//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Friendship is Applejack // by AstroStar //------------------------------// Friendship is Applejack By: AstroStar The Ponyville train station was alive with activity as the next train to Appleloosa was ready to leave the station. On the platform, several ponies were busy boarding the train while others were saying their goodbyes to their loved ones. And it was on the platform where Applejack was hugging her big brother and little sister. She was answering a call from Braeburn who needed a little extra help raising a new barn, meaning she would have to be away from Ponyville for a few days. "You tell cousin Braeburn Ah said hi, all right?" Big Macintosh asked Applejack. Applejack responded with a smile. "Sure will, Big Mac! Hey Apple Bloom, you have a message you want me to tell him?" She turned to her little sister, only to find her head down and sighing sadly. Applejack gave her little sister a playful nudge. "Cheer up, Apple Bloom! It's only for a few days. Ah'm not going away forever. Ah'll be back real quick-like!" Apple Bloom sighed. "I know Applejack. But Ah thought your friends would be here to say goodbye too." "Oh..." Applejack's smile faded for a moment. She managed to recover enough to give a weaker smile to her sister. "It's all right, Apple Bloom. Ah understand. Everypony's real busy lately." A little bit too busy, though Apple Bloom thought to herself. The little farm filly had tried to gather her sister's friends together to see Applejack off, but all of them had to decline. Twilight was in the middle of reorganizing the library in advance of a new book shipment; Rarity was working on a big dress order for a very important Canterlot client; Rainbow Dash was training for Wonderbolts Academy; Fluttershy was in the middle of her annual animal census; even Pinkie was backed up at Sugarcube Corner planning three parties at the same time. Ah don't get it! Applejack always make time for them! Why can’t they make time for her? she thought. Applejack gave her worried sister a hug. "Seriously, Apple Bloom. It's ok. Ah'll admit it would have been nice if they were here right now, but no matter what, they're still mah friends. Ah can't get mad at them because of this." Apple Bloom tried to counter Applejack's point when suddenly the train conductor shouted out loud. "All Aboard!!!" That was the cue for Applejack to board the train. "Well, Ah'm off! You behave yourself, Apple Bloom. Ya hear?" "Ah will," Apple Bloom smiled as best she could. "See you in a few days!" "Have a safe trip!" Big Mac shouted out as Applejack got on the train. The two Apple siblings waved as the train began to puff its way out of the station, on its way towards Appleloosa. "Big Mac? Applejack's friends do care for her right?" Apple Bloom asked her big brother. Big Macintosh let out a small laugh. "Now that's a silly question." "It is?" "Eeyup! Of course they care. That's why they're friends, right?" "But if they really care, do they know how it makes Applejack feel when they abandon her?" Big Macintosh paused. "Ah honestly don't know." That was all Apple Bloom needed to hear. She remained quiet the whole way back towards Sweet Apple Acres. Not even the ice cream Big Mac bought for her cheered her up, and she even got to keep the change this time! She even remained quiet throughout lunch later that day. All of her thoughts centered on her big sister, and how lonely she must have felt at the train station that day. Concerned about his sister's mood, Big Mac decided to let Apple Bloom play with Winona for a while to cheer her up. So Apple Bloom took the dog and decided to take a walk around the farm. She allowed Winona to wander just ahead of her, happily panting along, while the farm filly stayed lost in her thoughts. It wasn't fair. All over town, she always hears about how wonderful Twilight was, or how awesome Rainbow Dash was, or how beautiful Rarity was, or how nice Fluttershy was, or how fun Pinkie Pie was. But Applejack? Applejack is just always... there. No special description for Applejack. She was just 'that other pony'. She couldn't understand it. She also couldn't understand how Applejack herself seemed to be ok with this. She saw it in her eyes. She was so disappointed that her friends didn't care enough to wish her well on her trip. If they only knew how she felt, she thought, maybe they'll think twice before they abandon her again. Apple Bloom's train of thought was interrupted when she heard Winona barking just ahead of her. She took a look at her dog and then she noticed what she was barking at. It was a well; which in of itself wasn't an odd thing to see at Sweet Apple Acres. But what was odd was that with her familiarity of her home, there was never a well in this part of the farm before. "Where in the hay did this come from?" Curiosity got the better of her. Apple Bloom wandered over to the mysterious well and took a peek down. It looked like a normal well, there was some water inside of it as she expected a well to have. "Hello?" She called out into the well. A few seconds later, she heard her voice echo back to her. Stepping away from the well, she noticed the bit she was still holding from earlier. She stepped back to the edge, threw the coin down the well, and watched it fall until it splashed into the water below. Ah have to ask Applejack about this when she gets back, Apple Bloom thought. She never told me she built this well. Her thoughts returned to her big sister, and the five friends who failed to show up at the train station. She sighed. "Ah wish Applejack’s friends understood how she really feels," she found herself saying into the well. She then looked up and noticed it was starting to get dark. Calling for Winona, she began to make her way back to the farmhouse. Moments after Apple Bloom left, the entire well began to emit an eerie glow. ~~~~~ Celestia's sun began to shine through the Golden Oaks Library window, signaling the start of a brand new day in Ponyville. Usually, Twilight Sparkle would be still in bed at this early hour. However, something compelled the unicorn to get out of bed before sunrise that day. At first she found it odd since she almost never wakes up this early, but she decided it was for the best since she did have a lot of work to do in reorganizing the library bookshelves. It also didn't help that Spike was out gem hunting again and probably wouldn't get back until the next day at the earliest. So the best thing for her to do was to hop to it and get to work! Twilight giggled a bit and wondered where this work-ethic suddenly came from. Well, no time to worry about that nonsense. Time to get busy! So Twilight went to task, first by resorting all the books. She also set aside a couple of books that caught her interest so she could read when she was finished. However, before she was able to finish, she suddenly became aware that something was off. Her magic was becoming less and less effective. She even had to strain to execute a simple levitation spell. She took a break from her work and took a look at herself in the mirror. Her horn seemed fine to her. No cracks, spots, or anything else physically wrong. Maybe it was time for a test, she thought. She went over to her desk and found the lightest thing on it, a quill. Concentrating with all her might, she tried to summon a basic levitation spell. But this time, nothing happened at all. She tried concentrating harder. It shouldn't have taken this much effort on a simple quill, but she was still concentrating as hard as she could, but nothing was happening. It was as if all her magic was gone! "Maybe I did wake up a bit too early," Twilight thought out loud. "I'm probably too mentally exhausted to use magic right now. I guess I'll take a break." She began to make her way back up to her bed when she heard a frantic knocking at her front door. Twilight hurried over to see who it was knocking and what could be the problem. She opened the door and saw Rainbow Dash standing at the door with a very horrified look on her face. "Twilight! I need your help! There’s something wrong with me!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Rainbow Dash? What's going on?" Rainbow Dash gulped before she told Twilight. "I can’t fly!" Twilight's eyes went wide. "What?!?" "I got up to do my Wonderbolt training this morning," Rainbow explained "But when I tried to take off, I couldn’t! I can’t even open my wings anymore! Look!" Rainbow Dash pointed at her wings. They were folded to her sides. Twilight gave the wings a close look. They seemed fine otherwise, but Rainbow was still unable to unfurl them. "Everything was fine yesterday, but now I can’t even move them! You have to help me!!!" Twilight sighed. "I wish I could right now, Rainbow, but I think I’ve worn myself out too much lately. I can’t even use my magic right now!" Rainbow Dash heart sank in dread. She ran into the library and began to go through Twilight's book pile in a desperate search for a solution. "There’s gotta be a book about this somewhere!!!" Rainbow went through the books when she noticed something odd about the titles. "'The History of Gardening Tools'? 'How to Clean Your Chicken Coop'? 'Apple Cultivar'? Twilight, what the hay is this? These are all farming books!" Rainbow Dash frowned. Twilight did a double take. She went back to take a closer look at the books she set aside earlier. Sure enough, all the books were all about farming and agriculture. "I didn’t notice. I didn’t even think I had this many books about agriculture." Rainbow Dash groaned. "Dagnabit, Twi! Now’s not the time for horsing around! Can’t you see Ah need help here?" "Hold on, Rainbow." Twilight said, not quite sure of what she just heard. "What did you just say?" "I said, quit screwing around, Twilight! I need your help here!" Twilight shook her head. "No, before that. You said, 'Dagnabit, Twi'." Rainbow blinked in surprise. "I did?" "Yes, you did," Twilight nodded. "In fact, you were starting to sound like..." "Twiiiiiliiiight!!!" They suddenly heard a voice shouting from afar in panic. Even from a distance, they could tell that the voice belonged to Rarity. Sure enough a few seconds later, Rarity ran into the library looking as if her world was falling apart around her. "Rarity? What’s going on!" Twilight asked. Rarity put a forehoof to her head as she overreacted. "It’s awful! It’s horrible! It’s… The! Worst…" "The worst possible thing!" Rainbow finished. "All right, We get it, Rarity. What happened?" "My magic! It’s gone!" Twilight gasped. "You can’t use your unicorn magic either?" Rarity touched her horn. "Well, I also seem to be having that problem as well, but that's not important. Look!" Rarity produced one of her design sheets and showed it to the two. What they saw was that the sheet was filled with nothing but drawings of cowboy hats. "I was trying to design some new dresses this morning," Rarity explained, "But everything I draw comes out like THIS!!! It's like I completely forgot how to design dresses at all!" Twilight groaned. "Ah have absolutely no idea what to make of all this hullabaloo." Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked at each other as Twilight unconsciously drawled. "Twilight? You just spoke with an accent." Rarity said, her voice shaking. "And you just said hullabaloo," Rainbow added. Twilight froze. "I did?" "Get your act together, sugarcube!" Rarity shouted to Twilight. "You’re the only one who can fix this!" "Rarity, you just said 'sugarcube'!" Rainbow Dash informed the fashionista to her horror. "All right, everypony, stop!" Twilight shouted. "Ok, let’s recap. We can’t fly or use magic anymore. All of our interests have suddenly turned to agriculture and/or country, and we’re starting to speak with an accent." Rainbow Dash followed Twilight's observations and was starting to come to the conclusion that... No way. That was just impossible. There was no way they could be... But, then again, the way they were all acting was proof that it was happening. She turned to Twilight. "Wait. Are you actually saying…" Twilight scratched the back of her head. "I know it sounds crazy, but I think we’re all turning into Applejack." Rarity gasped in horror at the news. "No! Not that! Anything but that!!! Twilight, you have to stop this!!!" "I can’t! I don’t even know how this started!" Twilight nervously shrugged. "So what are we supposed to do then?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight managed to get her head around the situation. "First things first, we need to see if this is affecting anypony else. Come on!" The three took to the streets of Ponyville to see if this weird Applejack virus had struck anypony else. They galloped up and down the streets, looking for similar symptoms like they were going through. However, after a few minutes of checking, it became clear that nopony else that they've seen was affected. The pegasi were still flying, the unicorns were still using their magic, and no one was talking with an accent. "It doesn't look like anyone else is affected." Rarity observed. Twilight sighed. "So it's just us then." Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration. "None of this makes any sense! Why is it just us?" Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "Ah honestly don't know, RD. Ah reckon we take this up with Twilight." She noticed the horrified looks on her two friends' faces. "You'll talk this up with Twilight?" Rainbow Dash clarified. Twilight's pupils shrunk as she realized what she had just said. "Oh no! It's getting worse!" Rarity quickly took hold of Twilight, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Keep it together, Twilight! We can't let this thing get us!" While the three tried to maintain themselves, Pinkie Pie walked in. "Hi girls!" Pinkie greeted. "Howdy, Pinkie..." Rarity smiled. She quickly shook her head as she realized how she greeted her friend. "I mean... Hello, Pinkie darling! Oh dear..." She stammered, she began to sweat nervously. Pinkie arched an eyebrow at Rarity. "Uh, what's going on?" Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I don't know how to explain this, but we think we're turning into Applejack." Pinkie put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm... that explains why I have the sudden urge to turn Sugarcube Corner into a square dance saloon." Twilight's jaw dropped. "It's happening to you too!?!" Pinkie nodded. "Yeah. It was really weird. And it wasn't just that. I tried to bake some cookies this morning, but I wound up making an apple pie instead. I even used Granny Smith's secret recipe, and I never knew she even had a secret recipe!" A chilling thought came to Rarity. "If this is affecting us three and you, then what about..." Before Rarity could finish her thought, a small white blur and a big yellow blur zoomed right in front of them. Everypony looked on to see that yellow blur was actually Fluttershy. Well it looked like Fluttershy. She had the right mane style and the right cutie mark, but this pony had a determined look on her face and held a lasso in her mouth as she was trying to run down her pet rabbit, Angel. "Get back here, ya varmit!" the yellow pegasus shouted, holding the lasso in her mouth. In one fluid motion, she looped the lasso over her head and launched it at the bunny, roping him into submission. The four friends watched the whole scene unfurl in absolute shock as Fluttershy handled the lasso like a natural. "There!" Fluttershy smirked as she corralled her pet. "That outta teach ya to eat yer salad like a good critter!" "Fluttershy?!?" Twilight shouted. Fluttershy's ears perked as she heard Twilight call her. She tilted her head in confusion. "Fluttershy? Shoot, Twilight. I ain’t Fluttershy. Don’t you know your friend Applejack when you see her?" "Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked. She took a closer look at her fellow pegasus and did a double take. She could swear she could see freckles on Fluttershy's face now. "Eeyup! That's me!" Fluttershy smiled. "Now if ya pardon me sugarcube, Ah’ve got to teach this young whippersnapper a lesson in manners. Talk to y'all later!" Fluttershy grabbed the roped Angel and trotted away, leaving the other four ponies stunned. "Was it just me, or did Fluttershy have freckles?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Freckles?" Rarity's head began to swim. It's bad enough that she started to act like Applejack, but freckles? She shook her head in defiance. "No! I will not let this get to me!" Rarity galloped away at full speed, hoping to outrun this horrible affliction. Twilight, meanwhile, sank to her haunches. "Then it's true," she realized. "We are turning into Applejack." "Well, I guess we have no choice," Pinkie Pie shrugged. She then produced a cowboy hat from out of nowhere. "It's time for the Turning-Into-Applejack Hoedown!!!" the pink pony shouted with glee. She then whipped out a tape recorder and hit the play button. An upbeat piano tune began to play and Pinkie started to sing. "Turning into Applejack seems kind of fun. There’s no place to hide and no place to run! So we might as well accept it, get our face out of the mud, Cause at least we’re not turning into Prince Blueblood!" "Into Prince Blueblood!" Pinkie, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash happily finished together. The smiles on Rainbow Dash and Twilight's faces faded as quickly as they appeared when they realized what they were doing, and that freckles had magically appeared on Pinkie's face during the song. "We've got to get out of here!" Twilight shouted in fear. Not even bothering to respond, Rainbow Dash ran down the street in full speed, with Twilight trailing behind her. Pinkie stood confused as they suddenly left. After a short while, she began to head her way back to her home, passing in front of Sugarcube Corner without a second glance and continuing towards the outskirts of Ponyville. "Ah wonder where RD and Twi are off to so suddenly," Pinkie wondered. "Oh well, can't worry about any of that. Ah've got to get back to the farm!" Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Twilight hurried their way to find a cure before they lost any more of themselves. "We need to get to the library!" Twilight said. "There's got to be an answer in one of my books somewhere!" "Sure thing, sugarcube!" "Rainbow, focus! We need to get back to Sweet Apple Acres before it’s too late!" Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks. "Wait, I thought we were going to the library." Twilight froze as she realized what she said. "Y-yes! The library! We're going to the library! Oh no… I think we’re running out of time!" With the situation now dire, Rainbow Dash began to run towards the Everfree Forest. "I’ll head over to Zecora. Maybe she has a secret remedy for this," she shouted. Twilight nodded and continued to hurry back to the library. Rainbow Dash ran with all her might, which was an action the pegasus wasn't familiar with. If her wings were working normally, she could have made it to Zecora's and back by now. But her wings were still immoble, stuck to her sides as if they were glued there. So she was stuck running on the ground. Rainbow Dash kept running until she noticed she was running by Sweet Apple Acres. She slowed her pace as her thoughts got the better of her. "This would be so much easier if I could fly. But, I can’t. Not with my wings like this." She stopped running and slumped on the ground. "What's the use? Even if we fix this turning-into-Applejack thing, there's no guarantee that we can fix my wings. I could never fly again! I can’t even be Rainbow Dash if I can’t fly." Rainbow Dash glanced over at Sweet Apple Acres. "If I can't be Rainbow Dash, then... who am I?" While looking at the farm, she noticed something she never had before; Applejack's obstacle course she used to train for the rodeo. She wondered, now she was grounded, if she could handle the obstacle course herself. Rainbow Dash found herself smirking at the challenge. She stated to slowly trot to the first hurdle. Before long, she started to pick up her pace into a full gallop as the obstacle came closer. She reached the first hurdle at full speed and easily leaped over it. She kept her focus on the course as she also cleared the next couple of hurdles with ease. Then, up ahead of her, there it was. The big hurdle, surrounded by that mudpit. Rainbow licked her lips with anticipation. She got this. With a mighty leap, she sailed over the mud and over the hurdle, with barely an inch of clearance between her legs and the bar. Landing on the other side, she came face to face with the final challenge, the haystack toss. With a determined scowl, Rainbow raced to the haystack. She grabbed the rope that tied it together, and in one fluid motion, did a full 360 before launching the stack into the air. Rainbow kept an eye on the haystack as it sailed over the finish line and landed. Rainbow Dash smiled. "Yeehaw! A new personal record!" Satisfied with her performance, she started to head back to the barnyard. Freckles had now appeared on her face. "Welp, that's enough training for me today. Time to get back to work!" ~~~~~ Meanwhile at the library, Twilight was buried in books, desperate to find a solution to reverse whatever it was affecting her and her friends. Usually when pressed like this, she would fly through book after book in search of an answer. This time, she wasn't having much luck. Her progress was slower than she was usually accustomed to as she found herself unable to understand some of her most advanced books. The lack of any magic to help her turn the pages wasn't helping things either. "Ugh, this Advanced Psychological Theories book is like reading Fancy!" the unicorn groaned. "How can Twilight understand any of this nonsense?" Her words echoed in her mind. She recoiled in horror. "No, wait. I’m Twilight!" She paced back and forth in an attempt to steady her mind. "Ok, calm down. You can do this. Just focus. I’m not Applejack. I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m from Canterlot. I have an assistant baby dragon named Spike. I have a brother named Big Macintosh… I mean Shining Armor! That’s right, Shining Armor and his wife Apple Bloom! No, that ain’t right. That young’n way too young to get married. Wait... what am I saying?!?" She shook her head, trying to get these Applejack thoughts out of her mind, and tried again. "Ok, I have a pet owl named Winona. No, that ain't right either. My pet is a dog, not an owl! Wait! I mean my pet is an owl! An owl!!!" Twilight took a slow deep breath. "Ok, I can do this." She closed her eyes and focused her thoughts. "My mentor is Granny Smith and… ARGH!!!!" Twilight flipped her reading stand over in frustration, sending the book and several scrolls flying to the floor. Her anger was quickly replace with sadness as she collapsed on the floor. "This is hopeless. What am I going to do?" She looked at the mess she made and noticed a few blank scrolls on the floor. "I know! I'll write to the Princess. I'll have Spike send it the second he gets back!" She gathered the blank scroll and her quill. She also looked for her ink, but her fit of frustration spilled the ink on the library floor. Groaning in frustration, Twilight began to search for some extra ink. A quick search around the library later, she found a bottle of ink on a bookshelf, just a few rungs out of reach above her. "How am I going to get that down without my magic?" she wondered. She took a closer look at the ink. It looked to be right on the edge of the shelf. A sudden thought popped into her head. She couldn't use magic, but there was another way she could get the ink down. After giving the entire bookshelf a close inspection for the exact right spot, Twilight turned around, reared back, and bucked the bookshelf, knocking the ink and several books down to the ground. "Ha! Now that's the way to git r' done!" she shouted, a smile plastered on her now-freckled face. She suddenly blinked as she became aware of her surroundings. "Wait… what in tarnation am Ah doin’ in th’ library? Ah gotta get back home. Ah’m gonna fall behind at the farm!" ~~~~~ "No. No. No! No! NO!!!" Rarity threw another cowboy-hat-filled design sheet to the floor. Her attempts to will her way out of this were not working. Everything she tried to design wound up being that same cowboy hat. The hat that was so tied to Applejack that she once wondered if it was glued on. Rarity shook her head. She was going to beat this. She wouldn't let herself be turned into Applejack without a fight. The thought of being Applejack filled her with dread. She couldn't imagine being outside working on a farm of all places. Bucking apples, tending the chickens, getting her lovely hooves dirty in all that work. But then again, all that work was necessary. And the more she thought about it, the more she thought that all that hard work and labor was actually therapeutic. Ponies like Rarity couldn't understand that ponies like her don't mind a little hard work here or there. Which reminded her that work was starting to back up at Sweet Apple Acres. She really should get back to work as quickly as... Rarity blinked. Did she really just think all that? No! She took out another design sheet and tried again. "Ok, Rarity. Focus. I am the most fabulous pony in Ponyville. No, in all of Equestria! I can design the most ornate gala dress the world has ever seen with my eyes closed! I've done it before, and I shall do so again!!!" She closed her eyes, and began to focus. Her mind began to produce an image of the most beautiful dress she ever saw! Long, flowing, and sparkling with elegance and grace. This was the kind of dress she was looking for to spark her creativity. "There it is! Now all I have to do is put it on paper!" Rarity began to draw. "Everypony would want this dress. I bet even Celestia herself would want it in her personal collection! This dress will be all the rage in Canterlot! I could be world famous with this! And... Voila!!!" Rarity finished her work and opened her eyes to see the physical manifestation of her idea. It was a picture of two cowboy hats. Rarity blinked. Freckles appeared on her face. "Ah, ponyfeathers," the unicorn cursed. She crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash. "Ah don’t even know why Ah wasted mah time with these fru-fru dresses in the first place. Ah'm going home! That's the last time Ah help Rarity design stuff," she grumbled. With that, she exited the boutique. On her way back to Sweet Apple Acres, she made a point to apologize to Rarity later for making a mess in her shop. ~~~~~ Apple Bloom spent that morning finishing up her school assignments. It was boring sitting in her room reading instead of being outside, but school always came first. At least that's what Applejack would say if she were here right now. She wondered how her big sister was doing in Appleloosa right now. Even though she knew that it was only a short trip, she couldn't help but to miss her. It would have been nice to hear her voice. "Up and at 'em, Apple Bloom! Time to get movin'!" Apple Bloom stopped her schoolwork as she heard a voice call her from outside. "Applejack? She's back already?" she wondered. She ran over to her window and looked to see who was calling her from the ground, and did a double-take when she saw who was calling her. It was... Rainbow Dash? Well it looked like Rainbow Dash, but she was wearing a cowboy hat and had her mane and tail done up like Applejack. And since when did Rainbow Dash get freckles? "Um... hiya Rainbow Dash! That's a funny get up ya got there." Rainbow Dash looked back confused. She took a quick look around her. "Rainbow Dash is here? Well, shoot! Ah haven't seen her." "You haven't seen her? But you're..." Rainbow Dash interrupted her rebuttal. "Ah'm Applejack! Yer big sister! Ah always have been. Now, c'mon! Ah need your help with the bruised apples!" Rainbow Dash ran back towards the apple orchard, leaving behind a very confused yellow filly still staring from her bedroom window. After a few moments, Apple Bloom decided to make her way downstairs. "Ah'm gonna ask Granny Smith about this. Maybe she knows what's going on." She made her way down to the kitchen and saw her grandmother was busy with a guest. She began to approach the two, but suddenly stopped in shock as she realized who the guest was; or rather, how she was dressed. Apple Bloom could only watch as Twilight Sparkle, now decked out in a ponytail and a hat, pulled out a batch of Apple Tarts from the oven. "There ya go, Granny! Some nice apple tarts for brunch!" Twilight smiled. Granny Smith smiled nervously. "Thank you kindly, but shouldn't you get back to the library?" Twilight laughed heartily. "The library? Nah, that's Twilight's department. Ah belong right here." Granny Smith squinted. "Well Ah could have sworn you were Twilight, hon." "Ha! Yeah, Ah think Ah would make a horrible Twilight!" Apple Bloom slowly backed away from the kitchen and ran to the front door. What the hay is going on around here. Why were Twilight and Rainbow Dash here? And why were they both acting like Applejack? As she made her way towards the front door, she heard an argument coming from the living room. "For the last time, Big Mac. Ah'm. Not. Pinkie! Ah'm Applejack!" "Nope." Apple Bloom peeked into see a confused Big Mac arguing with Pinkie Pie, who now shared the same mane style and hat as her sister. "C'mon. Do Ah look like Pinkie Pie to you?" "Eeyup." Pinkie Pie pointed at her flank. "Ya think Pinkie Pie has a cutie mark like this?" "Eeyup." "Look again brother. Three red apples! Ya see it?" Pinkie Pie pointed at the three balloons on her flank. "Nope." Pinkie placed a forehoof on Big Macintosh's forehead. "Ya sure you're feeling all right, Big Mac? Ah think you might be coming down with something." Big Macintosh sighed. "Ah don't even know anymore." Apple Bloom left the scene and continued running out the door. She made it outside and stopped in her tracks. There right in front of her, with a ponytail and a hat, was Fluttershy pulling a cart of apples. "Apple Bloom! How are ya doin', sugarcube?" she shouted as she noticed the filly. Apple Bloom stammered, her mind unable to reconcile the image in front of her. "Ah'm... Ah'm fine..." she squeaked out. "That's good to hear!" Fluttershy smiled. "Let me know if ya need any help on your homework!" Fluttershy tipper her hat and continued down her way pulling the cart. "First Rainbow Dash, then Twilight, then Pinkie, and now Fluttershy?" Apple Bloom thought out loud. "What could be next?" She immediately regretted ever saying that for now she noticed a pony heading her way, nearly completely covered in mud. The pony looked to have a hat and ponytail too, but upon closer inspection Apple Bloom saw patches of the pony's white coat. Apple Bloom's jaw dropped. "Rarity?!?" Apple Bloom remained in shock as the mud-covered Rarity approached her. "Howdy Apple Bloom." Rarity groaned. "Wha... what happened?" Apple Bloom managed to ask. "Well, Ah was running mah obstacle course and Ah failed miserably," she frowned. "Ah'm out of practice, it's like Ah've been sitting on mah keister for years!" Rarity took off her hat and wiped some sweat from her forehead. "Ah'm gonna get a snack from inside and Ah'm gonna try again." With that, Rarity entered the barn. Apple Bloom stood frozen at what she had just witnessed. "What's going on around here? Why do they all think they're Applejack?" She sat and though for a few minutes. Everything was fine yesterday between the five of them, even though none of them showed up to see her sister at the train station. She remembered wishing that they understood how Applejack felt and... "The well!" Apple Bloom suddenly realized. "Ah made that wish in the well and it came true!" On the one hoof, she was glad that Applejack's friends had a newer perspective on how her sister thinks. But then again, judging from the scenes she had just witnessed, she had to turn all of them back to normal. Not wasting any time, she quickly went back inside, grabbed a bit from the kitchen, and headed on out to find that mysterious well so she could turn Applejack's friends back to normal. As Apple Bloom retraced her steps from yesterday, she began to notice that something was wrong. The well was definitely in this part of Sweet Apple Acres, but the closer she got, the more she realized that there wasn't a well anywhere close to this area. She started to comb the area, just to make sure she wasn't mistaken, when she saw a single bit laying on the ground. Apple Bloom looked around. This was the edge of the farm where the well was, but there was no well here, only this one single bit. The bit she threw down yesterday. Apple Bloom gasped. She realized that she was in the same spot as yesterday. But now, the well was gone! She started to look all over the farm. Maybe the well had mysteriously transported itself somewhere else. Her search yielded nothing. She even threw some bits down the farm's existing wells to see if that could work. Nothing worked. It eventually dawned on her that she had no way to reverse her wish. She was now stuck with five Applejacks, and the original Applejack was due to return from Appleloosa in a few days. "Well, Ah guess Applejack's friends will give her a welcome back she won't forget," Apple Bloom shrugged, letting out a nervous laugh.