Chapters It was a fine day, with a slow steady breeze. The sky was blue, and birds were flying overhead. A young stallion made his way to a new town. He was an odd stallion to say the least, having a palomino coat, with the front of his muzzle being a dark brown mud color. His dark, ocean blue eyes were hard to see under his old battered fedora, that he wore to cover his mane, which was a mixture of cloud white, and green (like that of the bottom side of a leaf). His tail was a mixture of dark green and bright red, and was sticking out of an old pair of overalls, that were patched and frayed. This stallion had walked a many miles, and was tired. He wanted to find a place to call his own, and settle down, and this place looked nice enough. Several ponies were walking about in casual greetings, saying hello to one another and enjoying the rather wonderful day they had.
After a short time talking to a stallion over at the small building, he got to work helping him with some daily routines. Goodlands wanted to have a new wagon wheel waiting for Applejack as she would need to get her cart home, as well as help Big Mac, but he had no money to get a new wheel so he spent most of his morning helping the wainwright/carpenter of the town. He wasn't sure how to go about making a wheel, so he mainly worked off the cost of just outright buying one. It wasn't too hard for him to do, but then again, he was no stranger to hard work. It took him most of the morning to get the money for the wheel together. By the time he was done the sun was at the top of the sky. He thanked the stallion and put the wheel into a satchel that he'd also roped into the deal, and headed out the door. As he was nearing Applejack he heard a voice that resonated from earlier that day.
Along the way she told him about life on Sweet Apple Acres, and the apple business. The cart was much more manageable now that it had its fourth wheel. Occasionally they'd hear a grown from Big McIntosh whenever they'd hit a bump in the road.
Goodlands was walking along a starry sky, stars shooting around him feeling light as air when he seen Applejack's face in front of him. Her big green eyes, her beautiful smile, her mane flowing in the starry fields.
As the day drew to a close several clouds were noticeable in the sky Applejack approached Goodlands, as he kicked what felt like the hundredth tree that day.
After a short time Applejack had made up a small bed for him in the loft. She even put up a lantern on a bale of hay which had fireflies in it, that gave off such a warm glow, that the room felt nice and cozy. He was glad she'd done this for him.
"Want i put your hat up here." she asked nodding towards a hook on one of the pillars.
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.
Walking out of the barn, he turned and walked smack dab into a big pig belly.
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.
"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.
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.
As Goodlands walked around Ponyville he looked on with curiosity at the shops and their display windows. He gave small bows to anyone who he passed, and said greetings to anyone that came close enough to hear him. While walking around he spotted a Pegasus coming out of one of the shops, covered in flower.
"Its Fluttershy, she stuck in some giant moving mud-slide-monster-thingy." he said pointing towards the place he just came from.
"Alright every pony, get out of the way!" Goodlands yelled towards them, they all moved out of the way rapidly. "You will not ruin this place." he spoke softly under his breath, moving towards the blob, it looked directly at him and started forward moving much slower then before. He stopped and and stood his ground, his stance was that of a pony ready to defend, defend ponies he barely knew, a place he couldn't even call home, but this place didn't deserve such a fate. He wanted this place to remain, he wanted to stay here, thus he'd have to resort to drastic measures.
Standing there his eyebrows furrowed he removed his hat from his head, putting it on the ground next to him. His light green, and cloud white main flowed about the jagged and cracked horn, which stuck up from his forehead, pieces of it missing and looking as though it were about to fall apart, determination was etched onto his face. "LETS TURN UP THE HEAT!" he yelled as power began to build around the destroyed horn, the air around him began to become hot and heavy. He gritted his teeth as he aimed his horn towards the blob, energy crackled around him, a heat wave was coming off him, and then suddenly a wide cone of energy burst forward, heading towards the mound, hitting it directly where its gut would be, it stopped progressing, and looked down.
Explainations & Speculations
Princess Celestia looked at his face for a moment, confusion etched on her, "Do i know you?" asked Princess Celestia, perplexed. "You look vaguely familiar."
As Goodlands and Applejack went about restoring the town, Goodlands noticed that several ponies were singing as they went.
Over the next few days Goodlands, Applejack, and Apple Bloom all helped fix up Ponyville doing their best to help where needed. On the fourth day, it seemed that Big Mac was doing better so he decided to go with them when they headed to Ponyville. When they arrived just outside of town they noticed their was a couple inches of water moving outward from the main square. As the cart got stuck in the mud they all looked at one another, then towards town.
"Well, what should we do for the rest of the day?" asked Applejack to Goodlands looking over her shoulder. "Perhaps we could build you a small cottage on the grounds, so you don't have to continue sleeping in that uncomfortable barn." she said looking over at the barn.
Waking up early Goodlands walked outside the barn and met Applejack, who was standing there waiting on him.
"I'll help you all as well." said Rainbow Dash, "Care to help us Pinkie Pie?" she asked Pinkie Pie.
"I'll help you all Applejack." said Fluttershy.
"Well i need to head on home, and put all of my dresses upstairs, so they don get ruined by this water. That's a lot of fabric to try to replace. Once I'm done, I'll meet you all at the castle, and we can all head out together." and off she went.
"Well as you may already know, the girls and I headed out west to figure out what was going on." she said a dreamy expression on her face.
"Oh i just cant wait to see Van Hoover. I've only read a few things in my books about it. Did you know..." started Twilight to Spike as the rest quickly lost interest in what she was saying. They mostly stared out the windows and watched as the scenery went by. It was rapidly changing from roaming hills, to flatland's, to forested areas. It was a sight to behold as the girls witnessed places they'd never been before. With the exception of Cloudsdale. They spent a whole day through the Unicorn Range, and then came to Van Hoover. The further they went the more water they had to deal with until finally they couldn't go any further due to the train having problems pushing against the current.
It soon turned out that Pinkie Pie did know how to captain a ship, and well. Who knew?
Upon arriving they headed up directly to the throne room to find Princess Celestia, though she wasn't there, Princess Luna was.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike all crammed themselves into the small basket, and it was being guided by Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight, who occasionally rested in the basked as well. They headed out towards the eastern sea in search of the elusive Monsoon. It didn't take nearly as long this time around, as they were airborne they didn't need to go around landmarks or be stopped by water on a track. It was a rather boring ride, but they soon spotted off in the distance an island, and knew immediately that Monsoon was there. There was this giant vortex of water surrounding it, It was sixty or so feet high, and was in perpetual motion. Luckily being inside of a hot air balloon, they didn't have to try and sail through it, so they flew over it. Still the wind from it did throw the balloon off a bit.
After a few minutes they were out of they cave which only had one way in and one way out that was connected to the ocean. So it wasnt to difficult to find the exit, they came outside to a low sun about to set, the daylight was fading fast.
They soon arrived in the same place they had found the Palomino Hind, and said a quick goodbye to Monsoon, and Typhoon.
"Ah, home sweet home. I think I'll go and sweep out the castle." he said once they had arrived back in Ponyville. His eyes grew rather large at this. "never thought I'd miss sweeping a castle."
"And well, here i am. Its been a rather lengthy journey, and my hooves are beat. And I'm not sure i ever want to ride in a ship again. Still we did get to see some nice scenery." she said with her recap.
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.
"Why, whats going on? Do you know where Twilight and the others are?" asked Spike as he climbed down from Gilda's backside.
The clock is ticking from where you stand, they are trapped here now on this island. You want them back and that is for sure, you coming here is their only cure. Come and collect them if you dare, and save your precious little mares. But hurry about and do make haste, or their weakened minds shall simply waste. Night and day they will toil away, as their bodies slowly begin to decay. You should come alone and do not be late, for this is where The Jackal awaits.
"What do you make of it. Clearly this Jackal has taken them, but I'm not sure how. Or why.." she started, but in came another mare. Princess Luna had come in.
Goodlands couldn't remember ever being part of a stranger crowd of misfits. Derpy with Spike on her back, followed by Discord holding an uneasy Trixie, and Gilda flying with Goodlands under her who had to constantly look forward, else he felt uneasy. It was a long way down if she suddenly got tired and dropped him. He would then be Flatlands he thought. This didn't help.
After several hour's of flight, Spike doing his best to give Derpy directions, to which she'd try and follow without making him queasy. Spike finally noticed a small island off in the distance, which made Gilda remark that she was glad, as she was getting tired, and didn't want to drop Goodlands, which didn't make him feel any better. They soon touched down upon the small island. All of them glad to be on solid ground. Except Discord who still stayed in the air, and just floated along beside them.
"We're back." said Twilight looking around.
"Why did you leave me behind Applejack?" Goodlands asked looking at her with sorrow in his eyes. "You could have come back for me." he said as he turned and started walking away.
He put his horn against Pinkie Pies head and immediately he was in a small room looking at a very sad Pinkie Pie. She was staring out of a window and she looked heartbroken.
He was in some kind of shop, a boutique perhaps? Ahead he could see Rarity crying into an empty box.
"Hello, is anyone there? I have no idea where i am." said Fluttershy inside a room made of cobblestone. Goodlands entered the room and seen her standing looking at around thirty doorways leading out of this room. It was like a giant maze.
"But guys, i can no longer fly, you know that." said a flustered Rainbow Dash.
He was in a room in a different castle, Twilight sitting on a throne looking miserable as all her friends sat around her looking very old.
Spike was sitting alone on a hill side, his head was down and he was staring at his feet.
He was right back in the same room. Celestia was standing in the same spot and looking horrified. In front of her was Twilight, who looked more angry then Goodlands had ever seen her before.
Seeing the Light, at Last
"I came here from the island that the Jackal resided on until he sank it into the ocean." Goodlands said.
Upon the train back to Ponyville the girls sat in a compartment all to themselves each talking to one another. Applejack and Goodlands off by themselves talking separate as Spike entered.
The Walls Come Crubling Down
Relying on the fact that the Jackal seemed to love hearing his own voice Goodlands kept him talking, and while he was talking Goodlands nudged Spike ever so slightly so as to get his attention.
As the Jackal looked at the small sphere he began to feel something, was this power? Was he in fact gaining power? No, he felt strange, weaker perhaps. Could this sphere be draining him? Was that even possible? By the time he realized his folly it was too late. It was actually absorbing his energy, taking it in at a rapid rate. He was starting to feel light headed, 'this was impossible' he thought. His eyes began to widen.
"Papa, papa. Wake up, papa." said a small high pitched voice from his left.
End
"Seriously? I had like fifty two different puns i was sitting on with this one. Seriously the writers are getting lazy as of late."
Pie