Applejack sighed as she got off the train. It seemed like the train ride back to Ponyville took longer than the three days she spent in Appleloosa. As nice as it was to spend time with her cousin, she sure was glad to be back in Ponyville. And not a moment's too soon as far as she was concerned. Despite her efforts beforehand, things were already starting to get backed up at the farm before she left, which meant more work for her the second she returned. Oh well, no sense in complaining about it. Time to get to work! Applejack began to make her way through the town on her way back to Sweet Apple Acres.
As she walked through the town, she became aware that Ponyville seemed a bit darker and shadowy than usual. She looked and saw that the reason for the darker day was because of the skies over Ponyville being overrun by clouds.
"Rainbow Dash must be slacking off again," Applejack groaned. "It ain’t usually this bad though." She kept her eyes on the cloudy sky, wondering how the cyan pegasus allowed it to become so cloudy in the first place, when she inadvertently bumped into something in front of her. Or rather somepony.
"Hey! Wait your turn!" a voice angrily shouted at her.
"Oh, sorry!" Applejack apologized. She took another look and saw that the pony she bumped into was a part of what looked like a long line leading into Sugarcube Corner. Beside the line stood Mr. Cake, hopelessly trying to reassure the increasingly frustrated customers.
"I'm sorry about the wait everypony, but we're trying to get through as many of you as fast as we can!" he shouted to the crowd.
"Mr. Cake?" Applejack called out. "What's going on?"
Mr. Cake looked to be relieved to see the cowpony. "Applejack! Oh thank goodness! I'm sorry, but we're absolutely backed up right now! Have you seen Pinkie lately?"
Applejack shook her head. "No, Ah haven't. Ah just came back from Appleoosa, mahself."
"Well if you run into her, please tell her that we could use her help, and fast!"
"Sure thing," Applejack nodded. She continued down the road, taking one last look at the overwheled Sugarcube Corner. Just where in tarnation was Pinkie, anyway? As her trek back to her farm continued, she started to see some other things off in Ponyville. From a distance, she could see that Carousel Boutique was closed. So was the library. She also took a moment to gawk at a small herd of bunnies eating some daisies on display at the flower shop, much to the flower shop keepers' horror.
"What's going on 'round here? Ah’m gone for a few days and this whole town’s gone out of control!"
It didn't require much deducing to figure out that her friends were responsible for all this. And looking around, it was clear that her friends were nowhere to be seen, and Ponyville was suffering because of it. Applejack sighed. She decided that she was going to have to do her best to fix things in her friends absence. First things first, though. She made her way over to Sweet Apple Acres to set her luggage down.
"Ah can’t believe this," Applejack grumbled as she closed in on her farm. "We’re already way behind on the farm! Trying to keep everything under control in Ponyville is just gonna back things up… further?"
Applejack arrived at the farm's front gates and looked around in shock. In contrast with the rest of Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres was in tip-top shape. Most of the trees were bucked, the apples were harvested, and she stood stunned that the barn she never had time to raise was actually raised!
"Everything looks done!" Applejack said, astonished as the state of the farm. "But… how? Who did all this?"
Applejack continued to inspect the farm, taking note of all the completed tasks that had been done while she was away, when she suddenly heard a shouting from behind her.
"YEEHAW!!!"
A purple blur rushed right in front of the cowpony. Applejack looked to see that purple blur was actually...
It would have been too cliche to say that Applejack's jaw dropped on the floor, but that's exactly what happened when she watched Twilight Sparkle, now wearing a ponytail and a cowboy hat for some reason, run towards an apple tree and buck it, sending the apples into buckets on the ground. Satisfied by her work, Twilight crossed her front hooves as if she was gearing up for the big Apple family reunion.
What in tarnation was in Braeburn's cider last night? Applejack wondered. She rubbed her eyes a couple of times. She wasn't hallucinating. It really was Twilight, and she was bucking trees like she was... well... like she was her! The confused cowpony slowly approached Twilight, who was busy trying to get the last apples down from the tree.
"Twilight? Is that you?"
Twilight's ears perked. She turned around, eyes closed, and smiled. "Twilight? Sounds like you came to the wrong part of town, sugarcube!"
Before Applejack could respond, Twilight took her hoof and vigorously shook her hello. "Howdy! Ah’m Applejack! We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making friends!"
Applejack managed to free herself from the furious welcome. She would have taken a moment to appreciate the irony of this role reversal when she took note of something else the unicorn said. "Hold on. Did you say that you’re Applejack?"
Twilight smiled again. "Eeyup! That's mah name! What can I do you for..." Twilight's smile faded as she got a good look at the pony who was welcoming. "You look exactly like me!!!" she shouted.
"Ah look like you?!?"
Twilight groaned. "Ugh, not another one! Ah'm starting to lose count of all these impostors!"
"Impostors?!?"
Twilight nodded. "Last week, four other ponies all show up claiming to be me! Ah would have said something about it, but they all just got to work on the farm. So I let them help me out until I can find Twilight and see if she can fix this. Ah swear that girl’s gone disappeared off the face of Equestria lately. Ah can’t find her anywhere!"
"But... she... you... Twilight! What happened to you?!?" Applejack finally blurted out.
Twilight groaned. "How many times do Ah have to tell everypony that Ah'm not Twilight? Ah don't even look like her! Ya see? Anypony can see plain as day that mah mane is blonde, mah coat is orange, and Ah have three apples as mah cutie mark. And Ah know fer a fact that Twilight doesn't have freckles like me."
Applejack became even more confused. Twilight looked like she always had, except for her mane style, the hat, and the freckles. While Applejack could have denied Twilight's other proof, she couldn't deny the freckles. How did Twilight get those? She started to wonder if Twilight had any bad cider herself when she heard somepony trotting in from behind her. Applejack had to pick her jaw from the ground again as she saw Fluttershy walking towards her, and like herself and Twilight, Fluttershy was also wearing a ponytail, hat, and...
Freckles?!? How in tarnation did Fluttershy get freckles too?!! Applejack thought.
"Hey y'all!" Fluttershy smiled. "How are things going over here?"
"Ah’m fine," Twilight responded. "By the way, it looks like we have another visitor."
Fluttershy took a good look at Applejack, who had reached the point where words failed her completely.
"How can you be sure this is a different one?" Fluttershy asked Twilight. "She looks just like the rest of us!"
"Trust me, this is a different one. None of you other Applejacks called me Twilight before, but this one did!"
Fluttershy laughed. "Ha, imagine that. You being Twilight. Next thing you know somepony's gonna come in and say Ah'm Fluttershy."
Applejack was finally able to get over her shock to respond. "But... Fluttershy... you... All right, hold everything! Let's try this." She turned to Fluttershy. "What color is my coat?"
"It's orange," Fluttershy replied plainly.
"All right. Now, what color is her coat?" Applejack pointed at Twilight.
Fluttershy groaned in frustration. She was tired of going through this routine from the rest of the Apple family. "It's orange. The same as mine! The same with the others."
Applejack took another close look at Twilight's color scheme. "You think she's actually orange?"
Fluttershy took another look. She didn't know what this odd Applejack was seeing, but her eyes weren't deceiving her. She saw two orange earth ponies with blonde manes and freckles, just like her.
Fluttershy chuckled nervously. "Ah think you've been drinking too much cider, sugarcube. There ain't nopony here but us Applejacks."
"Speaking of which," Twilight spoke up, "Ah reckon we might as well let the others know 'bout this one."
"Ah reckon you're right," Fluttershy nodded. She and Twilight began to walk through the orchard. "Although if ya ask me, Ah think that one's color blind."
Applejack meanwhile, remained frozen in place in response to what she just experienced. "Ah've got to be dreaming. Yeah, that's it!" she convinced herself. "This is just like that seapony dream Ah had once. Although... this feels more like a nightmare."
The cowpony took a deep breath and followed Twilight and Fluttershy down the way. A few minutes later, they arrived at a clearing where three more freckle-faced, ponytail-wearing, cowboy hat-toting ponies were raising a barn.
"Now Ah KNOW this is a nightmare," Applejack observed in horror. Seeing two of her friends dressed up like her was already way too much for her to process. But seeing Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity (Rarity of all ponies!) all dressed up and acting like her broke her brain for a few minutes.
"Look alive, everypony! We've got another one!" Twilight announced to the other three Applejacks. They stopped their barnraising activities and saw that there was now a sixth Applejack on the farm.
"Ugh, not another one!" Rainbow Dash groaned.
"This is getting flat out ridiculous!" Pinkie frowned.
"How many more Applejacks are out there anyway?" Rarity shouted in frustration.
"Ah dunno," Fluttershy shrugged. "There should only be one Applejack ‘round these parts in the first place."
Rainbow Dash went up to Applejack. "Listen you!" she told the stunned cowpony. "Ah don’t know where you came from, but until we find Twilight, you might as well help us out around the farm."
"But no dirty tricks, ya hear?" Rarity added. She gave Applejack a menacing glare. "Ah’ve got mah eye on you."
"Speaking of which," Twilight suddenly said, frowning at Rarity. "You haven’t been misbehaving lately, have ya?"
"Ah should be asking you that very same question!" Pinkie shouted at Twilight.
"And just what’s that supposed to mean?" Twilight replied.
"It means once we prove that Ah’m the real Applejack," Pinkie said, "Ah gonna send you and yer sorry orange hide back to wherever it was you came from!"
Twilight got into Pinkie's face. "Was that a threat?"
Pinkie shook her head. "No. It’s a promise!"
Fluttershy butted in the faceoff. "That goes double for me on BOTH of y’all."
Applejack watched silently as her five friends got into a big shouting match over who the real Applejack was. Before things escalated any further, Applejack yelled out.
"STOP IT!!!"
The shouting stopped. The five ponies' attention was now fixed on Applejack.
"What in tarnation has gotten into all of y’all?!?" Applejack shouted.
"There’s nothin’ wrong with me. Ah'm perfectly normal!" Rainbow Dash replied. The others agreed with that statement.
Applejack shook her head. "No yer not! None of y’all are!! You’re not supposed to be acting like… like me! C'mon girls, snap out of..."
Applejack suddenly blinked in realization. It suddenly dawned on her what the cause of all this really was. Her head dropped a bit as she started to laugh, prompting confused looks from the others.
"What's so funny?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"You can drop the act now, Rainbow," Applejack smiled. "Ah see what’s going on."
"Ya do?"
"Of course!" Applejack smiled. "Ah see yer all trying to make up for not seeing me off at the train station. So y'all sprang all this up to surprise me! Ah gotta say that ya got me real good this time, girls!"
Fluttershy frowned. "Just what are ya trying to say?"
"It means y’all are just yanking mah tail making me believe that y’all were me!" Applejack went on. "Boy! Ya really did go all out with this one! Ah never thought I’d ever see Rarity dressed like me."
"How much cider have you been drinking?" Rarity snapped. "Ah don’t look like Rarity."
"Of course you do!" Applejack pointed at Rarity's flank. "Look at that cutie mark, fer cryin' out loud!"
Pinkie Pie groaned. "Ah see her cutie mark plain as day. It's three red apples. Same as mine! Same as all of us!" Pinkie's observation was met with confirming nods from the other faux-Applejacks.
Applejack's smile faded away as she realized that there was no trick or prank involved with all of this. Her friends were thoroughly convinced that they were her, color scheme and all!
An angry Rainbow Dash got into Applejack's face. "Ah don’t know what yer trying to pull, but anypony can see she’s not Rarity, and Ah’m not Rainbow Dash. Who do you think YOU are trying to make us into somepony we’re not?"
"Ah… uh… uh..." Applejack stammered. Fear began to strike her form, making her unable to respond.
Slowly, the other four began to approach Applejack, all of them looking very furious at her.
"That was a dirty trick to pull, Applejack!" Twilight hissed. "Did you really think Ah'd fall for something like that?"
"Ah bet you’re the one behind all this!" Fluttershy frowned.
"You're not getting away with this, partner!" Pinkie Pie shouted.
"Uh… uh…" Applejack began to sweat as five angry scowls closed in on her. She backed away slowly at first, and then she suddenly turned around and ran away.
"GET HER!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted. Without any moments hesitation, the five ponies began to chase down the apparent impostor.
Just ahead, Applejack's mind was racing as fast as she was galloping. "They're not bluffing! They honestly think they're me! And if Ah were in their horseshoes right now... Oh Celestia, Ah'm in trouble!!" A ball of fear grew in Applejack's stomach. She knew exactly what she would do to somepony trying to impersonate her. And that knowledge propelled her to gallop even faster.
Running for her life, Applejack knew she wouldn't have a chance to lose them in the clearing, especially if they were thinking like her. She looked back to see that they were gaining on her. She galloped a bit faster when she saw a couple of lassos twirling in the air. Thinking fast, Applejack made a sharp cut straight into the orchard. She zigged-zagged her way through the trees, in an attempt to gain some ground. Behind her, the other five kept pace, not allowing Applejack to gain an inch.
As she continued to flee, Applejack saw a low tree branch blocking her path. She looked back again and saw that they were closing in. Rainbow Dash was leading the way with the other four right behind, ready to launch their lassos.
"Ah'm sorry, RD!" she apologized. Galloping at full speed, she grabbed the branch in her mouth, bending it backwards. Before it snapped off the tree, she released it, snapping it back, and right into the face of Rainbow Dash. She stumbled backwards in pain, right into the path of the other four. Soon, everypony found themselves stumbling over each other on the ground.
"That copycat's gonna pay for that!" Rainbow Dash growled. She and the others quickly got back up and resumed the chase. However, the stumble meant that they had lost some ground with their target. By the time they had made it out of the orchard, they had completely lost the renegade Applejack.
"Which way did she go?" Rarity asked. The five looked in all directions, looking to see where their target was. In actuality, Applejack took the opportunity to hide herself behind a tree, just out of sight. She had to find a new way to throw them off, so she peaked out from behind the tree.
"She went back that way!" Applejack shouted, pointing back to where she had just ran from.
"Get her!!!" The five ponies galloped back through the orchard. Applejack remained in place until she saw all of them galloping away, not looking back to where she was. When they were a safe distance away from her, the orange cowpony let out an exhausted sigh of relief. She was safe, but at the same time, she was worried. Just what in Equestria happened to her friends? Who, or what, was responsible? Was there a way to fix this, or will all of them be stuck being Applejack forever? And just what was she supposed to do right now?
It didn't take long for Applejack to decide to make her way back to the main farmhouse. She wasn't even sure if it was safe for her to do so, but it was worth the risk. Trotting quickly, but carefully, she made her way through the farm until she arrived at the house. Completely worn out by her unique welcome back to the farm, Applejack laid her hat on the nearest table and slumped down on Granny Smith's chair.
"Ah heard sompeony come in." Applejack heard the unmistakable voice of her younger sister. She turned to see Apple Bloom coming down the stairs. The small filly stopped when she noticed her sister, her real sister, orange coat and all.
"Applejack!!!" Apple Bloom grinned. "You're back!"
Applejack nodded nervously. "Yeah. It’s me… Ah think."
Apple Bloom's smile weakened. "You think?"
Applejack sighed. "For all you know, Ah might just be another impostor."
Apple Bloom wasn't going to hear this argument. She ran over and gave her sister a big hug. "You're not an impostor. You're the one and only Applejack. The rest of 'em could act like you, but they're not you!"
"So, you can see that they're not really me?"
"Of course Ah can! So can Big Mac and Granny Smith!"
"But if you can see it, then how come they can't see it?"
Apple Bloom lowered her head in shame. "Well ya see, Ah think it’s kind of mah fault." She went on to explain everything, from her discovery of the mysterious well, to her wish and its aftermath.
"We've never had a well in that part of the farm before," Applejack pondered. "So it just appeared out of nowhere?"
Apple Bloom nodded. "And it just disappeared out of nowhere. But that well is behind all this, Ah just know it." The filly lowered her head in shame. "Ah'm sorry Ah screwed up."
Applejack gave her sister a warm smile. "It wasn't your fault, AB. You couldn't have known any of this would happen. Nopony could. It was just an accident. A really, really strange accident!"
"Ah hear ya. Six Applejacks is just way too many. Ah mean, the farm's in tip-top shape now, but Ponyville's not."
"Yeah, Ah saw it mahself when Ah came in today." Applejack sighed. "We've got to find a way to get mah friends to act themselves again."
"But Applejack, Ah don't think we can fix this without that well. So what can we do?"
"Usually Ah'd go straight to Twilight, but we can't even do that with Twilight thinking she's me! Ah don't know what to do." Applejack slumped back in the chair. None of this made any sense. It wasn't like they physically turned into her. Twilight and Rarity still had their horns, Rainbow and Fluttershy still had their wings, and all of them still had their cutie marks. But in their eyes, they were all the same orange cowpony. Applejack refused to believe that, though. She was convinced that her friends were still somewhere in there. Maybe all it would take to snap her friends out of it was a little reminder. But simply telling them who they really were wasn't working. So what else was there.
"If you were Twilight, we would have solved this problem by now," Apple Bloom remarked, trying to lighten up Applejack's mood.
Applejack chuckled lightly. "Yeah, if only. It's too bad Ah'm not really... her." Those last words sparked something in Applejack's mind. Simply telling her friends who they really were wasn't working, but maybe showing them could!
"Ah've got an idea! C'mon Apple Bloom!" Applejack shouted triumphantly. She jumped out of the chair and began to run out the door. Confused, Apple Bloom followed her right out the door.
"Applejack?" Apple Bloom called out, "Where are we goin'?"
"We've got to get to the spa!"
Now Apple Bloom was even more confused. "The spa? You're not turning into Rarity now, are ya?"
I just might if Ah have no choice, Applejack shuddered at the thought. "Ah'll explain everything when we get there!"
"HOLD IT!!!" a voice shouted behind the two.
Applejack and Apple Bloom turned to see Rainbow Dash standing behind them. Applejack had forgotten that her friends were still looking for her, and in her rush to fix the mess, she left herself wide open and now she was caught. Applejack gulped as the pegasus-turned-cowpony approached her.
"Did you find that fake Applejack?" Rainbow asked.
Applejack blinked. "Ah... Ah didn't find her...." she stammered.
"Shoot! She must have gotten away!" Rainbow cursed. A quick shrug later, she turned around and smiled. "Well, we'll get her next time. Make sure you keep yer eyes peeled!" With that, Rainbow Dash returned to finish her farm chores. Applejack and Apple Bloom watched her walk away in stunned astonishment.
"Well... that was easy," Apple Bloom commented.
Once they got over their confusion, Applejack and Apple Bloom continued down the way through Sweet Apple Acres, into Ponyville proper, and straight into Aloe and Lotus' Spa, where they found the spa twins minding the front of the store. The storekeepers were surprised to see who entered their store.
"Applejack!" Lotus shouted. "Haven't seen you here in a while. You came for a spa treatment?"
"Actually, Ah need something else." Applejack replied. "How good are ya with disguises?"
"Well, we're not experts, but we can manage all right," Aloe smiled. "Although you really should go to Rarity for something like this."
"Well, Rarity's kind of... busy... at the moment," Apple Bloom laughed nervously. Applejack gave a nervous nod as well.
"Ah can explain everything... Ah think." Applejack continued. "But Ah need to know if you can help me put on a disguise. It's an emergency!"
Lotus shrugged. "Well, if it's an emergency, then I guess we can help out."
Applejack smiled. It was time to put her plan to action.
"All right, first thing we're gonna need is some purple paint."