//------------------------------//
// Applejack 
// Story: Costume Catastrophe 
// by PrincessEnchanteDream 
//------------------------------//

Applejack was quite relaxed when she came back home from their day trip around the city. Sure, Rares was a hardworking gal like herself, but even she needed a break once in a while. That, and it was always nice to go on a trip with all your best friends.

Their trip ended early, at Rarity's insistence, and as her farmhouse was the closest, she was the first one to reach home. Applejack then freshened up, as she had to help around the farm. She sat down and took out a much needed bottle of apple cider, as one can never have too much cider.

She choked mid-gulp as a familiar screech rung out, shaking the window panes.

"What in tarnation was that?" Applejack sputtered out. "Geez who else would it be, but Rarity."

She hurried outside, intending to check on her friend, when she was stopped by Granny Smith.

"Applejack, dearie," Granny Smith began. "Would ya go check on the pumpkins please. I reckon I saw something scurrying over there."

Applejack paused. "Of course, Granny."

Granny Smith smiled and ruffled her hair. "That's ma girl."

So, she changed course and made her way towards the pumpkin patch. Applejack looked around carefully, but nothing seemed to stand out in particular. As she went to inspect further, a sudden bright golden-blue light startled her.

"Whoa, nelly!" AJ yelped, as she ducked for cover but even she couldn't avoid the ball of light headed straight for her!

She staggered back from the impact, stepping backwards as the light in her eyes slowly faded. The world slowly came back into her vision, and the brim of her hat had helped to restore her sight more quickly by blocking some of the light.

Applejack quickly reached up for it, only to realize it wasn't there. "What in the?"

She looked about for it, in case it had fallen on the floor, but it had not. There was no trace of it. As she looked around, she suddenly felt something moving on her arms. She brought her left arm up to take a look. Funny. Her sleeve seemed to be shorter. She quickly rubbed her eyes to check she wasn't dreaming.

Alas, she was not. Her sleeves were shrinking back into her shirt before her very eyes. "Wait, what's goin' on?"

The sleeves shrank further and further, until they were barely over her shoulders. With a quiet puffing sound, they began to inflate, growing bigger and changing into a pair of puffed sleeves the size of armbands. The neckline on her shirt also dropped down, further than it was already, and the sides neatly curved up to her shoulders. This process repeated at the rear as the back dropped slightly.

A pair of light blue evening gloves suddenly appeared on her hands, and grew backwards as far as her elbows. However, they then kept going, over her elbows and back to partway up her arms.

Applejack was trying to keep a cool head, but it proved not to be easy. Although she knew that magic could do strange things, there was no way she could rationalize what was happening. They had never encountered magic that could do this!

She groaned as she felt like her chest and waist were being put through a blender, being pulled tighter by something that had appeared on her body. As it pulled tighter, her shirt continued to change. The apple motifs and gap where the button was vanished, and the entire garment suddenly turned blue. Two shades of blue, as a matter of fact. The main body of the shirt turned a darker blue than the sleeves and gloves, which were fairly light in their complexion.

Her shirt suddenly latched onto and merged with her shorts, leaving her in a very odd outfit indeed. As she looked down, her high boots began to shrink down and down, sliding down her feet until they were right at them. The back of the shoe fitted just under her ankle, and the body shrank back until she could clearly see her socks. As her socks vanished, the material shifted, changing from hard worn leather to... glass? Was that a glass slipper?

Applejack then moved her attention to the shorts, or rather what had once been shorts. The legs suddenly merged into one, forming a mini skirt, and this started to grow longer and longer, flowing down her thighs, past her knees, and down to the floor, where it stopped at the floor.

"Aw, shucks! I can't see my feet! How am I supposed to walk in this?"

When it comes to magic, a person should know better than to tempt fate. Applejack suddenly felt a cold chill against her legs as something flowed past them and reached the ground, followed by a gentle whooshing sound as something rustled past on top of them. Applejack knew from her time with Rarity that those were other skirts on the inside. Could this day get any worse?

It could, unfortunately. With a flash and a grown, the skirt began to grow. The fabric stretched, grew, expanded, spreading outwards. The hem covered the ground at a rapid rate, pushing past one foot, then two feet, then three. As it grew in size, Applejack started to lose her balance, amplified when a pair of light blue panniers suddenly burst out of the top.

Applejack feared the skirt would keep growing until she was unable to walk, but just as suddenly as it had started growing it stopped. The patterns that ran along the bottom of the former shorts vanished from view, and the entire skirt turned dark blue. Applejack felt her hair being pulled up into a fancy bun, and with that it seemed it was over.

Applejack stepped forward, feeling utterly ridiculous. She looked like one of those princesses from Disney movies. The skirt wasn't easy to move about with, and got snagged a few times on things.

"Now how did this happen?" she asked herself.

"HIIIII!" Pinkie said, appearing from nowhere.

"Ahhh!" Applejack cried, and fell backwards into the pumpkin patch. Pumpkins exploded, throwing their juice everywhere.

"Now what did you have to do that for? The crop is ruined!"

Pinkie helped Applejack to her feet. "Sorry, but I had to get the news to you! It's new magic!"

Applejack's dress was coated in messy stains, but as they watched the stains faded away as if they had never been there. The pumpkins were also magically restored.

Applejack shook her head. "Well, we're in for a weird day. Any clue what's goin' on?"

"Not really!" Pinkie replied, hopping about with ease despite her giant skirt. "Fluttershy and I just turned into princesses, that's all!"

"Something funny's going on here, and we need to get to the bottom of it." Applejack put a hand to her chin, still unused to the feeling of formal gloves on it. "Let's head down the hill."

As they did so, they saw Pear Butter emerging from a barn. Both girl's jaws dropped when they saw her, and failed to spot other sparks flying through the air.