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// Wherever You Come from... 
// Story: Danse Macabre 
// by pokeking95 
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        Still groggy from her slumber, Applejack blearily opened her eyes, letting loose a great yawn and stretching her limbs, satisfying pops resounding from her joints.  So fatigued from her sleep she was that she did not immediately realize her surroundings and instead laid back down to resume sleeping.  She curled further into a ball, snuggling with the dense layer of dead leaves on the ground.  Tossing and turning, Applejack was unable to find a decently comfortable position to rest in, and the cracking and crunching of the leaves eventually woke her up.  When the unfamiliar sight of the environment finally became clear, Applejack jumped straight up, her consciousness at long last returning to her in full, and she took a long look around.  She was definitely not in her bedroom back at Sweet Apple Acres, under the warm, protective covers of her bed.  Feeling anxiety beginning to seize her body, Applejack spun around in place, eyes darting left and right, nervously trying to figure out where exactly she was.

A forest.  It was a dark, haunting place, whose ancient, gnarled trees of murky green stretched high into the heavens, almost completely concealing the nighttime sky above.  Shadows, inky and tenebrous, painted the leafy ground.  A thick, otherworldly fog blanketed the area, serving only to obscure and to amplify the feeling of dread and loneliness the mare was already experiencing all too vividly.  A dim trickle of moonlight managed to penetrate the thick canopy above, barely illuminating the woods.  Closing her eyes, Applejack tried to listen for any sign of life: the chirping of crickets, the rustling of bushes in the undergrowth, the crunching of twigs and leaves, the hooting of an owl, even.

Nothing.  This was not natural, not natural at all.  Something was not right.

Applejack gulped and opened her eyes.  Was she in the Everfree Forest?  She shook her head.  No.  Not only were these trees totally foreign to her, ominous, she dared to admit, these woods were also completely devoid of life.  Dangerous as the Everfree was, it was teeming with all manners of creatures, and one could practically feel the presence of such rich diversity there.  This forest, on the other hoof, was lifeless.  Completely dead, with nary a soul in sight.  Looming from the fog, the trees themselves seemed not so much alive but more like hallowed effigies standing against the slow crawl of time.  There was not even the slightest breeze of wind to animate their branches, to bring some life, some movement to this solemnly silent scene.   It was as if someone had captured a single snapshot of the forest and left the image as is, frozen for all eternity.  Applejack tried and forced herself to calm down in spite of her still-furiously beating heart, her panicked breathing, and the trickling of cold sweat down her brow.  After a few moments with varying success, she began to try to think rationally and make sense of her situation.

        Was she in a dream?  It was a cliché assumption but still a valid one.  Shutting her eyes once more, Applejack braced herself and slapped herself hard across her face.  To her astonishment, however, she felt no pain whatsoever, even though she definitely felt her hoof make contact with her cheek.  Upon opening her eyes she found her environment unchanged.  She was not dreaming, then.  She was completely awake.  A little crestfallen, the mare continued with her assessment.

Barring the possible self-inflicted mark on her face, as best as Applejack could tell, she was uninjured.  Patting her head, the farmer felt a small but immensely welcome reprieve knowing that her trademark Stetson was still there, firmly set upon her crown.  She ultimately came to the conclusion that ponynapping—or a prank, Rainbow Dash’s and Pinkie Pie’s faces coming to mind—was unlikely; Applejack would not have let herself be taken away so easily, asleep or no.  Looking around, she could find no obvious trail to dictate from which direction she had possibly come from; all around her, the forest floor remained pristine and untouched.  It was as if she had simply appeared in this forest out of nowhere.  Teleportation?  Applejack shook her head furiously.  She was an earth pony!  There had to be a logical explanation for all of this.  Then, how did she get here?  There was no way she could have traveled into this unknown expanse of woods of her own volition.  The last thing the mare remembered doing was…

        Applejack paused, a muteness that seemed to stretch into infinity.  She could not remember.  There was a gap in her recent memory, and she did not know why.  She could recall her life, family and friends back in Ponyville, ponies near and dear to her, and the memories she had made over the years with them.  Anything more recent, potentially useful, however, drew a blank.  Forcing the tide of oncoming alarm back, the earth pony concentrated even harder.  Reaching out into the deepest recesses of her mind, Applejack could have sworn she vaguely heard the sound of weeping, for whatever reason, but beyond that there was nothing more.  Anything else that could help illuminate how and why she was here, lost and alone, remained elusive.

Yet another mystery to her predicament.

        Deciding to shift her focus to actually finding her way home, Applejack tried calling for help.  Her voice echoed through the trees, a ghostly howl that quickly degenerated into nothing more than an unintelligible whisper.  In return, Applejack was met with only long moments of continued silence.

        It was absolutely quiet.  There was absolutely nothing.

A single bead of sweat dripped down her forehead as her eyes were kept wide open and unblinking.  Her breathing was heavy, and she could feel her legs trembling.  The farmer could claim that she was not afraid in her situation, but she was the Element of Honesty, and lies were unbefitting of her.  It did not even tarnish her pride that Applejack was willing to admit that at that moment, for the first time in her life, she was truly and undoubtedly frightened—anypony else would be if they were in the same situation.  The simple farmer mare, who had come from such humble roots, had faced, amongst other fantastical and eldritch beings, an alicorn consumed by darkness, chaos incarnate itself, a twisted queen and her monstrous brood, and an ancient king fueled by fear and hatred.  However, she had never felt truly scared during those times, no matter how dangerous it was, for she had never confronted such dangerous foes by herself—she fought against every adversary with her friends, and together they always managed to overcome any challenge.

        Now, though, Applejack was utterly, completely alone in this eerie forest, with no idea of how she came to be here and no obvious way out.  She was alone, and she was terrified, absolutely terrified.

        Nearly hyperventilating, the mare, with the last vestiges of levelheadedness, only just managed to prevent herself from outright collapsing and tightening into as little of a ball as possible and futilely praying that this was all just a terrible, lucid nightmare.  She was a grown mare, not a whimpering little filly.  She could get through this.  She had gone through much worse before… right?

        Right, Applejack assured herself, despite how unconvincing it sounded.  She had camped out in the wilderness plenty of times before, so surviving in this forest should be a cinch.  Pondering how to get home with no map, supplies, or sense of direction, the mare decided to see if she could navigate by the stars.  As a young filly, before her days of apple bucking, after a long day of chores Applejack would often enjoy gazing into the night sky, admiring the twinkling points of light and tracing the imaginary lines of memorized constellations.  Oh, how always so elated she was to witness astronomical marvels seldom seen, such as meteor showers or even a comet.  In spite of her dilemma, Applejack let out a wistful sigh at this.  It had been years now since that time, but the mare was confident that she could still recognize the patterns of the night sky after so long.  She may not know exactly where she was, but finding the North Star, Polari, was a good start, since most of Equestria’s untamed forestland lie to the south.

Looking up, Applejack frowned.  The canopy here was too thick to allow her to see even a tiny portion of the sky.  Applejack grit her teeth in apprehension as she realized that the only option now was to start walking to try and find a better vantage point to see the stars.  She was lost, alone, and did not know the way home, and she detested the idea of possibly getting even more lost in these damned woods… but what else could she do?  Although the farmer was sure that her friends were looking for her at this very moment, she was uncertain as to how successful they could be.  How would they know where she was if she herself had no idea?  This forest could stretch on for miles in all directions, not to mention the thick fog; it could take months of non-stop searching for them to find her, if they find her at all, that is.  Staying in the same spot, waiting for help that would never arrive was not an option.

        There was no other choice, then.  Shaking any lingering doubt from her head, Applejack steeled herself and slowly took a step forward, then another, and another.  Before she knew it, she was already making her way through the thicket, leaves crackling beneath her leaden hooves.  Peering through the fog was difficult, for there was no obvious trail through these woods, and the scenery looked the same no matter how much she walked.  In the back of her mind, Applejack wondered if she was walking in circles as she passed a rather familiar-looking tree, but immediately declared that to be impossible, that she had been walking in as straight of a line as possible and that her mind was simply playing tricks on her.

Above all costs, she had to get home…