Considering the fertile look of the land and countryside around her, Applejack had to think she was walking through what used to be the heartland of the Kingdom of Diamonds. She had crossed through several different woodlands in the past couple of days, walked past meadows of wildflowers, and seen plenty of old farmland (that unfortunately had been left to rot recently). Today was the day she expected to arrive at New Jasmine Leaf Town, she just wished she had a map to tell her exactly where it was.
The road only went one way though so it’s not like she could’ve taken a wrong turn anywhere.
Soon enough today—Applejack glanced up and checked the sun to see it was a bit before noon—and she was walking up a small hill that should give her a nice view of what came next.
When she reached the top of the hill and could stare out at the upcoming landscape she ended up seeing far more than she even expected.
A huge lake stretched out to the north, farther than her eyes could see, while a series of rivers branching off from its southern end created a delta, the rivers extending and snaking through the land also to the southern horizon. In the gaps between the rivers along the shore of the lake a town had been built. Connected by small wooden bridges, the various islands depending on their size only had a few houses or several much larger buildings constructed on them. From here Applejack could also see a lot of boats in the rivers and gathered at the edge of the lake.
This had to be it, New Jasmine Leaf Town.
Applejack sighed in relief and smiled at the sight of it. The town even looked far more alive than anywhere else she had seen in the old kingdom.
She started walking down the hill and made her way towards town, it certainly looked like an interesting place to visit just because of where it was built and how it was designed. The closer she got she saw that there were some buildings clearly under construction and others that had fallen apart but it overall didn’t look as badly hit as the other places she had seen here. Obviously no real settlement could fully escape the pain the kingdom went through but this one was at least being patched up.
When Applejack reached the outskirts of it and started crossing the first small bridge onto the first island she also saw her first ponies of New Jasmine Leaf Town.
It was a trio of colts playing around, bouncing a rubber ball off the wall of one of the buildings and running after it to kick it back, keeping that up at a fast pace with each of them trying to be the first one to make the hit. The creak of the bridge Applejack walked over grabbed their attention and they looked over to see her right as she walked onto the island. The three of them stopped, regarding her a little suspiciously so Applejack threw on the best smile she could and waved at them.
“Hi there, don’t mind me, just passing through. Are any of your parents or other adults around?” She asked.
They still seemed a bit wary—it was likely they had never seen a single pony just walk in here like this—but one of them pointed towards one of the larger islands a few bridges down. Where Applejack could see a building under construction.
“Thank you,” Applejack tipped her hat to the colts. “The three of you have fun now.”
As she walked off to the other island she could feel the three colts watching her as she went. No surprise there. She was probably enough of an unusual sight to be more interesting to watch.
While walking to the big island she saw a few ponies paddling canoes through the canals or walking along some of the other islands, carrying out their own business. It wasn’t until she made it to where the colts had pointed her though that she came across a new group to actually greet. In the center of the island a number of ponies were working together to construct what looked like a windmill. They had scaffolding all around it and ropes hoisting up more boards of wood and the parts to make the actual blades. While a few worked on that there were others chatting around it and Applejack saw a few mares cooking some food by a large fire and grill outside one of the other buildings. When Applejack came out into the same open area everypony else was working she stood there for a moment, unsure how to introduce herself to them.
However it turned out she didn’t really need to, as one pony saw her and tapped the shoulder of another stallion he was talking with, pointing him at Applejack. That seemed to grab the attention of the other ponies around and most ended up stopping what they were doing to turn and look at her. Some of them a little oddly. Not that she could fully blame them, a small town like this with an even smaller population, they all had to know each other closely. A stranger like her—especially after what had gone on in the Kingdom of Diamonds—would stick out even more.
The stallion who had gotten tapped on the shoulder eventually decided to walk up to her. He didn’t look scared or upset at the very least, keeping an even look on his face. He was an earth pony with a robust built, a heavy jacket worn over his body, and his bronze mane pulled back in a long ponytail. Stopping in front of Applejack he looked her over, probably to judge for himself if she was dangerous, before speaking.
“Well—I apologize if this isn’t a proper greeting, but I’d like to ask who you might be and what brings you out here?” He asked.
Applejack nodded to them. “That’s fine, it’s your town. My name is Applejack and I’m just passing through here on my way to Equinestan. I heard from a pony named Winter Moon about your town a few days ago, is this New Jasmine Leaf Town?”
“Winter Moon, huh? Older pegasus with a wife named Pretty Petunia?” The stallion questioned.
Applejack nodded. “That’s the one.”
“Haven’t seen him in a while, good to hear he’s doing alright. I suppose if he told you about us being here then you must be alright. If you’re just traveling through and going to Equinestan… you must be from outside the Kingdom of Diamonds completely then?”
“Yessir, I’m from a bit farther east. There aint no problem with me coming through here is there?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“No I wouldn’t say so. It’s unusual nowadays but I suppose eventually we’d like ponies to start coming through here more often,” he smiled and stuck out a hoof to her. “I’m Marsh Hopper, pleased to meet you. More or less in charge around here, but we’re just a tiny community anyways.”
Applejack took his hoof and shook it. “Pleased to meet you too. That’s what I heard, but it’s nice to see you’re all doing pretty well.”
“We’re doing okay. Things could be better. Right now we don’t even know how many ponies are left in the kingdom but-” he sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, that aint anything to burden you with. You just want directions to Equinestan from here?”
Applejack pondered for a bit at his question. If she stopped here for the rest of the day to spend the night she’d be wasting hours of travel time. Though it might be the only real place to stop between here and Equinestan she still wanted to be faster than have a comfortable place to sleep every night. Maybe it was actually too bad that she had gotten here early.
In the end Applejack just nodded. “Yeah, I vaguely know how much longer I have to go but I wanted to know if I just needed to keep to one road until I get there. Winter Moon and Pretty Petunia told me about the bridge leading out of the kingdom to Equinestan.”
“Then you don’t really need to worry about anything. If you follow the road out of town here it forks off in a few different directions but there’s a sign up for Equinestan. Can’t miss it. Just to tell you though—you certainly won’t be seeing any other towns like this until you get into Equinestan. In fact you probably won’t come across any other ponies at all.”
“That’s alright, I’m used to it,” Applejack sighed.
“Guess you’ve been traveling pretty far.”
Applejack mirthlessly chuckled. “You really don’t know the half of it…” She took a deep breath and looked over at where she had seen the food being made earlier. “Could I fill up my bag before I leave if you have any food to spare?”
Marsh Hopper rubbed the back of his neck. “We do have food to spare but… can you trade anything for it maybe?”
“Fair enough,” Applejack said but frowned. She didn’t have anything to trade for it. She scratched her head for a second before an idea popped into it. “Well… what about if I trade you some good news?”
“Good news?” Marsh Hopper raised an eyebrow.
“Mhm,” Applejack nodded. “I imagine you’ll be quite happy to hear what I have to tell you about the Citadel of Al-Karamaretel…”
They were quite happy to hear about that. Ecstatic even. Marsh Hopper told her that they’d definitely be throwing a party in celebration later after Applejack left. After all, if things were fixed with Al-Karamaretel then it meant that things could only get better. Sure, they probably didn’t have any illusions about things being great or going right back to normal, but it at least gave them hope. It was still good news in a country that sorely needed it.
Applejack didn’t toot her own horn about what she had personally done at the citadel. She didn’t want to brag or have ponies thanking her for doing nothing more than the right thing. Even then the good news was enough for Marsh Hopper to send her away with a bag full of warm biscuits.
All in all, Applejack would call this a good day.