“An Unexpected Awakening”
Applejack
September 4th, 15 ALR (After Luna’s Return)

“Hey Applejack, pass the cider already! I’m dry as a board over here!” Rainbow Dash cried, throwing her hooves up in the air in frustration. It had been a good night for Applejack and her friends as they sat around the campfire, basking in the pleasant warmth that emanated from the firepit. It was always nice to spend her downtime with friends, and no group of friends were tighter than Applejack’s.

“Give me a break Rainbow, you’ve already drank like four mugs!” Applejack retorted, taking a sip from her own mug of cider. Rainbow, clearly annoyed, opened her mouth to say something in her defense when Rarity raised her hoof. “Rainbow dear, Applejack’s right. At the rate you’re drinking the cider, we won’t have any left for the rest of us. Let us have our fill, then you’ll get more.” she exclaimed, eliciting nods from the rest of the group. Rainbow groaned, dropping her mug to the ground before crossing her forelegs across her chest. “Fine.” she replied sharply, knowing full well that she wouldn’t win this battle.

The group was silent for a while, enjoying their cider when Twilight coughed, drawing the attention of everypony to her. “So girls...I have a question. Do you believe that there’s life out there in the universe? You know….aliens?” she asked quietly, holding her mug close to her. The first one to answer was Pinkie Pie, who jumped up from her seat, a smile on her face. “Of course there is Twilight! I mean with how big the universe is, there’s gotta be something out there! Maybe there’s space slugs that take pretty princesses to evil lairs, or maybe there’s cute little bears that live in treehouses! Maybe...maybe there’s a species of apes that walk on two legs and ride aro-” Pinkie began before being cut off by Applejack’s hoof stuffing her mouth. “There might be Twilight, but it’d be incredibly hard to find it. Like Pinkie said, there’s a lot of universe out there...too much for anypony to explore.” she exclaimed, pulling her hoof back to herself. Twilight sat there for a moment, then nodded slowly, leaning back a bit on the log she was sitting on. “You have a point Applejack...but what about the rest of you? What do you think?”

There were a few nods from the rest of the girls, but the group was strangely silent, as if they were all thinking deeply about what Twilight just asked. Twilight mentally recorded all of their responses, taking a few moments to formulate herself. “Alright...thanks girls. The reason I asked was because I spent all of today in the library, reading about the history of Astronomy and couldn’t help but wonder about if there truly was other lifeforms in the universe, or if we were alone here.” she explained finally.

The mares were quiet for a moment before Fluttershy coughed softly. “It’s understandable Twilight. Speaking of which...AJ, you need to wake up. Something’s been found in the West Orchard and we need your help.” she exclaimed. Applejack looked in confusion at Fluttershy, wondering what the hay what she was talking about, nothing full well that she was awake...only for everything to vanish as she felt herself being forcefully yanked from her dream, awakening with a start.

Instead of the woods, Applejack found herself in her bed, with Big Mac standing next to her, a concerned look on his face. It had all been a dream...there was no campfire, no happy circle of friends….just a twisted reality that Applejack dreaded waking up into.

Groaning, she sat up in her bed and turned her head to face Big Mac. “Wha….what’s going on Big Mac? Is it 8:00 already?” she asked groggily. Big Mac was quick to shake his head, taking a step back to let Applejack get off the bed. “Nope...the morning shift found some unconscious….thing in the west orchard, and we’re not sure what to do with it.” he said curtly. Applejack took a moment to compose herself and process the information Big Mac had told her, then jumped out of her bed. “Alright...Ah’ll take a look. Take me there.” she replied, taking a moment to stretch out her limbs. Big Mac nodded, quickly walking out the door with Applejack in tow.

The crowd murmured to themselves as they all watched Applejack inspect the strange unconscious creature that was taken from the West Orchard, unsure of what to think of the thing. The thing looked almost like a Minotaur without the aspects of a bull with thin, lanky limbs and dressed in some sort of gray uniform. It’s pale skin was bare under the uniform with no fur to be seen except for a short layer of brown on it’s head seen, barely visible from underneath the cold steel helmet it wore.

Applejack couldn’t help but be amazed at this strange creature lying in front of her, lying there almost like it was in a peaceful sleep. Whatever it was clearly had seen its fair share of rough encounters as there were a few scars visible on it’s arms and face. It had also been found with a long, slender device made from both wood and steel which Applejack was now inspecting.

The device, while clearly designed with care, looked like it had taken quite a beating. The wooden parts were covered with random splatters of mud and dirt, while the steel portions had plenty of scratches all over, random in their size and placing. Whatever this thing was used for….it was clearly used a lot.

After spending a few more minutes inspecting the thing, Applejack stepped back and turned to look at the crowd. Everypony fell silent as they waited for Applejack to say something, knowing full well that this creature’s fate hung on whatever Applejack instructed. “Ah don’t know what the hay this thing is, but Ah can say one thing: it stays here. Ah’ve never seen anything like it, and I want to know more about it before we do anything about it. Any objections?” she announced.

At first, there was no response before Big Mac pointed to it. “Uh AJ…. it’s waking up.”

Sure enough, the creature was stirring, letting out a groan as it opened it’s eyes. It sat there for a few moments, doing absolutely nothing before sitting up and looking around, a confused look on it’s face. It didn’t take long for the creature’s eyes to find the crowd of ponies staring at it, and it froze for a second, then scrambled to it’s feet, towering above the crowd.

Time itself seemed to stand still as everything held its breath, waiting for a reaction as the stare-off drew on. Finally, to everypony’s surprise, the creature spoke.

“Please tell me that I’m dreaming.”

Author's Note

I made an obvious reference in this chapter....if you can find it, you get brownie points!