Applejack Is An Interdimensional Alien

Applejack was only half paying attention to the road as she started to drive again, carefully keeping an eye on Angelina, making sure the pegasus wasn’t up to anything. She made the mare sit next to her in the passenger seat, putting the colt, Blue, in the backseat as they drove. Of course, the foal leaned forward to see out the front windshield, making sure they were heading the right way. Despite the story she heard, AJ wasn’t anywhere close to trusting the pegasus next to her yet.

“We shouldn’t be that far away now,” Blue told her. “I think you… take the street with the sign that says seventeen, and then turn right… I mean, left. You turn left.”

The earth pony did as she was instructed, following the sign that explained there was food and lodging and a college and a city called “Goodland” ahead. As she drove up the exit and turned to the left, she could see there were more vehicles like the one she was in, as well as a few other ponies out and about and speaking to each other. She thought they looked strange at first, not able to figure out what was wrong with them, before she realized that none of them had a cutie mark. None of them had found out their special talent. Just to be sure her eyes weren’t tricking her, she made a quick glance at Angelina's flank, and was able to see that she didn’t have one either. None of the ponies here did. It made her a bit sad to think that these ponies didn’t know what they were supposed to do in life.

“Or maybe they had a purpose before, until… whoever it was… wiped it away…” she thought to herself. “It’s a whole big ol' mess it looks like. If Twilight were here, she’d be right on this…”

“That’s it!” Blue called out, using a hoof to point to the left as they drove down the street, seeing billboards and buildings and a sign with a giant yellow 'M' on it. Applejack looked to where he pointed and saw a very large, brown building that labeled itself ‘Walmart’ in bold, white lettering. There were also cars parked there, though not nearly as many as a parking lot the size of the one in front of her could potentially hold. There were also a couple of other ponies standing outside of the store, both without cutie marks, both looking listless and tired as they spoke to each other. Although the sun was bright and the sky was blue, it was quite a dreary-looking scene to AJ.

“That’s where she would be!” the colt continued, flapping his wings in excitement.

“What is that place?” she asked him, confused. “What’s a wall mart?”

“It’s a large store that sells things,” Angelina explained. “They’re everywhere, and have stuff like clothes and food and tools.”

“Okay, well, if that story ya told me holds up, why ain’t everypony here right now?” Applejack asked. “Ah’d think they’d all be frollicking ta this place if that was the case, seeing as ya were talkin' about everything being destoryed.”

“Well, like I said, they’re everywhere,” she told her, “and not everything was destroyed... just... a lot of things. Goodland is kind of a small town, much smaller than the thousands of other cities there are. I’m pretty sure all the people here went to Kansas City or Denver or Amarillo or something before they changed.”

Applejack took her explanation at face value, seeing as she didn't know enough to argue with it, then turned to Blue and asked, “Ya sure yer mom’s in there?”

“I mean, I think she is… if she’s not, I don’t know where else she’d be…”

“Well… Ah guess we should check it out, seein’ as we’re here.” With that, the mare pulled into the lot and, seeing how the few other cars there were positioned, did her best to place the vehicle between the lines before killing the engine. She was just starting to open the door when something occurred to her and she quickly shut it again.

She turned to Angelina and asked in an authoritative voice, “If Ah step out of this here car, are all these ponies gonna wanna hurt me? Like you wanted to?”

“Ummm… I don’t know… I don’t- I don’t know… I don’t think… everyone knows about you… so... maybe not... I only, ummm…” She trailed off embarrassedly, looking down at her hooves.

She tried to gauge the pegasus’s reaction before deciding to trust her. “Can’t get anywhere without at least a little bit of trust,” she figured to herself. “Plus, Ah’m pretty sure Ah can take on whatever these ponies throw at me if they do try ta hurt me.” She looked down at her side, which still stung and, seeing the area where Angelina’s shot grazed her, silently continued, “Although things might get a bit nasty if they have more of the same things she had… Ah really wish Ah had my friends here with me. Ah’m sure Rainbow would brag about how she could just zip past 'em.”

With her thought finished, she opened the door again and called from inside her car, “Hey y’all! Is it alright if Ah get out here?” She made sure to keep part of her body in the vehicle just in case she needed to duck back in quickly and get away. Luckily for her, the ponies she spoke to only looked confused, as if they didn’t know what she was talking about, and simply nodded before going back to their conversation.

“Welp, it seems alright enough, but stay near me Blue, just in case one of 'em tries somethin’.”

With that instruction, she and the colt stepped fully out, the latter hurrying to the former’s side as they started walking slowly up to the stallions in front of them. They only gave a weird stare as they walked, Applejack smiling widely at them as they passed, noticing they were looking at her flank, but watched as they turned away shyly when she looked where they were looking, too.

“It’s my cutie mark,” she thought, “but at least they’re not freakin' out like Angelina was. It’s probably 'cause they don’t-”

“That’s her!” the colt suddenly gasped, quickly running up to the sliding doors at the front of the building, flapping his wings wildly as AJ trotted after him. “That’s my mom!” exclaimed said, using a hoof to point to the mare just behind the see-through glass.