It was a clear and sunny day in the calm sea-side town of Smashville. The birds chirped in the healthy green trees, the wind whistled through the long grass, and the animal villagers who inhabited the quaint town where just starting their daily routines with smiles on their faces.
One villager that was just starting her day was Maple the honey bear.
Stepping out of her house she took a deep breath of the fresh morning air.
“Ahh… It’s such a nice day out; I think I’ll do some gardening” she squeaked happily as she shut her door, she then took off in the direction of the town shop. After skipping a few feet from her home she stopped after glancing at the house of her favorite neighbor; it was the biggest house in town, standing twice the size of hers.
‘Hmm… I wonder if he’s awake, I could do three times as much work with his help’ she thought enthusiastically as she approached the black roofed house. Stepping on the welcome mat, she cleared her throat before knocking firmly on the door.
“Hello! Anybody home,” she chimed as she waited at the door. Waiting, she peeked through one of the house's windows.
‘No one’s home…’ she thought as her ears dropped disappointingly, she then looked to her left to where his mailbox was standing, the sign indicating when there was unread mail inside was blinking, feeling worried she decided to take a look inside.
Letters fell out of the mailbox as soon as she opened it, jammed packed with accumulated mail.
“That’s not a good sign... maybe someone else has seen him today?” she walked off in search of the nearest villager she could find.
Meanwhile, on a tropical island just off the coast of Smashville, a young man was sitting patiently on a fishing stool. But unlike the furry citizens of the town, this young man was a human. Roughly 17, and clothed in a black t-shirt and dark colored jeans, he sat there motionless with a large fishing rod clutched tightly in his hands.
“Still sitting here, aren’t you?” said the voice of Boomer the penguin, one of the inhabitants of the small island, he walked up to him holding a coconut drink, he set it down next to him before he looked at his bobber.
“It’s been about a week since you set foot on this island and all I’ve seen you do is sit here day and night holding that fishing rod, not like I have anything against that”
he said as he crossed his flippers and gave a slight nod.
“One thing’s for sure though. You're probably the most patient fisherman I’ve ever seen”
The concentrated expression that the young man held on his face turned into a smile, he then looked up at the kind islander, his skin was tan from the exposure to the tropical sun, the young man spoke.
“Much appreciated” he said, the Penguin looked back at him, delighted that he reacted well to his compliment.
“The name’s Jack by the way, I came to this island not long after I found out about it” he said as he turned his sights back to the water, Boomer then tilted his head as he kept looking at the bobber.
“So I'm guessing that you're some sort of oceanographer, here to investigate the sea life?”
he asked curiously.
“Nope” Jack answered plainly to his question as he fiddled with his fishing pole.
“I’m just a regular guy who lives not too far from here, Smashville to be exact” he said, Boomer gave a nod.
“Ah, I see...” he said before he noticed that Jack was sipping on the coconut that he had placed on the sand.
“Uhhh... that was my drink you know...” he deadpanned before jack gagged and choked on the drink.
“*Cough*-Sorry!-*Cough*” he said between coughs
“Hey its alright” Boomer said, concerned, as he rubbed his back.
“By the way -*Cough*- how long did you say I was on this island?” he asked with an awkward smile as he rubbed his throat “I've been sitting here for so long I even forgot the date”
A sweat drop rolled down the side of Boomer’s face. “So you did forget... well from what I remember you’ve been here about six day’s, give-or-take” he answered, Jack’s mouth gaped open for a second.
“S-Six days!?” he shouted with a shocked look on his face, giving way to an irritated groan.
“Gah! I can't believe I wasted almost an entire week sitting on my--”
he was suddenly cut off his eyes bulged out of his head as he was violently yanked off his stool like a rag doll.
“GAHHH!” he gagged as sand forced into his mouth from being dragged on the beach by his fishing line.
Grunting furiously, he tried to get his feet on the sand. Finally standing upright, he dug in his heels and pulled the rod back to his chest, before spitting the sand out of his mouth.
“Whoa! Looks like you’ve got a fighter, and a big one!” Boomer shouted as he went in to help him, locking his flippers under Jack’s arms, he pulled on the rod with him.
With traces of sand still stuck in Jack’s mouth, he tugged vengefully.
“I'm gonna hang this son of a fish on my wall!”
They kept fighting, digging their feet into the sand with every step back they took, the water splashed at them violently, soaking them as the opposing fish tried to break Jack’s line.
“Lets land this sucker!” he shouted out “Graahh!” he grunted as his face turned red, mustering his strength and gave out a mighty pull, this sent Boomer teetering a few steps back.
His pull forced the mystery fish out of the water and into the air, the sunlight bathed its silhouette as it flopped in the air, it was a very large and very ugly looking fish that was just roughly the size of the human himself.
“What the ducks that!?” Boomer exclaimed before Jack cowardly ducked, the behemoth smacked into Boomer’s face, sending him tumbling back on the beach and smashing into a palm tree.
While the poor penguin laid on the sand, Jack looked at him for a few seconds, then went ahead and picked up the strange fish that was gasping for water. It squirmed trying to get away as he held it up proudly by the line.
“Hey Penguin dude, you alright?” he said as he looked over to Boomer, who was rubbing the spot where he hit his head
“I’m fine just a minor concussion...”
Jack smirked and decided to stash the freshly caught fish into a cooler filled with salt water.
“What are you going to do with that thing?” Boomer asked as he stepped closer and looked curiously at the fish in the cooler dusting sand off himself.
“Not sure, maybe I'll take it to the town’s museum curator to have a look at it” Jack answered, closing up the cooler and shouldering it before walking towards the island dock, Boomer in tow.
“Does this mean your going back home now?” he asked sadly as Jack jumped onto a small row boat that was tied onto the dock.
“Don't Worry, I’ll Come back to Visit” Jack answered with a smirk.
“Take it easy Penguin dude!” he said while shoving off the dock and started to row.
Boomer smiled and waved. “Send me a postcard!” he said before realizing that he had forgotten to tell him his name, and his address for that matter.
Just after a few minutes of sailing Jack looked back towards the island, he still couldn't believe that six days had passed by since he stepped on the island, at least he had caught a fish he had never seen before and a sexy tan to show for it, he soon reached the town coast.
“Ahhh... Finally home...” he said letting out a big happy sigh, his boat shook as it hit the sand, that's when one of the villagers spotted him, it was the Mayor of Smashville, Tortimer.
Walking with his assistant Pelly nearby, the wise old tortoise walked up to him with a stern look on his face. Jack smiled as he saw him coming.
“Hey Mr. Mayor, what's--” Before he could finish his sentence he suddenly got bonked on the head by the old man’s walking cane.
“OWIEE!” he yelped holding his head, another villager spotted him and started to call the others over, soon after most of the villagers gathered there.
“Hey! What the duck was that about you old fart!?” He shouted out holding his throbbing head as he glared death at the elder turtle.
“Hey, Watch your manners whipper-snapper” He scolded him tapping his cane on Jacks forehead before Pelly pulled him away, the other townsfolk looked to their mayor, they then looked back at Jack.
“I was very worried about you young man, so was the rest of the town” the Tortoise stated as Pelly fixed his bow tie, Jack then looked at the others.
“Why would even worry about me? I'm not a dumb kid...” he groaned annoyed. In that moment he saw Maple come out of the bushes, his eyes then widened.
“Oh Fudge!”
Before he could get away the honey bear lunged at him and tackle hugged him, he yelped almost toppling over “Maple, please don't!”
“Jack!” She shouted, before squeezing the air out of him in a bone crunching bear hug.
“Maple! you're---crushing---me!” he said gasping for air.
“Oh Jack! I was so worried about you, I started to think the worse!” she cried rubbing her tears with a paw, while Jack’s face started turning blue from the lack of oxygen.
“Eh-em!” the mayor signaled to Maple.
“Huh?” she then looked up at Jack’s whose face looked like a blueberry.
“Ah! Your face!” she yelped as she let go, letting him collapse on the floor, nearly passed out.
Jack quickly sucked in as much air as he could, the color returning to his face as he sat up, coughing. He then looked up at the other townsfolk as they helped him up on his feet, they started to speak up one-by-one.
“We’re sorry Jack... We just care about you, like a lot!”
“Yeah! this town was never the same since you moved here!
“You helped wipe out the weed infestation...”
“You planted trees”
“You helped me raise beautiful flowers in my garden”
“You carried me when i broke my leg!”
Jack held his arms up as they were huddling around him.
“Alright! alright! I get it people!” he stopped them from going on, he sighed
as he let his arms drop.
“Look... I didn’t mean to make anyone worry about me... I promise the next time I go somewhere far from town I'll let you all know...”
With that said the rest of the villagers smiled, he smiled back awkwardly as he tried to break free of Maple who was hugging him again.
“Alright then everyone! If memory serves me right, tomorrow should be the annual Chestnut Festival” He said, noticing Tortimer approving nod.
“That's Right everyone, so how about we put all this behind us and begin preparations!”
Tortimer shouted out with a smile.
“Right!” They all cheered before Jack pulled his cooler out of his rowboat and hoisted it over his shoulder.
“Now if You’ll all excuse me, I have an important contribution to make to the museum” He took off hoisting the cooler on his shoulder with Maple trailing behind him the other towns folk went about their normal business, the mayor rubbed his chin.
“Hmm... to think that he became the most loved villager here... and he only moved to this town a year ago...” the old tortoise said, as Pelly gave him a curious look.
“What do you mean sir.” Tortimer simply nodded silently “Are you feeling alright, sir?” Pelly asked, tilting her head.
“I just feel a small chill. Let us continue our walk.” He said ,gazing after Jack
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Jack soon arrived at the museum a few moments later with Maple still tailing him.
“Maple, Why are you following me?” he asked uneasily while she hugged his arm
“So I don't lose you again, silly” she smiled.
Jack groaned before answering with a scowl. “I already said that I'm not a kid, so you don’t have to follow me!”
Ignoring what he said, she continued to follow him “Did i mention how good you look with that tan?” she said rubbing his chest, only to get quickly shoved off by him
“No and I’d rather not hear it.” he deadpanned as he stood before the large museum doors.
Maple pouted as Jack kicked the doors, slamming them wide open. This shocked Blathers the owl, the town curator, out of his daytime sleep.
“Hey Blathy! I got a new donation!” He declared as he marched in with the cooler in his arms and a smug look on his face.
“Confound it Jack! What do I keep telling you about slamming the doors open like that!” he scolded, irritated that Jack had woken him up so suddenly.
“Oh Sorry, I still think it makes for a cool entrance” he said plainly.
“I agree!” Maple added cheerfully
The tired owl slapped his own forehead, with a long annoyed sigh.
“Hey easy on yourself Blathy, I gotcha a little something” He smirked as he placed the cooler down before him and opened it.
“Ah, another donation... lets have a look then...” He said rubbing his eyes which soon shot open, with disbelief, as he saw what was slightly cramped in the cooler.
“So what can you make of this thing?” Jack asked, hoping to get an answer to his ‘fishy’ dilemma.
Blathers rubbed his eyes again, not once, not twice, But three times to make sure he wasn’t still sleeping.
“This can’t be! This has to be a dream! A real living breathing Coelacanth right here in my museum!” he finally shrieked with joy, while Maple, who was standing next to Jack, tilted her head.
“What’s a Coelacanth?” She said curiously, Jack’s blood suddenly went cold as he looked at Blathers.
“Dumb Bear, What have you done!?” He exclaimed as a sweat beaded on his brow, he started to step backwards towards the entrance fearing for his life as Blathers took a deep breath, he had to get out of there now.
“Many Years ago there was a theory that the Coelacanth had gone extinct, But as it turns out it exists and has been living deep in the ocean for years and years and--” Jack quickly bolted out the entrance and slammed the doors shut, as Blathers kept telling Maple all the facts he could possibly sum up about the fish.
“That was close, I almost feel sorry for Maple... Almost”
he snickered evilly as he left Maple to a boring doom.
“Ahhh...” he sighed as he held his hands behind his head, the sun setting over the horizon was shading the town in a golden glow.
He smiled to himself as he reached his house. Stopping suddenly, he rubbed his chin feeling, like something was missing. “Hm...” He reached into his pocket for his keys as he stepped at the entrance, opening the door he noticed his Gyroid, Lloyd. He was sitting, quite content on the table, next to a dirty piece of cloth and a bottle of polishing solution.
“Greetings Master Jack, I see you have returned from your fishing trip” The gyrating clay figure spoke in a robotic fashion.
“Yeah sorry Lloyd... I forgot to set you out before I left” he said as he lifted Lloyd off the table
“Yes, but I took the liberty of watching your house while you were gone”
“...What are you talking about? You’ve been on the table ever since I finished polishing you” He said smirking as he set the gyroid down, next to his mailbox outside.
“Master Jack, It seems like there is unread mail for you”
Jack scratched his head as he looked to his mailbox “Probably from the Happy Room Academy... I have to tell them to stop sending me letters” he emptied the contents before pushing down the sign.
“Would you like me to keep watch outside Master?” Lloyd said gyrating rapidly.
“As always Lloyd, you have a good night” Jack waved him off before closing his door. Sighing to himself, he walked upstairs to his lounging room/guest room
“Alright let’s see what we have here...” he sat down in his cream colored easy chair in front of the fireplace as he went through the letters.
“Junk...Junk...Junk” he said throwing each opened letter into the unlit fireplace.
“Jun-Whoa! Okay... what is this?” he said as he held the last thing he had received in the mail.
It was a rolled up piece of parchment paper, it was held in place with a red ribbon, and seemed to be sealed with gold colored wax. His eyes squinted as he inspected it curiously, it didn't seem to have a receiving address on it.
‘This is new...’ he thought to himself as he broke the wax off the ribbon and unscrolled the paper, upon further inspection he could see that whoever had wrote this letter had a thing for victorian handwriting.
“Ehem...” he cleared his throat before he started to read out loud.
“Greeting and salutations Friend,, My name is Twilight Sparkle and I humbly say hello to you from Ponyville in the far off land of Equestria--”
“That sounds like the name of a farm or a petting zoo.” he said with a smirk before he continued.
“A land of magic and friendship inhabited by ponies and many other species of life, I myself am a pony and I have sent this letter to you through the newly developed magic of interdimensional travel in hopes of discovering sentient life outside of Equestria’s realm of existence, If you are indeed reading this letter I humbly request a response from you to confirm the success of our first interdimensional communication, Instructions for sending this letter are written on the bottom should you comply with this request.”
“Your interdimensional pen-pal Twilight Sparkle...” he read out loud as he finished reading.
He sat there staring at the letter for a few seconds, before starting to grin. “PFFFFFF!” he bursted out with laughter, almost to the point of falling backwards in his chair, he held his hurting sides doubling over as he dropped the letter on the floor.
“Interdimensional travel! Thats Rich!” he cried as he tried to calm himself down.
“Dear Lord I think I almost wet myself!” he laughed in between his teeth as he picked up the letter.
“This just made my day, hands down!” he said, wiping the tears from his eyes.
“This probably came from Alfonso, that croc always finds a way to crack me up.” he sighed, still chuckling.
“I gotta ask him how he wrote this!” he said with a smile before he read the so called ‘instructions’.
“I think I'm going to do this for the heck of it” he grabbed a pen with a smirk and he started to write on the back of the parchment paper as instructed.
“He’s totally going to get a kick out of this” He laughed to himself as he started to write.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle, My name is Jack and I live on the quiet seaside town of Smashville, I am happy to inform you of your success with your letter and I would like to know a little more about your world and your inhabitants. What do you do for fun? What do you all like to eat? Do you wear clothing like we do? I have so many other questions that I can't just fit into one piece of paper, I hope to write back to you as soon as you do.
Your Interdimensional pen-pal Jack.” he snickered as he read the next few steps to sending the letter.
“What? I have to burn this thing? How will I able to send it back to him then!?” he scowled as he looked at it again.
“Ah well... I guess I could just tell him I did this anyway, no biggie.” doing as instructed he tied up the letter with the same red bow and he placed it in the fireplace with the rest of the junk mail.
“I wanted to roast some marshmallows anyway...” he thought aloud, placing a log of dry wood in the fireplace and grabbing a pack of matches.
Lighting a match, he threw it into the fireplace. Whistling casually he looked through the cupboards for a bag of marshmallows before an eerie green glow illuminated the room for a couple of seconds.
“Huh???” looking back at the fireplace, he saw that the fire burned brightly in its usual color. “Wow... that is some lumber, took only a second to light up”
Dismissing the glow, he started roasting his fluffy treats, unaware that a sparkling green cloud of smoke had flown out of his chimney into the night sky, dissipating into nothing.