*As our story begins: Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity have decided to go to the beach. Rarity went off to find some sea glass for a new clothing design she was toying with as Pinkie started to dig as big of a hole in the sand as she could dig while Applejack started to dose off. After a while, Pinkie noticed just how big of a hole she dug, and wanted to show Applejack...*
*Pinkie is humming a little song as she's digging her hole* “Doo di do doo... Di do do doo... Do do doo... Ooh... wow... look at this nice deep hole I have been digging... hey, Applejack... isn't this a nice hole here...?” Pinkie asks Applejack as she takes a small break from digging her hole.
Pinkie asks “Hey, Applejack? Applejack? Oh, Applejack?” as she looks around, trying to find her country gal pal. Pinkie notices that Applejack is nowhere to be found. “Hey... what happened to my friend, Applejack? She was here just a minute ago... where did she go?...” Pinkie then looks down and notices a rather large pile of sand with Applejack's trademark Stetson hat sitting on top of it.
“Here is her hat... but she is gone... oh no... my old friend is lost... gee... how am I going to find her...?” Pinkie asked herself, slightly worried.
This is when Rarity returns, admiring some of the nice shards of sea glass for her new clothing line. Then she looks up to see Applejack's hat sitting on the over sized sand pile and almost runs into Pinkie.
“Oops... sorry, Darling... what is bothering you, Pinkie?” Rarity asked, seeing her pink hued friend looking worried.
“Oh, Applejack is lost!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Lost?” Rarity asked.
“Yes! She was sitting right here... see?” Pinkie gestured to the sand pile, “... and I was digging a hole in the sand, like this...” Pinkie said, as she shoveled a few extra shovels of sand onto the pile. “I was digging away, and all of a sudden: I looked around, and Applejack was gone! And all of what is left of her is her hat sitting right here on this pile of sand.” Pinkie starts to get really worried at this point.
“Never fear, Darling. I, Rarity, will find out what happened to Applejack by examining the clues.” Rarity proclaimed as she put her sea glass findings down and used her magic to conjure her Private Investigator fedora and a magnifying glass, and started to examine the sand pile.
“What clues?” Pinkie asked excitedly.
“Well... first we have Applejack's hat...” Rarity said thoughtfully.
“Oh... that is the only clue...” Pinkie said, kind of deflated.
“Hmm... wrong. We also have this pile of sand.” Rarity said, while giving the pile a once over.
As if on cue, the sand pile starts to moan and mumble something unintelligible as Applejack's hat moves slightly.
“Yeah, but that is just an ordinary pile of sand,” Pinkie said, seemingly unaware the pile said anything.
“Wrong again, Darling,” Rarity proclaimed again. “It is a talking pile of sand.”
“Huh?” Pinkie asked, as the sand pile moaned and mumbled a little louder, so Pinkie could hear it. “Hey...! How about that!”
“A-ha!” Rarity exclaimed. “I have it! I have solved the mystery of what happened to Applejack,” she continued, as the sand pile moaned even louder.
“Shhh!” Pinkie shushed at the pile, as to not interrupt Rarity's big reveal. “What happened, Rarity?”
“Well: as you were digging this hole,” Rarity pointed to Pinkie's hole, “you threw the sand on top of Applejack, who was sitting here,” Rarity gestured to the talking sand pile as she said so. “And you buried her up to her hat.”
“Oh, no! That means that Applejack is in that pile of sand!” Pinkie was excited with relief and excitement that Rarity solved the case.
“Correct,” Rarity said.
“Oh, excuse me...” Pinkie said, scooting past Rarity to the sand pile.
“Certainly, Pinkie,” Rarity said, getting out of her friend's way.
As Pinkie got to the sand pile, Applejack started mumbling angrily as Pinkie removed her hat, revealing that Applejack was buried almost so completely, only her eyes, top part of her mane, and ears were visible above the sand.
“Applejack! It is you!” Pinkie almost wailed. “Let me dig you out...” she said while digging away the sand from Applejack's face, carelessly flinging sand behind her, as Rarity fell over backwards, protecting her face from shovels of sand.
Applejack started spewing sand that had gotten into her mouth and sneezing sand that had worked its way into her nose as Pinkie cleared away the sand from her face. Pinkie said, as she was freeing Applejack's head, “Applejack! I will get you out!”
“Pinkie... Pinkie...! Why did you do this...?” Applejack asked as Pinkie pulled her friends' head clear of the sand.
“There yo go...” Pinkie said, brushing some sand from Applejack's face and muzzle. “You alright, Applejack?” Pinkie asked cautiously, while carelessly flinging some more sand away.
“Yeah... thanks, Pinkie... pfffft... thanks a lot, Pinkie...” Applejack muttered, trying to not feel to mad at her friend to nearly burying her alive.
“Oh, do not thank me, Applejack,” Pinkie said enthusiastically. “Thank Rarity!”
Applejack looked around as much as she could move her head. “Where is Rarity, so I can thank her...?” Applejack asked quizzically.
“She is right behind me, Silly...” Pinkie said, matter of factly.
“Where?” Applejack asked again.
Pinkie turned around, almost baffled at Rarity's disappearance. “She was just here...” Pinkie said, almost to herself. Then she looked down, seeing Rarity's fedora laying on a large pile of sand, with some of the curls of her mane and top third of her horn also sticking out of the sand. “Rarity!” Pinkie exclaimed, realizing she must have buried Rarity as she as trying to free Applejack's head. Pinkie got down next to where Rarity was buried, and started to dig her out, carelessly flinging sand behind her.
Applejack could be heard behind Pinkie yelling, “Pinkie! Watch where you are throwing that sand...!”