Applejack slammed her hooves against the tough bark which caused the apples above to fall like rain into her basket. She looked up towards the trees and gave a sigh of appreciation. The orchard was more beautiful than ever today, and the apples glistened like stars with the morning dew.
It had been a couple days since Trixie and Maxie had been in Ponyville. Fascinated gossip turned to mere chatter since their departure and everypony had gone back to working like nothing changed.
“APPLEJACK!!”
She turned her head to the source of the sound and spotted a very cross-looking Rainbow Dash floating over her.
“Well howdy Rainbow,” she said, kicking the tree again. “Great day we’re havin’, ain’t it? Why ya here?”
“The better question is, why are YOU here??” Rainbow slowly drifted downward and stopped right above Applejack, hovering a few feet away.
“What are ya talkin’ about, sugarcube?”
“I’m talking about you saying you needed me today!” She flew straight into Applejack’s face, meeting her gaze. “I waited for three hours in Ponyville for you, and you never showed up!”
Applejack gave her a confused look. “What in the hay are you talkin’ about? I never asked ya for anythin’.”
“You asked me two days ago to help you with something in Ponyville. You told me to meet you in the town square today and you never showed up!”
“I did no such thing.”
“I can clearly remember you with your muddy hat and southern accent. It’s not that hard to remember, sugarcube.” She mocked Applejack’s voice on the last word.
“I don’t remember askin’ ya for anythin’.”
“Well, you did!!”
“I did not!”
“Hmph.” Rainbow moved back, crossing her front legs and looking at Applejack displeasingly. “Sounds like a liar to me.”
“LIAR?!” Applejack glared at Rainbow. “Of all your friends to call a liar, you throw the most honest one under the wagon?”
“Well, you’re not being honest now!” Rainbow flew into her face again, glaring into her eyes.
“Rainbow, on my honor, I am speaking words of truth!” Applejack glared back at her, the intensity sparking between them.
“Maybe through your false teeth!”
“I’m tellin’ the truth!!”
“You are not!!!”
“Hey darlings,” Rarity said as she encountered the two ponies. “What’s going-”
“Hmph.” Rainbow got out of Applejack’s face and flew away, leaving a cross orange mare in her wake.
“Well, what was that fuss about?” Rarity asked.
Applejack turned back to bucking trees. “It’s nothin’, Rarity.”
“Are you sure, sweetie?”
“Course I am. Whatcha need?”
Rarity looked into her eyes, concern etched on her face. “Well, I was going to ask you if you could help me with a dress I was making, but seeing this awful confrontation...”
“It’s ok Rarity,” Applejack gave her a sweet smile. “I’d be happy to help.”
“Oh, thank you ever so much Applejack,” Rarity gave a big smile. “Come to my boutique whenever you have the time. Au revoir!” At that, Rarity turned around and left.
Applejack continued to buck some more apples before she left, thinking about what Rainbow had said. ‘Callin’ me a liar,’ she thought. ‘The nerve of that pony...’
-----
“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity asked. “Can you please go grab me some ribbon?”
“You’re really letting me help you sis?”
“Of course, sweetie.”
“ALRIGHT!!!... Umm... Where is the ribbon?”
“Oh silly.” Rarity chuckled at her sister’s confusion. “I’ll get it.”
Rarity walked to her shelves and grabbed the orange ribbon. “Do you think you could go fetch me some water?”
“Of course sis! I’ll be a... Umm... ‘Water Fetcher’!” She scurried out of the room, leaving a high-spirited Rarity to giggle at the young filly’s enthusiasm.
‘Sweetie Belle sure is growing up,’ Rarity thought. ‘I wonder what will happen to all this excitement when she finds her cutie mark. Hopefully it will continue through and through.’ She went back to her sewing, weaving the ribbon carefully through the dress.
Rarity was surprised, to say the least. Many days she had at least one customer an hour, and her boutique was usually bustling with action. Today, she had no customers at all. Rarity did recall seeing a couple ponies arguing across from her boutique, and another couple when she went outside to get her mail. She noted that tension was high between ponies in town, but she paid no heed to it, not wanting to barge into other ponies problems.
“Hey sis! Applejack is here to see you!”
Rarity turned around and saw Sweetie Belle with Applejack by her side. She smiled towards the farmer and received a smile back.
“Thank you sweetie.” She levitated the glass of water from Sweetie Belle and took a sip. “So, what can I do for you today, Applejack?”
Applejack gave her a quizzical look. “What? You asked me to come over here, remember?”
Rarity returned AJ’s look with a puzzled look of her own. “I don’t ever recall asking for you, my dear.”
“You went to my farm earlier today an’ asked me to help with your dressmakin’.”
“Darling, I’ve been here all day taking care of Sweetie Belle. I never left the boutique.”
“Rarity, I’m sure I saw you!”
Rarity shook her head. “I’m sorry Applejack, but I’m telling the truth, even ask Sweetie Belle.” She gestured to the little filly, who responded with a rapid nod of her head.
“Ugh!” Applejack turned around to head out. “First Rainbow calls me a liar, then you waste my time.”
“Wait, Rainbow Dash called you a liar? What happened?”
“Like you wouldn’t know.”
“I honestly don’t know Applejack. What happ-”
Applejack swung around and faced Rarity. “You saw me and Rainbow fight! I talked to ya! I know that you went to my farm Rarity, I saw you!!”
Rarity gave her a stern look. “I swear that I did not leave this boutique, and I definitely did not go to your farm, Applejack.”
“Hmph. I’m done playin’ games. I need to go actually do some work.” Applejack left her room and headed downstairs to leave. Rarity turned back to her work, trying to keep her composure.
“Hey Applejack!” came a voice from downstairs. “What’s going on?”
*SLAM*
Twilight appeared through the door, concern spread across her face.
“Hi Rarity. Is something wrong with Applejack?”
“She had a fight with Rainbow Dash earlier today, then fought with my sis,” Sweetie Belle said, before getting a puzzled look on her muzzle. “I think.”
Rarity gave a stern look to the young filly, implying that that conversation was over. “It’s nothing my dear. What brings you here to my boutique?”
Twilight’s concern twisted her face into a frown. “I was going to ask you if you could help me with a spell, but I can go ask another pony if need be.”
“I can do that,” she said, threading a dress through the sewing machine. “When do you need me?”
“Actually, forget about it. I don’t need to do it today.” Twilight turned around and headed for the door.
“No, it’s quite alright Twilight,” she tried to reassure the purple unicorn with a smile.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, my dear. Am I not the element of generosity?” She batted her eyelashes, showing off her beautiful sapphire eyes.
“Well, alright. Thank you for helping me Rarity. Come by my library when you have the time.” Twilight showed a slight smile and walked downstairs.
“Sis?”
“What is it, Sweetie Belle?”
“If both you and Applejack were telling the truth, then who is telling the lie?”
Rarity thought about this question for a second. With nothing coming to mind, she shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
-----
Spike rushed around the library, looking for the book Twilight requested. He finally found it, laying next to “Old Teachings Taught by the Old Teachers”, and brought it to her.
“Thank you Spike,” she responded, levitating the book to her stand.
“If I may ask Twilight, why do you need ‘Ancient Spells of Ponymorphic Proportions’?” Spike asked.
“Because,” Twilight answered, turning her head to the small dragon. “That Maxie character intrigued me a lot on how he performed those spells and his talents. I want to try and figure out how he became so knowledgeable.”
Spike’s mouth grew into a smirk as he tried to contain a laugh.
“Or... Maybe it’s because you like him?”
Twilight turned around, her purple cheeks turning a rosy indigo. “Honestly Spike, I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Spike stifled a laugh and went back to cleaning the strewn books on the floor. Twilight attempted to read the book, but the thought of Maxie’s powers kept invading her space, causing her to drift out of focus.
“Spike,” yelled Twilight. “I’m going to make something to eat. Do you want anything?”
“No thanks,” came the response. Twilight shrugged and went to the kitchen. She levitated ingredients over a pot of water for soup and dropped them in surprise from the doorbell.
“Hey Spike, can you get the door? I’m kinda busy.”
“Sure thing!” The scratching of dragon claws reassured her of his task being completed.
“Hello? Oh, h-h-hi R-r-ra-rar-ohh.” Twilight overheard a body collapsing on the floor and rushed into the room. Rarity stood at the door, confused at the dragon’s reaction to her appearance. Sweetie Belle stood next to her, just as confused.
“Why hello Rarity. What happened to Spike?”
Rarity looked up at Twilight and smiled. “Greetings Twilight. He passed out right as he opened the door, almost as if he saw a ghost.”
‘More like Cupid,’ thought Twilight to herself, and she chuckled. “Alright. So what is the occasion? Need a designer’s book?”
Rarity laughed. “No, silly. I’m here to help you with a couple spells, remember?”
“I don’t remember asking you anything.”
Rarity blinked and slightly laughed again. “Of course you did, dear. You came by my boutique earlier today. Even Sweetie Belle saw you.” At this, Sweetie nodded her head.
Twilight shook her head. “I never went to the boutique today. Even ask Spike.”
“She didn’t,” came the faint, muffled response.
“But I saw you!” Rarity exclaimed, her voice hinting confusion and irritation. “I saw you come through my door and ask me to help you.”
Twilight shook her head again. “I’m sorry Rarity. Maybe you were mistaken because you were working?”
“How can I be mistaken? You’re one of a kind!”
“Well, in this world, yes. But in other worlds and dimensions, there could be several versions of m-”
“UGH!” Rarity threw her head up in disbelief. “This doesn’t make any sense. Applejack gets in a fight with Rainbow Dash, then comes and explodes at me, and now you’re saying that I’m lying? I told myself to stay out of affairs, and now I know why. I don’t have time for this.” Rarity stormed out of the library.
“Rarity, wait!” yelled Twilight as she ran outside, only to receive silence from the angered mare. Sweetie Belle hopped out of the library to follow Rarity.
“Sweetie Belle, can I ask you a question?”
Sweetie stopped mid-hop and spun towards Twilight. “Sure thing Twilight! What’s up?”
“Umm... What happened with your sister? And what was she talking about?”
Sweetie’s grin faded a little as she thought over the day. “Well... Applejack went to my sister’s boutique earlier today and said that my sis was at the farm when she wasn’t. Then AJ said something about... Umm... Rainbow Dash being mad at her. Then you arrived.”
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity’s stern voice called for her sister. “Let’s go!”
“Coming sis!” Sweetie smiled towards Twilight, told her goodbye, and hopped off towards the boutique.
Twilight pondered what the filly said as she opened the door, only to find a peeping Spike. Twilight gave a slight smirk when she saw the dragon.
“And who was saying something about ‘liking’ other ponies?”
Spike blushed. “I-I wasn’t stalking, I was listening to you and Sweetie Belle.”
Twilight’s smirk quickly faded. “Speaking of which, isn’t that strange? I mean, that ponies are where they aren’t? It’s physically impossible!”
“Impossible? I wouldn’t say impossible. Maybe they did lie to each other?”
“But Spike. I wasn’t lying, and you know I wasn’t. Something deeper than what we think is happening.”
Spike shrugged his shoulders and walked off. “Maybe they saw another pony and was mistaken.”
Twilight thought upon what Spike said. “Maybe they did see another pony,” she said, “and he was disguised...”
She decided on going to Applejack’s farm to try and figure out all the confusion. She turned around to head out the door, and got her face slammed by Snips and Snails, who had barged through.
“Hey guys,” yelled Snails. “Where are you? We have an announcement to make.”
“Right here,” mumbled Twilight from behind the door, sliding slowly to the floor. Once she regained her composure, she glanced to the two colts, still recovering from her head injury as she placed a hoof on it. “This better not be an announcement that Pinkie is having an ear flop, eye-flutter, knee-twitch.”
The two colts gave weird looks to Twilight.
“What...?” asked Snips, before shaking his head rapidly. “Never mind that, we have to come quick!”
“Let me guess...” groaned the impatient mare. “Is it Trixie?”
“Eh hehe... Not exactly,” replied Snips.
“Maxie?”
“Not him either.”
“Well then tell me!” The stress of the situation finally got to Twilight as she glared at the two colts.
Snips jumped back, startled to see this side of Twilight. Snails stood still, blankly staring at her, and said, “Princess Celestia has come to Ponyville to make an announcement.”
Twilight couldn’t control herself. Angered at what was going on, she took a couple steps towards Snails.
“You better not be joking with me,” she said. “I have too many problems going on right now to take any jokes. Is Celestia really here in Ponyville?”
“Yes,” replied Snails, with a nod from Snips reassuring the answer.
Without another word, Twilight galloped outside, headed towards the main plaza.
‘There is no way Princess Celestia can be here,’ she thought. ‘She wouldn’t come unannounced, at least not to me.’
-----
Twilight arrived at the town square to find a crowd had already formed outside of a roughly built stage. Ponies murmured amongst themselves as Twilight took a look at her surroundings and walked through the crowd. She finally found Applejack on the outskirts of the audience, her legs crossed in her normal fashion and her hat hung low on her head.
“Hi Applejack,” Twilight said as she approached the mare, receiving a slight tip of the hat for acknowledgement. “What’s going on?”
“Apparently the princess is makin’ an appearance today to talk about somethin’ important,” said Applejack. “Of all days to come though, she had to choose today.”
“You mean about Rarity and Rainbow?” Twilight asked.
Applejack nodded. “Them ponies think I lied to them. Me! The Element of Honesty!” She scoffed at the thought and moved her hat over her muzzle.
Twilight didn’t know what else to say, so she just watched the stage until it was time for the announcement.
Princess Celestia walked onto the stage, her wings extended and looking as graceful as always. To Twilight’s surprise, she had no accompanying fanfare or guards around her as she made her entrance.
“Greetings everypony,” she said, her voice carrying like the wind. “I apologize for the sudden appearance here, but I have a confession to make to all of you, especially for you little ponies who have had recent quarrels with others as of late.”
Quiet murmurs of concern started spreading through the crowd, wondering what the princess meant by a confession. Twilight turned her head to Applejack to see her hat was tilted upward in curiosity, her eyes trained on the princess.
Princess Celestia looked out over the crowd, and a slight smile grew across her face.
“I see you’re all wondering how I know this. Well, to be honest, I am not who you think I am.”
She flapped her wings and raised herself above the stage, the crowd watching with confused eyes. Her horn started to glow, and she was surrounded by a bright light for a brief second. Everypony except Twilight shielded their eyes from the light. Twilight knew who it was, and watched the spectacle from start to finish.
When the flash had dimmed, everypony looked back to the stage to see a black stallion standing in the steed of Celestia. The crowd started to groan and complain, and turned to head back to their homes.
“Wait everypony,” Maxie yelled out, trying not to sound desperate. “Please don’t go. If I hadn’t been Princess Celestia, you would have not come here to hear my confession.”
“What confession are you talking about?” yelled a cream-colored mare, a cross look across her face. “I have better things to do, like ignore my friend, than to listen to you, so if this doesn’t concern me, I’m going to be on my way.” She turned around and started walking off.
“Actually...” came a pleasant voice from the stage, causing everypony to turn back around. “It concerns all of you.”
The cream colored mare turned around and covered her mouth with her hooves, almost bursting into tears when she saw the mint-colored unicorn standing on the stage, looking straight at her. A simple flash and Maxie turned back into his own self.
“Now,” he announced proudly, knowing he had the audience’s attention. “Here is my confession. Since my visit with my sister, I have been hiding in and around the town, changing into ponies and doing little things for my own amusement. I had done this in previous towns we visited, and nothing serious ever happened. It always ended in fun, and so I never noticed what I was doing.”
He hung his head, looking down at the ground in sorrow.
“I knew that this town was hit hardest on Trixie’s visits, but in my mind I didn’t think that was a problem, so I went ahead with my shenanigans. After a couple days, I noticed friends arguing, ponies in bad tempers, and overall terrible behavior, and I knew I had caused it all.”
His eyes started to water, getting to the hard part of his confession. Twilight noted how brave he was to accept facts and how truthful he was being, even though she knew he had done it.
“I finally decided I had to stop,” he said. “But I didn’t know how to make it right. I figured that if a visit from the princess would get this town wrecked in a matter of minutes, a sudden appearance would have everyone in the town come to hear the announcement. From there, I was actually unsure of where to go, but here we are now.”
He looked towards the crowd, meeting everyone’s eyes. He stopped at Twilight and gave her a smile, causing her to blush a little. Applejack simply scoffed and continued watching him.
“So, now that you know what has happened, I can now say that I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I went into your personal lives, I’m sorry if I messed with you, and I hope you all will accept my apology.”
He stood on the platform and bowed to the audience in a genuine fashion, then walked off. Ponies started to drift apart, some off to their homes and others to the stage. Applejack had already gone off, so Twilight walked towards the stage. She went around the back and found Maxie talking to Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack. After he stopped talking, the three mares gave him a hug in comfort and walked off. Twilight decided that this would be a good time to talk with him, so she walked up next to him.
“I’m glad your friends are so forgiving,” he said, a slight smile on his face as they watched the three mares walk off. “I was dreading a decline of my apology, especially from Applejack.”
“Well,” she replied, looking towards him. “You definitely did what was not expected from your sister, so I guess they knew that you were genuine with it.”
Maxie looked back at her, his silver eyes shined with welled-up tears. “I assume you knew what was going on once Rarity went to your house, right?”
She nodded her head. “I didn’t understand at first, but after a little thinking I figured it out.”
Maxie closed his eyes and nodded, turning his head back to the town. “When I did this trick in other towns, like Manehattan and Canterlot, I would show myself after I did the joke so they knew it was for fun. It all ended in good fun, even for those ponies. I used Ponyville for a test to see what happens if I didn’t show myself, mainly for the fact that Ponyville is not as hoity toity as the other towns. You can see as clear as I can that the results weren’t what I expected.”
“But that’s what experiments are for, and at least you learned that some things don’t work and that others do.”
He nodded his head again. “Indeed. Good thing you are such a good student.” He turned his eyes towards her and winked. She turned her head back to the town, blushing again.
“I must be off,” he said as he faced her. “My sister probably has gotten halfway to home at this point, and I don’t want her to get into too much trouble on the way.”
He gave her a kiss on the cheek, turning her rosy blush into an indigo facial. He smiled at her and covered himself in his cloak, disappearing in a flash and leaving a dove in his wake. Twilight watched the dove fly off, putting her hoof on her cheek and smiling.
-----
“So girls,” Twilight said. “You ready to write the letter?”
“Mhmm,” replied Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“Spike, take a note please.”
“Alrighty,” replied Spike, pulling out a pen and scroll paper.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” started Applejack. “It’s great to have friends, especially when your friends like to help you and others out.”
“But,” continued Rarity. “If your friend says that something is not true, you should take them for their word, even if it sounds preposterous.”
“Otherwise,” Rainbow Dash retorted. “You’ll end up with crummy friendships, and that’s no good.”
“Signed,” Applejack finished. “Your Loyal Subjects.”
After Spike sent the letter with a glittery flame, the four friends exchanged goodbyes and left the library, leaving the purple unicorn to go back to her studies. She raised her feathery pen and started writing.
“Hey Spike, could you bring me a book please?”
With no response, she turned around, her pen still writing.
“Spike? You there?”
Her gaze fell on the dragon clutching his stomach and a note magically appearing from his mouth.
“A response already?” she exclaimed, raising the scroll to her face. “That was fast.”
Pushing the thought that the scroll looked different than usual out of her mind, she began to read out loud.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle, I hope that you are well. It’s been a couple of days since we last spoke, but this couldn’t wait much longer. I’m actually about to start traveling on my own, and wouldn’t have access to give you this.”
She gave a quizzical look to Spike, who only shrugged. She decided to continue reading.
“The fact is, you gave me inspiration to try this on my own without my sister, so for that I thank you. I even have a stage name, and I find it brilliant if I do say so myself. Maxiemillion Galactica... Yeah, that’s a good name.”
She smirked at this with Spike trying to contain a chuckle. She continued reading.
“But I digress. I hope you are doing well, and maybe I’ll visit Ponyville on my travels. We can get together and talk about a multitude of things, and maybe even try pranking your friends, if you so wish. Anyways, that’s all I got left to say. Hope to see you later. Sincerely yours, Maxiemillion Galactica, a.k.a Maxie.”
“P.S. I included a perfect fire ruby for Spike in the next delivery, in apologies for the big package.”
When she finished reading, she turned her head to see Spike clutching his stomach again and groaning a bit. He let out a gigantic flame, causing Twilight to jump behind her hatrack in surprise. When the flame died down, a book and a fire ruby laid in its wake. Spike went straight for the ruby and ran upstairs, trying to find his jewel tuner to see if Maxie was correct. Twilight smirked at his excitement and levitated the book, reading the title aloud.
“‘The Peculiar Practice of Ponymorphy.’ So this is what he used to learn how to do those spells.”
She flipped the book around to see that it was a good sized book; at least 4000 pages if her calculations were correct. ‘This’ll be a good read,’ she thought and put it on her stand, moving the paper she was writing to the side.
“Oh no you don’t Owlowiscious! I know you’ll try and eat my jewel!”
Twilight tuned her ears above her, listening to the conversation happening upstairs.
“Who?” replied Owlowiscious.
“You! You’ll try and eat my jewel, but it’s mine!”
“Who!”
“Me, Spike!”
“Who?”
“URRRGHH!!!”
Twilight chuckled and shook her head, not believing Spike still falls for that trick. She also thought about why Maxie sent it now, why he couldn’t send it later, and why he did this anyways.
‘But enough of that,’ she thought. She flipped open the book, excited to see what was inside, and saw that it was a lot of text and ancient writing.
“Oh boy,” she said. “This is going to be a long night.”