"Mah name is Applejack. And Ah'm a samurai. Least, that's what they call me. Ah just call mahself a warrior. A fighter. Fer a long time Ah've been fightin' and strugglin', trying tah find a way back home. Nearly died more times then Ah care tah count. It ain't always been this way.

"Ah had friends and family, and a good life. Ah picked apples fer a livin'. Imagine that. Ah'd spend all day in the fields, buckin' the trees, collectin' the apples, and storin' 'em. Some days, Ah'd sell em and earn some money fer the family. It was a hard life, but ah good one. Ah was proud ah mahself when Ah went tah bed at night.

"But all that was torn away bah a demon called Discord. He killed mah friends and threw me a thousand years into the future. Since then Ah've traveled around tryin' tah find a way back and freein' ponies from Discord's clutches. A farm girl, now a lone warrior. Ah traded mah shovel fer a sword. Yah know what? Ah'm still proud.

"Ah'd like tah think Ah done good. That ah helped at least a few ponies out. Ah know Ah shouldn't bother. After all, if Ah succeed, none ah this'll even happen. But Ah do it anyway. Ah can't help it. It's who Ah am.

"Ah just have one thing that drives me. And that's seein' mah home again. And all Ah gotta do is find a way back in time. Sounds simple, don't it? Well, maybe if yah hear mah story, you'll help me."

Applejack looked around at her fallen friends. There was no way any of them were alive, and it was all because of Discord, the enemy she now faced alone. Somewhere nearby, Spike was hiding, but he wouldn't be of any use in this fight.

There would be time for mourning, but that time was not now. The fight wasn’t over yet. Applejack forced herself to ignore the remains around her and focus on Discord. It was nearly impossible and she caught herself glancing about.

Several feet away lay a purple unicorn. The horn, the source of her magic, was gone from her head and instead was embedded in her chest. What had once given her life meaning, had ended it. Blood still poured from the wound, but there was no heartbeat to help it.

Beyond that, now dead, was a chimera. A few tufts of pink mane still hung from its jaws. They hadn't stopped it in time. The Stare hadn't worked.

The pink pony had been right. You could explode twice. It had been a final joke that instead of flesh and blood, she had turned into confetti. It would had been amusing if it hadn't also meant her death.

Behind her sat the only pony left intact, though calling her a pony anymore wouldn't be accurate. Standing there was a white stuffed doll with an indigo mane of yarn and a floppy horn on its head. It was about the size of a two year old foal. It just sat there with dull glass eyes.

It had now been moved to the side, but the orange earth pony’s eyes were drawn the cracked cement block with a bloody mass and shards of bone on it in the center of a large indentation. A Sonic Rainboom-powered tackle had been a good idea until Discord has simply moved the solid object in the way. Now her best friend was Rainbow Splat.

And to think that morning, she'd told her little sister, "Ah'll be back lickety split. Just gotta reseal Discord. It'll be easy as pah."

"And now it's down to you," Discord taunted the earth pony.

"Ah ain't afraid ah you," Applejack shot back. With an quick movement, she pulled off her gold necklace. "Ah still have the Elements on mah side."

"And how do you plan to wield all six? They can only stop me when all of them are used together by the right ponies. Didn't you learn that the last time?"

"But Ah don't need magic tah beat you. Ah just need the right weapon!" Applejack said, sneering. She held the necklace at hoof’s length.

In response, the orange apple gem in it began glowing. One by one, the two gems around the necks of her dead comrades, and the three sitting on their remains, glowed too. They pulled away from their owners' remains and began circling Applejack's Element. The six glowed bright white and merged into one.

The glow subsided, and in its place was an elegant golden blade. In the handle sat five gemstones, the purple magic, the blue laughter, the red loyalty, the green kindness, and the blue generosity, each shape was hidden from view. The final gem at the top was the orange gem of honesty. The blade itself was long, razor sharp and slightly curved. The handle long enough for two hooves, and wrapped in silk string that smoothed it out so the Elements were flush with the rest, leaving a diamond shaped area of them exposed.

The earth pony wielded it expertly in her hooves; swinging it about to test its weight and balance. It was a beautiful weapon. As Applejack swung the sword, it whistled to her satisfaction. Determined, she lowered herself into a combat stance and stared down Discord.

Applejack leaped at the draconequus, swinging the sword in her hooves. Discord barely moved out of the way as the blade sliced his horns off.

"That was a warnin'," Applejack growled, leveling the sword at him.

"That sword... I recognize that sword."

"Ah ain't the first Apple tah wield this sword. Ah'll beat yah just like mah ancestors."

"You are foolish to think you can defeat me. All of your predecessors tried and failed. What hope could you possibly have?"

"Through the blood of mah friends, this blade has become more powerful then you. Ah will defeat you, Discord."

"Then it's a good thing my new partner just returned," Discord sneered. Startled, Applejack turned around, but saw there was nopony there. Something hit her from behind, and suddenly she was falling.

She wasn't falling toward the ground, for that had disappeared, but the sensation was there. There was no wind either. The world around her had turned into a swirling black and white striped vortex. Applejack tumbled about this monochrome tunnel for what felt like ages before it opened up, revealing solid ground at last. Applejack hit it, and everything went black.

"Mah head..." Applejack groaned, rubbing her aching head. Everything was sore. Delicately she picked herself up and looked around to see where she had ended up. It looked... it looked like Manehatten, almost, except these buildings dwarfed even the big city. She couldn't even see the tops of some of them.

Where was she? If she were here, Twilight would know- but Twilight was dead. There would be time to mourn her friends, but now wasn't it. She would have to figure out where she was on her own.

It looked like a deserted alley. Applejack knew only two things. She had to get home, and she had to stop Discord. Looking around she saw her stetson hat laying a few feet away so she picked it up and placed it back where it belonged. Then she spotted the sword embedded in the pavement beneath her hooves.

She drew it forth with her teeth, but contemplated how she could carry it around. Surely she would stick out walking around everywhere with a gold sword in her mouth. As if in response to her desire, a black sheath formed around the blade and from it, a strap to secure it to her body. Satisfied, she slung it over her back so the blade rested between her shoulder blades and walked out of the alley to examine the city.

The first thing she encountered was a small glass ball that was giving off light. Curious, she examined it, not really noticing all the stares she was drawing. It wasn't a torch, she was sure of that. She had seen artificial lights before, but these didn't seem to have a magic power source. Finally, the eyes became too much and she moved on.

As she walked she felt less and less sure she had a clue where she was. Sure there were ponies, but they seemed... odd. They were wearing bizarre clothes, and the farm pony could hardly understand the words they spoke. Onward she marched; she could not be distracted from her mission.

The more she walked around this strange city, the more it felt slightly familiar too. There was something about the layout of the streets that created a sense of déjà vu. The feeling came to a head when she found something she could identify: a train station.

The train was unlike any she had ever seen. It was sleek, round, and made of steel, much unlike the colorful wooden one she had taken to Canterlot only that morning. All around the station various beings milled about, waiting for their train to arrive. As she entered the enclosed terminal, another strange thing, she found there were signs hanging from the ceiling. She examined them, and saw something that lifted her spirits.

"Ponyville: Track 2 - Now Boarding."

Excited, Applejack galloped over to the ticket booth to purchase a ticket. There wasn't even a line! She marched right up to the unicorn behind the counter. At least he was wearing somewhat familiar clothing.

"One ticket tah Ponyville, please," Applejack said, pulling out her bag of bits and placing a couple on the counter.

"What the hay is this?" the unicorn exclaimed. "I don't want your antiques, I want money."

"Sorry, must Ah left mah wallet at home," Applejack lied. Her face turned red and she backed away from the counter. Whah won't he take mah bits? she wondered to herself. Wherever she was, they clearly didn't accept bits. She would need to find a different way onto the train.

Applejack examined the trains inside the station, and noted the position of track 2, then walked out of the terminal. Calmly, so as not to attract attention, she walked down the street and onto a bridge farther down the line that spanned the four train tracks leaving the station. Then she waited.

After a few minutes a train began moving out of the station, much faster then she thought possible. Still, she waited until the right moment and leaped off of the bridge and landed on the train with a grunt. She prayed to Celestia that nopony heard that as she hunkered down and held on to the very smooth train as best she could. The train kept picking up speed until it was moving so fast, Applejack wondered if it was going to do a Sonic Rainboom. She was even forced to place her hat under herself so she could use both hooves to hang on.

Soon the train began leaving the tall buildings behind and Applejack could see the countryside. From her vantage point, she could see the city she was leaving was up high, maybe on a mountain, and far in the distance she could see a large town. She thought briefly about how its location seemed familiar, but had to stop looking as the train began entering a series of tunnels as it descended the mountain.

Applejack was jarred to attention as the train began slowing. Her legs had long ago fallen asleep. Once the train was moving slowly enough for her to stand up, she got up, replaced her hat, and looked over to see where they were.

The sign said Ponyville, but this couldn't be it. It was orders of magnitude larger. The wood and straw buildings were bizarre now. The white finishes were replaced with gray shingles and the roofs were covered in some sort of black tiles. All around town there were tall limbless trees with ropes connecting them together, and them to houses. Artificial lights were everywhere, even in the still bright twilight hours.

No, don't think about it.

"Where the hay am ah?" Applejack wondered. The train was going very slowly now, and ahead of it, Applejack could see a train station. She didn't want to stick around to see if they would check for pony's hitching a ride, so she jumped off at the earliest opportunity and quickly cleared the tracks.

Applejack began wondering around the strange Ponyville. It looked nothing like home. But it did. The streets were exactly the same.

"Maybe this is some parallel world or somethin'," she wondered, "like in all them science fiction books Apple Bloom likes."

If that were the case, she knew exactly where she could go to get help. Quickly she made her way through the crowded streets. The sheer number of ponies was staggering to her. Her Ponyville's population had only been a couple hundred, but there must have been that many just hanging around. Applejack had to force her way through, careful to not hurt anypony with the sword on her back, or to lose her hat.

Finally she came to what she was looking for. As different as it was, it was nice to see the old tree still standing. What had once been a nice big tree that served as the town library, now towered over the area. Everything was bigger, even the door. But it was still the tree house, and it was still called Golden Oaks Library.

Smiling, Applejack walked up and knocked on the door with her hoof. No pony answered it right away so she knocked again.

"Hello? Is anypony there? Ah need help!" she shouted.

Finally the door was opened, but it wasn't a pony inside. A purple scaled creature stood in the doorway, about twice the earth pony's height. A series of green plates ran down the length of it's back. This was a face she recognized.

"Spike?" she gasped.

If you like this story, you should check out some of my other works:

My tumblr, an alternate universe mixing MLP and Cyborg 009.

The Seven Tribes, a rather long fanfic that, like many stories, tries to explain the past.

Forever a Changeling, my new story starring Rainbow Dash as a changeling.

Night of the Werepony, what I consider to be my worst story, but it’s surprisingly popular. It’s just one chapter long.