The Cowpony and the Librarian
Applejack, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash were having lunch at Sweet Apple Acres together. They had been getting together for lunch each Sunday for the past 3 months. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were good friends, they had the kind of friendship where they could talk back to each other and none of them would mind. Most of the time.
Naturally, Twilight was close to both of them equally, same with the rest of her friends.
Twilight sipped her tea, trying her best to mimic the way Rarity had showed her weeks ago when she met up with her and Fluttershy to have a critter-picnic.
Each Sunday at their weekly lunch, each of them would meet up at Sweet Apple Acres and bring their own lunches.
It was for the best, it would be a nightmare to decide on a food that all of them liked that could be home-cooked.
Rainbow Dash brought her signature rainbow-sandwiches, but Applejack always saw it as the Pegasus being too lazy to cook herself, and Twilight was pretty sure the spectra inside the two slices of bread was just spread on at the last minute.
Applejack brought cider and apple fritters for each of them to share, she barely ever got a chance to eat anything herself because each week Rainbow Dash had drunken the cider within 10 minutes, and Twilight would eat all of the fritters before she even knew she was doing it.
Spike generously baked Twilight a small batch of his famous butterscotch cookies each week, and she brought along a book to read whenever Applejack and Rainbow Dash were arguing about who was the most athletic.
This was one of those times.
"Yeah, whatever, Applesmack!" The blue Pegasus growled, then pointed a hoof at Applejack's cutie mark, "You're the one with apples for your cutie mark, and I have athleticism for my cutie mark! Where's your athleticism cutie mark, huh?"
"There ain't nothin' wrong with having two hobby's, Rainbow Dash!" The earth pony shouted back, pushing Rainbow Dash lightly.
"Lame earth pony!"
"Dumb Pegasus!"
The bickering had became loud enough to distract Twilight from her book she was reading,
"Keep it down, you guys! We come to these picnics each week for socializing and talking, not to argue!"
The pair ignored Twilight, and continued shouting insults at each other.
"Feather-brain!"
"Mud pony!"
"Ignorant!"
"Stubborn!"
Applejack's cheeks were burning hot red, she was just about to shout another insult at the Pegasus, but Twilight put a hoof to her mouth before the words could escape her lips.
"Stop it, you two!" Twilight shouted, "You are both great athletes, you just express it in different ways." She took her hoof away from Applejack's muzzle.
Rainbow Dash's expression turned to confusion, "What do you mean?" She asked,
"Well," Twilight began, "Applejack's hobby is apple-bucking, and that gives her the advantage of being stronger in the hind-legs. But for Rainbow Dash, she's stronger in the forelegs.
"Applejack's physical strength is higher than Rainbow's, but, she has the ability to fly to make up for that lack of physical strength that earth ponies posses."
Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash wore a blank expression on their muzzles.
Twilight sighed deeply, then said, "Applejack can buck, Rainbow can punch, Applejack can pick up heavy things, Rainbow can fly."
"Oh, that makes much more sense." The Pegasus said, wrapping a wing around Applejack.
Applejack smiled briefly, then it faded into an evil smirk, "Betcha couldn't spend a day workin' in the farm,"
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, then she grew a smirk that matched Applejack's,
"Is that a challenge?"
Applejack shook her head, "I bet ya a whole barrel of hard cider that ya couldn't last two days livin' the farm life."
"And I bet you couldn't last a day living the Pegasus life,
"You win and I'll spend a whole month doing choirs for you, I win and you owe me five barrels of cider."
With that, the orange and the blue pony's spit on their hooves, and were about to hoof-bump, until the unicorn that had been watching the two, said, "How's Applejack going to live 'the Pegasus life' if she can't fly?"
Applejack and Rainbow Dash's hooves were stuck in mid air, inches apart.
"Twi has a point," Applejack said, placing her foreleg back to the wood floor.
Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, then grinned, "That's why you and Twi should do it!"
Applejack and Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash with a curious look on their muzzles, "Huh?" They both said,
"If Twilight wins, I get 8 barrels of cider. If AJ wins, I have to work on the farm for 3 days."
Twilight raised an eyebrow at her Pegasus friend, "So you want me to live in Applejack's horseshoes for a whole 2 days, so you can get free cider?"
Rainbow Dash's grin turned into a sheepish smile, "..Yes?"
Applejack lightly hit Rainbow Dash on the side of her head, "Rainbow, if yer gonna make Twi do this so you can have cider, then ya gonna let her have somethin' outta it too!"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Fine. If Twi wins, then she gets a whole tray of apple fritters, and I get 23 barrels of cider."
"..Why do I have the feelin' that every time she brings up how many barrels 'o cider she gets it doubles by 2 times.."
Twilight shook her head in agreement, "Sure. A little friendly competition never hurt a pony."
Rainbow Dash snickered, "Yeah, as long as you don't end up covered in tree sap and end up getting beaten by a purple unicorn who knows close to nothing about racing."
Twilight curled her lower lip, then opened her mouth to protest, but Applejack interrupted her before she could.
"Twi, how we gonna do this?" She asked, tilting her head.
"Well, the easiest way would be to basically do what you and Rarity did a few weeks ago. Simple switch of wardrobe and I'll act like a southern cowpony, and Applejack will act like a smart librarian." Twilight glanced over at Rainbow Dash, "All because Rainbow Dash wants 16-"
"28," Rainbow corrected,
"-Barrels of cider." Twilight finished, then glanced back over at Applejack.
Applejack nodded, "Eeyup."
Rainbow Dash pulled her two friends into a hug, then said confidently, "Let's do this!"
The Cowpony and the Librarian
Applejack and Twilight walked down the path to the barn in Sweet Apple Acres, where Rainbow Dash was waiting.
"Twi, ya' sure this is a good idea?" Applejack asked with a concerned look on her muzzle,
Twilight looked over at Applejack with a reassuring smile, "Applejack, all we're doing is switching lives for a day or two, there is nothing that could go wrong."
"We're gonna tell my family and my friends 'bout this, right?"
Twilight chuckled softly, "Well, duh. We won't look so alike that they won't be able to tell us apart,"
Applejack smiled weakly, "Yeah. Sure."
They both approached the barn, standing inside was a cyan blue Pegasus awaiting their arrival.
Applejack had gray glasses, and two books on her back. Her tail and mane were untied, and some make-up was used to remove her freckles.
Twilight was wearing Applejack's brown stetson, a handkerchief, and two red hair ties in her purple and pink mane.
Rainbow Dash caught sight of the two, and gasped in awe, "Whoa," She said, "You two look awesome!"
She flew over to Twilight, and picked up the brown stetson with her left hoof, "If it wasn't for your cutie mark, I would believe that you actually lived on a farm!"
Twilight giggled, "Give that back, Rainbow." She said in a half-serious tone.
Rainbow Dash set the stetson back onto the unicorn's head, then asked, "What about accents?"
Applejack looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was hovering a few feet above her, with a confused look,
"Whatcha mean?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.
The Pegasus rolled her eyes, "What I mean is, is Twilight going to talk like she's from the south for the next two days, and is Applejack going to talk like... however Twilight talks like.. for those two days?"
Applejack looked at Twilight with a small smile, "Twi, whatcha think?"
Twilight thought for a moment, then said "I could try. I have no southern blood in my family tree though, so this will be tough to maintain for 48 hours."
Applejack shook her head, "It's settled then, we'll fake each others accents."
Rainbow Dash grinned with excitement, "Okay then, let's get started!"
"Right now?" Applejack asked,
"Yeah, right now right now! I have cider to be drunk!"
Applejack groaned and rolled her green emerald eyes, then said with a mature-like calm and soft voice, alike Twilight's,
"Let's go meet up with the rest of the girls."
Twilight straightened the brown stetson atop her head, smiling confidently.
"Let's go see if thay-ar at Sugarcube Corn-ar, ya'll." The unicorn said in the best southern accent she could pull off.
Rainbow Dash laughed hysterically, "Ha! Your version of a 'cowpony' is terrible, Twilight."
Twilight's face turned a hue of pink as she placed the brown stetson over her purple eyes, "It ain't that funn-ay."
Rainbow Dash snickered into a hoof one last time before calming down and saying, "Yeah, sure. Anyway, let's go."
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight arrived at Sugarcube Corner, in search of their three friends.
Mrs. Cake was standing at the cash register, and smiled when she saw the three friends, "Well, hello, dear's. What brings you here?"
Applejack smiled back, then motioned towards the stairs that were to the left that leaded to Pinkie Pie's bedroom, "We wanted to know if Pinkie Pie was home."
Mrs. Cup Cake was confused for a brief moment, "Deary, where's your accent?"
Rainbow Dash smirked, then turned to Applejack to see her reaction.
"Twilight and I made a bet, and Rainbow Dash was somewhat involved. Anyway, is Pinkie Pie home?"
The blue and pink pony shook her head, "Yes. She's upstairs feeding Gummy with Fluttershy."
Applejack nodded her head, then reached a hoof to her head to tip her stetson, then she realized that it wasn't there and smiled sheepishly.
The three ponies made their way up the blue and white staircase.
"Pinkie, are you in here?" Rainbow Dash asked as she trotted into the room with Twilight and Applejack beside her.
The room was silent for a moment, "Maybe she ain't in here." Twilight suggested, still faking the terrible southern accent.
Then the room lit up into several different colors of lights, and party streamers appeared out of nowhere.
"SURPRISE!" A pink pony shouted, grinning widely at her three friends.
The three jumped back at the sudden outburst, "U-uh.. hi, Pinkie Pie. Is Fluttershy here, too?" Applejack asked, stepping forward into the pink and blue room, trying not to trip over remaining party streamer that had landed onto the floor and could likely get tangled with her hooves.
Pinkie Pie grinned, then pointed a hoof over to Fluttershy in the corner.
"Hi, girls." Fluttershy said quietly with a small, friendly smile on her yellow muzzle.
"Why are you two talking funny?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed loudly, looking at Applejack and Twilight.
Applejack then told her about the bet they had made, and Pinkie Pie nodded after she got done explaining.
"Oooh! Me and Fluttershy should do a bet like that sometime!"
Fluttershy's pupils shrank, then she said with a nervous tone, "Pinkie, I don't think that's such a good idea.."
"Okay then, next Tuesday it is!" The pink pony grinned.
"Oh dear.." Fluttershy squeaked, slouching further down into the corner.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes briefly, then said, "We were wondering if you knew where Rarity was."
Pinkie Pie bounced up and down excitedly, "Nope! Haven't heard from her since 12:43 AM last Sunday!"
"Pinkie Pie, that's oddly specific..." Twilight said, tilting her head.
Fluttershy stood up from the corner, untangled herself from a few streamers that had gotten in her tail, and said,
"I was in Ponyville Market earlier today, and I heard Carrot Top say something about her being in Canterlot for the week to help design dresses for Coco Pommel."
Pinkie Pie raised a hoof into the air with a look of determination on her muzzle,
"Then we shall go to Canterlot to see Rarity!"
"And it would be nice to see Coco Pommel again," Twilight added, shaking her head.
"It's settled then," Applejack agreed, "We'll catch the next train to Canterlot and go see Rarity."
Author's Note
Might I add that this was very hard to write because I had to write AJ and Twi OOC and.. that's just really hard to do because Twilight's normal dialog just comes naturally whenever I write as her and when I have to replace those lines with Applejack's lines IT JUST DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT!
