Pony's Story

“That way,” Applejack said, her hoof falling on the second path, labelled as leading to “The Land of Surprises.” Applejack paused at the sign, tilting her head. “Land of Surprises, huh? Sounds like Pinkie would fit in right nicely here.” Smiling to herself, she trotted off down the path.

As she walked, the environment around her began to change before her eyes. Where there had once been rolling plains and hills was now replaced by lovely shoreline. She was walking along the green part of the shoreline, with trees on either side of the pathway. The sun was shining above her - although she noticed that it seemed to be tinted, as if a perpetual shadow hung over the world around her - and all was as it should be. She smiled at the sound of the waves crashing against the beach in the distance.

She hadn’t been walking for long when she encountered an obstacle. A large, blue pipe was set in the path in front of her. Although there was ample space to walk around, she decided to hop up and see what was inside. She leapt into the air, landing somewhat gracefully on the edge of the pipe. Peering cautiously over the rim, she saw nothing but darkness down into the pipe’s depths, flowing deep, deep down. Down to places she didn’t dare to tread.

“Yep, not goin’ that way.” She looked up and gingerly stepped around the edge of the pipe. She was just about to hop down when she heard a noise. Looking down the path, she saw a very fuzzy, very blue caterpillar gingerly coming down the path. What stood out most on the creature was it’s fairly large nose, which was something she didn’t expect to see. She also noticed a glint of something near the caterpillar’s right eye, but couldn’t make out what it was. The caterpillar took no notice of her until it got close. When it saw the filly standing on the edge of the pipe, it laughed heartily.

“Oh, splendid!” It cried in a very masculine, very familiarly accented voice. Applejack had to restrain a growl at the accent, which sounded so much like Rarity’s. Although she cared for Rarity, she loathed the prissy nature and obnoxious accent. The caterpillar didn’t stop there. “Oh, how simply splendid! It has been far too long since I have seen one of you! This is positively delightful!” Applejack remained poised on the edge of the pipe. She was nervous of this new arrival - and more than a little annoyed - but decided it wasn’t hostile.

“Haven’t seen any of us in a while now? What’d ya’ll mean by that?” The caterpillar stopped very near the pipe, chuckling and looking up at her. It was then Applejack realized it was worse than she fear. The caterpillar was not only wearing a monocle, but he also had a well groomed handlebar mustache. He was the epitome of class. And she was none too pleased. She wished Rarity was there.

“Oh, how delightful!” He cried jovially. “A southern belle! How quaint! How lovely! This is simply splendid!” With that, he turned himself about and began walking away, leaving a very confused filly standing on the edge of a pipe.

“Hay! Wait, where ya’ll goin?” She called. The caterpillar laughed heartily as she walked away.

“Give me a minute, my dear. I will be back post haste.” With that, he crested a small hill and disappeared from sight. Applejack huffed and hopped down from the pipe, sitting down on the side of the path. True to his word, the caterpillar reappeared less than a minute later. “What did I tell you, darling? Always trust the word of a gentleman.” Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Right. So, what did ya’ll mean that ya hadn’t seen any of us in a while?” The caterpillar stopped, turning to look at her.

“Well, it’s just like I said. About three years ago, something dark entered this world. About the same time, the six lovely little fillies that always came through her, questing on their little adventures, they vanished into the blue. It’s been so long since I’ve seen any of them...” He sighed heavily. “The world’s not been the same since. At first, the dark power seemed to be hiding. Then, it started taking over, changing things... not all changes were bad, mind you.” He wrinkled his nose, shaking his moustache around a bit. “But this world is not in a good way. We need the dark power dealt with.” With that, he walked over to the pipe, turned about, and began walking back up the path. Applejack stopped him.

“Why do ya’ll keep turnin’ around at that pipe? Why not walk around it?” The caterpillar huffed in indignation and kept on walking.

“A gentleman does not deviate from his path. I shall simply wait for one of the pipes to move.” With that, he crested the hill and disappeared. Applejack rubbed her temples in frustration and walked over to the side of the pipe.

‘Ah’m pretty sure Ah can move this...’ She nodded, turning around and lining herself up. With a powerful kick, her hind hooves connected with the pipe. She thought it would be the sound of metal breaking, but instead, it sounded more like the tearing of cloth. There was a soft thump behind her, and turning, the farmpony saw the pipe laying in the dirt, clean off the base and out of the way. She smiled. ‘Still got it.’

When she turned to look, the caterpillar had just crested back over the hill and was skipping with glee.

“How lovely! How splendid! Oh, thank you, you fabulous, magnificent filly, you!” His excitement was somewhat infectious, and Applejack could suppress a giggle from the praise she was being laden with. “I thank you again, a thousand times, thank you! Now, I must warn you: Some unruly fellows are lying in wait ahead. Be wary.” Giving her a final bow of his head, the caterpillar strode off down the path where the pipe had been, off into where Applejack had come from. She, in turn, went the opposite way, down the path which lay before her.

She crested the hill and found the pipe which had impeded that caterpillars progress on this side. This one was yellow instead of blue, but was still imposing. Just behind it was a tree. And in the tree were a number of strange ponies. Applejack could see that they were all wearing hoodies of differing colors, and all of them wore masks. They had no tails or cutie marks, but that wasn’t what made Applejack confused.

“What are they doin’ up there?” After a moment, she realized that she didn’t really want to know. Trotting around the pipe, she looked up into the tree. “Hay! Ya’ll alright up there?” There was no response from the tree. The ponies up there seemed not to even notice her appearance. Applejack sat down and scratched her head.

“I know what those are. Those are those ol’ Shy Ponies, but why are they all up there?” She stood up and called out again. “Do ya’ll need help gettin’ down?” Again, there was no response. Applejack was getting a little annoyed by this, so she pivoted on her hooves, aiming her hind legs for the tree. WIth a resounding crack, she bucked the tree hard. As one, the Shy Ponies fell from the tree and landed hard on the ground. Applejack smirked at her handiwork, but before she could utter a single word, the Shy Ponies rose and bolted off in different directions.

“Hey! Hold on now!” Her pleas fell on deaf ears. The ponies were gone before she had time to recover. Growling, she stomped her hoof in frustration. “That’s not fair! Ah needed to talk to them.” She turned back to the path, only to see a wall of pink in front of her. And it was smiling.

“Yeah. They do that.” It said, its voice male. Although the being startled her a bit, she was more curious than afraid of it. It didn’t seem to be hostile, so she guessed that talking would be the best idea.

“What’re ya’ll supposed to be?” She inquired. The being in front of her didn’t answer her question at first. Instead, its countenance fell.

“You... weren’t surprised by my appearance?” Applejack shook her head. The creature wasn’t too fond of her response, and he roared in anger. “Seriously!? I try so hard to make myself surprising, but it never, ever, works! GAH!” With that, the being disappeared. Applejack then noticed that he had appeared out of a multi colored box in the middle of the path. She hopped around it and moved on, thoroughly confused.

She tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened in the space of the last seven minutes. Although not entirely surprising, this time spent on this path had been very strange. She wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. So, instead of taking her time and enjoying the place as she had first intended, she broke into a full canter, taking off down the path as quick as she could. She hadn’t been running for long when she found another one of the strange boxes. Coming to a halt, she watched as another balloon creature rose out of it. It, like its friend, was wearing a smile.

“‘Sup?” It asked, in a very feminine voice. Applejack nodded slowly.

“How ya’ll doin’?” The being also didn’t respond at first, taking on the same, disheartened expression the first one had worn. Then it perked up again, as if nothing had happened..

“My name’s Jackie. I suppose you’ve met my brother, Jack?” Applejack nodded, groaning mentally at the name pun. “That explains why you weren’t surprised by me. We thrive off of surprising ponies... which has been hard for a while now. We’ve had to resort to surprising those posh caterpillars, and that’s no fun.” She sighed sadly. Applejack tilted her head curiously.

“Does this have somethin’ to do with what that ol’ caterpillar said?” Jackie nodded (or just shook up and down. Applejack couldn’t tell.).

“Yeah. It’s been three years since I’ve delivered a good surprise. Now my brother and I are off form. But you... you’re different.” Jackie smiled. “I know you’re not from here. You’re not supposed to be here. But you might just be the key to undoing what has been done. Hopefully you’re not alone...”

“Don’t ya’ll worry ‘bout nothin’.” Applejack proclaimed in a voice filled with confidence and pride. “Me and the gals, we’ll set this right. Just you wait and see.” Jackie gave her a warm smile.

“It’s good to hear that. I miss the others. I do hope you can bring them back... oh! Almost forgot. Not everything that you and your friends will meet is as friendly as what you’ve seen. The dark magic has corrupted some things, and made the dangerous even more so. Just be careful, alright.” Applejack nodded, thanking her new ally as she stepped around and dashed off down the path.

__________

Some time passed before Applejack found her goal. At the end of the path, lying at where the grass met the sand, was the Element of Honesty. It was held aloft by a magic force. Applejack smiled, wiping her brow with a forehoof.

“Finally.” she muttered, stepping forward. The spell around the Element broke as she extended her hoof to take it, The magic in the jewel apparently recognizing her. It clasped around her neck, and she could feel the power flowing through her. It gave off a blast of light, and as if on cue, a hole tore in the world, and she could see into the room where her friends were. At that moment, Rainbow Dash was lying down, sulking by the wall, with Fluttershy fussing over her. They looked up as the wall fell away.

“AJ!” Rainbow cried, leaping to her hooves. She took a step forward, but found herself held back. Applejack didn’t hesitate for a moment longer, and leapt into the room, into the waiting embrace of her friends. As she passed into the room, the wall sealed up behind her. Twilight was the first to break the fond embrace and find her voice.

“What happened? We saw you step out, and then the door shut on it’s own. And how on earth did you get back there?” Applejack turned and looked. She found that she was standing on the to the right of the door. Frowning, she looked back at Twilight.

“How long have Ah been out there?” Twilight paused, glancing upwards.

“I’d say... fifteen minutes. It was enough time to get us all worried.” Applejack gaped. Surely she had been out there for longer. She told Twilight as much, and Twilight nodded thoughtfully. “Different time streams... fascinating.” Twilight caught a glint of the Element, and her face contorted into a smile. “You found it?”

“Yep. It was actually pretty easy, too. Weren’t too much of a hassle... although it was... weird.” Twilight tilted her head.

“What do you mean weird?” Applejack explained what she could of the events of her time out there. By the end, the others were as confused as she was. “That... okay, let’s just move on. I don’t wanna think about that place.” She turned to face the door. “I haven’t been able to open the door. The magic latch is gone. I wonder...” She walked over, focusing her magic on where the latch had been. It was there once more, and, giving it a tug, the filly ripped the door open. The sight that awaited them shocked and stunned them, but somehow Rarity managed to describe it best.

“How filthy!”