Long ago, in a magical land, I Discord, lord of chaos, defeated the Elements of Harmony and their bearers. But, a foolish earth pony mare, wielding all six Elements in the form of a magic sword, continued to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung her into the future, where my chaos is law. Now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Discord.

Applejack was fed up with running. Her sides burned, her legs hurt, but she kept running. She had been running nearly constantly for two whole days according to the chaos clock, but it felt much, much longer.

She had long ago left the savanna and the elephants behind, but that wasn't why she was running. Not long after the elephants had given up the chase, something else had stepped in to push her on.

Suddenly there was a break in the trees, and Applejack was forced to jump so she didn't crash into a pony in her way. She hit the ground hard and looked around. There were about sixty or more ponies all around, now staring at her. They seemed to be in the midst of something, but Applejack had interrupted it. She couldn’t help but notice every last pony was a unicorn.

Just then, what had been chasing Applejack entered the area, revealing itself to be three large golems in the shapes of manticores. Everypony froze, even the golems stopped moving. Silently they surveyed the scene before them, then one spoke.

“Well, what do we have here,” it said in Discord’s voice. “Thank you very much for leading me here, Applejack. They might have gotten away with this if you hadn’t.”

“Aw horseapples,” one of the unicorns said. At once the various ponies began panicking, running around wildly. Some tried hiding, others just ran blindly.

“You should know better!” Discord said through the golem. It took a swipe at some of the unicorns, but Applejack wasn’t going to let it hurt them. She leaped into action, drawing her sword and slicing both its forelegs off. However, it kept moving, trying to bite the ponies instead. Applejack countered that by slicing its head off, but even that wasn’t enough. It began flailing about wilding, hitting the panicking unicorns with its bulk.

Right, Ah gotta hit the runes. Applejack jumped, dragging her sword along the golem’s body, marring the runes on its metal hide. At once it stopped moving and fell limp.

Now she had to defeat the other two. They were busy terrorizing the helpless unicorns as they ran about. Whah don’t they just use their magic? Applejack intervened, hacking at the runes to quickly deactivate the golems.

The golems dispatched, Applejack sheathed her sword. Around her some ponies still ran about crying, even though the danger had passed. Now that she wasn’t running or fighting, she took some time to examine the area better.

In the middle of the open area was a stone platform embedded in the ground that was dumbbell shaped. On one end was a carved circle with runes around the edge that ran down the slender middle part to the other side that was almost all runes. In the center of this circle was a large crystal that gave off its own light. As distressed as the unicorns were, they were careful not to run on the stone.

“Sorry bout the mess,” Applejack said.

“Sorry?” one of the hiding unicorns shouted angrily. “You doom us all and you’re sorry? You bumbling idiot! We were so close! Now we’re going to be killed and it’s all your fault.”

“Shut it, Elusive!” another shouted back. “She had no way of knowing we were here any more than Discord. If anything, it’s your fault. You were supposed to make sure random ponies couldn’t stumble on us with your charms!”

“My charms are to stop golems and bandits, not random ponies!” the first shouted back.

“Look, Ah’m awful sorry Ah led them here. Ah didn’t know ya’ll were hiding here.”

“We’re not hiding, we’re leaving,” the second unicorn said.

“Look, Ah wanna make this right. Is there anyway Ah can help?” Applejack asked, ashamed she hadn’t just fought the golems earlier.

“What’s the point, Discord’s going to send in some super golems and kill us before we can leave,” a third unicorn said.

“Don’t give up yet!” the second unicorn said. “We almost have enough magic, we can go before they arrive.”

“Can somepony just tell me what’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked.

“Sorry, I’m Dusk Shine,” the second unicorn said. He was purple with a rather short blue mane. “This is Elusive Lulamoon;” he pointed to the first unicorn, a light blue pony with a pastel yellow mane, “and Twilight Sparkle;” the third unicorn, pink with a dark purple mane. Applejack blinked, but let the similar name pass as coincidence.

“We were attempting to escape Discord until you ruined it!” Elusive Lulamoon growled.

“Ah can tell yah were doin’ somethin’ but Ah don’t know the first thing ‘bout magic,” Applejack said, gesturing towards the runes.

“It’s the greatest spell ever devised!” Twilight Sparkle said. “A teleportation spell.”

“Uh... Ah’ve seen unicorns teleport all the time.”

“You must be from far away then. Discord’s power is too great here to teleport more than a few feet. However, we found a way around it,” Dusk Shine said. “We’ve been storing our magic in that gem there for years! It almost has enough stored up for the spell to work. We can’t hold much magic on our own, but that doesn’t stop the gem from holding as much as we need.”

“But Discord rules the world, where could yah teleport to that he doesn’t already rule, or yah could just walk to?”

“We’re not teleporting anywhere in the world,” Dusk Shine said, grinning. “We’re leaving it.”

“Now yer just talkin’ nonsense,” Applejack said. “Where yah gonna go? The moon?”

“We’ve spent a lot of time looking,” Elusive Lulamoon said. “We found a planet that is habitable to us. It’s about forty light years away. Discord will never reach us there.”

“Another planet? There are other planets?” Applejack said, confused.

“Well, duh. What, did you think the stars were just some giant painting?” Elusive Lulamoon retorted.

“Ah’m a farmer. If it don’t have tah do with growin’ plants, Ah don’t care.”

“Ignore him,” Dusk Shine said. “The point is, we’re going to use a teleportation spell to teleport us all to another planet far away. We should be able to leave before Discord can send his golems in to stop us.”

“How long ‘till yah can cast it?” Applejack asked.

“We’ll be ready tomorrow morning,” Twilight Sparkle said.

“Then Ah’ll stay here. If Discord tries stoppin’ yah, Ah’ll protect yah.”

“You’d risk your life for us?” Twilight Sparkle said, surprised.

“Seein’ as it’s mah fault Discord knows yah here, it’s only right Ah do.”

“Yeah, it is,” Elusive Lulamoon grumbled.

“Shut it, Elusive,” Dusk Shine said.

“If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to leave first thing in the morning,” Twilight said.

Suddenly, a swirling cloud of green smoke entered the clearing and flew over to Applejack before condensing into a scroll. She stared at it for a moment before opening it and reading the message.

“Dear Applejack,

Unfortunately, my contact didn’t have the runes I need. However, he was able to direct me to an ancient library that may hold the runes I’m looking for. I heard from Ocean how you saved Appleloosa. That’s incredible! I hope you’re having better luck than I.

Your friend

-Spike”

“Well then,” Applejack said, tucking the scroll away. “Say, do yah have any water? Ah ran out yesterday.”

“Right this way,” Dusk said.

The unicorns had settled down for the night. They sat about the campfire, talking excitedly about what tomorrow would hold for them. Applejack sat down next to Dusk, Twilight, and Elusive.

“I can’t wait to go!” Twilight said. “I wonder if there will be plants there already and if we can eat them.”

“We do have plenty of seeds, and our destination should be near some water,” Dusk replied.

“Yah really have this all thought through,” Applejack said.

“We’ve been preparing for years. Of course we prepared for everything,” Elusive said.

“So Applejack, where are you from?” Dusk asked.

“Ponyville,” Applejack replied.

“I’ve never been there. Is it nice?” Twilight asked.

“It was bahfore Discord got free,” Applejack replied. “Now it’s all weird.”

“What do you mean, before Discord?” Elusive asked.

“Ah fought Discord once,” Applejack said. “He couldn’t beat me, so he cheated. He sent me a thousand years into the future instead of fightin’.”

“You’re from the past?” Dusk asked.

“Let me see,” Elusive said. His horn glowed blue, casting a similar glow around Applejack. She felt a slight tingle as the magic washed over her, but she stayed still. “Hmm, it does appear as though your particles are temporally displaced. I wouldn’t put time manipulation out of Discord’s list of powers either.”

“And now Ah gotta get back in time so Ah can stop all this from happenin’.”

“Why didn’t you say so? We can send you back,” Elusive said suddenly.

“What? Really?” Applejack said excitedly.

“Yes. If you are on the right place on the spell matrix when it activates, the backlash from our teleportation will send you into the timestream. Since you do seem to be from the past, your particles will gravitate to when and where you are from,” Elusive explained.

“Can somepony say that in Equestrian?” Applejack asked the other two.

“If you stand on the right spot when we cast the spell, you’ll be sent back to your own time,” Dusk replied.

“Really? Yah sure?” Applejack said, very excited now.

“Well, no,” Twilight replied. “You might not go back to when and where you left.”

“You should end up close, both in terms of time and distance,” Dusk continued. “Though the longer you’ve been in our time, the farther you’ll end up from where you came from.”

“You may even end up before you left,” Elusive added.

“That would be nice,” Applejack said. “Stop Discord from killin’ mah friends.”

“So what was it like back then?” Dusk asked.

“Everythin’ was smaller,” Applejack answered. “There were no golems, and ponies only wore clothes fer special things.”

“I wonder if you knew our ancestors,” Elusive said. “I know Dusk and Twilight’s ancestors were from that area.”

“Actually Ah think Ah did. Ah knew it the second Ah heard yer name,” Applejack replied. “One ah mah friends was Twahlight Sparkle too. You’d have tah be from her brother's family though, she didn’t have any foals. Ah was actually there when Shinin’ Armor nearly married that changeling. Good thing Twahlight rescued the real Cadence.

“And Ah knew yers too, Elusive, her name was Trixie. She passed through Ponyville a couple times. An annoying bragger. Nearly got Ponyville destroyed cause ah the things she made up. No idea who she ended up with. Sorry, but Ah don’t have a clue about yers, Dusk.”

“Huh,” Elusive said.

“We’re brother and sister,” Dusk replied, gesturing to Twilight

“Well then,” Applejack said.

“It must be hard, being a thousand years in the future,” Twilight said.

“It was at first, but out here, away from the cities, it ain’t so bad. More like home yah know,” Applejack replied. “Plus, Ah got Spike. He’s a dragon who was alive bahfore Ah fought Discord.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a messenger dragon here. We couldn’t risk word getting back to Discord, and we’re not sure what kind of an effect being so far away from other dragons would have,” Dusk replied. “We’re not even sure what effect it will have on us, but we’ll find out. Better whatever comes from that then living under Discord for the rest of our lives.”

“Ah bet Spike would ah liked tah meet yah. He was Twilight’s assistant,” Applejack said. “So, bahfore tomorrow, Ah wanna know where exactly Ah gotta be tah go back.”

“We’ll be on one side, you just have to be on the other side,” Elusive said.

“What, just anywhere?” Applejack asked.

“I wouldn’t recommend standing right over the crystal, but anywhere is fine. Just be careful not to damage the runes,” Elusive instructed.

“Ah’ll be careful,” Applejack replied.

The four talked for several hours, about the past, about the future, and about their crazy idea.

Applejack was trying to get comfortable, but she couldn’t. The bed mat they had provided was just too comfortable for her. Unable to sleep, she got up and left the tent quietly. She was surprised to see Dusk Shine was awake as well. She trotted over and sat down next to him.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” Dusk said, looking up at the starry sky.

“Luna always made the night pretty,” Applejack replied.

“Who?”

Applejack didn’t respond right away. “Just somepony from mah time.”

“It’s so humbling,” Dusk said, still looking up.

“It looks like ah bunch ah dots tah me.”

“But it’s so much more. Just think, every one of those points of light is a star just like our sun.”

“That’s ah lot ah stars.”

“The great scientist Cosmos, once said, “There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand in all the beaches of the world.”.”

“Now Ah know yer makin’ stuff up.”

“Sure you can’t see them all, they’re too far away, but with a telescope... it’s amazing how small we are. Discord thinks he’s powerful, but he controls one world. There are easily a trillion, trillion stars. If just one percent has a planet, that’s still a billion trillion. If just one percent of one percent of that has life, that’s a thousand trillion planets with life. Any life. Then there’s intelligent life. Maybe on one percent of one percent of one percent. That’s still a million worlds with beings just like us. Looking up and wondering if there are worlds like their's out there. And we do the same.”

“So, what happens if when yah get there, there’s ponies there already?”

“There won’t be ponies,” Dusk replied. “But there could be life, we can’t really tell being this far away. The planet might not even be there. Remember, it’s forty light years away. What we see is how it was forty years ago. We have a few ideas on what to do if we do encounter intelligent life.”

“Huh. Make sure yah send me a postcard,” Applejack joked.

“We will try,” Dusk said. “Without Discord stunting our magic, we should be able to send things back with our collective power. No need for spell matrixes and crystals to store magic.”

“Ah just wanna go back tah pickin’ apples, instead ah fightin’ golems every other day,” Applejack said.

“The simple life is preferable,” Dusk agreed.

“Ah never thought Ah’d hear a unicorn say that.”

Everypony was jittering with anticipation. The crystal was charged, the spell was ready, and they were leaving Equestria behind. With quiet efficiency, they packed up the whole camp and piled everything on the stone slab, right in the carved circle. They were careful to have nothing overhanging the line.

Applejack had climbed a tree and sat in the branches. She would have liked to have helped, but Elusive had insisted she keep an eye out for any trouble. So, she closed her eyes and listened intently for anything.

The ponies were nearly done packing, and they were moving into the circle themselves. There wasn’t much room with all their belongings, so they simply climbed on top.

Something caught Applejack’s attention. In the distance, dozens of birds suddenly took flight. She got up and looked in that direction.

“See something?” Elusive asked, noticing her movement.

“Somethin’ spooked the birds. How soon can yah go?”

“The spell will take a minute or so to cast,” Elusive replied.

“Everypony on the circle now!” Dusk commanded. “Applejack, you’d better get in position, we don’t want to leave you.”

“Right,” Applejack said. She still couldn’t see what was coming. She jumped nimbly down from her perch and carefully walked onto the rune covered stone, walking gently so her horseshoes wouldn’t scratch anything.

“Everypony ready?” Dusk called.

“All present and accounted for,” Twilight called back.

“Activate the spell!” Elusive declared.

At once, the crystal began glowing brightly. It’s light poured out into the runes beneath Applejack’s hooves. Lines of white light replaced the gray carving.The light flowed over the whole matrix, finally encircling the eager ponies. A dome of energy began forming over them as the spell began working.

Then Applejack saw what was coming. It was the largest golem she had ever seen, and it resembled one of the things she hoped never to see again: a hydra.

“Uh oh,” Applejack said. She drew her sword. It was coming at them quickly. In a minute it would be upon them, unless somepony slowed it down.

“Applejack, it won’t reach us in time!” Dusk shouted.

“Ah can’t take that chance!” Applejack shouted back. She took a deep breath then jumped off of the stone slab. She would find another way back. She galloped off towards the golem.

“What is she doing? She won’t make it back in time,” Twilight cried.

“She knows that,” Dusk replied.

“We have to hold the spell until she get here!” Twilight said.

“We can’t,” Elusive replied. “We have to go now.”

“She’s made her choice. The most we can do now is honor it,” Dusk said. “Good luck, Applejack.”

Applejack charged the hydra golem head on, intent on landing a decisive first strike. It didn’t seem to notice her as she galloped up to it and started running up its outstretched leg. She jumped when the slope became too great for her to climb, and she swung at the hydra, slicing one of its metal heads off.

It slammed to the ground, useless now and the remaining three turned to her.

“Good thing it ain’t a real hydra,” Applejack said, glad it hadn’t grown more heads. This one was different than the golems she had fought before. It seemed Discord had wised up; the runes were not visible on the outside of its body.

The three heads attacked her now, trying to bite her. Applejack was forced to dodge as her sword was simply too small to block them. She couldn’t keep up with three hydra heads, and one finally got her. It clamped down, holding her in its cage like jaws. It raised its head up, allowing Applejack one more look at the forest. She saw the bright flash of light as the unicorns’ spell activated. Then the hydra tipped its head back and she tumbled down it’s metal throat.

Applejack grunted in pain as she hit the bottom of its neck. She could tell she bruised something, but that was the least of her worries. She was still sliding downwards towards the end of the metal tube she was in. She held her sword tightly as she came out the end. She quickly stabbed it into the wall as she fell, giving herself a place to hold onto.

Below her, where the hydra’s organs would be, was a pool of glowing ooze. Applejack had no intention on finding out what it would do to a pony like her, so she held onto her sword tightly. She gritted her teeth and hoisted herself up. It was hard, her hooves found little purchase in the slick neck, but she dug in her shoes and managed to secure herself. Then she retrieved her sword.

“It weren’t a good idea tah eat me,” Applejack said, mostly to herself. “Yah can’t stop me in here.” She looked out over the pool of ooze, trying to see if she could see any of the runes controlling the golem. She spotted some on the far side of the body, but she couldn’t reach them from where she was.

Smirking, Applejack simply swung the sword in an arc, slicing through the neck she was in. It fell away, creating a window to the outside. She could see the two remaining heads looking in at her. She kept smirking as she climbed out of the neck and used the slice she had made to climb onto the hydra’s back.

The two heads lunged at her, but she ignored them. Instead, she galloped along the golem’s back, dragging her sword through the metal. The hydra stopped moving before she reached the end.

With a mighty crash, it collapsed to the ground. For good measure, she stabbed it several more times. It had ruined her chance to go back!

Applejack strode back to the rune circle. Even if she had missed it, surely another group of unicorns could recharge the spell and allow her to go home. She sighed in dismay when she reached it. The gem that had powered it was no more, broken into a million shards. She laid down and sulked. She had been so close!

There was a flash of light in the center of the circle, and a small notebook appeared. Curious, Applejack got back up and strode over to examine it. It seemed to be one of the unicorn's books, so she opened it. Inside the cover, was a list of signatures, one from every pony that had just vanished.

Still curious, Applejack kept turning pages until she got past all the names. There she found a message for her.

"Dearest Applejack,

We cannot begin to thank you for your sacrifice. We arrived safely, and are now building a new home. The local wildlife is friendly, but we haven't encountered anything intelligent yet. They are completely unlike anything in Equestria, but that was expected. This is likely going to be the only thing we will be able to send back. It took all of our magic to send this to you, and we can only hope this comes back near the time and place we left.

You have no doubt noticed that the magic storage gem is destroyed. This too was expected; there was no way it could have survived the magical discharge. But do not despair, there may be another way to send you home. If you can get a new gem, and make a spell matrix with the right runes, it will be possible. In this book, we have included diagrams for just such a spell, but finding a new gem will be up to you. We wish you the best of luck.

-The inhabitants of Ursa 2"

“Well, that works,” Applejack said, putting the letter away. She took out the chaos clock instead. “Ah don’t suppose yah can show me the way to a gem Ah can use?”

Applejacks’ face lit up as the needle spun once before pointing off in one direction. Things were going to work out anyway. She double checked the clock’s direction, then headed off, leaving the spell matrix behind.

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.