"Now Pinkie Pie, ya really don't need ta apologize," Applejack drawled as she pulled up a chair next to Pinkie.

Pinkie gave a careful smile as she turned to face the farm pony. "No, of course I do silly! It was all my fault! I chose to make more mes and look what happened! I went overboard and you paid the price!" she said, a tone of regret lacing her voice. Pinkie held her gaze on Applejack as she waited for her to speak.

An image of the destroyed pile of wood and rubble flashed through Applejack's mind for the briefest of moments. Considering it for a second, Applejack pressed her ears back against her golden mane. She supposed if it hadn't have been Pinkie Pie; the fun-loving carefree gal she had grown to love, she might have held onto a bit... no, a mite of resentment. But, since the pink-maned mare grinning patiently at her was, indeed Pinkie, Applejack's eyes softened. She reached forward over the counter and filled up two mugs of apple cider.

"Look, Ms. Pie," she began, handing her the mug. "Ah know ya didn't mean nothin' when ya went to the strange pool of clones. Heck, ya just wanted ta have some fun with your friends, so that there were more yas ta go around! But Ah ain't saying it's your fault 'tall. Things got out of hoof, and whatever happened wasn't ya, it was them."

Pinkie Pie leaned forward, the look on her face hard to place. "Really?" she asked slowly. "You're not mad?"

Applejack chuckled. "'Course I'm not mad, sugarcube! Where would ya get that idea? Ya could go destroy this very house we're standing in, and Ah wouldn't hold any grudges!"

Pinkie Pie smiled. "And then you would just have a sleepover with me!" she exclaimed, ducking her face into the frothy cup.

"Well, Ah am not sure how long Ah could deal with that, though," Applejack muttered as Pinkie giggled through her mug.

Then she pushed back against her chair, and gave her friend a wry grin. "But, of course, if ya still want to go and say it, Ah'm not gonna stop ya," she said.

Pinkie Pie, with a gasp, jumped up on her chair.

Her cyan eyes sparkled, and she cleared her throat dramatically. "I, Pinkamena Diane Pie, am solemnly sorry for the deeds that I have inflicted upon Applejack through the usage of the Mirror Pool, and hereby apologize. To make amends for my sins towards one of my closest compadres, I swear to become her slave for the rest of eternity."

Applejack found that she was clapping (in a less mocking way than she had intended) and smirked. "Ah forgive thee," she responded, her southern accent causing her to stumble over the words as she bowed down. But then the farm mare jerked up.

"Wait. What was that last part, Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie waved her hoof feverishly. "Nothing! Nothing! I was joking," she gasped in mirth.

Applejack rolled her eyes fondly. "Good. Cause Ah actually think ya would do that."

She stared at Pinkie Pie for a minute. "Y'all feel better now, sugarcube?" she inquired softly.

Pinkie Pie nodded. "Actually, yes," she admitted. She scooted closer and wrapped Applejack in a warm hug. She melted into her friend's embrace, despite her cotton candy hair causing Applejack's nose to twitch. As they pulled away, Applejack gulped her cider.

"Do ya think Rainbow Dash would-" she was cut off suddenly by a loud boom that shook the very house. Pinkie Pie jerked back, and let out a small squeal in surprise.

"Woah Nelly!" Applejack cried out, her hat falling over her face. Yet when she pushed her stetson back up, her cheeks were decorated with a light red.

"Whoops, heh. Ah guess that was just thunder," she said. Pinkie Pie giggled, finishing the last of the drink.

"Wait, you know what that means?" Pinkie started, her eyes wide. "Thunder means rain! And when it rains, Gummy gets all anxious by himself!" Pinkie stood up, dancing on her hooves in anticipation.

Applejack cocked an eyebrow in worry, getting up.

"I'm super sorry Applejack, but I gotta go, right now!" Pinkie shouted, giving Applejack a quick pat on the head as a goodbye.

"Are ya sure?" Applejack asked. Pinkie Pie nodded vigorously, glancing towards the door looking like she was on a sugar high.

"Alright," Applejack complied, "Ah know the weird needs your pet alligator has.... Ah guess Ah can't stop ya." Before she could add anything else, the party pony dashed out the door, a pink blur against the swaying green grass.

Applejack stood with a gaping mouth over the threshold. Heh, she could probably out race Rainbow Dash any day. With a sigh, she followed with her eyes a purple flicker of lightning across the greying, cloudy sky, proceeded by a startling clap of thunder. Applejack reached out with a hoof and felt the first drop of cold water slide over her coat. It was amazing how fast a storm could overtake an orchard.

With a shiver, the mare was about to close the door when her ears swiveled to a slight cracking sound. Applejack peered out, her senses alert. Just what the hay was that? There was hardly a breath of wind.

She took a step outside into the chilling air, her body tense. Perhaps it was just a silly raccoon hiding beneath the collapsed barn, or a little rat. But nothing dashed out beneath the piles of wood, and silence regained.

Applejack was a curious pony by nature. She couldn't resist the urge to trot beneath the growing rain to the rubble, her ears perked.

"Hello?" she whispered. "Lil' critter?"

There was no reply, save for a gentle shuddering of the boards around her. Applejack crept forward, trying to still her breathing.

There was a flash of pink. Among the fallen shambles, Applejack noticed a certain lean-two order of some of the boards had obtained, they way the fell against each other in a makeshift shelter.

The quick gasps of the creature hidden in the growing shadows were the signs of escape. Quickly, before the thing in the shelter could make a break for it, Applejack shot forward and poked her head inside.

What she saw made her freeze. The pink coat, the pink mane, and the cyan eyes! Applejack felt a sharp stab of confusion.

"Changeling?" she breathed in a horrible sense of awe. Pinkie Pie had just left; she had seen it! Yet the mare staring back at her was indeed Pinkie Pie; albeit a rather shivering, shocked Pinkie.

Applejack felt a rush of fear, and with that a surge of reckless anger. "What are ya doing here?!" she snarled, almost surprising herself with her tone. She found that she had rushed up against the mare in question, staring deep into her eyes: her fake, blue eyes.

"Ya have 10 seconds to tell me why the hay you're here or so help me Ah'll--"

"Stop."

Applejack took a step back. The voice was low and level, like one, long note held on the beginning of the scale. It sent shivers down Applejack's spine, combined with the burning look held in her eyes.

"Who are ya?" she asked softly, pressing her ears back. The powerful rush drained out of her body as the changeling made no move to attack her.

The changeling regarded her with a cool intensity beneath her straight, dark mane. Her mouth was twisted into an unfamiliar scowl.

"Who do you think I am?" she asked flatly. Her voice was oddly warbling, and her eyes held a hint of red.

Applejack was taken aback. "What? You're obviously a changeling of my friend! But ya forgot that Pinkie's hair is never straight, except when--"

"When..." Applejack shook her head. "Stop messing with me! Ya know what ya are! Now tell me--"

The changeling shoved a hoof in her mouth, her eyes flickered with anger. "Stop talking, you farmer," she hissed. "You have no idea what you're saying."

Applejack's eyes widened, and she pushed back against her her assaulter. "Now Ah know ya ain't Pinkie," she spat, leaning closer.

"Of course I'm not, you fool," she responded, but her face contorted for a second. "You want to know who I am before you go around falsely accusing ponies?" she leered at Applejack. "Or do you want to spill a little blood before you let me speak?"

The farm mare jerked back, an irate blush blossoming across her face. "Ah'm not some kind of monster!" she barked at the nonchalant mare.

"Oh, really?" she replied. "Are you just that way to changelings? A typical racist. Am I suddenly horrible because you assumed I was of a "bug" race?"

"Ah am not a racist," Applejack retorted, almost softer. "Ah just--"

"What?" she jeered.

The orange pony fumed. "Ah've just a bad experience with changelings, alright? They scare me sometimes, ya get it!" Applejack dug her hoof into the the dirt. "Ah'm sorry about that." She gritted her teeth in frustration. "But than wha--who are ya?"

The changeling tittered mockingly. "Really, Applesmack, you've got to use that small brain of yours. Have you forgotten already?"

Applejack glared daggers, but then her emerald eyes widened. "You're a--"

The other mare cocked her head to the side.

"Clone?" Applejack finished.

The clone grinned, smacking the farm mare upside the head. "Guilty as charged, my dear pony! Congratulations!"

Applejack angrily swatted her hooves away with a grimace. "How is that possible?" she gasped. "We got rid of y'all and sent ya back to the mirror pool!"

The clone bared her teeth. It was a look quite frightening on Pinkie's features.

"Oh, is it because you think we're all mindless drones? That we can't think for ourselves other than "fun?!" A flash of lightning illuminated her pained features.

Applejack took a step away, her eyes softening."No, Ah--" Ah just prayed Ah was wrong "Is that why you're so sensitive about changelings, sugarcube?"

She flinched. The Pinkie clone leaned up against Applejack's nose menacingly. "Don't ever call me sugarcube, Applesmack."

Applejack sighed. "Alright, Ah'm afraid we got off on the wrong hoof. My name's Applejack," she said.

The Pinkie Clone sniggered sarcastically. "Pleasure, Applesauce," she droned. She stared through half-lidded eyes. "The name's Pinkamena."

Applejack started. "Pinkamena?"

"Mmhmm," Pinkamena replied listlessly.

"But that's Pinkie's name," Applejack protested, stomping her hoof on the ground.

Pinkamena looked up. "Uh, no it's not. It's Pinkie. There's a reason why she changed it, obviously."

"Oh, really?" Applejack asked, raising an ear. "Ah don't suppose ya would like ta share why, maybe?"

Pinkamena scowled. "Actually no, I was just about to leave, thank you very much." She stepped forward, only to be blocked by AJ's hoof.

"Uh, uh. Ya were hiding in mah apple orchard, now ya shall tell me your lovely life story." Applejack smirked.

Pinkamena grimaced and a throaty, dark laugh burbled from her mouth. "I don't think you can tell me what to do, you mud pony," she snapped at the mare.

Normally, Applejack would have been thoroughly insulted at such language, but considering Pinkamena was also an earth pony, she decided to let it slip.

Applejack tightened her lips. "Spill," she demanded. "Ah can see a soul in need, and right now ya need the help of Miss Applejack."

Pinkamena gritted her teeth, but finally stepped back. "Fine, you plebeian. But I'm going to snap your neck once I'm done."

Applejack actually smiled, already used to her snarky comments. "Ah can't wait for that," she drawled.

As the rain drummed around her, Pinkamena sank to the ground with a sigh.

"I suppose you are familiar with the Rainboom, correct?" she began.

Applejack sat down beside her, shivering in the chilling wind. "Well, of course. Ah got my cutie mark the day Ah--"

"I don't care," Pinkamena interrupted, squinting her eyes. She tugged her hair from her eyes. "If you're here to learn about me, you're going to keep quiet," she said.

She cleared her throat. "It was an... interesting day, I suppose. We were happily rotating the rocks to a different field, when all of a sudden, it happened." There was a look on her face that Applejack couldn't quite place.

The farm mare remained silent, with only a quizzed expression as Pinkamena paused.

"Pinkamena, she was in charge. It was great for many of my foal years, I suppose. That was how life worked, until that day. That horrible day when the Rainboom shook through the farm. I remember it, all the colors blowing across the rocks, the wind that rocketed the fields. It was amazing. And then Pinkie..." she gritted her teeth. "Pinkie decided that she just couldn't wait any longer and she took charge! The Rainboom finally sparked an emotional high, and they switched!"

Applejack flinched at the malice written in Pinkamena's features. "Switched?" she breathed.

Pinkamena jerked her head toward her, like a puppet on strings. "Yeah, switched." She took a deep, ragged breath. "I suppose, when Pinkamena was younger, she realized that not her entire being liked dark, gloomy and boring things. There was a small part of her mind that was of the opposite nature. It worked pretty well, hiding it away. But as I told you, The Rainboom was finally the last straw," she said darkly.

"Pinkie took the body, changed her name, and Pinkamena was shoved away, labeled as the dark and dangerous side of the now fun loving mare," she snapped bitterly, hiding further behind her dirty hair.

Applejack quickly closed her mouth when she realized she had been gaping. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Pinkamena replied cooly.

Applejack pushed her stetson back. "That was it? Where's the rest? That was just so... blunt," she stated, scrunching her muzzle up.

Pinkamena regarded her with a scowl. "That is it. That's all I remember, and that's all that's important. Pinkamena lost control, and Pinkie started a new chapter in her life. The end."

Applejack made a huffing noise, stomping her hoof on the ground. "Missy, why do you keep saying Pinkamena? Ain't you Pinkamena?"

Said mare's eyes widened and she took a step away.

Applejack's ears folded back, and she bit her lip. "No--Ah, please. Ah just want to understand."

Pinkamena seemed as if she was debating internally, her tail swishing forward and back anxiously. "No," she whispered, her voice unusually meek. "I'm not, you mud mare." She took a deep breath, glaring at the ground. "You should know that, isn't it obvious?" she asked bitterly. "Where the Pinkie clones really Pinkie?"

Applejack shook her head vigorously. "'Course not, sugarc--Pinkamena. They where just... clones." She closed her mouth tightly.

Pinkamena grumbled, hoofing the dirt moodily. "If Pinkie had done it enough times, there would have been more Pinkamenas. Because she was shoved away as the other personality, she took up a smaller part of the mentality. I was just the first one."

Applejack sighed, reaching out to lay a hoof on the mare. Pinkamena flinched, pushing her off. "Listen," Applejack began. "Ah can tell this really bothers ya, am Ah right?"

Pinkamena's eyes widened, and she let loose a mad bark. "Bothers ME?! Of course it does! You think I like this? You think this is all some sort of joke?! Being half a pony, not even having my own memories?!"

She grinned manically when Applejack opened her mouth. "Oh, yes! I only know that event! That horrid, insufferable memory that I have permanently ingrained in my copied mind!" She sank down to her knees, a strangled whimper escaping through her lips.

She didn't look up from under her dark curtain of hair, and slammed her front hoof in the slippery mud. Thunder rumbled in the distance. "Oh, yes, I remember that. We were all given Pinkie's memory, the most important memory that changed her. Her memory, her mind, never mine... not even a chance to know her friends."

Pinkamena struggled up, her face hardened. "Of course, I'm not even Pinkie, am I?" She grabbed her legs, and turned around to face the pile of wood.

Applejack swallowed hard, her lips struggling to form words. She didn't want to hurt this mare anymore; she seemed so unstable. "Pinkamena?" she began softly. The pink clone didn't answer. She crept forward, her hat tilted over her forehead. With a grunt, she sat herself beside Pinkamena, and leaned casually against her own hoof. "What was it like there?"

Pinkamena looked up. "Excuse me?"

Applejack shrugged, trying to stay calm. "What was it like in the Mirror Pool?"

Pinkamena was silent for a second, rubbing harshly at her eyes. "It was cold," she said simply. "Before... everything, all I remember was coldness. It was like ice all around me, suffocating me. Except I couldn't breathe. It was so dark, but I couldn't see. It was so quiet, but I couldn't hear." Pinkamena swallowed.

Applejack pressed her lips together, nodding slowly. "And then?"

Pinkamena averted her eyes. "And then... and then there was light. And sound, and air. And I was soaking wet, and shocked and alive. I saw her, walking away and leading all of them. And then I was smiling, I was laughing and jumping and grinning, because they all were. I was twisted on the inside, crying on the inside, and dark on the inside, and they weren't. I--" Pinkamena broke off, closing her cyan eyes.

Applejack smiled sadly. "And then ya were here?" she finished quietly.

Pinkamena nodded silently. "Yeah, then I was here, and a fool-headed Apple pony found me." It looked as if, miraculously, her lips were curling up in a smile, but then they twisted down suddenly.

Applejack studied her closely. "But why are ya still here?"

The pink mare blinked, narrowing her eyes. "'Cause somepony has been holding me up," she said, though not bitterly. "I was just--"

"No," Applejack interrupted. "Ya were just runnin' off someplace else because you thought Ah might see ya. Ah ain't askin' that. Why are ya still here?" Her tone was kind, but firm.

Pinkamena's eyes dilated, and she flushed. "Because... because--"

"Because ya didn't belong." It wasn't a question.

Pinkamena instantly flinched, her muzzle scrunching up. "What? How dare you, you--!"

Applejack shoved a hoof over her mouth. "Oh, come on, girl! It's the truth!"

Pinkamena held her troubled gaze longer, and then she sighed. "Fine. You're right, you happy now?"

"Yes."

She glared. "I mean, how the flippin' hay I am supposed to? I hate the pool, I want to live! All of those mindless clones, they wouldn't understand! But I can't go out looking like Pinkie! Being Pinkie! I can't go anywhere! What am I supposed to do, Applejack?"

Applejack stiffened when she realized the mare had leaned up against her, her eyes holding onto one strand of hope. Her. Applejack pushed her back a bit, oddly reminded of when Applebloom got a bad grade in math, despite the sorrowful expression and the shattered voice. She was begging for help.

She placed a hoof over Pinkamena's, and looked away as if listening to the drum of the pouring rain. "'Member when Ah started to say the Rainboom was the day Ah got my cutie mark?"

Pinkamena remained stoic, tense at their contact. "I guess."

"Well, Ah did. And it was a special day, just like the day ya "switched", though not quite in the same way.

"Ah was born a farm filly, ya get it? Born and raised on this apple field, heck, Granny Smith--that's mah grandmother--even told me mah parents gave birth to me in mah own bedroom," Applejack chuckled softly.

"But one day, Ah finally decided that maybe it wasn't quite right. Maybe Ah didn't quite belong as an apple farmer. Hay, Ah'm orange, right?"

Pinkamena just cocked an ear, raising an eyebrow as if to say: "Go on."

"Ahem. So, imagine a little 11 year old filly, setting off on her own to visit her Aunt and Uncle Orange in the big ol' city of Manehatten. There she is, trying to find herself amongst all these high society folk, and failing miserably. Eating food the size o' pebbles just isn't her thing. Now she's sitting in her painfully orange colored bedroom, curled up against the bed. The little filly is heartbroken; she doesn't belong here, either. She goes over to the window, in hope of seeing the same sun that's shared by her farm. Oh, how she misses her family. All of a sudden, there's a huge rainbow explosion, and she spots a rainbow arching--reaching all the way to her worn down farm back in Ponyville. And in an instant she knows where she belongs. The farm filly gets up, away from that awful, suffocating place, and runs all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres on her stubby little legs. As she runs, she can see her big brother, standing beside her sweet old grandmother, and a light flashes on her flank. She finally got her cutie mark."

Applejack smiled faintly at the memory, then back down at Pinkamena, whose cheeks flushed angrily. "Applesauce! I already have my cutie mark, and it's not even mine! Was that supposed to help?" she sneered, swiping her hoof away from Applejack and furrowing her brow.

The orange mare pursed her lips. "Actually, yeah it was. Listen, sugarcube. Ah know this is hard for ya, being a clone and all. Ya just want to be your own pony, am Ah right?"

"Yeah, of course I do," she said wistfully. "But we all want things, don't we?" Pinkamena snapped her head back up.

"Hold your horses, gal. Ah ain't blind, Ah know you've got your own cutie mark. Yet, there was a time when Ah didn't have mine, and Ah had no idea where Ah was suppose to go."

Pinkamena twisted her arms together.

"But, maybe ya can make your own mark on the world."

Pinkamena stared, her hoof groping back for Applejack's. "What do you mean?" she whispered, her voice low as if she was scared to get her hopes up.

"Ah mean, ya can get out by yourself, as Pinkamena, and find who ya are inside. You're more than just a copy, sugarcube," Applejack replied, pushing back her hat to see a wishful spark gleam in Pinkamena's eyes.

"And Ah know just who can help."

As the rain dulled around them, and the sky lightened, Pinkamena reached out and embraced a stranger, who smelt of apples, but was familiar all the same.

Celestia's golden sun shown down over the station, lighting up the metal train that screeched onto the tracks.

Applejack watched a dark grey coated mare with straight, ruby red hair step up to her. Her cyan eyes shone, although her face remained solemn.

"You think Twilight did a good job?" she asked.

Applejack grinned. "She did better than a three-eyed sniper in a shooting competition. Hooey, you look amazin' Pinkamena!"

Pinkamena turned. "Really? Even the mark?"

Applejack nodded, studying the crystalized red balloon upon her flank. Pinkamena had explained to her it was the crystals found in the cave of the Mirror Pool.

"Don't want to forget who I am, right?" Pinkamena inquired, almost to herself.

"Of course! Ah think it matches ya ta a tee!" Applejack exclaimed, putting an arm around her. Then her smile faded a bit. "Ya have all your stuff?"

Pinkamena nodded stiffly, pointing with her nose to her luggage.

"I guess this is goodbye, then."

Applejack made a face, watching as ponies filed onto the train. "Naw, just for now. Whenever ya want ta come visit me, Ah'll be right here, ya hear? And ya can tell me all about your home in Manehattan."

Pinkamena lowered her ears, hiding behind her dark mane. "Fine. Thanks," she muttered. "I'll come soon, Applejack, you filthy mud farmer."

Applejack chuckled. "Go on and make your mark, ya fool," she replied lightly, pushing the reluctant mare forward.

"All aboard!"

Pinkamena glared at the conductor. "You better shut your mouth and give me time," she growled.

"Oh, ho, ho," Applejack pulled her away from the bewildered stallion. "Come now, ya have to go. Ya can't stay here forever, sugarcube."

Pinkamena sighed, giving Applejack a quick hug. "Bye," she said stiffly, before turning around and heading to the door. Just before she was about to step over the threshold to a new life, she faced Applejack.

"I'm sorry about your barn."

Applejack smiled, waving goodbye with a heavy heart. "Now, Pinkamena, ya really don't need ta apologize."

Author's Notes:

I hope you enjoy this story! It was really fun writing, and exploring a small headcannon. The part about "switching" was loosly based on this awesome story: "Pinkie's Personalities"Criticism is welcomed, but first I must tell you that this is not perfect, and I am not perfect. Oh, who am I kidding? Blow it up.

Anyway, did I make up a new ship? Pinkamena and Applejack make such cute friends!

Thank you for reading!