bloom told us that she had a monster lately in her basement so... we went to... capture it... which means capturing you... I guess?"

At that point Alex was already laughing his ass off, he even fell of the stack he had sat on. "But I'm not a monster, not at all! Maybe to you I am but I don't need to be captured!" He smiled.

"C-c-c-can you prove that you are not a danger...?" Sweetie Belle squeaked in fear. Alex simply nodded to that.

"Would Applejack take me into town and help her sell items if i were?"

"Ah guess not... then what are ya?" Apple Bloom asked now, simply skipping over to him and looking up at him.

"I am a human, and no I don't think there are more in Equestria of my kind since, well...I am not from here... from this planet, I fear."

Before he even had finished his sentence he got a face full of orange filly, as Scootaloo had raced up on to his face and her hooves now rested on his shoulders.

"So you are... an alien? A real alien?" her eyes sparkled with excitement.

Alex pondered that for a second before chuckling. "I guess you could call me that; yeah, I'm an alien." Scootaloo fell back, letting herself fall onto his lap.

"A real alien..." she whispered. "That... is... so... awesome!! Tell us everything about where you come from please please please!" She was practically begging now.

"I will... after I sleep some more hours; right now I'm way too tired to tell any kind of information. But I'm sure I can find some time to talk tomorrow after work." He promised. The three fillies nodded happily before Apple Bloom looked shocked.

"Oh darn, right, we need to get back to bed too girls, if mah sister finds us here, at this time of the night, we'll be grounded for months." They all quickly turned to leave but each said goodbye before they ran off, closing the door behind them.

"That was a, unwanted but... rather cute surprise today. Welp, time to go back and catch Z's." Alex mumbled to himself before he went back to 'bed' and soon enough was asleep again.

The next morning was pretty much the same as the last, or at least the start of it was cause as soon as he had stretched and went out of the cellar, he'd been dragged over to the dining room of the Apple family by Apple Bloom, who was insisting that he was eating breakfast with them. He tried to convince her, without success, to do otherwise.

"Come on Apple Bloom, you know as well as I, that your family would not like a thing like me at the table. I should just get to work so I can make myself useful."

"Nuh-uh ya are eatin' with us ya hear, also Ah'm not the only one who wants you there, ain' that right Big Mac?" She asked as she pushed the poor man onto one of the chairs. Besides him sat the red stallion, grinning widely as he nodded.

"Also, he too ain't tha only one who wants you here. Or did yah forget that Ah told you Ah would now look after that you get somethin' between your teeth?" Applejack entered the dining room from the kitchen, carrying a big bowl of fresh oatmeal on her back. Alex immediately shut up as he knew that arguing with the mare would probably end with him losing; instead he focused on the table and what was on it. There were the usual hash browns, freshly made waffles, some sandwiches with what seemed to be flowers of different kinds, two jugs with apple juice, things that looked like bacon strips but seemed to have been made of something else, a wide assortment of different jams-one even being all the colors of the rainbow-, freshly made scrambled eggs, some pots with different teas and, to top it all off, a very big can of which seemed to be something along the lines of coffee. Safe to say, Alex was amazed by the variety of foods and drinks that were handed out.

Applejack smirked as she set down the bowl of oatmeal on the table and sat down beside him. Apple Bloom sat to her left, and on the other side of the table sat a mare that looked old but studied him with eyes so active and wise, that he was afraid she could look right through him without any problems.

"Well howdy there, yah must be the critter Big Mac knocked out, sorry about that by the way. Tell me, how yah doin' now as it is your, Ah think second day here sonny?" she chattered happily; a silent sigh of relief could almost be seen on his face.

"Oh it has been a good time so far, few things here or there, but overall good. How may I call you, miss...?" he asked to be polite.

"Oh drop that miss stuff lassie, call me Granny Smith, everyone in town does so, and seein' how yah help Applejack an try your best, yah should do so too, now dig in!"

With that breakfast was started; Alex made sure to try a bit of everything-except for the sandwiches with flowers, as he wasn't sure if he could even digest that. Everything else though was like heaven to him! He usually avoided food at home on earth, but here? He loved it; the food tasted great and felt so natural, like it had no extra flavors added to it artificially. He even tried the strange-looking bacon, and as he suspected it was not bacon but he liked the taste and consistency; it was like a bit over flavored and crispier french fries.

After the breakfast with the Apple family, Alex went out together with Applejack to begin his daily work: her bringing the apples down, him bringing the baskets to the barn. He also got to repair a few things, like a broken water pipe under the kitchen sink. Which he did quite well, thanks to his previous life in a broken down apartment giving him plenty of experience with such issues.

Alex had just gotten back outside from drinking a refreshing glass of apple juice when he heard something. A sound that he could not put his finger on. It was like something was flying towards him at high speed. He turned towards where the sound was coming from-and before he could even react something hit him hard right in the face, causing Alex to fall back and let out a pained grunt. All he had been able to see before being hit was a blue blur. He also had a metallic taste on his lips, blood dripping from his nose.

As he opened his eyes again he saw something before him that amazed him but at the same time scared him. Before Alex hovered a pegasus mare. Her coat was light blue and her mane and tail were of all the colors of the rainbow, but the look she gave him was clearly not a friendly one; clear disgust was in it.

"Hey, what does a filthy piece of horse-apples like you have to do on this farm?!! Did you try to hurt the ponies here?!" she shouted at him and before Alex could even answer or defend himself she flew at him and showered him with punches and kicks.

On hit him hard in the shoulder and a loud pop could be heard as he screamed loudly into the sky, his entire arm just dangling there limply.

"Ha, does it hurt you damn monster?! I hope it does!!" she yelled with a smirk.

Alarmed by the commotion Big Mac, Apple Bloom and Applejack arrived on the scene, looking shocked at what was transpiring in front of them. Alex looked like he was in really bad shape: he had several smaller cuts and bruises all over his body, he bled from both his nose and mouth, although the latter was mostly blood falling from his nose and cuts and scrapes to his lips, he was breathing heavily as he tried to stay on his legs. The rainbow colored mare lifted her now bloody hooves again but was tackled to the ground by Applejack.

"Rainbow, for tha love of Luna, stop!! He's a friend of mine, not a monster!!" she shouted as she held Rainbow down strongly so she could not even try to attack Alex again.

"Apple Bloom, go and get the first aid kit, quickly." Ordered Big mac, the filly nodded and speeded off as fast as she could. Big mac then hurried over to Alex and looked over his body to see how big the damage was.

"Darn it, Applejack, looks like she dislocated his shoulder and cracked a few of his ribs." The stallion said, clear worry on his face.

Apple bloom came running back with the first aid kit and her and Big mac began patching Alex up slowly.

"Rainbow Dash, what in bucking Tartarus were you thinking?! To attack a worker, someone that is clearly no danger?!!!" Applejack was furious while she looked down at her friend.

"Alright alright let go off me, I didn't know the freak was your family's slave, so what? You can always replace them, right? Besides he looked so aggressive and evil, someone just had to hit him, bet you do it too sometimes." Rainbow looked a bit ashamed but still had that smirk on her face.

"He ain't no slave, he is a worker here, and a friend to us by now, so don't ya go and attack someone ya don't know cause you think they may be dangerous! Did you really think Ah would let someone dangerous work on mah farm? Ah expected better of yah!" Applejack went off Rainbow and stepped over to Alex, taking a protective stance in front of him.

"Now Ah would advise yah to scram for today Rainbow cause Ah have a worker to patch up and help, alright?" she tried to calm herself.

"Well, you may accept that thing Applejack, but I sure won't, it looks freaky and it wont take long until he hurts a pony, maybe even a filly. I will keep my eye on that damn thing!"

With that Rainbow flew off, leaving only a dust cloud in her space.

Suddenly there was another pop and Alex screamed again, this time passing out from the pain and Applejack whirled around. Big Mac had just used the time in which the human had been distracted and had relocated his shoulder.

"He is okay, for the most part. All he needs right now is some rest and time to recover after he wakes up." Spoke the red stallion as he put the human on his back.

"He will rest in mah bed till he wakes. So don't worry Applejack, Ah know ponies when Ah see them, and this guy is a tough one." With that he trotted off, carrying Alex to his bed.

Apple Bloom still looked at where Rainbow Dash had flown off from, then to the small drops of blood that were spread across the place and then at her sister.

"Ah gotta tell the girls about this, this is not okay, not at all. We will build a guard for him and... and..."

Applejack crouched down and hugged her gently, trying to come up with a way to calm down her younger sister and make her smile again.

"Well little sister, when he wakes, he will need a few ponies looking after him, right? To see if he is okay? Would ya like that, maybe there is a cutie mark for it?"

Apple Bloom hugged back for a few seconds then let go, a small smile on her lips as she nodded.

"That sounds good, us three could be... like... Cutie Mark Crusader nurses!!" with that the yellow little filly raced off towards the clubhouse to tell the other two about what had happened and their new way to gain their cutie marks while helping her friend.

Author's Note

Okay that's done hehe. What will happen next, tune in next time, wich will be....whenever i find time to write. As always constructive criticism is much appreciated and i hope you have fun with the story. See ya next time!