Timeless

Applejack had found herself becoming altogether far too used to being dragged in to insane situations by now. Whether it was fighting off Nightmare Moon or a Changeling invasion, or just having to deal with the daily madness that occurred when she was with her friends, her life was never really normal.

This was why, upon waking up at dawn, Applejack found herself praying to Celestia that she would be able to get through one day without nearly dying. Grabbing her stetson, she walked out of her room, and headed slowly down the stairs. Smiling, she greeted the old pony resting in her rocking chair.

"Mornin' Granny Smith! Anythin' interestin' fer brea...kfast?" Applejack cut herself off mid sentence, as Granny Smith was mysteriously absent, as was the breakfast.

Well, ain't that odd. Granny Smith's always there this time of the mornin'... and it seems like she ain't even made any breakfast! Maybe she jus' slept in. Yeah, that'll be it.

Applejack shrugged it off, and decided not to disturb the old pony. Breakfast could wait. What couldn't wait, however, were the apple trees. She could fight through the hunger until Granny Smith woke up, right?

...Right?

Her stomach rumbled to show it's displeasure at her decision. It seemed that she couldn't fight through the hunger. Sighing, Applejack walked in to the kitchen. She wasn't an expert on cooking Granny Smith's recipes, but she could probably produce a passable breakfast. Standing on her hind hooves, she pulled open the door to the cabinet. As she expected, it was filled with apples, precariously piled on top of one another. Wincing, she slowly inched one out from the bottom, waiting for the entire pile to come crashing down on her head. With a last pull, she wrenched the apple out, and ran to hide in the corner to escape the onslaught of fruit.

But there was nothing.

No loud 'crash', no flood of red and green, no falling apples. There was absolutely nothing. Glancing out from behind her hoof, Applejack looked back in to the cabinet, and saw the apples in the same position. One was at a standstill midair.

That was weird. Applejack had worked on an apple farm for much of her life, and as far as she recalled, apples didn't fly. Not even zap apples.

Mumbling curses under her breath that would have made a sailor proud, she grabbed the apple, ate it, and walked out of the house, preparing for the inevitable adventure that would ruin her otherwise normal day.

Maybe tomorrow would be more normal. Applejack doubted it.

Rainbow Dash had reacted rather differently to Applejack. She had woken up in the morning to find Tank floating in the air, without any aid. He was still, unmoving. Rainbow gently poked him with a hoof, but nothing happened.

"Huh. That's not normal," Rainbow shrugged. She assumed that Tank had probably just found a way to fly. It wouldn't have been abnormal for her, considering recent events. Preparing to fly out of the window, she wondered why she even had a door. It never got used.

Her wings extended to their full capacity, and with a small run-up and a few gentle flaps, she was off. Her destination was Sweet Apple Acres, where she was pretty sure she could get a quick breakfast, ensuring that she would have the maximum amount of flight time.

Glancing up at the sun, Rainbow deduced that it was early morning. It was far earlier than it normally was when she woke up. Today was just getting weirder and weirder. Perhaps she was still dreaming. That would explain a lot here.

As she neared Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow heard somepony shouting loudly and - going by the rather colourful language being used - rather angrily. Diving in closer, she discovered that Applejack was the source of the commotion, and swooped in to greet her.

"Incoming!" Rainbow shouted down to Applejack, who paused her rant to look up, and promptly run out of the way. Rainbow crashed unceremoniously in to the ground; rolling a short distance and colliding with an apple tree. She groaned, waiting for the inevitable rain of apples to come crashing down on to her.

Of course, this didn't happen. Rainbow Dash coughed, as if attempting to bring the apples down through sheer willpower alone. But still, there was nothing. She opened her eyes tentatively, and saw Applejack standing a short distance away from her, smirking.

"Ya ain't gonna get attacked by mah apple trees today Rainbow," she put a hoof out towards Rainbow, who accepted it and was pulled up on to her hooves.

"Huh. That's odd. The apples gone from your trees or something?" Rainbow looked up, and saw that that particular apple tree was as full of apples as ever. Clearly there were greater forces at work here. She searched her mind for something that could be preventing the apples from falling, and could only think of one thing..

"AJ! Your apples have been replaced by changelings! Quick, help me get 'em down!" Rainbow lowered herself, preparing to take off and destroy the malicious apples. No foe was too great for Rainbow Dash, and she could be sure that no fruity changeling would defeat her.

Her resolve came crashing down as hard as she did when she crashed in to the apple tree for a second time, and found herself in another meeting with the floor.

"Drat! I have been defeated..." - she raised a hoof in to the air, and coughed loudly - "... Go on without me AJ! This enemy is clearly too powerful for me!" Rainbow Dash's eyes fluttered slowly, before closing. She let out a small groan of pain, twitched slightly, and was still.

Applejack stood over Rainbow Dash's 'body', her eyebrows raised. Sometimes she attempted to reproduce Rainbow's thought patterns, but this generally ended in confusion and a slight headache.

"Git up Rainbow! There ain't no changelin's, there ain't no enemies here, and there sure as hay ain't no villainous apples!" She pulled Rainbow in to a standing position, and lightly punched her on the shoulder.

"Honestly, sometimes ya can be so silly Rainbow," Applejack rolled her eyes, and walked off in the direction of the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. She heard a soft groan behind her, followed by the flapping of wings.

"But...but... the apples!" - Rainbow leaned in close to Applejack, whispering in fear - "They didn't move! Explain that to me AJ! Explain it!" She grabbed Applejack by the shoulders, and shook her violently.

"Ah will, if y'all would give me a chance to!" Pushing Rainbow off of her, she stepped back, and cleared her throat.

"Now, ah ain't sure here, so take this with a grain o' salt. Basically... time's stopped. Ah can't put it more bluntly'n that. Ah know it sounds silly, but it's the only thing ah can come up with right now." She frowned, expecting Rainbow's inevitable laugh, and accusations of insanity.

Which is why she wasn't surprised when Rainbow shrugged and nodded. After all, today had defied many of her expectations.

"Yeah, I can believe that. Makes more sense than changeling apples now that I think about it... hehe," she ran a hoof through her mane, giggling slightly.

"So, we gonna kick some evil time-stopping flank or what?" Rainbow flew in front of Applejack, attempting to strike a pose while flying. It didn't work, and Applejack was left wondering if Rainbow was constipated or something.

"Well, first we gotta figure out who caused this darn mess in the first place," Applejack said, while thinking to herself. Anypony - or anything - who could do this would have to be pretty strong. They'd have to have ridiculous powers to be able to manipulate time itself, and they'd have to be evil. Nothing really came to mind when Applejack thought about it.

"Hey AJ, you think Discord could have done it? I mean, I know he's reformed and all, but you never know with him..." Rainbow stopped flying, and started walking alongside Applejack. Discord may have seemed reformed, but perhaps he had decided to get revenge. She was about to speak in agreement with Rainbow's point, when she was interrupted by a voice from up in a nearby tree.

"Why, I'm hurt at the accusation! I would never do such a thing!"

Oh, horseapples.