Doctor Jekyll and Mister Shyde

It had been weeks since Applejack’s apples first started disappearing. Now, more and more were gone by the time she got up every morning. She and Rainbow Dash had exhausted their creativity, both running out of ideas for how to catch the mysterious apple thief.

Applejack sighed as she mustered up the courage to open the door to Twilight’s castle. “Uhh, Twi? You in here?” the apple farmer called out when she had made it past the gigantic doors.

Twilight suddenly apparated right in front of Applejack, causing the orange mare to jump in shock. “Sorry, Applejack. I was in the library, surrounded by books when I heard you come in, but I didn’t want to disturb any of my research, so I just teleported."

Applejack grimaced. “Couldn’t ya’ve just flown over?” She asked, gesturing to the wings folded down at Twilight’s side.

The lavender mare rolled her eyes. “I didn’t want to make any breeze that could rustle pages. I always like to make sure I know exactly where I left off.” She nodded with finality, emphasizing (once again) that she loved research. “What’s up?” She asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Whatever it was, it looked like Applejack was nervous.

The blonde mare took a deep breath. She wasn’t used to doing this, and it showed. “Ah really need yer help, Twi. Ah didn’t want to ask fer help at first, but Ah didn’t want to wait until it got out of hoof!” She explained awkwardly. She went on, answering Twilight’s unspoken question. “A couple o’ weeks ago, Ah found that some o’ mah trees were missin’ their apples. Not jus’ a few apples, though. Every. Single. Apple.” Applejack stomped her hoof down to accentuate each syllable of those last words. “Ever since, there’ve been more an’ more trees goin’ bare. Rainbow an’ Ah tried everything we could think of: traps, bait, even a stakeout! At this rate, the farm might not survive ‘til next Hearth’s Warming.”

Twilight held up a hoof, prompting Applejack to stop talking. “Whoever is doing this, I’ll get to the bottom of it. There’s actually been quite a number of ponies asking me for help recently. They’ve all noticed small things: some vegetables missing from a garden, the end of a fence smashed, etc. I was actually just reading up on kleptomania when you walked in.” She tilted her head. “Although your case is way more serious than the others.”

“Well, what the hay does that mean?”

“I don’t know, but I can inspect your trees if you’d like. If those apples were taken with magic, I can detect it.”

Applejack tried to smile at the confident mare through her dread. “If you’re sure. Rainbow an’ Ah already tried ever’thing else we could think of, but Ah’m startin’ to lose hope.” She hung her head, thinking once again about what this could mean for her family…

The Apple clan huddled together in one room. Though it was rather chilly, they weren’t physically close because of the temperature. The four Earth ponies were comforting each other in the small hotel room, the only place they could afford now that the farm was gone. Though Applejack and Big Mac were strong, both physically and emotionally, neither of them could handle losing the farm and comforting Granny Smith and Apple Bloom. The elder and her youngest granddaughter were almost inconsolable. They-

“APPLEJACK!”

The farm pony jumped as she was startled out of her grim daydream. “Twilight! Do ya mind not scarin’ me nomore? Ah nearly jumped outta mah skin!” She placed a hoof on her chest, trying to slow her still-panicking heart.

“Well, I have been trying to get your attention for a while,” the alicorn explained. “I was trying to let you know that I’d be happy to accompany you back to the farm. I’d like to inspect those barren trees.”

Twilight stood in the middle of the orchard, about to release a detection spell. “Once I cast this spell, any object that isn’t natural to your orchard will start to glow. It only works for a short time, so we’ll need to be quick. Whoever is taking your apples might be leaving behind a small trace of themselves.”

Applejack nodded, ready to do anything to save her crop. One blinding light later, and she found herself trotting quickly through the trees, scanning for anything shiny. It wasn’t until she was right next to the tree that she noticed it: a glowing tuft from somepony’s mane. Thank Celestia! Applejack carefully pried the small tuft out of the bark and made her way back to the clearing. She set it on the grass, waiting for Twilight to finish checking her section of trees.

Applejack wanted to inspect the piece of mane but decided to wait until it had stopped shining so she could see the color.

It wasn’t long before the lavender mare walked into the clearing. “I checked all of my trees but found absolutely nothing. Did something turn up in your section?”

Applejack nodded, not looking up from something on her hoof. “Yeah, Ah- Ah found somethin’ alright. But Ah jus’ can’t believe it.”

Twilight frowned, curious. She levitated the small object (which had stopped glowing a bit earlier) from Applejack’s hoof. She saw that it definitely was a tuft of hair from somepony’s mane, but that wasn’t what startled her. The reason why Applejack had been acting so dazed was because of the color of the mane. It was light pink. Twilight only knew of one pony whose mane matched this color.

“Fluttershy?!”