//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins 
// Story: Ponies Forever! Or, AJ Sees The Worlds 
// by Lock Target 
//------------------------------//

One stormy night at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack had just finished putting a bushel of apples into her apple cellar. After closing it, she starts muscling through a gust of wind while holding onto her hat as she inched her way to the house not noticing a strange rainbow cloud in her path. She enters the cloud and disappears in a flash of light. When the flash cleared, she opened her eyes hearing birds chirp.

"Huh? Daytime?" AJ wondered looking around. "Wait a second...Where'd my apple cellar go...? Huh!? Where'd Sweet Apple Acres go!? Where'd PONYVILLE go!? And why does everything look so cheesey, flat and rushed?"

"I heard somebody over here" said someone at a distance. She arrives revealing herself to be a unicorn baring a striking resemblance to Twilight's mother, only...Weird-looking. A second one, an Earth Pony resembling AJ in a similar body type to the unicorn minus the horn, a shorter mane and a blue bow at the top of her tail, follows behind with a bushel of apples on her back and a group of small, fuzzy, collorful creatures who go over to have a look at AJ.

"Twilight" said the Earth Pony in an adorably gravelly voice, "Megan asked you and the Bushwoolies to help me gather apples for the Apple Day festivities, we can't stop to say 'hi' to everybody we see, there no time!"

"But Applejack" Twilight said to the Earth Pony pointing at AJ, "Look at her!"

"Hang on, THAT one's name is Applejack?" AJ asked dazed and confused by the apparances of the two.

The other Applejack approaches AJ to look her over. "You're right" the other Applejack said noticing an eerie resemblance to herself, "She looks exactly like me...Only she's wearing a hat...And she's...Weird-looking"

"Well, look who's talkin'!" Snapped an offended AJ.

"Hmm, oh dear" Twilight said trying to get a grip on the situation, "Applejack, you and the Bushwoolies head back to Paradise Estate and tell Megan about this. I'll take THIS Applejack to the Moochick to see if we can't make sense of the situation"

"The Moon Chick?" AJ asked as the other Applejack and the Bushwoolies left, "Look, sugarcube, I don't think eggs from a chicken (Especially one from the moon) is going to help my predicament...Then again, my friends and I used the Elements of Harmony to turn an Alicorn that was BANISHED to the moon from bad back to good"

Twilight stares at AJ for a moment. "Elements of Harmony?" she asked.

"Yeah, six artifacts that use the power of friendship and keep Equestria from falling into the wrong hooves" AJ explained.

"Hmm" said Twilight thinking again about what AJ just said. "Strange, the only thing I've heard of protecting Ponyland from destruction are the Magic Wands"

"Magic Wands? Ponyland?" AJ didn't know what to make of what Twilight was saying. "Did I somehow get transported off-continant?"

"Well perhaps the MOOchick might be able to answer that" Twilight replied galloping off.

"Now it's a cross between a COW and a chicken?" AJ thought to herself before she follows Twilight. "Hey, wait up! How are you movin' so fast with those stiff motions!?"

Moments later, they find a cottage in a field of really big mushrooms as well as some flora and fauna. A rabbit in a pair of shorts with yellow suspenders approaches AJ on a mushroom startling her.

"MISTER MOOCHICK!" Twilight shouted.

The mushroom turns around revealing himself to be a short, bearded creature in a green jacket, beige pants, brown boots and belt and a big hat with cat-like ears. The rabbit falls down. "Ah, Twilight, so glad you finally got here" the creature said turning his attention to a slightly freaked out AJ who pokes a mushroom next to her making sure it wasn't another one. "Oh my, and you brought HER!"

"You're this Moochick feller, right?" AJ asked making sure it was a regular mushroom, "We took so long getting here, this one had time to explain to me that you're not a chicken that lives on the moon or one that's half cow...You have a weird name"

"Mister Moochick, we wer just wondering if you could help us" Twilight started. "This pony says her name is Applejack. She even looks almost identical to her"

"Why, that's because she IS Applejack, my little pony" the Moochick chucklled grabbing the right side of his jacket, "At the same time, she is NOT Applejack"

After a moment of trying to get what the Moochick is talking about, AJ asks "Beg pardon?"

"Who you are is who you are" the Moochick answered. "But who you're not is who you're not"

"...Okay, I've been patient about all this, but can we please despence with the double negatives and try to figure this out?" AJ asked feeling like her head was about to explode in any given moment.

Just then, the other Applejack arrives with a taller creature with round ears on the sides of her head, blonde with a ponytail, female wearing frilly dungarees, pink shoes and a white shirt.

"Goodness, she DOES look like you" the girl said.

"Yes, we've established that already" AJ grumped turning her attention to the Moochick, "Now, what can you do to help make senese of this?"

"Oh, mymymymymy, yes" the Moochick replied, "I think I have the book that will give us answers...Somewhere"

Meanwhile, back in Equestria the following morning, Twilight Sparkle was getting ready to do some studying. Suddenly, she hears a knock on the door as if it were somepony looking for sanctuary from a massive Timber Wolf attack terrorizing the entire town. Spike gets ready to answer, but Pinkie Pie opens the door as he grabs the handle, flinging him into Big Mac who was also on his way to see Twilight with Apple Bloom who runs into the library as Pinkie, who was foaming at the mouth runs around the center table.

"FOAMY! FROTHY! FROTHY! FOAMY!" Pinkie said as she continues to panic.

"Pinkie, what in the wide-wide world of Equestria's got you freaking out like this?"

"WHO YOU ARE IS WHO YOU ARE, BUT WHO YOU'RE NOT IS WHO YOU'RE NOT!" Pinkie shouted as if she heard the Moochick, "SOMEPONY WENT MISSIIIIIIIIIING!" She then calms down places a pacifyer in her mouth then sucks on it and starts caressing a baby blanket she pulls out of her mane rocking back and forth still foaming at the mouth. 

Spike and Big Mac enter the library after they emerged from a gathering crowd.

Ecstatic, Apple Bloom turns to Big Mac saying, "We've got a lead! A PINKIE SENSE lead!"

"COULD SOMEPONY TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!?" Twi snapped.

"It's her Pinkie Sense" AB explained, "When she's foaming at the mouth, it means somepony is missing. When that missing somepony is found by the nearest creature, she recites the last thing they said"

"Who's missing?" Twilight asked.

"Applejack" Apple Bloom replied, "She walked into a strange rainbow cloud and disappeared"

"A rainbow cloud?" Twilight pulls a book titled "Clouds and Effect" from under her bed sheets as the crowd breaks apart and continues their day. "Hmm, I've just read about something like that before I went to bed...Now if I can find the page...AHA!"

"Here it is!" the Moochick exclaimed back in Ponyland with a copy of the book. "You came here by means of a Universis Cloud"

"According to this paragraph" Twilight started back in Equestria, "A Universis appearing is a rare occurance and is rumored to take whoever it engulfs in its mist to worlds it feels he or she is needed at that given time"

"Hold your horses, Moochick!" AJ said back in Ponyland trying to get what he's saying, "Let me get this straight, I'm here because some cloud said you guys need me?" 

"Puzzling indeed" the Moochick commented, "Let us read further, shall we?" He does a speed read of the paragraph. "Oh dear!"

"What's wrong, Mister Moochick?" Megan asked.

"Well as the paragraph goes on to say" The Moochick started.

Back to Equestria! Pinkie Pie's foaming stops, calming her down. She puts the blaket and pacifyer away then wipes the remaining foam from her mouth and joins everypony to listen.

"Applejack can get out of the world she's in" Twilight said.

And now we're back in Ponyland.

"The downside of the matter is that once the task is complete, it may take you further from YOUR world" the Moochick said downhearted.

"WHAT!?" AJ said.

One more time, let's go to Equestria.

"The time it takes for this process to run its course is...Indefinately"

Okay, now back to Ponyland...Last time, I swear

"Wait, are you tellin' me I'm stuck here until I figure out why I'm here?" AJ asked.

"I'm afraid so, my little pony" The Moochick answered. "Now then, it's been a long day, why don't we get some rest?"

Later that night, Megan and twilight are asleep on the floor in sleeping bags they brought with them. Two were unrolled but no one was in them. Both Apple jacks were sitting out on a tree-sized mushroom looking at the stars.

"Ugh, no offense, sugarcube" AJ started, "But even the STARS look like they've been hastily drawn by lazy cartoonists!"

"You don't have stars where you're from?" Asked the other Applejack.

"We do" AJ said after a momentary pause, "Just none like these. Seriously, it feels like I'm in a retro saturday morning cartoon made by a toy company who hired tryin' to make a quick bit!"

"A bit?" the other Applejack asked.

"Never mind" AJ said, "I just wish somepony would give me some answers"

"Don't you mean someBODY?" the other Applejack asked in confusion.

"This is how everypony talks in my world, deal with it" AJ grumpily demanded sighing afterwards. "I'm a might sorry, It's daytime in my dimension and I'm normally up at this hour"

"You asked for answers, didn't you?" a familiar voice cooed.

Both Applejacks turn to see who appears to be Fluttershy wearing a flower crown, a toga and a pair of gold-colored sandles on her front hooves. Her mane and tail moved like Princess Celestias and she had a rainbow aura surrounding her. 

"Who the...?" the other Applejack wondered.

"F...Fluttershy?" AJ asked the figure seeming intimidated by the sight of her.

"No, no" the mare laughed walking up to AJ, "I merely took this form to comfort you. My name is Zacherle. I am the deity who created your multiverse"

"So that means YOU'RE the one who brought me here!" AJ asked Zacherle.

"I am" she simply replied.

"Why did you send here here?" the other Applejack asked.

"I will explain that at a later time" Zacherle said turning to a Uinversis Cloud that appears infront of her. "For now, I will only say that you and four others are needed to assist here" She steps onto the cloud, floats away and disappears.

The next morning on the Ponyland side, eveyone is ready to head back to Paradise Estate.

"So what do you plan on doing while you look for what you need to do, Applejack?" Megan asked AJ. 

"You know what, that's gonna get confusing" AJ said thinking about the fact that there are TWO Applejacks now, "How 'bout this, sugarcube? Just address me as AJ-1 and your friend here as AJ-2. That way, nopony will get confused"

Suddenly, Twilight Sparkle shows up in a flash of light making AJ-1 yelp.

"What the hay!?" AJ-1 said as her eyes adjusted seeing her.

"There you are, Applejack" Twilight said before noticing the other Twilight. "Mom?" She floats up to the other Twilight moving her front leg through her.

"T-Twilight?" AJ-1 said freaked out about what she's seeing.

"Yes, AJ-1?" The other Twilight asked. 

"Not you" AJ-1 pointing at Twilight, "HER!"

The others looked around where both Twilights stood.

"Oh" Twilight finally said doing what she did to the Other Twilight a second time. She then starts to explain. "You want to know about this. When I learned you disappeared in a Universis Cloud, I looked for a spell that could send me to where somepony I know is"

"But that doesn't explain why everypony thinks I'm crazy when I'm talkin' right to you" AJ-1 said making the group confused.

"It's because there were three conditions of using the spell" Twilight explained, "One, it required a special apple-like gem I had to take from some pirates, second, I have to be thinking about who I'm trying to find and focus on getting there and the third, I can only show up in the form of a hologram only the one I teleport to can see and hear"

"...Knowing you, this doesn't surprise me" AJ-1 said in a calm, annoyed voice.

Just then, an Earth Pony with a green bow similarly worn like AJ-2's, pink tulips for her Cutie Mark and Fluttersh's color scheme shows up with a baby dragon similar-looking to Spike.

"Posey!" the other Twilight said.

"What happened?" Megan asked, "We were just getting ready to get back to Paradise Estate"

"It's Beezen!" the baby dragon cried, "He's back!"

"Spike and I managed to get away right when he was attacking the Apple Day Festival!" Posey added.

"Who in thunderation is this 'Beezen' character?" AJ-1 asked.

"A powerful sorcerer that once took over Paradise Estate" the Moochick explained. "He used magic paint to do so. This might be the reason Zacherle brought you here"

"...Oh boy" AJ-1 said thinking about this.

To Be Continued