I'm sorry, Applejack. I'm so, so, so sorry. I couldn't let you return to civilization. At least not yet. Equestria is not the same and only you can set things right. The right place at the wrong time can be a deadly trap, but the right mare in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. Wake up, Applejack. Your time has come, Equestria needs you.

Applejack suddenly opened her eyes and looked around; she was inside a train; that would be empty if it wasn't for two stallions who were looking at her.

"I didn't see you coming in." one of them said.

"Where... Where am Ah?" she asked.

"You hop in a train without even knowing the destination?" the second stallion asked.

"No, it's not that. Ah can't remember how Ah got in here!"

"So, lost your memories, eh?" the first stallion said "I don't blame you, though. You weren't the first one and I doubt you will be the last."

"I told you, it's the water! They're putting something in the water we drink to make us forget."

"Anyway, let me summarize it for you, miss: you're in a train that is going to City 17."

"What is City 17?"

"You don't know what's City 17? Then you must be brain damaged, miss! City 17, the lair of the Combine, Celestia's home, the shadow of the Citadel."

Applejack just nodded. She had no idea what they were talking about. The train stopped and the door opened.

"End of the line. I don't know how much you remember, but here's an advice: do as you're told, don't ask questions, mind your own business! Otherwise they'll punish you. And you don't want to be punished by the CPs."

"It means 'Civil Protection'!" the other stallion said. "Just in case."

The stallions stepped out of the train. A few moments later Applejack did too. The first thing she saw was a bright flash. When the temporary blindness faded out, she noticed what was the source of the flash: a floating metal ball.

"What in tarnation?"

The ball floated away. Applejack shook her head and looked around; the train station had a few posters of Celestia's face, all of them above speakers, all of them transmitting Celestia's voice. it was clear it was a pre-recorded message, since at some point it started repeating itself.

"Welcome, my loyal subjects. Welcome to City 17."

But she was too busy trying to figure out what she was going to do next to listen to the message. She then walked toward a gate which only way through was a turnstile. The station was crowded with ponies (most of them unicorns and pegasi), a few of them wearing some kind of armor and a gas mask (there were no earth ponies among those).

"Move along." they would say, their voices distorted by the mask, making them sound like machines.

"Keep moving."

"Don't stop."

She didn't knew that place, but she did knew the name in the platform she was moving toward: Canterlot (she ignored the New that came before Canterlot). Everything was going just fine, until a camera pointed at her and a buzzer rang.

"Don't move." one of the ponies (she presumed those were the CPs) said. A door opened to her right.

"You." the pegasus CP said. "Come with me."

She followed him down a corridor without complaining. That same corridor was full of doors, one of them half open.

"There must be some kind of mistake! I got a relocation ticket just like everypony else." the pony in the room, sitting at a chair, said to the unicorn CP, who magically slammed the door upon noticing Applejack's presence.

"Get in the room." the CP escorting her said, pointing at an open door. Applejack walked in, meeting another CP.

"Need some help with this one?" the other, an unicorn CP, asked.

"No, I'm good." the first said.

The second left the room and the first locked the door, then pressed a few buttons on a panel.

"I'm going to need some privacy with this one." he said, deactivating the camera in the room.

Applejack was now sweating, growing more and more nervous. There was a reason ponies feared the CPs, and she was probably about to discover why. Those were her thoughts until he-- Well, she removed her mask.

"About that cider you owe me!" Rainbow Dash said, placing the mask on the panel.

"Rainbow!" she said, her nervousness suddenly vanishing.

"Sorry about the scare, but I can't risk to blow my cover. They don't know I'm not one of them."

"What's goin' on, Rainbow?"

"I'd love to just sit with you and explain the whole story, but we don't have time right now."

She pressed a few buttons on the panel again, then the face of a purple unicorn mare appeared in the screen.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash, what is it? I'm in the middle of--"

"Yeah, sorry for interrupting study time, egghead, but look who I found!"

Rainbow Dash stepped out of the way. Twilight gasped. "By Luna's Cutie Mark! Applejack! It's been so long. We thought you were dead."

"Yeah, but she's very alive. And she was on her way to New Canterlot. I'm sending her to you now."

"Yes, I really to hear about how things went in Aperture."

"Wait, ya know Ah was there?"

"Yes, it was your mission. But I didn't thought you'd take so long to return to us. But again, it was hard enough to go in, obviously it would be even harder to go out!"

"Ah kinda forgot everythin', so Ah hope ya explain everythin' to me too."

"Oh, I will. Every single detail."

"Hurry up, Applejack. They'll be here soon to see why I'm taking so long."

"Right. It's good to see y'all."

"It's good to see you too, Applejack." the screen turned off the exact moment they heard a knock on the door.

"Damn, they're here." Rainbow Dash put her mask on and opened the back door. "Escape through the window over there and go straight to Twi's lab. I'll catch up with you later."

Rainbow Dash pushed her through the door and closed it. Applejack climbed a ladder and jumped through the window, ending up in some kind of alley with only a few trash cans and a door in it. She walked through that door, which led back to the station. There was a big wooden door in it with a CP standing in front of it. She gulped and approached it. The CP looked at the trash can near him, which had a soda can on top of it, and knocked the can onto the floor.

"Pick up that can." he said.

Applejack was about to complain, but the words on the stallion in the train echoed in her mind:

"Do as you're told, don't ask questions, mind your own business!"

She sighed and picked up the can with her teeth;

"Now put it in the trash can."

She did as he told her to. He stepped out of the way, chuckling.

"Civil Protection my flank." she thought as she opened the door.

Outside the train station was a new world, full of machines and gadgets she had never seen before. At least, not in the Equestria she once knew.

"What the horsepples is goin' on?"

Applejack just walked aimlessly, admiring the city she'd never seen before. There were CPs everywhere, but as long as she didn't do anything wrong, she was safe. She just walked, until she stumbled upon two stallions staring at a building with two CPs at the door.

"That's how it always starts." the first stallion said. "First, a building. Then, the whole block."

"They don't have a reason to come to our place." the second said.

"Don't worry, they'll find one!"

Applejack looked around and noticed an open door that led to the same building the CPs were in.

"Well..." she thought. "The only place I can go that there's no big gate blocking." she walked through the door and upstairs. CPs were banging at a door in one of the floors. Applejack just ignored it and resumed her ascension. "If I tried to intervene, I'd just be punished as well. I must not draw attention."

"You!" one of the CPs called. "Halt!"

"Oh, horseapples!" Applejack ran upstairs as fast as she could, two of the Civil Protectors following her. When she reached the last floor, she did the only thing she could: "Through the window!"

Fortunately the buildings were really close to each other, so when Applejack jumped through the window she went through the window of another building. She ran downstairs, but was met by two CPs. Applejack tried going back up, but the other CPs were already there. The last thing she saw before falling on the wooden floor was the unicorn CP shooting a spell at her.

"Over here!" a voice called. It was the voice of a mare. "Shame on you, picking on somepony unarmed and outnumbered!"

Applejack slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the mask of a CP, whose owner was lying in front of her, apparently unconscious. The second thing she saw was the hoof of a white mare with a curly pink and purple mane. "Long time no see, Applejack."

Applejack grabbed the mare's hoof, and she helped her up. She wasn't sure who the mare was until she looked in her green eyes.

"Sweetie Belle?"

"Yup! That's me!"

"Holy Celestia! Look at ya, all grown up, almost as tall as me."

Sweetie Belle sighed. "Don't say that name. It's not 'holy' anymore."

"What do ya mean?"

"Follow me, I'll explain on our way there."

"Where's 'there'?"

"Twilight's laboratory, of course. Rainbow Dash forgot to give you a map, so I came here to escort you before you got into trouble." she looked around, at the four unconscious CPs. "I'm kinda late. Sorry!"

"It's ok. At least yer here. Now, let's go to Twi's, so you can explain what the hay happened with Equestria while Ah was away!" Next Chapter: Part 1: Chapter 02 Estimated time remaining: 52 Minutes