Applejack was still screaming when she reappeared in a very flat area. Her cries died down as she turned and looked out at the wide-open spaces that seemed to contain nothing but a few small plants and rocks.
Applejack closed her mouth, and then let out a sigh of blissful relief as she practically melted to the ground. She lay on her stomach, nearly hyperventilating after the close call she had just experienced. However, her moment of respite was interrupted by the smell of something burning. She sniffed a few times, and then stood up to sniff the air some more.
Eventually, she turned around and bore witness to a massive wild brushfire that filled the sky with black smoke.
“Ah think Ah better git. . .” Applejack said slowly as she tentatively took a step backwards, then turned around and ran. However, she skidded to a halt after about a second, and ran back to grab the top of the device with her mouth. Then she turned back to resume he flight.
Applejack suddenly became aware of how hot the air around her was, and how the fire seemed to be spreading all around her as glowing embers rained from the sky. Shrubs and grasses burst into flames all around her, as if trying to close in on her and put a stop to her escape.
Applejack looked ahead of her, and she spotted a wide ravine that stretched far off into either direction, making the very idea of going around it impossible, especially in the midst of the fire.
Applejack heart sank for the briefest of moments, but then she saw that there was no fire on the other side of the ravine. Biting down on the device’s metal top, Applejack steeled herself as she put on an extra burst of speed. Her hooves pounded over the dry land as the roaring sound of the fire behind her and on either side of her echoed through her ears.
Applejack reached the very edge of the ravine, and she jumped.
She stretched out her forelegs as she sailed towards the other side of the gap.
“OOOF!” Applejack let out as her belly collided with the side of the cliff, and her forelegs held onto the ledge. The impact caused Applejack to open her mouth and lose her grip on the device, which bounced and rolled onto the other side, stopping a few inches away and laying on its back with the glowing numbers and red button facing the sky.
“Whew,” Applejack said softly, and she opened her eyes to see that her hat had also come off of her head from the force of the impact, and now lay right next to the strange device.
“Uhh. . .” Applejack said in an unsure voice as she hung onto the ledge by her forehooves, looking back and forth between the device and her hat. Eventually, she cut her eyes at the device, and then quickly reached out with her forelegs and brought her forehooves on the brim of her hat, grinning as she did so.
At that moment, Applejack noticed that her forehooves were slipping backwards a little bit. She kicked her hindlegs forward in an attempt to brace herself against the side of the ravine, but found that her backhooves couldn’t reach it.
Applejack pressed her forehooves down hard on the brim of her hat, only to have her hooves slip backward again.
“Uh-oh,” Applejack said with wide eyes. Then she slipped right off of the side of the cliff, crying out all the way as she fell down into the ravine, turning in mid-air as she fell, until she landed face flat onto the bottom.
Applejack lay there for a moment, vividly reminded of the time she had tried to help Rainbow Dash with a trick while she had been overworked from trying to handle Applebuck Season all by herself. Then, she shakily got up to her hooves and looked upward, sighing as she said, “Now Ah gotta climb up there, don’t Ah. ‘Course Ah do, what else am Ah supposed to do? Maybe stop talking to mahself and get climbing? Boy, howdy. . .”
Applejack looked down, and quickly scooped her hat off of the ground and placed it on her head. She then walked with determination towards the side of the ravine, where there was a pile of rocks and boulders. Applejack nodded and jumped onto one of the boulders, and then climbed up the rock pile, digging her hooves into the spaces between the rocks in order to get to the top.
Applejack then turned to her right to see a steep looking slope up the side of the ravine. “Well, that’s better,” Applejack remarked as she walked up the slope. However, when she got halfway up the slope, she felt her hooves slipping in the dirt.
“Ungh!” Applejack groaned as she tried to dig her hooves into the slope, only to slide back down rather quickly.
“Oh, hay with it!” Applejack shouted as she dropped onto her stomach and dug her back hooves into the ground. She then pushed herself up the slope with all her strength, eventually coming to a landing that was close to the top. There was a rather large boulder nearby, and Applejack quickly stood up on her hindlegs and grabbed the top of the boulder with her front hooves with the intention of climbing onto it.
Fear then struck Applejack’s heart as she felt the boulder start to roll backwards. She quickly stepped sideways and landed back on all fours, watching as the boulder rolled off of the side of the ledge and fell down into the ravine.
The boulder fell down towards a large dead tree at the bottom, landing in the branches, which caught the boulder like a cup. The trunk bent from the weight, and then sprang upwards, launching the boulder upwards.
Applejack watched in awe as the boulder sprang up and down, over and over again. She then noticed that the boulder easily reached the top of the ravine.
“Yes,” Applejack said as she smiled and lowered the brim of her hat.
Applejack bent her knees, and carefully watched the boulder go up and down a few more times. Then, as the boulder fell down below and landed back in the tree, Applejack jumped out. Her hooves were caught by the rising boulder, and Applejack found herself elevated up and out of the ravine.
“WOO-HOO!” Applejack shouted as she jumped off of the boulder and onto the ground. She wiped sweat off of her brow and said, “Heh. Ah still got it!”
Applejack saw that the device was nearby, and walked over to it, taking a moment to examine the jumble of numbers it displayed. However, the moment was interrupted by a large shadow that covered her. She looked up, and her eyes widened when she saw that the boulder had been sprung extra high into the air, and was now coming down straight towards her.
Applejack yelped and quickly pressed the red button, and she and the machine were gone right before the boulder landed.