Applejack Is An Interdimensional Alien

“Hello?” the orange mare called out, unable to see her surroundings. “Is anypony there?”

It was dark, darker than anything Applejack had ever seen before, penetrating everything around her. Funnily enough, despite the darkness, she could see herself well enough, as though she was the only thing illuminated in the vast emptiness. It was very eerie though, very quiet, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“What in tarnation is goin’ on here?” she muttered to herself as she continued to look around, hoping her eyes would adjust to the darkness that surrounded her. As she waited, she tried to think of what happened before. She was… what was she doing? It was only a few seconds ago, that she knew, and yet she couldn’t remember. It was already starting to feel like years that she’d been standing in the darkness, and despite her efforts, she couldn’t recall exactly what it was that brought her here. She knew she should know, and it frustrated her that she didn’t.

The darkness stayed, but after a little while, she was able to begin making out somepony drawing near her. Or rather, something. As it got closer, she could tell it wasn’t a pony, or any other creature she’d ever seen before. For starters, the thing was tall. Very tall, over double her height. Not to mention, gangly looking, with arms and legs that seemed to stretch on forever, and thin enough to look almost emaciated. It was hairless except for the top of its head and had an extremely pointed face, one with sharp edges that made it look hideous to her. It honestly reminded her of one of those human things Lyra Heartstrings constantly went on about, although what she described was nowhere near as creepy as the thing that made its way toward Applejack.

“What are you?” she called out to it, having a feeling that it would understand her. “What am Ah doin’ here?”

It stopped all of a sudden at her question, staring directly at her with eyes that seemed to be looking through her. She felt the urge to take a step back, but suppressed it, standing her ground as she stared back at it, trying to be as intimidating as it was.

After a very long while, the thing spoke, and in a very deep, very ominous voice, answered, “You’re here to bring me back to Equestria.”

“Bring ya back to Equestria?” Applejack asked, putting on a confused expression. “What do ya mean by that? I ain’t ever seen anything like you there. What’s goin’ on here?”

Applejack noted the look on its face as it sighed, and thought it looked a bit… sad. Depressed even. It was a very strange sight, and she thought she almost felt bad for it just by the look on its face, at least until she heard the next words out of its mouth.

“The world you’ll inhabit is an awful world, one filled with death and destruction, some of it by my hands, much of it by their own. It will be brutal, painful, soul-crushing. You likely won’t survive, but if killing you is the price I pay for returning to my world, then so be it.”

What was this thing talking about? Killing her? Sending her to another world? She didn’t understand what it was saying, but she knew that she didn’t like the sound of it.

“Now wait just a minute here,” the mare tried to interrupt, but was unsuccessful as the creature continued to speak.

“Don’t believe that I picked you out. The reason I’m using you is simply because of the fact that you were the first pony I was able to access.” It sighed tiredly, and continued sadly, “I’ve tried everything I could think of, from dealing with spirits and devils to attempting to change the world I inhabited into Equestria, and always failed… until now. As terrible as it will be for you, I won’t allow this opportunity to slip away from me.”

“Now I don’t know what y’all are plannin’ ta do ta me, but don’t go givin’ me a big ol’ speech on how-”

“As terrible as what was before, that’s all past now that you're here and I'm able to return to my home. And now, I bid you farewell.”

Suddenly, the thing sprinted towards her, and Applejack instinctually turned around to buck it into the endless darkness. However, the moment before her hooves made contact with it, the being turned into smoke and vanished, leaving the mare to buck at the air. She looked around for a moment, confused as to what just happened, before realizing she was alone once again.

“Hey! Where in Equestria did you leave off ta?” she called out, hoping for the creature’s reappearance. However, she was answered only by silence and darkness.

“I don’t know what y’all think yer doin’ but let me go right now!” she demanded, calling out to nothing as she stomped a hoof down. She waited another second for an answer before deciding to take matters into her own hooves and setting off for… somewhere. She didn’t know where, but she did know that getting somewhere was better than standing in one spot. So she set off into the darkness, carefully at first, then picking up speed after a few minutes of hazardless travel.

“Twilight?” she called out after a few minutes. “Spike? Rainbow? Anypony?” She was answered only by the silence of the darkness around her. It was almost unbearably quiet, the only thing keeping her focused being the sound of her hoofsteps indicating she was still moving towards somewhere else. She didn’t know how long it would take to reach somewhere else, or where somewhere else even was, but she felt determined to get there, seeing no better options.

Eventually, the place she was going took shape. As if suddenly fading into view, she stepped into a snow-filled landscape under a bright night sky filled with stars. She immediately closed her eyes and shivered in the cold wind, instinct telling her to turn around and head back into the darkness. However, behind her was the same unending snowfield, one that showed a long trail of hoofprints, as though she’d been walking through the snow the whole time.

“Anypony out here?” she called loudly as she began to wonder if she was dreaming. It seemed very realistic for a dream to her, but that was how dreams were. You didn’t know you were in a dream until you woke up. Maybe that’s what this was, she figured.

“Hello?” she called again, waiting a second for a response before she started to walk along again. It was bitterly cold, colder than anything she’d ever felt before. It’d only been a couple of seconds that she’d been standing in the snow, and already she felt parts of her body becoming numb. She wished she had something more than her hat on, a scarf at least, but seeing as she was without one, decided to simply keep moving to keep her body warm and hoped to find someplace to stay quickly.

“Are Twi and the others out here?” she wondered, before dismissing it. She was fairly certain that… thing said she was the only one… along with mentioning she might be killed, and a land that was in ruins based on its description…

“Calm down,” she told herself aloud. “Ain’t no use getting yerself all worked up. Finding someplace warm is the first thing ta do. After that, then you can try and figure things out.”