((AN: Please don't message me about the deviation from continuity. I have a feeling I'll be playing fast and loose with it anyway. Also keep in mind that I haven't read the comics, and am relying heavily on the Green Lantern wiki. Also, internet cookie to those who can identify the unnamed Green Lanterns XD))
A light shined in Applejack’s closed eyes, causing her to stir in her sleep. She groaned a bit as she woke up, her eyes still closed. Her neck was a little stiff from having slept in a hard surface. She must have fallen asleep under Hayseed last night. It wouldn’t be the first time; time often got away with her during the night, as did how tired she really was. Big Mac was always telling her to pay attention to the time. He was going to kill her if she was late for her chores, and if the brightness was any indication, she was. He always insisted that she sleep in her bed. Darn the grass for being so comfortable. Oh well, she thought, may as well face the music…
She opened her eyes slightly, before quickly closing them again. Rather than the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, as she expected, her eyes were filled with a massive bright light. She jumped up, and winced as her muscles screamed in protest. She sat back down and rubbed her legs, working out the stiffness from them. They tingled with the telltale sign of having fallen asleep. She looked back up to the light, amazed at what she saw.
It was a massive ball of fire. It almost encompassed her entire field of vision, with a black void covered in pinpoints of light making up the background. It swirled with flares of gas, larger and more powerful than anything she had ever seen. Wait a minute, she had seen something like it before, something back home. Once she thought about it, she realized it looked like the sun. Finally it dawned on her: it was a star, close up. She was hurtling past another sun, and darn close to one too.
Applejack was stunned, a constant state for her lately, as she dimly considered how this was possible. How in Equestria was she this close? She should be dead right now. She looked around, hoping to get a clue, and saw the green ball surrounding her. Oh, right. So it wasn't a dream. Applejack hung her head, her mane falling around her face. Oh, great, she thought. On topa everything, Ah don’t even have mah hair ties… A stupid problem, maybe, but she felt that even that would have given her some comfort. And she could use some of that right now.
Applejack settled back down, looking around her into the vastness of space that surrounded her. In any other situation, it would have been beautiful. The astounding emptiness of it all, the incredible number of lights that dotted the sky, each one another star like the one she had passed. Of course, her appreciation was tempered by the fact that she was hurtling through said space towards somewhere she didn’t know, for a reason she could fathom. Could someone have thought she killed Seron? Whoo, boy, she had some explaining to do…
Looked like she would be doing it sooner rather than later, too. She was getting awfully close to a planet. As she got closer, it began to come into focus. It was green, just like every other weird thing that had shown up lately, and had the same symbol as the one on the ring she wore. The symbol looked like it was etched into the landscape, along with a massive band around the planet. Someone had gone to an awful lot of trouble to cultivate a forest just so it would look like the symbol from space. Who goes to that much trouble? she asked herself. She was about to find out, it seemed, as she was starting to enter the planet’s atmosphere.
Applejack expected the air around her to burst into flame, but it looked like that wasn’t happening. In fact, the sphere wasn’t even shaking. It was a smooth ride all the way in. The orange pony was reminded of the time she asked Twilight what shooting stars really were, and she had told her about the massive amount of turbulence that entering an atmosphere generated. It seemed like that wasn’t the case here, though, as the ride towards the planet was pretty smooth.
As she went further into the atmosphere, she went through the clouds, and finally got a look at the planet’s surface. The breath was stolen from her lungs as the saw the sight below her. It wasn't a forest at all; it was a city, a massive city, and by the look of it, the entire band around the planet was part of it. Massive emerald spires rose up into the sky, and she could see green figures moving around them. Whoever lived here, it looked like they could fly, since she couldn’t see the ground. How on earth was she going to get around so she could find a way home?
As soon as she formed that thought, the bubble touched down on an outcropping connected to a building. When her hooves touched the platform, her ring shone once more, bathing her in green light. It solidified into a uniform around her body, a kind of jumpsuit. On her chest was a dark green piece of cloth, looking a lot like a vest that the ponies in Applaoosa wore. Underneath it was a black jumpsuit with the symbol on her ring on her chest, green on a white background. Her legs were covered in black cloth, but the hooves up to her fetlocks were as green as the body. Her ring was outside it, still glowing. Thankfully, she still had her Stetson. Where her cutie mark would have been, the symbol that was so prominent everywhere else adorned her flanks.
Applejack looked on her body, examining her now outfit. “Huh,” she said aloud. Really, she should have been more surprised, but after all that had happened, this was perhaps the least weird thing. And besides, she had seen Rarity create outfits seemingly out of nowhere. At least this one seemed practical.
All of a sudden, she heard a voice behind her say, “Comfortable?” She wiped around, facing whoever it was that had spoken to her, crouching down into a sturdier position. Again, she was faced with something new. It was another creature, but not like Seron. It looked something like a large monkey, an animal that she had seen at Fluttershy’s cottage one. This one, however, looked to be about six feet tall, and had almost no fur. The only fur it did have was brown, and on the top of its head. It sounded masculine, so she assumed he was male. Anything else about his face she couldn't determine, since he wore a mask.
The creature chuckled and raised its arms. She noticed that it had the same kind of appendages that Seron had, only they seemed a bit thicker and he had five of them. “Whoa, there, cowgirl, take it easy. I’m not here to start trouble. Let me guess, first time on Oa? Well, welcome to the Corps.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow, but started to ease her stance. It didn’t seem like the creature was out to hurt her, and seemed friendly enough. “Well, thank ya kindly… whatever yeh are,” she said, offering a hoof. “Name’s Applejack.”
The creature smiled. “Nice to meet you, AJ. Name’s Hal, Hal Jordan,” he said, taking her hoof and shaking it. “Green Lantern of Sector 2814, human. I’m guessing you have a lot of questions, so why don't we get some grub?” he asked. Applejack made a face. Grub?
“Uh, no thanks, partner, Ah’m not too fond of bugs. Not for eatin’, anyway,” she said. She may not be as refined as Rarity, but she had standards, nonetheless.
The creature laughed, shaking its head. “Just an expression, miss. It means food. We have a decent cafeteria here, even if they can't make a burger to save their lives. I'm sure they'll have something you can chow on, though.”
Applejack’s stomach gave a mighty rumble, and she chuckled herself, rubbing the back of her head. “Well, Ah guess Ah could use a little food. Ah kinda had a rough night…” she said. That was something of an understatement, but still…
“Well, then, follow me,” he said. Rather than turning around and walking, as she expected, he rose into the air, wrapped in a green aura. The symbol on his chest was lit up, and it looked like it had risen up from his uniform. Applejack’s jaw dropped, and she sat down hard. He was flying… without wings. A bigger surprise came when he turned in mid air and said, “You coming?”
He expected HER to fly?! Ok, now she had heard everything. “Uh, Hal? You may have the freaky power to fly without wings, but Ah’m just an earth pony. Ah can't fly.”
Hal looked confused a moment, but then facehoofed… or face-whatever-he-had. “Sorry, forgot you’re new. You can use the ring to fly; I'll explain more about it on the way. Just focus on rising into the air, and you will.”
Applejack was skeptical, but as she had been thinking constantly since Seron had crashed into her farm, things couldn't get any weirder. Unfortunately, just as constantly, she had been proven wrong. Applejack closed her eyes, concentrating on what Hal told her to. As a frame of reference, she pictured Rainbow Dash when she hovered, lifting off the ground with such grace. She envied her sometimes; able to go anywhere she wanted, whenever she wanted…
She heard Hall laugh. “Take a look, cowgirl.”
Applejack opened her eyes, and gasped aloud. She looked down, and the ground was a good ten feet beneath her. She was also surrounded by a green aura, just like Hal was. She jumped in mid air, startled, and lost concentration for a moment. That was all it took, though, The green aura vanished, and she fell the full ten feet, but didn't land on the ground. Instead, she was resting on a large green cushion that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It was strange, though; it was soft, but it didn't have the texture of a cushion. It also looked like it was connected to something by a strange green cord on one side. She followed it with her eyes, and saw it was connected to Hal’s ring. “What in tarnation…” she said to herself, supremely confused now.
Hal just laughed and landed next to her. “It’s called a hard light construct. You can do it too, it’s part of being a Green Lantern. Using our willpower, we can use the energy in our rings to create… well, anything. Anything you can imagine, you can make out of green energy. It all depends on your will. It’s really amazing, huh?”
Applejack looked down at the cushion, as Hal suggested, amazed. He had just… made this? “Ah’ll say… You said Ah can do that, too?” she asked.
Hal smiled. “Yeah, but we'll get to that later. For now, though, let’s focus on flying. I'll give you the tour.”
Applejack closed her eyes, once again focusing on how Rainbow Dash hovered in the air. This time she felt herself rise into the air, up to the altitude she was at before. She opened her eyes, prepared this time. She grinned as she hovered in the air, and laughed as she floated over to Hal. “Yeehaw! This is amazin’, Hal! Ah’ve always wanted ta fly!”
Hal chuckled. “Well, now you are. Come on, AJ, I’ll show you Oa,” he said, starting to head towards a large round building. As Applejack followed him, she looked at the building; she almost sure she had seen it before. But where… Wait! The lantern she had!
“Hey, that building looks like the lantern Ah got from Seron!” she said, looking around. “Hey, where is it?” she asked, looking back to where she had landed. "It’s gone…”
Hal looked behind him, at Applejack. “Seron? Seron Gruto?”
Applejack frowned. Oh no, was he a friend? “Uh, yeah. Ah’m sorry to say, but Seron died when he landed. He looked pretty beat up. He also said something about a message for some people called the Guardians.”
Hal’s eyes went wide behind his mask. “The Guardians? Ok, tour’s over. Time to introduce you to the big bosses,” he said, heading to the right. Applejack turned with him, flailing her arms a bit to keep her balance, but she managed. She looked to where they were heading, and saw a building much bigger than the surrounding ones. Hal and Applejack started flying upwards, and Applejack saw that it was shaped like the symbol she kept seeing. “What is that symbol, anyway?” she asked Hal.
“Symbol of the Corps, AJ. We're kind of an intergalactic police force. Each GL is in charge of a sector of the universe, and is responsible for keeping the peace in it. I guess you'll be taking over for Seron,” he said, looking a bit sad. Applejack frowned, remembering the poor alien she had met. She didn't want to say it, but it looked like he suffered…
“If it makes ya feel any better, Hal, I did bury him. Didn’t seem right, just ta leave him there.”
Hal fell back a bit so he was next to Applejack, and smiled. “Actually, yeah, it does. You're a good seed, Applejack. You know, same thing happened to me, when I got the ring. Poor guy crashed a ship into a swamp. His name was Abin Sur, and he was apparently a damn good Lantern. One of the best. Seron was too, actually. ”
Applejack gulped. She was supposed to take over for someone who was one of the best? That was… wait, take over?! What was this about?!
Applejack stopped in mid air, and folded her hooves in front of her chest. “Hold yer horses, there, Hal. Ah can't just up and leave mah family and mah job just to gallivant through the universe fightin bad guys! Ah’ve got a life back home, a brother and a little sister. She don't even have her flippin’ cutie mark yet! Do you have any idea how much work Ah do around the farm? Most of it! One pony can't harvest the whole orchard, and Granny’s too old to help Big Mac! Fall’s comin’! And somepony needs to fix up the barn, trim the dead branches off the trees, and help Ponyville with Winter Wrap Up come spring! So you take me to a ship or whatever that can get me back to Equestria before I buck you right through a wall, freaky ring be damned!”
Applejack began breathing heavily, a little drained from her tirade. Hal looked at her a moment, then said, “You done?”
Applejack sighed, hanging her head. “Yeah, Ah’m done.”
Hal smiled softly and laid one of his appendages on her shoulder. “It’s ok, AJ. I was in your… Do ponies wear shoes?” he asked. Applejack chuckled and nodded. “Ah, ok. I was in your shoes once. But it’s alright, I promise. From what Seron told me, Sector 0236 is pretty quiet. Your planet might be one of the only ones with intelligent life. I’m still able to live a decently normal life, and so is Kyle, another Lantern in my Sector. You and your family will be ok, I promise.”
Applejack sighed, looking at his appendage. “What do you call that thing, anyway?”
He laughed. “It’s called a hand, cowgirl. Now come on, we need to see the Guardians.”
Applejack followed Hal as he flew into the building. Once inside, they landed, and began walking through the hallways, which were -big surprise- green. As they walked, Applejack saw several more aliens: One looked like it didn't have any eyes, and instead of a Green Lantern symbol, he had a green bell on his uniform. One had four arms, and barely offered a greeting to Hal, too preoccupied with the green screen constructs surrounding it. Another had purple skin, with darker purple markings around its face. It had long dark fur on the top of her head, much longer than Hal’s. Hal seemed to know her, since she stopped and smiled at him. “Ah, Hal Jordan, it is good to see you. I trust you are well?” it said, in a rather feminine voice.
Hal smiled at the alien. “Iolande, good to see you too. And yes, I’m just fine, thank you. Oh, I gotta introduce you to my new friend. Iolande, this is Applejack, a new member of the Corps,” he said, indicating Applejack. “Applejack, this is Iolande, Queen of Betrassus. And one hell of a Lantern,” he said, chuckling.
Applejack lifted a hoof and offered a tip of the hat. “Howdy there, Yer Highness. It’s real nice to meet ya.”
The alien smiled. “Hello, Applejack. I must say, your speech patterns are a bit unusual. It is quite lovely. Please, say something else.”
Applejack tilted her head, a little confused. “Uh, what’d you want me to say?”
Iolande chuckled. “That is fine, Applejack. I do not want to keep you from your audience with the Guardians. We will have to have lunch together some time,” she said, moving past Hall and Applejack.
Applejack looked up at Hal. “That was kinda… weird.”
Hal laughed. “I don’t think she’s ever heard an accent like yours before, is all. Take it as a compliment, that’s how I saw it.”
Applejack shrugged and continued walking, Hal leading the way. A thought finally struck Applejack. “Hey, Hal, how is it that all these aliens speak Equestrian? Ah’ve been able to understand everyone, and they seem to be able to understand me.”
Hal smiled and tapped his ring. “It’s the rings, cowgirl. They act as universal translators, interpreting incoming and outgoing language and making it sound like a language the listener can understand.”
Applejack frowned, still a bit confused. Hal chuckled. “Basically, the ring makes it so hear everything as Equestrian, and everyone else hears their language.”
Applejack grinned. “See, finally yer speakin’ plain Equestrian.”
After a few minutes, they reached a rather large door. It was easily three times as tall as Applejack was while standing on her back legs, and it had the Corps symbol on it. Hal looked at her, indicating the door. “You ready, cowgirl?”
Applejack frowned. “Ah guess, Hal. Anythin’ Ah should know before Ah meet em?”
He shrugged. “Just be careful. They're kind of touchy.”
Applejack just nodded and pushed the door open. Inside were seven raised chairs. In each one sat a strange alien that looked a kind of human. They were much shorter, though, even shorter than Applejack. They also had heads a little disproportionate to their bodies, and blue skin. Most of them had white fur on their heads, cut into different styles. One of them looked at Applejack, and nodded. “Applejack of Equestria, Green Lantern of Sector 0236. Welcome to Oa, and to the Green Lantern Corps.”
Applejack bowed a bit to the Guardians, a little surprised at how they looked. She had expected something a little more… intimidating. “Uh, thanks, Ah guess…”
One of them crossed its arms. “As a member of the Green Lantern Corps, you will be expected to adhere to the laws of the Guardians. I’m sure that with time, you will prove yourself worthy of the Green light of Will. You are the first pony to be given this honor, and we will be observing your progress.”
Applejack frowned. “Uh, thank yeh kindly, yer Guardianess. Ah, uh, have a message, the last thing Seron Gruto, the Green Lantern before me, said before he died."
One raised its eyebrow. “And what is it that Seron told you in his final hours?”
Applejack gulped. “He said… the Five Inversions are movin’, and to Beware Rage…”
The guardians gasped, all seven of them. They whispered amongst each other, to quiet for applejack to hear, leaving Applejack to sit in front of them, twiddling her hooves. Finally, after what seemed like forever, one turned to her. “The Five Inversions have long been gone, imprisoned on their own throneworld before even the Green Lanterns. You heard wrong, Applejack of Equestria.”
Applejack frowned, crossing her hooves. “Now, wait a cotton pickin’ minute. Ah know what Ah heard, and Seron said that the Five Inversions were movin’. Who are they, anyway?”
One of the guardians held up its hand, and a screen appeared in front of her. Five different aliens appeared on it. They were all grotesque in one way or another, but one caught her eye specifically. It was larger than the others, completely red and very muscular. Its teeth were razor sharp and were so big they spilled out of his mouth. Applejack shivered; that one freaked her out, definitely.
“The Five Inversions were a group of aliens native to Sector 0666. Before we created the Green Lanterns, we sought to create an army to police the universe. These were the Manhunters, powerful machine soldiers that were programmed to uphold justice.” The images changed to figures, shaped like humans, colored blue and orange. “They performed admirably for a time. However, over time, their creed of ‘No man escapes the Manhunters’ became all consuming. Finally, a glitch created a devastating new program: eradicate all life. They proceeded to wipe out Sector 0666, leaving only five aliens before we could get them under control.”
Applejack gasped, placing a hoof to her mouth. One of the guardians nodded. “Yes, it was one of our greatest blunders. It did, however, show us the folly of using emotionless machines to police the universe. As such, we harnessed the Green energy of will, the most easily used in the Emotional Spectrum. We forged the Central Power Battery, and with it, the power rings. However, the five beings that lived, Qull, Worz, Kultonious, Qurr, and Atrocitus, used ancient sorcery to form around them the Empire of Tears. Using our new mastery of Will, we fought the Empire, who sought revenge for the destruction of their sector. They killed many of us, but we were eventually victorious. We imprisoned them on Ysmault, and declared that planet forbidden space. With our numbers depleted, we formed the Green Lanterns to serve our will.”
Applejack shook her head, trying to take in the information she had just received. Celestia’s name, she wished Twilight were here. “But, what about Rage? What does that mean?”
One of the guardians frowned. “We are not sure. We have a suspicion, but not enough evidence to draw a conclusion. Leave us now, Applejack of Equestria, and tell Hal Jordan to continue training you with the ring. Good luck, Green Lantern,” it said, floating into the air and leaving the room, along with its comrades.
Applejack was once again alone, and a bit uncomfortable in the large room. She walked out, looking for Hal. She really needed a familiar face, even if it was funny looking. She found him leaning on a wall, manipulating little balls of hard light. Upon seeing her, he smiled, and the constructs vanished. “And she walks out alive. How did it go? What was this message you were supposed to deliver?”
“Well,” said Applejack, “Seron told me that the Five Inversions were movin, and to beware Rage. The Guardians told me about some machines called Manhunters, and about Sector 0666, and that the Five Inversions were locked up. It was kinda a messed up story. “
Hal frowned. “I thought the same about the whole Manhunter thing. Did they tell you anything else?”
“Yeah, they did,” she said. “They said that you were supposed ta train me.”
Hal laughed. “They did, huh? Well, welcome to Hal Jordan’s Ring slinging, recruit. Let’s get started, shall we?”
Applejack chuckled. “Ring slingin’? Really?”
Hal grinned. “Not my word, trust me. Now, your first lesson: Lunch.”