Chapter 1

Sweet Apple Acres…

“Ho doggy, that was one hard day of apple bucking, wouldn’t ya say, Big Macintosh?” said Applejack as she finished bucking the last apple tree for the day.

Her big brother simply put the apple-filled barrel in the cart with the other barrels before replying, “Eeyup.”

“After all that apple bucking, I can’t wait to eat whatever Granny Smith is cooking up,” exclaimed Applejack as she wiped the sweat from her brow. As if on cue, her little sister Applebloom came trotting from the farmhouse, a big smile across her face, hollering, “Dinner’s ready!!!”

Smiling just as big as her little sister, Applejack looked over to her big brother, saying, “Wanna race, Big Macintosh?” The stallion simply looked at his younger sister, before turning back to the barrel-filled cart he was attached to. He turned back to his sister and simply replied, “Nnnope.”

“Aw, ya ain’t never wanna race,” said Applejack, nudging her brother with her hoof. “What about you, Applebloo…,” continued Applejack, but as she turned back, she found her little sister was gone. “I’m already half way there!” cried Apple Bloom from a distance. Applejack simply laughed before trotting after her sister, leaving her big brother to pull the cart back to the farm.

Course, he didn’t mind watching his two younger sisters have fun while he did the heavy lifting. He enjoyed the quiet and the gentle breeze that blew in the air. As he pulled the cart down the road towards the farmhouse, however, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a grey dot in the sky growing bigger…

Even though Applebloom had started early, her sister quickly gained speed and passed her little sis with ease. “Ha ha, sorry Applebloom,” laughed Applejack, looking back at her little sister, “Maybe when ya get older, ya’ll be able to keep with me.” Suddenly, a loud crash came out of nowhere, as an apple tree began to tip over, right in front of Applejack’s path.

And just as quickly as the tree had fallen, Applejack crashed right into it. “Applejack!” cried Applebloom as she ran up to her sister, “are you alright?” Applejack pulled her face off the trunk of the tree, seeing stars circling her head, before she answered, “Yeah, I’m alright.”

Shaking her head to get rid of the stars, she looked at the tree trunk on the path in front of them and asked out loud, “What the hay just happened?” And her answer came in the form of a grey, wall-eyed Pegasus. “Oh, hi Ditzy,” sighed Applejack, knowing exactly what had happened.

“Hiya, Applejack,” smiled Ditzy Doo, as if she hadn’t just crashed into a tree so hard that she knocked it over, “hey, what happened to your tree?” Applejack just sighed and said, “It ain’t important, what brings yourself here, sugar cube?”

“Uhhh…,” thought Ditzy, putting one hoof to her chin and the other to the top of her head. It took her a second to remember, before exclaiming, “Oh yeah, I got a letter for you, AJ.” She grabbed her mail bag and pulled out a scroll with Applejack’s name on it.

Applejack took the scroll in her mouth as Ditzy gave her a little salute, lifting off the ground, and proclaimed, “I hope you were satisfied with our mailing service, Derpy Air Mail, and hope to see you again!” After which, Ditzy flew off back to Ponyville, only to crash into Big Macintosh, who had finally caught up with his sisters.

Applejack simply sighed, opened up the scroll, and began to read its content…

Dear Appleblank (Appleblank? Why, she hadn’t heard that nickname since her school days, before she got her cutie mark. In fact, only one pony ever called her that…)

How have you been? I’ve been great, traveling all over Equestria, seeing so much this world has to offer. I hear that you’ve been working at that farm of yours with your big brother and granny. Dang, she still alive? How old is she now? 80? 90? 100?

Ah, it doesn’t matter, I guess. Heck, you probably don’t even remember who I am, it’s been too long. After all, last time we saw each other, you still had a blank flank. Hey, are you still a blank flank? Just kidding. Anyway, I can’t wait to meet up with you when I come back to Ponyville in a couple days. Don’t I have stories to share with you.

From your old friend,

Trotting Guardsmen

Applejack’s mouth hung open as she read the name on the bottom of the scroll. No, it couldn’t be, not him. Not the one pony she couldn’t stand in school, the one pony that had hurt her so much, and the one pony she never thought she would ever see again.

Ditzy had finally left as Big Mac had finished cleaning the mess she made. He then came up behind her to see what the commotion was, only to see the name on the bottom of the scroll. His eyes went wide and for the first in Apple Bloom’s life, his expression had changed to one of anger. And it frightened her deeply.

Applejack walked off as Applebloom asked out loud, “Who’s Trotting Guardsmen?” Big Mac simply looked at his little sister and seeing her innocent little face, took a deep breath, his face of fury disappearing, and answered, “Trotting Guardsmen was the school bully who picked on Applejack when they were young. Not only that, the very last time they saw each other face to face, he said something so horrible, it well…”

Big Mac went silent as he looked back towards Applejack to see her walk inside the farmhouse. Applebloom simply stared at her big brother, waiting for him to answer. But instead of finishing the story, Big Mac just started walking to farmhouse, completely forgetting his youngest sister and the cart full of apples waiting to be taken in.

Applebloom could only watch as her big brother walked inside the farmhouse, with no idea what was going on…

Ponyville Train Station, Three Days Later…

Applejack was at the Ponyville Train Station, waiting for the train to come in. It had been three days since she received the letter, three days that gave her plenty of words to come up with when he finally showed up. Big Mac was there as well, for two reasons, one of which was to keep AJ under control, and the second reason being to knock Trotting Guardsmen into the next town if he said anything stupid to his little sister.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Applebloom had followed them. She had been very curious as to who Trotting Guardsmen was, but all she had found was an old picture of him as a young colt.

It was old and the color had faded a bit, obviously the picture had not been taken care of, but she was able to tell that his coat was black, and his mane and tail were white. He was also wearing a little red outfit and a little vest that matched his mane and tail.

The only thing Applebloom couldn’t figure out was the color of his eyes, that area of the picture too faded out to make an accurate conclusion. She had put the picture away, when suddenly a train whistle blew, startling the young filly out of her hiding spot, and landing into a pile of boxes.

“Applebloom,” stated Applejack as she walked over to her younger sister, “I told ya’ll not to follow us, this is big pony business.” Applejack now had to cross out most the words she had in her head, most of them she didn’t want to say in front of her little sister.

Before Applejack could scold her younger sister anymore, the train had rolled into the station, before coming to a complete stop at the end of the station. The car doors opened as a few dozen pony folk walked out, filling out of the station, and off into Ponyville.

In the very last car, the caboose, of the train, walked out a black stallion with a long white, messy mane, a tail to match, and bright green eyes. His eyes were so bright and green; it almost drew attention away from the red shorts the stallion was wearing, covering his flank.

“Ah Ponyville,” said the young stallion out loud, taking a deep breath of the Ponyville air, “I missed this place. I forgot how beautiful this place was.” The stallion suddenly caught the site of an orange mare, and his smile got bigger. “Applejack, is that you?”

“It is you, oh how have you been?” asked the stallion as he walked over to the young mare. He then looked over to Big Mac and laughed. “And is that you Macintosh? You were big before, but dang, you got much bigger.”

For somepony who used to be Applejack’s bully, thought Applebloom, he sure is friendly. It was then that the black stallion noticed Apple Bloom. “And who’s this little filly? Why I don’t think we’ve met. My name’s Trotting Guardsmen, but you can call me Trotter.”

Before Applebloom could reply, Applejack and Big Mac stepped in between the filly and the stallion, staring daggers in the direction of Trotter, whose smile began to fade. “Is there a problem?” asked Trotter, who was starting to feel rather uncomfortable.

“You’re darn tooting, there’s a problem,” exclaimed Applejack, not taking her eyes off the stallion, “ya think ya can come back and expect a welcome back party? After what ya did, I’m surprised you’d be stupid enough to show your face around here again.”

“Applejack, what are you talking about?” ask the confused stallion, reaching out to touch her. That was a huge mistake. One second later, Big Mac held him by the throat against the wall of the train station. “You even think about touching my sister,” bellowed Big Mac, “I’ll buck ya so hard, your own mother won’t even recognize ya.”

“Now, Big Macintosh,” said Applejack, for once being the calm voice in the storm, if only for Applebloom’s sake, “let’s not set a bad example for little Applebloom.” Before Applebloom could say anything about not being little, Big Mac let go of Trotter, who immediately took deep breathes to recover the air he needed.

Before he could completely recover, however, Applejack walked up to Trotter, put a hoof to his chest, and proclaimed, “Now I can’t stop ya from staying in Ponyville for however long it takes for you to leave, but know this, if ya set one hoof on Sweet Apple Acres, I’ll let Big Macintosh buck you back to the stone pony age.”

Trotter could only continue breathing hard as the Apple Family turned and walked away, the youngest filly being picked up by her brother to prevent her from left alone with the black stallion.

Just outside of the station, Big Mac let Applebloom go, who was just about to say something, when Applejack interrupted her. “Listen Apple bloom, ya must promise me not to go speaking to that stallion, no matter what.” Applebloom looked at her big sister, then to her big brother, then back to her big sister. She knew she wasn’t gonna win this argument. She simply nodded her head, and the Apple Family turned and headed straight for Sweet Apple Acres.

Applebloom looked back to see the stallion had come outside, and was staring at them with the most confused face she had ever seen.

CMC Headquarters, One Hour Later…

Applebloom had gone to her clubhouse by herself to try and figure out just what had happened between her sister and this new pony in town. It was then that she heard a screeching sound, followed by the clip clopping sound of hoofsteps. The door opened to reveal Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, Applebloom’s best friends and fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Hey Applebloom,” cried the two young fillies, as they entered the club house. “Did you hear there’s a new pony in Ponyville?” asked Sweetie Belle as she walked over to Applebloom. “Yeah, I’ve meet him,” sighed Applebloom, wishing she could have gotten a chance to talk to him. “You did? Well, what did his Cutie Mark look like?” asked Scootaloo, her eyes widening with anticipation.

“Huh,” said Applebloom, confused by the sudden question, “Well, he was wearing something that covered his flank, so I didn’t get to really see it. Why do you ask?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle smiled at each other before smiling back at Applebloom.

“Well, I just thought that since we’ve already heard everypony in Ponyville tell us how they got their cutie marks,” said Scootaloo with a matter-of-fact attitude, “that maybe we could get advice from this new pony or hear how he got his Cutie Mark.” Sweetie Belle nodded and added, “Yeah, this might help us get closer to finding our own Cutie Marks.”

Applebloom thought about this for a second, and then remembered reading the scroll that was sent to Applejack from Trotter. “Ya know,” she said, a smile growing on her face, “He said something about traveling all over Equestria, seeing all the sights.” With this new found knowledge, the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders couldn’t help but get bigger smiles.

“Then he’s got to have some awesome explorer Cutie Mark or something,” exclaimed Scootaloo, nearly jumping for joy. Apple Bloom couldn’t help but feel excited too. Applejack said she couldn’t talk to Trotter, but she never said Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle couldn’t.

“Alright,” proclaimed Applebloom, “Let go Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

Trotter’s New House, Ten Minutes Later…

It didn’t take the Cutie Mark Crusaders long to find the new pony’s house, even though it was on the edge of the town, near the road to the Everfree Forest. The three little fillies walked up to the door, and Applebloom went to knock on the door with her hoof…

…Only for it to slide open with the slightest touch. “I guess he forgot to close his door completely,” said Scootaloo, walking inside as if this were her house.

When she noticed the two other fillies hadn’t followed her in, she turned around and said, “Come on, fellow Crusaders, we’re on a mission to get our Cutie Marks.” With this proclamation, the two other ponies nodded in agreement and followed their friend inside.

The house still had boxes yet to be unpacked as they looked around for the stallion who owned this place. It was when they headed into the bedroom that Applebloom found the red shorts Trotter had been wearing were tossed onto the floor.

It was also when they had entered the bedroom that they heard the water running. Trotter must have been taking a shower. But just as the CMC had come to the conclusion, the water was suddenly silenced, and the door to the bedroom bathroom opened.

Out walked Trotter, a towel covering his face, not even noticing the three little intruders in his house. Applebloom was the first to notice that something was amiss. For where there should have been a Cutie Mark, there was only the black coat of Trotter’s fur. There was no Cutie Mark on this stallion’s flank. He was, in fact….

“A BLANK FLANK?!” cried Applebloom, causing Trotter to jump up, throw off towel off his face, and stare at the three little fillies who had snuck into his house.

“What in the whole wide world of Celestia is going on?!”