Applejack Is An Interdimensional Alien

“Y’all wanted ta see us, Celestia?” Applejack asked as she stood in front of the princess. “Twilight here told me ya needed somethin’ from my family and Ah?”

“Yes, that’s correct, miss Applejack,” Celestia responded, wearing a slight smile. “I’ve caught a mood for apples, and was hoping you could make me some treats, if it’s no trouble? I’d quite enjoy a nice glass of apple juice and oatmeal, as well as a slice of pie, perhaps? Some for my sister as well, if it’s no trouble.”

“Ain’t no trouble at all,” the mare told her confidently, she, her siblings, and Granny Smith lining up in front of her wearing proud smiles. “We’ll fix ya a feast of a meal, the best one ya’ve ever eaten. Am Ah right, guys?” The apple family nodded next to her, and the alicorn smiled at them happily and kindly at their display of enthusiasm.

“I truly do appreciate it. I’ll wait patiently for it to be finished. Thank you. And if you need compensation for coming all the way out here, the crown can arrange that.”

“Ain’t no need ta do that. Always a pleasure for you, Celestia. Come on guys, let’s get ta work!” With that, the four family members bounded for the kitchen, leaving the white and purple alicorns alone in the throne room. Once they were done, Celestia dropped her smile, although Twilight didn’t pick up on it at first, immediately speaking in the earth pony’s defense.

“See, princess?” the purple-coated pony said. “Completely normal, just like I said. She’s just plain old AJ.”

“Twilight, dear, a pony as studious as you has to have picked up on what I noticed from her just now. It doesn’t seem like something you would miss.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Think about what she said. Can you figure out what was strange about it?”

“Um… no? Everything she said sounded just like her.”

“Think carefully,” Twilight’s mentor instructed. “Go through each word. I’m sure if you do, you’ll see what I heard.”

The mare did as she was instructed, replaying in her mind the short conversation, once, twice, three times, and wasn’t able to find anything out of the ordinary, explaining that her accent was as perfectly southern as always, not the slightest bit off from usual.

“I’ll give you another clue,” Celestia told her, wanting the young princess to figure it out for herself. “Take what she said and compare it to what you would have said had you been in her place. Go through each sentence again as you do.”

“Okay…” she responded skeptically, doing the same thing again, but this time realizing what was off much more quickly.

“There’s- there’s no way she said that. She wouldn’t say that. It’s not like her. We must have misheard or are misremembering”

“I heard the same thing, too, Twilight," Celestia assured her. "And I hardly think either of us are the type to misremember a conversation that happened just a moment ago, especially one so short."

“But that doesn’t make sense! She wouldn’t address you as Celestia! It’s always been as Princess! We must have misheard.”

“It would be quite the coincidence if we both misheard, especially given the circumstances we’re facing. It’s hardly like anypony, Applejack least of all. She’s too polite to ignore something like that.”

“Well… we did take her to the doctor this morning, and he said she was sick, so it could be-

“Twilight,” her teacher interrupted, “do you think that your friend would forgo addressing me as ‘Princess’ if she were on her deathbed?”

“I…” Twilight sighed, saying, “I know she wouldn’t… but I really do want to believe the best. I’m sorry Princess. I’m letting my friendship with her cloud my judgement.”

“It’s quite alright, Twilight,” she told her student politely. “That’s why I have you investigating the matter, and right now is the time to do so.”

“I understand, Princess. I’ll do a deep magic sweep to see if anything strange is lingering around her family’s farm, and then head to the Royal Library to do my research. I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t, Twilight. Now please, head off. Don’t waste this time.”

Twilight quickly hurried off, leaving Celestia alone again, waiting on the meal the apple family was preparing. Applejack was rolling her eyes as she heard her hooves clopping out the door, trying to keep herself from scoffing at her. She hadn't heard the conversation they had, but she was sure she knew what they were discussing.

“She really thinks she can stop me?” the mare thought to herself. “I won’t be letting that happen, especially since she’s an idiot. You’re gonna let the person you’re suspicious of cook your food? This is too easy.”

“AJ! Come help yer sister with this here pie crust!”

“Ya got it, Granny!” the imposter replied happily.

Twilight didn’t waste time teleporting back to her friend’s home, only making a quick stop to her own castle to gather gear she needed to do a proper deep magic sweep. She teleported inside the Apple’s home, looking around and still noticing the strong scent of chemicals and furrowing her brow, more worried now.

“Please, AJ, please just be sick or acting weird or something,” Twilight silently asked the mare. “Please let this all just be for nothing. Please let us just be overreacting. Please, AJ.”

With that silent hopeful thought, the mare took a breath and started to do her task, deciding it best to work from the top of the home to bottom. She swept through room after room, finding nothing out of the ordinary, and slowly became more hopeful that nothing was happening, gaining more confidence in her friend. Surely she would finish the house and find nothing! Not that there wasn’t the whole orchard to investigate, but if there wasn’t anything in here, there was likely nothing out there as well.

Her confidence died when she swept her magic across the center of the living room and felt something very off with it. It felt like a teleportation spell, that much she knew, but not like any kind of teleportation spell she ever encountered, at least not in real life. She quickly lit up her horn to see what characters were cast, but was surprised instead to see the faint outline of a pentagram in the floor, one that was drawn weirdly and had extra lines added into it.

“Huh, I’ve never seen something like that before,” the mare commented aloud. She knew better than to mess with it right then and there. All her years of schooling taught her that. She decided instead to take a note of it and draw it in her log before continuing on, making a point of casting a spell to disperse the energy and send the magic back to wherever it came from.