One night, Applejack was walking home after solving a friendship problem in Kirin Grove. She had originally planned to take the next train, however that soon changed when she noticed the express didn't stop due to the crazy stationmaster closing up the station once again, so she had to make it all the way back to Ponyville on foot.
She did not like this one bit.
"Consarn that loony ol' stallion." She grumbled as she walked through a cluster of thin trees. "How in the hay did somepony like him get such an important job?"
The sun had been setting when she departed the grove, now that she was half a mile away it was night, with only a third quarter moon as her light source. She snorted as she continued to walk.
"Well, hopefully with Twilight in charge of the country, she can persuade them higher-ups to pass new laws for the railroads so incidents like this'n never happens again."
As the earth pony reached a clearing, she suddenly noticed that the ground had become darker. Looking up she saw large, dark clouds covering up the night sky. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw a raindrop fall, followed by another, then another.
Uh oh, that ain't good. She thought.
She began to pick up the pace-her slow walk turning into a brisk trot-as more raindrops began to fall. Then it started coming down faster, causing her to gallop, before the rain started coming down in thick, hard sheets. Poor Applejack could barely see what was in front of her.
She needed to find shelter, and fast.
In the distance, she could make out a faint yellow light through the rain.
Good. She thought as she began to run towards it. Ah can stay there `til the rain lets up. Hope the owners won't mind.
As she galloped closer the light slowly became brighter, luring her in like a moth. Thoughts of her resting in somewhere warm and dry swam though her mind before they quickly melted away when she saw what was ahead of her.
Instead of a house, there was a small, light brown tent set up on the grass. One of the flaps on the front was closed while the other one was open, of which a bright yellow glow spilled out from. Despite the rain pouring down hard on its roof, the tent stayed perfectly upright.
Who in tarnation would go campin' in weather like this? Thought Applejack as she stared in confusion. A faint rumbling sound from up above interrupted her thoughts.
Well, Ah guess it beats standin' out here all wet `n cold.
She trotted towards the tent and stopped near the entrance. Judging by the height alone, it seemed big enough to fit two adult ponies. She poked her head inside, noticing that a thick blanket had been spread out and a small blue lantern sat in the far corner, emitting the same yellow light she saw earlier; She didn't smell any oil or kerosene so she assumed the device was powered by electricity.
She walked inside, turned around, and lied on her belly, sighing internally at how soft and warm the blanket felt. She was facing the entrance to the tent and got a good view of the storm pouring outside, thankful that she was now out of it.
"Hello there!"
Applejack nearly jumped up at the sound of the voice.
Next to her was another earth pony: Her coat was the same color as Applejack's, but her legs ended in white unshorn fetlocks, and her mane and tail were a dark purple with braids at the end.
Applejack soon recovered from her minor shock. "Uh s-sorry. Ah didn't mean to intrude on ya."
The other earth pony smiled. "That's OK. I actually like it when there's somepony else to talk to." She pushed open the flap in front of her, looking out at the downpour. "A good thing you did find my tent; this weather looks pretty nasty tonight."
As another bout of thunder rumbled overhead, Applejack had to agree.
The other earth pony's eyes scanned up and down Applejack's body, before looking at her face. "You're from...Ponyville, aren't you?"
"Yeah. How did ya'll know?"
"Well, you seem nice. Far nicer than the earth ponies from my hometown, at least." She paused for a moment. "You know, my father grew up in Ponyville."
Applejack stared at her silently.
"Yes, it's true. He did." Smiled the other earth pony, seemingly reading the apple farmer's expression. "When I was a filly, he used to tell me stories of it and how six amazing ponies would keep it safe and spread friendship to the citizens."
"Well, nice to see we're bein' recognized for our good deeds. I'm Applejack, by the way."
The other earth pony's eyes widened at the mention of her visitor's name.
"Wait, you're Applejack? As in the Applejack, the spirit of honesty?"
She nodded in response.
"Wow! I never thought I meet one of the element bearers in person." She exclaimed, her eyes twinkling like Pinkie Pie at a baker's convention. "It's always be a foalhood dream of mine to meet you and your friends someday and now I have." She paused to recompose herself. "Tell me, is Twilight Sparkle still around?"
Applejack smiled. "She sure is. Why, just last week she just became the new princess of Equestria."
"Oh that's great to hear," Replied the other earth pony. "I wish her a peaceful and happy reign and hope that she and her friends spread the magic of friendship across Equestria and beyond."
Her smile quickly fell into a look of sorrow after saying the last sentence and she looked away. Applejack, noticing this, decided to see what was wrong.
"Are you alright, miss?" She asked. "Ya'll seemed pretty sad when you mentioned spreadin' friendship. Wanna talk to Twilight about it?"
The other earth pony's eyes widened for a few seconds before she recollected her thoughts.
"Oh, n-no that's okay! I'd...rather not interfere with the Princess while her reign is still in its infancy." She said, grinning nervously.
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Y'know, Ah already told you my name, but ya'll never mentioned what yours is."
"It's getting pretty late," The other earth pony yawned, before giving Applejack a small smile. "We'll talk some more in the morning, okay?" With that she laid her head down and went to sleep.
Applejack was puzzled; why was her new friend ignoring her important questions? She didn't have long to think about it, as drowsiness soon possessed her body and, eventually, she fell asleep too.
Applejack's sleep was anything but peaceful.
All through the night, she kept having strange dreams: Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns were mysteriously hating each other and isolating themselves in separate settlements while putting up KEEP OUT signs and propaganda posters. In addition, pegasi appeared to be "flying" on wires, and unicorns were struggling to grab things without telekinesis.
All the while, a slowed down version of Twilight Sparkle's inauguration speech echoed in the background.
Applejack awoke with a start.
It was morning now: The storm had passed, and the sun's rays broke through the clouds and made the rain-soaked grass sparkle like gemstones.
"Mighty sorry if Ah kept ya awake last night, sugarcube." She yawned, addressing the other pony. "Ah had the most strangest dream last-"
Her voiced suddenly trailed off as she looked to her side-The other earth pony and the tent were gone!
"Wh-what in tarnation?! Where'd she go?"
Just then, a voice called out to her.
"Hey, you alright down there?"
Applejack, still lost in her thoughts, looked up: two pegasi were hovering in the air a couple of yards above her, one stallion and one mare, and both were looking very concerned for the earth pony.
"We were just flying overhead and heard you screamin' about something." The stallion spoke.
Applejack finally spoke up. "Hey, have you two seen an orange earth pony with a brown tent? Ah was sleepin' with `er last night and when I woke up, she just disappeared."
The pegasi shared a confused look with each other for a moment before turning back to Applejack.
"Um...sorry, but we haven't seen one." Replied the mare.
"You sure you're alright?" Asked the stallion again. "Sleeping outside in the rain isn't good for ya."
Applejack personally felt offended at his words, but calmed herself down before she ended up lashing at him.
"I'm sure. Look, if either of ya'll see that pony, find me and lemme know, m'kay?"
"Uhhh yeah. Sure thing." Said the stallion, before looking back to the mare next to him and moving his hoof around the side of his head in a clockwise motion. She watched him fly off, then she rolled her eyes before looking down at Applejack.
"Don't mind him." She said. "If we do find that other earth pony you were talkin' about, we'll let ya know." With that she flew off after the stallion.
After they left, Applejack began to search the area where the tent was to see if there was any sign of its existence. Her search yielded no good results: the grass wasn't matted down, and there weren't any holes in the soil where the tent pegs had been. It was if it had just vanished overnight.
She angrily kicked the ground with her front hoof.
"This makes no dad-gum sense!" She exclaimed, pacing around the area. "She was here last night, Ah just know it! Tents and ponies don't just disappear like that-especially earth ponies!"
She tried her best to come up with a plausible explanation for their absence, but found nothing. Sighing, she sat down on the grass and rested her head on her hooves.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something she hadn't seen earlier. Getting back up, she reached a hoof down to pick it up.
It was a bracelet. Made up of small, bright pink beads and a magenta gem shaped like a six-pointed star; the same star that was part of Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark.
Applejack had never seen such a bracelet before, nor did she know anypony who wore this particular one, but she knew it must've been dropped sometime while she was asleep so she did the only honest thing she could do: she opened up one of her saddlebags and set the trinket inside.
I'll drop this off at the town hall's Lost & Found when Ah get back home.
Speaking of which, since there was no rain to obscure her vision, Applejack decided to see if she could find her way back to Ponyville. She looked all around and eventually saw the familiar crystalline point of Twilight's castle on the other side of a hill in the distance. Grinning, she began to gallop towards it.
Applejack wasn't sure what to make of the mysterious earth pony, the disappearing tent, or her dream. One thing she did remember, though, was one of the last things the mare told her before they both slept:
"I wish her a peaceful and happy reign and hope that she and her friends spread the magic of friendship across Equestria and beyond."
Stopping at the top of the hill to catch her breath, Applejack reflected on those words.
Well she wanted us to spread friendship, and I'm gonna make sure her wish comes true. She thought, as she ran down the hill and towards Ponyville.