Bats fluttered across the midnight black sky under the full moon, having far too much fun to feel the chilly wind that whipped through the bare apple trees. They fluttered this way and that way, but most of them congregated around the town of Ponyville, where they hoped one of the costumed ponies would drop one of their many Nightmare Night snacks that only came out around this time of year.

And on this night in particular, nearly every pony within the town of Ponyville was out in costume, each having a ball on the spookiest night of the year. Mummies and werewolves and vampires were just some of the attractions, but then there were the ponies costumed in the strange and bizarre. Some of the strangest costumes resembled insane creatures, such as hydras and timberwolves. And then there was the pony that was dressed as a being he simply called, "Scorpion."

But the thoughts of the strange costumes were far from the minds of a pair of ponies as they walked into the town from the orchard field, a pair of sisters that were late because the little one had spent too long deciding on what she was going to wear. And then there was their dog.

"Dorothy?" Applejack asked as she looked down at her sister, who was wearing a blue and white dress with her mane in pigtails that had a bow on each end. "Yer going as Dorothy? And Winona is Toto?"

"Yeah! She's from this movie that just came out about a pony who goes to see a powerful wizard to return home," Applebloom giggled while Winona raced around her, happily barking her head off as she did so. "It's called...well ah liked it!"

"Ah get that, but out of all the costumes you have..." Applejack tried to start, but Applebloom gave her older sister a look before poking her white kimono with an eyebrow raise.

"Yah want to talk about mah costume, yet here you are walking around with a tablecloth around yer waist. It's going to be embarrassing being seen with ya," Applebloom lamented sadly. "Ah'll never be able to show mah face around here again."

"It's not a tablecloth! It's a...kimono, ah think that's how Twilight pronounced it," Applejack corrected her sister, who was now looking at the fake sword that was attached to a black belt. "Twilight told me about these ponies called samurai, who lived in Japony and served their masters. She found this while ah helped her research their culture and she gave it to me as a gift for helping her. It'd be a shame if ah didn't wear it at least once."

"So why'd ya pick now?" Applebloom asked as "Toto" barked at one of the bats and started to chase it around.

"Are ya kidding? I'd never be caught wearing this on any other night besides tonight," Applejack said with a laugh as she galloped ahead, Applebloom chasing after her sister while whistling for Winona to follow them. The two slowed back to a trot when they entered the town, greeting the large number of ponies that were walking around tents and activities with smiles.

"Ah'm going to go find the girls," Applebloom said as she raced off, before Applejack got the chance to tell her otherwise. AJ rolled her eyes and walked off into the crowd, looking around for five other ponies that she was certain would be at the center of all the partying.

"And there they are," she muttered with a thin smile when she spotted a pink pony in a duck costume downing large amounts of candy next to two other ponies, who tried in vain to keep up with her. Off to the side Applejack spotted wizard Twilight, who was shaking her head at the antics, pilot Dash, who was enjoying the show, and queen Rarity with bumblebee Fluttershy, who were comparing costumes.

"Howdy yall!" Applejack greeted as she raced over to them, all of them turning to greet her before a large cheer went up from the crowd next to them, and Pinkie hoisted a trophy into the air with a laugh. "Ah thought ah might find ya here, but ah didn't expect to see ya'll plumb smack in the middle of a candy eating contest."

"I wouldn't call that much of a competition," Dash smirked as she pointed to the other competitors, who were being carted off with faces that were an ugly shade of green. "What took you so long?...and why are you wearing a tablecloth?"

"It's a kimono!" Twilight corrected before Applejack could open her mouth. "It is a traditional garb worn by ponies who lived in Japony! It is NOT a tablecloth!"

"Looks like one," Dash shrugged as Rarity and Fluttershy joined the group.

"Applejack dear, if you needed a costume, you could have asked me. You didn't need to go grab your tablecloth," Rarity said, getting Twilight to clutch at her mane with frustration. The ponies gave her strange looks while the candy eating champion hopped over to them, a huge smile on her face as she held her trophy aloft.

"Silly fools! Nopony can defeat Pinkie Pie in a candy eating competition!" Pinkie laughed aloud when she came to a stop next to Applejack, looking her costume up and down with a large smile on her face that still had bits of candy stuck in it. "Wow Applejack, that's a really cool Japony outfit you're wearing."

"Finally somepony gets it," Twilight muttered as she shot Rainbow and Rarity a glance. Pinkie shot them her own looks as well, but she had a huge smile on her face as she did so.

"So, we got Twilight Wizard, Captain Rainbow, Queen Rarity, Flutterbee, Pinkie Duck and Samurai Applejack!" Pinkie exclaimed with a large smile as she rattled off her names for each of her friends. "You've all got such cool costumes! But what's the point in wearing costumes if you don't get any candy?! Come on girls, let's go get the candy!" With something that sounded like a mix between a laugh and a battle cry, Pinkie threw herself at the nearest house. Her friends chuckled as they followed after her, leaving only Twilight and Applejack alone.

"Can't believe that this is going to be our last night together for a while," Twilight lamented sadly, getting a shrug from Applejack while she stared up at the moon.

"It can't be helped, Twilight. Ah've got one more shipment of apples to deliver and it's going to take me quite a ways away from Ponyville," Applejack stated with a look of determination. "There's been some sort of problem in the forest where our route usually goes, so ah'm gonna have to move the apples mahself."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Twilight offered with a nervous smile. "I mean, it could be a monster that's blocking the route or a rogue unicorn. Or maybe it's a-"

"Twilight, ah'll be fine. Ah've never failed a delivery before and ah'll make darn sure that this won't be the first time," Applejack said with pride before she motioned for Twilight to follow her, the both of them racing off to catch up with their friends. "And besides, it'll only be for a month at most. Ah'll be back before ya even have the chance to forget about me."

"We'd never forget about you Applejack. Friends always remember friends," Twilight countered as Applejack let out a whoop and raced ahead into the night.

--|=======\

Sand whipped past the man's eyes while he pushed himself even further into the sandstorm, one hand clutching tightly at the cloak that was wrapped around his body while the other kept a firm grip upon the scabbard that rested at his side. The winds ripped at his kimono and tried to tear the straw hat from his head, yet the man kept his head down enough so that the hat would remain. The sand made it impossible for the warrior to see more that four feet in front of him, and the whistling of the wind blocked out all other sound, yet the samurai's senses were still able to pick up more than any other person. And his senses were telling him that he was getting close.

Then, almost as suddenly as the sandstorm had begun when he first entered the desert, the sand stopped blowing and the wind stopped whistling. Finally free of the sand that had stung at his eyes, the samurai lifted his head slightly to see rusted buildings blocking out the elements and numerous beings walking around on metal roads.

Now that he had a moment to breathe, the samurai let go of his cloak and reached into his kimono, drawing out a small piece of paper with a location written in a language that he barely knew. Yet the samurai knew that his journey to find the location was at an end, for as he quickly glanced up at the buildings he saw similar writing on the doors above them. He tucked the paper back away and slowly began to walk into the metal city, grateful that he was wearing sandals on such hot metal.

Yet, the end to his journey was not as close as he believed it to be, because after searching for four hours under the harsh sunlight he found that he was no closer than when he started. He was debating whether to take a moment to rest or not, when he heard a sound he knew all to well coming from a building beside him. He heard the sounds of combat. The samurai turned his head towards the building just in time to see a muscular, three headed beast carry two smaller creatures out of the place and hurl them into the sand.

"And stay out, ya lousy gits!" the center head roared before turning with a snort and walking back inside, while the other two heads made faces. The samurai lifted an eyebrow before following the creature inside, glancing around at the establishment to find that he was in a place he knew all too well. A place that was called a "bar."

"Greetings stranger," the three headed creature said as he slipped behind the counter, pulling out a rag that he used to wipe out a glass. "Sorry you had to see that. We don't like fighting in this bar, ruins the furniture, but some idiots get one too many drinks in them and then think they can take on Aku himself," the bartender said with a laugh as the samurai sat down on one of the empty stools, ignoring the passed out creature next to him. "So, what can I do for ya?"

"I require water please. And information," the samurai said in a soft but refined tone, a tone that the bartender had never heard before.

"Water, eh? Yeah, I got that," the bartender said as he turned around behind him, but the samurai could see through the spaces in his hat that the other two heads were keeping an eye on him. "Water is hard to come by in these parts," the bartender continued when he turned around and placed the glass of water before the samurai, who nodded in appreciation before taking a sip. "But information can be harder still, depending on what kind it is. What do ya need?"

Without a word the samurai reached into his kimono and pulled out the address, which he laid on the counter as he finished his water. All three of the bartenders' heads looked down at the address with surprise before they all looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

"What did ya say your name was again, stranger?" the bartender asked. The samurai took another long sip before he placed the glass down with a small sigh, moving one hand to his waist before answering.

"They call me...Jack." The moment the samurai's name left his lips, he heard every breath in the room stop and felt every eye in the room upon him. As he sat on the stool in front of a room full of strange beings he waited, waited for the first one to try and defeat him, just as he had waited many times before.

"Don't any of you think about it," all three heads of the bartender growled in a very dangerous tone while his six eyes glared around the room. For a long moment the room was dead silent...before the patrons started to drink and talk again, ignoring the samurai for the most part. "You. Come with me."

Without another word between them, Jack followed the bartender behind the counter and through a door into a back room, where the samurai found a being sitting on the floor in front of a strange pool. "I heard that you would be coming, so I had this all set up in advance. He...it...will help you."

"Thank you," Jack said before sitting down on the opposite side of the pool from the being, eyes glancing up and down at the grey robes that covered all of his body. Jack sat patiently, waiting for the being to be the first to start the conversation, but after nearly thirty minutes of waiting Jack found that he could wait no longer.

"Excuse me, but...I am told that you have powers that can help me," Jack asked with some slight hesitation, having been betrayed one too many times to let his guard down. "That you have magical powers that only few others can match...that you can return me to the past."

"Wherever you found this information about me, my dear samurai, it is almost perfect," the being spoke in a weak voice that held a century of age. "I do indeed posses a magic that very few other beings, including the great Aku himself, cannot match."

"Then you are the one I have been searching for," Jack said with enthusiasm, yet the old being held up a cloaked hand to stop the samurai there.

"Yet, your information was wrong in one regard. As powerful as I am, I do not posses the ability to return you to the past," he said sadly with a small shake of his head, deflating the samurai's hopes then and there. The cloaked creature then pulled out the address that Jack had brought with him and studied it for a moment, nodding his head when he finished. "But that does not mean that I do not know of a place that can return you to your time. Yes, these strange symbols. I have not seen this writing in a long time, but I do know where it originates from."

"That is not the address to this place?" Jack asked in surprise. The being muttered something under his breath while he extended his hands above the pool, his murmuring turning into a chant as the waters began to swirl and mirrored the cosmoses above a few moments later.

"No Jack, this is a language of a different world. A different reality. One that very few know about," the being replied before clapping his hands together, causing he pool to glow with a rainbow light as it swirled faster and faster. "But it is a place of magic, of mystery. Of infinite possibilities. Here may lie the answer to your problem...a way for you to return to your time."

"Then I must go there," Jack said with determination as he stood up and glared down into the pool, casting the cloak off of himself with a flick of his arm to reveal his white kimono and sheathed sword. "I thank you for helping me. If I can, I will find a way to repay you."

"Wait samurai, before you go there is more that you must know," the being said with warning as it held out a hand, stopping the samurai from jumping right in. "First is, that this is a land unlike any that you have seen before. They may not be trusting of one who looks like you. If you cannot gain their trust, then you will not be able to find your way home."

"I have dealt with far worse. Earning their trust will be easy," Jack replied without hesitation. The being nodded before he muttered again as he waved his hand.

"There. I have made it so that you will blend in with the beings there now. However, your...new form may take some getting used to," the being explained, getting another nod from Jack. "You should also know that once you are there I will not have the power to bring you back. If you cannot find the way to return home, you will be trapped in that land. But it is required that you learn what it means to be one of them, or else you will not be able to access their magic. But if you fail..."

"Then I shall not fail," Jack said as he glanced down into the pool, seeing thousands of images flash before his eyes. And then the samurai leapt in.