Green Haycres

by lunabrony

Green Haycres: Chapter 1

The unusually bright sun cast its elegant rays down upon the rolling green hills, hills that had seen many a sun rise and fall. A large reaching forest stretched nearby, birds flying overhead with no particular destination in mind. It was within this forest, on a long winding trail to be specific, that the pounding of hooves and the shouting of voices was heard.

"Come on, slowpoke, y'can do better than that!" The taunt came from Applejack, barreling around a bend in the trail as Rarity inched her way around a tree not far behind.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this dreadful race, there's dirt everywhere. Somepony should really come out here with a broom and get rid of it at once!" She skidded to a halt in front of a downed tree that had fallen over the path. "Oh, Applejack, do be a dear and move this for me, won't you?"

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Yer kiddin', right? Rarity, when are y'gonna learn that bein' outside is perfectly natural?" Rarity had thrown such fits before, and it was always a dramatic display.

"When all this dirt stops making my mane perfectly unnatural. One never knows when one is going to meet somepony important, so must be looking her best at all times."

Applejack sighed. "Ah guess th'race is off then. S'perfectly fine, ah woulda beaten you anyway." She said, jumping over the tree to begin the walk back towards down. She gave a trolling grin, expecting Rarity to continue the race.

Rarity however seemed to have other plans, and snorted in agreement. "Well of course you would have. You were going so very fast, and kicking up dirt all over the place. Look at yourself! You won't be caught anywhere near my shop until you've cleaned yourself!"

With a wicked sort of grin, Applejack shook herself, sending leaves and dirt in all directions, and causing her friend to shriek in terror.

"Aiiiieeeeee! Stopitstopitstopit at once!" She yelled, prancing in place on all fours as if the ground had suddenly melted. "You're a heathen! An absolute heathen!" She snapped, turning her back and marching towards town on her own.

Applejack just shook her head. "Too easy." The farmpony just shook her head. "Ah swear, there just ain't no reasonin' with that girl." With that, she raced after Rarity, whom although didn't exactly need protecting, may need help getting home if she encountered a puddle or caterpillar on the way back. Heaven forbid.

"Rarity! Wait up!" She called.

The fashionista turned, an amused sort of smirk on her face. "Oh so NOW you're having trouble keeping up with me. What can I do for you, Applejack?"

"Ah had to make sure y'got out of this 'horrible dirty forest' in one piece, Sugarcube."

"I do thank you for your concern, however I think I'll be just fine. We scared off all the ruffians barreling in here on our first lap."

"You mean our only lap. The one we couldn't finish."

Rarity waved her hoof as they rounded the corner. "I could have finished it if I'd wanted to. I just needed to save my energy for this afternoon. I have a very complicated design that I must have finished by tomorrow if my client is going to pick it up in time."

Applejack sighed. "You and yer fabrics."

Rarity shook her head slowly. "Retail is a very demand oriented business, Applejack. One has a reputation to maintain." With that, she disappeared inside her front door. Applejack muttered to herself.

Not particularly far away, another sort of strenuous activity was in progress. Twilight was surrounded by a large pile of books from which she'd been studying. Her faithful scaled assistant sat on a pile of said books, munching on a sapphire he'd brought up for lunch. The sunflower sandwich he'd made for Twilight some hours before still remained untouched.

"You've been working really hard, Twilight. Besides, can't you teleport already?"

Twilight sighed. "This isn't teleporting, Spike. This is relocation. Placing one object in place of another."

"So... it's teleporation," he said.

"It's not teleporation!" She insisted. "Teleportation is moving yourself from Point A to Point B. Relocation is moving Object A to replace Object B at Point B and Object B to replace Object A at Point A."

Spike rubbed his head. "I think my head is objecting to trying to figure all that out." It usually wound up hurting after Twilight tried to explain magic.

Twilight smiled gently. "Never mind, Spike. But it's a very complicated spell that requires quiet, precision, and timing. Much like making cupcakes." She explained, lowering her horn to the ground again. In front of her were two cups, one red and one blue. "Now, I've almost got it, I just need to-"

"Did somepony say cupcakes?!" Pinkie burst forth from the pile of books on the floor, bouncing around in circles. "Oh! Oh! Oh! I wanna do the frosting!"

Twilight shrieked, a powerful magical bolt escaping from her horn. It ricocheted off the walls, sending both ponies and dragon to the floor, before smashing through the window.

The unicorn sighed with relief. That was close. "Pinkie! What are you DOING in there?!"

Pinkie stopped bouncing just long enough to look at her as if she'd asked a very silly question. "I was playing in my book fort. Don't you have a book fort? It's fun!"

Twilight facehooved. "That's not what I... never mind." She sighed. "Help me clean this mess up before somepony gets hurt." She looked out the window. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Rarity was hard at work while Twilight was practing her studies, and was seated at her sewing machine while her younger sister peppered her with questions. "Can I help? What's Backstitch mean? How come you're going backwards? When can-" Rarity glared at her. "Sweetie Belle, I'm TRYING to get this dress done, it might be featured in Canterlot Corner, which is a very high honor."

Sweetie Belle made puppy eyes. "But I just thought we could hang out together..."

"I'll hang out with you when I've finished, I promise. Now run along."

The little Crusader sighed, and left the room. "Never have time for anything."

Applejack was just entering the room as Sweetie entered. "Ooh! Ooh! Applejack! Do you wanna play with me?" The little filly asked.

Applejack shook her head. "Sorry Sugarcube, Ah'm jes' here to return a couple of things that Rarity forgot when we were out in th'forest." She turned, having several suitcases on her back.

"I thought you guys were just going for a race."

"We were. Ah mean we did. But y'know Rarity. Prepared for every occasion. No matter how unlikely." She sighed. "Celestia forbid it happened to rain and she was caught outside without her umbrella. Or boots. Or personal protection caravan."

"Oh... Okay... I'm gonna go see if AppleBloom can play then." She said, and skipped out the door.

"Don'tchy'all stay out too long! Rarity'll wonder where ya went!"

"Ha! She won't even know I'm gone." The filly called.

Applejack sighed. "That filly ain't right." She said, making her way to Rarity's workroom. "Rarity! Y'forgot yer suitcases!" She said, dumping them down on the floor. Rarity immediately emerged from the workroom, glasses perched on her nose.

"No no no! Pick those up at once! They've been outside and haven't been washed yet!"

"Y'know what? Ah'm tired of this nonsense about dirt. Jes' cause somethin was outside doesn't mean its out t'getcha."

"Of course not, but there's germs on it, I won't have germs in my Boutique!"

"There's germs on EVERYTHING, Rarity. Some of em are good. They're on everythin' from Sweetie Belle to yer sewin' machine."

"You take that back at once!" Rarity demanded.

"And what if ah don't?"

"Then it... is... on!" She declared, tossing her mane back.

As the two mares bickered, a bright purple light flew through the open front door, and bounced off the walls. Applejack stared at it. Rarity did her molten-floor dance. "Get it out!"

The magic residue shot straight for the two mares, enveloping them in a sonic wave of power and raising an enormous cloud of smoke, sending both ponies into a fit of coughing. When the cloud began to clear, Applejack looked at Rarity.

Rarity looked at Applejack.

Both ponies screamed.

Author's Note:

Wow, what a difference two years makes. With the recent airing of Simple Ways, I've been revisiting this fanfic to give it a spit and polish. It was only the second fanfic I've ever written, and there's a lot of things I'd like to change about it, but I think it's good for such an early attempt. Feels a bit rushed here and there, but a lot of the actual episodes themselves do as well.

Comments

[Regidar]

Ooh! A body/life swap fic!

[lunabrony]

I've been tossing that title around for months and it's just too perfect

[Dunsparce]

1789771 I was JUST gonna do a body swap w/ Octy and Vinyl! MY LIEF IZ RUIND

[lunabrony]

1789879But Octavia and Vinyl aren't even in this so why can't you? o.o

[Dunsparce]

1789907 I don't wanna look like a copier....

[lunabrony]

You're not a copier, friend. If people didn't write stories because they resembled something else than nobody would ever write stories anymore. And Hollywood would have been out of business decades ago. Go! Go and write! And may the odds be ever in your favor.

[JTB]

I enjoy body switch fics, and you did a great job with this one. Nice grammar, and over all a great read. Can't wait for more.

Just a tip, you don't have to separate key points with a different chapter, like what you did with chapters 1-3. You can simply use '---' or use a page break, any will work though.

And also;

Applejack sighed. "Ah guess th'race is off then. S'perfectly fine, ah woulda been you anyway."

Typo or a secret foreshadowing?

[lunabrony]

1789943 1. Thats just how I write. *See my other story I did yesterday*
2. CRAP! *goes to fix*

[Dr. Fumbles]

Even though there is plenty of swap fics out there, I can't get enough of them.