"Boy howdy, it sure is a good lookin' morning today," Applejack said as she made her way downstairs, where Apple Bloom and Big Mac were waiting for her. "I reckon we've got a long day of work ahead of us doing some good, honest apple buckin'." At that very moment, thunder shook the house. She looked out the front window to see thunderheads rolling in from the Everfree Forest, soaking the orchards as they moved over the farm.
"Nope," Apple Bloom and Big Mac responded.
"Well ain't that the cow's bell. Could have sworn everything looked clear when I checked upstairs a minute ago." Applejack rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Might have a talk with Rainbow Dash about that later."
"What are we supposed do now?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Eat some breakfast, check on the animals, and wait for the storm to pass, I reckon. It won't last all day." Thunder shook the house again, and a flash of lightning shone through the window. "I hope."
"I can't believe it's still raining," Applejack said as she paced around the living room couch. "This is downright silly now."
"You've been wrong about everything all day, Sis. It's kinda weird," Apple Bloom said.
"What? I might have forgotten exactly what chores needed done, and where I left some things, but it hasn't been as bad as all that."
"Umm, yeah, it really has." Apple Bloom hopped off the couch. "My bow was on my bed, not in my dresser, like you said this morning."
"That doesn't mean—"
"There were only two avocados in the fridge when you said there should be plenty for breakfast, the chicken feed was full after you told me it needed refillin', and when Big Mac came back in from checking on the other animals, he told me the cows had been milked and the pigs had already been slopped. Said the barn was cleaner than he'd seen it since it was built, too." Apple Bloom pointed a hoof at her sister. "And what did you say about the barn this morning?"
Applejack sighed. "I told Big Mac that the barn was dirtier than the pig pen, and that it was a darn shame to be shown up by animals who roll around in their own muck half the day."
"Mares and stallions of the jury, I rest my case." Apple Bloom rubbed her hoof on her chest.
"That doesn't prove anything," Applejack said, stomping her hoof on the ground.
"I think that's exactly what it does, Sis. You didn't step in any Poison Joke lately, or catch some weird magic curse, did ya?"
"Curses ain't—" Applejack stopped herself and reconsidered her answer. "I didn't step in anything funny or catch a curse, 'Bloom. Might just be havin' an off day."
"I wonder about that." Apple Bloom walked over to Applejack and checked her hooves and legs. "Nope, no Joke on you anywhere I can see, so you were right about that."
"Told you so."
"I'm still not convinced. There is definitely somethin' going on here." Apple Bloom sat for a moment and rubbed her hoof across her chin. She looked around the room for a minute, and when she saw the clock an idea came to her. "Hey Big Mac, come on down here a minute," she yelled upstairs. "Me and AJ need your help real quick."
"What in blazes are you planning?" Applejack shuffled on her hooves just a little, eager to get back to pacing around the room.
"You'll see. Just don't say anything unless I ask you a question, okay?"
"Fine."
"'Ssssup," Big Mac said as he rounded the stairs into the living room.
"I'm doin' an experiment. I need all three of us to watch the clock and make sure it's ticking exactly how it's supposed to. Will you help out your favorite youngest sister for a minute?"
Big Mac shrugged. "Eeyup."
The three ponies gathered around the wall clock and watched it carefully. The second hand and minute hand looked like they were keeping proper time. Once the minute hand ticked passed the twelve, Apple Bloom spoke up. "Okay Applejack, what time did the clock say a minute ago?"
"It said five twenty-two," Applejack answered.
"That's what I saw, too. Big Mac?"
"Eeyup."
"See, I'm fi—"
"Step two," Apple Bloom cut in. "What time does the clock say..." Apple Bloom waited several seconds for the minute hand to tick over again. "Right now."
"It's five twenty-three." Applejack answered. As soon as the words left her mouth, the clock changed to read five twenty-four.
"You, uh, saw that, right Big Mac?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Eeyup," he said as he stared unblinking at the clock, which continued to keep time as though nothing strange at all had happened.
"That's just a, uhh, just a coincidence. Right?" Applejack asked.
"AJ, what color is my bow?" Apple Bloom asked with a trace of fear creeping into her voice.
" Your bow's... your bow is pink," Applejack said. As soon as she spoke the words, Apple Bloom's bow turned a brilliant shade of blue.
"Granny, get down here there's somethin' strange going on!" Apple Bloom yelled. She waited, but there was no response from upstairs. "Granny?"
Applejack looked at Big Mac for a moment before she tore off up the stairs. She turned hard on the landing, galloped down the hall, and knocked open the door at the end. Granny Smith was bundled up under the covers on her bed. Applejack walked over and placed a hoof in front of her grandmother's nose. The hairs on her fetlocks didn't move.
"No, not yet, no no," she whispered to herself.
And then Granny Smith let out a bellowing snore, shuffled around in bed a bit, and continued breathing normally.
"Oh thank Celestia." Applejack fell onto her haunches and sighed with relief. She sat for a minute and watched Granny breathe. Satisfied her grandmother was alright, she left her room and closed the door behind her.
"Applejack?" Big Mac called from the living room.
Applejack walked back to the upper landing and looked down at Apple Bloom hugging her brother's leg. "Don't worry," she began. Before either Apple Bloom or Big Mac could stop her, she finished, "she's just sleeping."
Author's Note
Expanded from my entry for “The Twilight Zone” Writeoff event.
