She awoke in a cave, next to a fire. She was covered in a blanket that seemed hand woven from materials that would be found in the forest. She tried to stand, but a sharp pain shot up through her legs. “ah, good you’re awake. No before I continue, I must ask, do you speak?” asked a figure at the mouth of the cave. She hadn’t seen it standing there before, but figured it had brought her here. “yeah, I can talk. Names applejack, now do you mind telling me exactly what the hay ah’m doin here?” she said, her annoyance very clear. The figure chuckled a little bit. “Now if I were in your situation I wouldn’t exactly use that tone of voice, considering I saved your life. Though I also owe you an apology, as that falling tree was a trap I set to end any search for me by wicked creatures. I did not mean to endanger any of the local wildlife.” “now who are you callin’ ‘wildlife’? I ain’t no wild animal, ah’m a pony.” she said with rage clear in her voice. “my apologies yet again, I’m used to only finding creatures of the forest or those who hunt them in the forest. Though this is not the forest I inhabited before, and thus it is possible that I find myself in a new world. The possibilities with magic are, quite truly, endless. Oh! I forget myself, my name is wolves fang. It is a pleasure to meet you.” he said, taking a seat by the fire, which showed his face. He seemed old, his skin was weather worn, and his full brown beard was spotted with grey. He extended his hand for her to shake. She took it, though she was greatly confused. What was this strange creature? What was it talking about? Was he the cause of the magical shockwave that brought her and her friends into the forest? “I see a look of great confusion on your face miss applejack, please, tell me what you wish to know, I’ll do my best to answer.” she took a deep breath and said “well first I wanna know just how you saved mah life.” “alright, simple enough. I was out foraging for food, when I heard the tree fall, and immediately ran over to it to see what was pinned beneath. When I found you underneath I used my magic to raise the tree and carried you here where I tended your wounds, both your hind legs were broken and took several days to heal to this point, so I ask you don’t try to run anytime soon, as I would hate to have to repeat the process again, it is very tiring.” he said, and it was very obvious that his tending her wounds has taken it’s toll on him, he had bags under his dark brown eyes, which were bloodshot, probably from lack of sleep. “wait a buckin’ minute. You said several days? How long have I been here?” “well It took me a day to carry you here, and then you’ve been here for another three, so you’ve been gone a total of four days. Don’t worry, as soon as you’ve healed enough, I will escort you out of the forest.” “WHAT!! FOUR DAYS!! I can’t have been gone fer four days, my friends are probably lookin’ all over for me, and ah’ve got a farm to run, ah’ve got to git home as soon as possible!” he thought for a moment, then said “well, if you wish I could carry you back to your home, though after we leave the forest you will have to guide me. If not then you will have to spend another night here, then you will be able to walk out of here on your own.” she thought about it for a moment. Either way, her pride wasn’t coming out of this intact…. “well miss applejack, I must say, you are much lighter then I would’ve expected.” said wolves fang as they exited the forest. It was the dead of night, as he had insisted on further healing her legs, and packing her some poultices to speed the recovery process. “hey! You callin me fat or sumthin’?” “oh, no, of course not, I will not be able to pass judgment on that aspect until I see more of your kind.” he said with a playful grin. He always was one of the more comical druids, making a joke whenever he got the chance. This time, however, it earned him a hoof to the back, as he was carrying applejack much like a hunter carrying a deer. ‘oh, the irony’ he thought. “anyhow, from here you must guide me, as this area is new to me.” she looked around, gathering their surroundings, then pointed a hoof in a seemingly random direction. “that way, just keep goin and we should be at sweet apple acres ‘fore sun rise.” “all right then, now, as to keep us from getting overly bored, why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself miss applejack? You said you had many friends, but have you a family?” he asked, honestly curious, as he had never really had someone to talk to that didn’t require him to use his magic. That and he had a feeling it would be a long trip without conversation. “yeah, I got granny smith, relation should be obvious, there’s Big Macintosh, my older brother, then there’s my lil’ sis applebloom. There’s members of the apple family all over equestria, but we run the apple farm near ponyville. How bout you? You got a family, or friends?” he felt his heart drop a little at the question. “No, if I ever had a family, I never met them, I was raised by the earth, odd as that might seem, and the closest I’ve ever had to a friend are the animals I once protected, though their companionship required me to use my magic to converse with them.” he said with a heavy heart. “but, I do not let it effect me to much, as I have a job to do, but I admit, the life of a druid can be a lonely one.” she felt bad for asking, as she could tell that this had caused him great pain. “aw shoot, ah’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask something that made ya upset.” she said, hoping to improve his spirits. “ ’tis not something for you to apologize for, you didn’t know, so you asked, There is nothing wrong with being curious.” he said, and he meant it, he found it odd when someone apologized for something when it was not their fault. “so, what exactly is a drewid anyhow?” she asked. “ah, it is pronounced druid, but we are people who swear an oath to the earth itself, to defend it and it’s inhabitants to the best of our ability. In return, we are granted great power, though we must be taught by an older druid. There are not many who believe it worth it, to leave civilization to defend nature. But then again, people are most of the problem.” “whatdya mean?” “well, I’ll put it simply, man kind is destroying our world, hunting animals to extinction, cutting down whole forests, and building cities in their place. Gaia is dying. So we druids do what we can to protect her, for what little it’s worth.” “that’s terrible!!” “yes, but there is not much we can do. In truth, I tired of the druidic ways. But then again, before I woke here, I wasn’t in much fit state to complain about it.” applejack decided not to ask about it. “so, miss applejack, te-” “just applejack works fine, sugercube.” “alright then, applejack, tell me a bit more of this world, you called it equestria? It seems…. Peaceful.” “well it is, for the most part. ah mean there’s an occasional scrap when somepony’s had to much to drink, and monsters comin outta nowhere and attackin us, but other then that, it’s more peaceful then yer world sounds.” “so far it is Now you should rest, it shouldn’t be much longer.” he said. He obviously wouldn’t have to argue with her, as she almost immediately fell asleep. When he reached sweet apple acres, it was still night time, about two in the morning judging from the position of the moon. He laid applejack in front of the door, wrapped in the blanket she was under in his cave, then turned to walk back to his cave.
Only to catch two hooves to the face. He went unconscious immediately, but one last thought went through his mind before he hit the ground. ‘I’m to old for this shit.’