Past, present and future

by ChaosandHarmony

Back to the future

Applejack stared sullenly at the trees of Sweet Apple Acres. She had grown up in this nightmarish farm, and she wouldn't leave it for all the gold in Equestria. But every day, when the chocolate rain poured down, when she gazed out the windows at the trees suspended in midair, roots stretching upwards, probing for ground to settle in, she knew it felt wrong.

The only pony Applejack knew of who had been around before the time of chaos was Granny Smith. She told of the days of when Harmony ruled, long ago.And both longed to see those days.

On the contrary, most ponies were quite agreeable about it. That included Applebloom, Applejack's younger sister.

"Hey, Applejack!" Applebloom bounded carelessly into AJ's bedroom. She skidded on all four hooves, shook the chocolate rain out of her hair, and stood in a sideways position that showed off her cutie mark, a coil of rope.

"What is it, Applebloom?" Applejack looked at her younger sister.

"Someone's here to see you!" She hollered.

"And who might that be?" Suddenly, a small purple ball of scales and spikes hurtled into the room, barreling over Applejack and knocking her over.

"Applejack," said the creature, panting "I need...to talk...to you,"

"And would you mind tellin' me exactly who," she surveyed his odd appearance, "And what you are?"

"I'm Spike! Please tell me you remember me," He looked into AJ's eyes desperately. "I'm Twilight Sparkle's pet dragon!"

"Are you talkin' about THE Twilight Sparkle? PRINCESS Twilight Sparkle?" Applejack said with a tone of disbelief.

"Yeah, I guess so," Spike said. "And she and Starswirl the Bearded really need your help."

"So let me get this straight. Princess Twilight and some random pony named Starshine or something of likes need my help?" she laughed. "Maybe you have the wrong pony. I'm just a regular old pegasus!"

Spike looked at AJ's side. Sure enough, there were wings folded on her back.

"It isn't supposed to be this way, AJ. All this chaos, everything has changed. I promise, it wasn't meant to be like this!" Now Applejack was listening. "Sweet Apple Acres isn't supposed to be upside down. And you are supposed to be an Earth Pony, Applebloom isn't supposed to have her cutie mark and-- Sweet Celestia! She sure isn't supposed to have a horn, and..." He broke off panting.

"So how exactly did this end up happenin'" Applejack said, staring incredulously.

"No time to explain. Just come with me, okay? We need to get be to the old future. Our future. Our present. You just need to help me."

Applejack stared at her hooves. "I knew all this wasn' right." she commented. "Alright, I'll help you."

"Thanks so much, AJ. Now come with me!"

"Just tell me where to go, and hop on!" Spike jumped onto AJ's back.

"Are you sure? It took me a long time to get here from Canterlot!"

"Spike, I can just use the boosters!" She said, fixing what looked like metal armor onto her wings. A row of blue light lit up on the edge of each wing, and an unsettling rattling emitted from the device. "Hang on!" she yelled, and they were off.

.............................................................

Applejack was fighting against the wind. Even with the boosters bushing her wings to their limit, the wind buffeted her mane. Her fur was blown wildly in all directions and her eyes were streaming as the air forced tears out of them. Focusing on the thought of fixing her world kept her flying. She pointed her front hooves forward, and attempted to push off the air with her back hooves.

After a while longer of this, AJ swooped down, leaving the wetness of the clouds, entering the harsh currents below, chilling her wet body to the bone. Shivering, she narrowed her eyes in concentration, flying in and out of cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk. Setting her boosters to maximum, the turrets and rooves of Canterlot approached rapidly.

They slammed right into the wall.

Author's Note:

I know, this chapter, and all my chapters, are terribly short. I just don't have that much time to write! I had to cut this one off short sorry.