Chapter 4
Applejack climbed out of the spa bath’s warm waters, having washed all the paint off her body. She was still in a state of disbelief over what she had experienced over the few short hours since she got back into town, not only seeing her friends acting like her, but also all the acting she had to do in order to snap them back to normal. And now, she only had one pony left to go.
Unfortunately, this last pony would also be Applejack’s biggest challenge so far; disguising herself as Rarity. While Applejack managed to get through the others relatively fine, posing as the fashionista seemed almost impossible for her. She was a simple farmer, after all. Acting high class would be a completely foreign experience, even after everything she’s been through that day. She really didn’t want to do it, but she had no choice if she wanted to get Rarity back.
Before Applejack began to make her way to disguise herself, however, she saw Aloe, Lotus, and Apple Bloom enter the room, all three of them looking a bit nervous.
“We have a problem sis!” Apple Bloom said.
“Apple Bloom? What’s the matter?” Applejack asked.
Aloe produced two cans of paint, both of which looked rather empty. “We don’t have enough paint for a Rarity disguise.”
“We were getting low on white in the first place and we used up all the purple to make you up like Twilight,” Lotus added.
“Great,” Applejack groaned. There went the Rarity disguise. “Ah guess it’s for the best anyway. Ah wasn’t sure if Ah could curl mah mane and tail like Rarity.”
“So what do we do, Applejack? How are we gonna get Rarity back?” Apple Bloom asked.
The room fell silent as nopony knew how to answer that question. Despite the dilemma, a small part of Applejack felt relieved that she wouldn’t have to be Rarity. She remembered the last time she tried to act all high class all those years ago. She simply didn’t fit in with those types of ponies, like Rarity, or even her Aunt and Uncle Orange.
It suddenly hit her. Her Aunt and Uncle. They had always stayed in touch here and there ever since she left Manehattan as a filly. They had even sent her some dresses and accessories for her, in case she ever reconsidered.
Applejack’s mind cringed. Did she really want to go back to the time when she was like that? But then again, it wouldn’t require any paint job at all. And most importantly, she had to get Rarity back to normal at any costs, even if it meant going back to… that. It wouldn’t be the most pleasant of alternatives, but it was the best option. With a heavy sigh, she reluctantly asked Apple Bloom to go get Aunt and Uncle Orange’s gift.
~~~~~
Applejack had never felt so awkward entering Sweet Apple Acres in her life. It was like she was living out an alternate reality where she finally returned home after years in the city. She wasn’t wearing any paint this time, but if anypony glanced over at her, they could barely recognize Applejack at all. She was wearing the red dress her aunt and uncle had sent her last Hearth’s Warming Eve, along with the pearl necklace and earrings they sent along as well. She also had Aloe crop her mane up in a simple, elegant bun. She looked as if she never had left Manehattan. Applejack tried to maintain a ladylike trot like her Aunt tried to teach her years ago. It didn’t go over very well back then, but after spending so much time around Rarity, she was able to pull it off more naturally, or as naturally as one could for a self-professed non-fru-fru pony.
“Ah’m doing this for Rarity,” she kept telling herself. “Ah’ve got to get her back.”
She wandered around the farm for a few moments before she came across Rarijack heading towards the livestock pens. She gulped. Ready or not, it was time for her to act fancy. She took a deep breath and called out to the white cowpony, using an accent she hadn't used since that fateful trip all those years ago.
“Um… excuse me, madame? Can you assist me?”
The cowpony stopped in her tracks and turned to see who this strange voice belonged to. She saw what looked to be a fancy, Manehattanite pony standing on her farm. This was odd, Rarijack thought. They never really have visitors like this on the farm. Preferably, she would rather not deal with fru-fru ponies like these since she couldn’t understand that kind of lifestyle. However, Rarijack knew that whoever it may be, they deserved a warm Sweet Apple Acres welcome.
“Well, you sure look like you’re in the wrong part of town!” Rarijack joked. “Ya needed some help?”
“Yes, I do!” Applejack smiled nervously. “I just arrived here from Manehattan. I seem to be a little lost at the moment.”
“Well, Ah’ll do mah best to point you in the right direction,” Rarijack smiled. “Mah name’s Applejack! What’s yours?”
“Mah name?” Applejack slipped a bit as the question caught her off guard. She thankfully got herself back on track to give her new identity a name. “My name is… Orange… Grove…” she nervously said.
“Well nice ta meet ya, Ms. Orange Grove! What can Ah do ya for?”
“You see, I’m looking for a unicorn named Rarity. I heard she had a fashion shop here in Ponyville. Do you know where I can find her?”
Rarijack grinned. “Today’s yer lucky day then because Rarity’s a good friend of mine! Her shop’s called Carousel Boutique. You can find it in the middle of town.”
“Oh wonderful! Would you be so kind to show me the way to Carousel Boutique then?”
Rarijack hesitated for a moment. She remembered her ordeal with dressmaking just a few days earlier and would rather not revisit that experience. In spite of that, though, she decided to do the neighborly thing and help the visitor out. “Well Ah am kinda busy right now. But Ah can walk you over there real quick.”
With Rarijack leading the way, the two ponies made their way away from the farm and into town. Applejack made sure she kept her act up as the curious newcomer, asking general questions about Ponyville every now and again. After touring the city, the two eventually made it inside their last stop, Carousel Boutique.
“Rarity?” Rarijack called out. “It’s me, Applejack! Ah brought ya a customer.” There was no reply from inside the shop. After a few moments, Rarijack started to make her way back. “Ah guess Rarity’s out right now. Ah’m sure she’ll be back soon. At any rate, Ah’ve got to get home right now. Tell Rarity Ah said hi!”
“WAIT! Don’t go!!!” Applejack shouted, forcing Rarijack to stop.
“Something wrong Ms. Orange Grove?”
Applejack had to think fast in order to keep Rarijack at Carousel Boutique, while at the same time keeping up her new Orange Grove persona. “Yes! You can’t leave because...” she held her arm up to her forehead in a fake swoon. “I’ll be all alone! A vulnerable pony in the middle of an unknown town. I could be attacked by ruffians! Or timberwolves! I can’t possibly handle such dangers. Oh, whatever shall a weak damsel do?” Applejack's mind recoiled in disgust over her act. Ah can’t believe Ah actually did that, she thought.
Rarijack shook her head. City ponies were all the same, weren’t they? “All right. If it’ll make you feel better, Ah’ll stay for a little while.”
Applejack smiled. “Oh, thank you! Rarity’s lucky to have a friend like you.”
“Thank ya kindly, ma’am.” Rarijack blushed.
“So while we’re waiting, would you mind telling me what Rarity is like? I’ve heard so many stories about her.”
Rarijack scratched the back of her head. “Well… Ah’m not really the best pony to answer that question. Truth be told, me and her don’t really have that much in common.”
“Is that so? So if I may ask, how do you two get along?”
Rarijack shrugged. “Sometimes even Ah don’t know. We just live two different lives, that's all. Ah can’t imagine what Rarity would think if she had to work on the farm for a few days.”
Applejack held a hoof to her mouth to stop herself from bursting out laughing. She quickly regained her composure. “Well what about you, Applejack? Can you picture yourself working in a shop like this?”
Rarijack shook her head. “No way! Ah can’t make a dress to save mah life! Ah’d drown if I had to run this place mahself! Trust me, Ah’ve tried!” To prove her point, she showed the Manehattanite to where she had crumpled up a piece of paper which had one of the cowboy hats she tried to design just a few days earlier. In fact, now that she thought about it, she wasn’t even sure why she was helping out Rarity with something like that in the first place. Applejack, meanwhile, simply gawked at the design.
“Nice hat,” Applejack commented.
“Gee, thanks,” Rarijack replied sarcastically.
Applejack understood where Rarijack’s sentiment came from. Cowboy hats were pretty much the limit of her own fashion knowledge. On her own, she couldn’t make anything else beyond that. In fact, all of the previous times she had to dress up for fancy parties, Rarity pretty much did all the work for her. She did remember in those instances, Rarity was more than eager to share her vast knowledge of fashion and beauty to her. As Applejack got to know Rarity more and more, she learned that the unicorn didn’t act out of vanity, but out of pure bona fide generosity to share her gifts with the world. And while her own artistic talents might be lackluster, Applejack decided to try to show Rarijack the art of sharing and generosity.
“You know when you look at this, it really isn’t that bad of a start. If you don’t mind, perhaps I could give you some help with this.”
“Seriously? And what do you know about dresses?”
Applejack knew that she knew nothing about dresses. However, right now she was Orange Grove, and she decided that in order to help get the old Rarity back, she should at least give dressmaking a shot.
“I think I can handle a dress or two,” she found herself saying.
20 Minutes Later…
Rarijack simply stood stunned at the city pony’s lack of dress sense. The dress, if she could even call it that, wound up being a grotesque mismatch of colors, fabrics, and accessories all sloppily stitched together. She took a look at the orange city pony again, her own dress looking like it was done by the finest craftspony in Canterlot. She couldn’t believe this pony could have created… that.
“On second thought, I guess I can’t handle a dress!” Applejack smiled sheepishly.
“Wow, and Ah thought Ah was bad.” Rarijack commented.
Applejack blushed in embarrassment. “I have to confess. I’ve never really made dresses before. My parents always made them for me.”
Rarijack smiled. “It’s all right. First tries aren’t always gonna be the best tries. But with a little practice, Ah think you can make a fine dressmaker.”
Applejack shook her head. “No, I couldn’t possibly. I don’t even know where to start!”
“Maybe Ah can give you some advice from what Ah saw back there,” Rarijack suggested. She walked Applejack over to the sewing machine. “For starters, you were shaking like a scared dog when ya used that sewing machine back there! You need to handle the fabrics more gently and with steady hooves. And if Ah were you, Ah would probably start with a simple backstitch if you’re not comfy with the more complicated stuff.” Rarijack blinked as she realized what she was saying. “Wait. How did Ah know that?”
Applejack gasped. It was working! Just a little more. “It sounds like you know more than you give yourself credit for. Why don’t you give your design another chance? It can’t be any worse than my attempt.”
Rarijack took another look at the design sheet that still had her old cowboy hat drawing. But this time, she was able to visualize something else with it.
You know, maybe it doesn’t have to be that fancy, she thought. Maybe all Ah need is a simple, everyday dress. She began to visualize a modest green outfit that would complement the outfit. Slowly, but surely, she drew her idea down on the sheet. To her surprise, it was actually looking decent!
“Wow, Ah’m actually design somethin’!” Rarijack chuckled.
“How do you feel?” Applejack asked, hoping to nudge her friend back over the threshold.
“Well…” Rarijack hesitated before she found the words. “Ah kinda feel like...”
“RARITY? Are you in here?”
The two ponies jolted in shock as a high-pitched yelling suddenly came from the now-opened front door. Standing in the entry way was Rarity’s younger sister, Sweetie Belle.
“Where were you, Rarity? You just disappeared without saying anything and…” Sweetie Belle trailed off as she saw what she assumed was her sister, but she was for some reason dressed up as Applejack. She also noticed that the second pony bore more than a strong resemblance to Applejack.
“Uh… howdy Sweetie Belle!” Rarijack told the filly.
“Uh, did I miss something?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Applejack cursed silently. She was so close to getting Rarity back and Sweetie Belle interrupted everything. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do about it now. She had to keep the act up for the time being.
“Well, my name is Orange Grove, and I’m looking for a new dress. Rarity’s friend, Applejack, showed me the way over here.”
“But… Rarity’s right there!”
Rarijack chuckled. “Come on, Sweetie Belle. Ah don’t look like Rarity!”
Sweetie Belle tried to counter the argument, when she was interrupted by the front door slamming open. Everypony turned to see who came into Carousel Boutique. All three of them were stunned to see that the newcomer was… another Sweetie Belle?
“Applejack! It’s me, Apple Bloom!” the second Sweetie Belle drawled. “Aloe and Lotus had enough white paint to dress me up! Ah can pretend to be Sweetie Belle to get Rarity back.”
Applejack facehoofed. The jig was up. “Apple Bloom… Look behind you.”
Apple Bloom did as she was told. She turned around and she noticed the real Sweetie Belle staring at her.
“Apple Bloom?!?” Sweetie Belle asked in disbelief.
Apple Bloom blushed in embarrassment. “Uh… hi, Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie Belle looked at everypony in the room, all dressed like somepony else. After a short moment, a thought came to her. “Oh I get it! It’s dress up day, isn’t it? That sounds like fun! Can I be Princess Luna then? I can even do the Royal Canterlot Voice thing! YOU WILL BOW DOWN TO THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!!!”
Sweetie Belle’s shrieking impression of Princess Luna made the other three cringe.
“OK, that’s real nice Sweetie Belle!” Applejack shouted.
“Oh! How about I do Vinyl Scratch!” Sweetie Belle continued. “I can imitate her music!”
The energetic unicorn filly proceeded to imitate the deep bass sounds that is the DJ pony’s trademark, hopping around the room to the beat of the music, knocking around some loose gems and bumping some mannequins to the ground in the process. Applejack and Apple Bloom cringed as her imitation was starting turning the design room into a disaster area. Rarijack covered her ears and shut her eyes throughout all this. She couldn’t take it anymore. Somepony had to put an end to Sweetie Belle’s antics…
And she was just the right sister to do it.
“Sweetie Belle, THAT’S ENOUGH!!!”
The young unicorn hushed immediately. She recognized that tone from anywhere. She looked to see her big sister pointing a stern frown towards her. The freckles that were on her face before were now gone.
“Rarity?”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but could you two please take you shenanigans elsewhere? I’m in the middle with an important client!”
“Yes, Rarity.” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom said in unison. With both their heads lowered, they made their way out of the room.
After the left, Rarity turned to her customer. She had no clue whatsoever as to what was going on, but she saw there was a customer in her shop that she needed to care for.
“I’m so sorry about that,” she apologized. “That was rather unprofessional of me. I promise I will get to work right away on your new dress!”
“But Rarity…”
“No buts!” Rarity wouldn’t hear any objections from her customer. “I don’t want you to get the wrong impression of me and my work. I’m usually a lot more prepared than this, honestly!” She sighed. “I simply don’t what’s been going on with me recently. It’s like I haven’t been myself lately.”
Applejack chuckled. She began to undo her bun, letting her mane hang loosely once more. “You ain’t the only one, sugarcube!” she smiled.
Rarity became confused as she noticed her customer’s accent. It was at this time she finally noticed what the customer looked like. She was dressed up like a true Manehattanite, but the coat and mane colors, and especially the freckles, were unmistakable.
“APPLEJACK?!?” Rarity shouted in complete astonishment.
Applejack nodded. “That’s right. Ah’ve dressed up all fancy.”
Rarity remained speechless as she suddenly found herself face-to-face with a dressed-up Applejack, not so much that the cowpony actually bothered to don a dress, but particularly over how stunning she looked.
“I… I… I don’t know what to say…” Rarity stammered. “I thought you didn’t like dressing up!”
“Let’s just say that we’re even, all right?”
“We’re even? How?”
“Ah’ll explain later.” Applejack noticed the mess Sweetie Belle had made. “Looks like you need to clean up. Ah’ll keep an eye on Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom for ya!” With a wink, Applejack left the room, leaving a confused Rarity alone.
“What in heavens was that about?” the unicorn wondered. “And what did Applejack mean when she said we’re even?”
Meanwhile in the main foyer, Apple Bloom was doing her best to catch Sweetie Belle up on everything. The two noticed Applejack emerging from the room.
“So what happened?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Rarity’s back to normal!” Applejack reported.
Apple Bloom cheered at the good news, leaping into her sister's hooves. “We did it! We got everypony back!!!”
While she wanted to celebrate with her sister at that moment, Applejack shook her head. “It ain’t over yet, Apple Bloom.”
Apple Bloom became worried. “But everything’s back to normal now, right?”
“It is, but there’s still one thing left for us to do,” Applejack noted.
“And what’s that?” Sweetie Belle asked.
At that moment, they heard a sudden shriek of horror from inside the room.
“MY MANE!!!!”
The scream was immediately followed by the dull thud of a fainting pony. Applejack simply smiled as the moment she waited for occurred.
“We have to wake Rarity back up!” she told the two young fillies.
~~~~~
The sun was already high in the sky the following day when Applejack finally got out of bed. Usually she would have been up at the crack of dawn working in the orchard. However, thanks to her friends’ work, all the outstanding chores were done. So Applejack took the rare opportunity to sleep in that day, and she was thankful for that. Doing all the imitations she did yesterday took a lot out of her, so she was looking forward to spend the day off just being herself for a change.
Applejack decided to spend the day in town, checking up on her friends just to make sure they were ok. She also needed to swing by the spa to deliver an apple pie to Aloe and Lotus as a token of thanks for their help. So before she went into town, she went straight to the kitchen to bake the pie. The aroma of the warm apple pie drew Apple Bloom to the kitchen.
“Hey Applejack! Is that Granny Smith’s secret recipe?”
“It sure is! Ah’m taking this over to Aloe and Lotus. Y’know, as a way of sayin’ thanks for their help yesterday.”
“Can Ah come to?”
“Sure you can Apple Bloom! You can even have them dress you up as Scootaloo if ya want!”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Nuh uh! Ah think Ah’ve had enough imitations for a while.”
“Me too!” Applejack chuckled.
Later that day, the two went into town and towards the spa to deliver their gift. When they got to their destination, they found that the spa’s waiting room was empty.
“Hello?” Apple Bloom called out. “Aloe? Lotus? Anypony home?”
At that moment, Lotus emerged from the curtain that led to the main spa room.
“Applejack! Apple Bloom! Sorry, but we’re kinda busy right now.”
“It’s ok,” Applejack smiled. “We can come back later..”
“Actually…” Lotus replied, “You can come on inside if you want. I’m sure our guests won’t mind.”
“You sure?”
Lotus stifled a giggle. “Trust me, Applejack. They won’t.”
With a little reluctance from the two sisters, Lotus led them past the curtain to the main spa room. Applejack quickly noticed that the spa was fairly busy right now as Aloe and Lotus were currently helping out five familiar ponies. Applejack’s friends were all here, and all of them looked to be pretty worn out. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were lying down on a massage table where Aloe was trying to massage their backs, and Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie were in the warm bath.
“Hey! Look who’s here!” Lotus announced.
Everypony looked to see the two newcomers
“Howdy Applejack!” Pinkie waved. “Although that was me saying howdy, and not Applejack-me saying howdy. Just so there’s no confusion.”
“Girls? What are y’all doing here?” asked Applejack.
Twilight started the explanation. “We all woke up feeling really sore from all the farm work we did when we thought we were you.”
“It still hurts to move anything!” Rarity whined.
“Even you, Rainbow?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Hey! Heavy lifting isn’t in my resume.” Rainbow Dash tried to defend herself.
“Same here!” Twilight agreed. “I’ve done workouts before, but nothing like that.”
“How do you do it, Applejack?” Fluttershy wondered.
Applejack could only shrug. “Ah guess Ah’m just used to it. Ah’ve been doing farm work mah whole life, so Ah haven’t really thought about it that much. It’s kinda hard to explain if you didn’t grow up on a farm.”
“Tell me about it,” Pinkie nodded, bad memories from her younger days at her family’s rock farm playing in her head.
“You know, Applejack,” Fluttershy spoke up, “I never realized how hard you worked at Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Me too,” Rarity nodded. “Although I could have lived without actually experiencing that.”
“You wanna talk about a different experience?” Applejack chuckled, “Ah almost had mah own identity crisis acting like y’all!”
Apple Bloom shifted around nervously. “Ah guess Ah owe all of y’all an apology. Ah’m sorry Ah made that wish, everypony.”
"It's all right, Apple Bloom," Fluttershy smiled. "Although, I guess we're all at fault a bit for letting ourselves get so busy lately."
"Ah know," Apple Bloom replied. "Applejack told me."
Applejack gave her little sister a reassuring hug. “Hey listen, AB. Just because we're all busy, doesn't mean we ain't friends anymore. We understand that we can't all be there all the time. That's life sometimes. It happens to the best of us."
"Ah guess Ah screwed up, huh big sis?"
"Nah," Applejack chuckled. "Ya didn't know. And besides, it’s not every day that ya get to walk in somepony else’s horseshoes for a while.”
“And sometimes,” Twilight added, “In order to be a good friend, you need to look at things from somepony else’s point of view. Although next time, I think I’ll settle with just asking questions as opposed to actually living somepony else’s life.”
“At any rate, I’m just glad this whole things over!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she slowly got off the massage table.
Applejack laughed. “Trust me, RD. No one’s as glad as Ah am!”
"Hey, is anypony getting thirsty?" Pinkie suddenly chirped up.
"I am," Rarity replied. "But I'm still way too sore to get up right now."
“Hey, Ah have an idea!” Apple Bloom chirped up. “Why don’t Ah get y’all something to drink? It’s the least Ah can do to make up for it.”
“That’s a great idea, Apple Bloom!” Twilight smiled.
“So what do you girls like?” the filly asked.
Without blinking, the six friends answered at the same time.
“I'll have some apple juice!”
THE END
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but seriously it was a pretty solid story i enjoyed it i dont know i feel that it could have contained apple jewel but overall i think this was good
And everything went back to normal.
Huh, thought for sure you were gonna take a page from Simple Ways to fix Rarity, but this is equally as humorous. Maybe that could be one of your alternate endings.
4079975
Well I had this written before Simple Ways came out, which was before my laptop went nuts on me. I decided to stick with what I had.
Great story. Looking forward for your future works.
4080932
I appreciate what you're trying to do and thank you for trying to help. With that said, I need to point out that I am aware that my writing may not be on par with some other fanfic writers. I am not a writer. I'm just a fan who dabbles every once in a while. I'm not trying to write the next Past Sins, I'm just writing fanfics for the fun of it.
With that said, thanks for your comments and thanks for giving my story a look.
Thanks for writing!
This was a cool story. Lots of grammar issues and upper-case letter abuse, but it eased up after the first chapter. It almost felt darker than funny, but AJ's disguise adventure saved the story and brought it back to the humor zone.
This is such a cute story!! Great job!
Very solid and funny. Thinking of rarity Imitation made me think of apple Jewell thing