A blurry figure came into view and Twilight groaned as she tried to focus. While Twilight continued to try and clear her hazy mind, a familiar voice came to her.
“Twi...oka...ah…” The orange blob continued to talk to the dazed draconequus.
“Whaaa…?” Twilight slurred, rubbing the repeatedly abused lump on her head. Before she could come up with another dazed response a surge of ice-cold water splashed all over her face and she blubbered and cried out in surprise.
“Bout time you woke up. Are you feeling alright, Sugarcube?” the blurry orange figure revealed to be Applejack said with a tone that mixed annoyance and concern.
“Applejack? Oooh, my head… I think I hit the tree headfirst…” Twilight groaned, rubbing her sore horns.
“Ah’m not sure how you ended up here, but ah should be glad you did. Now you can help me get that no good snake Discord to fix what he did to both of us,” Applejack finished with a growl.
“Both of us? What are you talking about Appleja-AH!” Twilight gave a cry of surprise when she saw that Applejack was also a draconequus.
“Eeyup, ah was gonna buck him in the head for what he did to mah families stock the other day. Today? Ah’m gonna tie him to a tree and use him as bucking practice!” Applejack said vehemently, Twilight jumped a little bit when she saw Applejack snort literal flames out of her nostrils in frustration.
“A-Applejack?! He did this to you too?!” Twilight said struggling to her hindlegs but ended up grabbing the tree next to her for balance. Twilight noted with a small hint of jealousy that Applejack seemed to be standing on her hind legs without much issue.
“Eeyup, and ah assume to the rest of us as well…” Applejack nodded solemnly.
“I don’t understand! Turning an Alicorn into a draconequus is already inconceivable, but an earth pony? The internal magic ley lines for such a conversion from non-caster to caster should be impossible! No offense,” Twilight said, geeking and panicking at the same time.
“It’s fine,” Applejack dismissed.
“If this has happened to all of us then we need to get the girls and find Discord,” Twilight said trying to stand up straight but her lengthy body just wobbled and she fell face-first into the ground. “Darn it, I had this back at the castle, how are you standing so easily Applejack? I'm the one who’s stood on two legs before,” Twilight said, annoyed which got a chuckle out of Applejack.
“Let’s just say we Apple family have a strength at our core that helps us adapt anytime. This isn’t actually the weirdest stance ah’ve taken.” Applejack said smugly.
“It isn’t?” Twilight said shocked.
“Eenope, once ah lost a bet with Mac and ah had to go a whole day on one hoof,” Applejack said with a sense of pride.
“Wow, that’s actually impressive- we’re getting off track!” Twilight said shaking her head, realizing they were getting distracted.
“Agreed, we need to find the others.” Applejack nodded
“And we need to do so carefully, we’re in an altered state where the most sudden stimulation can trigger a series of chaotic events,” Twilight said. Applejack was about to reply when there was a sudden explosion of purple in the distance.
“...Ah’m going to assume either Rarity or Pinkie just woke up,” Applejack said with a deadpan.
“Oh no! We have to do something before-” twilights panicking was interrupted by a strange wave of magic. Turning their attention to the forest, they both noticed several trees suddenly uproot themselves and run away.
“Th’ apple trees!” Applejack cried and tried to pursue them only for Twilight to grab her shoulder.
“You can go after them later! If my guess is right that was probably Fluttershy, and she’s going to be the most delicate case.” Twilight said, taking charge.
“What are we going to do? We probably got two or more draconeqquses in town causing a ruckus and one in the forest probably freaking out!” Applejack demanded before the air shook around them. They looked up at the sky over Ponyville and saw the clouds changing to random colors and raining down a green liquid.
“ACID RAIN! Look out!” Twilight exclaimed. She and Applejack ran for cover only for Twilight to stagger and fall over.
“TWILIGHT!” Applejack cried as Twilight curled up and braced herself for the burning rain to harm her… instead, it felt... cold and sticky?
“Huh? Hang on.” Twilight stuck her tongue out and briefly noted with surprise that it was forked like a snake’s before letting a few drops land on her tongue, her expression gained a mix of relief and annoyance.
“Are you ok, Twilight?” Applejack asked
“It’s cucumber juice.” Twilight sighed and stood
“Really?” Applejack said surprised and she tasted the chaotic rain as well.
“The fact that burst of chaotic magic happened in the sky could mean that it was Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said before noticing a shape in the sky descending towards the ground. “Is that her?”
“Ah think that was! C’mon, Twilight. We know where she is so let’s go get her first!” Applejack insisted, running off with Twilight close behind her.
***
As the two draconeqquses ran through the forest to the crash site they noticed several bizarre occurrences. A really big butterfly, random trees having the appearance of lollipops, and even birds with oversized wings flying around.
“Ah think she’s over here!” Applejack said pointing where the chaos was most prevalent. As the two ran through the brush they came upon an impact crater with a blue and rainbow-colored draconequus.
Rainbow Dash groaned “Uuugh… did anypony catch the number of that flying bus?...”
“So I was right, after all, Discord must have turned you me and all our friends into draconeqquses,” Twilight said grimly.
“Yeah, an she’s hit the ground so hard she’s speakin’ nonsense,” Applejack said with a sigh and pinching of the bridge of her nose.
“No, I literally got hit by a flying bus, it had wings and it smacked right into m-” Rainbow paused when she looked up and saw two more draconeqqus’s staring down at her. “WHOA! STAY BACK!” Rainbow cried, springing to her feet... Only for her body to wobble and fall backwards, “Darnit! I’ll kick your flanks as soon as I figure out how to keep straight!” Rainbow struggled to realign her body until Applejack came over and helped stabilize which limb went where. Rainbow Dash struggled but Applejack held her tightly and looked her in the eye.
“It’s Twilight and Applejack, Rainbow! We’re in the same boat as you, so calm the hay down!” Applejack said shaking Rainbow.
"Guys?" Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between them. "It is you, right?"
“Fraid so” Applejack confirmed and Rainbow's expression grew annoyed.
“Tell me where that mishmash freak is so I can tie him in a knot and throw him down a hole!” Rainbow Dash said, pushing Applejack off her.
“Let’s focus on gathering the others before any more damage is done…” Twilight said impatiently.
“Fine, but I get the first swing at him!” Rainbow Dash said with a growl, throwing a few air punches to demonstrate. “With my new hooks, I’ll show him a thing or two.”
Twilight immediately tried to prevent the fight like she usually did. “Hold on there, Rainbow Dash. We’re not going to start a fight, we’re just going to make him turn us back.”
“We told him to lay off the pranks yesterday and he does this to us! I’d say this has gotta warrant some kind of penalty,” Rainbow said irritably.
“Ah agree, clearly we didn’t get the message across the first time when we said we wanted a break.”
“Let’s… just find the others for now and figure out what we’re going to do later.” Twilight sighed.
“You an’ I should go into Ponyville to gather up Rarity and Pinkie,” Applejack said.
“Good plan, Rainbow. Think you can retrieve Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
"Psh, I bet I can get her here in ten seconds flat!" Rainbow said confidently. She bent her wings back and sprinted up into the air, tumbled briefly, then returned to the ground, face-first. "Darnit! How the hay do you fly with two different wings!?” Rainbow shouted in frustration.
“Ya just might have to walk there, Rainbow,” Applejack stated, which just got a drawn-out sigh from Rainbow.
“Well!… this is gonna suck…” Rainbow Dash groaned, got up, and wobbled on her way to Fluttershy.
“We should get moving too, Applejack,” Twilight said, already moving on ahead.
“Ok.” Applejack nodded in response and ran on ahead with her.