Ponies of the Abarat

Chapters

A Body Among the Tides
The Lord of Midnight
A Crack in the Wall
From Humble Beginnings...
...Come Grand Adventures - Applejack's Awakening

A Body Among the Tides

Chapter 1: A Body Among the Tides

The Abarat, a mystical land where there are 25 islands each for one hour of the day, and one to watch over them. Each island has a specific hour that it is located at, and on that island it is that hour perpetually. Each of these islands is bordered by the great and mighty Sea of Izabella, populated by a number of strange and wondrous sea creatures, such as the sea-skipper. The islands are filled with just as many magical beasts, as well as phantasmagorical people and locales, each Island peculiar and mind-boggling in it’s own unique way.

After being thrown over the side of the Wormwood by his grandmother, Mater Motley, Christopher Carrion fell into the waters of the Sea of Izabella, that were flowing through the streets of Chickentown, called here by his grandmother to speed the her ship towards it’s target. He struggled to fight back against his descent into the deep, but the wounds his grandmother inflicted made it difficult to swim, eventually he felt everything go black, as he was consigned to the deep, absolute darkness of death…

Days after the great battle between Candy Quackenbush and Mater Motley, that had flooded the Hereafter and all but destroyed Chickentown, the waters of the mighty Izabella had receded back into the Abarat. As they receded, they carried Mater Motley back to her domicile, on the isle of Gorgossium at the midnight hour; a dark and foreboding place, of spearlike towers, and great hills wreathed in crimson smoke, while at the base there are entire forests of gallows. As the thunderous waves crashed on Gorgossium’s shore they also carried something else with them, a gaunt, bloated, pallid body of a man that washed up near the base of the 13 towers of the Iniquisit. Then the waters of the Izabella receded back into their natural flow as the Abarat returned to a semblance of normalcy. There the body lay at the top of the great hill, obscured from all but the most scrutinizing eye by the crimson smoke that covered most of the island, until the day when 12 of the 13 towers came crashing down, the rubble crumbling to pieces and crushing the mysterious body under tons of wreckage. When the dust had settled, only one of the 13 towers remained intact and unscathed. This tower; a needle unto the heavens; was the new headquarters of Thant Yeyla Carrion, otherwise know as Mater Motley, and had been established after Mater Motley ordered destruction of the other 12 towers as well as all those still aligned with her grandson, Christopher Carrion, a sign that he was no longer a prince or anything to the island of Gorgossium, and that she was now it’s sole ruler.

Author's Note

Gorgossium, the Midnight Isle, at 24:00

The island of Midnight is a dark mountain cloaked in red mists. On top is the fortress Iniquisit, a palace of thirteen towers. The Carrion clan has occupied this Hour long before the emergence of any written record. Rumored features on the island include a forest of gallows and a garden of flesh-eating plants. This island is, until the second book, home to the Prince of Midnight, Christopher Carrion. He is generally known as the most evil person in all of the islands of the Abarat, though his cruelty is surpassed by that of his grandmother, Mater Motley, who in the third book replaces the fortress with a single tower of her own.

Sorry that this chapter is so short, but I actually wrote this after writing the next chapter, it seemed like this was a better way to introduce things, instead of starting off, with no info about the background... Also I didn't want to spend time explaining all of the islands and their characteristics now, so I'm going to do that as each island is visited with a small description in text, and a larger one at the bottom as part of the Author's note

The Lord of Midnight

Chapter 2: The Isle of Midnight

From the rubble, a green, wispy mist began to ooze out as the nearby wreckage shifted and shuddered, eventually being displaced as a pale, gaunt figure rose from the ruins like a ghost rising from the grave.

“That HAG!” rasped the figure, he coughed up smoke and dust as he struggled to stand. “I could have been crushed, or worse killed!” he shook the dust and grime from his robes as he stood up, shards of glass hanging from what remained of his liquid collar, the tubes that fed into it hanging limp, against the mottled grays, greens, and oranges of his nearly bald head. The eerie green nightmares, that travelled from his subconscious though the tubes, were now dripping out into the air, forming a wispy greenish smoke around his person, their former home inside his collar now lying among the shattered glass where he had risen from. He limped out of the wreckage and took in his surroundings, and he began to notice from the destroyed furniture and various other effects that had resided within that this was the rubble of the towers of the Iniquisit.

“She must have destroyed all the towers save her own…” He paused to cough, still shaken from his near-death experience “as a show that she was now the sole ruler of Gorgossium, and I’m sure she’ll have murdered anyone still loyal to me as well, she would never leave such things to chance…”

“I must leave this place, if I linger she, or her wretched stitchlings will certainly find me, and that Must. Not. Happen…she has already committed matricide and patricide as well as infanticide, and if she were to find me she would probably feel no different about murdering me as she did to her parents and children, as well as to my siblings” he wheezed through pained breaths as he began to limp down the hill and into the forest of gallows.

“Vesper’s Rock has always been hidden from her sight. Her stitchlings, being merely made of living mud and canvas, cannot venture into water, lest they collapse and fall to pieces. I should be able to hide out there while I formulate a plan as to how I will deal with…Granny Dearest” the last words dripping with venom.

As he began wandering through the forest he began muttering to himself.

“I swear that vile hag shall rue the day that she ever tried to take my birthright from me, for I am Christopher Carrion, Lord of Midnight, feared throughout all the islands! I shall not be denied my vengeance!”

Vesper’s Rock…to most it would be naught but a small pile of gray and bronze colored rocks lain upon a beach of gray pebbles, but to Christopher, it had always served his purposes. The island’s negligible size made it invisible to the hag as all her efforts were spent monitoring and watching over Gorgossium to assure that she would know everything that happened there, and that required all her concentration, such a diminutive island held no importance to her.

“This island has always been a safe haven from that witch’s sight, a sanctuary from her evil magics” Carrion thought to himself as he remembered the times he had sequestered himself here to perform various acts of sorcery away from Mater Motley’s prying eyes.

Christopher would travel to the Rock to catch glimpses of the mythical island, Odom’s Spire, which was located outside of the normal flow of time that the rest of the islands inhabited, instead occupying the outlandish and impossible 25th hour. This strange time was necessary as Odom’s Spire itself was outside the normal bounds of reality, as it stood vigil over the islands while inside the sisters of the Fantomaya judge the past, present and future, and watch over the history of the entire Abarat.

“There is no way I’ll be able to overthrow that wretched hag and those she has recruited on my own, and these injuries will only make it more difficult…” he said as he began checking his slim, blotched, ashen skin. There were patches of red and purple discolorations on his flesh where being nearly crushed had wounded him.

“I will not be able to find anyone to aid me in retaking Gorgossium and the Iniquisit among the peoples of the islands. Even the nighttime islands would no doubt fear the ‘Nightmare Man’ as I have come to be known…no, I must look elsewhere for the soldiers I will be needing,” he thought to himself as he sat among the pebbles of Vesper’s Rock while watching the waters of the Sea of Izabella surge against the shore.

“Though excluding the people of the Abarat, that leaves only the people of the Hereafter, though, after the spectacle she pulled with her ship, the Wormwood, and their fear of the unknown that was this land and it’s people” He said knowing those pathetic beings so used to their routines and simple lives would run in fear of such a creature as him.

Excluding both the Abarat and the Hereafter, there was nowhere else to find the soldiers he needed to retake the Isle of Midnight from his wretched grandmother. This meant that he would have to look elsewhere, places no one had thought of that would not know of him that could be bent to his will…He pondered this conundrum until he remembered a line from an Abaratian poet, a Bandy something or other, about Odom’s Spire, “Every mystery of the Abarat,” he said “has its solution here; every enchantment its source, every prayer its destination" Carrion believed that he could perhaps manipulate the energies of the Spire to find him his troops.

“No matter where they may be, I will find my soldiers and they will bend to my will”. With these words Carrion unhinged the boat he used to get from Gorgossium to Vesper’s Rock, and began making his way to the majestic, powerful Spire in the distance.

“Just you wait, Grandmother, I will return…”

Author's Note

Odom's Spire, The Time Out of Time, at the 25th hour

The Twenty-Fifth Hour is also commonly called by other names including "Odom's Spire", "Whence", "Lud", and "the Time Out of Time". It is the home of Diamanda, Joephi, and Mespa, the three 'sisters of the Fantomaya'. The Fantomaya are three powerful, wise enchantresses, who immerse themselves in the constant stream of memories that permeate the Spire. They are the guardians of this stream of memories, which encompass all histories of the universe. The island is also home to Abraham Hollow, a territorial warden, and to his assistants Tempus and Julius, who are called the Fugit Brothers.

This second chapter kind of sets up the stage and starts moving the story into motion.

A Crack in the Wall

Chapter 3: A Crack in the Wall

The Spire...

Odom’s Spire was one of the most mysterious, and unknown places in the entire Abarat. Even Samuel Hastrim Klepp, writer of the famous work Klepp’s Almenak; an encyclopedic guide to all things Abaratian; had little to say about the bizarre island at the 25th hour. The only words Klepp had for his illustrious almenak was that the Spire seemed to have a glamour about itself, the light off the clouds playing a trick on the eyes, such that no two sailors would ever see quite the same sight…and those souls who travel through the mists, almost always exit happily mad…with the exception of one Righteous Bandy, a criminal who ended up on the shores by mistake and left a poet.

Carrion knew he could not spend too long inside the seemingly sentient cloud or the Spire, nor look directly at the Spire itself for too long, lest he go as mad as those sailors before him, his nightmares and magics would keep him sane for a short while, 3-4 hours at best, but after that he would need to be gone, or fail, and never see Gorgossium again…

“There is no way I’ll be able to get inside from the front entrance,” he said knowing he would be found by the Fantomaya “and even if I did manage to slip past them there is still Abraham who would catch me and then it would be over...”

The Fantomaya were the ladies of the Spire who judged the past, present, and future. Though they were down one, the other two Josephi and Mespa, were still as sharp as women of their position would be. Abraham Hallow; along with his two assistants Tempus and Julius also known as the Fugit Brothers, was the keeper of the Spire and punished anyone who entered without his permission, whether they were invited by the Fantomaya or not. No one knew what his punishments were like as he looked like a frail, white-haired old man in robes of scarlet and carmine, yet the Fantomaya were afraid of his wrath, an Christopher was not willing to risk finding out.

“I’ll head around the back of the Spire and find a crack in one of the towers, through which I’ll be able to enter.” he thought to himself as he contemplated his plan. “To the best of my knowledge, none of the Fantomaya, nor Abraham or his minions, have a method of monitoring the entire Spire, as Mater Motley does with the Iniquisit, so they shouldn’t be able to find me so long as I do not make my presence known through excessive actions”

As he breached the fog surrounding the Spire, he was able to see for this first time, Odom’s Spire in all it’s majesty, there were dozens of spires all leaning in to each other, with the tallest spire in the center. There were windows and holes for viewing the rest of the Abarat all over each of the spires, more than any number of people could ever use. The spires themselves were a mix of yellows and greens melding together into some sort of hazy illusion. Noticing he had already looked too long and was starting to succumb to the madness of the Spire, he quickly averted his eyes and began to focus on the nightmares in his skull, as well as those in the wispy cloud surrounding him, which brought him back to his senses. He began to make his way around the Spire careful not to look at it, and focus only on the task at hand. Eventually he made it to a smaller than average spire in the lower-left corner of the structure, and then he went to work searching for the crack that would grant him his stealthy entry.

After several minutes he found a crack though it was not large enough for a person to move through. He thought for a moment, and then with a solution in hand he issued a mental command to the nightmares that swirled around him

“Come…” he uttered inside his mind, and in the moments that followed, the wisps of smoke around him formed into more defined snakelike tendrils of green, hazy vapor, awaiting their master’s command.

“Go, my nightmares, venture through this crevice and show me what lies beyond…” As he finished mentally communicating these instructions to his nightmares he grabbed the tubes; which had been hanging limp against the back of his scalp since the liquid collar they connected to had been destroyed; by their ends and placed them against the crevice in the Spire’s walls, allowing the nightmares currently residing in his skull to enter the crevice with the same orders as those that had been surrounding him since he awoke.

Once all of his nightmares had traversed the gap, Carrion began to concentrate to use their ‘vision’ as his own. Now that he had a complete view of the inside of the Spire he began to search around for something that may be able to aid him in his search for soldiers…

After hours of fruitless searching, Carrion’s nightmares eventually came upon the fabled stream of memories that the ladies of the Fantomaya used to judge all of the Abarat, past, present or future. It’s guardians were conspicuously absent at the moment, though he was pleased as now he could examine the memories of the entire universe for a solution to his problem.

“Chances are, I do not have long until those ladies return to their work, and then who knows how long it will be until my next chance to find what I need.”

“Quick my nightmares, search the stream’s memories for anything that we could bend to our will, outside of the Abarat and the Hereafter.” he instructed his shades, and as he did they quickly slinked over to the stream and began to disperse as the green smoke started intermingling with the currents of the stream.

Carrion could not examine everything personally, as these were all the memories of the entire universe, and if he tried the limitless supply of information was like to drive him mad as a hatter, and turn what was left of his brains to incoherent slop… instead he let his nightmares examine the data as there were several of them and they had no brains to begin with, they were merely searching for something that was not of the Abarat nor the Hereafter which they could direct to their master. After what seemed like an indeterminable lifetime, which was a given considering he was searching through an index of everything that had ever happened anywhere at anytime, one of his nightmares seemed to have picked up a match.

“Finally!” he groaned, tired of all the waiting he’d had to endure; Carrion was not the type to wait when he could get something done immediately; “Quick, show me what you have found!” he ordered to the nightmare who had found the data, which it promptly conveyed to him via mental link.

Now by nature the Abarat had always been a chaotic place, not in a bad sense mind you, but in the sense that such a place would never come about by normal circumstances, with it’s islands that were perpetually stuck in one of the the day never moving a minute from that time, and it’s magical beasts and both feral and those that populated the cities of the more civilized isles. What Carrion saw in this memory his nightmare found, was that this inherent chaotic nature that was present in the very core of the world had linked it to another world that had a massive entity of chaotic energy, as if the planet was trying to pull more chaotic energies from other places to improve the chaotic nature of it’s landscape. With a bit of searching he discovered that this link led to a more sunny, colorful realm of existence, where everything looked as if it had been rounded off in a cartoonish fashion… the sight disgusted Carrion to no end, causing him to almost wretch at the sight, though given the circumstances this was his best chance at recovering Gorgossium from his grandmother. He searched through the realm trying to find the point of connection between this new world and his own. He eventually found the point in a clearing, where a broken, blood red horn lay in the middle of a clearing emanating with poisonous, chaotic energy. It was surrounded by plants of all types colored with darker blues, greens and purples, indicating that this must be some sort of forest.

He knew he did not have much time left before he would have to leave the Spire to keep himself sane and whole, so he would have to make this brief and return at a later date.

“Go my minions! Travel to this new realm and bring the eternal darkness of midnight unto them. Use your nightmare to bend the inhabitants of this world to my will. Then my army may rise against that vile witch to destroy her once and for all! I will return later when you have gathered my forces, though for now I must leave, for this Spire’s magic is beginning to affect me…”

As Carrion all but severed his mental link to the nightmares, leaving only their orders, and the ability to setup a visual link. He unhinged his boat for the small spire he had docked at, while his nightmares began slithering through this memory using the power of the stream to enter this universe. Seeing this Carrion made his departure and began the boat ride back to Vesper’s Rock where he would await the news of his nightmare completing their assigned duty. He was very pleased that things were beginning to go his way.

Several days later, Zecora the zebra, sole resident of the Everfree Forest was traveling to Ponyville, dressed in her regular robes and cloak on one of her monthly visits to stock up on the ingredients necessary for her magical brews. While she was traveling down her normal path, she noticed something was not right in the forest, and a malevolent force had begun to invade and corrupt the forest. She went to inspect the source of the strange malign energy. When she found the clearing that was exuding the waves she noticed nearly all the soil clearing was a black purer than she had ever seen. Leaving the clearing she saw something she had never seen before, several wispy shades traveling out in different directions, and she noticed that where they went, the black ‘abyss’ seemed to stretch further in that direction

“These creatures unchecked cannot be good, for soon this abyss will cover the entire wood!” exclaimed Zecora in her usual rhyming voice.

She decided to follow one of the creature and see what they were doing to cover the Everfree in this darkness. Upon catching up to one of the wisps, she noticed it hovering over a group of sleeping timberwolves, extending a bubble of dark force over the usually docile beasts, after which the wolves began to thrash wildly with pained looks on their faces until a few moments later, the thrashing stopped and the timberwolves rose from their slumber, though the usual light in their eyes was gone, replaced by the same inky gloom as the clearing, and they began to walk off to wait back where the wisps had came from. Zecora concluded that these shades were corrupting the flora and fauna of the Everfree, in some mad attempt to convert the entire forest in the one gargantuan mass of stygian gloom, and she hardly believed they would stop there.

“These evil creatures are not a joke, I must go and warn the ponyfolk!” Zecora shouted as she turned tail and bolted towards the town. The only ponies she knew that could help her with these creatures were Twilight Sparkle and her friends, along with aid from the Princesses...

Author's Note

No new Islands this chapter... :pinkiesad2:

Now we finally finish our tripartite prologue and get into where the real story begins, I hope you all enjoy the ride :twilightsmile:

From Humble Beginnings...

The day started out like any other at the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle the resident librarian and personal protege of Princess Celestia, awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to start another day learning the magic of friendship with her best friends. She went to wake up Spike so that he could begin his morning chores, yet when she arrived at his bed, the baby dragon was nowhere to be seen.

“Spike…” she called “Spiiiiike” she tried calling again. After a few moments she heard his voice from downstairs.

“I’m down here, Twilight.”

When she reached the ground floor of the massive tree that the library was situated in, she noticed that Spike was making her breakfast.

“Not only are you up early, but you’re also making breakfast? What’s the occasion Spike?” Twilight questioned the young dragon, knowing Spike only always worked hard to impress her like this when he wanted something in return.

“No occasion, Twilight. Can’t a number one assistant make a kind and thoughtful gesture, without being accused of having ulterior motives…?” Spike asked with a mock sense of hurt in his tone.

“That would be completely understandable Spike, but if history has taught me anything, and history has taught me a lot, it’s that you only do these ‘selfless acts’ whenever you want something.”, Twilight rebuked, “Now just tell me what you want.”

“Wow Twilight, I’m offended you think so little of me…” Spike said with his best puppy dog eyes.

“You’re hurt, by my insinuations…?” Twilight inquired.

“Wounded, Twilight” said Spike real tears beginning to form in his eyes.

“Oh, Spike, I believe you, and I’m very sorry for doubting your intentions.” Twilight finally conceded. “Now let’s have this delicious looking breakfast so we can start out day.” She beamed.

“Sure thing Twilight” said the baby dragon, a smile returning to his face “…though I was wondering, could I go help Rarity with her outfits today? She said she needed someone to help her find some gems for a new outfit she was making.”

I knew it Twilight thought to herself. “I don’t have any experiments or research that requires your assistance today, so I guess so…although, have you finished all your chores?” Twilight jokingly asked, knowing that was why he had woken up early this morning.

“Of course, Twilight, I even woke up early to get them all done before you woke up!” Spike beamed with pride

Bulls-eye

“Fine, enjoy your day” Twilight agreed. She figured if he was this determined to spend time with Rarity, then she wouldn’t stand in his way. She knew his love for the alabaster unicorn would not let anything stand in it’s way.

After finishing her breakfast, Twilight realized she had nothing planned for the day…all her friendship reports were written up and sent to the Princess, she had finished all her research papers, and tested and retested all her experiments. She was truly free to do anything she wanted...and she hated every minute of it. Twilight loved having a schedule of things she could do It kept her feeling fulfilled, and she would even make checklists whose sole purpose was to check other checklists, just to have something to do.

She had decided to go visit each of her friends and see if any of them had anything they needed help with, though her preparations were interrupted by a rapid series of knocks against her front door. When she went to her front door and opened it, she saw her zebra friend Zecora, standing in her doorway, the fur that was visible under her cloak and robes was streaked with sweat from long periods of running, her breath short and quick, she looked like a haggard mess.

“Zecora, what’s wrong, you look terrible. Is there something wrong in the Everfree Forest?” Twilight inquired, her tone tinged with worry.

“I know that I may be a sight, though I saw something terrible that gave a fright!” Zecora stated through her rough and quick breaths.

“What did you see that was so terrifying Zecora?” Twilight inquired “It must have been something, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you scared before.”

“I was traveling to town on my daily route, when I felt a strange presence and decided to scout.” Zecora stated.

“As I followed the source of the ghastly disruption, I came upon malevolent spirits who were causing corruption!” She continued “they would find a creature and hold them in thrall, and this they did to one and all…”

“What were these ‘spirits’ doing with these creatures they were enthralling?” asked Twilight.

“First they would enthrall the creature so the corruption could spread, then when they were finished they would move ahead.” Zecora went on, “once all the creatures were under their control, they would send them off to the corruption’s soul."

“So let me get this straight; spirit-like creatures have invaded the Everfree forest, controlling all the beasts that live there from timberwolves to manticores, and herding them up in some area?” Twilight remarked “Why would they round up all these creatures in one area? Did you survey their meeting point to try to find any reason for it?

“After they left, I searched until the soil was worn, though all I saw was a broken, crimson horn.” Explained Zecora to the purple unicorn

“A broken, crimson horn you say, hmmm…And you said it was curved upwards?” pondered Twilight after being given the news of what the monsters were gathering around. “

“Why yes it was, dear unicorn, until this day I had not seen such a strange horn.” Answered the zebra.

“I've never heard of any unicorn with a curved horn before, All of the books I have read seem to indicate that all unicorn horns are always straight, though I almost feel as if I;ve seen one, but can't remember where. Whatever this horn is, we must send a message to Celestia! I'm sure she'll know more about how to get rid of this corruption.” the purple unicorn announced already having prepared the quills and parchment, and began writing a letter describing the situation.

“Zecora, I need you to go get Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, while I go to Rarity to get her and Spike so that we can send this letter. We can meet up at Fluttershy’s cottage since it is close to the forest already.” Twilight shouted while making her way out the door. Zecora was about to agree, but Twilight was already gone.

Rarity and Spike had just made it back from a long morning of digging up gems for Rarity’s new dresses. It was hard work and Spike was very tired from all the work, but a smile and a thank you from the fashionista was all he needed to perk back up and feel right as rain.

“Oh thank you so very much for helping with those gems today Spike, I must say you are shaping up to be a perfect gentlecolt, and --” Rarity was saying.

“Dragon” Spike interjected

“Excuse me?” Inquired the alabaster mare.

“I think you mean ‘gentle-dragon’ Rarity, though I may live amongst ponies, I am still a dragon…” Spike said correcting Rarity’s mistake

“Oh I’m very sorry Spike, you’re shaping up to be a perfect gentledragon.” Rarity restated using the new, more correct term.

“As a thank you, you may have three of the gems we found for yourself,” said Rarity, “Now, which ones do you want?”

Spike, still half daydreaming about the beautiful mare said in a half-conscious murmur “I think I’d rather have a marshmallow than some plain old gems…”

“I’m sorry, what was that Spike?” Rarity asked, wondering what he was muttering to himself.

“Uh...I mean…what I said was…” stammered Spike eager to cover up his accidental slip of the tongue. “I said I’ll take these ones, yeah that’s what I said, definitely not anything romantic if that's what you're thinking…” Nice save thought Spike.

“Well, that’s all I have for today Spike, you best head back to the Lib--” Rarity was in the middle of saying when she was interrupted by a frantic taping on her door.

“Rarity, is Spike still in there with you? I need you both to come with me to Fluttershy’s cottage, it’s very urgent!” Twilight’s voice stated from the other side of the door.

Rarity opened the door to let Twilight in, though Twilight interjected “No time to come inside, need to head to cottage, Spike here?” Twilight was speaking so quickly that she didn’t even have time for full sentences

“Twilight, darling, slow down! We can’t very well understand you if you’re talking like that,” implored Rarity, “ and yes Spike is right here, in fact I was about to send him home, as we had finished our work for the day."

“Spike, there you are, I need you to send this letter to Princess Celestia immediately, this is a ‘priority one’ letter.” Twilight frantically explained

“PRIORITY ONE!” shouted Spike “I’m sorry Rarity, but I gotta send this right away, only the most important things are priority one, so this must be big…”

“Well, Twilight, what is so important that Spike need to send this letter immediately?” Rarity questioned the purple unicorn

“It seems that some sort of malevolent ghosts have invaded the Everfree forest and are using some strange curved horn to control all the animals and corrupt the plant life!”

“Good gracious that is important. I take it we are all meeting up with the princess at Fluttershy’s cottage to discuss how to solve this problem?” asked Rarity

“Yes, we are, and we don’t have much time as the corruption will soon spread beyond the forest to the rest of Equestria,” explained Twilight, “we’re meeting the others there, so let’s get moving!”

And with that the two unicorns and one baby dragon, made their way to the small cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest that was owned by their timid pegasus friend Fluttershy.

Fluttershy was tending to her animals, and making a particular salad sundae for a certain bunny who refused to eat anything else, when she heard several knocks upon her front door. When she answered, she saw all of her friends as well as the Princess standing in her doorway.

“Oh, my, please do come inside, all of you,” said the butter yellow pegasus “ and what can I do for you today your highness?”

“Today I am here with all of you to discuss a very serious matter that Zecora has brought to light,” Celestia started off, “There are mysterious creatures that have appeared in the Everfree forest and they are manipulating the dark and chaotic energies found in the remains of Sombra’s horn to control and corrupt the forest for their own nefarious deeds”

No sooner did Celestia finish speaking, than the draconequus Discord arrived in the middle of the house. “ Did somebody say chaos?” He asked.

“Now what are y’all doin here Discord” asked Applejack, annoyed he had barged in on their conversation uninvited

“It is okay Applejack, I asked him to come, as a being of chaos Discord should be able to help us with these dangerous specters.” Celestia interjected “and yes Discord, we did say chaos. The curved horn that Twilight mentioned in her letter could belong to none other than the former King Sombra, and now some malevolent spirits have found it and they are using to corrupt and take over the entire forest, with plans to expands to the rest of equestria when they are finished…”

“Well, certainly we need to stop them” Discord plainly stated, while other looked on in awe at his decision to stop the use of chaotic energy from warping Equestria.

“Wow, I guess he really has reformed” said Rainbow Dash in response

“Ah, ah, ah,” Discord interrupted, shaking one of the fingers on his tiger paw, “you didn’t let me finish; and you really shouldn’t interrupt people Rainbow Dash, it’s very rude. As I was saying, we need to stop them because if anyone's gonna be throwing this world into chaos it’s gonna be me! Though I try not to anymore, out of respect for the friendship Fluttershy extended to me when I was all alone, and if I can’t do it, no one can!” he triumphantly shouted.

“I guess that’s still a decent reason” Rainbow said in response to Discords amended motivation.

“Let’s try to get back on topic, please” asked the Princess “We need a team of ponies to enter the forest and retrieve Sombra’s broken horn, so that it can be purged of it’s chaotic magic, thus depriving these shadows of their power source. Then, we can formulate a plan as to what to do with them… Agreed?”

“Agreed” said Twilight.

“Eeyup” said Applejack, with the confident tone of her big brother.

“Sure” shouted Rainbow Dash, brimming with confidence .

“Okie Dokie Lokie” Pinkie said, almost cheering.

“Of course, you highness” said Rarity.

“Well, I guess we can’t just leave them to do what they want…” mumbled Fluttershy.

“Discord, we’re also going to need your help on this, since you have a better chance of understanding the chaotic powers of these spirits.” stated the Princess.

“Oh, all right then…off we go, Mon Capitan!” Shouted Discord, half laughing.

“Girls make sure you take the Elements of Harmony with you, as they will help shield your bodies from the chaotic effects of the corruption." said the Princess as the group made their way out the door of Fluttershy's cottage.

After a quick trip to each of their houses to pack supplies and their respective elements, as well as making sure Spike was well equipped to watch over their pets for the day while they were gone, everyone was ready for their dangerous trek into the chaos-riddled forest. They met back up outside the entrance to the forest, as the 6 ponies and one draconequus made their way in, unaware of how deep down the proverbial ‘rabbit hole’ they were about to fall…

As they entered the forest every member of their group could feel the dark chaotic energies radiating from nearly every direction.

“If this energy is coming at us from every direction, how ever are we supposed to find the source...the Everfree forest is a very large place, and we certainly don’t have the time to search all of it” inquired Rarity

“It’s very simple my dear, The energy surrounding us is really made of the original energy plus the offshoots that were created by these spirits while they were doing their business. Though it may be difficult for you girls to see it, there is a distinct difference in the energies when you compare the original to it’s offshoots, so I should be able to follow the energy trail of the original and lead us straight to the source.” Explained Discord.

"Wow Discord, yer sure provin to be a lot more useful than Ah originally thought, thanks!” said Applejack

“Now if you would, Discord, let’s make our way to that horn so we can return it to the Princess” Twilight said urging the group on eager to please her mentor.

They began down the trail, with Discord in the lead, pointing out the subtle twists and turns that the original energy trail made as it moved back to it’s source. The entire trip seemed far to quiet and uneventful and the ponies began to feel anxious, as if they weren’t following a trail, but were instead being lead into a trap...when suddenly a timberwolf burst from the bushes, snarling and ready to strike.

The girls got readied for battle, anticipating an attack from the yelping wolves.

“No, wait!” begged Fluttershy. “The wolf isn’t himself…he looks frightened, like something has terrified them. Now they’re just lashing out against anything that moves to protect themselves”.

Upon closer inspection, Discord noticed that the timberwolf was almost seeping with chaotic energy. “She’s right!” he exclaimed “They’re dripping with dark energies. I think the spirits that invaded, did something to scare them into attacking anything that came near, in an attempt to keep anything from interfering with their plans.”

“Just leave this to me, girls” said Fluttershy as she began slowly moving towards the timberwolf. “Don’t worry sweetie, no one here is going to hurt you…if you just come with me, we can help you and find a lovely place where nothing will scary you, just come wi---EEP!” the scream interrupted her attempt to calm the beast elicited by said beast lunging outward fangs and claws bared to strike.

“FLUTTERSHY!” the group screamed, moving to save the butter yellow pegasus, as Discord leaped out and intercepted the beast, the two falling in a furious heap on the forest floor.

Discord and the timberwolf were wrestling on the ground for several seconds, and then Discord, while still holding the beast’s fangs away from his face, closed his eyes and began to stop moving. The girls questioned what he was doing until they saw his face and muscle begin to tense up and stress, after which the energies coursing through the timberwolf began making their way into Discord’s body. After the energies finished transferring, the timberwolf, now realizing that it was alone and outnumbered, quickly beat a hasty retreat back through the bush it came out of.

“Discord, how did you stop that timberwolf? It wasn’t even listening to Fluttershy who’s the best at dealing with the animals here?” the girls asked.

“Oh, I didn’t tell it anything, I just drained the dark energies that were controlling it into my own body, since I am a being of chaos, it should be no problem for me to deal with” stated Discord.

“Oh, umm, I…” muttered Fluttershy as she moved forward and hugged the draconequus. “I just wanted to thank you for saving me” She was fiercely blushing as she said this.

“Well now, I couldn’t just let my first and only friend get hurt while I stood by and did nothing!” said Discord “We’re almost at the center of the chaotic influence that’s corrupted this forest, so let’s get this done with.

Right as the group began to move again they felt some strange wave of force, as if there was some loud roar...yet there was no sound. It was as if something of great power had roared inside of the minds of everything that was currently in the forest.

“What was that...it was like somepony shouted really loud, but did inside their head and then pushed it into the heads of everyone in the forest!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

“Ah don’t know, but it seems like all the critters are moving towards the source o’ it. Ah it mighta been some kind of alert that them spirits are done with whatever they were doin, and now they need all their new minions together fer some reason” deduced Applejack.

“If they’re moving towards the source, then we can follow them to it, and get there all the faster.” Discord reasoned “We should get moving while there’s still groups to follow, though we need to be careful and make sure none of them see us.”

They stealthily followed the creatures and eventually they made it to the source of the phantom roar, a large clearing with the horn they had been searching for in the middle on a stone. Then the wisps who had caused all this chaos appeared, having completed all their work. As they entered the clearing they noticed they something was off, and that others who were not under their control had reached the clearing as well. They also noticed that one of these creatures was a walking mass of similar chaotic energy though different from the darker energy they ha been spreading, yet there was a small mass of the dark energy deep below, actively suppressed by the creature itself. Using the combined energy of horn, and the beasts they had gathered they aimed towards the strange-looking creature and reached out trying to indirectly control him through the energy he had suppressed.

The girls noticed the wisps looking at them, and immediately moved to hide, though Discord stood still in the same place, unmoving. “Discord what are you doing, we need to hide?!” they shouted.

“They’re just spirits, girls...completely incorporeal and unable to interact with anything physical, that’s why they took over these beasts here...to do their bidding, since they as ghosts cannot!” he explained, moving slightly closer to the horn with each word.

“Discord, stop!” the girls pleaded “We don’t know what they are or what they are capable of, we need to formulate a plan before moving in”.

“I thought our job was to come here get that horn, right over there, completely unprotected I may add, and bring it back to the Princess. Add to that that these spirits can’t do anything to stop us, and their beasts are still completely still as the stone I spent so many years as, regardless of my advances, and there is no reason we shouldn’t just grab it and leave…” Discord reasoned.

The nightmares would have smiled, if they had mouths that is…the subtle suggestion they had placed in the creatures head through the dark chaos in his body, saying that he should just grab the horn so that he and his ‘friends’ could leave was working perfectly! He only needed to move just a little closer and then they would have him…

Discord kept moving forward towards the horn, while the ponies moved out to stop him, they pleaded and tried to physically stop him, though nothing they did seemed to work. He was just about there when Fluttershy decided there was one thing that worked last time Discord wasn’t listening to them. “Discord, if you don’t stop this right now, we won’t be friends anymore!”

Discord stopped dead in his tracked as he turned around with a dejected look on his face. “Really?” he asked with tears almost forming in the edges of his eyes. He did not want to lose his first and only friend, he had even given up on random chaos to keep her, so no matter how much his brain said to just grab it, he would not do it, no matter the cost.

“Woo, that was close, now we can properly think up a plan, and find a way we know is safe to secure the horn and leave here, with everypony safe and sound.” Twilight began. “Now what is the--” Twilight’s question was interrupted by a large rumbling that was erupting from the horn in the center of the clearing. It was moving outwards and getting stronger every minute “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Ah ain’t got no clue!” shouted Applejack “but we need to get out of here pronto!”

It was too late for anyone them. The nightmares had tricked the larger creature into getting close enough to the horn, and his power combined with the power they taken from the horn, through the dark energy he had suppressed was enough to open a hole through the memory back to their lands where they could bring all these creatures to their master, for his grand battle.

As the rumbling intensified, the horn began levitating into the air, then it vanished and was replaced by a small hole the began to draw everything in the clearing into it’s mouth, and every time it did it became larger and gained an even greater pulling force.

“Quick, we’ve gotta get out of here before we get sucked into that thing!” screamed Twilight as she began to run.

The whole group began to run away from the vortex, but it was too late. One by one they began to float in the air, only to be grabbed by those still on the ground, until they were a long chain connected to Discord, who was holding onto a tree branch.

I won’t be able to hold up much longer, and we’re all going to be sucked into that thing. Though I can’t choose where that vortex leads, I can choose where we end up when we get there, and anywhere must be better than wherever the malevolent spirits want us to be… thought Discord to himself I’ll have to focus all my energy to alter the point of entry for us, and even then I can’t be sure we’ll end up in the same place, though I’ve got to try!

As Discord lose his grip and the group began hurtling towards the gaping maw, he began to focus. He did not know where they were going, so he could not attempt to send them to a direct location, he focused solely on a single idea…we are not going wherever you want us to

Everything went black as they entered the void inside of the crack in reality, though in the distance there was a light they could see. As they moved towards it every was strangely calm and silent, almost like this was the calm before the storm, as one would say.The Abarat noticed these new creatures heading towards it and it did not like that one bit. It had never seen such creatures before and didn't want such dangerous unknown creatures rampaging around in it's world, so using the magic of the portal it began changing them into a form that better suited its tastes, and the bodies of the several equines began to lengthen and straighten out, while fingers began to make their way out of the flat surface of what used to be hooves. Halfway through this process a wave of magic from the most mismatched creature the Abarat had ever seen, collided with its own, and the two melded together, stopping the change halfway, as the transformation magic attempted to deal with this new magic. As soon as they exited through the light at then other end of the tunnel, the two magics that had been melded together through collision, rebounded and the force of it came back upon the group. The impact of the rebounded spell, separated them from each other, as they were all sent careening off into the distance like shooting stars each towards a different island of this strange new landscape...and this was the last thing any of them saw, as they began to fly off in separate directions, screaming for each other to no avail until the rebounded spell’s force knocked them unconscious and for the second time that day...everything went black...

Author's Note

Now we're in the Abarat good and proper, so expect a bunch of island descriptions next chapter :pinkiehappy:
Also since everypony has gone off in a different direction the next chapter will be told from several different point of view, also I have decided to do this as an anthro story, before this they were regular ponies, though when they went through the portal it attempted to change them into creatures that would fit the Abarat, though Discord's magic got in the way and cause it to stop halfway...

Again I hope you enjoyed the chapter and feel feel to give any criticism you think is necessary. :twilightsmile:

...Come Grand Adventures - Applejack's Awakening

The chapter title '...Come Great Adventures' is the name of the arc the comprises the ponies beginning in the Abarat. After this chapter, the chapter titles will only include the name of the specific chapter though at the end there will be an indicator of what part of the arc it is.

All that Applejack remembered before everything went black was going on a mission for the Princess with her friends and Discord, but when they found the horn they were looking for in the center of the forest, Discord started acting strange. He acted like someone was ‘controlling’ him or something, like they were getting him to do what they wanted while making it seem like that was what he wanted to do. They had tried to stop him from rushing in without a plan or anything, and they almost succeeded...though it was too little too late. It seemed like the creatures invading the forest set some kind of trap for them, because as soon as Discord touched the horn, everything began shaking, then some strange portal appeared and sucked her and her friends into it’s gaping maw, along with the spirits and all the animals they had subjugated. Once inside, she couldn’t tell what was up, or where anything was...it looked like she was in a swirling mass of chaos, moving forwards while still going nowhere. The last thing she saw before everything went black was Discord casting some sort of spell as they were ejected from the vortex and blasted of in different directions…

Applejack began to feel raindrops hitting her coat as she began to regain consciousness. She felt cold, wet stone under her and assumed she must be lying on the ground wherever she landed, and the raindrops meant she must be outside. As she slowly attempted to open her eyes. She had some trouble, as she was still partially unconscious, though after a few tries, and several times where she managed to almost open her eyes only to fail at the last minute, she eventually managed to get her eyes fully open. She could see that she was indeed on some sort of rocky surface and it was raining...there was even thunder abounding indicating wherever she ended up was in the middle of a storm. Another thing she noticed was that it was nighttime, given how the surrounding area looked, she would say it was probably somewhere between 7 and 10 at night, at least this was what the farm looked like at that time of day...

“Well, it don’t seem tah make much sense to sit out here in tha rain. I best find some shelter before I catch a chill!’ Applejack said. She slowly shambled to her feet, her hooves sore and locked up from lying outside in the rain. She had never had this much trouble walking before, and her hooves felt very strange as if her back hooves were longer than her fore hooves. She also thought she saw strange appendages poking out from her front and back hooves, though she attributed this to the pain she was feeling and her hazy vision. Once she made it to her ‘hooves’ she hobbled forwards until…

“HYAHHH!” she screamed and one of her hooves slipped due to the rain and she fell forwards. She quickly shuffled herself back to avoid whatever was in front of her, and was glad she did so. When her still slightly hazy vision she noticed she had almost walked over the edge of wherever she had landed. She looked around her vision now cleared by her near death experience and realized that she was on some sort of rounded plateau and over one of the sides she swore she saw what looked like a giant stone ear. She looked around some more and found what looked like buildings, and she began walking towards them.

When her vision cleared she noticed that there were indeed weird things poking out of her fore hooves.

“What in tarnation are these things!” she shouted looking at the strange protrusions. She also saw the same odd things poking out of her back hooves as well, though they were much shorter. When she looked down to see if anything else had changed, she saw these bizarre lumps sticking out of her chest. “An’ what’re these things supposed to be fer?”

The raindrops still falling on her head, she remembered she still needed to find solace from the rain to keep from getting sick. She hobbled over to the large spires she had seen and knocked on the door, seeking aid from whomever lived there. A strange creature unlike anything Applejack had ever seen answered the door. She was tall and slender, and looked like those creatures Lyra was always talking about though she had some kind of weird hat on her head. She decided that this creature must be something that lives in this world, and that if it lived in a proper house it must not be wild...

“Now what the hay is that there thing on yer head?” she asked of the strange woman.

“This, my dear vagrant, is an aquarium hat! They’re all the rage over in Commexo City and only the most popular people here can afford one!” the woman exclaimed. “Now may I ask what you are doing on my doorstep? For I am a very busy woman and I do not have all day.”

“Pardon me mam, mah name is Applejack, and Ah was wonderin’ if y’all could give me a place tah stay tonight? Ah have no clue where Ah am, or where any o’ mah friends are, so Ah could really use some help.” She explained.

“Well, missy, I am not just going to pickup some naked vagrant from off the streets with no knowledge of who or where they came from! I have worked my entire life to get to the upper levels of Yebba Dim Day society and I will not lose it just because some beggar woman comes to me with a sob story! Now, I bid you good day!” She seemed like she was shouting each statement she made, and when she was finished she promptly slammed the door in Applejack’s face.

Realizing that there was nothing for her here, Applejack slinked away on her four strange new hooves, back out into the storm, though through the rain she saw some sort of tunnel entrance leading inside of the lower levels of this landmass. She crawled towards the entrance ignoring the shivers from the freezing night rain. Once inside the tunnel she kept crawling forwards, until she reached the other end and saw that the inside of this stone structure was hollow, and the inside was littered with shanty towns, as well as houses where people had created small neighborhoods. There were also tunnels crisscrossing the whole area leading in very conceivable direction.

Applejack had no idea which tunnels went where, or how to get to any place in this strange city. She had never been good at traveling through underground tunnels, heck the only other time she had been in one was when Rarity got kidnapped by those Diamond Dogs. Resolving that she couldn’t just stay here in the middle of what she assumed was the street, she made her way to one of the nearby walls, and sat down underneath one of the torches, which seemed to be the only source of light for the whole area. She leaned back against one of the nearby huts and began to try to get a grasp of everything that had happened.

It was supposed tah be a simple mission...go and get the horn, stop the spirits from corruptin’ the forest, then report back to tha Princess. She thought to herself. Though somehow it all went to hay when we got tah that clearing. Them spirit things did something tah Discord and made ‘im go an grab the horn, then that weird portal showed up and everyone got sucked up into it. Last thing Ah remember was me an the girls getting through that vortex and everyone ended up getting shot off in some different direct…

Her thoughts stopped dead in her tracks as, for the first time since arriving here, she realized the gravity of the situation she was in.

Ah ain’t got no clue where Ah am, or where this place is relative to Ponyville, or if it’s even near Equestria. It could be somewhere far off, past Zebrica and the Gryphon Empire, maybe even beyond Saddle Arabia! Also, Ah don’t know where any of tha girls or even Discord are. Mah family probably has no idea where Ah am, and neither does tha Princess. An to top it all off, Ah ain’t got no food, money, or place to live, meanin’ Ah got no resources, no shelter, no support...Ah’m completely alone…

Applejack had never felt this alone. Even when she didn’t have much or when she thought her friends wouldn’t like her after losing that rodeo, she always had a place to stay, and a family who loved her. Here she had none of this, and no clue how to get any of it back. She had no idea where the other girls were, what she was going to do about shelter and food, or how to get back to Equestria to be with her family…

As these realizations all piled up upon the shoulders of the orange earth pony, her normally stoic exterior was slowly being chipped away by fear of the unknown and depression at her current situation. She wished her friends or her family were here to give her a hug and tell her everything would be okay, comforting her. Though as she had realized, she was alone and this final chip was the final straw. The apple farmer began to sob uncontrollably as she lay against the lean-to, wishing she could close her eyes, and have everything go back to the way it was. She knew this would never work though, and this made her sob even harder.

“Ah...miss tha farm, Ah miss…mah friends...everythin here is just wrong!” she cried, her speech broken by sobs. “If...only ah had mah friends...or some way tah reach em…then Ah could probably find...a way to git back to Equestria...” Applejack continued to bawl her eyes out.

While she had been sitting there crying, many people had walked by her, heading in both directions, yet none of them had even tried to see what was wrong, let alone help, which made her feel even more alone, as if no one even cared about this poor girl sitting alone crying to herself. After minutes of inconsolable crying, Applejack could not longer see clearly as her vision was clouded by a mist of tears as well as her eyes being swollen from ll the crying. It was then she felt a warm feeling on her shoulder. She turned to she was it was and through half-lidded eyes she saw what looked like a man standing over her.

“Now, what’re you lookin fer mister?” she had calmed her tears to talk to the man properly. “Ah ain’t gots no idea where Ah am, nor who you are. An if’n yer lookin to rob me, Ah ain’t got no money, nor anything else but mah hat, an Ah’m not lettin yah take that!”she told the old man.

“No my dear, you misunderstand me. I am simply an old man living out his retirement here, and I was wondering what some naked, and if I may be so bold, very beautiful woman is doing crying her eyes out on against the wall of my plain little hut.” The old man said. “By the way, my name is Samuel Hastrim Klepp the 5th, writer of the book Klepp’s Almenak.”

“Oh, Ah’m sorry fer assumin...mah name is Applejack, and Ah was supposed tah be on a quick and easy mission with mah friends, when some crazy portal came outta nowhere and sucked us all up. Next thing Ah know, Ah was on top o’ this big structure lying out in the rain. Then Ah noticed that mah body had changed inta whatever this is…” The orange mare explained.

“Well, I’m very sorry to here about your present misfortune, though if you sit out here then someone will most certainly come to rob you or worse, kidnap you and sell you to some freak show on Babilonium!” he exclaimed. “Why don’t we continue this discussion inside my house where we can discuss everything that’s happened and I can try to help anyway I can?”

The warm smile she saw on his face seemed to be genuine; Applejack had always been good at judging a person or their motives. Drying her eyes for the last time she got back onto the new hooves she had grown and began following the man into his home.

Seeing this the man asked. “I’m sorry my dear, but what are you doing?”

“Shucks, Ah’m just walkin. Ah may’ve grown these weird new things on mah body, though this is how Ah’ve always walked!” she exclaimed.

“Whatever makes you feel the most comfortable my dear, though if you keep walking around like that, people are like to stare and question you,” he stated a concerned look on his face, “I would certainly like to discuss this as well.”

The pair walked around the front of the shack, and entered through the front door. Applejack was feeling a little better now that she knew there was a kindly old man who was willing to listen to her problems, and was even offering to help her for nothing when everyone else just ignored her and walked by.

Once inside, the kindly man offered Applejack some soup he had been making in a kettle The soup smelled of lettuce, carrots, onions, and sparse amounts of other vegetables, she also could’ve swore that she smelled apples in the soup as well.

“It’s not much, though this might help fill your belly,” said Samuel handing her a bowl. “It’s a simple vegetable soup I made, though to spruce it up I added some of the apple cider I had been saving.”

Applejack grabbed the bowl as best as she could with these ‘new’ hooves of hers, she didn’t know what the things poking out were but she figured this was not the best time to try to find out. Instead she grabbed the bowl with the sides of her hooves and managed to hold it there without it falling. She then lifted the bowl to her face and was instantly hit with the smell of apples. The familiar smell did remind her of the home that was currently lost to her, though it also soothed and comforted her and did a little to alleviate her pain. Once she took a sip of the soup she began to feel even better. It seemed that while she was unconscious she had worked up quite the appetite, and the soup help fill her rumbling belly. Halfway through her meal, Applejack looked up from her bowl to get a better look at her benevolent rescuer. He was a strange looking man to say the least, he looked similar to the woman she had seen in that tower earlier though he was less ostentatious in his attire. He was wearing a large, sleeveless full-body suit, that was red at the bottom and changed colors as it went up, with orange in the middle and yellow at the neck. The whole suit also had black polka-dots all over it, which seemed strange to the farm pony. Over this he wore a simple blue coat, though it was his bodily features that truly interested Applejack. His feet were strangely stretched and pointed, almost like triangles, and from his scalp and chin, he had bizarre curled wisps of hair that seemed to look like tentacles, which scared her a bit. She decided she would look past this and try to befriend ‘Samuel’, which seemed like a strange name to her, though he had saved her from her loneliness and sadness when no one else would. It was then that he began to question her about what lead to her arrival on the island.

“If I may ask, how did you ever end up here? The only entrance to the island is the port down below, but I doubt any person too poor to afford clothes would be able to charter a boat from any of the other islands. A boat from the nearest one, Huffaker would cost about 30 zem.”

“Ah don’t know anythin bout no other ‘island’ or what in the hay ‘zem’ are.” Applejack began to explain. “Though Ah come from a land called Equestria ruled by the two Princesses, Celestia and Luna. An Ah ain’t to poor to afford clothes, Ah got plenty back at mah farm! It’s just that where ah come from folks only wear clothes in high-society places like Canterlot or at special occasions.”

“That is certainly interesting my dear, but here in the Abarat, people always wear clothes as a matter of public decency and Zem are the currency we use on all the islands. Speaking of which, if you could put this on for now, we can discuss your story and find you some proper clothes later.” He handed her a large cloth with a hole at the top for her head. She quickly put it on and they got back to their conversation. “Now it seems to me that you came from a different world, as you have no idea what this world is, and I have traveled this whole world yet never seen any placed named ‘Equestria’. Do you remember anything about how you got here perchance?”

This was the kicker. This man had travelled the entire world she was currently in and had never ever heard of Equestria. Hearing this Applejack realized she must be in some different world or something, like those stories Twilight was always telling her about. She would call them science fiction, or Sci-fi for short. Applejack almost began crying again, the very thought of being on another planet so far away from her own was almost enough to give her another breakdown. She knew though that no amount of crying and sobbing would bring her back home, she had to dry her eyes and find a way herself if she wanted to go back.

“Alls Ah remember is me an mah friends goin’ on a mission fer the Princess. We were supposed to go and find some dangerous horn or somethin’ in the Everfree forest; Discord was there too; and when we finally found it, it created some kinda weird portal! Next thing ah knew, all mah friends got pulled off the ground and startled hurtlin’ towards it, and all of us got sucked into it. When we finally made it tah the other side, some weird explosion happened and every one of mah friends got shot off in a different direction, an Ah got no clue where they are!” Applejack nearly began crying again as she recounted the sad events that lead her here.

“Next thing Ah knew, Ah was on top of this here structure lying out in tha rain an Ah had these weird things stickin’ outta mah chest, along with these weird appendages on mah hooves. Ah almost fell off the edge, though Ah managed to regain mah footin’. Ah tried tah find somewhere tah get outta tha rain, though the first person Ah found in those towers up top screamed at me and slammed a door in mah face. Then Ah walked over to one of them tunnels, after which Ah walked down tah here where yah found me leanin against yer house...” she went back to sipping another bowl of soup after she finished describing her story to Samuel.

“That’s certainly an interesting story you have there missy. From your mention of how you used to have hooves, I’m guessing you were some sort of equine-like creature in your realm?” Samuel asked, a smile still plastered on his face as it had been since they met.

“So y’all believe me? Just like that? Ah say that mah friends an Ah used tah be ponies and y’all just believe me, simple as cider!?” she asked incredulous at his capacity to trust.

“Well, I met a young woman some time ago with as strange and wondrous a story as you. She also came from another world, though one more closely linked to this one, known as the Hereafter though she called it Earth. I was one of the few people who believed her story, and she turned out to one of the most important people here saving the whole of the Abarat from certain doom.” He explained as a look of amazement appeared on the farm pony’s face. “From that I learned never to turn someone down just because their story seems crazy.”

“Ah noticed y’all keep usin’ that word ‘Abarat’ an Ah been wonderin’ what that means?” Applejack inquired.

“Oh I’m terribly sorry my dear, the Abarat is the name of the world we are currently in.” he began to explain. “This world consists of 25 islands surrounded by a large body of water called the Sea of Izabella. Each one of the islands is ‘located’ one might say at one hour of the day, and that island will be that time in perpetuity. This island is known as the island of Yebba Dim Day, also known as The Great Head, and it is located a t 20:00, or 8:00 at night, depending on what system your world uses. This means that here it will always be 8:00 at night here though it will also never be 8:00 at night anywhere else!”

“If the sun and moon never move here, is that because y’all don’t have a Princess to move the sun and moon to change tha day? Also if it’s always nighttime here, then how do y’all know when to go to sleep an when to wake up to do your daily work? She inquired.

“Your world days and nights must be very interesting if you have night and day everywhere, that’s similar to how it is in the Hereafter. Though I think it would be better to discuss this world since it’s where you are right now. In answer to you previous question, everyone here just does their normal daily routine until they feel tired, then they sleep until they aren’t tired anymore. Similarly they eat whenever they feel hungry instead of at specified eating times.” Said Samuel.

“This is gonna be kinda difficult fer me...I used to live on an apple farm with mah family and we would always wake up at the crack o’ dawn, work all day buckin’ apples, then at night we would turn in, to recharge for tha next day.” She said. “Though I would sometimes go out into town to sell apples or help mah friends with whatever they were doin that day, we never really changed that routine…”

“Don’t worry my dear Applejack, I’m sure you’ll fit in here swimmingly, and soon you’ll get the hang of it. Though if you don’t you can always go to a different island that’s a different hour!” he exclaimed in glee.

“If Ah do any travelin’ it’ll be tah find mah friends...That’s right! I gotta find mah friends!” she shouted, suddenly visibly distraught. “Ah don’t know which islands they might have landed on, or if they even landed on islands at all! Mister, Ah know this seems a little crazy, but do y’all know any way Ah might be able to find out where mah friends are?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know where your friends are, or who might know, though I did a shooting star that matches the description of you and your friends sailing through air earlier.” He began to explain. “I saw it when I was out on my ‘morning’ walk, when I saw this strange light flying across the sky towards the island of Jibarish far to the East.”

“That might be one a mah friends!” Applejack exclaimed finally feeling some hope after her long ordeal.

“It’s a long way but if you’re truly set on going, I could offer you some aid since it is a long trip. I have an old copy of my book here, Klepp’s Almenak, it’s essentially an encyclopedia of everything Abaratian. I also have some food and drink that could help with nutrition while your traveling. My final gift for your journey is the necessary money to charter a boat to the island of Jibarish, as well as those clothes I promised.” Samuel said with a smile, as he pulled out a dusty trunk from his closet. He opened it up and Applejack saw that the clothes inside were perfectly preserved, he must have cared a lot for these clothes. “I received these clothes from the very same girl I mentioned earlier, Candy Quackenbush was her name, and she gave these to me as a gift in return for the more Abaratian clothes I had given her.”

Applejack looked at the clothes he had given her. She had no idea what they were, or how to wear them, though they were kind of similar to clothes from Equestria. She grabbed the red shirt and tried poking her new hooves through the arm hole and her head through the remaining hole. It was at this point that Samuel pointed out an important fact about the clothes.

“I don’t have any undergarments for this outfit, though if you’d like I still have some clothes from my wife that are still in perfect condition. They are over in her room if you’d like to take look.” Said Samuel, a look of embarrassment on his face.

Applejack gingerly picked up the clothes and made her way to the room to pointed out. Inside she looked through the drawers in the room and found a pair that seemed good. After spending several minutes finding out how to put them on, she moved back to the clothes. Again she started with the red shirt with its shortened sleeves. The she grabbed the blue pants, to her they felt like they had been made of some sort of canvas as they felt very rugged and strong, as if they had been made for work. The final piece was a blue jacket made of the same material as the pants. Once she was fully clothed she made her way back to the room where Samuel had been continuing his dinner.

“Those clothes certainly do look good on you.” He said as she walked back into the room.

“Thank you kindly Samuel, now if Ah could just get the rest o those supplies, Ah’ll be on mah way to that other island!” said Applejack a new look of determination and self-confidence burning in her eyes.

“Well, I’m certainly liking the new determination you’ve got, though You’re definitely going to need to learn how to walk properly if you’re going to travel the islands…” He stated flatly. “I think it’s probably best for you to stay the night learning to walk, while I tell you more about the Abarat. After a good nights rest and a hearty breakfast in the morning, You can set off to find your friends, okay?”

“Ah don’t really like tha waitin, though Ah guess Ah ain’t got much choice…” the farm pony said, while sighing. “So how’s this walking thing work anyway?”

“It’s quite simple my dear. You use your back hooves, known as legs to support your body weight you have feet at the bottom to hold yourself up. Your front hooves, called arms are used for balance and help keep you from falling over. At the end of your arm you have a hand, which used to be your hoof, and it has five ‘fingers’, which you can use to grab things” He explained. “why don’t you try to pick up that empty bowl with your new fingers?’

Applejack tried unsuccessfully to un-ball her hand and use her fingers though she had a great deal of trouble doing so. After many attempt she finally opened her hands and had gained full control of her new fingers, clenching and unclenching them a couple of time to see how they worked. She grabbed the bowl with her now opposable fingers and realized this was much more useful and precise than hooves were. She handed him the bowl, and he walked over and put it into a water-basin with his own bowl.

“We’ve got as much time as you like and can practice until you feel sleepy, so would you like to try standing up on your new legs?” He asked while walking back to the fire pit Applejack was sitting by.

Applejack nodded to him and crawled over to where he was kneeling down. “Ah’m gonna need yer help to support mahself since this ain’t somethin Ah ever done before, all right?” She asked him.

“Certainly, I believe one should always help those in need, especially when that person is one’s new friend.” He calmly stated.

“Yah mean yah really think of me as a friend? But we just met!” Asked Applejack while propping herself up on the man’s shoulder.

“As part of my ‘never turn someone down’ philosophy I also try to make friends with the people I meet, because to me the more friends you have, the happier you’ll be!” He exclaimed his smile growing larger.

“Yah remind me of mah friend Pinkie Pie, she would always try to become friends with everyone in town and spent her days makin everypony in town happy…I really do miss her and the girls.” She said, suddenly crestfallen.

“Well then my dear, the faster we get you walking, the faster we can get you out into the wide world of the Abarat to search for your friends!” He shouted.

“Then let’s do it!” the farm pony exclaimed still propped up on his shoulder. “So, Ah just use these feet and take a step forwards, like normal walkin?”

“Yes, my dear that’s exactly right.” Answered Samuel.

Applejack took a single step forward and nearly collapsed, unused to putting all her weight on one or two of her hooves or in this case feet, though Samuel caught her before she fell.

“Don’t worry my dear we have all night to practice, I’m sure you’ll catch on quickly!” he said attempting to comforted her.

“Thanks Samuel, now let’s try that again!” She responded with a look of determination in her eye.

It took several hours of practice and hard work though after many falls, and a great deal of effort from the farm pony, Applejack had finally learned how to walk. After that Samuel brought her back out into one of the tunnels outside his house and taught her to run. “It’s just like walking,” he said, “you just move faster!” Learning this did not take as long as she already knew the basics, though she did fall a couple of times. After all this exercise she was feeling very tired and Samuel suggested they turn in and rest.

The next morning Applejack gathered her supplies and was ready to venture out into this new world to find her friends, and Discord, and get them all back to Equestria where they belonged. Before leaving Samuel made her a hearty breakfast, he offered her eggs, though she almost instantly vomited at the thought. She said that she had only eat fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers since she was young and decided to stick with that. Once they were finished she went over to Samuel and to thank him for his kindness.

“Yah could’ve just left me out there to wallow in mah own sadness, but yah didn’t an fer that Ah’ll always be grateful to yah Samuel.” She began as she gave him a great big hug. “An Ah’ll never forget the kindness you did me by giving me all this stuff to help find mah friends. What Ah’m trying to say is, Thanks fer everything, an Ah’ll never ferget yah.”

“No need to thank me dear Applejack, I simply enjoy helping others, and that’s enough for me.” He was still smiling, and Applejack wondered if he was ever anything but happy. He really did remind her of Pinkie Pie.

After a final goodbye and a wishing of safe journeys from Samuel, Applejack picked up her supplies and the other gifts she had been given, and placed them in a makeshift rucksack. He said that he had made it while she was sleeping since he thought that carrying all those supplies with just her arms would be tiresome and unpleasant. She placed the supplies in the rucksack and slung it over her back like her saddlebags back home, and for this first time she realized, what had happened to her saddlebags? They must have flown off when she was flying through the air though she decided to check where she had landed just in case.

Up on the top of the island she started looking around when she noticed a small red apple out of the corner of her eye. There on one of the ledges hanging from a jutting rock was her saddlebag. She quickly retrieved it and checked to see if the contents were still safe. The bag was undamaged and nothing inside had been harmed in any way. It still contained the apples she had gotten from Big Mac, a scarf from Granny Smith, and an extra hat from Applebloom with a note that said ‘Have a safe trip!’. Upon seeing all this Applejack nearly broke out in tears again, though she steeled herself thinking crying don’t solve nothin, Ah gotta find mah friends and then we can all go home. With new determination Applejack used a hook to attach the saddlebags to her waist and made her way back down into the islands tunnels.

It took quite some time for Applejack to find her way to the docks as she did not know her way around the island that well, though she eventually made her way there. She looked around to find some ship to take her to Jibarish but every time she found a ship captain they would always immediately ya no when she said she needed to get to Jibarish. Every one of them kept saying they would never go near that cursed island, not even for all the paterzem in the islands. She was about to give up hope when she saw a smaller boat out of the corner of her eye.

“Hello there missy, anything this fine boatsman can help you with” He asked.

“Ah’m lookin fer a ship to take me to the island of Jibarish though no one here is willin tah take me…” She explained to the strange man.

“Well, that’s understandable. Most folk think that island is cursed.” He explained. “Things don’t go the way they’re supposed to there, rocks are liquid, fire is cold, and the air messes with your speech, t’aint right.”

“Oh, Ah understand, and Ah guess yah ain’t willing to take a nice girl like me there either right?” asked Applejack dejectedly.

“Certainly not missy!” he shouted. “I think me crew and I are just crazy enough to take you there...so long as you got the coin to pay us for our trouble.” He said, a glimmer of gold in his eye.

“Mah new friend Samuel gave me some money for mah trip, let me get it.” She said looking through her rucksack for the money. Samuel had given her 63 of the little coins called zem, and 7 of the larger ones he called paterzem. He said that the larger ones were worth 100 of the smaller ones. “How much would yah be chargin fer such a voyage?” she asked.

“Well, given the distance from here to Jibarish, along with the fact that it’s Jibarish that we’d be going to, I’d say that the cost of 3 paterzem and 50 zem would be a perfectly acceptable cost.” He explained while scratching his chin. “A quarter of the cost of a new boat in case anything happens to this one on our voyage, though if anything does happen I’ll be looking for reimbursement. “Consider this an investment, if nothing happens then you’ll get your voyage for less than the normal cost, but if something does happen you’ll have to pay double. Do we have a deal?”

“Ah don’t seem to have much choice, since yer the only person willin tah take me, so sure we got a deal!” she exclaimed, though she let out a sigh afterwards. She gave him 3 of the paterzem coins, and counted out 50 of the smaller zem coins which she also gave to him.

“Welcome aboard lass, let’s introduce you to the crew!’ He shouted “Hey boys, come up here and meet our new financier for our next journey!”

Three people came up from below decks; two men, one older and one younger; and a woman who seemed to be near Applejack’s age given her body size being similar.

“This here is my first mate Mizzel,” he said pointing to the older man. Then he moved to the younger boy “ and this is my own boy Charry!” He then pointed his thumb towards the woman. “that’s our cabin girl Galatea, she’s not much though she does help out on the ship often. I am their illustrious captain the Great Perbo Skebble of the Parroto Parroto, at your service.”

“So boss, where are we taking this girl?” asked Mizzel.

“Yeah dad, which island are we goin to this time” asked Charry.

“Well boys, and Galatea, believe it or not we’re taking this here girl to the island of Jibarish at 23:00!” he shouted with a confident air.

“But Boss, that place is haunted and cursed!” Shouted Mizzel obviously distraught.

“I know, but there’s 3 and a half paterzem in this for us, and that’s too good to pass up.” Perbo shouted back.

“Wow, that much!” asked Charry, “We could almost buy a new house with that kinda money!”

“I’m certainly in if that’s the money we’re getting.” Said Galatea.

“Yeah, count me in too Boss!” bellowed Mizzel.

“I love going on adventure with you dad, the money is just a bonus for me!” said Charry.

“Welp, looks like the crew is eager to go and get that reward,” said Perbo. “You ready to set sail on the great sea?”

“O’ course Ah am!” retorted Applejack. “Ah need to go find mah friends, and one of em might be on Jibarish, so the sooner we get there the better.

Applejack climbed on board with Perbo, as Mizzel and Charry began undoing the mooring lines. Galatea was already up in the crow’s nest unfurling the sails and readying the ship for it’s journey. After a few minutes the Parroto Parroto set sail on the great Sea of Izabella. As Applejack began to feel the sea breeze on her face, a sensation she had never felt before, she thought of her friends, lost on different islands…Ah’m coming to find you girls, don’t worry.

The night before a similar light to the one that carried Applejack to Yebba Dim Day, another light had been traveling in a different direction. This one, a pale yellow light, went to the North, past Odom’s Spire towards the dense forests of the lush windy island known as Speckle Frew at 5:00...

Author's Note

Yebba Dim Day, The Great Head, at 20:00

This island, also known as the Great Head, is a sort of "informal capital" of the islands. It is fashioned in the shape of a giant humanoid head and shoulders in the likeness of its late owner Gorki Doodat. It is a labyrinth of tunnels on the inside, and the outside is mostly covered by shabby dwellings, save for the half-dozen high towers atop the statue's cranium. Some of these towers are said to contain individuals of immeasurable age. This island is Candy's first destination in the Abarat; but is destroyed in the third book.

Currency Exchange Rate (in case anyone was wondering)

1 Paterzem = 100 Zem

1 USD = 1 Paterzem

Zem are essentially pennies, and paterzem are dollars. Only rich people have a lot of paterzems,which is you can buy a yacht for about 11 paterzem. This makes everything seem really cheap in the Abarat, but really to them normal people from earth are angels, so they believe any money used by angels must be very valuable...

...Come Grand Adventures Arc Part 1/7.

Finally! Certainly took me long enough to get this posted...I am truly sorry that this took so long. I do enjoy writing and always make plans of when to write, yet right when I'm about to start, my brain starts going 'you can do this later' or 'just check this before you start' or even 'you should eat something or take a shower'. Next thing I know it's several hours later and I haven't done anything. Usually I make time to write regardless, though sometimes it can take a while, and for that I am very, truly sorry. I'm pretty certain I've gotten all the errors though if you find any please don't hesitate to comment :twilightsmile: