A Mile in Their Horseshoes

by Kumei

Who am I?

A Mile in Their Horseshoes

Prologue: Who am I?

Twilight lay in bed, restlessly tossing and turning in her bed sheets as the sun dared to think about peeking its first glimmering rays of sun over the land, brightly painting the eastern horizon in a splendid orange glow. “Mmm, just five more minutes, Princess,” she mumbled, thinking not for the first time she was back with the Princess in her studies.

Many moments passed before Twilight bolted upright, tossing all of the covers every which way as she did so, and sensed that something was very, very wrong. Just the act of opening her eyes confirmed her suspicions, for while she was in a cozy, wooden room, she didn’t have the same view out of her window. This room also seemed a little more, well rustic, really. There was a harness sitting on a chair, a rope draped in neat coils over it, and… well all in all it looked like Applejack’s room.

Once again, the confused mare jolted, this time out of the bed. When she landed, she caught a glimpse of orange as her head dipped from the impact. Twilight looked down, and noted with a growing concern that she had been the source of the orange. “Oh, hahah, it must just be the sunrise… giving me this color… right?” As the words left her mouth, her concern continued to rise.

She had come to realize that her voice was off. Not as though she had a case of the sniffles, or even like she had spent the whole night crying, but the voice that left her mouth was truly not her own.

With a growing sense of dread, Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic and personal protégé to the Princess of Equestria, tried desperately to deny her situation, surely what she thought had happened could only be impossible, the things of legend? But had the Mare in the Moon not also been impossible, merely a legend, those meager few years ago?

With an exasperated sigh, the lone mare steeled her resolve and gazed icily into the mirror.

The cool, silver portal showcased a near-perfect representation of the room, but Twilight didn’t focus on the perfect crystal surface, for all she saw were those eyes. Eyes staring into her, into her very soul, for that eternity, the only thing in her life were those cold, calculating pools of pitch, nigh devoid of glint, almost threatening to eat her alive. Those icy, terrible, soul sucking orbs contrasted vastly by an outlying sea of emerald, deep and true.

After a few seconds, the figure reflected in that cruel portal to the twisted reality almost jumped, but remarkably kept it’s calm. The figure began studying her, like she were a petty thing to be researched, some hitherto undiscovered, unremarkable genus of pony.

The figure had the shape of a pony, a mare in fact, with a straw colored mane that seemed to have seen better days and a matted orange coat that was certainly not unacquainted with hard work. At the ends of each of the figures’ lethal, muscular legs were thick hooves that could probably shatter boulders.

By this point, Twilight had been holding back a cry of terror, and was slowly becoming consumed by it. In fact, after several consecutive aeons of being studied as though wholly insignificant, she heard a scream that seemed terrified to be heard. She was surprised to see that it was this cold, murderous figure in the horrible nether realm that had been staring into her.

Then she collapsed, for she finally accepted what she had suspected since shortly after she jolted out of her bed. She had become her friend Applejack.

Twilight – Applejack – whoever she was, slowly stood up. She decided upon a goal for the day. Several in fact. One of which would be not to let on what she thought was happening, and another being that she had to find a way to the Ponyville Library, if nothing else she might find that she hadn’t changed. The she that was still her body, not the she that was planning.

“Augh, this is more confusing than I thought…” Twilight – for she’d decided to make things simple – mumbled softly to herself.

It was right about then that there was a knock at her door, a little close to the ground and not that loud, followed by a hyperactive fillies voice that could only have been Apple Bloom, “Hey sleepy-head! Git outta bed already an’ git on over t’ the table! Ah’m starvin’ an’ Granny says Ah can’t eat ‘til everypony is there! Ya didn’t spent all night starin’ at yer marefriend Twilight again, did ya?”

Twilight stood silently for a few moments, stunned at the last bit of that. She didn’t need to respond though, as she heard Granny Smith calling, scolding really, from a few rooms over. “Eh don’t ya be takin’ that tone witchyer sister, young lady! Ah thought Ah learned ye ta keep quiet ‘bout that! We may not understand her motives, but Ah’ll not have mah family passin’ judgement on isself fer…”

What came next could lightly be described as a slumbering dragon deep within a cave, but was probably just Granny Smith falling asleep at the table.

“I-Ah’ll be right out! Ah just, uh, shoot, lemmie just run a brush through mah mane afore I come out! Ah’ll not be but a minute!” Twilight called in her best Applejack impression, and doing rather well indeed. Just as her friend had helped her fill in the voice for the protagonist in many a sultry book, so had those books helped her impersonate her friend. Or so she hoped.

If nothing else, she had an Apple Family Breakfast to look forward to, and then she could make an excuse to go to Ponyville, maybe something about needing Twilight’s… about needing her… Then again nopony would bat a lash at Applejack bringing apples to Ponyville, so surely that would be a good enough excuse.

Why was cross consciousness so hard?

Author's Note:

Eeyup. Here it is. First official Chapter, but, I don't know when the next one will happen. I'll try to keep it to no longer than a month per chapter, but not gonna promise anything. I've had another story swimming in my head, and it's been kicking my behind on making progress here. No apologies, though, I'm excited for the possibilities of both of these.