Applejack groaned as she woke up someplace new.
She didn’t want to open her eyes. She curled up, the soft grass underneath her more comfortable than any bed, and willed herself to sleep. Today had just been too much.
Sleep refused to come, though. No matter how desperately she pleaded with her body, it seemed she wouldn’t be able to rest.
She groaned again, and it turned into a sigh. Painstakingly, she pried her eyes open and pushed herself up onto her hooves.
Her body didn’t complain nearly as much as she had expected it to, though. She still felt the echoes of pain, lingering in her mind like wisps of smoke, but it showed no signs of getting worse when she moved. She stretched out her legs and back just to be sure, but there was no doubt. Whatever had happened, it had cleared up any sign of injury she had before.
So, resigned to pressing onwards, she looked around.
It was a strange place she found herself in. The sky was bright and blue, but there was no sun. There wasn’t a moon, either. There weren’t even clouds, just endless sky in every direction.
The world itself was a massive, all encompassing field of flowers. Short stems and yellow petals filled her vision, almost completely obscuring the grass below. No matter where she looked, it was the same. No hills, no houses, no bare patches, just a never ending sea of flowers.
Unsure of what to do, Applejack started to walk.
“Hello?” She called out, trying to figure out what had happened. There was no reply.
It dawned on her that Daybreaker’s spell may have actually worked. She wasn’t in Equestria, that much was certain, and this place seemed similar enough to the moon. It wasn’t nearly as desolate and depressing, but that could easily change over the next thousand years. It was a prison all the same.
Then again, she thought, she could have been saved by Nightmare Moon. This could certainly be the world of dreams. Maybe Applejack’s mind conjured this place up to recover until Nightmare Moon came for her. That was a comforting idea.
Still… Neither of those seemed quite right. Something in the back of her mind was saying this was something else.
She stopped walking. She could hear something on the wind.
It was a strange sound, so distant and quiet at first that it was impossible to make out. It was getting closer, though, and fast. A shrill squeal, no, a scream. It was a pony screaming, and one whose voice she knew well.
Applejack whirled around, looking for the source, but she was still alone.
And then, she wasn’t.
“—aaaah!” Twilight yelled, more in surprise than fear, as she came into the world with a pop and fell to the ground. She hit it with a soft thump, cushioned by the pillowy flowers, and laid there sprawled out in the grass as she got her bearings.
“Twilight?” Applejack raised an eyebrow at her friend and held a hoof out to help her up.
Twilight grabbed onto her hoof and pulled herself off the ground. “Um… Hi?” She looked around with a confused look on her face. “Where are we?”
Applejack shrugged. “Beats me.”
“Well, how’d you get here?”
“Oh, I uh... I kinda got caught in the crossfire in the fight.” Applejack rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.
Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Fight?”
“Yeah, you know, with the big ol’ fire and the eclipse and all.”
Twilight’s eyes went even wider. “Uhh… Yeah, of course, that fight! Right…”
Applejack gave her a sour look. “Twilight, are you tellin me you failed to notice when the sun went out?”
Twilight pursed her lips.
Applejack shook her head and put a hoof to her forehead. “I knew we should’ve gone and found you.”
Twilight gave an embarrassed chuckle. “Well, uh, I’m here now! Who’s fighting?”
“Celestia and Luna,” Applejack said. “Err, well, Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, I guess.”
Twilight took a step back. “What? I have to go help.”
“Wait, don’t—” Applejack started, but before she could get the words out Twilight vanished. “—leave me here.” Applejack groaned.
Then, Twilight reappeared with a baffled expression.
“What the?” Twilight spun around, as if she would find some explanation amongst the flowers. “Are we trapped?”
Applejack shrugged. “Maybe if we actually tried to figure out where the heck we are, we’d know that.”
“Oh.” Twilight gave her a sheepish grin. “Heh, yeah, probably.”
“So?” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “I ain’t the pony here that’d have the answers.”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “Hmm… Well, we’re not in Equestria. How, exactly, did you get here?”
“I think I got banished? Twice. They both banished me at the same time, I’m pretty sure.”
Twilight winced. “And you’re still… Alive?”
“Well I sure hope so!” Applejack glared at her. “If I’m a ghost, you’re gettin haunted for the rest of your life.”
“Okay, okay. Well… I mean, I can’t imagine two banishment spells doing anything but kill you.”
“I don’t feel dead,” Applejack said. “And if I did just die, why are you here? What, are you the grim reaper now?”
“No, I’m sure that’s somepony else’s job,” Twilight muttered, deep in thought. “It’s clearly magic if it can keep me here, but I can’t think of any place like that. I mean, except, like…”
Twilight gasped. She let out a sudden burst of magic, and all around them windows started to open up in the air, showing them Applejack’s life up until now.
“Yes!” Twilight bounced excitedly on her hooves, then ran over and grabbed Applejack. “I know where we are!”
“Mind, uh, fillin me in?” Applejack looked deeply confused as she looked around at all the biggest moments of her life.
“Okay, well I don’t know where,” Twilight corrected, “but I know why! Applejack, you did it!”
Applejack looked blankly at Twilight. “...Hooray?”
Twilight laughed giddily. “You’re a Princess!”
Applejack went to step away in shock, but before she could Twilight wrapped her in a tight hug. Applejack hugged back, and Twilight squeezed her for far longer than she expected.
“Oh, I’m so proud of you!” She stepped back, smiling wide, and her eyes were damp with happy tears.
Applejack smiled softly. “Thanks, Twilight. It never would’ve happened without your inspiration.”
Twilight laughed and sniffed. “Don’t say that, you’ll make me cry.”
“Well, it’s true,” Applejack said. Then, remembering something, she jolted with shock. “Oh, shoot. Twilight, I think you gotta do some kinda spell to keep me from becoming an Alicorn.”
Twilight tilted her head. “Do you not want to be one?”
“I’m an earth pony,” Applejack told her. “I ain’t about to throw away everything that means just for some fancy magic and wings.”
“Oh.” Twilight nodded. “I get it, I think. I guess I just assumed that since you still went through with it all, you’d decided otherwise.” She shrugged. “Well, don’t worry about it. This is destiny magic, I can’t imagine it’ll force something like that on you if you wouldn’t be happy about it.”
“I dunno if I’m comfortable trusting something this big to your gut.”
“Hey, I’ll still be here,” Twilight said. “If I see any sign of wings or a horn, I’ll put a stop to it.”
“Well… Alright,” Applejack said.
Twilight grinned and chuckled. “Don’t worry, this part’s fun.”
Twilight reached out and poked Applejack playfully in the forehead, and suddenly light started to swirl around her. It lifted Applejack into the air as beam after beam shot into her, filling her with magic. The raw power shined out from her, glowing through her fur and making her eyes a blazing white. It wrapped around her legs and tightened, squeezing and squeezing until it became one with her, and then more light appeared and did it again. All the while she spun through the air, her mane and tail flapping wildly from the pure strength of the magic.
The feeling was unbelievable. Every second more power slammed into Applejack and became hers. She could feel it all, surging through her body like blood flowed through her veins. It heightened her senses, and suddenly she could feel everything. She could feel the slight shifting of the air as she moved through it, and she could feel the magic flowing off of Twilight, and it all felt good. It was like the whole world was wrapping her in a gentle, loving embrace.
Then it ended, and she floated gently back to the ground, seemingly unchanged. Inside, though, she knew she was different. She could still feel the magic coursing through her, and she still sensed Twilight’s filling the air. She still felt the air itself, how it rippled with every movement, and when her hooves touched down it was like she could feel everything around her. Any tiny movement, be it Twilight walking or a flower losing a petal a hundred feet away, made tiny vibrations through the ground, and she could feel them all.
Twilight smiled brightly. “So? How do you feel?”
Applejack had to take a moment to adjust to everything. Everything around her was suddenly so much more intense, and at first it overwhelmed her. She stumbled and just barely caught herself. Then she shut her eyes tight and concentrated, focusing on getting used to it, and slowly she did.
When she finally opened her eyes again, she let out a deep breath and looked up at Twilight. “Wow.”
Twilight laughed. “Yeah, that’s about how I felt too. Although, for me it was more because I suddenly had new body parts. That’s a weird feeling.”
“Oh, right.” Applejack looked at her sides, relieved to see no wings. Then she felt her forehead, and smiled when she found no horn. “Thank goodness.”
“Told ya,” Twilight said with a sly grin. “I’ve got no idea what it did to you, though.”
“Good question,” Applejack said. “I certainly feel stronger.”
“Can you do magic?”
“Hmm…” Applejack concentrated, trying to focus her energy into some kind of spell, but nothing happened. “Doesn’t seem like it.”
Twilight hummed in thought, incredibly intrigued by Applejack’s transformation.
“I mean, what all did you feel?” Applejack asked.
“I just got wings.” Twilight shrugged. “Well, and the Alicorn magic I guess, but I didn’t really feel that.”
“So you couldn’t, like, feel the whole world around you?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “No?”
“And you couldn’t feel other ponies’ magic?”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Not at all. Can you do that stuff now?”
“Seems like it,” Applejack said.
“Wow. I’m kinda jealous.”
Applejack laughed. “See? No point in givin up who you are for some fancy new toys. Uh, no offense.”
“No, it’s fine,” Twilight said. “I like being an Alicorn for more than just the wings.”
Applejack nodded. “So, um… Now what? Is there more we gotta do?”
“Oh. Huh.” Twilight looked around. “Yeah, I figured we’d be home by now.”
“Please don’t tell me I broke it by not becoming the right thing.”
Twilight chuckled. “Nah, Celestia probably just sent me home without me realizing. I imagine it’ll let us go now.”
Applejack pursed her lips hesitantly. “Is going back gonna hurt as much as coming here did?”
“Hurt?” Twilight gave her a quizzical look, then gasped quietly. “Oh! No, no, it didn’t hurt to be brought here. You just hurt ‘cuz you were dying.”
“Oh, is that all? Gee, what a relief.”
Twilight laughed. “Think you’ll still need my help when you get back?”
Applejack looked down at her legs and flexed her muscles. “Nah, I think I got it.” She looked up at Twilight and grinned. “I mean, if the eclipse doesn’t let up after ten minutes or so, somethin probably went wrong. Just, you know, actually look at the sky this time.”
Twilight laughed sheepishly. “Yeah…” She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. “Well, see you later?”
“Yeah, see ya.”
Twilight gave Applejack one final hug, then sent them both home with a quick spell.
Twilight reappeared back in her quiet little office. Papers were scattered all over the floor from when she launched them into the air while being teleported away. She sighed, carefully picked them all back up and put them neatly on the desk.
Then she took a deep breath. “Well,” she said to herself, “time to get yelled at.” She laughed quietly at her mistake, then warped herself to the middle of Ponyville to find her friends.