Apple Pie Anypony? (Twilight & Rainbow)

[Applejack Smith]

So here she was. After becoming slightly lost and helping a girl with an injury, Applejack had finally made it to the residential area of Tenebrae Estates. She took one look at the nice, neat houses with their nice, neat yards and frowned. This was nothing like her home at Sweet Apple Acres. Where were the apple trees? Where was the barn? Not here, that was for sure. All she saw here were neat hedges and flower boxes, garages and white walls. She sighed softly. “I reckon it’ll do for now, at least I’ll have somewhere to sleep tonight.”

Which one was her new house though? They all looked almost exactly alike. She looked at the house nearest to her and saw a number 2 on the door. She could also smell a very ugly stench. “Phew-ee, I’m glad I ain’t stayin’ there.” She’d been told to go to number 3, but the next house down looked like it had recently caught fire. “Well, that can’t be right. I don’t think I’d want to stay there. I’d rather stay in the smelly house. Sure, it reeks somethin’ awful, but at least I won’t have to worry about leaks.” Then she noticed the 4 on the mailbox of the burned house. “Well, where’s number 3 then?” She looked around slowly and saw the houses across the street. “Why, there’s number 3. I’m on the wrong side of the street.” She chuckled to herself and started walking. “At least, I won’t be near that awful smell.” She made a face as she walked past number 2.

Finally, standing on the doorstep of number 3, Applejack took a moment to survey her front yard. “Well, I guess I can always plant an apple tree or two. That might help it look better.” She then turned back to the door. “Now should I knock or just go on in?” She dug in her pocket for the key she’d been given but hesitated on using it. “Suppose there’s somepony at home. What might they think of this strange woman just waltzin’ in like she owns the place?” In the end, she decided to knock. However, after three minutes of waiting, no one had answered the door. “Huh. Well, I guess nopony’s home, after all.” Now, she felt more comfortable with letting herself in. She fit the key in, turned it, and opened the door. From what she could see, the place looked pretty nice and clean: white carpet and shiny tiles. She was about to inside when suddenly she remembered her boots. They were caked in dirt and dust. “I better take these off. Ya never know. Rarity might be living here.” She smiled as she thought of her rather picky friend and took her boots off, setting them outside the door.

Once inside, Applejack started to look around. She saw a lot of books on all sorts of subjects. She picked one up from a coffee table and read the cover. “Quantum Physics and You.” She blinked and scratched the side of her head and decided to try and read a bit. She very quickly closed the book and put it back. “I must be stayin’ with some kind of genius if they can understand that.” Not too far away, she saw another book. “Nancy Drew and the Mystery at the Clock Tower. Well, I can understand the title, at least.” She put the book down and continued walking about. Soon, she found the kitchen where she found heaps of raw veggies and fruits. Just as she was looking in the fridge, her stomach growled noisily. “I hope nopony will mind if I eat a little somethin’,” she said as she took out a carrot and started crunching on it. A little while later, she came across the bedrooms. All the doors were closed, so she peeked into each one until she found an empty room. “I reckon this is my room.” There wasn’t much inn the room besides some basic furniture. She did open the windows to get some nice fresh air into the room, but then she left.

Applejack really wanted to do something nice and friendly to make a good impression on her new housemates. Of course, being from the Apple family, this would involve apples. She spent some time rooting around in the kitchen, looking for ingrediants. Finally, she decided that the best thing to make would be an apple pie. First though, she would need some music to listen to while she worked. Luckily, there was a small radio right there in the kitchen. She fiddled with the tuner until she found a station she liked: country and bluegrass. Then, she turned the volume up and started work. A short while later, she was covered in flour and singing along. Finally, she slid the pie in the oven, and wiped the sweat off her brow. “Ooh-wee! That George Straight sure can sing!” She shouted out as she started cleaning up.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Per usual, Twilight was out researching. There had been all these recent events, including one that had apparently involved living meat people that had been right outside her home. It had taken some doing, but Twilight had managed to procure a few samples of the Meatlings. She was cheerily bringing some of the singed meat into her home now, figuring that it was better to get started on analyzing it sooner rather than later. Barely had Twilight stepped in, however, when she realized that something was very, very different.

The country music was the first clue. Not that Twilight particularly had anything against country and bluegrass music. It wasn't necessarily her thing, but she wasn't about to scream as though being murdered by it. However, it was definitely not the type of music that Rainbow Dash would play. No, Twilight had experienced the "rock" more often than she cared to admit, and that likely wasn't going to get better (Twilight had been at the party too; she'd seen the strangely pale girl with the guitar, and she'd never seen anyone who looked more like bad news).

Next came the smell. It smelled of... baked goods. "Someone has broken into our house to play country music and bake?" Twilight asked the air. Because that just sounded off, even to the girl who used to be a unicorn who was carrying samples of living meat into the house she shared with her flare-bartender roommate who used to be a pegasus. Twilight shifted, moving the shoulder bag she had. She now regretted denying Rainbow the baseball bat that had been suggested at some point. Well, there was her copy of Quantum Physics and You on the table, but there was just something wrong about using a book to attempt to injury someone, especially something that could be essential to unraveling the Reality Displacement Effect.

So Twilight finally rounded the corner, seeing what appeared to be a pretty, cheery blonde girl roughly Twilight's own age standing in the kitchen. With her bag still raised in a semi-offensive position, the now puzzled girl blinked and stared at the other. "Um..." Twilight managed. She looked over her shoulder, as if hoping that Rainbow would appear. Rainbow was slightly better at dealing with unusual situations than Twilight, and, well, more of a fighter, really. Not immediately seeing her friend and roommate, Twilight looked back to the blonde. "Who are you and why are you standing in my kitchen," Twilight paused while her eyes flicked about, before adding, 'baking."

[Rainbow Dash]

After finishing up another one of her courses in flare bartending, Rainbow Dash had picked up some supplies to practice with before heading home. She walked into the house shortly after Twilight had gotten there, but she didn't really notice anything too unusual right off the bat. Of course she heard the music and smelled something, but she figured her housemate was just experimenting again.

"Hey Twilight, I'm home!" she called as soon as she entered the house. "I'm just going to drop some of this stuff off in my room and then I'll be right down!" She sort of had an agreement that she'd do her experimenting in her own space, just to cut down on the mess in the public areas of the house. Her own room was a bit of a constant disaster state, and another small spill was hardly going to be noticed. At least these days it was usually water--she'd learned to practice using old bottles, and now she was finally moving back into glass cups. "I think I'm really finally getting that latest trick down. I'll have to show you tonight."

She was about to charge right up the stairs, but when she saw Twilight standing in the doorway to the kitchen she halted, skidding to a stop on one foot, all of her new purchases clutched tightly in her arms. "Woah, is that someone else?" She turned and moved to stand next to her friend. "Hey, what are you doing in our house?" Looking at Twilight, she asked, "Did you know she was coming? Did you invite her over?" She whipped her head over toward the newcomer. "Who are you, anyway?"

[Applejack Smith]

Applejack heard the door open, and she turned to the sound, feeling suddenly nervous. Someone was here, one of her new housemates. She really wanted to make a good impression, which wasn’t likely to happen all covered in flour. She chuckled to herself and started brushing at her clothes and tucking wisps of her hair behind her ears to make herself more presentable. Suddenly, there she was. Applejack stared at the purple-haired girl. She hadn’t been her long, but she hadn’t seen anypony with purple hair here. Of course, she instantly thought of Twilight’s hair, but before she could comment on her hair, the girl started to ask her questions.

Her mouth open, Applejack was just about to answer her when the door opened and closed again. She heard a feminine voice shout out, announcing her presence. A few seconds passed then there was another young woman standing in the kitchen, this one with rainbow-colored hair. AJ couldn’t help but stare at the two girls. She had heard the one girl call out the name ‘Twilight’, and she did have purple hair. The suit had also said something about there already being ponies there. Still, she couldn’t let herself make assumpitions. How likely was it that she had Shifted to the same world as Twilight and Rainbow, and she was now living in the same house with them? No, she had to stay calm, not rush off like Pinkie Pie.

Taking a few deep breaths to steady her excited nerves, Applejack gave the two girls a friendly grin. “All right, let’s all just calm down,” she said in her slow, drawling voice. “There ain’t no reason to be worried. My name is Applejack Smith. I just Shifted to Tenebrae today. They assigned me to live in this house.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to them. The paper read Applejack Smith; house number three; two housemates. “I’m just makin’ some apple pie now, my granny’s secret reciepe. I’m sure yall will like it. Maybe we can enjoy it and talk and get to know each other a bit better?” Applejack looked at the other women hopefully.

[Twilight Sparkle]

"No, I didn't invite anyone over!" insisted Twilight, casting a quick look at her roommate, who apparently had nearly perfect timing. It was true that people occasionally dropped by Twilight's house looking for her. Since she had the whole mentoring job and was running CAUS, she quite often saw and talked to people. But she certainly hadn't seen this person. The girl turned though, and Twilight couldn't help but get that all too familiar pang of recognition, that some one that had helped her identify a certain rainbow-haired girl, a shy pink-haired girl, and a bouncy girl with pink hair. However, Twilight knew full well that blonde was actually a normal hair color here, and she wasn't exactly seeing any orange, so it was totally possible that this blonde was actually named...

Applejack Smith.

Not believing that, Twilight reached for the paper. She usually got information about all the new Shifted since her job, and she'd been looking for any "Rarities" or "Applejacks." But even one named Smith? The only way Twilight could be more certain was if this girl was named apple or mentioned having a...

A Granny Smith.

"Applejack," repeated Twilight. She held up the paper so that Rainbow could read the confirmation too, "as in Applejack who owns an apple orchard a short walk outside of Ponyville and lives with her family Big Macintosh, Applebloom, and Granny Smith and happens to be friends with," and here Twilight began pointing, "Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash," she jerked her head toward the house she knew the other two to be: "Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie?"

Because, you know, there could totally still be another Applejack. Just because the last person who looked, sounded, and acted exactly like one of Twilight's friends had been, well, Twilight's friend didn't mean that this girl would be. There could totally be another Applejack, or that could just be the last thing this poor girl remembered (along with apparently country music and apple pie). Maybe she'd suffered a terrible incident involving the illegal beverage at a country music jamboree where she'd entered her grandmother's favorite pie recipe.

It might be worth noting that Twilight was under a little stress lately. Maybe.

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow Dash ignored the paper in front of her. She didn't really like reading. "You forgot Rarity," she said, still not exactly getting where Twilight was going with this. "And why are we talking about Applejack when there's pie to be eating? I'm starving!"

And then it sort of started to sink in. "Wait. Let me see that." She snatched the paper and glanced over it, then looked up at the new girl. "No. Way." And then she started jumping up and down, which was dangerous with the amount of glass she had in her arms. But she couldn't seem to stop, just felt that smile growing on her face and felt herself bouncing higher and higher to the point where she almost hit her head on the doorframe.

"Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh," she said, jumping into the kitchen. She finally managed to set down all of her new glasses on the table before turning to Applejack and wrapping her in a huge hug. "This is, like, the best thing ever! I can't believe it's finally you!" And, of course, it had to be the AJ she knew and loved; hadn't Twilight just said so? "And I can't believe you made pie! This is, like, the Best. Day. Ever."

She turned to Twilight with a huge smile that suddenly fell off her face. "Um, Twilight, why are you holding a bunch of old meat?"

[Applejack Smith]

Applejack nodded her head slowly as the purple-haired woman started listing off stuff about her. She confirmed each item with a soft “That’s right.” or “Yup.” When the woman pointed at herself and then the rainbow-haired woman while saying “Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash”, she couldn’t hold back the huge grin that instantly leapt to her face. Her happiness only swelled when Twilight jerked her head while saying “Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie”. “So this is where y’all got to?” She murmured softly, half laughing in her relief. “I admit when I first saw you just now, I was hoping it was you, but I didn’t want to get too excited just in case.” She beamed brightly at Twilight, but her smile fell slightly when Rainbow mentioned the pie. She rolled her eyes lightly. “It ain’t ready yet, Rainbow. Have some patience, will ya?”

It was then that Applejack finally got the response she’d been expecting. It seemed it had taken Rainbow Dash just a bit longer to realize who she was, but when she did, the effect was pretty entertaining. Applejack could only smile her gentle smile as Rainbow bounced high enough to shame Pinkie Pie. Honestly, she hadn’t realized the two were such good friends. Hadn’t they argued about which of them was stronger? Still, when Rainbow Dash hugged her, she returned the gesture fully. “It’s good to see you too, Rainbow, and of course I made apple pie. What else would I make? Strawberry Shortcake?” She gave her friend a lopsided grin as they separated.

As Rainbow turned to Twilight, Applejack saw her smile fade slightly. She looked at Twilight as well, and her heart twanged gently in concern for her friend. “Twilight?” She asked after the woman. “You all right, sugar cube? You look a bit stressed. Why don’t you sit down for a spell? The apple pie’s almost ready. We can sit down all together and eat it and talk. Won’t that be just dandy?” She turned to Rainbow Dash and out of the corner of her mouth muttered to the rainbow-haired woman. “What’s meat?” Applejack had her question Twilight about the meat, but the question had confused her. She’d never heard of meat or anything like it.

[Twilight Sparkle]

There was mostly a lot of staring on Twilight's part. Maybe a few eye twitches or so. Nothing major, nothing that indicated a second Mr. Smarty Pants incident, though the signs of it building toward that were most certainly there. Twilight had, however, paid attention to each and every confirmation that came from her new roommate's mouth, all working to build a much more definite picture of who exactly was moving in with them. Still, Twilight mostly stared, at least half in shock, while her two friends hugged and shared excitement, the same excitement that Twilight could actually feel building within her as well. She swallowed, a smile stretching her stressed face. However, she was soon starting as both looked to her.

"What? No, I'm fine," she insisted, which only sounded 60% like an obvious lie. "and meat's what they call chopped up bits of, well, dead living creature. A lot of the humans around here eat it. Sort like how there are creatures back home that would eat sheep and such, like dragons do sometimes when they don't get enough gems," like that every happened. Twilight had only read of it happening once. But it gave her room to lecture and ramble and mostly ignore the worried look that Applejack was giving her. "I gathered it from the living meat creatures that had been attacking the houses..." Twilight pointed outside, then lowered her hand, "so... yeah, this place isn't that different from Ponyville..."

and getting more and more like it every day, with all the residents arriving like this. Twilight blinked, then lifted her back. "I need to get this into the fridge..." and boy, was the apple pie and reunion really not helping with Twilight's organization. She needed to get it together, and fast.