I woke up in a daze, not remembering what had happened as I tried to get the ground to stop rocking underneath me. What was I doing, where was I? Suddenly in a flash of light and sound I remembered it all, I was on a mission in southern Iraq, something about some IED maker, then we were ambushed by someone. We had just barely made it through when I was thrown from the helo. Sitting up suddenly I whipped out my pistol looking for potential threats, instantly regretting the sudden movement. As I clutched my head in pain and slumped back down to the ground I was grateful to have nice soft grass to lay my head on...
Wait... soft grass?
I struggled to open my eyes, and grimaced in pain as it seemed like I was being stabbed in the eyes with rusty nails. Looking around I saw myself surrounded by what seemed to be hundreds of trees with plentiful fruit hanging from the branches. I scooted myself under the closest one to me and noticed an odd shaped hole in the trees overhead.
"I guess this is the bottom of the rabbit hole, ‘cause this certainly ain't no Iraq." I thought bitterly, heck this place looks more like back home in the mountains of Virginia. I used to always sneak onto the orchard next door to my parents' farm and sneak naps in the safety of the apple trees.
"Hello!" I yell into the orchard, shattering the serene quiet that had been prevalent before. "Anyone out there?"
Waiting a few moments and hearing nothing in response I decide that I'm truly alone in this beautiful place, maybe this is heaven. Although that wouldn't explain the pain I was in, so maybe it was hell, being trapped in an endless orchard with no one but myself. I guess I won’t find out until I explore the place, so I sit up and try to will myself upright.
"So, standing up was much easier said than done." I thought to myself, looking down I could see that my right leg had a large gash running from just above my knee and stopping just below my body armor. Obviously my leg would not support my weight, forcing me to use my rifle as a crutch. I started walking in a random direction, hoping desperately that I would find someone or something that would indicate where I was. While I was walking I tried my radio, only to find it hanging in several pieces.
"There goes that idea, guess I should be glad it's not my head though." I said into the empty orchard.
After about an hour of walking I started hearing a weird noise coming from the otherwise silent orchard, almost like someone grunting followed by a hollow thunk, maybe something hitting a tree.
Hoping that it was someone that could help me I angled myself towards the noise, every now and then getting lost as the noise stopped for a moment or two, but right back on track of the noise started up a few yards from where it had been moment before. After what seemed like forever I started getting close to the noise, the hope of finally finding someone else invigorated me to hobble faster. As I came around a rather large tree I came face to face with an odd looking orange horse wearing of all things, an old stetson.
"What in tarnation?" It exclaimed as I backed away quickly, never seeing the bucket full of apples as I toppled backwards over it.
"Today was just like any other day on Sweet Apple acre farm." Applejack thought happily."Ah wouldn't change this for anything, but why is it ah keep finding myself wishing that something would happen, maybe another adventure with the girls is just what ah need."
Positioning the buckets under the heavily laden branches with practiced ease, she sighed to herself. "Of course ah can't just up and leave Big Mac here all alone tendin’ the farm by himself, now why did ah have to be the element of honesty, ah can't even lie to myself." She thought harshly.
"Maybe ah will go to that shindig that Pinkie is planin’ for next week, surely Big Mac can handle the farm on his own for a night." She said out loud to nopony in particular.
Behind her, she heard some rustlin', she really didn't pay attention to it though because it was probably just Big Mac comin to give her a hoof with the buckin'. Applejack paused for a moment, looking at the sun, Big Mac and Apple Bloom should be at the market all day at their stall, and it was more likely to be Princess Luna than Granny Smith. Turning around hoping to find one of her friends comin’ out to keep her company she came face to face with the weirdest critter she’d ever laid her eyes on.
"What in tarnation!" She exclaimed as the creature backed quickly away from her, a look of fear all over its face as it fell backwards over the buckets she had just filled.
She tried to stop, or at least slow, its' fall but to no avail as it bashed its head on a tree root, knockin’ the critter clean out. The critter, whatever it was, was now sprawled across the ground in a very painful position and Applejack could only feel a little guilty, as it was her who scared the darn thing half to death.
With a sigh, she grabbed it at the base of its oddly patterned tan shirt and started dragging it towards the farmhouse, making slow progress as the creature weighed much more than it appeared.
"Here ah was wishin’ for adventure and it comes fallin’ outta the sky." She thought. "But might as well take care of it, and get Twi and Fluttershy up here, one of them ponies was bound to know what it was, might also want to get Big Mac in case its dangerous."
Looking at the path back to the farmhouse, she groaned inwardly at the distance she was going to have to drag this critter.
"Now why can't more of our adventures be at the spa and need nothin’ other than me to relax all day long?" She thought bitterly.