Where loyalty lies
Chapter 1
The sun was rising as it was reaching the middle of the day, the Apple family had been hard at work since even before the roosters crowed, it was nearing the end of the Apple Bucking season, so the Apple family were preparing for next Apple season. Big Mac was plowing fields tearing down dying trees and getting the ground ready to plant new trees, Apple Bloom was tending to the animals that were inside the barn as Granny Smith was resting inside the house due to her old age. The last member of the Apple family Apple Jack was bucking trees, she was doing it rather quickly due to the apples either already being bucked or have already fallen off the trees so there weren't many apples left on them. But Apple Jack and her family still had work to do, both finishing up things to end this season and get things ready for next season.
After bucking a few trees Apple Jack moved on to one of the bigger apple trees that was inside the Apple Acres farm. Apple Jack sensed something off about this tree and the area around it, after a quick look over of the tree and the ground Apple Jack noticed there weren't that many apples both in and around the tree, there were so few apples that most of the smaller trees that Apple Jack had bucked earlier had more apples than this. Apple Jack thought something was off, but the thought quickly subsided because she still had quite a bit of work to do before calling it a day.
She quickly placed three baskets around the tree where Apple Jack thought the apples would fall then she moved next to the tree taking a moment before she used her back legs to kick the tree causing it to shake and the last of the apples fell to the ground most of them falling in baskets that Apple Jack had placed under the tree, some ended up falling on the ground though. But as the last few apples fell Apple Jack saw there were still a few left in the tree and gave one more stronger kick that shock the tree rather violently the last of the apples fell and out of the corner of Applejacks eye she saw a white blur, she turned to face it bur as she did the large blur hit the ground with a loud thud causing dust to be kicked up and go into Apple jacks eyes. Apple Jack then stumbled back trying to wipe the dust from her eyes as she heard a groan from in front of her making her want to see what she what or as she now thought who fall from the tree.
While AJ was getting the dust out of her eyes she continued to hear what sounded like groans and grunts coming from a stallion after getting hurt, or more accurately fell from a tree. After a few seconds passed Apple Jack managed to rub the dust out of her eyes. Her vision seemed to slowly clear up before she soon saw a pony laying in front of her beginning to stand up facing with its plot facing Apple Jack. She quickly noticed that the pony she thought was a stallion was wearing pants. As the pony continued to stand up dazed for a moment AJ soon had to look up to see the back of the stallion's head as he was rather tall, he had a much larger build than most stallions, but seemed to be a bit smaller then Big Mac from what Apple Jack could tell from glancing at him from behind. Apple Jack as her sight got a bit better and her vision started to scan the Stallion noticed something rather odd. The jeans that the stallion was wearing were rather raggedy, being covered in holes and tears with most of the color faded away.
Apple Jack then asked under her voice, "What the hey?" the stallion jumped and turned around midair nearly head butting AJ with her feeling the wind that he caused, that's when Apple Jack noticed that the pony's coat was completely white except for his brown mane, he made eye contact only for a moment, his eyes were of a similar color brown as his mane. His eyes soon widen looking like he had seen a ghost when he looked down at Apple jack and takes a few step back and then Apple Jack asked "Who the hey are you?" with a combination of curiosity and anger for the white stallion that had no business being in the Apple Acers. The Stallion was the first one to break eye contact with Apple Jack as he mumbled something so quietly but it was so quiet Apple Jack couldn't hear him.
Apple Jack raised an eyebrow and asked, "What did you just say?" the Stallion backed away a few more steps and said, "Stay out of pony's sight." In a soft quiet voice, so quiet Apple Jack just barely made out what he said it reminded Apple Jack of Flutter Shy back when she was really shy. Apple Jack then asked, "what does that mean exactly? And why exactly were you in one of my Apple trees?" the stallion kept slowly backing away, to which Apple Jack took a step towards the white stallion to keep him close to her and the White Stallion then jumped because of Apple Jacks sudden motion and began to cower with his front legs covering his face then said, "I'm not supposed to let other ponies see me." He was extremely quiet just bearably being addable but a tone of fear was clear in his voice as he talked. That's when Apple Jack heard a familiar voice trying to get her attention from behind her saying "Apple Jack! Come quick Ponyvile is in trouble and we need you." Twilight Sparkle running towards Apple Jack and the mystery Stallion, this is when Apple Jack looked at Twilight then quickly looked back to where the White Stallion was cowering to find he had disappeared; Apple Jack looked around but the Stallion was gone without making a sound or leaving a trace.
"Apple Jack, we need your help! There's a major problem heading toward Ponyvile!" Twilight nearly screaming at Apple Jack causing Apple Jack to look back over to Twilight, quickly asking "What's going on?" then Twilight quickly said sounding worried, "Follow me, I'll tell you on the way." Twilight quickly turned back around and ran toward Ponyvile. Apple Jack began to run quickly catching up to her and asked, "Now can you tell me what's going on?" Twilight then said, "There's a HYDRA heading to Ponyvile, and it's on a rampage." Twilight exaggerated the word Hydra for obvious reasons, Apple Jack eyes widened at the news she heard and continued to run just a bit behind Twilight.
After letting what Twilight said process for a moment Apple Jack then shook her head and said, "Then what are we waiting for?" as Apple Jack picked up speed and got ahead of Twilight, Twilight began to fly when the two of them got out of Apple Acers and Twilight then said "Everyone is meeting in the center of town." Once out of Apple acres it didn't take long for Twilight and Apple Jack to find the other four elements of harmony waiting for them, Rainbow Dash was flying above the group as she said "Finally, I can see the Hydras heads off in the distance." And pointed over to the Everfree forest in the direction of the Hydra as she kept an eye on it.
Apple Jack then said, "Then let's go do something about It." as she ran in the direction of the Hydra and the Everfree forest with everyone else following Apple Jack. As the group left Ponyvile with the edge of Everfree forest in sight Rarity soon asked, "Excuse me darlings but do we have a plan or are we going in and hope for the best? I mean even Fluttershy couldn't calm this beast down so what are we going to do?" this cause Fluttershy to speak up saying "Im sorry I couldn't of done anything, hes just to angry I couldn't even get close to him when I tried." Rainbow Dash then said "It's alright Fluttershy, you did the best you could do." Then everyone fell silent.
Everyone was silent as they ran into the Everfree forest until they all heard a male voice say "I have one, a plan that is." Pinkie Pie jumped in the air at the sudden voice from beside her and disappeared in a dust cloud suddenly being on the other side of the group hiding beside Flutter Shy, Pinkie poked her head above Flutter Shy somehow being able to run with the group without touching the ground as the others turn to see the voice came from the white Stallion that Apple Jack recognized as the one that fell out of the tree in Apple Acers running next to them, he didn't make a sound as he ran, not even the sound of his hooves hitting the ground and he seemed to appear out of nowhere as they all continued to run towards the Hydra.
Rainbow Dash flew next to the white Stallion and asked, "Where did you come from and how did you hear us talking?" the stallion seem to flinch for a moment before looking Rainbow Dash straight in her eyes as he replied with "I'm the one with a plan, so put some trust in me." The Stallion said as he ran in front of the group and said "Fluttershy, Rarity, you two stay back and make sure that ponies and any animals keep their distance from the Hydra." Fluttershy and Rarity looked at each other than to the group and then Twilight said, "How do we know we can trust you?" and the stallion said, "Because I'm crazy enough to put my own safety on the line for the greater good like you are." Everyone looked at each other again in silence until Apple Jack said, "lets trust him now and get answers later." And with that Twilight said, "Let's just do what he says since we don't have any other plans." As Twilight look towards Rarity and Fluttershy as they both nodded and separated from the group but stayed together to do what the stallion said.
As they all moved towards the Hydra Rainbow Dash then said, "So what's your plan exactly?" sounding a bit sceptic of the new member of their party and the Stallion then said "Twilight will fly up and attack the Hydra from above using her magic while Pinkie uses her party cannon to shoot supper sticky cake batter or something to stop or at least slow the Hydra by shooting its feet, Apple jack will be a distraction for me and Rainbow, Rainbow Dash will lift me in the air and dive bomb me aiming for the middle of the back where the spines of all the Hydra heads meet, that's where Hydras are extremely sensitive to pain, that's why I had Fluttershy leave, I knew she wouldn't agree to a plan like this." That's when Rainbow Dash asked "I'm supposed to do what now?" sounding unsure what exactly he meant by that and the stallion looked straight at Rainbow Dash and said "Rainbow, you're going fly me up in the air and then fly down aiming for the Hydras back and then drop me so you can pull up to not hit the ground and ill hit the Hydra in its weak spot." When the Stallion finished he turned his attention forward as he continued running. Everyone looked at each other and it was clear that they all thought he was crazy even Pinkie clearly thought he was crazy.
After a moment of silence Twilight asked "Not to be rude or anything but…" Rainbow Dash cut Twilight off abruptly by saying "Are you INSANE?!" the Stallion stayed quiet and said "Maybe, but I'd prefer to be hurt then see others be hurt, would you call that insane." They continued to run in silence for a few moments then the Stallion says, "Rainbow you should pick me up, so we can follow the plan before we get to close to the hydra." Before anyone could say something in response the group ended up in a clearing in the woods which showed the Hydra was almost on top of them and the Stallion said, "Shoot we stalled to much we need to go with my plan, now!" The Hydra soon saw the ponies and all five heads shifted all their focus on them.
That's when Rainbow Dash finally picked the Stallion with a moment of struggle to pick the Stallion up and began to fly up, she struggled in the beginning to pick him up and the Stallion then said shouting a bit, "Twilight mind giving us some cover as we go up?!" Then one of the Hydras head snapped at Rainbow Dash and the Stallion trying to eating them hole Twilight quickly charged up an energy beam and fired a shot hitting it in the bottom of the chin as Twilight flew up passing Rainbow Dash and the Stallion and blasted a different head of the Hydra staying just above the Hydras heads blasting them as Rainbow Dash flew up with the Stallion leaving the rest of them to fight the Hydra. Pinkie Pie right when Rainbow Dash and the Stallion flew up past the hydras reach begin to follow the Stallions plan took her party cannon out from behind a tree and she started to fire what seemed like random party supplies at the Hydras feet it didn't quite stop it but it did make the Hydra move around it keeping it from moving forward, as Apple Jack was doing her best though she didn't have much to work with she kept running around keeping two heads busy as the heads snapped at her.
As the wind blew through their manes, howling in their ears there was a silence that after a few moments Rainbow Dash broke this silence by saying, "I'll tell you again your insane and I'll add that your heavier than you look, now how high am I supposed to go?" the Stallion finally opened his eyes and looked down to see the gigantic Hydra looked about half its size and the Stallion said "This will do." Then Rainbow Dash stopped and asked, "Are you sure about this? Trust me when I say I've crashed plenty of times to know this will hurt." And the Stallion looked a Rainbow Dash and had a small smile and said, "I'll be fine, I'm tougher then you think." Without another word Rainbow Dash gave a sigh as she started to fly down and quickly gaining speed and approaching the Hydra and after a few moments the Stallion took a deep breath and said, "Okay, throw me and pull up." Rainbow hesitated a moment before she did a spin in the air throwing the Stallion letting him free fall as she opened her wings letting the air slow her down quickly as the Stallion kept going down, picking up speed the wind really howling in his ears as he shifted his weight to stay on target and he soon approached his target, as he was right on top of the Hydra he did a flip and he struck the Hydras back with both of his back legs causing the Hydra to screeched an ear piercing cry of pain as its heads began to flail in pain.
When the Stallion hit the Hydra with such a hard hit Twilight, Apple Jack , Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all smiled with Pinkie Pie jumping up in the air with a cheer but as they did this the Hydras tail quickly wrapped around the Stallion and before he had a chance to struggle the Hydra threw him violently sending him through the air to land sideways into a tree causing his back to bend as he gasps in pain, the moment seemed to move slowly, maybe due to the adrenaline, or maybe it was the shock as the ponies watched the stallions back bend looking like he was going to wrap around the tree or perhaps snap like a twig but he then after a moment he started to go forward, his back went back into the shape that it's supposed to be as he fell limp on the ground and bounced slightly but there he laid limp.
As this was happening and the ponies present watched, they looked at the Stallion with fear and concern and while they were distracted the Hydra started to turn around which the vibration and sound from its stomping feet clearly slamming due to anger and it nearly hitting Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack with its tail snapped the ponies out of their state if shock, the Hydra was now facing away from Ponyvile and had all of its rage focused on the Stallion, as the Hydra turned to face the Stallion Twilight saw something on its back, where the Stallion hit the Hydra had already left a large bruise dark bruise, Twilight started to charge up a magic attack and quickly sent a magic blast at the bruise hitting it dead center causing the Hydra to screech in pain again but this time the Hydra went running back in the direction that it came from narrowly stepping on the Stallion as it retreated back into the Everfree.
Once the Hydra was passed the Stallion every pony quickly ran over or flew down to the Stallion with Pinkie pie screaming "Is he okay? I haven't even thrown him a welcome to Ponyvile party!" Twilight got to the Stallion just after Rainbow Dash and she covered her mouth and Apple Jack got to him just after Twilight and asked "What can we do? We need to help him." And Twilight then said, "We need to get him to a hospital." Suddenly the Stallion jumped to his screamed "No hospitals! Ow that hurts." This caused each pony to jump up screaming from the stallion suddenly getting up. The ponies look in shock as the Stallion then began to stretch causing sounds of crunching and cracking, everyone had a face of disgust thinking to themselves who or what is he as he continued to stretch causing more cracking sounds.
They stared at the Stallion and Apple Jack was the first to say something "Are you alright sugarcube?" and the Stallion then looked at each pony and stayed silent for a moment before he then backed up slowly lowering his ears until he bumped into the tree and he jumped with fear and he then began to cower under his front hooves and each pony showed their surprise clearly on their face and Rainbow Dash asked "What the, how are you up and walking like that and why are you acting so afraid suddenly? You just helped us fight a Hydra and didn't seem scared!" the Stallion stayed quiet and Apple Jack then said "Your acting like that again, why are you all shy again?" all attention from the Stallion shifted to Apple Jack and Twilight then asks "You've met him before? When?" Apple Jack then said "Yeah, I met him at Apple Acers earlier today, he disappeared right when I got distracted by Twi running to tell me about the Hydra rampaging towards Ponyvile, now you all." Apple Jack looked back to where the Stallion was cowering "Where'd he goes?" everypony then looks to where the Stallion was last seen on the ground and he was gone just like before without a sound or a trace.
Twilight asked "How? He couldn't have walked away without one of us noticing." Apple Jack furrowed her brow and said "He did it again, that Stallion pulled the same vanishing act on me when I got distracted by Twi." Rainbow Dash then flew away saying "He couldn't have gotten far let's find him and get some answers." And with that they started to search the Everfree for a few hours, they bumped into each other occasionally and sometimes they ran into a monster that resides inside the Everfree, they were either able to fend the monster off or get away from it easily until they decided to go back to Ponyvile.
Back in Ponyvile they soon found Rarity and she asked "There you are darlings, where have you been? Me and Flutter Shy could hear you sending the Hydra back from wherever it came and I then had to convince Flutter Shy to not go after the Hydra to make sure it wasn't hurt." Rainbow Dash then answered with "We were running all over the Everfree looking for that mystery Stallion." Rarity thought for a moment then said, "Oh I had forgot about that fellow, I most certainly want to forget those abomination of fashion he was wearing." Apple Jack then said, "Yeah he was wearing those when I first met that rascal, I wonder why he's wearing those jeans?" Pinkie Pie jumped in and said, "I don't really care about that stuff, I was never able to do my welcome to Ponyvile song and dance, actually I was so focused on the Hydra I hardly spoke that's really not like me." Pinkie sat on the ground thinking.
Twilight then said, "Well I'm going to send a letter to Celestia so I'll see you girls later." Rainbow Dash flew up in the air a bit then said, "Yeah I'm going to rest, flying with that stallion was really tiring, but it seemed like a good workout." Before Rainbow flew off Pinkie said, "I should to go to Sugar Cube Corner." She then walked off looking like she was upset, most likely about not welcoming that Stallion leaving Rarity and Apple Jack alone and Rarity then said, "Well I have some dresses to finish up, if you catch that stallion bring him to my boutique so I can fix up his rags or something." Apple Jack chuckled at that thought and said, "Sure thing, if I find that slippery stallion I'll make sure to hog tie him and bring him to your shop." To which Rarity laughed at and then said, "Well I'll see you later Darling." And Apple Jack said, "to you too sugarcube." As they walked away.
Apple Jack returning to the Farm then hears a familiar voice "Apple Jack, I'm so glad to see your okay." Apple Jack turned to see her little Sister Apple Bloom with Big Mac walking behind her Apple Bloom had a large smile on her face and Big Mac said "Eeyup." In his usual tone of voice. Apple Jack then said "Yeah, there was no need to worry sugarcube, we sent that beast back from where it came from." Apple Jack paused for a second before saying "With a little help from a stranger." Apple Bloom then asked curiously "Stranger?". Apple Jack said "Yeah, a white Stallion that wears worn out jeans." Apple Bloom after a second says in a cheery upbeat voice, "I know who your talking about!" Apple Jack with a surprised look clear on her face and asked "Really? How?" Apple Bloom quickly said with the same cheerful tone that she had on her face, "Oh right, he's sleeping in one of our apple trees." Then in an annoyed tone Apple Bloom says "Big Mac didn't believe me, so I was going to show him." Apple Jack Looked at Big Mac and asked a bit skeptical, "You really didn't believe Bloom?" and Big Mac responded with an agreeing "Eeyup." And Apple Jack said, "Lead me to that slippery varmint, but give me a moment I need to grab something." Apple Jack then ran off in the direction of the barn.
Not to long later Apple Jack, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac all stared at the white Stallion sleeping in a apple tree, he was laying on the branch letting all of his legs hang off to the sides just dangling as Apple Jack began to swing her lasso around and soon had the Stallions front left hoof and pulls him out of the tree right when the Stallion woke up and quickly landed on the his back to which Apple Jack dragged him closer to her as she quickly Hog tied him before he could say anything and when she was done Apple Jack said "Finally got ya you slippery rascal." The Stallion was struggling to get free and once he realized he couldn't break free he said, "Please don't hurt me." As he seemed to cower facing away from the Apples and Apple Bloom asked "Is that really the same Stallion that helped you fend off that Hydra?" Apple Bloom asked a bit sceptic that the Stallion actually did anything because he was acting like a coward and Apple Jack then said "Yeah its rather odd, that's why I'm going to try get answers." Apple Jack had her rope in her mouth as she started to pull the Stallion towards Ponyvile.