Chapter 9: Honest till it hurts

~~~With Applejack and Spitfire~~

"So, you have a plan to deal with your doppelganger?" The pegasus asked glancing at her companion.

"Nope" the farmer replied simply.

"What? Do you mean you're going to go against a changeling impersonating you without a plan?"

"What do you expect me to plan? What tree ahm gonna buck it into?" she asked glancing up at Spitfire from underneath her hat. "Ah don't fly I don't use any magic...Mah rope and mah legs are all I need" she retorted simply "I'll have that fake hogtied in no time flat"

"Alright," Spitfire commented falling silent for a few minutes "Hey Applejack...can I talk to you about something"

"Shoot Spitfire" the farmer replied "whatcha wanna know?"

Spitfire slowly touched down on the stony path next to Applejack "Um...well...its about Twilight"

The farmer glanced at the wonderbolt "What 'bout her?"

"Well....do you know anything about if she...well...." Spitfire trailed off clearly awkward about the topic.

"Spit it out already sugarcube." Applejack muttered shaking her head slightly

The fiery colored pegasus sighed "Do you know if she has an interest in anypony? Like romantically?"

Applejack stopped glancing at the Pegasus confused "Ah...why?"

"Just...trying to make sense of something" Spitfire replied.

"Well she hasn't shown any interest that I've noticed" AJ replied slowly "But then again, I ain't exactly seeing her all the time..."

"Alright...thanks Applejack" Spitfire muttered frowning slightly That was no help at all.

the earth pony frowned as she glanced at her companion and sighed "A'right now spill why are you so interested in Twi's love life?"

Spitfire blinked and sighed "The truth is, remember the other day when Twilight first arranged a conversation with Princess Luna to inform her of our progress?" the farmer nodded confused "Well I had to wake her up in the middle of the night to get me a camera for...business reasons for the wonderbolts" She explained "She mumbled something when she was waking up..."

"So? What does that gotta do with you askin' so many strange questions?" Applejack asked confused still.

"She said something about never being able to look at the color blue the same way again" Spitfire replied "Now considering her reaction when I asked her about it...I have the suspicion that it has to do with her feelings for somepony."

Applejack blinked and sighed "Spitfire, ah respect what you and the other wonderbolts do, and ah respect that you both took time ot help us on this quest of ours. But ah have to cut you off there...do you have any idea how silly that sounds?"

"But..." the pegasus started as the farmer cut her off

"But nothin' ah know Twi pretty well from all our time together as friends. She'll get flustered at the drop of a hat. And fer the silliest things."

"You mean?"

"The odds of that little mumbling being about somepony in that way? slim to none I'm afraid, its probably some new spell or sumthing."

Spitfire opened her mouth to respond when an orange figure dropped before her spinning around to buck the wonderbolt into a nearby boulder making her cry out in pain nad crash to the ground stunned.

"Ifin yah don't mind sugarcube we've got business to discuss" the newcomer stated as Applejack's eyes widened a moment.

"Who are ya?" Applejack growled bracing herself glaring at the still shadowed figure who turned the bejeweled apple around her neck glowing lighting up their features.

"ain't it obvious?" the 'pony' stated eyes flashing green a moment "ah'm you AJ..."

"No you aint, yer just some wanna be copyin' me." the farmer spat starting to circle the fake slowly "Now why dontcha back off and hand over mah element before ah've gotta get rough withcha"

"Now now...what would be the fun in that?" the changeling replied as she started to copy AJ's pace mirroring it the two now inscribing a slow circle in the dust.

"The 'fun' is when ah don't buck yah so hard you burn up on yer way down" Applejack shot back twisting to grasp her lasso in her teeth starting to twirl the loop around above her head before snapping it out to loop around the fake's neck.

Instead the fake dodged to the side grabbing the rope with her own teeth and yanking hard on it throwing the farmer off her hooves before she released the rope and bounced upright spinning on her forelegs to aim a powerful buck at her copy, this blow was the same strength that regularly emptied entire apple tree's in one hit.

Instead of doing as she planned which was to slam her opponent into a nearby rock to cripple them, the changeling shifted taking the buck in the shoulder as it stumbled her back a few steps grunting as she lunged forward tackling the farmer sending the two rolling across the dusty ground as the changeling managed to get her hooves up agaisnt Applejack's belly and give an almighty kick flipping the farmer pony off of her and tumbling across the ground with a groan. "Is this really how strong you are? no wonder your family's poorer than dirt and that pathetic farm of yours is barely limping along."

Applejack limped upwards grunting as she scooped her hat up and jammed it down atop her head "Ah don't know what yer talking bout the farm's doin' better than ever." she spat "Heck we've got a big order in the works for the next Grand Gallopin' Gala." she added "So ah don't care what you spout ah ain't listenin'." she finished charging with her own shoulder hit on her doppleganger who grunted and twisted around it leaving Applejack to skid to a stop to avoid slamming into a charging Spitfire one wing held at an awkward angle.

"Dammit...another five seconds" The wonderbolt muttered wincing as her injured wing stretched.

"Sit this here roundup out Spitfire" Applejack muttered "ah don't wantcha hurting yerself any more than yah have already."

"Are you nuts I'm not letting you fight that thing by yourself. My wings fiiiiiinnng" she gritted her teeth as she tried to flex the injured limb.

"Go on 'n git" the farmer urged "Ah've got this varmit' Cause Nopony, and I mean NOPONY, changeling or not, insults mah family's farm and gets away with it." she growled tugging her hat lower on her head.

Spitfire sighed and held out something with her uninjured wing "Then at least take this..." she replied holding out her teammate's lasso.

"Thanks." She replied taking the coil of rope in her mouth and turning shoving Spitfire to the side as she was tackled by her counterpart grunting as the fake's hooves tried to get a grasp on the farmer's throat.

"I think its time you stop lying to yourself...Nopony truly cares about a useless stubborn farmer like you." she grunted a crazed look entering her eyes.

Applejack grimmaced tucking her muzzle down to cover her neck as she brought her own hooves up to slam into the changeling's gut "have ah told ya how much I HATE liars?" she spat flinging her double away to tumble across the ground. Rolling upright she charged aiming a hoof at her target's jaw. Only to get nailed by a buck to the face throwing her back into a nearby rock with a cry of pain slumping to the ground.

"Have I told you how much I hate stuck up mares like you?" the changeling growled as Applejack pushed herself upright slowly spitting a mouthful of blood off to the side.

"Ah don't give a mule's butt what you hate." She retorted rolling her shoulders "All ah care about is that collar around yer neck" she added rushing forward ducking the retalitory hoof swing and twisted around bucking her hooves back throwing the changeling back in turn spinning lasso snapping out to snag the airborne mare by the hoof as Applejack spun swinging her around to slam her into the same boulder she'd hit...hard.

the changeling rippled slowly changing back to normal glancing up at the approaching farmer "W-what the hell drives you on?" it muttered insectoid wings buzzing faintly the fragile limbs broken from the impact.

Applejack grunted as she reached down grasping the jewled pendant of the element clasped around the changeling's neck "Ah ain't ever gonna give up on mah friends" she retorted pulling the necklat off and shivering as the strangely familiar warmth slid up her hoof. "Ah don't care who or what I gotta face."

A strange silvery green ooze trailed out of the changeling's mouth "Fine...just take the blasted thing, it kept burning me anyway."

Spitfire walked up slowly as she glanced at Applejack, lower lip split, bruise on her chest from the kick, mane and fur was matted, hat dusty and half crushed as the farmer clasped the Element of Honesty back around her neck shivering and standing a bit straighter. "Feeling better?"

"Loads, lets git back to the others Spitfire." the farmer replied turning to walk away dusting her hat off as she did so reshaping the material absently.

Author's Note

~~~Author's Note~~~

Spark: gah so much cowboy speak *headdesks*
Twilight: *pats Spark's back* there there, its over now...For the crazy stuff *grins evily*
Spark: *glances up* Thanks Twi, and true it does get nuttier from here don't it? *chuckles*
Twilight: Welcome, and that it does. Please review