Prologue: Portal in the Apple Orchard
It was a sunny day in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were preparing for their picnic at Sweet Apple Acres. They had been planning their picnic for ages now, and Twilight was quite relieved that her friends finally got to spend some time with each other. The past few months had been filled with many adventures, from redeeming the changelings, to defeating the Storm King, to even opening up their own school! It would be nice to have some fun and just relax for a change. Unfortunately, that picnic would have to wait for another day.
Within the darkest reaches of Limbo, a powerful and ancient evil was growing in strength. This creature would cause a new danger that would be a threat to all of Equestria and beyond...
"Well it took a few weeks, but we finally have the time to just relax," Twilight said to her friends.
"You can say that again!" replied Rainbow Dash "I mean, adventures are cool and all, but its getting a bit excessive nowadays."
The other five ponies nodded in agreement.
"Does anypony know where Pinkie Pie is?" asked Starlight Glimmer, "She should have been here with the food by now."
As if on cue, Pinkie Pie appeared inches behind Starlight, with what appeared to be a giant picnic basket.
"Hi, Starlight!" exclaimed the joyous pink mare.
"Aah!" screamed Starlight, jumping in the air due to shock, "Oh, its just you, Pinkie. Try to warn me next time you do that."
"Sorry, Starlight, didn't mean to startle you," said Pinkie, "Sorry it took so long everypony, I had to make some last minute changes to the ingredients. Anyways, who wants dessert!"
Pinkie rolled out a red cloth that was in the basket, and with it came an abundance of baked goods. Everything from baked cookies, to apple pies lined the red tablecloth. The ponies decided to eat the rainbow colored cupcakes that were prepared on a small plate near the middle of the rug.
"I hope you like them!" stated Pinkie, "I tried using a new recipe I came up with!"
"They are quite delectable!" replied Rarity, who was in the middle of the third one, while also being careful to not ruin her dress, "What did you use to make these?"
"I used a drop of rainbow that I got from the weather factory!" said Pinkie, "They may be spicy, but they can taste great when combined with a teaspoon of vanilla!"
"Huh, who knew?" replied a slightly surprised Starlight.
They went on to talk about their day, how their lives were, and just having fun, when suddenly a loud noise was heard.
BOOM
A shock-wave passed over the ponies, knocking over a couple of the apple trees that were nearby.
"What the hayseed was that?!" exclaimed Applejack
"I don't know, but it sounded like it came from the west field," replied Fluttershy.
"We should probably go check it out," replied Starlight.
The ponies wandered through the west field until they got to the Apple-Pear tree that Applejack's late parents had planted on their wedding day. About twenty feet above the beautiful memorial, however, was something unnatural.
Above the tree was what one could only describe as a 'hole' in the sky. This 'hole' was dark purple, with light blue and dark green flames around the circumference. But there was something off about this vortex — it was growing.
The seven ponies watched in mild dread as the hole grew to the width of the tree in mere seconds. Suddenly, two figures fell out of the portal.
"I've got them!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
In a display of remarkable speed, Rainbow Dash soared towards the two creatures and caught them mere moments before they hit the earth. She put the two unconscious creatures down under the tree, and looked up to where the portal was, about to fly up to see what was in it, when without warning the vortex sealed shut with a loud POP.
"What in Equestria..." Starlight muttered, quite shocked at the scene before her.
The main seven looked at the two figures. Now that they weren't falling, they could see that the creatures were earth ponies, one male and one female. The male looked to be about the size and shape of a stallion like Big Macintosh, and had a pale yellow coat, and a bright red mane, with a hat and hairstyle that was reminiscent of Applejack's own hair and hat. The female, who looked about as big as Fluttershy, had a pale gamboge coat, and a frizzy, orange mane with small turquoise bands within the hair. Applejack was more shocked than the rest of her friends however, seeing as she was the first to spot the two mystery ponies' cutie marks. The male's cutie mark was half of a green apple with a bright yellow star in the middle, while the female had what appeared to be a preserved jar of either apple butter or pear butter.
Applejack had a sense of uneasiness looming over her. Her jaw dropped ever so slightly, and her pupils shrank to half their size. These mysterious ponies looked just like her parents did back when she was a filly, albeit, they looked quite a bit younger.
"I-It can't be..." Applejack thought.
"Are you alright AJ?" asked Rainbow Dash. "You've been staring at these ponies for like five minutes. It's kinda freaky."
"Wha- Oh, Ah'm okay Rainbow," replied Applejack. "It's just that, well, these ponies kinda look like mah parents, except they're a bit younger lookin'."
"But darling, didn't your parents pass away back when Applebloom was a foal?" asked Rarity.
"Yeah, they did," replied Applejack. "But just look at 'em, they have the same hair-color, coat-color, heck they even have the same cutie marks!"
"Maybe they are changelings?" asked Starlight.
"Possibly, but why would a couple of changelings change into ponies who have been dead for years? And what about that weird portal?" replied Twilight.
"Um... Girls, they're waking up," stated Fluttershy
The two ponies were indeed waking up from their unconsciousness.
"Ugh, what happened?" the male murmured, his eyes blinking twice as if he was recently blinded by a flashy light.
The male raised his hooves to his head, rubbing his forehead as if he had a severe migraine. Almost immediately, his eyes widened and he became more frantic, only to calm down once he saw the female next to him, who was also just waking up.
"Uhm, excuse me?" asked Applejack, "If ya don't mind me asking, who are you two?"
"Oh! Hello there, I don't think I've seen you seven before," replied the female, "My name is Pear Butter, and this is Bright Mac, what's your name?"
Pear Butter didn't get a response. Applejack had fainted on the spot.
Author's Note
Hey everypony! Thanks for reading the story! I don't know when I will update this story, so it might take a while between updates. In the mean time, please express what you liked and didn't like about the story. Criticism is always appreciated! Once again, thanks for reading, and have a great day!
-Eventide Aurora