She had never really doubted that something would go wrong. It had been three months since Applejack had sat in the warm, lively centre of Ponyville, listening to Rainbow Dash’s exuberant description of some recently formulated aerial somersault (involving a Cumulonimbus cloud, three buckets of paint and a flowerpot). Such a new trick, she had said, would be the one that would put her in the history books. There was no room for failure.
Trotting along a path leading westwards out of the town, the athletic but vastly more down to earth apple farmer was not shocked to find herself en route to the newly constructed hospital specialising in pegasus flight injuries and other mild afflictions. It was to be found beyond the White Tail Woods near the estuary of the river. The staff had been delighted to accept into treatment the disappointed Rainbow Dash with her plethora of broken wing bones. Applejack had agreed to go and pick her friend up after she had gotten better, mostly due to the fact that the sky-blue daredevil and flyer extraordinaire had spent the duration of the train journey there unconscious and, as such, apparently had no idea where she was in relation to her hometown.
Having given herself three days for the journey, Applejack had gotten in contact with a few family members living along the railway line running along the edge of the White Tail Woods. Unfortunately, the train service here was cancelled due to a recent storm which had brought down dozens of the native oaks onto the rails. Thankfully, these relatives would provide her with a bed for the night, assuming she worked everything out correctly and got to each of them before it was too dark.
Already, Ponyville had disappeared from sight and the daylight had faded slightly into a gentler hue, more at one with the deepening blue that greeted the horizon. It was around this time of the evening that Applejack would occasionally glance upwards to check if the first stars had begun to cast their gaze upon the tired landscape. Nature was ever alive for her. Her family had always depended upon it, and it had always provided for her. She had a relationship with the earth, the sky, the wind and the trees which she had never really tried to put into words, because she did not need to. Now, the breeze had begun to pick up, and it washed through the leaves of the forest ahead as though a lullaby were being sung to the swaying branches and the deeply rooted trunks in the rich soil.
She needed to look out for a light to the left of the road that wound along the steep watershed of the valley below. All she could see ahead was the looming darkness of the woods which gripped onto the side of the hill and beckoned downwards into their own mysterious realm.
The White Tail Woods were undoubtedly the safer of the two forests that played a significant role in Ponyville life (the other being Everfree). Each year, as the summer drew to a close and the holiday season approached, the ‘Running of the Leaves’ would help bring down some of the loose dead leaves on the branches. This was more a tradition than anything of practical value. Although it did help somewhat with the transition through Autumn, a large portion of the woods would have to rely on the winds to bring down their deceased souvenirs of the past season. The event itself, which was to take place in two months, happened on the eastern side of White Tail. Applejack knew this area well, but to get to her destination, she had needed to venture beyond this familiar territory.
As it was, she was a little confused by the route which had seemed so simple on the map. She hadn’t taken this map with her as, not only did she want to remain without any sort of burden, but it was too large-scale to be of great use during the journey itself.
I cannot let myself get lost so early on and embarrass myself in front of Aunt Brioche. She’ll get worried, too…
The fleeting rays of the sinking sun which occasionally peeked through the rocky angles of the distant Canterlot Mountains would soon be insufficient for her to even keep the railway line in sight. It ran parallel to the road for the most part, but occasionally veered into the trees. Without this in sight, she had no way of making sure she was keeping to the correct route.
Breaking into a canter, she worriedly analysed the slopes of the hillside, looking for familiar landforms she would have seen as filly visiting her aunt. However, the uncontrolled spread of the foliage from the White Tail Woods meant that the landscape was virtually unrecognisable.
Applejack sped along the road, which had now diminished into little more than a dirt track. As she did so, she desperately searched for something that would jog her memory and tell her where she was. She passed a small lake, a huge boulder split in two, an ancient-looking beech which had fallen down and even what looked like the ruins of an old building. The blackness of the forest began to merge with that of the sky as the shadows, still dancing in the breeze, faded. She was getting tired already. A branch split under her hooves. Something moved in the corner of her eye. An owl hooted. She tripped. Something creaked. A smell of berries. A distant humming. A gust of wind. A light.
Relieved, she slowed down again and took a moment to catch her breath. It was dim, but the unmistakable glow of a welcoming shelter was visible through the trees. She had ventured a little too far north and would have to clamber down the slope into the outer edges of the woods. She thought she could even smell the pleasant waft of baked apples, drifting in the wind and intermingling with the ever-present scent of deciduous forest. Perking up considerably, she made her way carefully down the side of the valley and into White Tail. The Canterlot Mountains, which she had used as a reference point, were no longer visible through the thickets. She still felt a little disorientated and even somewhat disquieted by the fact that she had managed to almost get totally lost.
Beyond the trees to her right, Applejack could see the outline of some gentler hillocks. As she made her descent, she caught sight of the ghostly waxing moon appearing behind these small slopes. It cast a powerful blue light upon the canopy of the woods below. It also, however, provided some comfort with its illumination.
The light she was approaching was slightly obscured by the branches now, but she continued along in the same direction. Now, the air was filled with the sounds and smells of the night. Being a pony of strict routine, it was a time when she should have been asleep. As such, she was anxious to get to her aunt’s cottage as soon as possible. The thought briefly ran through her mind that there didn’t seem to be any apple orchards about, but she quickly banished it, keen to simply get to safety.
The woods were becoming gradually denser, and she was having to slow down in order to avoid tripping on the maze of roots below, visible mainly thanks to the moonlight. Now she had to keep her eyes on the ground in order to pick her way through the undergrowth. She wanted to try to arrive at her aunt’s in one piece (as opposed to covered in scratches) so it wouldn’t seem as though she had gotten so lost. The ground was covered in branches and twigs, so she was making quite a loud noise as they got crushed under her hooves. She didn’t associate these woods with anything particularly nasty like Timberwolves, but she couldn’t be sure, so she tried to be at least somewhat discreet. Then, briefly glancing up, Applejack was met with a bad shock.
The light was gone.
That can’t be good. Where the hay did it go?! There’s no way I could have gone too far…there was still a little way to go when I last checked…Oh Celestia. Right. Backtrack.
Looking behind her, it wasn’t obvious exactly where she had come from. She had the moonlight as an indicator of her orientation but the fact that its light was slowly moving meant that the woods she had been walking through for the past fifteen minutes now looked slightly different.
Well. I’d better get outta here and see if I can spot that light again from the hillside…
Applejack took a step back towards where the edge of the woods must have been.
It all happened in an instant. Something moved in the twigs below and caught her hoof. It jerked her to the side and she suddenly found herself thrown off balance. She cushioned her head with her forehooves as it crashed into the ground, and then she suddenly flew upwards, receiving the various scratches she had hoped to avoid as she came into contact with the nearby trees.
Opening her eyes, she found herself upside down with one of her hind legs somehow attached to a thick branch. She was swinging back and forth, the disturbed leaves now settling down on the ground below.
The ground! I’m several yards off the ground! What in the name of...Seriously? What sort of thing lives in these woods that’s big enough to be trapped by this? Dangit!
“Uhh…Aunt Brioche? Is this yours? Heh. I’m gettin’ awful dizzy here!” shouted Applejack in a nervous tone.
“Auntie? Ya there? Could ya help me down?! This sorta hurts you know, and seems dangerous!” she added to her previous exclamation, which had been met with silence.
She swung around for a minute as the blood rushed to her head. Then, she was shocked to hear a quiet, high-pitched voice come out of the darkness.
“Brothers, the time has at last come! The age of judgement has arrived and those that doubted us shall soon fear us.”
This announcement seemed to be met by a very quiet cheer. It reminded Applejack of Fluttershy.
“Is that you Auntie? Heh! How your voice has changed, and how…anarchic you seemed to have become!”
“Silence, prisoner. Friends, this enormous monster shall lead us to victory against the oppressors that drove us deeper into this great forest! We shall use its great strength to conquer!” continued the squeaky voice.
“Aw shucks, I ain’t really done much conquerin’ before…Could you show yourself?” asked the precariously positioned earth pony.
“Are you blind, huge beast? We are right in front of you.”
“Wha—oh my…”
Having mostly been peering around the upside-down woods, looking for these mysterious tree-dwellers, she was very surprised to spot a large group of tiny insect-like figures standing on one of her front hooves. They were all no larger than a flea.
“We have spent many years constructing a device powerful enough to catch a monstrous thing such as yourself, great predator,” the leader continued. “Now, our task is complete, and all that remains is to tame you in order to harness your power.”
“Uh…I hate to disappoint and all that, but I’m just an earth pony. Nothin’ more, I ain’t got much power, ‘cept when it comes to applebuckin’ that is! Your ‘oppressors’ don’t happen to be a field of apple trees do they?” she chuckled.
“Friends, cut it down and lead it to the stronghold!”
“Wait! Now just hold on…I’m just lost in these woods…have you seen a house with—argh!”
Applejack tumbled to the ground, thankfully landing on a pile of leaves that been put there. She looked around for the hoard of tiny insects and spotted them circling around her. She got up.
“Beast! You are trapped! Attempt to leave and we shall stop you with our spears! Brother, throw a spear as a warning.”
She felt a tiny tingle on the side of one of her front legs.
“Uh...”
“Stay with us and we shall spare your life, monster!” shouted the leader.
Maybe if I humour these guys they’ll help me find my way again…
“Yeah! Heh. Take me to your leader…or whatever it is I’m supposed to say,” said Applejack, trying to hold back her laughter.
The small beings began to move very slowly towards a tree trunk a few yards away. As they did this, Applejack kept her eye on them to avoid stepping on any by accident as she shuffled forwards.
It took several minutes, but they eventually arrived at the trunk of a towering oak, covered in moss and with a web of roots encircling it. After a few more minutes, in which she could just about make out a few of the insects going into some tiny opening in the bark, a slightly larger one, roughly the size of a small tack, emerged onto a luxurious-looking leaf.
“Oh, beast of the White Forest, bringer of destruction and master of death,” belted out this larger insect she assumed was their king. “We have summoned you in the night as we approach the full moon, such that you may wreak havoc upon the world of the outsiders. We have lived alone in these woods for hundreds of generations, planning our revenge upon the fiends that cut down our homes and forced us deep into these dangerous lands.”
“Cut down your homes…are you talkin’ about my Aunt Brioche? She came here over 50 years ago to set up her orchards—” said Applejack.
“Cease your infernal interruptions! We do not fear you. The oppressors will, however!”
“Oh now listen here. There’s been a terrible misunderstandin’ here—”
“As our revenge, we shall not only obliterate the oppressors, we shall bring doom to all who live in this mortal world, and then all the lands on the planet shall be ours.”
“So, cuttin’ to the chase here” interjected Applejack once more, “y’all are takin’ over the world.”
“And you shall be instrumental in our operations!”
“…and I thought Rainbow’s trick was ambitious…”
“What was that, beast?”
“Nothin’. I was…preparin’ myself…for the…conquerin’.”
“We seem to have made good progress with this great demon!” shouted the king to his people. “It shall not be long, my subjects, until our conquest begins! Now, however, we must all gather in the sacred circle for our prayers to the moon god, such that our plans may lead us to glorious victory! Beast! Beware: should you dare to flee us as we pray, you will be stopped by the Great River that surrounds our mighty city.”
“Great River?”
The small insect made some sort of odd pointing gesture towards a tiny stream of water nearby, which barely made any noise as it trickled through the leaves on the forest floor.
“Right,” said Applejack. “I guess I’m stuck here, then.”
At this point, the entire group of minuscule beings began to congregate around a small pebble in the middle of a roughly circular collection of twigs. Applejack watched as they formed a tight group and began doing various strange dances, with the king at the centre.
This has got to be some sort of joke.
As the tiny warriors and their leaders did their thing, she took the opportunity to look around the forest. It was becoming clear to her that they were much too small to help her get very far at all, and they had other plans for her. The moon was now fairly high in the sky, which was visible through a small clearing in the canopy. The blackness was well illuminated by the moonlight and the gentle twinkling of the tapestry of stars in the heavens.
Suddenly, an owl made a loud screeching noise, giving Applejack a significant fright. She leaped backwards. Realizing the danger of this, she tried to steady herself but encountered a thick root, leading her to trip over. As she plummeted towards the surprised wannabe conquerors, the only thought that passed through her mind was “uh oh.”
The crash broke the quietness of the woods into pieces.
She lay on the ground, totally silent. She was sitting on the ‘sacred circle’.
“Uh…sorry ‘bout that!” she said anxiously, after about a minute.
No reply came.
“Are y’all okay?”
Still nothing.
I’ve done it haven’t I.
She slowly got up. Then, she looked behind herself at the sacred circle. She quickly looked away.
Eeyup.
Brushing herself off, Applejack tried to get to grips with what had just happened. She looked up and down the tree but there didn’t seem to be any more of the super-intelligent bugs. As she feared, they had all gathered in the same place.
I wonder if my friends will think any less of me if I tell them ol’ Applejack accidentally wiped out an ancient civilisation. I guess “the beast” turned out to be too powerful for them. No, don’t laugh! They may have been downright evil, but they were livin’ things nonetheless. Ughh…I hope I don’t have to explain this to anypony.
She was remorseful, but utterly baffled at what she had just experienced. As she moved away from the home of these deceased warriors, stepping across the Great River, she wondered what she would have to do now. It occurred to her that it was already very late, and she had basically gotten completely lost. If she went back out of the White Tail Woods, she wouldn’t arrive at the hospital in time to pick up Rainbow Dash and she’d probably just fly south to Las Pegasus, rendering the whole trip pointless.
She wandered onwards a bit, using the moon for navigation, but soon found her head throbbing with the familiar feeling of utter exhaustion. The breeze continued to caress the leaves overhead, but the sounds of the forest began to become duller and less pronounced. She lay down on a small patch of grass in a clearing. She heard something move about in the bushes. More creaking branches. She even thought she could hear the distant sound of bells chiming in the seamless calm of the night.
And with this thought in mind, she fell asleep.
Never before had Applejack slept a full night outside amongst the trees. Several nights, as a filly, she had demanded vociferously to be allowed to stay out in the orchards on warm summer evenings. Something drew her to the rustle of the leaves in the familiar apple trees and the earth which was gradually releasing the heat of the daytime sun. These were symbols of constancy amid the fluidity of the universe above. It was beautiful, and so too was it comforting. She hadn't learnt about the planets, the galaxies, the moons or the stars. She hadn't learnt about the vastness of open space, the glory of the rich cosmos or the uniqueness of Earth. But she loved what she saw, albeit only from the safety of her bedroom window.
It is often a fear of the unknown that leads some in this life to become aggressive, protective, delusional, and even to shy away from others who mean no harm. It leads us to be scared of the dark, to worry about the future, to become anxious about how others perceive us. It is something psychologically ingrained in us; that which is not understood is potentially harmful.
Seeing an unexplained expanse of stars from her window, Applejack did not find fear or anxiety in the unknown. Rather, she saw beauty. A world where everything was analysed and categorised, scrutinised and dissected, where everything around her followed a clockwork system of laws, was a world that felt claustrophobic and cramped. To think that the universe could be described in a sentence, a set of words on a white page, a set of numbers and calculations... it did not feel right. To her, a fear of the unknown led those that had the capabilities to follow science, and those without such means to invent and self-deceive. She chose neither path. The universe and the meaning of life itself was best described to her in terms of the subjective experience of each individual. Although there was reason and observation, so too was there the understanding of life was transmitted solely through the senses. She could not put this into words.
She had once sat out at night with Twilight Sparkle and watched a meteor shower. For two hours, the unicorn had explained to her the constellations, the most current astrophysics and cosmology and the precise reasons behind the shooting stars that streaked by overhead. A star's luminosity was determined by the amount of power it had to emit in order to counterbalance the gravitational forces due to its mass and radius. The planet's atmosphere would burn up most incoming objects, leading to a brief display of white light as they turned to dust. In several billion years, long after life can no longer be sustained, the planet will be engulfed by a greatly expanded sun. And so on and so forth.
Applejack knew that science was the most objective and most accurate way of describing the universe, but it just felt incomplete. As she sat there listening and nodding politely, she felt a slight sense of disappointment. The beauty of the unknown was being taken away from her. She had reached the age where she understood that it had to be science that held the dominant descriptions of the physical world, for other explanations led to conflict and discord. But she couldn't help noticing the desire to be oblivious and ignorant that still lingered. She felt that forcing objectivity on her worldview suppressed the other, equally important aspects of the experience of life. She wanted to wonder and imagine, to allow her mind to explore and piece together the puzzle of the unknown for itself. She felt naive in this sense.
She was honest but tactful, so she kept her views to herself.
Applejack woke up in the White Tail Woods alone. Already, the events of the previous day felt like little more than a dream. There was no denying, however, that she was lost somewhere in the forest. It was the arrival of the sunlight through the chaotic patterns of the twigs and branches of the canopy that had called her back into consciousness. The environment she found herself in now evoked a different feeling to that which she had experienced yesterday. It felt less clearly defined and more transient. Glancing back in the direction in which she had come, she wasn't even sure if walking that way would lead her out again.
Overhead, she caught sight of the daylight moon hanging in the clear sky. She would previously have just mistaken it for a faint wisp of cloud, but it had more presence now. It seemed to be a bit more crisp. It often appeared only as a faintly penciled sketch on a two-dimensional plane, but now it was whole.
Unlike Everfree, the White Tail Woods were home not only to an abundance of fairly harmless creatures, but also a significant collection of edible berries. This, combined with the occasional streams that ran through a ditch in the forest floor, was sufficient to sustain Applejack. She was somewhat disgruntled by her memory of the vague smell of Baked Apples from the previous day, but was content still to be alive after her disastrous navigational errors.
Now, she could identify little more than the smells of nature, although she was also aware of what smelt like toast (probably a long way away). This fascinated her. Perhaps she was closer to civilisation than she had assumed. Still in a slightly dizzy state from having her sleep cycle shattered, she ambled in the direction of the scent, having attempted to wake herself up with water from the stream (and failed).
Her only previous experience of the woods was in the Running of the Leaves, and her complete focus on getting to the front of the race meant she had never really taken the time to observe the forest itself. Now, however, she was engulfed by it. The landscape seemed incredibly repetitive and disorientating. There was also something about it that was not quite right. Guided only by the strange smell, she picked up her pace a little, hoping to find something other than the sea of trees she was currently submerged in.
After 30 minutes, what she encountered was worse. The woods were ablaze. Thick smoke was pouring through the gaps in the trees and the sound of burning could be heard. Warm air was blasted towards her.
What in the hay is goin' on here?! There's no reason for a wildfire...dry weather maybe? Shoot, there's nopony around...
From her vantage point on a slightly elevated area she could already make out the flames spreading fast through the dry grass. She edged closer to see if anything was in danger. The woods were eerily empty. At this point, she felt like the only living creature for miles around, and the lack of noise except the crackle of the fire confirmed this.
Something darted past in her periphery.
Turning her head in reaction to this, what she saw was that she had come much closer to the wildfire than she had anticipated. Her eyes widened with horror as she spun around to see she had become totally encircled by the raging embers which danced around her like in a ritualistic ceremony.
The fire was spreading at an unimaginable pace.
Somepony will surely see the smoke risin' from the woods...this can't be happenin'!
"HELP!" she bellowed out, knowing the smoke would soon affect her ability to shout.
The word was almost lost in the growing noise of burning wood and falling branches. In a sort of clearing, the fire was not currently approaching her, but any ways out were rapidly becoming blocked by flames and it was becoming more and more difficult to see due to the thickening smog. She glanced up at a treetop. If she tried to get up there she would no doubt be at risk of asphyxiation, but the future looked no brighter on the ground.
A wind had picked up and sparks were whirling through the air. As though the fire were spitting furiously at the lone earth pony, they flew for a second and disappeared or were lost in a cloud of smoke. This smoke was now unavoidable, and Applejack got down low in a futile attempt to avoid it entering her lungs.
Fiery branches were being blown near where she was, and these gave rise to yet more patches of flames in the yellow-green grass. She felt crushed by the gases and the unbearable heat, was almost blinded and was beginning to get dizzy. Now was her last chance to do something. Anything.
Choking and spluttering, she found her way to a tree trunk which didn't have flames clinging to it. There was a loud crash as an enormous branch struck the ground near her. She desperately hoped it didn't mean the fire was somehow above her. If it was, she would be climbing to her doom.
Smokin' Tartarus, I can't climb trees! I can't climb trees! I can't die!
Applejack got one front hoof over a low branch, and then the other. She couldn't even see what she was doing, but she pulled up with all her remaining strength, which was dwindling. She cut herself on the rough bark.
"Argh!"
The mild wound stung worse than it should have. Hauling herself up, she managed to get herself completely off the ground. For the rest of the ascent, she would have to somehow cling to the main trunk. She heard a crack beneath her, and flailed her front legs above herself to try to grab on to something. Hitting another branch, she grabbed onto it and heaved. Feeling a sudden shooting pain in one of the muscles of her legs, she managed to catch the branch in her teeth, and was soon hanging on with nothing more than her powerful jaws. To relieve the tension on her mouth, she managed to get up and balance on one of the short stumps protruding from the trunk. Despite the pain in her one of her front legs from a muscle injury, she forced herself to pull up completely onto the branch she had held onto with her teeth. Here, she tried to rest, but found that losing concentration and a tight grip on the tree would cause her to wobble and risk falling. Then, trying to see through the fumes, she spotted an orange glow at her level. The upper branches had caught fire.
Terrified, she peered up. The leaves of the tree she was in were ablaze, and she didn't even have the strength to get up any further. In addition, as suspected, the rising smoke was getting so dense she was likely to pass out at any moment. She didn't know how far she was off the ground and didn't know whether the tears in her eyes were due to the smog or because she was going to die.
She shuffled along her branch to the end, trying to cover her mouth with one hoof. She could just about make out what seemed like another thick (and hopefully stable) branch roughly a yard away, which belonged to another tree. It was slightly lower than hers.
Something huge struck the ground nearby and the tree which her life currently depended on shook violently. She could hardly keep her eyes open as they stung horribly, but she tried to stay focused on the other branch. She looked behind her, and could see the main trunk already engulfed by fire. Then, she fixed her sight upon her target. She got one back hoof onto her own branch. She tried to crouch. She held her breath. She thought of home.
And then Applejack jumped.
An awful crash could be heard. She was in the air for no more than a split second before she felt something slam into her. She cried out as she felt herself plummeting towards the ground.
But she wasn't falling.
Completely shaken by the impact, she had no idea what was going on. She felt no pain and could see nothing, as she had her eyes tightly shut and simply could not open them. The ground (or branch) below her seemed to be shifting about and she could feel a gust of powerful wind against her fur. She could not move. This wind seemed to engulf all her senses, and several memories rushed through her head as it evoked a familiar sensation of the freedom of the open air. Even the smoke seemed to be dissipating in the air, blown away in the cleansing breeze. In addition, the pain was leaving her and her lungs seemed to clear. As the heat of the flames faded, she felt as though she was losing touch with the real world. Perhaps she was unconscious.
Then, Applejack realized she was flying.
She managed to open her eyes. They were still filled with tears and so all she saw was a blur of shifting colours, dominated by the milky blue of the sky. She was on something which was a vivid ruby red. As she ascended away above the treetops, the wind became louder and louder, and more powerful, soon bringing her back from her dizzy state. She seemed to be balanced in a fairly stable fashion atop some vast creature.
"I fear your entry to this...neck of the woods has come at quite an inconvenient time."
The words were clearly spoken, even above the whistling wind. Needless to say, a deep and slow voice articulated each syllable in a relaxed but slightly sorrowful manner.
"Ya wha..." Applejack replied, using a vocabulary which had become severely limited by the shock of what she was experiencing.
"It would have been a nightmare to lose you like that. I had envisioned something more welcoming than a deadly forest fire," added the voice.
It's a dragon. Hohooo. A dragon. If there's somethin' worse than been burnt alive, it may well be gettin' burnt alive and then eaten by a dragon. This cannot be real...
"PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!" Applejack yelled with newly found energy, having realized the gravity of her situation.
"I rather expected you to be a tad startled," continued the dragon. "I'd suggest clinging on for the time being though, because the speed you'd meet the ground at if you didn't would not really go very well with your state as an organic lifeform. It's not that you hit the ground too hard; it's that the ground hits you rather hard as well. Think of it as a sort of retaliation."
"I DON'T WANT NO FANCY TALK! KINDLY LAND AND LET ME DOWN!"
"Goodness me. There's no need to shout. My ears are right here you know."
They seemed to be losing height already. Perhaps she had succeeded in intimidating the predator. Within seconds they were below the line of the canopy and the scents of the forest had begun to return. Applejack glanced behind her to see a tower of smoke rising several miles away. Before she knew it, they had hit the ground. She sprung into action, getting ready to dart off into the trees. In an instant though, the claws of the dragon had picked her up and she was being lifted up. Soon, what she came face to face with was the head of an ancient-looking beast. Its fangs were visible but seemed more blunt than they should have been. The eyes stared at her inquisitively. They were a deep crimson, large enough for Applejack to even make out small tinges of purple. Just like a complex gemstone.
"Rather small, close up," it mumbled.
"I never thought I'd be sayin' this," said Applejack in the most calm tone she could muster, "but I taste about as nice as a mouthful of dirt." Thinking fast, she added "which is why I'm called an earth pony."
The dragon paused for a moment, continuing its stare.
"What an odd way to introduce yourself. I was certain the normal convention was to say your name!" said the puzzled dragon. "But, then again, I already know you're Applejack."
"Uhh, what now? How the hay do you know my name?!"
"It is my business to know," replied the creature in a somewhat snide tone. It grinned and exposed its arsenal of irregular-looking teeth.
...
"No, that didn't work very well, did it?" it continued. "I'm not very good with ponies, you know. Never actually met one before. In any case, let me introduce myself. I am...actually that's going to be terribly hard for you to pronounce. I am The Observer. My role in these woods consists of little more than to sit here and watch the lives of others and see how intelligent life interacts with the natural world. Oh, and I do try to keep things in order and what have you. Hence, the fire."
"Y-you started that?" asked Applejack.
"Yes, and it's all for the best, you know. Preserving the delicate balance of nature and all that sort of thing. But anyway, I've watched Ponyville grow and flourish alongside the Canterlot Mountain, as you call it. Yours has been quite a heartwarming tale! I suppose you might consider your family as one of the earliest settlers."
"You're huge! How has nopony seen you before? I ain't heard of you..." she said, her tone becoming suspicious.
"You are no longer really in the normal world, I'm afraid," said the dragon.
"Dangit! I knew I was dead!"
"Dead?! Oh goodness, no. Why, you're not even dreaming! Or...well, it's rather complicated. You are in the heart of the White Tail Woods. How you got here is rather a mystery to me, but I knew you were coming. You have passed through the outer rim of the Heart and are now in the middle-grounds."
"But what's so special about this so-called "heart of the White Tail woods, then? How come it ain't in the normal world?" said Applejack.
"You see," said the dragon, seeming as though it was collecting its thoughts, "these woods have always been a slightly...lonely place. Whereas the rest of Equestria is brimming with life, this is a haven of solitude, of which there are three layers. In the outer rim, the solitude is one associated with a certain proximity to civilisation and society. It is a solitude of outcasts and bitterness, where the soul seeks a return to the real world. Here, in the middle-grounds, it is the solitude of the detached observer that has accepted their separation. This is a happy place of oneness and peace, where self-knowledge is found and wisdom flourishes. I can still observe the real world but I can never go there, and it can never see me."
Applejack listened, confused but curious.
"Beyond this can be found the Central Heart. Do not go there. It is a place where solitude is so profoundly all-consuming that nothing outside of the self even exists. Once there, you cannot leave."
"...So...I'm in some sort of weird realm," said Applejack. "I still can't understand what the fire was for, though."
She was surprised at how accepting she had been of the bizarre explanations of the dragon. The certain something that was not quite right in the forest had perhaps begun to rub off on her. Or perhaps her hunger for mystery was beginning to come back into bloom inside her. In any case, she felt a small tinge of excitement.
"Both the natural world and the world of civilisation operate in cycles, Applejack. For your world, it is the immortal alicorns of the sun and the moon that keep the cycles flowing. Here, in these woods, it is the Heart. Our sun is a different sun and our moon is a different moon. Nevertheless, we are governed by their movement and their energy. I aid the sun and the moon to keep the world of nature in balance by destroying that which must be lost such that the things that must grow can do so."
The dragon had lowered her down to the ground now, but Applejack just sat there, looking around as it spoke.
"I do not know how you came here, but you will need to leave as soon as you can. Sometimes creatures of the physical world are drawn in by the glow of understanding, a small dim light in the darkness, but you must leave. That mountain over there overlooks Ponyville." Sitting on a clearing of high ground, it was able to point towards its snowy peak. "Return there. I have told you everything I can." The dragon's tone had suddenly become slightly fearful and agitated.
At this point, a feeling of exhaustion returned to the earth pony. She said nothing. Her eyes were fixed upon the mountain that the dragon had pointed at. Soon, however, her eyelids became heavier. As they did so, she caught a glimpse of the same daylight moon from earlier, sitting in the sky just above where she was looking.
It didn't feel like she had slept, for no time seemed to pass. And yet, when she opened her eyes the sky was a dark purple. Several thick clouds had gathered overhead and the rays of the sun, now leaving the horizon, flowed through them and gilded them with fiery red. Little sound could be heard. The dragon was gone.
She could barely remember any of the words it had communicated to her, but she knew she was supposed to be heading towards a mountain in the distance.
Then, she turned her head and gazed into an archway of trees behind her. It was pure darkness.
After a minute, something appeared in the darkness. It was a floating light, as if from some invisible lamp. As she stared at it, more began to appear around it. They lit up the unreal-looking leaves of the surrounding oaks. As each light bobbed up and down slightly, the shadows cast danced and swayed hypnotically. Patches of black would momentarily be illuminated and then fade away once more.
She got to her hooves and turned back towards the mountain. Then, she looked back into the forest once more. The lights were still there.
And so she began to pick her way through various bushes and branches towards them.
