Author's Note
This is my first FiM fanfic. I welcome any constructive criticism.
Poof!
"Thank you for taking the time to come out here," Twilight Sparkle expressed her gratitude, shaking Rarity's hoof.
"Don't mention it, darling," Her colleague winked right back at her.
At long last, she and Spike had tirelessly finished helping Twilight organize her new magic books to file in her library. It had taken nearly the entire day but nopony minded, as long as the three got the job done. All that remained was to set aside from bookshelf space but Twilight figured Spike could finish the job without wrinkling a scale.
"Besides," Rarity went on. "I could afford to take a little time off before my next fashion show in Colttsburg."
"You have another week," Twilight reminded her, rolling her eyes.
"As if we didn't spend enough time here," Said Spike with a chuckle.
"Maybe one of these spells has a mute button on you," Twilight snarked.
"Do you really test your spells on Spike?" Rarity cautiously stepped back.
"Only if they're easy or harmless," Twilight explained. "I wouldn't dare make him invisible or something."
"I'd want to become invisible!" Spike begged. "Please, Twilight, can I?"
"I don't see why not," His master conceded, flipping through the pages of one of the new books. "Ah, here's a pretty good invisibility charm. Stand right over there, Spike."
Spike walked adjacent to the tree the while Twilight glanced over the spell enough times until she had it memorized. She closed her eyes and concentrated her thoughts until her horn gleamed, eager to cast out the magic. Her face opposite the book, she never looked up or even opened her eyes until she had completed the charm.
"Did it work?" Spike also had his eyes closed.
"That's funny," Twilight rubbed her chin. "You're still visible."
Spike put his head down, looked all around him and groaned. "Well, that's a letdown."
"You did something, though," Rarity's voice buzzed throughout the tree. "I saw your horn glow."
"Yeah, but I don't see you, Rare," Twilight did a double take and sharply scanned the library. "Where did you go?"
"I never moved a muscle," Rarity objected.
Twilight hopped off the bench and trotted carefully around the room.
"I don't think I saw where y'OOF!" She sharply turned her neck and rammed into something or somepony. Standing on her hind hooves, she checked her mouth for chipped teeth with one foreleg, thankfully finding none. She swatted the birds zooming and chirping around her head with her other foreleg until Rarity chased them away for good.
"Hey!" She called. "Watch where you're going!"
"I was," Twilight pleaded her case, prodding whatever she rammed into. "It's just that -- Rarity, is this you?"
"That's my horn, darling," She replied. "What exactly are you DOING?"
Putting the pieces together, Twilight looked at what she thought resembled Rarity like she would if Rainbow Dash accidentally let a hurricane blow through the library. Her mouth and eyes opened to the fullest extent her face would allow.
"Oh no!" She moaned in horror. "I didn't make Spike invisible. I cast the spell on YOU!"
"WHAT!?" Rarity roared with the windows in the library doing all they could to keep from shattering. "Change me back now! I hate this! I hate this! I! HATE! THIS!"
"No problem," Twilight feebly reassured her impatient friend, shuffling back to the spell book. "Reappearing spell, oh it has to be in here somewhere."
"I thought you memorized that book," Spike scratched his head.
"As did I," Twilight finished flipping through the book. "This book doesn't have the counter spell!"
"You mean I'm stuck this way?" Rarity shouted, "How am I going to finish my dresses when I can't even see where my hooves are!?"
"Rare-bear, this isn't the time to panic," Spike told her while trying not to himself.
"It's the BEST time to panic!" Rarity growled. "Get me the publisher of that book, Twi! I'm ready to sue!"
"You can't threaten legal action against a book of spells," Twilight groaned. "I'll just have to go through this entire library until I can find a reappearing spell."
"Who knows how long that will take?" Rarity yelped. "There has to be a million books here!"
"It's half past three now," Twilight checked a nearby clock. "I bet if --"
"What the hay?" Rarity discovered, interrupting her friend. "It can't be! That means Sweetie Belle's out of school! I promised I'd watch over her while our parents are in Canterlot for the weekend."
"I'll look for the counter spell alone I guess," Twilight shrugged. "You'd better canter along home. Take Spike with you."
"Oh, won't that be wonderful?" Spike swooned. "An afternoon stroll across town!"
"Just get on my back," Rarity commanded.
"I would if I knew where you were," The baby dragon protested.
"I'll let you know when I find the de-invisibility spell." Twilight already climbed a ladder to the top of one of the bookshelves.
Rarity crouched down to lift Spike onto her back and she carried him out of the library. Onward she walked through Ponyville, head down and cursing to Twilight under her breath. Spike sighed in remission, knowing full-well she chose not to take her anger out on him for a change.
AH-OOO-GAH!
"Rare, look out!"
Rarity swiveled her head just in time to see a taxi speeding right towards her, petrified by its driver blaring the horn. With no time to use magic, she dove out of its way and covered her head, shivering while Spike clung to her neck. The vehicle careened towards the side of the road and smacked into a tree. Its unharmed driver and tourist passenger leapt in front of one another and engaged in a heated shouting match. Rarity thought about getting involved but remembered just in time that her invisibility made her exempt from this scene.
"Thank Celestia for that new decree requiring horns on taxis, right?" Spike tried to calm down his love interest.
"Yes," She grumbled, leading Spike up the walkway to Carousel Boutique. "Or else I wouldn't have had a thing to wear to the morgue."
Hoping to forget her awful turn of events, Rarity rummaged through her saddlebag for her house key but facehoofed when she could not find it. Glancing at a window, she sought relief when she found Sweetie Belle doing her homework.
"Do you have my key, Spike?" Rarity requested.
"I thought you had it."
"I must have left it at the library," She pouted. "This can't get any worse."
"You can always use your cat's door."
"Do I LOOK like Opal to you?" She clenched her teeth.
"How should I answer that?" Spike looked at her funny.
"Never mind!" She gave up, throwing her forelegs in the air. "I'll ring the doorbell!"
She waited until her chimes finished their song but when nopony answered the door, she rang it again.
"Come on, Sweetie Belle," She prayed. "Answer the door."
Desperate to get inside, she frantically kept exerting the doorbell. The same tune overlapped itself several times with the ruckus penetrating her dainty ears. The clanging finally got to her younger sister who flung the door open, her face a tiny beet surrounded by a pink and purple coiffure.
"Button Mash!" She called out to thin air over the chimes. "I already told you my sister's doorbell isn't a toy! Oh, hey Spike."
"Hi, Sweetie Belle," Rarity and Spike greeted the now calmed down Sweetie Belle together.
"Huh?" Sweetie Belle gasped. "For a moment there, you sounded just like --"
"Rarity!" Her older sister shouted. "It IS me, darling!"
"But I, I don't see you," Sweetie Belle looked around.
"Tell me something I don't know," Rarity chastised her. "Thanks to Twilight Sparkle, I'm invisible now! And I'm hating every single minute of it!"
"Wait a sec," Sweetie Belle paused to think. "Hold it right there!"
"This can't be good," Rarity sighed, watching her sister dart into her residence.
"Let's see," She heard Sweetie Belle's voice. "Brown sugar, no. Eggs, no. Oatland Hays' jersey, no. Aha! Found it!"
"Found what?" Spike started entering the house but stopped when he saw Sweetie Belle lugging a bag almost the size of her head.
"Rarity may be invisible but maybe this will help until Twilight finds a counter spell."
"That might be crazy enough to work!" Spike beamed, helping Sweetie Belle take the bag over to the doorstep.
"Flour!?" Rarity sneered. "Tell me you're not serious."
"When are you ever not serious, sis?" Sweetie Belle chuckled, Spike crouching down to give her a boost. "Now, close your eyes."
Sweetie Belle hopped on Spike, tore a hole in the bag with her horn and dumped its entire contents onto her sister. She grinned at the result, regardless of how she wanted to become completely visible again.
"I don't believe it!" Rarity squealed, looking her body over. "It worked! Thanks, darling!"
"You should be fine," Sweetie Belle assured her. "As long as you don't --"
"Uh, ah, AAH-CHOO!"
Just like a magic trick, Rarity had disappeared again. Gone in cloud of white smoke, she left Sweetie Belle and Spike coughing in the fog she created. Spike faced away from the unicorn sisters and the boutique, not wanting to accidentally catch either on fire.
"Gesundheit," Spike hacked, waving his claws to clear his own smoke.
"I haven't seen this much dust since Miss Cheerilee had me clap the erasers the other day," Sweetie flapped her hoof. "Of course, it was Diamond Tiara's fault again."
"Sweedie Belle, stobbit," Rarity sniffled. "Ah'b just gudda worg od dat dress for by fashid show,"
"Are you sure you should be doing that?" Spike questioned. "You did say you can't even see your own hooves."
"I'll be fide," Rarity trotted inside the boutique, her breaths becoming more concentrated. "I thig. AH-CHOO!"
"Yeesh," Spike exclaimed, walking alongside Sweetie Belle to the living room. "Even her sneezing is dramatic."
"I need to finish up my homework," Sweetie told Spike. "Help yourself to anything in the kitchen."
She pulled up a chair and sat back down beside the table, adjusting the paper on the typewriter Rarity bought for her last Hearth's Warming. Practical, her sister called it, so her dainty forelegs could work less. Indeed, Sweetie Belle had been getting better at typing, almost up to fifty words a minute. Apple Bloom probably couldn't get any higher than two, she thought. Maybe, she hoped, she could use it to get her cutie mark someday, even if it meant wearing her hooves to the bone.
Rarity's shop provided Sweetie with all the soothing sounds she needed to finish up her homework. She enjoyed listening to the turntable busting out Hayden's symphonies, the sewing machine stitching up those fabulous dresses and her sister humming along to the music. She pulled the paper out of the typewriter and began proofreading her essay when she heard Rarity's singing turned to shrieks for help. Sweetie Belle hobbled off the chair bound for the shop while Spike flashed a "What did I tell you?" look at the filly before following.
"Rare?" Sweetie Belle shoved the door open. "You all right?"
"Do I LOOK all right!?" Rarity's distraught voice echoed.
"But I still can't --"
"URRRGH!" Rarity screamed, exasperated that she forgot her invisibility yet again. "Just get me some scissors. My mane got caught in the sewing machine."
"Wouldn't want you to be a part of your dress," Spike giggled while Sweetie Belle opened a drawer and fished out a pair of scissors.
"As close as you can, darling," Rarity instructed, ignoring the dragon's remark. "I'd do this myself but I'm afraid with my magic I'll cut one of my ears off."
"Then you'd need different kinds of stitches," Sweetie Belle joked, freeing Rarity from the machine.
"You two are having SO much fun, aren't you?" Rarity cast a sightless sneer.
"Sorry," Sweetie Belle giggled. "You really should put those outfits for the fashion show to rest."
"You're right," Rarity wept, shuffling back on all fours. "I could use a break. Let's get something at Sugarcube Corner."
"I'm in," Sweetie Belle nodded.
"Yeah, let's go!" Spike exclaimed.
The three made their way out of the boutique and strolled through Ponyville to their favorite hangout. Rarity darted her head numerous times to see if any taxis or renegade wagons came her way. Occasinally, she would also let out a cry of fright, leaving Sweetie Belle and Spike just looking back at each other to shrug along the way. Ultimately, they reached the gingerbread house-like bakery, its facade always looking as delicious as the mouth-watering confections that came out of it. Spike the gentledragon opened the door to let her pony friends through but-
"Ow! My nose!"
"Sorry, Rare," Spike apologized. "Didn't -"
"DON'T SAY IT!" Rarity threatened, casting off the reminder.
"Where's Pinkie Pie?" Sweetie Belle asked, noticing the empty counter.
"WATER CANNON!"
Poor Rarity glanced just in time to meet a blast of forty-degree H20 from her pink friend. Soaking wet, she cast an invisible glare at the sheepishly sniggering Pinkie Pie who gently pushed her cannon off to the side.
"I dare say a 'Rarity-suddenly-became-invisible' party wasn't exactly in the cards today." Rarity quipped.
"Oh-ho-ho," Pinkie Pie wagged her hoof. "Disappearing does not call for the Party Cannon. Even I know that!"
"How'd you know what happened to me?" Rarity whipped what was left of her drenched mane, Sweetie Belle and Spike yelping in response to their chance of showers.
"What do you expect me to do when my Pinkie sense tingles?" Pinkie Pie explained herself. "Ignore it?"
"Can you get me a hot fudge and gem sundae, Pinkie?" Spike changed the subject.
"Okeydokey, Spokey, I mean Spikey!" Pinkie Pie squealed before turning to the unicorn sisters. "What can I get the two of you?"
"A chocolate milkshake!" Sweetie Belle replied, wringing her mane.
"I'll have a rum raisin and oat cola," Rarity ordered. "After what I've been through, I need it."
Pinkie Pie dove into the parlor posthaste to prepare her friends' snacks. Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Spike had just sat down when Pinkie Pie dished out their orders. She hummed merrily and trotted out back to handle a few packages of cakes when the door opened again.
"Um, Dashie didn't create a rainstorm just now, did she?" A yellow pegasus walked inside cautiously.
"Oh, hi Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie sang. "That was me, just testing my new water cannon."
"Why do you have a water cannon?" Fluttershy scratched her head.
"Why don't you, silly?" Pinkie Pie giggled.
"AH-CHOO!"
"Bless you!" Sweetie Belle and Spike wished towards thin air.
"Since when do you two say 'bless you' after YOU sneeze?" Fluttershy asked them both.
"I didn't sneeze," Spike shook his head. "This table would be ashes if I did."
"Neither did I," Sweetie Belle pointed. "It was my --"
"UHRRP!"
Rarity opened her mouth to come clean to Fluttershy but the aftereffect of the soda and rum raisin concoction escaped instead. Fluttershy hopped up and bleated in surprise, her wings letting her glide all the way to the opposite corner of the bakery until they carried her gently back to the floor.
"Oh, ex-CUUUSE me, darlings," She blushed, the marks of embarrassment on her muzzle hidden, of course. "How unmarelike of me."
"I'll say," Sweetie Belle wafted the odor away from her.
"Rarity?" Fluttershy half-refused to believe the sight, or sightless, sitting between Sweetie Belle and Spike. "What happened to you?"
"I had an accident in the library."
"I sure hope you cleaned up your mess," Pinkie Pie remarked.
"Not that accident!" Rarity facehoofed, Sweetie Belle smirking at her. "What I mean is Twilight cast an invisibility charm on me."
"Why would she do that?" Fluttershy slowly trekked across the bakery to sit down across from Rarity.
"I wanted to be invisible," Spike filled her in. "But Twi hit Rare with her magic instead."
"She's looking for the counter spell as we speak," Rarity continued. "I swear her library has more books than Manehattan has food trucks."
"Is there anything I can do?" Fluttershy offered.
"Thanks, dear," Rarity touched her friend's hoof, making her squeal in shock. "But there's nothing to do except wait for Twilight."
"You told me on the way home," Spike recalled. "That she can go f-"
"Find it faster!" Rarity cut him off, tittering. "We'd better get on our way, nice chatting with you, Flutter!"
Having finished their deserts, Sweetie Belle and Spike hopped off their chairs and met Rarity at the door. Spike made sure Rarity stood away from the door before holding it open, not wanting to mess up her precious face again. Fluttershy solemnly watched them leave and trotted over to Pinkie Pie at the counter.
"It's not like Rare to say such things about Twi," Fluttershy expressed concern. "Being invisible must be taking a toll on her."
"Maybe I SHOULD have thrown a 'Rarity-suddenly-became-invisible' party," Pinkie Pie agreed in her own proper sense.
"Gimme back my scooter!" Sweetie Belle heard one her friend's voices nearby Sugarcube Corner.
"Oh no!" She gasped. "Scootaloo!"
She and Spike took off, leaving Rarity to follow cautiously after them. The filly and baby dragon watched in horror at their schoolyard bully doing doughnuts with their friend's scooter.
"Like this move?" Diamond Tiara jeered. "You'll never get your cutie marks doing these!"
"Come on, Diamond!" Sweetie Belle pleaded. "Get off or else!"
"Or else what?"
"Uh, uh, I'm gonna tell my sister on you!"
"My hero," Scootaloo mumbled to herself.
Diamond skidded her victim's scooter to a halt right at Sweetie Belle.
"What's she gonna do, blank flank?" She taunted. "Whine at me? I'm sooo scared!"
Diamond burst into laughter which suddenly turned to terrified wails when Scootaloo's scooter suddenly came to life with her on it. She clung to the handlebars for dear life, unprepared for the wild ride ahead of her.
"How are you doing that without me flapping my wings?" Scootaloo asked.
"I'm not!" Diamond yelled. "Somepony help me!"
Diamond tried to weave on the road but the scooter only screeched a figure eight until it broke sharply. She flipped herself on the handlebars and gracefully landed on her four hooves, though traumatized by her unprepared road trip.
"Keep your possessed scooter!" The defeated bully shouted at Scootaloo. "I don't want it anymore!"
With that Diamond Tiara cantered off, Rarity revealing herself by chuckling and giving her a mocking wave.
"Rarity?" Scootaloo stared in awe.
"Here's your scooter back, dear," Rarity levitated the vehicle back to Scootaloo.
"I think Twilight can wait with that counter spell," Sweetie Belle inferred. "For a while."
"Why?" Scootaloo asked when she realized what was going on. "Being invisible must be totally wicked!"
"It's wicked, all right," Rarity sighed. "If you've known the trials and tribulations I've been through, you'll know it's not all it's cracked up to be."
"You think we should pay Twi another visit?" Spike requested.
"Why not?" Rarity accepted. "She still has my house key after all."
"Before you go, sis," Sweetie Belle told Rarity. "I promised Scootaloo I'd meet her at the clubhouse."
"Be back for supper!" Rarity flashed an invisible smile before walking away with Spike.
"Hop on, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo instructed to her friend, climbing on her scooter. "This is faster."
"I bet Twi's found the counter spell already," Spike assured his invisible friend, approaching the hollowed-out tree.
"Not a moment too soon," Rarity turned toward Spike, oblivious that somepony getting ready to open the door blocked her path. Too late to warn either of the impending collision, Spike ducked his head and covered his eyes in dismay. Rarity bumped into her unfortunate victim and the screaming pair tumbled over each other through the door, stopping in the middle of the library.
"All right, thief!" Rarity heard Twilight threatening her. "If you're gonna rob me, at least show yourself!"
"I won't because I can't!" She protested. "Sometimes I forget you can teleport."
"Rare? Oh, Celestia! Please forgive me!" Twilight cried, dropping her fighting stance. "I wanted to bring this back but you weren't at the boutique."
"Why didn't you teleport inside?" Rarity asked, accepting her key.
"I forgot to pick up my mail," Twilight explained. "And in case you're wondering, I haven't found the counter spell yet."
"It's quite all right," Rarity twitched her eye. "I think I'll go back home now."
Spike waited until he heard Rarity's hoofsteps go outside before closing the door behind her.
"You know, Spike?" Said Twilight, at ease. "She's taking this a lot better than I --"
"AAAAAAHHH!"
"Thought."
Scootaloo parked her scooter at the base of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse and squatted so Sweetie Belle could hop down safely. Late to the meeting, they figured Apple Bloom would be there already and when they climbed the ramp, she did not disappoint.
"Where've ya'll been?" Apple Bloom asked, putting down her cat's cradle. "Ah've been waitin' since the cows came home."
"Bad news, Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle announced. "My sister disappeared on me."
"Too bad her whining's still there," Scootaloo added.
"Ah reckon there's somethin' we can do," Apple Bloom suggested.
"I already tried bringing her back," Sweetie Belle told her. "But all I did was waste a bag of flour."
"There's yer problem," Apple Bloom guessed. "Ya need somethin' more permanent."
"Like what?" Scootaloo questioned.
"Let's make Rarity a costume," She went on. "If we cover her with somethin' resemblin' her coat, she ain't gonna look invisible."
"Not bad," Sweetie Belle paused to think. "I've got an old white bed sheet I no longer use."
"And we'll cut holes in it for her horn and eyes," Scootaloo deduced.
"Rarity's got tons of purple fabrics we can use for the mane and tail," Sweetie Belle hopefully remarked.
"This calls for a barn-burnin' celebration!" Apple Bloom smiled, the three fillies joining hooves.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER COSTUME DESIGNERS! YAY!"
"You're not kidding," Rarity asked again. "You WANT to start designing clothes?"
"It's a surprise," Her younger sister explained.
"I can't tell you how surprised I am," Rarity squealed with joy. "Just tell me what you need."
"And old bed sheet, some purple ribbons, a pair of scissors, a sewing needle and thread."
"Coming right up!" She trotted away to fetch the supplies.
"Ah reckon she'll lahk this surprahse." Apple Bloom encouraged Sweetie Belle.
"She's always been pushing me into fashion." Sweetie Belle sighed. "She figures I have to start somewhere."
"Or on somepony." Scootaloo supplemented as Rarity returned with their stock.
"Ah cain't even tell if ya levitated that," Apple Bloom commented.
"Either way, it looks like I did," Rarity giggled before walking toward the kitchen. "Happy designing, you three!"
Apple Bloom draped the bed sheet over Sweetie Belle so Scootaloo could snip holes where her eyes and horn came out.
"You could pass for a younger version of Rarity," Scootaloo remarked.
"Been there, done that," Apple Bloom pointed out gleefully.
"We can attach the mane right here," Sweetie Belle instructed, marking her hoof where she thought she could find Rarity's scalp.
"What about the tail?" Apple Bloom inquired.
"Rarity's still bigger than me," Sweetie told her. "Try marking it where my pastern is."
"Your sister's influence is rubbing off on you," Scootaloo rolled her eyes and the spool of ribbon for the mane and tail.
Sweetie Belle maneuvered out of the sheet to start stitching the fabric together with Apple Bloom holding it in place. Scootaloo brought in paste diamonds and glued them adjacent to where she marked the tail ribbons. She then held the flank end of the costume for Sweetie Belle to sew rest of the fabric for her tail. The Crusaders glanced their eyes all over the wall of Rarity's portraits of herself as an easy guide. Sweetie Belle shrunk back under the sheet while Apple Bloom cut it to size.
"It's missing something," Scootaloo rubbed her chin.
"What?" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both asked.
"This," She picked up a seashell which fit snugly on Sweetie Belle's horn.
"Lookin' dern good there!" Apple Bloom complimented.
"Let's bring this to Rarity!" Sweetie Belle grinned.
"I'll be right over!" Rarity called to them, "I'm just finishing dinner."
"How d'ya reckon we do this?" Apple Bloom proposed her friends, helping Sweetie Belle out of the disguise.
"Hide it beside the chair," Sweetie Belle replied. "We obviously can't see her coming."
"So, what did you make?" Rarity's voice rang ride beside the Crusaders, making them jump a few feet in the air.
"Close your eyes," Her sister ordered.
"You have my word." Rarity assured them.
The CMC each snagged one of the sheet's corners and draped it over Rarity. The fashionista's hidden facial expressions could not materialize through the Crusaders' creation but looking down through the eyeholes, she could not hold in her feelings.
"You girls made this?" Rarity twirled in her costume. "I love it! It's me again!"
"It'll work until Twilight finds the counter spell."
"She still hasn't come here yet," Rarity remarked. "I wonder what's taking her."
The doorbell then rang, Rarity's previous abuse of the button filling the entire boutique with haphazardly syncopated chiming once more.
"Reckon that's her now," Apple Bloom guessed, the clanging nearly absorbing her voice.
"Door's open!" Rarity shouted over the cacophony.
"Rarity, what happened to your doorbell?" She heard her teal pegasus friend creak the door open while the off-key tune gratefully stopped. "It sounds crazier than Applejack's cuckoo clock at noon."
"Oh, Dashie, darling!" She recognized her instantly. "Your new workout clothes are in the fitting room."
Rainbow Dash's first thought was to thank Rarity but she stopped suddenly when she saw her costume out of the corner of her eye for the first time.
"Sweetie and I are playing dress up," Rarity invented.
"You wanna play, too?" Scootaloo asked.
Rainbow Dash's reply was nothing more than a scream and a zoom around and out of the living room, leaving a spectral trail behind her. Rarity and the Crusaders gazed in awe for a second or two until they heard the lightning-quick customer literally crash her way out of the boutique. The four galloped to the fitting room on a moment's notice to find the gym clothes gone along with the Rainbow Dash-shaped telltale hole in the wall.
"At least she paid for the damage," Scootaloo noticed the bits laying on the floor.
"That's funny," Rarity shook her head. "What could have set her off?"
After Rarity served the CMC their dinner, they went out for a late stroll in the hour they had left before sundown. Rarity at least hoped she could find Rainbow Dash again to explain the misunderstanding but she observed other ponies giving her the same reactions her friend did. Townspoines hurriedly galloped inside the closest house they could find, some even diving through windows, while others leapt up trees or low roofs, clinging for their lives.
"What's with everypony?" Rarity asked herself. "I don't think it's that big a deal when Celestia brings the sun down."
"Hey, look!" Apple Bloom pointed at a farmpony unloading her wagon at Sugarcube Corner. "There's Applejack!"
Applejack stopped her work to wave her hat at the CMC who rushed off to meet her, not even bothering to glance at the shrouded Element of Generosity drawing near.
"Ya'll have a knack for great timin', sugar cubes," She complimented the fillies. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake were runnin' outta apples. This is the last bushel."
"Since when do they need this many apples?" Sweetie Belle gasped.
"Reckon it's fer Pound 'n' Pumpkin," Applejack guessed. "Plain ol' applesauce gets tirin' after a whiiIIEEEYAAH!"
The orange pony suddenly turned as pale as the horrible vision now facing her. Applejack squeezed her eyes shut and hit the dirt beneath her wagon, her teeth chattering faster than a court stenographer could type.
"What's the matter, darling?" Rarity asked, taken back by the jittery farmpony's behavior.
"G-get away!" Her frightened friend stammered, looking for something to defend herself with. "T-take all the ah-ah-apples ya want, j-just don't git me!"
Applejack finally gripped one of the fallen apples with her hoof and flung it square at one of the unicorn's eyeholes. Rarity flipped her hoof under the sheet to nurse her injury, thankful that she did not lose her horn or any of her sight but hoping her world would just stop spinning.
"What are you talking about?" Rarity growled on impulse. "I don't want any stupid apples!"
"Then it IS me yer after!" Applejack realized, backing up to the corner of the wagon, "Ah-Ah gotta git outta this town!"
With that, Applejack galloped away from Sugarcube Corner quicker than the swiftest earth pony could race the Belmont Stakes. The CMC ogled with their mouths agape until they could no longer see the farmpony anymore.
"What is WITH everypony today?" Rarity griped again. "Haven't they ever seen a unicorn lucky to be visible again?"
"But we did a great job on your disguise!" Sweetie Belle protested.
"I know you did, dears," Rarity praised them. "But I wonder --"
Rarity paused to glance at one of the windows at Sugarcube Corner and her sentence stopped short abruptly. Taking a long hard look at her reflection and what the CMC did to it, an ear-piercing shriek finally escaped from her lips and rang throughout Ponyville. The Crusaders caught her in mid-faint and gently laid her to rest, saving her from cracking her head open on the cobblestone ground.
"Guess we don't even have to check our flanks to see how well we did," Sweetie Belle sadly turned to face her two friends.
"That's the second time today," The CMC heard a familiar voice talking to herself. Sweetie Belle knew who it was without even turning to look.
"How's that counter spell coming?" She asked the approaching alicorn.
"Oh, hi Sweetie Belle!" Twilight waved to her. "Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, how've you been?"
"Fine," The other two Crusaders waved to her.
"Why is Rarity dressed up like a ghost?" Twilight asked, noticing her friend lying on the ground.
"Practicing for Nightmare Night?" Sweetie Belle laughed nervously.
"Get her out of that silly costume!" Twilight facehoofed, "That's not for another six months!"
"No wonder the townsponies kept runnin' away," Apple Bloom blushed and chuckled, helping her two friends uncover Rarity.
"I found the counter spell," Twilight proclaimed. "Help me bring Rarity back to the library before she wakes up."
"Ough," Rarity let out a labored groan. "What happened?"
"Great," An emerging purple figure spoke to her. "You're awake."
"That's a good way of putting it," Rarity weakly verbalized, fluffing the pillow on her friend's bed. "I thought I was dead for a moment."
"So did all the ponies in town," Twilight leered. "I had Spike and the fillies gather the others. They'll be over in a jiffy."
"We're heeee-eeere!" Pinkie Pie's voice rang inside the library, as if on cue.
"I'm in my bedroom," Twilight called down and waited but a moment for the rest of the Mane Six, the CMC and Spike to march inside.
"This is what you wanted to show us?" Rainbow Dash sneered. "Your bed?"
"Nope," Twilight flipped open her spell book. "Just what's in it."
"But th-there ain't n-nothin' ta see," Applejack's tone quivered.
"Just watch," Twilight marked her hoof on one of the pages. Closing her eyes, she chanted the spell out loud while the seven ponies and baby dragon watched her bed. Her horn and the bed glowed until she enunciated the last word of the spell. Everypony's mouths dropped to the roots of the tree when they witnessed a unicorn-shaped lump shaking underneath Twilight's blanket.
"Rare, come out from under my covers," Twilight sighed.
"Okay," Rarity whimpered, hesitating to removing the sheet. "But look at me! I'm an absolute wreck!"
The other ponies and dragon in the room stood in shock at the now visible Rarity and what had happened to her in the short time she had disappeared. A big black eye glared at them along with a couple of other bruises across her face and her mane looked like a horrific trip to the beauty salon. Two of the ponies, on the other hoof, shrieked with excitement, overjoyed at seeing their pal again.
"RARITY!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash pounced on the bed and served up a Rarity sandwich.
"CANTBREATHECANTBREATHE!" Rarity wheezed in agony, coming within a few inches of suffocating in their grasp.
"What happened to you!?" Fluttershy wanted to know.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash loosened their grips, allowing Rarity to speak freely.
"I wish I could have seen it all coming," She began. "When Twilight made me invisible, she found out by walking right into me. Then, Spike shoved a door in my fragile face."
"Twilight gives me demerits if I forget my manners," Spike blushed.
"You should have seen Rarity at Sugar Cube corner," Pinkie Pie giggled. "Haven't heard a burp that loud since Pound Cake drank all that milk last week."
"What about your mane?" Fluttershy inquired.
"I tried to work on some entries for my upcoming fashion show," Rarity went on. "But my sewing machine did a number on it."
"With your luck, your locks could start a new fashion trend," Rainbow Dash commented.
"And how'd ya get that shiner?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Remember?" Rarity replied. "Your sister threw that apple at me."
"I thought ya were a ghost, sugar cube!" Applejack defended her action. "Honest!"
"You got me pretty darned good, too, I'll admit," Rainbow Dash confessed. "I came close to doing a sonic rainboom when I crashed out of your boutique."
"I probably would have done the same thing," Rarity could not help but smirk.
"I saw right through it," Twilight claimed. "That dress you made me last month had those same ribbons."
"Please, darling," Rarity soughed. "The crusaders deserve the credit. They at least tried to help, too."
"Is that so?" Spike turned to the fillies.
"Yup," Sweetie Belle nodded. "We didn't plan on scaring the town, though."
"With the job we did," Scootaloo clarified. "She was a sight for sore eyes."
Twilight's bedroom immediately became consumed with nine ponies and one dragon laughing their tails off.
