The walk from the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres to the main town took about an hour for Jaxon and Aqua to accomplish, and that’s including a short rest and ‘bathroom’ break. The town was very simple in most of its construction. The houses were designed similar to Medieval European houses, but were better built. The couple managed to find the town hall, where they felt that Applejack was for the celebration she mentioned.

However, just as they arrived in the town square, one of the sides of the building blew open, with three armored pegasi flying out of the hole. When they landed on the ground, Jaxon realized that they were spazzing from being electrocuted. He dropped his bag and began to administer first aid as best as he could with what he had, including his magic that he was able to more easily test on the walk into town.

Shortly after he started working on the armored pegasi, the inside of the town hall erupted into pandemonium. Almost all of the ponies began screaming, shouting, and fleeing almost all over the place. It was so bad, Aqua had to drain the fountain to use its water like an anti-riot water cannon, just to keep Jaxon and the three pegasi from literally being trampled.

After the mob dispersed into the various houses in the area, a few paramedic ponies showed up and took over keeping the pegasi alive. Jaxon backed away and moved to his bloated wife’s side. “Seems something is happening,” she said as her worry dissipated.

“That’s pretty obvious,” Jaxon said as he leaned against Aqua’s water weight. “I just hope Applejack is okay.”

Aqua turned and just happened to see Applejack in the company of five mares, an armored stallion, and a young dragon. “Hey Applejack!” She called out, getting the farmer mare’s attention. “We took care of those bandits for you! What’s going on?”

Applejack stopped the group and directed them to where Jaxon and Aqua were. “Nice to see you’re okay...you know I never got your names,” she said while adjusting her hat. After a bit of an awkward pause, she asked, “Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but how come you are bigger than when we last met?”

“Applejack!” A white unicorn with purple curly mane and tail, and was wearing fancy clothing, exclaimed in disapproval. “I know you’ve been raised away from most manners, but I’m sure you’ve been taught to not talk about a lady’s weight unless they ask about it!”

Applejack turned to defend herself, but Aqua shouted out, stopping both mares from coming to blows. “Girls! It’s okay. It’s a reasonable question,” She called out. “Admittedly, not one for now, but it’s reasonable.”

“The question that should be asked, by us at least, is: What in Oblivion happened?” Jaxon asked.

“An entity known as Nightmare Moon escaped from her imprisonment on the moon,” a lavender unicorn answered. Said unicorn was wearing what could be easily described as librarian clothing. “And she has the intention of keeping the world in an Eternal Night.”

“That’s not good,” Jaxon said bluntly.

“Yeah, it means Princess Celestia is in trouble and we need to stop Nightmare Moon!” Exclaimed a blue pegasus with rainbow mane and tail, and was wearing sportswear.

“It’s worse than that,” he said, before being cut off again.

“I know! She totally crashed the party!” A hyperactive pink pony exclaimed, causing her ballerina-styled baking outfit to flutter around, giving everyone a view they didn’t need.

“Will you just-” Jaxon began before the sound of glass breaking was heard and he fell silent and a red aura started to flow around him.

“Just what?” The pink pony asked, oblivious to Jaxon’s mental break.

“Just shut up, please!” Aqua uncharacteristically shouted, catching the pink pony off guard. Aqua stood in front of her husband, a blue aura flowing around her. “Sorry for the mean sounding interruption, but my husband has a fragile mind in some aspects. When it does break, he can get angry and violent.”

“So his red aura is like a type of rage mode?” The armored unicorn asked.

“I’m not really sure,” she answered, turning to her husband to look at the aura as is started to vanish and he kneeled down in adrenaline exhaustion. She kneeled down to next to her husband as her aura was vanishing, and she gently hugged him. “I’m almost hyper-in tune with his emotions, but I’ve never seen an aura around him before.”

The last mare, a yellow pegasus with pink mane and tail, and wearing very conservative clothing, spoke up quietly. “He was trying to say something about how Eternal Night is worse than what Rainbow and Pinkie said,” she pointed out. “What was he trying to say?

“To sum up what I’m sure he would have said: ‘Every plant and tree will die. Owls will deafen us with incessant hooting. The town’s sundial will be useless.’” In the last sentence, she pointed in a random direction that just happened to have a large sundial in view on a wagon being pulled by some construction ponies. “No offense.”

“None taken,” the foreman said. “We’re not the ones who ordered it.”

“Anyway, how are we gonna solve the Eternal Night issue?” Jaxon asked as he stood up, being helped by Aqua.

“I’ve read about a set of artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony,” the lavender pony answered. “They were instrumental in imprisoning her in the first place. If we can find and use them, we should be able to stop Nightmare Moon and save Princess Celestia.”

“Well, count us in then,” Aqua said. “Sound more interesting than just clearing out bandits.”

“How can we even trust you?” The armored unicorn asked, a scowl showing on parts of his face visible behind his helmet. “If there is one thing I know about mercenaries, its that you can be easily bought. If Nightmare Moon was to attempt to buy you off, what’s to say you won’t turn on us?”

“Unlike some mercenaries, we have properly oriented brains and morals,” Jaxon responded, and equally harsh scowl directed back at the unicorn stallion. “With life as we know it at risk, money is on the back burner.” He turned to Applejack briefly. “Speaking of money, you don’t need to pay us, Applejack. We found more than just apples in their camp and I think you’ll want these.” He tossed the bag to her and she caught it before taking a look inside.

“What in-” Applejack began to ask before she stopped. “How did they get a hold of Ma’s fancy jewelry?”

“My best guess is that they had one or two distract you in the orchard, while the others snuck into wherever you stored those and made off with them,” Jaxon said.

“So they weren’t after my livelihood?” Applejack asked, clearly confused. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense. Why would they target me when I’m just a simple farmer? They could just as easily go after anyone else and probably find more valuables.”

“Some people just want to watch the world burn, starting from the bottom,” Jaxon said, before clearing his throat. “Depressing and disappointing thoughts aside, we need to get going to find the Elements of Harmony.”

“We can work out proper introductions and explanations as we go,” Aqua said. “Speaking of which, which way do we need to go?”

“Well, follow us,” the lavender unicorn said. “We’ll be heading into the Everfree Forest to search for the Elements.”

“Lead the way,” the couple said, giving each other a fond smile from remembering and quoting from a game.

Unbeknownst to the group, a dark and starry mist floated above them, eavesdropping and stalking them.

Author's Note

Took me a little bit, but things are looking pretty good for the story.