Applejack saw palm trees in the distance. It was kind of a strange sight, she didn’t think she was near such a tropical area. The big trees stretched tall but she was confident enough in her bucking skills that she could get a coconut without having to climb up one if she wanted. Coming out of the mountain pass she had been traveling through was nice, instead of the cold mountain air that traveled in-between the peaks there was a warm breeze coming from the direction she was heading now.
The weather in these here parts is just crazy.
As she trotted towards the palm trees and other tropical plants the ground started turning from dirt to a white sand, almost like she was on a beach. Applejack was sure there was no ocean or even lake around though, there was no wind coming from a large body of water or any sound of crashing waves.
“Where even am I now?”
Applejack rubbed her head for a second but figured there was nothing to be gained from standing around thinking. With a shrug she walked through the sand, closer to the foliage she noticed that a lot of it was pineapple bushes, that’d be a sweet treat if she felt like nabbing one. Still couldn’t compare to a real apple but it was better than nothing.
She pushed herself through some of the tropical plants that grew right up out of the sand, it was really like she had somehow just walked onto a tropical island.
“This is getting ridiculous.” Walking under the shade of a palm tree Applejack looked up at it, the thing was at least fifty feet tall and there were many others that looked even twice as tall as it. If she did buck one she’d better get out of the way of any falling coconuts. If she could place a rock in the right spot though she could probably get the coconut to crack itself.
Applejack cracked her back and continued on. Pushing a bush’s big leaves out of the way she saw a sign right in front of her.
REST STOP AHEAD
Applejack was surprised to say the least.
“Really? Do enough ponies even come through here?” Her face was twisted up in confusion but she decided to let it pass. If there was a place to rest it’s not like that would be a bad thing or anything. Applejack was getting good at letting things go. Too many weird things, too few explanations. Might as well treat everything as inexplicable as Pinkie Pie and just relax about it.
The sign had no arrow on it or any directions so Applejack just walked past it and figured the rest stop must be straight behind.
Now that she thought about it she had had pretty bad luck with signs on this little journey of hers.
It was only a short walk through a grove of pineapple bushes later that Applejack spied a building she assumed was the rest stop. Well, building was stretching it. This was more like a hut. The thing was put together with grass, twigs, mud and big palm tree fronds for a roof. Just sitting in the middle of a big circle of white sand, surrounded by the palm trees and other bushes. It actually did look like it would be a nice resting spot, it was secluded, cozy, and had that natural “Do-It-Yourself” appeal that Applejack liked. Rustic wasn’t quite the word she was thinking of. Traditional? Well, whatever.
There was another sign set up next to the hut that read “The Other Side”. Of what? Applejack was flummoxed as she looked at it.
“Should I even bother?” She said out loud to herself.
“Bother with what?”
Applejack jumped, startled at the sudden voice from behind her. She didn’t hear anypony walking though the sand.
Swiftly turning to face the voice Applejack saw a peach colored unicorn mare with a wild lime-green mane and a swirly stardust cutie mark. Maybe Twilight would have a more scientific name for that but swirly stardust was what came to Applejack’s mind.
“Oops, sorry for startling you.” The mare said with an apologetic smile. “My name’s Starburst. I work here.”
“Uh, yeah, no problem. Pleasure to meet ya, Miss Starburst, my name’s Applejack.” She puffed some errant hair out of her eyes and put her hoof forwards to shake. “So you work here? What do you do?”
Starburst eagerly took Applejack’s hoof. “Yes! I am the Booth Operator of this rest stop. I keep things clean and greet ponies who come through.” She said proudly, closing her eyes and holding a hoof over her chest.
“Riiight.” Applejack resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Do many ponies come through here? I mean, it seems like a pretty out of the way place.”
“Oh I see somepony every now and then. I’d say once a month on average. I say hello and answer any questions they might have, I also make some excellent fruit juice if I may say so. Pineapple coconut lemon mango mix! It’s delicious!” Her grin stretched from ear to ear as she leaned in at Applejack. “Want some?”
Applejack stepped back to put some space between the two of them. “Uh, no thanks but I do have a question for you now.” Starburst perked up at Applejack. “You seem to know a lot about fruits so I was wondering if you maybe had any apples or knew where I could find some?” Starburst could see the incredibly hopeful and cautiously optimistic expression on Applejack’s face.
It was a shame she had no idea what apples were.
“I’m sorry, but apples? Do you mean like pineapples? I have plenty of pineapples.”
Applejack tilted her head back and groaned at the sky, eyes screwed shut in frustration. “Ughhhh!” She looked back down at Starburst with annoyance written plain on her face. “No, not pineapples. Apples apples! The fruit I’m even named after for Celestias’s sake!”
“Ohhhh, I’m sorry, when you introduced yourself I thought your name was short for Pineapplejack.” She said innocently.
Applejack sputtered and grabbed her head, trying not to just freak out. “Wha… but… that’s… no!” She grabbed Starburst by the shoulders. “My name aint short for anything, it’s Applejack! Just Applejack!” She let Starburst go and pointed at her flank and the cutie mark she was so proud of. “Apples, apples, apples!”
Starburst stepped back, raising her hooves defensively. “Okay, okay, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Applejack rubbed her temples to calm down a bit. She sighed and took a deep breath before talking again. “Sorry, I’ve just… been through a lot recently.” She made to sit down in the sand before another thought struck her. “Hey, so you have some information about the area then right? You said you answered questions ponies had didn’t you?”
Starburst nodded. “Mhm. I’m not some travel guide or anything though so I don’t know how helpful I’ll be.”
“Fair enough.” Applejack stuck some of her mane up under her hat to keep the rogue strands out of her eyes. “Have you ever heard of a town called Ponyville and do you know where it is?”
The unicorn’s eyes traveled to their corners and she chewed on her tongue, she was searching her brain for any mention of a town called Ponyville. Finally she stopped and gave a regretful frown to Applejack. “I’m sorry, the name just isn’t ringing any bells.”
Used to this by now Applejack didn’t sigh or let it get to her. She placed a friendly hoof on Starburst’s shoulder and just shook her head. “Don’t worry nothing about it.” Applejack looked back over her shoulder at the sign next to the hut. “But uh, can ya tell me about what’s off in that direction then?”
“Oh, well, on the other side I’ve heard there have been quite a few forest fires up north lately. Don’t know what that’s about. And if you keep going a bit further that direction you’ll eventually come to the mountain that an old crazy unicorn king once lived in centuries ago.” She answered happily.
That was a lot to take in for Applejack. “Okay, woah, slow down a bit. First off what do you mean ‘the other side’? Other side of what? What does that sign over there mean?”
Starburst tilted her head at Applejack in confusion. “What do you mean? It’s the other side. This is one side and then past that sign is the other side.”
Applejack could almost hear her own brain shorting out.
“But… what side of… huh?” Applejack’s mouth hung agape as she also tilted her head to match Starburst.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand your question.” Starburst pleadingly held up her hooves, face scrunched up in confusion.
This time Applejack did sigh and tried to rub the exhaustion out of her eyes. “Alright, never mind all that then. You mentioned a unicorn king right? I think I heard somepony mention that to me before.”
Starburst was happy to switch topics and she smiled warmly at Applejack. “Oh yes, a few centuries ago there was a unicorn king who lived in a mountain a bit northeast of here. He was a mean tyrant that nopony liked. I hear from some ponies coming through here from that way that his ghost is still there, terrorizing the ponies who live around the mountain. Spooky right?” She said excitedly with a face that didn’t seem to think it was spooky at all.
“Uhuh. Well I’ll just head northwest if I can avoid it then.” Applejack replied. “And forest fires too? Hope ponies can keep that under control.”
“Yes it’s only very recently that I’ve heard about that. In fact just a week or so ago I was able to see the smoke from one of them. I’m sorry to say that if you’re going to the other side you might not be able to avoid traveling through the area they’ve been happening.”
“Well that’s alright, I’ve been through worse than forest fires.” Applejack replied confidently, although still not happy that she might have to deal with something like that. “Anyways thanks for your help. I had best get moving.” She started walking away from the exuberant unicorn.
“Alright! Well I’m glad you stopped by, are you sure you don’t want any of my fruit juice?” Starburst waved wildly at her as she left.
“No thanks, I’m sure it’s great but I’m holding out for apples. Bye bye, take care now!” Applejack also waved back at her as she passed the sign by the hut, taking her first steps to the other side. She doubted the sign was actually important but at least she wasn’t going to demolish this one. Just one more weird thing for her to get by on this little walk home.