Goodlands and Applejack

The following morning Applejack awoke and came out to find Goodlands painting his cottage. It seems she had slept in do to the sun being already close to noon and all.
"Its looking mighty fine, there Goodlands." she said walking up to his cottage.
"Thank you ma'am." he said "now i just need to give her some furnishing, and it'll be all set. My very own cozy cottage." he smiled at her, to which she smiled back.
"Well lets go into town and get said furnishings, shall we?" she asked, to which he put his brush back in its can, and nodded.
Along the way he told her about the chores and how he and Big Mac had built all the little rooms in the cottage, the fact that he'd gotten more then a "Eeyup" from Big Mac was a shock to him, and how lovely the day was. Upon entering Ponyville, they noticed that Spike was in full swing describing the different locations to what looked like a slightly older dragon. One that had a similar color to Spike.
"Well howdy there Spike. Who's this here? Friend of yours?" Applejack asked as they approached him.
"No, this here is my brother, Scales." he said his face filled with glee. "He says he was told of me when we went through Baltimare, someone there seen me and asked if we were related. So he came here to find out. Turns out we have the same mother, thus he's my older brother. Can you believe it, i didn't even know i had siblings." he said bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"B..brother? Well I'll be, that's amazing Spike. I'm Applejack, this here is my friend Goodlands. Welcome to Ponyville."
"Thank you. Its nice to meet you both." Scales said to them in turn, Goodlands nodded as he looked at him.
"Does Twilight know yet?" she asked looking back at Spike.
"Yeah, we're throwing a party in celebration. I cant wait. Will you be able to make it? You too Goodlands. I mean anyone can attend. I'm so excited.. i mean i finally get to talk about dragon stuff with another dragon. Which i cant do with Twilight, unless i want to be bored stiff with information she's gotten out of books." he said his face going all stone like.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." she exclaimed "Should i bring a gift?" she asked under breath.
"That wont be necessary, as its custom where I'm from to give others gifts when one meets new friends. I'd like to do that anyways as you all have been taking care of my younger brother and all. A thank you if you will. Two birds one stone, and all."
"Well that's mighty nice of you. When is this party of yours?" she asked looking bashful.
"Tonight, Pinkie Pie's setting it up. I cant wait." Spike exclaimed.
"Well we're going to go and pick up some stuff for Goodlands new cottage, where should we meet up at?" Applejack asked.
"Here in the town square. I think Pinkie Pie will be able to have everything ready by then." he said "say Applejack, do you think you could together some food and drink for the party?" he asked, to which she nodded and he and Scales went off to as Spike kept a running commentary of the different places around Ponyville.
"Well shall we get going, looks like we've got plans for this evening.. Plus i need to let Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Granny know about the party." she asked looking at Goodlands. "Or did you want to stay at home, so you could take care of your cottage?"
"My cottage isn't going anywhere." he said, a feeling of pride coming over him "wouldn't dream of missing the party."
So off they went to purchase some furniture for his cottage. They didn't need to buy much, as Goodlands stated that he could build most of his furniture out of wood. Goodlands, and Applejack picked up what he needed and headed back to the farm. Applejack went to tell the others about Scales' upcoming party and to get things ready for the party that evening.
Night time rolled around and they headed back to Ponyville proper, to which the party was already in full swing. Every pony was having a good time and Spike was making a fool of himself on the dance floor. Of course so was Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy, and Discord were off to the right talking about something and Rarity was talking to some fancy pony, as Rainbow Dash and Gilda, were off laughing about something. In fact everyone was having a blast. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were also there having a good time too. Twilight was mid conversation with Celestia when Applejack and Goodlands walked up.
"I didn't even know he had a brother. Oh hello Applejack, Goodlands." she said upon seeing them.
"Evening Twilight. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna." she said stopping in front of them.
"Good Evening Applejack. I must admit, i didn't know that Spike had any siblings either. But I'm not surprised by the news to be honest. Thinking Spike was an only dragon is rather silly. I'd just never come across them. Till now." said Celestia to Twilight.
"Well I'm happy for him. Now he has someone to talk to about all the strange things dragons get up to." as she said this Owlowiscious, flew over her head to land on a tree branch near by. "Good evening to you Owlowiscious.." she said smiling at her pet owl. He gave a resounding "WHO" in response.
"Her pet owl, Owlowiscious." said Applejack to Goodlands.
"I had gathered that, miss." he said in response to her. She rolled her eyes and went off to get some cider. Sometime later in the evening, Scales got up on a small platform, and looked out at the crowd.
"Thank you every pony, for this warm welcome. I truly appreciate it." he gave a small smile to them all. "also thank you so much for watching over my little brother. He seems to truly enjoy living here, if i go by how much he's talked of you all. Thank you once again." and he promptly stepped down and headed towards Spike. At this there was much cheering and the party started again.
After everyone became exhausted from the party they all said their goodbyes and only Celestia, Luna, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight were in the center all getting ready to head home.
"Sadly my sister and i must be off as well." said Luna to the crowd.
"True. I'm rather exhausted. You all try not to stay up too late. Hmm." Celestia said looking rather tired.
"I need to be going as well." said Discord, he turned to Fluttershy "still on for tea time?" he asked she nodded and he popped out of existence.
"Well goodnight every pony." said Celestia, as she and Luna flew off towards Canterlot.
"Oh, i almost forgot." said Scales looking at the ponies around them. "I wanted to give you these." he said pulling out a box that was stashed near by. "as a way of saying thank you for watching over my little brother." he handed in turn six necklaces one to Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and finally to Twilight Sparkle. "oh, sorry" he said to Gilda, and Goodlands "i don't seem to have one here for you two. I'll see if i can get you both one tomorrow."
"Don't sweat it. Jewelry isn't really my thing. I'm gonna go crash, Dashie, see ya later." she said looking at Rainbow Dash. She nodded and Gilda flew off towards the clouds.
"I'm not much for jewelry either. But thank you for the gesture." said Goodlands, holding up a hoof.
"Well these look lovely darling." said Rarity putting hers on. They did look nice, old but with and exotic hint to them. "Aren't you going to try them on?" she asked the others. So they each in turn put theirs on, they all marveled at them. They looked expensive. "Where ever did you get them?" asked Rarity.
"In Baltimare. I heard Spike was traveling with six other ponies so thought I'd grab some of these as a small thank you." Scales said with a smile.
"Well thank you. They truly look lovely, especially in this moonlight." said Twilight looking at her own. "they must have cost a fortune."
"Nah, they had a sale on them. I mean they weren't that expensive at all." he said with a small chuckle, to which all of them chuckled.
"Well I'd better be off, I'm overdue for my beauty sleep." smiled Rarity, as she gave Spike a small kiss on his cheek, his blushing was noticeable even in this light. "Congratulations once more, see you all tomorrow." and she headed off towards her house.
"Right, we'd better get going to. I'm beat from all that dancing." said Applejack.
Their came a collective "Night" from the group as she and Goodlands headed back to the farm.
"Woo-wee, that was fun. I'm plum tuckered out. Cant wait to hit the hay." Applejack tried and failed to stifle a yawn.
"I too am rather tired." said Goodlands in response.
Upon reaching the gate that to her house she leaned on Goodlands and in a quiet voice said "Good night Goodlands." and headed off. Now he was blushing worse then Spike.
"Must of been the Cider." he said softly and headed towards his cottage. He stared up at the stars and smiled broadly. For once he was truly happy, he had friends, his own cottage, and maybe he was falling for this lovely golden locked palomino. Maybe one day, he'd also get a kiss, WHAM! He'd walked right into his cottage. He quickly looked around to make sure no one had seen him do that, then quickly let himself into the house.
The next morning he heard a loud voice coming from outside. Was that Applejack, he thought? No too high pitched. They sounded troubled whoever they were, so he got up stretched, and yawned and then he'd heard what the voice was shouting about.
"APPLEJACK?!" came the voice outside, it was Apple Bloom. He hurried up and headed outside to see what all the commotion was about.
"Whats going on? Where's Applejack?" he asked as he reached Apple Bloom.
"Shes not here. Usually she's up already taking care of the animals, but i haven't seen her, and none of the pre-breakfast chores have been done." Apple Bloom explained.
"It could be that she was called to help the others. Maybe she had to run into town." said Goodlands in response.
"Maybe." came Big Mac's voice from over by the house.
"I'll go check. No sense getting all worked up over nothing. Maybe Twilight Sparkle or one of the others stopped by." said Goodlands looking at the two.
"She usually leaves a note if that's the case." said Apple Bloom, looking worried.
"Eeyup." said Big Mac as he approached, he too looked worried.
"I'm gonna go into town and see if i cant find her." he was starting to worry himself now. This was not like Applejack. So he headed off towards Ponyville leaving the farm behind.
Upon arrival he noticed several others looking puzzled, Gilda, Spike, and Scales were talking animatedly.
"Goodlands, have you seen Twilight?" asked Spike when he walked up to them. "Gilda here says she cant find Rainbow Dash either."
"It's not like Rainbow Dash to just run off without saying, well anything." she said as she looked from Spike to Goodlands. "Could it perhaps be a summons from Princess Celestia?" she asked looking at Spike.
"No, I'd have received the letter. And the map didn't show them needed anywhere, at least not to my knowledge." he looked as though he were going to be sick. It happened suddenly his eyes widening and he belched. Green fire came out of his mouth, along with a scroll tied with a ribbon and a seal. "It's a letter from Princess Celestia." he said unrolling it.
"There needs to be a better way to deliver letters. That has got to be painful." said Gilda looking at it with interest. He quickly read the letter and looked up.
"We're needed at the castle." he said looking directly at Goodlands. "It seems urgent."
"I got this." said Gilda, "hop on." she said turning her back to Spike. He quickly jumped onto her back and she flew over to Goodlands and grabbed his overalls with her talons and headed towards Canterlot.
"See you when i get back Scales." he said waiving goodbye to Scales, who waved back.
They arrived right in the room of Celestia a short time later.
"I have some bad news." she said to them.