Twilight blinked at the sudden intrusion of an orange forearm in her vision as she shook her head to clear it.
“Twilight? Did you hear a lick of what I just said?” She asked, looking concerned at the purple mare.
“What? I’m sorry Applejack, I zoned out there. Could you repeat yourself?” The unicorn in question said sheepishly, trying her best to be more attentive to her friends.
Her friend nodded. “It’s funny you did that now, because what Ah asked was why you keep losing focus. Ah’ve known you a long time, Twi, and you’ve never done that before.” She said, giving a curious look to her friend. “So, that leads me to thinkin’, what are you thinkin’ of?”
Twilight deliberated for a moment, before sighing. “Can you keep a secret Applejack?”
Applejack smiled. “Y’know it.” She said, nodding. “What’s on your mind?”
Twilight was silent for a moment, looking around the kitchen at the library instead of at her friend for a long few moments.
Finally, she looked back at her. “I think I’m going insane.” She stated simply, sighing. “I’m seeing things that shouldn’t be possible.”
Applejack, to her own great pride, took this in stride. “Like what? Ghosts? Flying Saucers? Thing-a-ma-jigs that go bump in the night?”
“No, nothing like that. But... I’m seeing the same ponies over and over again.” She said, looking back to Applejack. “And not like the casual seeing them around town, or seeing them on a chance on a vacation. It’s something more.” She argued before Applejack could say something.
Applejack closed her mouth for a moment, before opening again, saying, “Twilight, are you sure? Ah mean, there are plenty of other reasons out there-” She started, to be cut off from Twilight again.
“Applejack, look over there.” She said, pointing to a random brown stallion through the window. “Who is that?” She asked.
“Twi, that’s Crescent Moon. He works-” She started, before, once again, a rather frazzled Twilight cut her off.
“Good, so it’s not just me. Without looking back at him, what type of pony is he?” She asked urgently.
Applejack resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “He’s a pegasus Twilight.” She said , giving her friend a curious look.
Twilight nodded quickly. “Yes. So, answer me one last question.” She said, her hair starting to stick up in places.
“Then why is he an Earth Pony.”
Applejack stared at Twilight for a long minute. “Twilight, that’s crazy.” She finally stated, unsure what else to say.
She shook her head. “Surely you’ve noticed it too!”
Applejack returned the head gesture with one of her own. “Twilight, the only thing I’ve noticed is you’re being weird.”
“Applejack, I’m not crazy!” Twilight nearly shouted, before calming down. “Look, I can even give other examples! Noteworthy!”
“What ‘bout him, Twi?” Applejack sighed.
“What species is he?” She asked, pointedly.
“Twilight...”
“Please Applejack, I need to know.” Twilight said, her voice slightly desperate.
“He’s an Earth Pony. A rather nice one at that. Had a chat with him during Winter Wrap Up.” She said, short and blunt.
Twilight shook her head. “I asked Rainbow Dash. To her, Noteworthy is a pegasus that works at the weather factory. And she doesn’t remember him ever helping out in Winter Wrap Up. In fact, she doesn’t remember him being in Ponyville at all.”
Applejack shook her head. “Coincidence, maybe. Ah’m not just ready to believe this whole conspiracy theory, Twi.”
Twilight sighed loudly, aggravated. “Okay. Okay...” She said slowly, trying to calm herself down. “Okay. If you don’t believe me, then why haven’t you checked?”
“Checked what Twilight? You just lost me.” She said, trying not to lose her patience.
“Crescent Moon. If you’re so sure he’s a pegasus, check.” Twilight said, point out the window again at the stallion.
Applejack shrugged. “If you’re so sure, Twilight. Ah’ll check.” She said, sighing once more.
She stood up from the table and walked over to the window, looking out into the street where Crecent was standing there, talking to one of his friends.
Applejack looked at him, blinking as she took in what she saw. It was hard to focus on him for some reason, but as she stared, something became apparent.
His wings were gone. Twilight was right.
Suddenly, Crescent paused and looked around, looking at Applejack.
Applejack jerked back from the window, looking at Twilight as she shakily sat down.
“Twilight.” She said.
“Yes?” Twilight answered, looking at her.
“His wings... where are his wings?” She asked, confusion apparent in her voice.
“I don’t know! That’s the problem! It’s not the changelings, I’ve already discreetly done a check spell on a few of them. It’s not a spell, his wings aren’t hidden, they’re just gone. There’s just no possible explanation!” Twilight said, standing up suddenly.
“We need to figure out what happened, AJ.” Twilight said. “Think, has anything happened recently?”
Applejack shrugged, calming down a bit. “I don’t know, Twilight. Things have been pretty calm recently.” She pointed out. “If anything happened, it would have to have been after the whole thing where we had a ghost in the library.”
Twilight looked over at her, confused. “What? Ghosts in the Library?”
“You don’t remember that? Ah remember that you were all upset, those books flying everywhere. Who knew all it wanted was someone to talk to without them screaming.”
Twilight looked confused. “AJ, that never happened.”
Applejack nodded. “It did too! I still talk to it on occasion, whenever it’s lonely.”
Twilight slowly closed the open book she was reading to look at Applejack.
“Applejack. Something big is happening. The last big thing I remember is the Crystal Mines collapsing due to an extreme magical build up in the quartz. But,” She said, adding on to her original sentence. “I bet you don’t remember that, do you?”
Applejack shook her head. “Twi, I think we need to find the girls.” She said, standing up.
Twilight nodded, standing as well. “I agree. I’ll bring the Elements, just in case.” She said, grabbing her saddlebag and walking over to the display case, exiting the kitchen to do so.
Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, looking at the door which had opened for a newcomer.
The orange mare that had entered smiled as she tipped her hat. “Sorry Ah’m late Twi, had to finish up some work at ‘ta farm.”
