//------------------------------//
// Appearances 
// Story: The Yellow Apple Blossom of New Texas 
// by Stainless Steel Fox 
//------------------------------//

Applejack was taken aback, but she'd never been one to back down from an argument. "I figured I was helping the Judge over there distract these critters while you folks got back here!"

She decided getting into an argument wasn't going to help, and decided to change tactics. Remembering something Rarity had said during a conversation last night about how easily she wrapped most stallions around the tip of her horn, she leaned forward slightly, eyes half lidded.

He was a bit taller than her, but not enough that she had to look up much from under her Stetson to look him in the eyes. Her hands unconsciously went to her hips. "What's the matter, don't think I'm distracting enough?"

"Mmpphh!" Thirty Thirty looked surprised, and a little abashed. "Yes… No… I mean… Looked more like you'd taken on the whole gang by yourself! I thought you were laid up at the Doc's."

"Ah got better." Pleased at what appeared to be a success at defusing the situation, she backed up, moving around to where her lasso lay. Okay, he'd just been worried about her, which was sweet of him, but had less tact than Rainbow Dash, which might get annoying.

Thirty Thirty was still trying to get a handle on what just happened himself. This filly may have stolen his thunder by taking down Tex Hex's gang before he got there, but she was still a lady, and he really should have been more polite. He hadn't been much more than a colt when… he shied mentally away from taking that thought further.

Until Bravestarr had found him, he'd patrolled the Hall of the Equestroids, when he wasn't in suspension. Not the best way to learn etiquette, especially when you never expected to see another of your kind again. And this filly was _plenty_ distracting, which made it no easier.

"I apologise miss." Not something he did often, but it was a start. "The name's Thirty Thirty, and I'm a deputy around here. We heard the Judge was just going to delay them. Didn't even know you'd be here." He held out a hand.

"I'm Applejack." She took it and shook it vigorously. His hand didn't look armoured, but she could feel the steel under the coat. "That was the plan, but things got a little out of hoof. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

She picked up her own lasso, and flicked it to make it coil into her hand, then put it back on her harness. The two humans had rounded up the remaining canid crooks and were putting them up on the flat-bed The two Equestroids came up to help. Applejack pulled out her canteen, and took the opportunity to wash away the taste of dingo. She wiped the mouth and passed it to Thirty Thirty.

He looked at it a bit oddly. "Apple juice. Made it myself."

He took it, and tried a sip. Then a bigger swallow. "Mmpphh! That's mighty good! But when did you have time?"

"It's kinda complicated." She accepted the canteen, and looked down at herself as she put it away. "Despite what it looks like, I ain't from around here."

There was a sudden hope in his eyes, that faded almost immediately. "But the only other place you could have come from is New Equestron, and that don't figure what with you being laid up in that vault since whenever."

"Sorry, I ain't never heard of New Equestron, and this isn't even what I usually look like, despite the fact my clothes still somehow fit. I come from a place called Equestria, and I'm not too sure how I ended up here, or looking like this."

"Are you sure that hat ain't on too tight?" Thirty Thirty asked. "I never heard of a planet called Equestria."

"Well I'd never heard of New Texas until I woke up here in a body that isn't my own. Tain't a planet anyway, just a country, our planet's called... well shoots, I don't rightly remember. It's not something I ever think about."

Further conversation was stalled by the need to get the prisoners bound up. When they were secured, the Marshall turned to her.

"Sorry miss, I should have introduced myself. I'm Marshall Bravestarr. J.B has been telling me just how much you helped out, saved her too. Not many folks would jump in and risk their lives to protect a bunch of people they only just met."

"It ain't no big heap of apples. I ain't the sort to stand by when folks are hurtin'. J.B came to my rescue just as much. I guess you know my name's Applejack." They shook hands.

"Is it true your lasso hurt Tex Hex? According to J.B. just touching it burned him."

"Can't rightly say." Applejack shrugged. ""Surprised me as much as any-pony. I was just looking to pick him up, fling him about a bit. It's just a regular old lasso."

"If it can make Tex Hex cry uncle, it ain't just a regular lasso!" Thirty Thirty exclaimed.

"It did more than that." J.B interjected. "He pulled that 'turn into smoke' stunt and flew off like a run-away strato-coach! Where did you get it and what's it made of?"

"My friends Twilight Sparkle and Rarity are unicorns, and they made it for me as a birthday present."

"Unicorn?" Thirty Thirty took a step back, and his eyes narrowed.

"Yep… What's got your apples in a press? In Equestria there are three breeds of pony, which is what I really am, present appearance to the contrary. You've got unicorns, who've got spiral horns on their head, and can use them to lift stuff and cast magic spells. There are pegasi, who've got wings. They fly and can move clouds around like they were solid.

"Finally you've got Earth-ponies like me. Not that planet Doc said you came from, but earth." She stomped a hoof. "Our magic ain't flashy, but it's just as useful. We're connected to the land, and it gives us strength, toughness and endurance, not to mention a talent for things like farming and working with stone, wood and metal. Doc seemed to know what I was talking about, even if he figured it was a filly tale. So what's your problem with unicorns, deputy?"

Thirty Thirty wouldn't look at her. He grimaced. "Not unicorns, Unicorn. I don't want to talk about it. Just be glad you'll never have to find out."

Applejack gave him a puzzled look but continued. "As for this lasso, mostly it's just sissal and hemp, but they both donated some hairs from their manes to weave into it. Twilight's a scary powerful mage, and Rarity's a fashion designer, and no slouch in the magic department neither.

"The way I understand it, to enchant the rope they couldn't inscribe runes, like you would for a light fitting or flying chariot, so they had use something else. Surprised me though, Rarity's mighty fussy about her mane and tail, but she's also the most generous soul I know, so maybe it ain't so surprising after all."

"Twilight enchanted the rope to be pretty much unbreakable, and Rarity fixed it so it coils neatly and doesn't get dirty. I guess using their own mane and tail hairs means the magic would go on easier or something, but magic ain't my dish of apples. I don't remember them saying anything about makin' bad folks go up in smoke."

"Speaking of my home and friends, I'd sure like to know why I'm here rather than there. I'm hoping this Shaman fellow the Doc told me about can figure out what the hey's going on!" She looked over at Bravestarr. "And I was told you could take me to see him."

"Well, he doesn't usually allow visitors, but I'm sure I can get him to make an exception. First we've go to get these characters back to Fort Kerium." Marshall Bravestarr hiked a thumb at the tied up dingoes on the flat-bed. "It's the least I can do after the way you helped out J.B. I reckon we can talk some more on the way."

"Mind if I change into something more comfortable for the journey?" Applejack took another swig of her canteen, and put it away, then, shifted back into quadrupedal mode. "Havin' those hands is useful, but I prefer to have all four feet on the ground. Ponies in Equestria can't transform like that. I've seen Twilight transform stuff with her magic though."

"I still say this Equestria place sounds like something you'd dream up after you were out in the sun too long." Thirty Thirty sounded incredulous. He shifted down to quadruped for Bravestarr to saddle up. Applejack started to bridle, then realised he wasn't being mean about it, just honest. He must have noticed her reaction because he quickly added, "Not that I'm disputin' ya, it's just kinda out there."

"C'mon, big pard, it's no stranger than some of the things Stampede's thrown at us." Bravestarr replied as he swung himself up onto Thirty Thirty. J.B climbed up on the buckboard of the hoverwagon and started up the fan-wheels, lifting the flatbed full of crooks and swinging it round with an expert touch. Fortunately the heavy duty turbo-mules that towed it hadn't been wrtecked in the fight.

In moments they were heading  back the way the outlaws had come to get out of the canyon, cruising at a gallop along the ravine floor. Thirty Thirty had been silent for some time, but he finally spoke up. "Hmmmph! I guess your right about that, Marshall. Considering some of the crazy stuff that crazy critter has thrown at us, I reckon I shouldn't be surprised by anything."

Applejack glanced sideways at him. "Yeah, if today's anything like normal, you folks seem to have had a whole passel of adventures. Well, if my lasso isn't proof enough, I've got some of my home made apple pies in my saddlebags. Apples, flour, milk, eggs, we've even started growing our own sugar beets, so everything in 'em comes from Sweet Apple Acres. Try one."

She ducked her head back, and pulled out a cloth bundle by the knot, then moved around between the wagon and Thirty Thirty. She motioned with her head for the Marshall to reach in. He picked out two of the muslin wrapped bundles, and passed one forward to Thirty Thirty. The reins the Equestroid wore were a hackamore style, so there was no bit to get in the way, though it pretty much meant he took the apple pie in one mouthful.

He took his time over it. and whinnied his appreciation. "Mmmhhhh! That's some mighty fine eating."

For some reason Applejack felt very pleased. She couldn't get in too close to the hover-wagon due to the front fans, but near enough that she could motion with her head that she was going to toss the bundle to the judge. She threw it sideways and J.B managed to snag it out of the air with a free hand. She put it down on the buckboard and took a pie for herself.

Mouth free, Applejack could reply. "Why thank you kindly! You should try 'em right out of the oven. I don't claim to be the best baker in Equestria, but I'll back mah apple pies against any from the Everfree forest to Appleoosa!"

"You really made this without any hands?" Bravestarr asked.

"Yup… but I used a muzzle glove and mane-net, like any baker would, if that's what you're worried about." Applejack responded. Well Pinkie Pie didn't, but somehow she still made cakes without getting mane-hair in them.

Bravestarr bit into his. "Thirty Thirty's right, I travelled around a lot of planets with the Shaman as I was growing up, and I don't remember a pie this good on any of them."

Dingo Dan called from the back. "Hey, don't we get anything to eat?"

"You'll be getting jail rations soon enough when we get back!" called J.B over her shoulder. She shook her head as she turned back. "I haven't had an apple pie like this since I was doing my law degree back on Earth. You're right, this is as good or better than anything I've tasted. I'd swear those were Terran apples in the filling. But I know there isn't any Terran produce within three sectors of here."

"That's what Doc told me, and I could taste it in that apple juice he gave me when I woke up. That stuff were close, but not a patch on my own pressing. It's in my cutie-mark, when it comes to growing apples and making things from 'em, I'm the best there is… well one of 'em, some of my kith and kin can match me in their own ways, but they tend to specialise."

She shook her head. "The point being, Doc can confirm those pies were with me before I woke up, and they're made from apples that you don't have here anyway. So how did I come by them if I'd really been in that vault all the time? I hope to find out what's really going on, and to get home."

"Mmmm…" J.B wiped her mouth with the cloth had wrapped her pie. "We'll do what we can to help, though I'll be sorry to see you go. You must miss your family and friends."

"I sure as sugar do! Not that I didn't enjoy helping you folks out, but I've got responsibilities. My brother Big Macintosh may be one of the strongest Earth ponies in Ponyville, but even he can't handle the farm by himself. And if they ever need the Elements of Harmony again… I have to get back. "

"Elements of Harmony? What're they?" Thirty Thirty asked.

"I am, at least one of them. The Element of Honesty, to be precise. Twilight could explain it all better, but they're some kind of magical super-rainbow type whammy." Her voice took on a reciting tone. " When brought together by the spark of friendship, they form the most powerful magic in Equestria, even more powerful than the Princesses."

She ducked her head slightly, indicating her necklace. "Each of my friends embodies one of the Elements. Honesty, that's me, Loyalty is a pegasus named Rainbow Dash, Kindness is Fluttershy, another pegasus, Laughter is Pinkie Pie, an Earth pony, and Generosity is Rarity. Of course, Twilight Sparkle is the Element of Magic, and brings the rest of us together."

She sighed. "Goldarn it, I miss 'em all, and it hasn't even been a day!"

J.B responded. "Don't worry, if anyone can fix this, it's the Shaman. Sounds like you're much more than an apple farmer. But I'm still wondering how you got to be so good with a lasso?"

"Practice." Applejack said, grinning. "I know, you're thinking apples don't need rounding up. I buck the tree with my hind legs and knock the apples down, but it's a lot easier to reach a left over apple on the top of the tree with a lasso than go fetch a ladder. Plus we got animals on the farm, so I need to be able to herd 'em."

Thirty Thirty looked confused. "Whoa there, you said ponies couldn't go biped. How'd you handle a lasso without any hands?"

"Very well, if ah do say so myself."

"Huh, I'd like to see that for myself." the grey Equestroid stated. "I don't figure anyone could control a lasso without hands."

"She used her mouth to hold the lasso when she was rescuing me." J.B said.

"Better than shootin' it off, like some folks." Applejack exclaimed. She suddenly felt a need to prove herself to this stallion. "I reckon some-pony here thinks I'm all hat and no cattle. J.B, would you kindly get another apple pie out of my bundle, and when I give you the nod, toss it out about five pony-lengths in front of me."

"Pony-lengths?" J.B asked. "What's that in metres?"

"Dunno, but I figure you're about a third taller than a pony-length." Applejack replied, moving up just ahead of the flying wagon and the galloping Equestroid stallion. They were out of the canyon now, and had circled around to head across the flat plains towards Fort Kerium.

J.B looked surprised. "My, little ponies!"

"The way I figure, we're regular size, it's you folks who are too big." Applejack grinned. "You just get ready with that pie."

She ducked her head as she gave a little jump, drawing her lasso. The ground ahead looked like hard packed earth, flat as a pavement, and perfect for a little demonstration. She flung it out, getting it spinning and ran along, pulling a few stunts of the sort she'd done when Trixie had challenged her, but with a few new wrinkles she'd practiced.

She widened the loop until it was wider than her, and dropped it down and up, then shortened it, bringing it forward and vertical before jumping through it like a hoop. She didn't try the reverse, or taking it with her tail, just brought it back up in a high horizontal loop overhead, all at a gallop. She gave a nod, and J.B threw out the pie.

Her lasso flicked out ahead of her, the loop shortening and neatly snagging the falling pastry. Even as she caught it, she tossed her head, sending a sine wave shape along the rope, which flicked the pie back up into the air. Snapping the lasso back, it coiled in her mouth, and she dropped it onto her harness. The ballistic pie dropped down in front of her, and she gave a small jump to snatch the confection out of the air with her mouth.

She savoured the sweet flaky pastry, the juicy apple filling as she chewed it, pleased that the manoeuvre had worked. Finally swallowing it, she looked back over her shoulder and called out, "So how do you like them apples?"

"I done seen it, and I still don't believe it!" Thirty Thirty responded, wide eyed and open mouthed. This filly really was something else. She didn't back down from a challenge either, and he realised he liked that. "You really are pretty handy with that there rope, even if you ain't using your hands!"

Applejack gave a little grin and a pleased toss of her mane. The big galoot was kind of hunky for a hunk of hardware, and it wasn't as if she often got a chance to show off her talents or many appreciative comments back home, at least from the stallions in Ponyville.

They were coming up on Fort Kerium, and the central part of town was a single metal walled fortress, bristling with big guns, and bravely flying a flag. Bravestarr was speaking into something that had folded down from his hat, and the town started to unfold, slots opening in the walls, and whole houses sliding out on rails. By the time they reached the gates, it was as she'd left it.

"Home sweet home!" Judge McBride said as they rode under the gate. "And thanks to you, it's going to stay that way. Looks like the Kerium freighter loaded up and left."

"Which means there isn't enough Kerium left in town to make it worth Tex bothering us again, if he's even finished explaining to Stampede why he failed." Bravestarr was shading his eyes and looking up at the suns. "I figure we can drop these crooks off, and still make it to Star Peak and back before nightfall."

Thirty Thirty shook his head. "Maybe we should wait for morning? If we don't get back before nightfall... Some of the things that come out at night ain't fun at all. Sand eels are the least of it!"

"Don't worry. We've got plenty of time, big pard. If worse comes to worse, we can stay over at Star Peak. Shaman can put us up for the night."

"I ain't worried, just careful." The male Equestroid looked over at Applejack. If Shaman could send her back to where she came from... well, he'd like to talk to one of his own kind a bit more, even if she claimed she wasn't. She was certainly the closest thing he'd met since he was a foal.

"That's sweet of you Sugar-cube. But I can take care of myself." Applejack felt that the big horse wasn't telling the whole truth, but she didn't press him on it. For that matter a part of her had enjoyed her little adventure, and wouldn't minded staying longer, but she had the farm and her family to take care of. "I can be ready to head out again in two shakes of a pony tail."

"If you all can get those varmints in the lock-up, I gotta stop by the Doc's place." she added. "I weren't too polite when I woke up, and I figure he deserves my last apple pie and an apology."

&&&

Applejack had been impressed by Star Peak, a massive vertical pillar of rock with a top that bore a resemblance to a buffalo totem pole. She was even more impressed by the Shaman, an old leather skinned human with a long white mane. He projected the same mystic vibe she got from Zecora, combined with the sort of serenity and power she felt in the presence of Princess Celestia.

They were in a chamber at the top of the pillar, which looked out over the New Texas plains. She lay on her belly in front of the mystic fire, bronze legs folded up under her. Shaman sat on the far side, and J.B, Bravestarr, and a bipedal Thirty Thirty stood further back behind her.

"Hmmm..." the old man made some passes over the fire, and sweet smelling smoke swirled out and around her. "Truly, while your body is of this world, your spirit is not. Powerful magic, powerful magic indeed. I have never seen its like, not in all my travels around the galaxy."

"You mean someone in Equestria sent me here?" asked Applejack.

"I can not say, but it could well be so."

"But apart from the Princesses, the only one I know of with that much power is Twilight, and while that gal's crazy for new knowledge and trying out spells, I can't believe she'd pull a stunt like this without asking." Applejack shook her head. "And the sixty four thousand bit question, can you send me back?"

Shaman added some powders to the fire and it flared up in odd colours."I see a bond that stretches out beyond this dimension. You are still linked to your original body. But as to sending you along that link, I can not."

Applejack slumped down, head practically resting on the stone floor. Her voice was almost cracking. "So I'm... stuck here?"

"By no means." was the surprising reply. "If I read the patterns of energy aright, you will travel back to your own body without help when this body falls asleep."

"WHAT?" Applejack sprung up. "So I'll go back... but what happens to this body? Will it go 'poof' or something, like one of Twilight's summonings?"

"It seems to be stable, while it may have been magically created, it is as real as anything here. It may well be that your spirit will travel back and forth between bodies, alternating as each one wakes."

"Whoa there nelly!" Applejack looked worried. "I tried the no rest thing last apple bucking season, and went just about out of my mind from fatigue! How long is this going to go on?"

The Shaman shook his head. "Each body will receive the rest it needs. Your spirit needs no sleep, so it should not suffer. It is the body and mind that rests, not the soul."

The techno-mare looked back over her shoulder at the trio who'd accompanied her there. "Well, it looks like you're stuck with me, part time at least. I guess I'm going to have to find something to do. Maybe I can germinate some seedlings from these apples I have in my saddlebags..."

Bravestarr stepped forward. "That sounds like a fine idea, though you might have trouble growing them here. But in the mean time... I talked it over with J.B, and we both agree you deserved it whether you stayed or not."

He pulled out a shining six pointed star of the same pattern as the one over his office. "For your work today, I'd like to make you a deputy for New Texas,same as Thirty Thirty and Fuzz. The pay isn't great, but it'll keep you going while you fix up your apple trees."

"I couldn't... I mean, I didn't help out for a reward, I did it because like helping folk." Applejack blushed.

"Which is why you're perfect for the job." J.B replied.

Thirty Thirty had perked up at the mention that she'd be staying, though to his credit, he'd done his best to keep it under wraps until it was clear she'd be able to go home too. "C'mon Applejack! If you need any pointers, I reckon I can show you the ropes!"

That made the mare grin. "Ropes I can handle, it's figuring out this crazy place I'm worried about! But I guess you can help me with that too, and I'm mighty glad of the offer. Sure, I accept!"