Chapter 1: Goodbye AJ, Hello Tangerine

"Ok Spike, but another apple on the table" Twilight said confidently as she prepared to turn another apple into an orange with the spell she had recently mastered. As Spike placed yet another apple on the table he looked away, spotting Applejack at her stall, selling apples by the barrel. From what Spike could tell somepony was holding a party and needed a lot of apples, and with Applejack being the best apple farmer in the area, she was in line to make quite a profit.

"Is the apple on the table yet Spike?" Twilight asked, her head down so she could fire the spell she had charged.

"Huh?" Spike muttered, being easily misheard as a yes to Twilight, so she fired the spell. Spike tried to shout at Twilight to stop but it was already on it's way by the time he could say anything. Twilight looked up and saw the spell flying past the table and headed straight towards...

"APPLEJACK WATCH OUT!" Twilight shouted as she jumped over the table, but it was too late. The spell hit Applejack's flank and caused her to erupt into a bright light, her hat now floating above her. When the light had died down Applejack stood there, virtually unchanged except for her mane and cutie mark...

"What am I doing among the commoners?" Applejack said in surprise as she looked at everypony, her familiar accent missing. As she looked around her hat fell back down onto her head, making her jump when she realized what it was.

"Ew! Who put that dusty old thing on my head?!" she shouted as she flung the hat into the ground and proceeded to stop on it angrily, now seeing that her hooves weren't hooficured. After letting out another shout she bolted away, leaving a crowd of confused ponies behind who were looking for answers, and the nearest pony who seemed to know what was going on, was Twilight. Meanwhile Applejack was still running away, finding her destination when she stumbled into Rarity, who was absolutely in love with her new manestyle.

"Oh dearie that new style is absolutely gorgeous!" Rarity swooned as she examined every inch of Applejack's new mane. When she finished Applejack gave her a deadpan look and asked...

"Do I know you?"

"Oh, why of course dear, we're fellow Elements of Harmony!" Rarity said with a hint of worry in her voice. Rarity was never extremely close to Applejack, but in all the time she's known her Applejack has never asked something so rude, and sounded so, refined.

"Ah, so then, why do I have trouble remembering why I would ever talk to somepony like you?" Applejack asked arrogantly, making Rarity take a stop back. Rarity wasn't stupid, she knew something was off about Applejack for sure now. Looking over the rest of her body showed something that shouldn't have been there. A different cutie mark, an orange with two orange slices next to it. Rarity thought it over for a moment, wondering if maybe she just confused Applejack for another mare, but the voice and appearance were just too similar, it had to be her.

"Applejack, dear..." Rarity started to speak, but Applejack snapped at her.

"How do you know that name?!" Applejack shouted, pushing Rarity to the ground in anger.

"It's your name dear!" Rarity said defensively, "Why are you acting like this Applejack, what has gotten into you?"

"I'm not Applejack, I haven't been for over ten years now..." Applejack said sadly, but her face suddenly became very stern, "My name is Tangerine"

"Ta- Dearie what has gotten into you, you're an Apple, not an Orange" Rarity said worriedly, her friends sudden name change confirming once and for all that something was wrong with her.

"I became an Orange when I went to live with my aunt and uncle, finding my cutie mark in the process, now if you'd please?" Applejack, or rather, Tangerine, asked as she pushed Rarity off to the side, making her way into the spa which they had both stopped in front of to talk. Rarity watched in confusion as the rough and tumble pony she once knew as Applejack checked in for a hooficure and massage.

"If you'd come this way please" Aloe said as she led Tangerine into the spa, deciding to start with the hooficure first as they led her into the main room, occupied by one other pony, Fluttershy.

"Oh, hi Applejack" Fluttershy said happily as she watched Tangerine lay down, happily offering her hoof out for the hooficure, "What brings you here today?"

"Why does everyone here know my old name? My name is Tangerine for Luna's sake!" Applejack complained, receiving confused looks from Aloe and Fluttershy. She was obviously oblivious to it as she happily smiled as Aloe went on her merry way with the hooficure. Eventually Rarity came inside, being escorted by Lotus, who noticed how uneasy her sister was as she did her job.

"Is something wrong with Applejack today, Aloe seems worried" Lotus asked, looking worriedly at her sister, who had almost slipped off the hoof and hit Tangerine.

"She's acting weird and seems to believe she's called Tangerine, as well as thinking she's a high class mare" Rarity said angrily, not being too happy with how she was treated outside by her.

"Tangerine? Isn't that a type of orange?" Lotus asked confusedly.

"Yes, her family is related to the Oranges of Manehattan" Rarity replied quickly, "She spent a little bit of time with them when she was younger, but she came home and became the farmer everypony knows"

"I wonder what happened to her..." Fluttershy said quietly as she watched Tangerine snap at Aloe for something, making the spa pony quickly offer up some kind of reimbursement for the trouble. Lotus walked over and tried to defuse the situation, which only made things worse as Tangerine proceeded to shout at the two of them and then demand that her massage be free for them annoying her. As Lotus ran to the front to pull out the bits for the massage Rarity leaned over to Fluttershy.

"I think we're going to have to talk with Twilight about this" Rarity said in a serious tone. She had an odd feeling Twilight knew what was going on, and if not, she'd probably have a way to fix it. Fluttershy nodded quietly and continued to stare at the strange mare across the room from her, who was now smiling happily as she received her free massage from Aloe. Something changed her, and the only pony they could turn to was Twilight, now they just had to hope she would know what to do...