Zecora navigated them through the forest expertly. Didn't run into any hazardous flora or fauna at all. And in seemingly no time at all, the pair stepped out of the treeline and had the forest at their backs.

Charlie sighed, glad to put the forest behind her. But once she looked up, Charlie froze, her eyes widening and her jaw hanging open. No way...there was just no...she couldn't believe it! Was that...?! She'd heard of this from her mom and Vaggie a long time ago, but...! But this...! Was that really...?! "...blue sky...?!" she whispered to herself, unable to really grasp or comprehend it.

Back in hell, the night sky was adorned with crimson stars dwarfed by a massive pentagram looming overhead; and even during the day, a dark reddish haze hung over the world.

But blue?! The sky really could be blue?! It was beautiful! It was amazing! Stunning! Breathtaking! It made her feel like wanting to weep! And the sunshine! It felt so good! So warm and, unlike hellfire, it was inviting! And the flowers! Oh...they were stunning! So many colors and scents! The bright, soft green grass under her hooves felt great, too!

Charlie never thought she'd ever be allowed to experience such wonders in her life! Compared to the bleak, constantly inhospitable environment she knew...was THIS what Heaven was supposed to be like?!

She loved it!

Turning to Zecora, she smiled. "Thank you, Zecora. So...you live in the forest to help anyone lost in there, huh?"

"Everfree forest is a wild and harsh place, that's true; therefore, aiding those lost there is something that I occasionally must do." the stripped horse replied.

"I can attest to that. Your help made all the difference going through there. It's practically impossible to believe it's the same place if you go there with your help than when you don't have you guiding who ends up in there." Charlie nodded.

"The compliment, it is kind of you to say; now come, Ponyville is this way." Zecora said, leading the way until they were able to see Ponyville.

Seeing the town, Charlie's eyes widened.

The architecture she was expecting was the only kind she knew of. Everything having a macabre flair. Buildings were twisted and bent, composed of harsh angles and edges; adorned with skulls, spikes, and steep towers; many of the windows look like eyes, gazing at the inhabitants with cruel and wicked glares.

This...wasn't that. At all!

Shaking off a fraction of her wonder, the word "quaint" came to mind as she looked around, awed by everything she saw. The infrastructure of Ponyville consisted of mostly medieval village-style architecture, and most homes were timber-framed cottages with distinct thatched roofs and overhanging upper floors.

"Charlie, I regret that here we must part." Zecoroa said, catching her attention, "there were events that need investigating within the forest, and that is something I must start."

Charlie gave a small, strained smile and a nod at that. Oh great...the exorcism that sent her away from home had also caused an uproar here...not to mention the only one she actually knew here was leaving her alone. "I'm sorry to hear that, my friend. But I hope we see one another again. Thanks for everything, Zecora."

The Zebra smiled at that and nodded; her heading back to the Everfree Forest, while Charlie went forward to Ponyville.

As she entered town, Charlie walked around. Feeling a want to see more burned within her, she wandered around. Charlie wished she was an Argus Panoptes, a hundred-eyed giant, as she continued to take in the sights, utterly awed by everything there beyond words, and wishing to commit everything she saw to memory. She also saw some ponies smile and wave at her which she returned eagerly as the walked around, though Charlie did get the occasional odd look. Those were easy to shrug off, given her current form of a bat-winged, double-horned pony. Doubted they'd seen anyone like her before.

As she continued to wander, dictated and directed by her desire to see more of this place, she ended up in a park. That was when she froze.

That sound...where was it coming from?! Delighted by the sound, she followed it and when she saw the source, to her utter joy, it was a tree full of birds! Birdsong! No wonder it was so beautiful!

What amazed her more was when she saw a pegasus—an actual pegasus!—pony with a coat that was colored pale, light yellow and had a pale, light rose mane and tail, whose flank had a mark showed three colored butterflies, seeming to act similar to an orchestra conductor to the birds.

Charlie went to get a closer look of the pegasus and the birds, until the birds all started sqwaking when they sensed her presence before flying away. After seeing all of the bluebirds fly from her, Charlie looked down and she sniffed and felt her eyes start to moisten.

Turning at the sound, the yellow pony's moderate cyan colored eyes widened slightly, then she went over to Charlie as she placed a hoof on her shoulder and Charlie saw that the other winged pony was looking at her with concern. "Oh my...are you all right?"

"...I...I didn't mean to scare them...just...their song was so lovely, I..."

Hearing Charlie say that caused the pegasus' eyes to widen again before she was put on the verge of tears herself, "Oh... You poor, poor thing..." she said sympathetically, wrapping her forelimbs around her in what was unmistakably a hug.

The bluebirds flew towards the pegasus, sqwaking, no doubt for her to get away from Charlie, until she gave the birds a look of some kind with tears still in her eyes, "You all should be ASHAMED of yourselves! All she wanted from you all was to hear your song! And this is how your treat her?! SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!"

Forcing herself under control, Charlie started to stand, "It... It's alright... I...I had a feeling this would happen... it's alright... really..." she sighed. Figures a denizen of Hell would alarm animals, much less if that one in particular was related to the Devil himself. That whole 'sixth sense' for things animals had always caused them to react to her demonic presence by running away. "...It's...it's just always been that way with me. Scare animals even if I don't want to...I don't like it, but..."

The yellow pony winced. All she wanted was to enjoy animals, but...she shuddered, that was horrible; utterly horrible! There just HAD to be a way to help her! "I am so sorry for the bird's rude behavior. They're never like this, but I'll have to give them a suitable punishment later. Oh! I'm sorry, I never got to introduce myself, I'm Fluttershy." she said, then noticed something that shocked her, "Oh my goodness! Your wing! Oh my, you need to get that looked at! Come with me, I'll take you to the doctor right away!" Fluttershy said as she then lead Charlie to the doctor to get her wing looked at and treated.

"Thank you, Fluttershy; you're very kind." Charlie smiled as they sat in the waiting area after Fluttershy had explained about Charlie's wing.

Fluttershy smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. After a few minutes, they were called.

As the nurse, who introduced herself as (of all things) Nurse Redheart, carefully fit a cast onto Charlie's wing, she felt her patient shudder as she tried not to move as the wing was wrapped. "What happened?"

"Ended up in Everfree...croc that was all stone and teeth..." Charlie sighed.

Nurse Redheart winced at that, "Cragadile attack..."

"At least it was the back end of it that got me...better that than the teeth..." Charlie huffed, shuddering as she recalled the creature.

Redheart nodded. Tail or teeth? No contest at all. As much as a broken bone from getting hit by the tail would hurt, it beat being chomped by the fangs! "I see the point. Well, either way, leave the cast on and don't mess with it. It will be on for at least between six to eight weeks, although it might take more time, so I recommend periodic visits for X-rays and seeing how it's healing. If you experience any uncomfortable changes, be sure to come back right away. Also, don't move your wing until the bones are mended. We'll let you know when it's ok to remove it."

Nodding, Charlie finished up with getting her wing set before exiting the doctors with Fluttershy. She bid the kind pony a farewell and promised to repay her some way before going off to find out more about this wondrous place she found herself in.

As Charlie continued to explore he heard a gasp before she looked and saw a unicorn mare with white, fur, moderate azure colored eyes with eyeshadow that were colored light cornflower bluish gray, the unicorn's mane and tail were moderate indigo, and on the shadowed side, a gradient of dark mulberry, and her tail was also looked was swirled like a coil and finally on her flank was another one of those tattoo things but this one was of three diamonds.

Charlie also noticed that this unicorn seemed to have dropped a bag filled with sowing equipment, however, to her surprise, the unicorn rushed to her and skid to a stop so Charlie was now staring at this new mare as she was looking her over.

From this unicorn's perspective, this HAD to be fixed! This Alicorn's mane was tangled in the worst way possible with split ends, sticks, and leaves sticking out all over the place. One of her wings was clearly injured as it was in a splint, and her outfit...her poor outfit...was torn in places and also had slash marks and holes. Not to mention her hooves and face were covered in dried mud and scratches, and she seemed unsteady and ready to drop at a moment's notice. All in all, the poor pony was an absolute mess.

"Quickly! We simply must get you freshened up and those filthy rags off you, now!" the unicorn said while her horn gained a light, icy blue, luminescent aura around it that matched both her eyes and her flank mark, which, to Charlie's shock, the unicorn seemed to use in order to levitate Charlie off the ground and ran off somewhere.

"Wha...?! Hey!" Charlie yelped, feeling like a balloon on a string as the glowing energy made it so she followed the unicorn as she continued to run before arriving at a building and skid to a stop. After the unicorn knocked on the door, a slot opened and a pair of eyes were seen looking through it. "Password?" the one on the other side said.

"Beauty within, beauty without." The unicorn said, "please, this is a red alert! We
need to get busy!"

Hearing that, the pony behind the door's eyes widened and closed the slot and unlocked the door, "Please come in, Miss Rarity."

The obvious bouncer let the unicorn pass, but just before Charlie could follow, still enveloped in the blue aura from the pony's horn, the stallion slammed his hoof against the door frame and glared at her, clearly not letting her inside.

"It's alright, she's with me, in fact she's the one who's in need of the emergency, please let her in." The mare, Rarity, said while feeling a little embarrassed about forgetting to vouch for the one who's the reason they were here in the first place.

The stallion nodded and let Charlie inside before looking both ways, then slammed the door shut and re-locked it.

Once they were inside, Rarity finally set Charlie down, "This way, dear. We have so much to do..." Charlie followed behind Rarity as she seemed to know her way around this place, and from the looks of it, this place had a lot of fancy beauty care products from hair care to anti-aging creams...from the looks of it, if it was a beauty product that could be named, it was there.

Rarity then lead Charlie to where a main desk was and rang a bell. Following that, two ponies who could pass as twins then appeared, both wearing white bands on their heads and they were also wearing white collars only, the first one was a light cerulean colored pony with a pale rose colored mane and tail, and she had light cornflower bluish gray eyeshadow with moderate azure colored eyes and on her flank was a pink lotus mark.

The second pony was like the complete opposite of the first, as she was a pale rose color with a light cerulean colored mane and tail. She also had the same eye color as her counterpart and even the same coloring of eyeshadow as the first one. Even the flank mark were almost the same, except hers was a blue lotus instead of pink.

"Where is the one who needs the emergency, Miss Rarity?" The Cerulean mare asked as Rarity pointed at Charlie who was looking around the place until she felt the two small mares grab her with the pale rose one being careful with her cast-encased wing, then they took her to a large bin already filled with water as they then placed her into it after stripping her of her destroyed clothes, with a staff member taking them to be destroyed until Rarity stopped them by taking the clothes and holding onto them so she could at least get the right measurements first.

The two mares then began to start cleaning and caring for Charlie's hair, making sure not to make their guest feel uncomfortable and to avoid tangling her hair with her horns. While also doing her hooves in a manicure/pedicure fashion.

After thirty minutes of washing and cleaning Charlie's hair, the two spa ponies lifted her out of the water and wrapped a robe around her as they then guided her into the steam room to relieve the stress of her day away as she was laid belly-down on a massage table that had a face rest/head cradle while a beauty mud mask with cucumbers was put on her face. Then Charlie found herself subjected to a hoofed massage. Taking a deep breath, Charlie sighed, feeling she needed this right now.

"...Rarity, right? Thanks...this all feels great..." the alicorn sighed blissfully as the massage ended and the mask was removed from her face. As it was, the unicorn pony who brought her here looked her in surprise.

"My goodness, darling... How did you ever keep your makeup on during the treatments?" Rarity asked Charlie.

"What makeup?" Charlie asked.

"Why, your makeup powder and lipstick, darling." Rarity said, still in shock.

"Huh?" Charlie wondered, looking in a nearby mirror, only to blink in surprise as she realized what Rarity was talking about, her perpetual blush and black lips. "Oh...no, those are natural. Born with them."

"Really!? That's amazing." Rarity marveled.

Shrugging as best as a quadruped could, Charlie smiled, something Rarity noted the color on her cheeks and lips drew attention to.

"Oh my, darling, I must say your cheeks and lips match wonderfully with your charming personality. Makes it easy to draw attention to your smiles." Rarity said as she couldn't help smiling along with Charlie.

"Thank you, Rarity. And thank you for all this. Needed the relaxation." Charlie confessed, somewhat flattered seeing as she liked being able to smile about things. Then noticed Rarity had seemingly forgotten about the princess of Hell's former attire.

As Rarity was talking with Charlie, one of the spa ponies walked up to Rarity and whispered to her about if she was done with Charlie's outfit because it was making some of the other staff members uncomfortable seeing something like it still around. Rarity's eyes widened with a sudden look of shock as she forgot about Charlie's old suit.

"Oh my goodness! I completely...! Whatever happened to your outfit!?" Rarity asked, looking at Charlie's old attire.

"Well, you see..." Charlie began, only to be cut off as she was again covered and lifted by that blue aura again before being yanked along again, this time stopping at a boutique.

"NEVER MIND! WE UTTERLY MUST REPLACE THIS HORROR SHOW OF A SUIT, POST-HASTE! YOU CAN'T GO AROUND IN THAT!" The unicorn shouted some clothes up to her, "Try these on, NOW!"

Charlie, however, looked at the dresses with an uncomfortable, skeptic expression.

"What's wrong?" the unicorn asked.

Charlie sighed, understanding this unicorn only wanted to help and do something nice, so was a bit worried how to make this sound without coming off as rude, "Well...beauty is about finding the right fit, the most natural fit, right?"

"Oh, I quite agree, my dear. One cannot be beautiful if they feel they must become something they aren't. The whole thing becomes hollow and lifeless, otherwise. Personally, I find that to be the epitome of ugliness if that were to happen; you need to be comfortable with who you are yourself then accent and highlight it in your own way." The diamond-flanked unicorn said.

"Well...please understand I don't mean any offence to you, for the record, theses are lovely; but I'm more comfortable with a penchant for favoring tasteful suits over luxury gowns and formal wear. It's just me." The winged, double-horned pony said.

"Ah. I understand perfectly. Let me see what I have, then." The unicorn nodded, levitating the dresses back to their original places then went looking for something tasteful that matched Charlie's sense of style.

"Wait...what you have? You own this place?" Charlie asked.

The blue-eyed clotheshorse poked her head out from behind a rack. "Oh, how thoughtless of me. Yes, this is the Canterlot Carousel Boutique, and I'm both the owner and lead designer. Rarity."

Charlie rolled her eyes, amused. She'd already learned Rarity's name from how that spa club had addressed her. "My name's Charlotte, but I prefer to be called Charlie."

After a few moments, Rarity came back with a few outfits, "Let's see how these are, then, shall we?" then directed Charlie into a dressing room and gave her the first outfit.

As she looked at it within the dressing room, however, Charlie realized a problem was present, "Oh no... I can't grab my clothes cause I don't have any hands anymore! What should I do!?" Charlie asked herself in shock as she realized that now she was a pony, she couldn't get dressed like she used to. And even though it seemed like from what Charlie had seen while going around town, most of the ponies in ponyville walked and slept in the nude, covered only by their fur, Charlie had indeed seen some wearing clothes.

But as she looked at her front hooves, there was no way, no how was she capable of grabbing her new clothes.

Having no choice, Charlie bit onto one of her new shirts and threw it into the air and tried to catch it with her body. Needless to say, it didn't work as it got stuck on her head. Then she had to hold the shirt down on the floor and try to slide herself into it head first, but that made the princess of Hell stand and ponies can't stand on their hind legs for long and Charlie couldn't see and thus she fell on her flank.

After wrestling with the first outfit, Charlie gave a tired huff as she FINALLY got it on. Not having hands was a pain!

Coming out, Charlie saw that Rarity had been waiting outside the dressing room, most likely to see how the various outfits she picked out looked.

Charlie was now wearing a double-breasted crepe blazer, a two-button blazer that Rarity herself tailored from softly textured stretch crepe and allover princess seams sculpted a flattering silhouette. It was fully lined for exceptional quality, and the blazer featured a notch collar and patch pockets, while it was paired with crepe wide leg pants.

Rairty just loved how it looked on Charlie, but for some reason, she just couldn't see it fit this mysterious alicorn's personality, 'Too much black,' Rarity thought to herself, "Next..."

Charlie then turned back into the dressing room to put on another outfit. A bit later, she came back out, only this time, she was now in a three-fourths-length coat. It was soft and supple. Made out of genuine leather for a beautifully relaxed silhouette, a feminine notch collar and split sleeves with button tabs accented the stunning outerwear style. Front slit pockets (sewn closed as on all finely tailored garments). It would look great with anything on her hind legs.

Again Rarity was amazed by her own work, but again... to her this outfit just didn't scream "Charlie!", so with a heavy heart Rarity looked at Charlie, "Not quite..."

Charlie then went back into the room and again came back out, now dressed in a grey longer length blazer. One of Rarity's best-selling, it was a fully lined blazer in the longer length. It had a notch-collar style with two-button closure, had besom pockets, back vent and seaming for great shape.

Like before Rarity was astounded by her own craftsmanship, but again, the suit still didn't match this alicorn at all, "Hating it..."

Charlie was feeling tired from all these rejections, but there had to be at least ONE suit this unicorn would allow her to wear, so she went back into the dressing room to hopefully pick the best out of the outfits this unicorn gave her to wear.

As she turned, something caught Charlie's eye. "Huh? Hello..." Charlie muttered, going over to it. It was a black Zoot Suit with bold, pronounced, red pinstripes and a notched collar; a long, five-button jacket, pleated pants which were lined to the knee. Complimented by a wine-red, wool fedora hat with a snakeskin-band. And Rarity's eyes widened as Charlie even added a ecru-colored ascot scarf to the outfit after a bit of looking it over, along with a white rose carnation in the lapel for a bit of eye-catching flare to the outfit.

"Uh...Rarity?" Charlie wondered, slightly worried when she noticed Rarity's face, before the Unicorn's horn lit up again and the Zoot Suit levitated up and suddenly whipped around her in a flurry of fabric, catching Charlie by surprise.

"Wha...! Hey! Yikes...! Hold on...! Gah!"

When the "storm" ended, Charlie looked at herself in a mirror and saw she was wearing the outfit. "...I...Love it."

Seeing Charlie's new outfit, Rarity felt a swell of pride. "I see what you mean about tasteful suits fitting you, dear. It actually looks rather dashing and beautiful on you. Will need a bit of tailoring on account of your wings, of course, but it fits you grandly."

"Thank you, very much." Charlie smiled, only for her smile to fall into a look of distress as she saw the price tag still attached to her new suit.

"Now don't you worry about paying me anything, darling, This was an emergency, so it's on the house." Rarity said with a smile.

"Oh...Thank you so much! Rarity, I promise someway, somehow I'll find a way to repay your generous gift! Uh... Also, where can I find who runs Poneyville?" Charlie asked, "Need to ask about a living situation."

"Of course, my dear. The tower in the center of town is the town hall. Miss Mayor Mane is usually there." Rarity supplied.

"My thanks." Charlie stepped out of the boutique. After a quick look around to see where it was, Charlie walked to the tower-like building and she saw multiple ponies surrounding a single mare. She had moderate phthalo blue colored eyes with a pare of gold, half-rim glasses on, she also had a light cornflower bluish gray with a lighter streak in her mane, and her coat was a pale, light grayish amber color.

On her flank was another marking though Charlie saw it looked like a single scroll wrapped with a blue ribbon around it. What were those marks on their flanks for anyways?

"Uhmm...Excuse me, are by any chance the mayor of this town? I want to find a job and possibly a house." Charlie asked politely once the other ponies had left the one they had been around.

"Well yes, I'm Mayor Mare, and on behalf of Ponyville I personally wish to welcome you. Would care for a personal tour of our humble town?" The mare asked.

"Oh, yes, please! I'm looking forward to seeing your adorable little town and hopefully becoming a part of it!" Charlie replied eagerly as she followed the mayor.

"New in Poneyville?"

"I am. Name's Charlie. As for everything that's happened to me so far, it's a long story actually, and I'm better at expressing myself through song, and with you being so busy, I don't want to take up your time. But been looking around on my own and I find myself happy here and wish to join the community." Charlie admitted nervously.

"Oh, don't worry about that...impromptu musical numbers happen around here all the time. Practically daily." Mayor Mare smiled, then laughed as Charlie stopped and gawked at hearing that, absolutely speechless.

Had...had Charlie heard that right just now?! This world loved to sing! And impromptu musical numbers were practically a daily event here?! Given Charlie's own completely spontaneous song, "Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow", while pitching her idea for the Happy Hotel on 666 News back in Hell; and how, as she had confessed, she was better at expressing herself and her goals through song...she was stunned!

Seeing how Charlie had her mouth hanging wide open and her eye widened in surprise, the mayor giggled to herself from seeing Charlie's face as she walked up to the unusual mare and handed her the key to her new home and she then placed her hoof under her chin and closed the mare's mouth close with another giggle as she figured Charlie must really love to sing and that was a big surprise for her to hear.

"This way, please. If you've been going around Ponyville already, then let's settle your issue with needing somewhere to stay." Mayor Mare said.

Shaking her head a little, Charlie then followed as the mayor lead her to a very simple looking place. Medium sized home that had slate grey roof thatching, the building looked like it was made with red brick and ebony wood as the foundation, four windows around the building.

"Here you are, Somepony needed to buy this house anyway. Now...payments will be three hundred bits a month, full price is Eighty-One Thousand. After you manage to pay off everything, the house will be yours in full." Mayor Mare said. "Payments start the end of this month. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" Charlie beamed, mentally figuring that from the way they were mentioned, bits had to be the currency around here. After the mayor gave her the key and went of to continue her duties, Charlie smiled. Still, the day had started to catch up to her and her stomach growled. The devil-turned-pony groaned, wondering where she could get something to eat. As she walked around town, looking for a place to have lunch, she stopped, eyes widening.

That smell...! Oh, no way! They had them here?! Rushing off in the direction the scent was coming from, following her nose, Charlie skid to a stop, mouth gaping and her eyes huge at what she beheld.

There were dozens! Hundreds! Millions! Trillions, even! And of nearly every variety possible!

Apples!

Countless, perfectly ripe apples!

But...so many...! This was almost as many apples as her family had! This...it wasn't a grove or orchard...it was a sea! A sea of apple trees! It blew Charlie's mind!

How did...? who could...? There were no words!

Her stomach roared so loud in her ears that her teeth rattled, snapping her out of her shock.

"Whoo whee...! That there was loud!" A new voice said, catching Charlie's attention, causing her to see an orange mare in a cowboy hat with green eyes and a blond mane and tail. This one's flank showing a trio of Red Delicious apples in a triangle.

"Sorry, hungry...just...never seen an apple grove this size in such flawless condition. Couldn't help but be impressed to the point of sheer awe. Made me forget for a second." Charlie apologized, looking sheepish.

The orange mare beamed at that, "Well, shoot! Mighty fine of you to say, stranger! This here is Sweet Apple Acres, property of the Apple Family! Name's Applejack!"

Charlie blinked, then after a second, broke out laughing, couldn't help it.

Applejack frowned as the new mare laughed, "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, sorry...you have an apple motif as a family theme, too?" Charlie said, stifling her laughter, but couldn't loose the smile.

Applejack blinked, looking interested, "Come again? 'An apple motif as a family theme, too', you say?"

"Long story, but yeah..." Charlie looked at the apple farm, amused, "Same here. Dad's insistent on it. Trust me. I practically have apple cider in place of blood, it's that much a thing with my family. Charlie Magne, by the way."

Applejack laughed, putting a forelimb around Charlie's neck, "Oh, you'll fit right in!" the western mare smiled, "now, unless I miss my guess, that was you just now. Hungry, huh? Then let's get to grubbing, Ms. Magne!"

"Gladly, look forward to the taste of home." Charlie smiled as Applejack lead her through the trees.

"Glad to hear, bet you'll come to find some apple-based recipes you like here." Applejack smiled.

"Heh...no offense, but if you've found a meal with apples I haven't had before, that'll be the day. Be surprised what you can actually do with an apple; trust me, just wait until you meet my father and try topping him on that. Nothing short of biblical what he can do with uses for apples."

Applejack laughed. "Wouldn't mind meeting him then! She said, causing Charlie to freeze. "But come on, we're getting ready for a family reunion on the Summer Sun Festival that's coming up, got a few of our relatives here already. Come on."

Arriving at a barn, Applejack introduced Charlie to her relatives, by the time she was done, it was time to eat and they invited her to join them.

Charlie smiled and nodded, but as soon as the food was set before her, her hunger took over. All of the Apple family members watched in shock and morbid amazement as the Princess of Hell turned pony all but pounced on and devoured many of the apple themed dishes and snacks.

"Well, sauce my apples... She's really does love apples. Not even an entire legion of vampire fruit bats got nothing on her taste for ém..." Applejack said as she watched her new friend devour the food.

"Well... I never thought I'd live to see a pony who can eat sixty-five apple dishes in a row and still keep eatin...", Granny Smith said in amazement.

"Eeyup..." Big Mac simply said.

"...And here I wanted to avoid gluttony..." Charlie groaned, forelimbs on her noticeable potbelly as Applejack and her brother, Big Macintosh, carried her in their apple cart to her new residence. She'd eaten, according to the Apple Family, what amounted to an entire quarter's worth of their orchard's apples in food on her own before she'd gotten her fill of the apple dishes and cider.

Applejack laughed, "Oh...don't you worry, Charlie. If anythin', you proved you ain't no fibber! An' anypony with as much of a taste for apples as you is more than welcome with us! Whoo! Charlie Cider-blood! Haha! Sure as sugar proved it!"

"Eeyup." Big Mac nodded.

"Told you, grew up with them as a crucial part of my family and it's history. But sheesh...do you guys know apples. The quality was top notch, I could taste the pride you have in your crop in every bite..." Charlie groaned, feeling her stomach churn as it attempted to digest everything properly.

Applejack and her brother smiled, "Mighty kind of you to say, Charlie. And we do, from seed to harvest time, proud of our crop. You take your time and do things the right way, the quality and integrity of your work'll speak for itself. And about you, your family, and apples; I'm sayin' I believe ya! Sheesh! Even we Apples were outdone with how much you loved our grub! Who knows, might be related!"

Charlie tensed at that. "...Uh...doubt it." she said, a bit nervously. "But just to warn you, my dad will want to get his hands on your orchard if he ever got to partake of your fruit, and I mean every last Apple Family farm. Can be a real cut-throat apple tycoon that way, and the better the apples are, the worse he wants them for his own."

The Earth pony brother and sister froze, sharing a look that was on the boarder of shock and outright terror. Take their family farms?! But the Apple Family had branches over all of Equestria!

"My lips are sealed, don't even know if I could get a message about your produce to him, anyways. But he's a deal-maker among other things, so I wanted to warn you since, for as much as I love apples, got nothing on my dad in that regard." Charlie said as the two looked back at her.

Applejack and Big Mac gulped. "Much obliged for the warning, Charlie. And you were who told me he was who insisted on an apple motif as a family theme of yours." the former said, tipping her hat to the Alicorn. As much as it pleased them to have the Apple Family recognized by such utter connoisseurs of the fruit they drew their surname from if Charlie was indeed any indication of what the Magne family were like, the idea of someone robbing the Apples of their land and crop was terrifying!

Their fruit crop was pretty much the very soul of the Apple Family!

"Sorry...just needed to warn you." Charlie winced.

"...Again, much obliged, Charlie. Needed that kinda warning." Applejack said, shuddering. "So, Charlie, what part of Equestria are ya'll from? Cause I hope ya'll don't take this the wrong way or anything like it, but I sure as sugar ain't never seen a pony like you before.", she asked the princess of Hell turned pony.

"Eeyup." Big Mac said agreeing with his sister.

Even though the shift in topic was more than likely done to take the conversation away from the idea of someone stripping their lands and livelihoods from them, which was understandable, Charlie still flinched. She still hadn't thought of a good cover story, there was no way she was ever going to outright say, "Oh, I'm really not from Equestria at all, I'm actually a princess from Hell, the place were the wicked or just vice- go to suffer for all eternity, but we can still be friends though, right?"

If she did that, then two things could happen: one, they would think she was a lunatic and have the ponies send her to the insane asylum if they even have one. Or, two, they would try to run her out of town, or even Equestria all together just to get rid of her.

However Big Macintosh seemed to notice Charlie's flinching at Applejack's question, but thought of Applejack must have said something wrong. He nudged his sister's side to make her stop asking her question, then gestured his head for her to see Charlie thinking,

"Oh...I'm plum sorry Charlie, I didn't mean to say something personal to ya..."

"I understand. Just...well...my family, where I'm from...my time before coming here is...hard to talk about." Charlie explained, then noticed where they were, "Stop here, please. Thanks for the hospitality, welcome, meal, and ride back." she said, getting out of the cart.

After bidding the Apple siblings goodbye and a bit of trial and error with grasping the key with her teeth and getting the door open, Charlie sighed, glad today was over. Had its ups and downs, but would feel good to rest.

Her new home here in ponyville had a single room with a door that lead to the bathroom and another one to a small kitchen. The walls and rooms were bare, save a mattress in one room. Wasn't much in there, but that was just a matter of "yet", and thankfully,this place had running pluming. At most, it was a just a place to sleep, bathe, and bathroom at present. But that would do for her.

Crawling into bed, she grabbed the sheets with her teeth and pulled them over her as she laid down and put her head on the pillow.

"...Maybe this won't be so bad after all...could learn to like this Ponyville place..." the Princess of Hell yawned. "...First thing tomorrow...find a job...early start on my rent...buy food, too..."

Eyelids heavy, the Alicorn surrendered herself to the dream realm.