It was a beautiful morning in Ponyville, birds were singing, sun was shining, and it was the time of year for Zapp apples, but not all was well down at the apple farm. Big mac had gotten injured again and at the worst time, the zap apples were due to appear that day and Applejack was the only one who was able to harvest, Apple Bloom was in manehatten visiting Babs, Rarity had just gotten a big order, Pinkie was visiting her family at their rock farm, Rainbow was at another wonderbolt training camp, Fluttershy was booked up with sick and injured animals, then Twilight was in canterlot for some princess meeting. What were the chances of that happening, apparently too high since it did happen, leaving Applejack all by her self to get as many Zap apples as she could before they well, zapped away for the year.
Unless... no she couldn't, what would her friends say if they found out, or if anyone found out, or what if the same thing happened last time Pinkie did it, who knows what would happen this time. But if she didn't would she be able to harvest enough sell to Filthy rich and other ponies who came to buy? If she didn't havest enough there was a possibility of losing the apple farm because of the lack of money, sure they had a other apple orchard, but Zap apple jam was one of the things that earned the most money, besides apple cider, then there was the possibility that she would harvest enough, but still what would happen if she didn't? She had to take chance and get help from a place that had been sealed off almost more then a year ago.
Applejack headed towards the Everfree Forest,and looked where according to her brother, the brambles were the thickest and fog all around. It took awhile to find the area, considering there was fog in a lot of areas of the Everfree, but she was sure this was the part of the forest where the entrance to the place was. Now all she had to was look for a rock in a hole, but considering she could hardly see the ground right in front of her, finding a rock in the ground might be a little hard. If only she had brought a flashlight, then maybe she would be able to at least see five inches in front of her, but there was no time to go back and get one now, the zap apples could appear any moment and she'd lose apple buckin' time over a flashlight. Luckily for her, Zap apples also grew in the Everfree forest so she wouldn't have to worry about them being ready without her knowing, unless they didn't grow in this area. If they did it be a little hard to not notice rain and the sound of lighting. Applejack continued to look for the entrance but with no luck, but being the stubborn pony she was, she wasn't going to stop looking until she heard the fifth sign of the zap apples. She decided to turn around and check back the way she came, to make sure she didn't miss it. It was only a few moments later that she felt a single raindrop fall on the side of her face. Fearing it was the fifth sign she started running back to the farm, not wanting to have a single second of precious apple bucking time wasted.
Then something happened, suddenly the ground below her somehow started falling and sliding through a tunnel. Then she realized it wasn't dirt she wasn't standing on, but the rock blocking the entrance to the place she was trying to get to. The rock must have been just big enough to stay right in the hole, but if pressure was added would fall down to the underground cave she was now in. The orange pony stopped falling and jumped off the rock and looked at her surroundings, the rock had slid through the tunnel and down a small ramp like hill stopping right at the end, all around the cave were blue mushrooms, or perhaps they were toadstools, blue flowers, moss, vines, some sort of plant that glowed, and right in the center of it all was a pond. This was definitely the place she was looking for. The country pony walked closer to the pond and stared at her own reflection.
"So this is the mirror pool Pinkie was talkin' bout, now what did she say were the words to create a clone..
And into the pool she stared,
Yearning for one whose looks she shared,
And solemnly sweared not to be scared
At the prospect of being doubly mared?"
Then she felt the sudden urge to reach into the pond, while putting her hoof into the water she felt something touch it, then grabbed it. Not knowing what it was AppleJack pulled her hoof back out of the water, but that wasn't all she pulled out. The thing was still holding on to her hoof when her hoof was out of the pond, whatever it was, it wasn't out of the water enough for her to tell exactly what it was. Reaching with her other hoof she pulled the rest of it out of the pond, gasping when she saw what it was. standing in front of her was a pony with a orange coat, blonde mane and tail, green eyes, freckles, one apple for a- wait what? Only one apple for the clones cutie mark? but she had three, had she done something wrong? Nothing else was different from what she could tell, only thing left to do was see if it talked. "uh... howdy there, ah'm Applejack, and ah guess you are mah clone?" Applejack said to the other pony, then waited for it to respond.
"A clone ya say, well that explains mah sudden creation, so is mah name Applejack as well? Or maybe Applejack two?" The clone asked, Applejack wasn't prepared for this, what was she going to call the clone? Then she remembered that there were zap apples to be harvested, "Ain't no time for that right now, we gotta get back to the farm and harvest some zap apples! follow me." Applejack told the copy before running up the ramp-hill and through the tunnel, with the newly created clone following.