Wish Gone Awry. Enter Equestria! Enter New Life!

Stopping at a nearby shed, Applejack and Julius grabbed many tools to tend to the trees. Two large carts, two spades, some buckets, various pruning tools, and a lot of water. After locking up the shed, the pair continued down the path.

"Quit looking at my rear!" Applejack commanded Julius as he followed her down the path.

"I'm not looking at your rear; I'm looking past it," Julius told Applejack as they passed by some apple trees. "Though with you swishing your tail like that sure is making it difficult not to look at it," Julius tells Applejack while he steals the odd glance at Applejack's rear.

"I, I'm what?!?" Applejack exclaimed. Looking behind herself, Applejack noticed that her tail was swaying just a little too far past her flanks.

"Yeah, see?" Julius told Applejack as they both look at her swishing tail. "Honestly, I can almost see your pussy," Julius chuckled while Applejack blushed.

"You will tell no pony of this," Applejack shot at a smirking Julius.

"Look, if you want to duck into a shed for some relief, I'm OK with it," Julius half-joked while Applejack turned around to glare at him.

"Now listen here!" Applejack shot at Julius while walking right up to him. "You might have gotten Dash easily. You might have gotten Zecora easily. Even getting Twilight and Princess Luna isn't that surprising. But don't you think for one apple-picking minute that you can just come in here, unsheath your stallionhood, and have me raising my tail like a filly in her first heat!" Applejack firmly tells Julius before turning back around. "Now get serious! We have a lot of work to do today!" Applejack said, a mixture of embarrassment, anger, and arousal.

"OK, OK. But please tell me, why you think getting those mares specifically was easy?" Julius asked, surprised at Applejack's belief.

"Dash is very brash," Applejack told Julius as she lightly tapped a tree with a hoof. "Her taking the first stallion who beat her in a race guaranteed that she'd be getting with a stallion before she was twenty-three. She might be fast, but Dash can be tricked easily enough," Applejack starts to explain as she shakes her head, moving on to a different tree.

"Twilight, well, she's a bit of a repressed introvert," Applejack tells Julius as she looked at a few trees. "So an interesting, unique stallion showing up, showing her attention and affection, well she'd fall for him quickly," Applejack half states, half speculates as she tests a few trees.

"Zecora, well ya got me there. I don't know much about her," Applejack concedes as she looks up and down a large appletree. "But Princess Luna, well, that's easy," Applejack tells Julius as she looks right at him. "But you already know why, don't you?" Applejack asks Julius as she notices the slightly guilty look on his face.

"I know she was in a mentally compromised place and that I unknowingly took advantage," Julius responds, looking guilty. "But I don't know the details. I get the feeling that she doesn't want me to know. Whatever the details are, they must be bad," Julius confirmed to Applejack, who just nodded at him.

"Yeah, the details are pretty bad," Applejack solemnly told Julius as she slightly smiled at the tree. "Honestly, my friends and I only know what Princess Celestia told us and what we've experienced. We don't know anything about what Princess Luna went through; she's very tight-lipped about it. We've talked about it a few times among ourselves, but it gets pretty depressing," a slightly melancholic Applejack said as she lightly tapped the ground with her hoof. "We've talked enough about this, though. The trees here should be fine. However, these trees need care," Applejack, with a heavy breath, told Julius.

"Alright, fair enough. We came here to work after all," Julius said while scratching his neck. "So, uh, how exactly do you know which apple trees need help? And what kind of help they need? All these trees look the same to me," Julius remarked as he looked upon a grade grove of similar-looking apple trees.

"Heh, cutie mark. All the Apples can sense what apple trees need tending to and in what way," Applejack explained. "Fortunately, there shouldn't be much heavy lifting today. You might be strong, but I doubt you could match Big Mac," Applejack laughed as Julius gave her a crooked look.

"Oh, and why do you think that?" Julius asked as he grabbed a watering can. "In case you forgot, I fought off timberwolves," Julius proudly stated as he walked over to an apple tree.

"Don't get me wrong; you could outlast Big Mac, even outfight him. But in terms of pure strength, Big Mac has you beat. Don't take it personally. Big Mac is one hay of a pony. For Tartarus's sake, I'm pretty sure that the only ponies that are stronger than Big Mac are the Princesses," Applejack reassured as she looked through the carts. "Take the pruning poll; I'll do the watering," Applejack tells Julius as she takes a watering can.

"Only the Princesses can match Big Mac's strength, come on, you're exaggerating. There must be stronger ponies and stronger creatures. Honestly, I can't see him overpowering a dragon," Julius says while he starts to prune a branch that Applejack pointed out. "Spike doesn't count; I mean a fully grown dragon," Julius clarifies to Applejack's slight amusement.

"Well, I suppose Bulk Biceps might be stronger; he is more muscular after all. It's a bit of a toss-up as the two never competed," Applejack conceded. "But aside from that, I've never seen any pony stronger than Big Mac. The Princesses have alicorn magic, and that's a whole different kind of apple; can't compete with that," Applejack said while she watered a few trees. "Other creatures, like dragons and the such, might be stronger, but they ain't here, are they?" Applejack conceded further. The morning marched on with the pair making sporadic small talk, meanwhile, at the Golden Oak.

"Big brother, Cadance, I'm here!" Twilight happily exclaimed as she entered The Golden Oak Library. "And I brought a guest," Twilight chirped as she ushered Zecora inside.

"I thank you, my fellow mare," Zecora thanked as she entered the Golden Oak. "Now, would it be too much to ask for a chair?" Zecora asked while she looked around the room.

"Twilight!" Spike happily exclaimed while running up to the mare. "Welcome back!" Spike happily sang as he hugged Twilight.

"It's good to see you too, Spike!" Twilight happily returned the hug. "Where's my brother and Cadance?" Twilight asked as she led Zecora to the defacto living room of the library.

"Right here, Twilly!" Shining Armor responded as he and Cadance entered the Golden Oak. "It's nice to see you!" Shining Armor happily said as he and Twilight shared a quick hug.

"We thought you would have been at Sweet Apple Acres all day today. You know spending time with your, uhhh, stallion?" Cadance unsurely said as she brought in some baked goods.

"Stallion is fine; he's made no qualms about it," Twilight confirms for Cadance as she leads the two into the living room. "I would be with him most of the day, but he and Applejack are doing farm work today. I wouldn't be very helpful at farm work," Twilight told the pair as she sat down beside Spike. "Besides, Julius really should be tested for his magical elemental affinity, and I plan on doing that," Twilight explained as she magically took a strudel.

"So he got magical training without knowing his affinity?" Shining Amor asked as he looked at Zecora.

"Training is a strong word. When Julius trained, his physical abilities were preferred; his magical skills were deferred," Zecora started to clarify as Twilight gave her a strudel. "His augmentation is quite deft. But to his healing, we are bereft," Zecora continued to explain as she took a bite of the strudel. "Affinity testing wasn't something I could do. I lacked the tools; it's sad but true," Zecora said after swallowing a mouthful of the strudel, strawberry jelly lightly painting her lips. "If I may offer a guess, I think he is of Fire and Water persuasion. Fire for being able to activate magic on his occasion, Water for him being able to heal an abrasion," Zecora said with some confidence, though a tinge of doubt could be heard in her voice.

"You sound pretty sure there, Zecora, but I get the feeling that you're not fully convinced," Cadance said as she sat down beside Shining Armor. "Why is that?"

"He could be of Water though he could also be of Earth. It is possible from how he can improve his physical worth," Zecora speculated as she finished her strudel.

"That is a good point," Twilight said as she racked her brain, trying to decide what she'd test for first. "Well, either way, I'll test for all four elements. I think I'll start with Fire, then Water, then Earth, and finally Air," Twilight said aloud as she ate her strudel, cherry jam lightly kissing her lips.

"Seems a bit excessive to test for all four. Once you have the other element Julius is affiliated with, why continue testing?" Spike asked as he grabbed a strudel.

"Two reasons Spike. First, Julius is a human; magic doesn't exist in his world. For all we know, magic might work differently for him. Sure it's likely that he'll be Fire-something, but what if he's different?" Twilight happily asked as she clapped her hooves together, thoughts of the testing swimming through her head. "Second is the way he came to our world. He mentioned being blasted with magic from a strange amulet. It's possible that this was dark magic and has affected his magic in some weird way," Twilight told Spike, to which Cadance's ears perked up.

"Twilight, can you describe the amulet to me?" Cadance asked with more interest than the group was expecting.

"Well, Julius said that it was a 'stupid amulet' not much more than that though," Twilight said, a bit dismayed that she didn't know more. "Why do you ask?"

"I might know what that amulet is," Cadance told the group. "Shining, honey, stay here and enjoy some time with your sister. I'm going to ask Julius about this amulet," Cadance told Shining Armor and the room as she stood up to leave.

"So big brother, about you and Cadance..." Twilight started to say as Cadance teleported out of The Golden Oak.

"Sweet Celestia!" Rarity exclaimed as she saw Julius. "What in Tartarus are you wearing?" Rarity asked as she ran over to a slightly dirty and quite sweaty Julius.

"Spare minotaur clothes," Julius panted as he caught his breath. "Apparently, they were laying around the castle," Julius heavily panted as he looked at Rarity. "Never thought I'd see a mare wearing a skirt and camisole."

"I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of slightly modifying your designs to fit ponies," Rarity explained as her light purple skirt fluttered in the light breeze. "I really do think that they could catch on," Rarity said with some pride as her light, white camisole barely contained her chest fluff. "But enough about that for now. Darling here, change into these!" Rarity commands as she gives Julius a midnight blue tunic with kelly green trim and what appeared to be shamrock green joggers. "You must forgive me, darling, but I'm still working on the boots," Rarity told Julius as she gave him the clothes.

"That's OK," Julius assured Rarity as he took the clothes. "Applejack, Rarity is here! She brought me some clothes! I'm going into the shed to change!" Julius shouted into the orchard as he walked off towards the shed.

"Alright, don't be too long, though! We still have a lot to do!" Applejack shouted back, her voice sounding like it was moving closer. After several minutes Rarity could hear hoof steps coming closer.

"Applejack, darling, you sure are working the poor stallion hard," Rarity joked as she saw Applejack approaching her.

"Keep laughing, Rarity; I'm not working him any harder than Big Mac," Applejack shot back before sharing in the joke. "So what brings you back, other than bringing Julius some finished clothes?" Applejack asked as she caught her breath.

"Well, Applejack, I'm-" Rarity started to say before getting cut off.

"AHHH! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!" Julius bellowed out loudly as he stumbled backward out of the shed.

"Julius, darling, what's wrong?" Rarity asked as she and Applejack turned to look at him.

"PRINCESS BUBBLEGUM JUST POPPED OUT OF NOWHERE!" A very naked Julius exclaimed while still recovering from the surprise.

"Calm down, calm down," Cadance calmly said as she walked out of the shed. "I came to ask you some questions, but I can see I've interrupted your changing. I'll wait out here while you change," Cadance told Julius as she took a few steps towards Applejack. Stumbling over himself, Julius scampered back into the shed.

"Cadance, why are you here?" Rarity asked as she looked at the alicorn. "And why aren't you affected by Julius?"

"Rarity, I'm the princess of love," Cadance lightly laughed, "I'm used to strong pheromones. Applejack, however," Cadance explained while charging a spell, "she could use some help," Cadance stated as she blasted Applejack with a spell.

"Where am I? What am I doing? Cadance, why are you here?" Applejack started asking as she came to her senses.

"You'll be OK, Applejack. I just used a spell to dispel the lust you were feeling. Give it a few moments, and you'll remember everything," Cadance comforted as Applejack regained her senses.

"I uhhh, I," Applejack stammered as she remembered everything, a slight blush coming to her face. "So Cadance, why are you here?" Applejack quickly asked again, trying to banish the real question she wanted to ask from her mind.

"I'm here to ask Julius some questions about the amulet that brought him here," Cadance told Applejack as a wry smile made its way on her face. "I'm guessing that you have a question you also want to ask?"

"I, uhhh," Applejack started to stammer, her cheeks turning redder. "I do," Applejack blushed, slightly ashamed. "But I'm not saying it!" Applejack fiery blushed as she turned away from the mares.

"It does feel quite a bit different from a pony's, but it hits spots that a pony's cannot. Oh, and the feeling of when he fills you up is pure magic darling," Rarity giggled, much to Cadance's amusement and Applejack's surprise.

"Really, you too, Rarity?" Applejack asked in surprise.

"Well, he certainly has an impressive size, and his pheromones are strong enough," Cadance complimented as the shed door opened.

"You know I could hear you the whole time, right?" Julius asked as he came out of the shed, fully dressed in the clothes he got from Rarity. "Honestly, Applejack, if you're so curious, I know of a good way for you to find out," Julius joked as Rarity and Cadance laughed.

"This, Rarity, this is one of the reasons I'm working him so hard. There is a lot to do, and his mind needs to be taken off of mounting mares," Applejack firmly said to a laughing Rarity.

"Oh, like you have any room to talk. I swear every time I look your way, your tail is nearly uncovering your pussy," Julius shot back, much to Applejack's embarrassment and Rarity's laughter.

"Alright, that's enough, you two," Cadance said between laughs. "I'm not here to talk about stallions and their tools or breeding mares," Cadance said while turning to Julius. "I'm here to find out more about the amulet that brought you here," Cadance said while looking at Julius.

"Yes, I heard while I was in the shed," Julius said as he closed his eyes. "Well, it was primarily black; I think it was onyx. It had ruby red accents and a decently sized ruby in the middle. The central part of the amulet was an upsidedown triangle. Coming out of the top of the amulet was a unicorn's head and two wings. The amulet's accents glowed, and a black mist seemed to come from it. Then the amulet spoke to me. At first, I didn't understand the language, but I started to understand it as it spoke. It told me to make a wish, so I wished to be taken to where the amulet came from; the amulet obliged and blasted me with a red wave of magic. I felt nothing but pain, and then I woke up in the Everfree Forest," Julius summarized to Cadance.

"I see," Cadance said in concern. "I know what that amulet is," Cadance said to the shock of the two mares and the human. "It's an ancient artifact, The Alicorn Amulet," Cadance said as she looked hard at Julius. "When Twilight tests you for your magic, we will need to test for dark magic as well," Cadance solemnly said.

"Why? I never used dark magic before," Julius asked while Rarity and Applejack looked at each other.

"The Alicorn Amulet was made over one thousand moons ago. From what I've been told by Celestia, about one thousand five hundred moons ago, there was a unicorn sorcerer named Sombra. Sombra was a talented sorcerer, one of the best in early Equestria, but he always wanted more. More power, more influence, more everything. But the thing he wanted most was Princess Luna; but at the time, both Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna were far too busy pacifying the land to make any time for love or stallions. Sombra couldn't wait, so he decided to delve into dark magic. After many dark rituals, Sombra had succeeded in making The Alicorn Amulet. It gave him magical power on par with that of the Princesses, but it was evil, corrupt. Sombra wanted to help pacify the land so that he could get with Auntie Luna quicker; however, both Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna recognized the corruption in the amulet and the corruption in Sombra. Leaving Equestria dejected, Sombra went north to the Crystal Empire. Once there, he usurped the Crystal Throne, enslaved the Crystal Ponies, then declared war on Equestria. Fortunately, Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna managed to defeat Sombra; however, he cursed the Crystal Empire to fade away with him," Cadance explained to Julius. "The Alicorn Amulet is inherently dark. If you were sent here by it, then there is a chance that you have some magical corruption as well," Cadance told Julius.

"Wait, if I had magical corruption, then wouldn't it have shown itself by now?" Julius asked as he took in Cadance's story.

"If you made heavy use of your magic, then yes. However, it seems like you only use your magic for physical augmentation and, when needed, healing," Cadance started to explain. "Don't worry; I don't sense anything too off about you. If there is any corruption, it's likely minimal. Still, though, it should be tested for," Cadance reassured and affirmed.

"Fair enough," Julius conceded. "So when will this testing take place, and where?" Julius asked as he moved around a bit in his new clothes.

"The testing can wait until this evening, and it can take place at The Golden Oak," Cadance said as she started to turn away. "Anyways, I found out want I wanted to, and I have some business to take care of; I'll be going now. It was nice talking to you," Cadance chirped before teleporting away.

"Well then, this break was nice, but we really should get back to work," Applejack said as she stretched her legs.

"One moment, Applejack," Rarity said as she walked over to Julius. "I have a favor to ask of Julius."

"No rarity, you cannot rut him," Applejack said, rolling her eyes.

"Very funny," Rarity shot back at Applejack. "No, it's not about that, though I wouldn't be opposed. It's about the clothes," Rarity started to explain. "The designs you gave me were unique. I think they could have a strong market in Equestria. If it's OK with you, I would like to sell versions of them, modified for ponies, of course," Rarity requested of Julius.

"Sure, I don't see why not," Julius told a very happy Rarity.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rarity happily exclaimed as she pranced around Julius. "I cannot wait! I'll get to work making the pony versions of those clothes while I wait for the titanium I need to finish the landsknecht outfit!" A very happy Rarity exclaimed while prancing. "Your other clothes, though, are finished. You can pick them up whenever you get the time, darling!" Rarity exclaimed, the energy still heavy in her voice. "Now I really must be off; I have many new clothes to make!" Rarity happily exclaimed before quickly kissing Julius. "Thank you so much, darling! You've done fashion in Equestria a great service!" Rarity happily declared while prancing off.

"Well then, Applejack, let's get back to work," Julius said as he started to make his way back into the orchard. "I believe you were telling me about the history of Ponyville?" Julius said as he grabbed the pruning poll he put down.

"Yes, I was," Applejack responded, making sure that she didn't walk ahead of Julius. "It all started back when Granny Smith was just a young filly..." Applejack started as she told the familiar tale of Ponyville's founding. The midday sun was shining brightly in the sky as the two resumed their work.