Goodlands and Applejack

Walking through a field with a plow stuck to his back, he looked up at the sun, which was blazing overhead. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and continued on as best he could, this things was heavy. Upon reaching the end of the field he met Applejack who stopped him.
"Howdy miss, just finished the third row, should we start the northern side?" he asked looking over at the other side of the farm. To which she opened her mouth and again out came a rooster's crow.
"Not again.." he said as his eyes opened, and he was staring at the barn ceiling. "I'm beginning to dislike you Mr. Rooster." he brows furrowed.
Waking up in a barn wasn't that unusual for Goodlands, but he did feel a bit off, as he was more used to waking up under a tree these days. Oh well he thought as he looked at the lantern, the fireflies had all left sometime in the night. That was probably for the best, as he had fallen asleep almost immediately after eating. He put his hat back on his head, and grabbed the plate from the night before, then he headed toward the house.

Walking out of the barn, he turned and walked smack dab into a big pig belly.
"Sorry Mr. Pig" he said as he picked the plate up he dropped in his abrupt stop.
"So how'd you like the barn? Was it comfortable enough?" asked Applejack as she stepped out of the house.
"Yes ma'am, it was lovely." he had dropped the plate on the ground. "It seems i forgot my satchel up there." he said looking over his shoulder. He turned around as Applejack came withing mere steps of him. They both seem to go for the plate at the same time, bumping heads, and giving a small "ouch". Both their hats had fallen off, she rubbed her head, but he quickly put his hat back on, put his hoof under hers and flip it in the air and onto her head.
"Sorry bout that, nice toss though.." she said looking up at her hat. While she did this he grabbed the plate, and headed toward the house, she followed in toe. "Well i do hope you've rested up nice and proper, for we got even more work to do today, that is if your up for it." she opened the door for him, and waited. He headed on in and gently put the plate in the sink to be taken care of later.
"Well ma'am, I've got to repay you for the room and hay. And that delicious meal that i was given last night. May i ask, who made that?" he said smiling at her.
"That would be me. Been cooking and baking for ages, glad you liked it. And theirs no need for repayment. You're helping us remember. Are you hungry?" she asked going slightly pink around the cheeks.
"Yes ma'am, i never turn down good food." he responded looking around the house for the first time.

Applejack started whipping up food as he stood next to the door, and in no time they were enjoying another fine meal. Her cooking was some of the best he'd tasted in some time, that was for sure. Soon they were cleaning up and heading outside to start the day off. They made it a little ways out past the barn when an Alicorn came up the trail toward her house. He stood there as Applejack stopped to greet her friend.
"Well Howdy there Twilight, like you to meet my new friend here Goodlands. Goodlands, this here's Twilight Sparkle." she said in a proud voice. "She's our Princess." she said in a whisper.
She seemed hurried about something, as she looked at Goodlands.
"Oh, um hello." she said in a fast voice, "I don't mean to be rude but introductions will have to wait I'm afraid." she turned to Applejack with her full attention. "Applejack have you seen Fluttershy? I cant seem to find her anywhere, and none of the other ponies have seen her either. I mean i know she was supposed to be helping Princess Celestia an all, but I'd have thought she'd be back by now." She responded.

"Haven't seen her in some time. Maybe she's still up at the castle, perhaps she's working with Rainbow Dash?" she asked pointing up to the sky.
"I'm not sure, I've had several Pegasus out looking for her. Birds keep showing up at my Castle, and i don't speak bird." she said looking at Applejack, occasionally glancing at the sky.
"She could be off helping some bunnies, or a bear, or doing something of that nature and forgot the time, or is having a bit of trouble from some of her more stubborn critters. Would you like me and Goodlands to search for her as well?" she asked still looking up to the sky for a sign of her.
"No its okay. I was just wanting to find out why birds keep showing up. Its weird, they show up and chirp a bunch, leave a mess all over the place, then fly off."
"Could it possibly be a sign of help? Maybe they're trying to get you to follow them." Applejack interjected.
"Maybe." said Twilight, "If i don't hear from her soon i might have to join in on the search myself. Not that i haven't been already." she said looking to the sky once more.
"Tell you what Twi, if we see her, we'll tell her to head towards your castle, that way she can interpret what the birds are saying."
"Thanks Applejack. Oh and it was nice to meet you Goodband." she smiled at Goodlands then turned towards town.
"Oh um, that's Good Lands, miss Sparkle." Goodlands said correcting his name.
"Miss Sparkle?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, he keeps doing that. I've tried to get him to call me Applejack but, he wont do it. I'll brake him out of it eventually." she said jokingly.
"Um Okay. Well you have a lovely day Mr. Good Lands."she said nodding towards Goodlands, " you too Applejack" and she took off heading towards town, flying over head looking all around for Fluttershy.

They proceeded to continue working the fields, Applejack staying behind to take care of the animals, and the farm. This continued for the whole day, he worked the fields, ate another delicious meal, then headed back to the barn. Goodlands was for the first time in a long time, Happy. It felt good to be doing hard work with good people.

The next day, Applejack told him of a town visit she needed to make, and he decided to help with that as well, Big Mac stayed behind this time, much to his annoyance. Goodlands helped pull the cart, as they had twice the usual amount of apples, and apple baked goods then they usually had thanks to the extra pony around the farm.

"Applejack!" came a high pitched voice from Pinkie Pie from behind them. They both turned to look at her as she came up to them. "have you seen Fluttershy? She hasn't been seen for a couple days now." all of this was said so fast Goodlands had a hard time keeping up.
"Still? I'd have thought Twilight would have found her by now. This isn't good." as she was talking to Pinkie Pie several other ponies came over to talk.
"Still no sight of her." said a Pegasus to their right. This must be Rainbow Dash, thought Goodlands. "I've looked all over, even have several of the other Pegasus looking out for her too."
"I haven't seen her around for some time either." said a more formal pony, this one was a unicorn. "who's your friend here Applejack?" she looked at him as she asked this.
"Oh this, every pony this here is Goodlands. He's been helping me on the farm ever since Big Mac got hurt by the wagon a few days back.." she said giving introductions. "This here is Pinkie Pie, who you've already met." she said pointing to Pinkie Pie, "Rainbow Dash" he was right in his assumption that this Pegasus was in fact Rainbow Dash. " and Rarity." she said pointing to the formal pony.
"Greetings to every pony." said Goodlands looking at all of them in turn. They all made greetings in turn then looked back at Applejack.
"Perhaps she's been working on making Angel behave himself, or dealing with a particularly stubborn bear. These things would tend to take up a ponies time." said Applejack as she threw out a theory of Fluttershy's absent.
"That's true darling, but Rainbow Dash has stopped by her house three times already. Twilight says she's stopped by her house twice as well, and I've been to her house once my self in the last three days." said Rarity.
"Well maybe Discord's entertaining her. Perhaps they're off somewhere together learning about some new species or some strange critter. Never know with Discord." offered up Rainbow Dash, to which they all nodded at this.
"DISCORD?!" interjected Goodlands. "As in THEE Discord?" his face showed his unease at the name Discord.
"I see you've heard of our friend then." Applejack responded looking at Goodlands. In turn they all looked at him.
"Friend?! You all are friends with Discord? Are you sure we're talking about the same creature?" he asked, looking directly at Applejack.
"Spirit of disharmony, king of Chaos, master of mayhem. Is that the one you're referring to?" she asked with her eye's wide open.
Just then a strange figure appeared in front of them with a small 'pop'. He was very peculiar as he was a mishmash of several different creatures thrown together.
"Did i hear ponies discussing me? You aren't being rude i hope?" he asked as he straightened a tie around his neck, he was sporting business jacket and tie, pince-nez, and a pair of galoshes.
"We're looking for Fluttershy, have you seen her?" asked Applejack.
"Darling, whoever came up with your ensemble?" asked Rarity looking perplexed.
"Is that really important right now?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Haven't seen her since she stopped in at the castle." he said. As Discord opened his eyes he spotted Goodlands. "Oh, who do we have here?" he asked, lowering the pince-nez down his face as he came within inches of Goodlands face. "nice guise." he said so only he could here, his eyes grew very big "No! It cant be.. But that would mean.." and with that statement he popped out of existance.
"You know Discord?!" all the ponies asked Goodlands in unison. He opened his mouth to answer but a voice behind them distracted him.
"There you all are. I've been looking for you.." Twilight said coming over to them.
"Still no word from Fluttershy?" asked Applejack as she approached them.
"No and its been several days now. More and more birds keep coming to the castle, but I'm having little luck figuring them out. Sadly Spike isn't faring much better them myself. He is trying though."
"Spike?" Asked Goodlands, looking at Applejack.
"Twilight's helper. He's a dragon who's known Twi here longer then anyone." she said in response to Goodlands. Looking at Twilight, she said "we just had a run in with Discord, who promptly disapeared upon seeing Goodlands here." she said pointing to goodlands.
"Goodlands?" asked Twilight looking at him "you know Discord? How? Where? You know what, that isn't important right now." she said shaking it away "I need to find Fluttershy, i'm worried, and I need to figure out why my house has become a nest. I don't want to be rude, but they're making a mess up there. I feel sorry for Spike, he's the one cleaning up their droppings." their was a collective "EWW!" from the group at this. "well i need to continue my search. You all will alert me if and when you find her wont you? Oh i hope she's alright. I mean we could just be missing her when we show up at her house." they all considered this, and then Twilight turned and headed off.
"Well i think I'll make another round as i clear out the sky for today. I can also look for her at the same time." said Rainbow Dash as she headed off towards the sky in a flash.
"I need to be going myself... Please keep me updated if any of you come across her as well. Also it was nice meeting your new friend here Applejack. Perhaps he should stop by sometime and get a new pair of overalls. His look like they're on their last stitch." Rarity looked at him and said in a wide smile "stop by and I'll set you up with a new pair straight away. If your going to work hard, you need to at least take care of your clothes, darling."
"Where are you headed off to in such a hurry?" asked Applejack.
"Oh i have a few things prepared for today, that's all." Rarity responded. "Though i am starting to worry about Fluttershy.."
"She's probably just be trying to teach a bear to do ballet or some other nonsense." she frowned at this, "wouldn't be the first time either." she grumbled. They smiled at some past memory then Rarity turned to head off.
"Hopefully its something like that and not something serious." she said over her shoulder "have fun all."
"Well I'm gonna go and help with a party tonight for another pony. Its their birthday and that means it needs to be extra fun for them.. I'll keep an eye open for Fluttershy, though. Bye..." Pinkie Pie said as she bounded off.
"Well i need to set up shop.. What do you have planned for today?" she asked as she Goodlands as she started getting things prepared.
"I figured that I'd look around town and maybe get to know some other ponies. This place does seem to be rather friendly."
"Well have fun. I'll probably be leaving around dusk, if you'd like to help with the cart again."
"Yes ma'am. I'll try to be here by then." she rolled her eyes at the "ma'am" but otherwise she continued preparing to sell wares again.