• Published 29th Dec 2012
  • 12,586 Views, 1,189 Comments

Mother of Invention - zaponator



Awake and alone, Applejack will find a way to survive.

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Sticks & Stones

Applejack awoke to a sharp pain in her stomach. She hissed through her teeth and clutched at her midsection. Her first thought was to head downstairs and ask Granny Smith to prepare a remedy for the painful cramp. That thought, however, was quickly crushed by the realization that she was laying not in her own bed, but on hard stone. In her half asleep state, she racked her brain in an attempt to figure out why her bed had turned to stone. Only when she noticed the absence of blankets did she realize that she was probably not in her bed.

Finally her groggy mind caught up with her situation. She groaned as she slowly pushed herself to a sitting position. Light was pouring in through the entrance to her cave home, illuminating the oddly smooth and even walls, but judging by the shallow angle the sun’s rays it was just rising above the eastern horizon. Applejack sighed, sweeping her hat up in a forehoof and carefully positioning it atop her head. It seemed that old habits were hard to break, and no matter how sore she was from her exertion the day before she couldn't help but wake at dawn. She blinked several times to clear the early-morning fog from her eyes. There was no sense in waiting around. Getting back to sleep immediately after waking had never been easy for her, and there was no reason to try and change that, now.

She trudged out of the cave with sluggish movements, and into the slanting beams of sunlight piercing the bright green canopy above like lines of pure light connecting the canopy to the forest floor. The beauty of the moment was spoiled somewhat by the dull but constant pain running through her entire body. The farmer was, of course, no stranger to hard work and its resulting impact, though normally she felt completely fine after a good night's rest. Normally, she would have also eaten something in the last three days. Normally she wouldn't let herself get so bogged down in her own mind.

She’d never felt so far from normalcy in her life.

The sharp pang in her stomach had faded to a subdued ache, which she easily pushed to the back of her mind. Even so, it was a sign of just how badly she needed food. She quickly decided that finding something to eat would be her first priority for the new day. Her joints gave a satisfying pop as she stretched in preparation for the long day ahead of her. The thought of food was a pleasant one, to say the least, and Applejack suddenly realized that she’d found something to be excited about. She yawned widely, before plodding down the slope and once more into the jungle with just a bit more vigor than she had awoken with.

Simply eating a meal of plain grass crossed her mind, but she hesitated at the idea. Maybe if her search failed to yield any results she would consider it. Though subsisting off the bare minimum nutrients provided by grass felt too much like giving up if she didn’t at least try to find a better source of food. She was an Apple, and Apples don’t give up that easily. Despite her eagerness to find some nourishment, she quickly concluded that finding a source of water near the cave had to take precedence. After all, she really had no idea how long she would have to stay there. Hopefully not too long, as the cave's unexplored depths and unnatural smoothness still unnerved her. Unfortunately, it was the only shelter she had access to at the moment, and that meant she had to do everything she could to make it work. Starting with water.

She anticipated a quick search, or, at the very least, one that would be considerably faster than when she’d located the stream after waking up on that Celestia-forsaken beach. This was mainly due to the fact that, for all of her physical exhaustion, her mind was fully awake and alert. Using a bit of simple knowledge she'd learned in her experience camping over the years, her task would actually be quite simple.

With that encouraging thought in mind, she set her plan into motion. The faster she found water, the faster she could look for food, and the faster she looked for food, the faster her stomach would stop trying to eat her from the inside. She quickly shook her head, dislodging the thoughts of her hunger. Thinking about it only made it worse, that much was made apparent by the ache in her gut pressing to the forefront of her mind the moment she so much as acknowledged it.

She was mercifully distracted by yet another mysterious rustling sound somewhere to her left. By now, her fear had been almost completely replaced with sheer curiosity. Whatever made those noises probably wasn't going to try to kill her. It seemed to be the only sound in the whole jungle, at least during the day. She shuddered at the memory of the terrifying shriek, but even more so when she recalled the sickly, wrong feeling that had gripped her. As for the rustling, she suspected that if it was being made by some sort of pony-eating creature she would have been attacked by now. After all, she'd spent yesterday and the day before wandering the island. No, whatever it was was almost definitely afraid of her.

As she continued her search for water, she occupied her mind by listening for any other audible disturbances. She didn't have to wait long before she heard the distinctive rustling from somewhere behind her. She spun around at a speed that would make a pegasus jealous, kicking up dirt and moss with her abrupt change of direction.

"Who's there?" She shouted in the direction the noise had come from. Total silence descended on the jungle. Applejack tried switching to a more pleasant tone, dropping the volume of her voice to a less frightening level. "I promise I won't hurt ya. Why don't ya just come on out, and we can see about workin' together?"

Her question was met with only more silence. She sighed heavily, realigning her hat with a forehoof and continuing the way she had been going. Well, there was always the chance that whatever it was was incapable of speech. Not for the first time, Applejack wished she'd paid more attention in geography class. As things stood, she had no idea what kind of animals lived on tropical islands. She remembered hearing about monkeys, but they were speaking animals, and if she recalled correctly they lived in trees. Applejack chuckled at the thought. An entire race that lived in trees? A certain weather manager would get along fine with them, what with all the time she spent sleeping in the trees at Sweet Apple Acres.

Applejack’s ears twitched. There, just on the edge of hearing was the sound of running water, just what she'd been searching for. She allowed herself a moment to congratulate herself on the continued usefulness of her outdoorsmare skills, before heading off in the direction of the sound. She had arrived at the bank of a small river in short order, the trip from the cave to the river had taken a mere 20 minutes. It seemed to be flowing from the direction of the mountain. When she turned back that way however, she saw that only a short distance away it emerged from beneath the ground. The opening was too small for her to squeeze through. Not that she would have anyway. She didn't need to know where the water came from. The fact that is was here was good enough for her.

The river itself was just wide enough that she couldn't jump across. She imagined that if she stretched out as far as she could she would fall just short of touching both sides. It widened a bit as it drew away from the mountain, towards the ocean. Not that she could see the ocean from her current location, but she knew that all rivers flowed to it eventually.

Smacking her slightly dry lips, Applejack cracked a grin. This would be the perfect source of water. It was only a short walk from the cave, and it was deep and fast enough that it would surely be safe to drink. As a matter of fact, she decided to put that to the test right now. As with the small stream she'd found before, the treeline and thicker foliage stopped a few feet from the bank. She approached the crystalline liquid with her smile still firmly in place, already anticipating the cool clear drink.

She sank to her belly on the bank of the river, leaning her head down to sniff warily at the constantly moving surface. For the first time since finding herself on that strange island, Applejack caught sight of her reflection. Her hat remained in perfect condition, though that was no surprise. She'd worn the old stetson for most of her life, and was pretty sure that it was indestructible. Things deteriorated quickly, however, as her eyes traveled further down the river-turned-mirror. Her face was haggard with physical stress, tear stains on her cheeks from her breakdown on the mountaintop. Her coat was filthy, splotched all over with dirt and sweat. Numerous small cuts and scratches marred her whole body with tiny bloodstains. Her hooves were covered in the most dirt, by far, with only some orange showing through. Even her normally well looked after mane was a mess. Despite what anypony might say, Applejack actually took pride in her mane, when she had the time. Only now the once beautiful golden locks had been reduced to a tangled rats’ nest of dirty, frayed mane. Her signature mane tie had miraculously survived her recent rough activities, but just barely. The red band keeping her hair in a ponytail was riddled with small tears and loose threads, practically falling to pieces.

Applejack smirked as the thought of Rarity seeing her like this crossed her mind. That pony would probably faint outright at Applejack's roughed-up appearance. She sighed. Of course, Rarity would be back on her hooves in a blink with an offer to clean Applejack up. The thought of her friend's boundless generosity only served to remind Applejack of just how far separated she was from everypony she'd ever known.

Before the loneliness could take hold, she decided to get her drink and move on to finding food. She craned her neck further down, drinking deeply and instantly felt more refreshed and awake. Momentarily, all her thoughts of loneliness and despair fled from her consciousness. There was just something about fresh, ice-cold water that—

Her train of thought derailed violently at a single sound. Something had just splashed into the river. She quickly snapped her view up, looking out into the water. There, just starting to float away downstream, she caught sight of something. It was a dark brown object, bobbing up and down on the current, slowly moving further and further away from Applejack. She blinked as she realized what it was. Her hat.

Hesitation never even occurred to her. Before she could even blink again she had plunged into the frigid waters of the river, kicking up dirt and grass from the bank with her sudden leap. The cold waters shocked the breath out of her lungs and stung her skin as she became completely submerged. Applejack broke the surface moments later, gasping for air. She cast her gaze around, locating her stetson downstream. It was moving a little faster with the current now, but there was no way that she would let it get away from her.

Her powerful legs churned in the water, propelling her downstream with the current. Every little bit she advanced was a fight against the river trying to pull her under. Her hooves were going numb from the cold, but still she pressed on. She was getting closer, it wouldn't be long now. Finally, she closed the distance with her wayward headgear. Applejack reached out and snatched it up in her mouth, taking a mouthful of river water with it. Her prize recovered, she kicked over to the bank of the river. While the cold water had certainly been invigorating, the intense swim had sapped her already hunger-weakened stores of energy.

Applejack dragged herself out of the river on her belly, glad that the soft shore of the riverbank wouldn't tear up her skin and coat. As soon as her rear legs found themselves totally on dry land, Applejack relaxed. Her entire body slumped with exhaustion, but her face was alight with a victorious smile. Already, the day was shaping up to be a long one, and she hadn't even had breakfast yet. As a matter of fact, she really didn't have time to waste. Really, she should have been looking for food. At the moment though, she couldn't summon the strength to care. Instead, she decided that a little rest was well-earned. Applejack spat out her hat, along with a mouthful of hat-flavored water, before rolling over onto her back. Her hair splayed out behind her at the action. Apparently her hair tie had finally met its end at some point during her impromptu swim.

Her grin only increased the moment that her gaze turned to the canopy. She couldn't help a hearty chuckle escaping her lips at the sight before her. Directly above her position on the ground, near the tops of a couple trees, grew almost a dozen coconuts.

She sighed happily when her laughter subsided. Maybe this day wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Author's Note:

Edited by Pilate, because he's awesome and stuff.