Applejack Gets Lost

by MagicS

The Labyrinth II

“Welcome back!”

“Welcome back, Applejack!”

“Hiya, how’s your morning going?”

Applejack grumbled incoherently, ignoring the ponies greeting her and walking to a table outside the cafe. Her eyes had deep bags under them that she futilely tried to rub away with her hooves before putting her head down on the table and resting.

“Guess she didn’t sleep well.” Shiny Porcelain whispered to Lozenge, who nodded in agreement.

The door to the cafe was kicked open as Flour Press came out, holding a big tray of pastries on her back. “I’ve got tarts!”

The other four maze ponies crowded around her, taking a tart or two from the tray and chowing down on them. It seemed to be their morning routine. Flour Press brought the tray over to Applejack, trying to get her up with the smell.

“Oh Applejack, I know you must be upset but don’t these strawberry tarts just smell delicious?~”

Immediately Applejack’s head shot up, eyes bloodshot and pupils mere pinpricks, causing Flour Press and the others to jump back in surprise.

“Strawberry? Strawberry?” Applejack repeated.

“Umm, are you allergic?” Lozenge asked nervously.

Applejack grabbed her face with her hooves and pulled on her cheeks. “I can’t, I can’t deal with this anymore. This is too much, give me monsters or evil ponies to fight. Anything’s better than this, is the world just playing some sort of joke on me right now?” Applejack continued to mumble to herself while the others watched on.

“Maybe she’d prefer a cherry pie?” Flour wondered.

“I could knit her a scarf to go with her hat.” Thread Count suggested.

“Perhaps we should’ve held a party last night?” Effervescence asked her friends. “I did say a while ago that for the next pony who comes in we should have a party, really make them feel welcome and all?” Again she tossed her mane back in a display of faux-regality.

“Oh yeah, I kind of remember you saying that. Applejack left pretty quick though and I don’t think she would’ve really stayed for a party either.” Shiny Porcelain replied.

“Please, of course she would’ve stayed, it would’ve been rude had she not. Every pony must obey the doctrine of hospitality.”

“But wouldn’t that just make her feel obligated to come to the party so she wouldn’t hurt our feelings or be rude? If that’s the case then I’d rather we didn’t force a party on her. What’s the point of throwing a pony a party that they don’t really want?” Thread Count said to Effervescence.

“Oh please!” She replied indignantly. “What’s the point? The point is that a party is a standard social function. It is an event you have to celebrate things, the point of a party is the party itself! There is never not a reason to throw a perfectly good party.”

“Could y'all!-” Applejack suddenly shouted but stopped and quieted down as all eyes turned to her. “Uh, just quiet down a bit? I’m a little bit on edge.”

The five ponies shuffled about anxiously. They didn’t want to upset their new guest but not talking was obviously a foreign concept to them. Flour Press mouthed that they should play charades together until Applejack was feeling better. But Lozenge vehemently shook his head against that idea, remembering the last time they had played charades and the foul mood it had left them all in. Effervescence decided that if she couldn’t let the others know how fabulous and regal she was by telling them then she’d do it by showing them and began to strike a number of poses. No one was really watching her though. Shiny Porcelain just cleaned down the tray Flour had been using with a rag while Thread Count rubbed his chin absentmindedly.

As Applejack watched this scene unfold her desire to leave increased greatly. But too tired to do anything right now she just groaned and slammed her head on the table.

---

“And that is how I became the number one mare of the town!” Effervescence finished telling her life story to Applejack, who had not asked to be told her life story. It had only taken a few hours and one break for tea.

Applejack wondered how much of what she was just told was actually true. She had claimed to have gotten the love and admiration of everypony in town for creating a new brand of perfume but Applejack had the sneaking suspicion that her cutie mark was for the selling and application of perfume and not for inventing new types. Effervescence just didn’t come off as the type of mare who could actually do something like that.

“Uh huh, that was a great story.” She blandly replied to the ecstatic red mare.

Thread Count came up to her, playfully poking her in the side with his elbow. “Don’t let her get to you none, we’ve all heard that story at least ten times now.” He winked at her and invited her to come sit down inside the cafe instead of just lazing around outside.

“Really now! Must you all be so rude and dismissive of me? I was, and still am of course, a lady that should be praised and adored!”

Applejack and Thread Count didn’t bother responding as they both went inside for a seat.

“So I guess you’re pretty bothered with not being able to find a way out.” Thread count said as they sat in a booth.

“Ya think?”

“Hehe, sorry. But really it’s pretty nice in here.”

Applejack just raised an eyebrow at him. “Honestly I think there might be something in the water for y’all to just accept being stuck in a giant magic hedge maze so easily.”

Thread Count shrugged. “Friends, food, fun, what’s not to like?” He stopped for a second, scratching his head. “Admittedly, I kind of miss my family but I’m sure they’re doing fine without me. Hey, if you ever do get out of here and come across a town called Apricot Rails would you say hi to them for me?”

Applejack put her hoof to her face and slowly dragged it down, pulling at her eyelids in annoyance. “Fine.”

“That’s the spirit! Now come on, Lozenge has a deck of cards, I’ll gather everypony together and we can play some Poker! You just sit here and relax, have some food. There should be plenty of fruits and vegetables and left over cookies in the kitchen.” Thread Count got up and left the cafe, leaving Applejack to sit there and sulk.

Twilight or Starlight could find a way out of here. Hm, Starlight might just try to set the whole place on fire actually...

Thread Count shortly came back in with the others, Applejack got up from her booth and the six of them sat at a bigger round table in the center of the cafe. She didn’t want to be here but the other ponies were just being so positive and friendly that she figured she should humor them at least a bit. And Flour offered her free food, even if Applejack didn’t eat any of the, ugh, strawberry tarts it was still a nice gesture.

The game of Poker went on for a while, all of them were terrible, Applejack couldn’t bluff to save her life. The five maze ponies always going off on some tangent or relating to her their life story. Apparently Lozenge just fell down a hill and rolled right into the maze. Shiny Porcelain went for a walk in the countryside one day and thought exploring a hedge maze would be cool. Flour Press just woke up here one morning, she thinks her sisters were playing a prank on her. Effervescence claimed that she intentionally came in to conquer the maze but got bored and gave up. And Thread Count said he wandered in on accident on the way back home from a visit to his cousin.

None of them had a problem with any of this.

“Okay, I take back what I said earlier. I think you were all a bit weird even before ya got stuck in here.” Applejack said, frowning at the absurdity of them and this whole situation.

Shiny Porcelain chewed on her hoof a bit. “Hm, maybe. My dad usually had to give me a map whenever he sent me on an errand in town. I got lost in our neighbors backyard once too, don’t know how that happened.”

“My sisters probably got tired of me hogging the oven.” Flour Press whined, stretching out on the table. “But I’m a baker! And it wasn’t my fault that the house caught on fire that one time.”

“When I went skiing once I fell into a lake. I think we’re just unlucky ponies.” Lozenge shrugged.

Applejack put her cards down, tired of Poker even with the straight she had just gotten. She sighed and rubbed her temples. “I’ve had my fair share of bad luck in recent days too, but I’m not stopping here. This place is nice, I’ll give it that, and you’re all nice too but I’ve got a family and friends and my home to get back to.” She kicked back her chair and stood up. “Is there anything you can think of that might help me find my way out of here?”

The five ponies seemed to think for a bit, sharing glances and remembering anecdotes from the time they still attempted to leave the maze.

Finally Thread Count just shrugged with a sorry frown on his face. “Sorry, but this place is magic. We don’t understand it at all.”

“Ughhh.” Applejack groaned loudly. “I’m coming real close to just setting this place on fire.”

“Oh no no, believe us, you really don’t want to do that. Learned that the hard way.” Thread Count told her while the others nodded along.

Applejack wasn’t done yet. “Well what about a rope? If we could get a long enough rope and maybe tie it down here, I could take it with me to make sure I don’t start going in circles or anything?”

“I don’t know if we have a rope like that, and I think it would break whenever a new hedge pops up around it.” Flour Press said.

“Right, right.” Applejack chewed on her lip as she tried to think of a way out. The small circle of sky she could see above her was still blue, if only they had a pegasus or unicorn with them. She wished there was some straightforward answer to find. “Look, I’m sorry if I’m being a bother to ya, I know this isn’t something you really care about but if you would help me I’d really appreciate it.” She pleaded to the other five.

The five of them just smiled back at her, as pleasant and polite as always.

“Of course.” Thread Count replied. “What do you want us to do?”

Comments

[Plough and Stars Pony]

Or Applejack could wait for a new hedge to pop up, leap on it, and it should carry her to the top of the maze.

[RoboRed]

What about using her new skills to see ahead through the maze or something?