Change Your Mind

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 4
Chapter 13

Chapter 1

The beginning of summer in Ponyville. A time when all young fillies waited excitedly for their summer vacation to begin. A time when they would all rush to the ones even more excited about the long, hot days – the ice cream vendors.

But there was one particular purple unicorn who wasn’t waiting for a summer vacation or wanting to be in line for ice cream. In fact, she barely noticed summer had started. The days didn’t seem that much longer to her than normal, although this was mainly because she was absorbed in study most of the time.

Today, as usual, she was intently reading a book placed on a lectern with three others on the floor beside her, two previously read earlier that day. Her purple eyes scanned the words while her brain absorbed the information, soaking it in like a sponge.

“Ooh, that looks fun...” she mumbled to herself, “Now this... hmmm... well, Rarity and I could use our magic to... and I’m sure Pinkie could help with that...”

A purple baby dragon stood on a ladder behind her holding a stack of books in one hand. He looked over his shoulder at her as he slid a blue bound book into place, keeping the titles in alphabetical order as requested.

He raised an eyebrow as she continued mumbling to herself, occasionally making a small exclamation followed by more unconscious talking. Balancing the books as he descended, the dragon cleared his throat. The unicorn paid no heed and, with her magic, turned the page of the book she was reading. Reaching the bottom of the ladder, the dragon cleared his throat again, louder. There was still no reaction. He rolled his eyes.

“Twilight!” he said.

Her ear flicked and she blinked rapidly, “Y–Yes, Spike?” she asked, turning to him.

“Good to know your hearing still works.”

She gave a small frown at the strange statement, “Did you want something?”

“What are you reading? You’ve been mumbling to yourself for hours.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” she said with chuckle, “’Hours’? I’ve only been reading these for...” she stopped when she looked at the clock.

“About four hours?” Spike finished for her.

“What? It’s two o’clock already?” she asked, genuinely surprised.

“Told ya.”

“Wow. I really lost track of time. I can’t even remember what day it is...”

“Wednesday.”

“Gosh, really?”

“Yeah. Now, uh... the books?”

“Oh. Right.”

Twilight used her magic to lift the book from the lectern and float in front of her, still open, allowing her to continue reading and letting Spike see the title.

The dragon looked over the cover. On a dark blue background decorated with illustrations of balloons, streamers and confetti was the title, printed in striking yellow text, “Properly Planning Perfect Pony Parties? Huh. Try saying that five times fast.”

“Uh-huh...” replied Twilight, distantly.

“You know, I’ve noticed a lot of books have that thing where every word starts with the same letter. What’s with that?”

“Oh, that’s just alliteration...” she said quickly, without even glancing at him.

“Ala... latra... what now?” asked the dragon, scratching his head.

There was no response. Spike noted that Twilight kept the book floating in the air as she read, likely not even aware she was doing it. Then a thought struck him.

“Wait, you’re throwing a party?”

“Hm? Oh, yes,” replied the unicorn, just realising what Spike had said, “I mean, why not? We all have the weekend free, so I thought it would be nice to get together.”

“Ha! You won’t beat Pinkie’s parties!”

“I know. That’s why I’m going to ask her to help. But I’m going to read up on everything, first, just to be sure it’s as good as I can get it,” she said, returning the book to the lectern.

“Oh... alright. So, do you need me to get anything for the party right now? Twilight?”

Seeing the unicorn was completely absorbed in her book again, Spike shook his head and raised his free hand in defeat, letting out a small sigh.

With her saddlebags on, Twilight walked into Sugarcube Corner, the tinkling bell alerting Mrs. Cake.

“Hello, Twilight!” she greeted, smiling, “How can I help you today?”

“Is Pinkie Pie here?” asked the purple unicorn, looking around the shop which only had one other customer, a blue earth pony, “I just need to ask her something quick. I won’t keep her long.”

“Well, she’s baking right now, but if you just want to ask her something, I guess it’s okay. She’s in the kitchen. Just a second.”

As Mrs. Cake went to the shop’s kitchen, Twilight scanned her eyes over the confections on display. She happened on a particularly large chocolate cake just as the kitchen door opened and a pony with a fluffy pink mane and a pale pink coat literally hopped out, followed by Mrs. Cake.

“Hi, Twilight!” she chirped joyfully.

“Pinkie! Hi! I just need to ask you something real quick. See, I’m planning a party this weekend an–”

“A party?”

Almost instantly, wearing a huge grin, Pinkie appeared right in front of Twilight, making the unicorn take a small step back.

“Oh, can I help? Huh? Can I? Can I? Can I?” she asked, jumping up and down.

“That’s actually what I came here to ask you,” explained Twilight, her eyes following the bouncing pony.

“Really? Great!” exclaimed Pinkie, ceasing her jumps. Then her face took on a thoughtful look and she put a hoof under her chin, “Hmm, okay, let’s see. First of all you’ll need—”

“Uh, Pinkie, maybe later today? Come to the library when you’ve got some time and we can discuss it there.”

“Oh, okay! Can I help with anything else?”

“Well, could I have two of those cupcakes?” asked Twilight, indicating a tray of cupcakes of all colours behind the front counter’s glass.

“Right away!” replied Pinkie and zipped off to collect them. She deposited them in a box and placed them on the counter, “Are these for the party? You’re going to need more, because that isn’t very much. Do you want any more? Unless you’ve got some back home, but just in case—”

“Pinkie, no, it’s fine,” said Twilight, knowing that the pink pony would talk non-stop all day if she let her, “These are just for me and Spike for today. I’ll come by later in the week for what we’ll need, alright?”

“Okie-dokie-lokie! So, that’s two bits for two cupcakes!”

Using her magic, Twilight produced two coins from one of her saddlebags and laid them on the counter while also sliding the cake box into the other bag.

“Thanks, Pinkie! See you later! Oh, and be sure you make it to the party – there’ll be a surprise,” Twilight added with a wink.

Pinkie gasped, “A surprise? What is it?”

“...It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?”

“Oh yeah, silly me! Well, bye, Twilight!” said Pinkie, waving.

After the door closed, Pinkie began jumping up and down again, “Whee! This party is going to be so much fun!”

“I’m sure it will,” said Mrs. Cake, noticing the other customer was giving the fluffy tailed pony a strange look and staying at the far end of the shop, “But I think you’d better get back to those cakes you were making.”

“Alright! I bet they’re almost ready now!” said Pinkie, and hopped back into the kitchen.

Crossing over the small bridge leading to Fluttershy’s front garden, Twilight smiled as she observed the colourful fish contentedly swimming in the sparkling river running near the timid pegasus’ home. The notes of songbirds filled the air and there was a pleasant scent in the wind. It was always so peaceful and relaxing here.

Several birds poked their heads out of the many birdhouses around Fluttershy’s home and watched the unicorn curiously as she cantered up the path. Twilight knocked on the door and a few moments later, the top half of the door opened, revealing a yellow pegasus with a light pink mane.

“Hello, Twilight,” she said in a soft voice, as was her nature.

“Hey, Fluttershy. I’m thinking of having a party on Saturday at around seven o’clock in the evening. Would you like to come?”

“A party? Um... h–how many other ponies will be there?” she asked, cautiously.

“Oh, don’t worry; it’ll just be the six of us. And Spike. Not to mention Pinkie will be helping me with it.”

Relief was clear on Fluttershy’s face, “Well, if it’s just us, then okay. I’m sure you and Pinkie will make it a really fun party.”

“You bet! Especially since I’ve got a surprise planned for it.”

The pegasus’ face fell a little at this, “...A surprise? What kind of surprise?”

“Well, it’s more of an announcement, really. But I want you to all be there for it.”

“Okay. I–I’ll be there.”

“Great! Oh, and if I don’t see her first, could you tell Rainbow Dash about this when you get the chance?”

Fluttershy nodded, “I will.”

“Thanks. See you later!” said Twilight and walked away.

“Coming!” said Rarity in a sing-song voice as she heard the familiar tinkle of the bell above her door. She appeared from behind a full clothing rack, wearing her orange glasses and had a measuring tape draped over her neck. Her expression brightened when she saw her friend, “Twilight! Darling! Wonderful to see you!” she said, her royal purple curls bouncing as she approached the other unicorn.

“What’s up, Rarity? I just wanted to know if you’d be interested in coming to a little party I’m holding at my place on the weekend?”

“A party? Certainly. Oh! Shall I make dresses for the occasion?”

“Thanks for the offer, but no. This is just a get-together. Besides, I’m sure you’ve got more important dresses to concentrate on.”

“Well... yes,” admitted the white unicorn, glancing behind her.

“Great! So, Saturday, seven o’clock?”

“Absolutely. Will Spikey-wikey be attending, too?”

“Yup. And he’ll be coming round in a few days to remind you all with an invitation that I’m sure Pinkie will insist on making.”

“Pinkie?”

“Uh-huh, she’s helping me out.”

“Then there’s no doubt I’ll be there!”

“Good to hear! Anyway, I’d better let you get back to what you were doing. See you!”

“Have a wonderful day! Thank you for dropping by!”

As she approached Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight could smell the growing crops, as well as some less pleasant farm odours.

An audible thunk from the expansive apple orchard gave the unicorn a clue where Applejack was. Or, if not, Big Macintosh; he would know where his sister would be.

Moving through the trees, stepping past large buckets filled with apples, and keeping an eye out for the orange pony, Twilight couldn’t help but admire how large the apples were. Their scent was everywhere, yet it wasn’t cloying.

A nearby grunt with an accompanying solid thunk confirmed where the hard-working pony was. There was the sound of apples falling into a bucket, then Applejack herself rounded a tree and spotted Twilight.

“Howdy, Twi. Sorry, but ah’m a mite busy. Is there summin’ you need?” asked Applejack, positioning herself in front of a tree.

“I just want to know if you can make it to a party on Saturday? Just you, me and the others. It’ll be at my place around seven o’clock. And I’ve got a surprise for you all.”

“A surprise, huh? Now you got me curious. Even if there weren’t gonna be a party, ah’d still turn up! Count me in!” she said and then looked back at the tree with a trained eye, judging its height and density, plus the number of apples on the branches.

“Great! Oh, one more thing.”

“Yuh-huh?” asked Applejack, lowering the leg she was about to buck with, looking mildly irritated at the interruption.

“I’ve asked Fluttershy already, but if you see Rainbow Dash, could you tell her about it, too?”

“Yeah, alright.”

“Thanks. I won’t keep you any longer. See you later!”

“Thanks for the invite,” replied Applejack and then turned her attention to the tree. After another quick assessment, she raised her right hind leg and launched a strong kick. The tree shook and every apple on the tree promptly fell into the buckets. Twilight was still amazed at her friend’s skill in that area. She knew where the best spot to kick was and exactly how much force she needed to have all the apples fall without causing any lasting damage to the tree.

Leaving Applejack to her job, Twilight decided to head back to the library, hoping to run into Rainbow Dash on the way rather than go around looking for her, as that pegasus could be anywhere. Besides, after seeing all those apples, she was starting to get hungry.

Twilight pushed open the door of the library, wondering where Rainbow Dash was. Her invitation was still covered though, since Fluttershy and Applejack would be the two ponies the rainbow pegasus would be the most likely to talk to. And Rarity and Pinkie Pie would probably mention it if they bumped into her. Especially Pinkie.

“Hey, Spike! I got you a—” Twilight stopped when she saw Rainbow Dash herself floating next to a bookshelf, “There you are, Rainbow!”

The pegasus raised an eyebrow at the statement, “Well... yeah, I am. You been looking for me?”

“Actually, yes,” replied the unicorn, hearing Spike plodding down the wooden stairs, “I’d like to know if you’d be interested in a small get-together party on Saturday?”

“Oh, would I ever!” replied Dash, flying down towards Twilight.

“I knew you would. Also, I’ve got a surprise ready for it.”

“A surprise?” asked Spike and Rainbow Dash in unison.

“Alright! I love surprises!” said the pegasus excitedly.

“It’ll sure be something,” said Twilight with a smile, “Now, you were hovering around that bookcase. Looking for something in particular?”

“Eh, kinda. You got any new Daring Do books? I only got two left.”

“Two?” asked Twilight in surprise, “Wow, you sure are blazing through them. I guess flying isn’t the only thing you’re fast at.”

“Heh. Who do ya think you’re talkin’ to? I’m fast at everything!”

“I... guess you are. But, ah... have a look around the Fiction Section of the library and ask me about something that you think might take your fancy.”

“Cool!” said Rainbow Dash. She got ready to take off, then paused and looked around, “Uh, where is the Fiction Section?”

“On the other side of the room,” replied Twilight, pointing with her horn towards several large bookcases, “You were looking in the Pony History Section.”

“Oh. Well, I guess that would explain why I could only find history books. Thanks,” said Dash and flew over the unicorn’s head.

“Twilight?” said Spike.

“Yes?”

“It sounded like you had something for me when you came in?”

“Oh,” she lifted the cupcakes out of her saddlebag, “Here you go. I figured since I was going to see Pinkie, I might as well get something.”

She looked up at the pegasus running her hoof along the book spines, reading the names printed.

“Sorry, Rainbow. If I’d known you were going to be coming round, I would have gotten one for you, too.”

Dash looked over her shoulder, “Ah, s’okay. I already ate, anyway,” she said with a shrug and turned back to the bookshelf. She pulled out a book and examined the cover art, “Hey, what’s this? Looks kinda like Daring Do, only... not her,” she peered at the title, “Indiana... Jo–?”

“Oh, that’s just a parody of Daring Do. It’s... alright, I guess.”

“Hmm. I’ll keep it in mind,” said Dash, returning it to the bookshelf, then carried on looking through the titles.

While she was doing that, Twilight continued studying her books on parties. She hoped her first hosted party would give her something to write about to Princess Celestia. If not, it would still be nice for she and her friends to have fun together.

With this knowledge, my party’s going to be great! she thought, grinning.

Chapter 2

It was Saturday evening, the night of the party. The day before, Spike had been out delivering the invitations Pinkie Pie had, as Twilight predicted, insisted on making.

“Just in case they forget!” said the pink pony in her bright, upbeat voice and giving Twilight her very own invitation.

“Okay, but something tells me I’m not going to forget,” said the unicorn, floating the hoofmade invitation in front of her. It was pink. Very pink. Balloons of various colours were drawn all over the place, and in the top-right corner, Pinkie had drawn a yellow smiling sun. In the centre, written in dark red, was the invitation message:

Dear Twilight Sparkle
You are invited to Twilight Sparkle’s party on Saturday
7:00 pm, Ponyville Library

At least I’m invited to my own party... she thought sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

During her lunch break, after Spike had delivered the invitations, Twilight had gone back to Sugarcube Corner to pick up snacks recommended by Pinkie and the books she had been studying.

With the food and drinks taken care of, and Pinkie having brought her party music, all that was left was to decorate the place. Twilight had asked the party pony to come round to help after the library was closed for the remainder of the weekend. Luckily, it shut early on Saturday, meaning Spike and the two ponies had an hour to get the place ready.

“Why don’t I just use my Party Cannon?” asked Pinkie, producing the sky blue artillery weapon from somewhere, “This’ll get everything ready in a jiffy!”

“I would say yes to that, but if I ever decide to host another party and you’re not available, I want to know how to do it myself.”

“Oh! Well, young Miss Sparkle, I hope your remember everything teacher tells you about preparing parties,” said Pinkie in what she considered a ‘teacher voice’.

Twilight giggled, “Yes, ma’am! I’ve got everything written down in my notebook,” she said, levitating the aforementioned pad.

“Very good work! You get a star!” said Pinkie and stuck a gold star on the page.

“Uh... thanks,” said Twilight.

Spike tied the final string around one of the stones they were using to secure the party balloons and turned to check Twilight’s progress. His eyes got wide when he saw that she had only gotten two tied and was fiddling around with a third balloon. The dragon approached Twilight, who was looking between the three balloons.

“Twilight, what are you doing?” he asked, “It’s been about ten minutes and that’s all you’ve done?”

“I’m just trying to get them all about the same height,” replied the unicorn, moving the stones around, and then magically untying and retying the strings.

Spike stared at her, “Wha... are you serious? It doesn’t matter if they’re not all the same height!”

She turned her head to him, “But doesn’t it look neater?”

The dragon slapped a palm to his forehead, “It’s a party, Twilight. Who cares about neatness? Did your books say anything about that?”

“Well... no...”

“And did Pinkie Pie?”

Twilight smiled and turned to fully face him, “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am,” replied Spike, crossing his arms.

She turned her attention from him to the pink pony who was at a table at one side of the room, working on something, “What’s Pinkie Pie doing, anyway?”

Spike followed her gaze, “I dunno. She was talking about making ‘paper chains’, or something.”

The two watched their pink friend diligently working on a string of coloured rings. She had her tongue poked out of one corner of her mouth and her expression was unusually focused. She almost looked like a completely different pony. Spike shrugged and walked off to tie the balloons Twilight hadn’t done yet.

The purple unicorn approached her friend, “Pinkie?”

Hearing her name, the fluffy tailed pony’s bright-eyed expression returned and her head snapped up, “Hi, Twilight!”

“What are you doing?”

“Making paper chains!” declared Pinkie with a big grin and proudly held up the fifth chain she was working on.

“Huh. So that’s what those things are called. How do you make them, anyway?”

“Oh, it’s easy; just take a piece of paper like this, then put glue on one end, then turn it over and put glue on the other end, then put the two together!” she said, demonstrating.

Twilight blinked. She had watched her friend doing it, but how she was able to grip and manipulate the paper with her hooves was beyond the unicorn’s comprehension.

“Okay, but how do you hold onto the two ends?”

Pinkie tilted her head and frowned, “Huh?”

“You know, so you can put them together?”

“What do you mean? I just do.”

Twilight put a hoof to the side of her head, “Oh, never mind,” she said in a defeated tone. Seeing Spike quickly tying the remaining balloons to stones, she floated her checklist over, unfurled it, and ticked off balloons in addition to food, drinks, invitations, and music. At the bottom, she added ‘paper chains’.

“Are you done making those?” she asked Pinkie.

“Uh-huh! Well, just finishing this last one. Do you want me to make any more? I’ve still got some paper left and I wouldn’t mind. It’s fun making them! Um, not as fun as a party, but still fun! And that’s what parties are all about! I can’t imagine a party that’s not fun. That would be weird. You know, speaking of weird, one time—”

“Pinkie! Thank you. I think we’ve got enough now.”

“Okay!”

After ticking off the paper chains, the unicorn went around the library hanging up the final decorations and double-checking everything. After that, she looked around and nodded.

“Alright, seems like everything’s in order,” said Twilight, curling up the checklist, “Thanks for the help, Pinkie!”

“Sure!”

“About five minutes to go. The others should be getting here pretty soon.”

Just when Twilight was saying the word ‘soon’, there was a knock on the door.

“That was soon!” said Pinkie as the unicorn crossed the room to the door. Upon opening it, a blue pegasus flew in.

“Am I... oh great, somepony got here before me,” said Rainbow Dash, an expression of disappointment on her face.

“Actually, Pinkie was here early to help me set everything up,” explained Twilight.

“So I’m the first guest?”

“Technically, yes.”

“Yeah!” exclaimed the pegasus, raising her hoof in the air.

Rainbow Dash landed then walked along the side of the food table, which was pushed against a wall, her mouth watering at the confections laid out, “Whoa, nice spread!”

“My thoughts, too,” said Twilight, “But we’re going to wait until everyone else is here.”

“Mmf, we are?” asked Spike, covering his mouth.

“Spike, did you eat something from the table?” asked Twilight,

Spike removed his hand from his mouth and laughed, “Nope!”

Twilight narrowed her eyes in mock annoyance and turned her head away, “I don’t think you should be allowed to have any cake for that,” she said, and then glanced at him, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

There was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it!” said Pinkie.

She opened the door to two ponies, Applejack and Fluttershy.

“Hiya!” greeted the pink pony.

“Hey there, Pinkie,” said Applejack, “We heard there was a party bein’ held here. Mind if we join?”

“Sure! Come on in!” said Pinkie, moving aside to let the two enter.

“Fluttershy! Applejack! Great of you to show up!” said Twilight, smiling.

“No problem, Twi,” replied Applejack, then waved back at Rainbow Dash who was in the air again.

Fluttershy cast her gaze around at the transformed library, “Wow! You and Pinkie did this?”

“Boy howdy! There ain’t even any music and ah feel like dancin’! Ah think we’re all in for some fun tonight!”

“Did you happen to—” Rainbow Dash started to say when there was a knock on the door.

“What’re you sayin’?” asked Applejack.

“I was just gonna ask if you saw Rarity on your way here, but, uh... I guess that’s her now.”

Twilight opened the door, and greeted the last of the guests, “Rarity! Good of you to come! You look great!”

“Why thank you, darling. You look rather good, yourself,” said the white unicorn. Twilight moved aside and Rarity walked in, hair shining, coat gleaming, and eyelashes large.

“So how long did you spend getting ready? An hour?” asked Rainbow jokingly.

“Certainly not!” replied Rarity, “An hour and a half is the adequate amount of time to make oneself look fabulous.”

“What? Oh, wow! I don’t know how other ponies can stand doing that for so long. All you need is a quick bath, run a comb through your hair a coupla times, and there ya go!”

“Well, some of us do care a little more about our appearance.”

“Oh, don’t start arguing, you guys,” said Twilight.

“We’re not arguing,” said Rainbow Dash, “We’re, uh... discussing.”

“I thought this was a party, not a discussion,” said Pinkie.

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get started, already!”

Without any further prompting, Pinkie zipped over to the gramophone and turned it on.

Twilight raised a hoof in the air, “The party has officially started!” she announced.

While Twilight, Rarity and Applejack went to the middle of the room to dance, and Spike to the food table to eat, Pinkie motioned for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to come closer. She leaned in and said something to them, then nodded towards two small plastic buckets, one red, one yellow. Rainbow Dash smiled and looked at Fluttershy, who seemed a little unsure.

“Um... would everypony be okay with it?” she asked, just barely audible over the music.

“It’s just some fun,” said Rainbow Dash, “It’s a party, after all.”

“...Well... okay,” replied the yellow pegasus, smiling a little.

The two pegasi picked up a bucket each with their hooves. Twilight, Applejack and Rarity stopped dancing and watched with some puzzlement as they flew up and hovered over the three ponies.

“Those buckets better not be full of water!” warned Rarity.

“Yeah, don’t even think about it!” chimed in Applejack.

“Now!” yelled Pinkie and ran in amongst the other three, head turned up expectantly, grinning.

Rainbow and Fluttershy upturned the buckets and spilled their contents. Rarity cried out and reflexively covered her hair with her foreleg, cowering. When no liquids drenched her, she opened one eye and slowly glanced upwards to see confetti floating down.

The buckets hadn’t been completely filled, but there was enough to give a good shower of colour.

“I love being under confetti showers!” said Pinkie, standing on her hind legs, “It’s so fun!”

“Yes, it... certainly is...” said Rarity, delicately brushing confetti flakes out of her hair, “Ha ha ha...”

Chapter 3

The friends danced, ate and talked until late into the night. Twilight let the last few notes of the music play, and then stopped the record.

“Okay, everypony! It’s time!”

“The surprise?” asked Rainbow Dash excitedly.

“Yep. Everyone grab a seat.”

“Finally!” exhaled the blue pegasus, smiling.

They all gathered around the purple unicorn in a semi-circle, waiting for her announcement.

“Alright. I’m quite excited to tell you about this. You see, I... have learned a new spell!”

Rainbow’s expression went from a wide smile, to a questioning smile, “Is... is that it?” she asked.

“Well, Rainbow Dash, it’s not exactly easy to learn a new spell,” said Rarity, sitting on a soft red cushion, “Although... I sort of have to agree. Was this announcement necessary?”

“Um, okay, not really,” admitted Twilight, “But I wanted you all here to see it in action. You see, it took me about four days of constant study to learn it.”

The white unicorn sat up in amazement, “Four days? What sort of spell is it?”

“It... let’s say it changes your mind about something.”

“Oh, I see,” said Rarity, knowingly, and put a hoof to her chin, “A mind-altering spell. Those are rather difficult to learn. But Twilight, I’m surprised you would learn something like that.”

The purple unicorn shook her head, “Don’t worry. There are layers of protection so it can’t be misused. First of all—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down,” said Spike, waving both hands, “It changes your mind?”

“Exactly,” agreed Rainbow Dash, “What’s that mean? I think I’ve got an idea, but...”

“There's one way to find out. Would you like to give it a try, Rainbow?” asked Twilight.

“Uh... yeah, sure. I’m always up for something new.”

“Alright. Hmmm... what could... ah! Rainbow Dash, you’d like to join the Wonderbolts, right?”

The pegasus’ eyes lit up, “Like? You mean love!”

“We’ll see,” said Twilight, smiling mischievously, “Now, just hold that thought in your head.”

Rainbow nodded, “No problem there,” she said with a grin.

“Right. I need everyone to be quiet. Not a sound,” said Twilight and looked around. Once she was sure those gathered would be silent, she turned her attention back to the blue pegasus, “Okay, you ready?”

“I guess,” said Rainbow.

Twilight’s horn glowed and she pointed it at the pegasus, who was feeling a mixture of excitement and apprehension. A beam of magic shot from the unicorn’s horn and a purple aura surrounded Rainbow Dash’s head. The pegasus’ eyes lost focus, then the aura and beam disappeared. Rainbow blinked rapidly and looked at the unicorn expectantly.

“You okay?” asked Twilight.

“Yeah. But I don’t feel any different. Nothing happened,” she said, a note of disappointment in her voice.

“Oh, didn’t it?” asked Twilight, “How do you feel about joining the Wonderbolts?”

“You already asked me that. But, uh, I dunno. Not really my scene, anymore.”

All the pony’s jaws dropped. Even Twilight was shocked at hearing those words come from Rainbow Dash, despite fully expecting it.

“You mean... you don’t wanna join the Wonderbolts no more?” asked Applejack, finding it hard to believe she was actually saying those words to the rainbow pony.

“Um... nah. Used to. Dunno why,” replied Rainbow with a shrug.

“But... but... that’s been like your life’s ambition!” said Pinkie Pie.

“You work towards it every day,” added Fluttershy.

“Not anymore. I mean, the Wonderbolts are cool and all, but join them? No way.”

“Oh my goodness,” said Rarity, “Twilight, it worked!”

“No it didn’t,” said Rainbow, “I just decided that’s not what I want anymore.”

Twilight let out a small laugh, “I think we should get your opinion on joining the Wonderbolts back to normal. This is kind of weirding us out,” she said, “Now, could everypony be quiet again? Rainbow, I’m going to use the spell, okay?”

“Okay, but I’m tellin’ ya, it didn’t work.”

“Now, like before, think about joining the Wonderbolts. Or rather, your lack of interest.”

Twilight’s horn glowed again and she cast the spell. The aura surrounded Rainbow Dash’s head and her eyes unfocused. When the casting was over, she shook her head and blinked her eyes.

“So...” said Applejack, “You remember what you just said?”

“...Yeah, I...” a look of shock came over Rainbow’s face, “I said I... didn’t want to join the Wonderbolts?”

The others nodded.

“Oh no! No, no, no, no! Don’t tell them I said that!” she cried. The panicking pegasus turned to Applejack and grabbed her shoulders, “Promise me you guys won’t ever tell them!”

“Calm down, sugarcube,” said Applejack, gently prying Rainbow’s hooves off and giving her a gentle smile, “You know we’d never do that. Besides, it’s not like we get to talk to the Wonderbolts all the time. You didn’t mean it, anyway.”

“Actually, at the time, she meant every word,” said Twilight.

“Wow! The spell’s that effective? Cool!” said Spike.

“Not cool!” retorted the pegasus, “Wh–What if they were listening in?”

“Rainbow, somehow, ah sincerely doubt celebrities are spyin’ on our party,” said Applejack.

“Right. Yeah. Okay,” said Rainbow, nodding, “I guess it did work.”

“Twilight, I’m a little worried about this spell,” said Rarity, “Couldn’t it be used for personal gain? I’m not suggesting you would, of course, but do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I do. However, before I started studying it, I checked through all the components, and thankfully, there are some safeguards. First of all, I told Rainbow Dash I would be using the spell on her. That’s one of the safeguards; the pony being affected must know they’ll be the target. Secondly, the caster and the target must know what opinion or idea will be changed.”

“And ah’m guessing silence is the third safeguard?” asked Applejack.

“Actually, I wanted quiet because I needed to concentrate. It’s pretty tricky to pull off. No, the third safeguard is that the pony must be in agreement with the spell.”

“Oh, okay. Now, excuse me fer askin’, but what practical use does this have?”

“That’s something I thought of before I started learning the spell,” the unicorn turned to the yellow pegasus, “Fluttershy, is it alright if I used you in an example?”

“A–Are you going to use the spell on me?” asked the yellow pegasus nervously, blushing at the sight of everyone’s eyes on her.

“No, no, just in a hypothetical situation.”

“Um... okay...”

“Thanks. Alright, say I found a confidence building class for Fluttershy, and she was too nervous to attend, but I know it would be guaranteed to improve her confidence. With your permission, Fluttershy, I would cast the spell and you would be fine with going.”

“I know it’s just an example,” said Fluttershy, “But... if something like that existed, you wouldn’t need to use the spell on me.”

Twilight smiled, “I’m glad to hear that.”

“So, if I were to learn this,” said Rarity, “And Sweetie Belle had to go to the dentist, which she hates doing, I could essentially have her go along with it, no questions asked?”

“Exactly. As long as she agreed to the spell, that is.”

“Ooh, the dentist,” said Pinkie Pie, shuddering, “I hate going there, too.”

“Your teeth must be a nightmare,” commented the white unicorn, watching the pink pony biting into another slice of chocolate cake.

Pinkie swallowed her morsel, “Why?” she asked.

“Oh, just a feeling I get.”

“Really? Is that like Pinkie Sense? Only I guess it would be called ‘Rarity Sense’. What happens? Do you get a twitchy tail like me when something’s going to fall? Or is there a combo? What kind of combo do you get? You know, if you get them.”

“The only ‘sense’ I have, Pinkie, is ‘Fashion Sense’. And there are no ‘combos’ or twitchy tails to tell me. My eyes are all I need.”

“What do they do?”

Rarity just rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Ooh! What does that mean?” asked the pink pony, leaning closer.

The unicorn glared at Pinkie and opened her mouth to say something, found she had nothing to respond with, then closed it again.

Twilight clapped her hooves together, “Alright, everypony, I want to try one more thing out. Let’s see if I can affect all of you at once.”

“All of us at the same time?” asked Fluttershy, “Can you really do that?”

“Let’s find out,” replied the purple unicorn, smiling.

“Count me in!” said Pinkie.

“Sounds interesting. I’ll take part,” said Rarity.

“Again? Ah, what the hay, let’s do it!” said Rainbow Dash.

“Ah’m up for it!” said Applejack.

“...I don’t know... um... okay...” mumbled Fluttershy.

“Great! Okay, everyone take a moment to think. When you’re ready, tell me,” said Twilight, “Remember, it’s only going to be temporary. Oh, and Spike, do you want to join?”

“Nah, I’ll just watch,” replied the dragon, and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb, “I’m gonna sit by the table and, uh... make sure the food doesn’t get, y’know... stolen.”

“Good idea, Spike,” said Pinkie, “‘cause I was thinking of having two more slices of chocolate cake when we were finished here,” then she gasped as she got an idea, “Hey! That’s what you should change my mind about! Cake!”

“Save some for us!” said Rainbow, “Twilight, don’t change hers back.”

All the ponies took a few minutes to think, then told the purple unicorn their ideas.

“If there’s one thing I don’t ever want to do, it’s dye my beautiful hair green... so I suppose that’ll do for mine,” said Rarity, then narrowed her eyes, “And this had better only be temporary!”

“Me? Ah always like wearin’ mah good ol’ hat. Just try and make me take it off fer good!” said Applejack, smiling, and pulled the brim of her hat down.

“Daring Do’s awesome! I dare ya to make me think she’s not!” said Rainbow Dash, then added in a low voice to Applejack, “At least there’s no chance of her overhearing me,” to which Applejack gave her a strange frown.

All eyes were on Fluttershy.

“Well, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight, “What about you?”

“Um... I don’t know. I–I can’t think of anything...” said the pegasus, not making eye contact with any of the other ponies.

“It can be pretty much anything. No matter how small or silly it is.”

“Exactly,” said Applejack, “Like me an’ mah hat.”

“I... I know, but... there’s lots of things I’ve thought of, and... it’ll only be for a short time, so...” Fluttershy’s voice trailed off and she pushed a hoof back and forth.

“Say,” piped up Rainbow, “How about something permanent for Fluttershy?” she asked Twilight.

“If it works out, then yes,” agreed the unicorn.

“What about dragons? We could cure your fear of them by making you not think they’re scary anymore.”

“...Wouldn’t that be dangerous?” asked Fluttershy, looking at Rainbow Dash with worried eyes, “What if... what if I decide to just walk up to a dragon because I didn’t think they were scary?”

“No, no, you’d still know they were dangerous. You just wouldn’t be scared of them. It wouldn’t make you stupid. Right, Twilight?”

The purple unicorn thought about it for a moment, “Theoretically, it could help you. I don’t know if the fear would resurface if you were actually faced with a dragon, since it’s a deep-rooted phobia... but it’s worth a shot.”

“...If it might help, then... I’ll do it,” said Fluttershy, nodding.

“Great! Now, does everypony remember the rules for the spell? You all know I’m going to attempt to cast it on all of you at the same time, right? And you know your respective opinions, correct? And I trust you’re all in agreement? Okay!”

“And we need quiet,” added Rarity.

Twilight chuckled, “Yes, and that.”

The unicorn took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, recalling what each of her friends had told her. Channelling her magic, she began the first phase of the spell and her horn glowed. The five ponies gathered around her watched, keeping their thoughts focused. She opened her eyes and took a quick glance at her friends.

Spike, sitting at the table with a soft drink, watched the spectacle. He was so mesmerised by the beautiful glowing light of the spell that he didn’t notice the hand holding the glass cup loosening its grip until it fell from his grasp.

Gritting his teeth, he made a desperate, futile grab for it. Just as the beams of magical energy from Twilight’s horn made contact with the other ponies, the glass smashed. Twilight and the others yelled out in shock. The magic emanating from Twilight’s horn made an unhealthy wavering sound and a purple glow surrounded the heads of all the ponies. Then suddenly, it stopped. All the ponies slumped over, groaning and put their hooves to their heads.

“Is everypony okay?” asked Twilight.

“I think so,” said Rainbow Dash with a moan.

“Ohhh, my head feels light as a balloon...” groaned Pinkie. Then she gasped, “Oh no! What happened? Did my head turn into a balloon?” she cried, feeling the shape of her head.

“Your head ain’t a balloon,” Applejack told her, “But mine feels the same.”

Twilight looked over at the broken glass and spilled liquid, then at the purple dragon sitting at the table, his face a mask of worry and fear.

“Spiiike!”

Nothing made Spike’s blood turn cold quicker than Twilight drawing out his name in a steadily rising tone.

“Come. Here.”

Slowly, he got off his seat and walked towards the purple unicorn, teeth clenched. He looked around at the ponies as he stepped between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. They all had dazed expressions and unfocused eyes.

This is my fault, he thought, I should’ve been more careful...

He stood before Twilight, shoulders hunched.

“Twilight, I... I’m really sorry.”

The unicorn shook her head vigorously, trying to clear it. She blinked rapidly then set her stern gaze on the dragon.

“Spike...” she said and sighed heavily, “You’re lucky nopony got hurt. At least as far as we know.”

“Twilight—” began Spike.

“Quiet!” said Twilight. The dragon instantly stopped speaking. She took another look around at her friends, “Alright, does, uh... does everyone remember what they wanted me to... uh...” she put a hoof to her head, “...To change their minds about?”

“Uh... yes,” said Rarity, “I don’t feel like dyeing my hair green. Thankfully.”

“And I still find dragons scary,” said Fluttershy.

“And, um... I don’t want any more cake,” said Pinkie and put a hoof over her stomach, “But then, that’s my tummy talking...”

“Okay,” said Twilight, “Apparently, the spell didn’t work. I don’t know what’s happened. Hopefully, everyone will be fine by tomorrow. And Spike?”

The dragon raised his eyes from the floor to meet Twilight’s unsteady, wavering gaze.

“You really need to be more careful. We don’t know what could have happened.”

“I know. I’m sorry...”

Twilight turned her head away.

“Does everypony feel well enough to get home?” she asked.

“Ah don’t think ah could make it all the way back,” said Applejack, then groaned, “Ah really hope this goes away soon.”

“There’s no way I can fly with my head all funny,” said Rainbow.

“Everyone else?” asked Twilight.

They shook their heads.

“Listen, I’ve got the space, so you can all stay overnight, if you want.”

“I think that would be a good idea,” said Rarity with a nod.

“Oh... I could go to sleep right now.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Rainbow.

“Okay. Come on, everypony. I should have a spare blanket or two. A couple of you might have to sleep on the floor. Sorry about that.”

“Ah’ve had to sleep on some hard ground before. No problem,” said Applejack.

“I prefer clouds, but I think I can handle a floor,” added Rainbow Dash, “I mean, tree branches aren’t the softest things in the world, but you’ve seen me sleep on them sometimes.”

“Oh yeah. Sometimes.”

“In the meantime,” said Twilight, “Spike? You can clean up.”

Spike looked around at the food and confetti pieces, “What? By myself?” he asked, but then saw the unicorn’s expression, “Right! I–I’ll get on it!”

“Come on, girls,” said Twilight, walking into the bedroom.

Rarity leaned closer to the dragon, “It’s okay, Spike. We know you didn’t mean it,” she said in a low voice.

“Rarity, leave him to it.”

The white unicorn turned at the sound of Twilight’s voice. She faced Spike again and gave him a sympathetic smile, then turned and left.

Once Rarity was in the room, Twilight looked out at the dragon and watched as he got a brush to clear away the confetti. She let out a small sigh and closed the door.

“Twilight, I really don’t think it’s necessary to make him do that,” said Rarity, “You can tell he feels bad about it.”

“Believe me, I don’t like punishing him, but he has to learn. What happened tonight was... it... I don’t know what. My head’s too cloudy to think,” she said, then took a deep breath, “Listen, Rainbow, Applejack, the, uh, the blankets are in that closet there.”

Twilight used her magic on the closet door, intending to open it gently, but instead, the door swung open forcefully. Applejack, who was walking towards the door, took a quick step back as it slammed open.

“Whoa, Nelly!”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to do that! Shoot! My head’s buzzing so much, I can’t even concentrate to open a door properly.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Applejack, “Me an’ Rainbow’ll get those quilts.”

The ponies grabbed two duvets and two pillows and then laid one of the duvets on the floor in lieu of a mattress. They lay on it and pulled the second blanket over themselves.

“This ain’t too bad,” said Applejack.

Rainbow nodded in agreement.

“There’s only two beds, so I guess the rest of us will have to double up,” said Twilight.

Rarity climbed into the guest bed and closed her eyes momentarily to give herself a respite from her increasingly blurry vision. She opened her eyes and jumped when she saw Pinkie Pie lying next to her.

“Hi!” said the earth pony.

“When did you...?” started Rarity, then rolled onto her other side, “Just as long as you don’t plan on talking the whole night.”

Fluttershy clambered in next to the purple unicorn.

“Twilight, do you think everything will be alright tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. With any luck, it should be.”

The unicorn closed her eyes and tried to sleep. From the other side of the door, she could faintly hear Spike moving around, cleaning up.

Sorry, Spike, but it’s necessary... she thought.

While she still felt angry at him, she also felt remorseful. The few times she had to set a punishment, she always felt horrible, but Spike learned quickly, and whatever he was punished for, he never did again. She knew that tomorrow morning, they would make up. He would apologise, she would tell him he was forgiven, and after a hug, everything would be fine again. This brought a smile to her lips.

Thoughts flew through Twilight’s mind uncontrollably, but she did her best to ignore them. Despite the noise in her head, the unicorn was eventually able to sleep. As she slept, an odd dream formed in her mind. It was indistinct, but a yellow pegasus seemed to be the most prevalent thing in it. She and the pegasus had an incoherent conversation – something about flying and dragons – then the thoughts in her head took over, growing in volume, throwing images at her, then all at once, became silent. All was quiet and peaceful.

That is, until she was awoken by somepony screaming.

Chapter 5

“No time like the present. Let’s get started,” said Twilight.

Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded and followed the pegasus to a lectern, ready to begin learning about magic.

“We’ll start off simple,” said Twilight, “Lifting objects is one of the easiest things you can do. Books,” she pointed to a red bound novel on the lectern, “are what you’ll be practicing on. But before you can do that, you need to know how to summon your magic.”

“Question!” said Pinkie, raising a hoof, “Instead of lifting books, can’t we just start with that mind-spell thingy?”

“Oh no, no, no! That’s far too complex for now. That would be like... say... like an amateur baker trying to make a scale model of Ponyville from cakes.”

“Oh, I get it. Okay!”

“With magic, like anything, you need to start off simple, then move on to bigger things. But as I said, you need to know how to summon your magic before you can do anything else.”

“Is that difficult?” asked Fluttershy.

The pegasus shook her head, “It shouldn’t be. Let’s try. Now, what I want you to do is concentrate and search inside yourself. To the core of your being.”

“How do we do that?” asked Pinkie, cocking her head.

Twilight put a hoof to her chest, “You should sense something inside you. You’ll know it when you feel it.”

“Okay. I’ll try,” said Fluttershy and closed her eyes. Pinkie followed suit.

It only took a few seconds for both unicorns to find the powerful energy inside their bodies. The two gave small gasps and opened their eyes.

“Is that magic?” the purple unicorn whispered in awe.

“How does it feel?” asked Twilight, intrigued by her friends’ amazement at something she took for granted every day.

“It’s... it’s...” stammered Pinkie, racking her brains. She found herself struggling for words; something which didn’t happen very often, “Wow, I don’t know! I’ve never felt anything like this before!”

“It’s like it’s there... but also like it’s... not there,” said Fluttershy with a frown, unsure of what she was saying.

“But it feels right. A part of me.”

“That’s because it is,” said Twilight, “Both of you are correct. Your magic is there, but only unicorns and other magical beings can sense it. In fact, pegasi and even earth ponies have a tiny bit of magic inside them, they just can’t use it.”

“So how do we use it?” asked Pinkie.

“Now that you know how to find it, using it is all a matter of simply willing it to do what you want. Although, for more complex spells, you’ll have to concentrate to keep it in line. I won’t lie — magic can be very volatile if not used properly.”

The two unicorns exchanged anxious glances.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you two can manage it. But let’s see how you do with simple levitation. Who wants to try first?”

“Oh, you go ahead, Pinkie,” mumbled Fluttershy.

“You sure?” asked the white unicorn.

The other unicorn nodded.

“‘Kay.”

Pinkie cantered forward and awaited Twilight’s instructions.

“Thanks, Pinkie,” said the pegasus pony, “Now, find your magic and will it to your horn.”

The white unicorn looked back at her friends worriedly.

“What if I cast something by accident?” she asked Twilight.

“It won’t do anything unless you tell it to. Your horn can store the magic indefinitely until you dispel it.”

Pinkie took a deep breath, “Okay. Here goes.”

The unicorn searched inside for her magic again and found it easily. With a thought, she willed the magic to her horn like Twilight told her. She felt a strange sensation as the mystical energy passed through her body and flowed to her horn.

“Yes, you did it!” said Twilight, smiling.

Still wary, Pinkie looked up to check her horn and found it to be glowing a light azure colour.

“...So, it’s gonna stay there?” she asked, barely moving.

“Yes, Pinkie. Now relax; you won’t accidentally cast a spell. Besides, you need to study them, first.”

The white unicorn eased her tense muscles.

“Shall we get you started?” asked Twilight.

“Sure.”

“Good. What I want you to do is focus on the book. Next, have your magic surround it in the same way you brought it to your horn.”

Pinkie peered at the book and reached out with her magic. The novel was surrounded by a blue glow, ready to be manipulated.

“Great!” said Twilight, “Now you just tell it where to go and what to do with your mind. Try lifting it up a little and slowly bringing it towards you.”

The unicorn thought of the book lifting from its position and smiled when it happened before her eyes. Encouraged by this, she made it float towards her. Unfortunately, it was moving a little too fast, but she managed to stop the bestseller before it hit her in the face, taking a reflexive step back at the same time.

“Try to be careful,” said Rarity, “That is my body, after all. I’d like it back in one piece.”

“Oopsie. Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” said Twilight, “You did good for a first try. Now put it back.”

The book floated — slowly, this time — back to where it was originally on the lectern.

“Fluttershy. Your turn.”

With a nervous gulp, the purple unicorn stepped forward. She closed her eyes and brought her magic forth, making her horn glow.

Like a teacher instructing a student, Twilight took Fluttershy through the same steps as she did with Pinkie, the quiet pony showing around the same level of skill as her louder friend.

“Okay, good,” said Twilight, “Practice that a few times until you become comfortable with it and can move things exactly where you want.”

“In the meantime,” said Applejack with a sigh, “Ah gotta get mah keester over to Cloudsdale. Ya mind directin’ me where ah should go, Rainbow?”

“Yeah, no problem,” replied the earth pony, “I know Cloudsdale so well, I could fly around there with my eyes closed,” she claimed. Then a thoughtful look appeared on her face, “Hmmm... maybe I should try that when I get my wings back...?”

“While you’re decidin’, how about we get a move on?”

“Alright, hold your horses. We got plenty of time,” replied Rainbow, walking out the door with Applejack following, “Bye, you guys!”

“See you later!” Pinkie called after them, waving energetically until the door closed.

“Okay, let’s continue,” said Twilight, placing another book on a separate lectern, “I want you two to practice with these books. Make them float, rotate them, open them up, do everything you can.”

“How long should we do that?” asked Pinkie.

“Basically, until it feels natural.”

“Will that take long?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of a situation like this before. Hopefully, since you’re in a unicorn body, it won’t take too long.”

“In the meantime, what should we do?” asked Rarity, who had stayed out of the lesson Twilight was giving, as the pegasus seemed to have everything covered.

“I guess I’ll practice flying some more. I’m still a little wobbly.”

“Hmmm. Myself, I’m slightly rusty when it comes to baking cakes, so I suppose I could do that. Do you have any cooking books?”

Putting a yellow hoof to her chin, Twilight thought for a moment, “I...ah! Yes, I do. You see over there?” she indicated to a bookcase nearby, “If I remember correctly, that’ll have a few things to help you out.”

“Thank you. Would it be alright if I used your kitchen? I can pay you back for anything I use.”

“...I don’t know if I’ll have everything you need, but sure.”

“I’ll work on something small, just to get into the swing of things. Once I get to Sugarcube Corner, I should be able to squeeze in some more practice there. Are you expected back at any particular time, Pinkie?” she asked, sliding a cookery book out.

The white unicorn, who was focused on using her magic, turned towards Rarity, “What’d you say?”

However, this shift in concentration caused the book she was using to careen towards the earth pony. Rarity cried out and ducked, covering her head with her hooves. The novel sailed overhead and thwacked against a wall and then fell to the ground with a soft thump.

“Rarity, are you okay?” asked Spike.

“Pinkie! Be careful!” scolded the earth pony, standing up.

“Sorry. I’m still new to this,” apologised the unicorn.

Rarity took a deep breath to calm herself, “Be mindful of what you’re concentrating on when you’re holding something.”

Twilight nodded, ”I should have mentioned that”, she said with an apologetic expression, “Your attention was suddenly on Rarity, so the book was thrown in her direction. Remember to keep what your holding in mind and don’t focus on something else entirely.”

“Okay,” said Pinkie, “Sorry, Rarity.”

The pink pony shook her head, “It’s fine. Just... be more careful, please. Now, I asked you if you had to be back at Sugarcube Corner any particular time?”

“Ummm... no. Some time before night, I guess.”

“Alright, I’ll stay until around lunch, then I’ll make my way over.”

“Be quiet when you go in. Pound and Pumpkin usually have their nap around then.”

“I’ll remember that. By the way, you had better not stay here too long, either. Maybe another hour or so. I want you to go to Carousel Boutique. You see, Sweetie Belle has been left in my care for a while because she is having her room redecorated. So I want you to make sure she’s okay and has finished her homework. Not to mention you should at least attempt to make some dresses.”

“I gotta learn magic and dress making?”

“We’ll all have to learn new skills and adjust our way of life for a while,” said Twilight, and lifted off with her wings, veering to her left a little, then came to a wobbly hover, “I’m afraid there’s no way around it.”

Pinkie lowered her head and nodded. She picked up the book she had accidentally thrown earlier with her magic and slowly floated it towards her. Rarity waited for a moment to make sure her friend didn’t launch the book through the air again and then walked into the kitchen.

A while later, the four ponies, along with Spike, sat in the library’s large main room around a table on which a plate was seated, holding some cakes Rarity had baked. They were small and roughly cylindrical with a topping of whipped cream.

“Sorry they’re so plain,” said Rarity, “but I didn’t have too much to work with.”

“I’ve not exactly got a fully-stocked kitchen, I know,” said Twilight.

“I wasn’t expecting to be able to make anything fancy, anyway. And I will reimburse you, I promise. But in the meantime, could you all please taste these and tell me how I did?”

“I think I’ll just use my hooves to pick this up,” said Pinkie as she reached out and took a cake, “We don’t need these flying around.”

“Oh, and, could you be honest?”

Rarity tapped the tips of her front hooves together as she waited for her friends’ verdicts.

“Well?” she asked.

“Um... one of the best cakes I’ve ever tasted,” said Fluttershy.

“I said be honest.”

The unicorn averted her eyes, “I... I was...”

“Please.”

“Honestly?” said Twilight, “Not that bad.”

“Yeah, that tasted great, Rarity!” said Spike.

The pink pony raised an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, okay,” he said, “It didn’t taste great, but it didn’t taste bad, either.”

“I suppose I’ll take that as a compliment. Pinkie, what did you think?”

“Eh... s’okay. Try stirring the mixture for a little longer. Makes the cake not fall apart so much in your mouth so you can enjoy eating it.”

“Yeah, it did kind of... disintegrate, for lack of a better word,” said Twilight.

“I see. I’ll keep that in mind,” said Rarity, putting a hoof to her chin, “Anyway Pinkie, I think it’s about time you got going.”

“Already?” asked Pinkie, blinking in surprise.

The earth pony nodded, “It’s been about an hour, yes. Please check on Sweetie Belle.”

“Alright, don’t you worry! She’s safe with me! I’ll take care of her like she was my own sister. And I guess she is, now. Only she’s not. But she kind of is. But she isn’t. Actually, I’d say it’s more—”

“Pinkie!”

“Oh! Sorry!” said the unicorn, smiling apologetically.

“One thing before you go.”

“Uh-huh?”

“Try to remember to act like me. So no hopping around and cramming your face with cupcakes and wearing a silly grin all the time.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll remember,” said Pinkie, then turned to leave. She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder, “Twilight, should I try to open the door with my magic or not?”

“That depends. How well do you think you’ve managed with the book?” asked the pegasus while lowering herself to the ground.

“I think I’ve got the hang of it. Hee, I made it fly around like Rainbow Dash earlier, remember?”

“Yes, and knocked a whole shelf of books off at the same time.”

“Yeah, that was an accident.”

“I know, but just remember: magic is not a toy. Anyway, go ahead and try it. Be gentle.”

Pinkie summoned her magic and focused on the door, making it glow. Biting her lower lip in concentration, the white unicorn slowly swung the door open, then dispelled her magic.

She turned to her friends and flamboyantly raised a hoof in the air, “I bid you goodbye, dears. I must go and be fabulous, now!” she said, and with that, magically closed the door, although a little too hard.

Rarity shook her head at the unicorn’s act, “I suppose that was passable,” she said to the pegasus, who wasn’t trying to hide her grin.

At lunchtime, Rarity closed the cookery book she was leafing through — Tasty Techniques — and rubbed her eyes.

“I should be setting off,” she said, “Would you mind if I borrowed this, Twilight? I’m learning quite a bit from it.”

The pegasus turned her attention from Fluttershy, who was attempting to stop a book from spinning around in mid-air, “Sure, no problem. I think Pinkie left her saddlebags in here somewhere...”she said, looking around, “Spike? Did you see them?”

“Oh, yeah. I put them over here when I was cleaning up last night”, replied the dragon, crossing the room and picking up the white bags with their balloon-shaped buckles. He grunted as he hefted the bags, “What’s she got in here, anyway?”

“Probably some stuff for the party that we didn’t use,” said Twilight with a shrug, then turned back to Fluttershy, who had managed to stop the book from spinning, but now had it open upside-down.

Spike heavily set the bags down next to Rarity. The earth pony took the book in her mouth, but the dragon lightly put his hands on it, “Let me get that for you, Rarity.”

The pony let him take it, “Thank you, Spike,” she said, smiling.

He returned the smile and opened one of the satchels. He stumbled back when, to everyone’s surprise, three balloons, fully inflated, floated out. Spike looked inside the bag, “How did she fit them in there?”

He shrugged and slid the book into the empty pouch. Rarity ducked her head and slipped on the saddlebags.

“A little heavy, but... I can manage,” said Rarity, “Alright, then. I’ll see you three later. Good luck with your studies, Fluttershy. Remember to move at your own pace. Don’t try to advance too quickly. That could end badly.”

“Exactly right,” said Twilight, “Don’t worry about moving along slowly. Just stick with it, and you’ll get it,” the pegasus then looked over to Rarity, “Well, see you later. Have fun!”

“I’ll try. Adieu.”

Fluttershy and Spike bid her farewell and the pink pony left.

“I hope we can get everypony back to who they are soon,” said Spike, half to himself, “I like Pinkie and everything, but I’m not looking forward to hearing her — or her voice, at least — calling me ‘Spikey-wikey’.”

“It’ll take as long as it takes, and that’s it,” said Twilight, slightly worried that Spike’s off-hand comment had made Fluttershy feel pressured, “Besides, I think you can handle Rarity talking in Pinkie Pie’s voice for a while.”

“I guess...”

“So, ready to continue, Fluttershy?”

The unicorn sighed, “Okay.”

“What’s wrong?”

“...Oh, i–it’s nothing.”

“Come on, what is it?”

Fluttershy’s ears flattened, “No, it’s nothing,” she said, averting her eyes.

Twilight fixed her with a look, “Magic needs your full attention. You don’t want to have something else weighing on your mind, especially if you’re just starting out.”

“Sorry. I’m... I’m just a little tired.”

The pegasus smiled, “Is that all? Yeah, I suppose it’s time for a break.”

Fluttershy’s eyes wandered over to a window and she gazed out at the azure sky.

“I hope Applejack is doing okay,” she said.

“You know Applejack. She’ll do fine.”

“You’re right,” said Fluttershy. Then the image of Angel entered her head, “Listen, um, Twilight?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Well, uh, shouldn’t you be at my cottage taking care of the animals?”

The pegasus blinked, “I should. But... your studies...”

“I can keep an eye on them,” offered Spike.

“I don’t know. I mean, I do need to take care of the animals, but Spike, you’re not a unicorn. How can you—?”

“Hey, I hang around one every day. One of the most talented every day. I think I’ve learned a few things about how magic works.”

Twilight blushed at his praise, “...Okay. I guess I’ll give you a chance at this,” she said.

“Just leave it to me!”

“But... if that’s going to happen, Fluttershy’s going to have to know your duties here — and also what you’re allowed to do... and what you’re not allowed to do.”

“What do you mean, ‘what I’m not allowed to do’?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just things like, no eating whole tubs of ice-cream.”

“Nah, I’ve learned my lesson,” said Spike, putting a hand over his stomach in remembrance of his last ice-cream induced stomach ache.

“I wonder about that. But anyway, fetch me a quill and paper, please.”

“Sure thing.”

Spike waddled off to get what Twilight requested. Once he was out of earshot, the pegasus stepped closer to Fluttershy. In a low voice, she said, “Not saying anything bad about him, but I just don’t want him to take advantage of your kind nature. Try not to cave in. Especially in regards to the ice-cream.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him,” replied Fluttershy.

Twilight smiled, “Thanks.”

The baby dragon returned with the quill and paper.

“What are you gonna write?” he asked.

“Things you should already know about how to conduct yourself here, meaning Fluttershy should never have to let you see this,” she said as meaningfully as possible.

With that, Twilight wrote down the “house rules”, although she was finding it awkward to write with a quill using her mouth.

“Here you go,” she said, presenting the rules to Fluttershy. The unicorn took the paper in her hooves and read over them.

“Oh, I see... and that makes sense... and... okay, I’ve got it,” said Fluttershy.

“Right. Would you be fine if I left now?”

“Um... yes. I promise I’ll continue practicing once I’ve refreshed myself.”

“Alright. I’ll head over to your cottage and check back in every so often.”

“Oh, about Angel. He’s a bit, uh...”

“I know.”

“Try not to take anything he does personally. He means well. He just has a different way of showing it.”

“Okay. Thanks,” said Twilight, then walked to the front door, “You behave, Spike. See you later!” she called over shoulder as she left.

“So...” said Spike once the door closed, “How about we have ice-cream while you’re on your break?”

Fluttershy ignored his large, hopeful smile and consulted the paper, “Um... Twilight says ‘no’.”

“Aw...”

Chapter 6

“There’s Cloudsdale,” said Rainbow Dash, looking up at the sky city, “Beautiful, huh?”

“Sure is,” agreed Applejack, flying next to the earth pony.

“Yeah. But how it looks isn’t really important right now. You need to know how to get to the weather station. Now like I said, I could fly around there—”

“With yer eyes closed, yeah. Ah remember.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll get on with it,” said Rainbow, rolling her eyes, “Okay, you see that strip on the right?” she said, pointing at a long, narrow outcropping of clouds, “That’s Nimbus Port. You have to check in and out of Cloudsdale at the ports. That one’s pretty close to the station, so you won’t have far to go.”

“Check in?”

“Yeah. Just a security check, no big deal. Ever since Cloudsdale got wind of the changelings, we’ve had to prove we are who we say. I don’t think we need to worry about those creeps any more, but I don’t make the rules.”

“What’ll ah need to do?”

“They’ll ask for your name, first. Rainbow Dash, obviously. Then your position: Weather Patroller, First Class. And lastly, your Pegasus ID Code: Four-six-three-four, in my case. Then they’ll let you through.”

“Wait, wait, position and code, again?”

“Okay. Position: Weather Patroller, First Class.”

“Right.”

“Pegasus ID Code: Four-six-three-four.”

“Right.”

Applejack repeated the position and code to herself a few times.

“Ah think ah’ve got it.”

“I hope so. Now, to get to the weather station from the port, go straight along the road dead ahead from the exit and turn right at Sunny’s Restaurant — good place to eat, by the way — then take the second left and you should see it along the street on your right.”

The two went over all the details several times to make sure Applejack remembered everything.

“Okay,” said Applejack, “Now, before ah go, is there anythin’ else ah should know?”

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, then shook her head, “Nah. I think that’s everything. So, you ready?”

“A bit nervous, but alright otherwise,” said the pegasus with a hint of a quiver in her voice. She took a deep breath and nodded, “Okay, ah’m goin’. Oh, and you should get along to Sweet Apple Acres. It’s the middle of Summer, and we gotta buck our trees while the apples are at their best. Now, the trick is—”

“Yeah, yeah, shouldn’t be too hard. I got it. It’ll be like kicking clouds.”

“Uh, probably. Anyway, ah best be goin’. See ya later, Rainbow!”

“Good luck, AJ!”

Applejack beat her wings and headed towards Cloudsdale, the home of the pegasi.

Rainbow Dash glumly watched her friend fly towards the city the former pegasus grew up in.

This isn’t permanent... you’ll be back in the air once Pinkie and Fluttershy get a hold of magic... the young earth pony thought to herself, doing her best not to let the situation get to her.

Taking one more look at her own form flying away — a feeling she found very strange — Rainbow turned and headed back to Ponyville. Normally, she would know exactly which direction to head, as she could make out Sweet Apple Acres from the air, but she didn’t know the terrain very well from the ground. Once she got back to town, she would be able to figure out where to go.

Finally landing on Nimbus Port, Applejack turned her head and saw a short line of pegasi forming in front of the gate leading to Cloudsdale, while on the opposite side, a group of six were preparing to take off.

Here goes... now remember to keep yer accent down, Applejack...

As she walked to join the four other pegasi lined up, she noted how soft the clouds were. She had felt them before, when she and her friends had come to cheer Rainbow Dash at the Best Young Flyer competition, and they felt just like she remembered. They were softer than the softest carpet, yet at the same time, for pegasi, were as solid as the earth they serenely floated above.

While she waited, Applejack repeated the details she had to give in her head. When her turn was up, the pegasus stepped forward.

A middle-aged yellow pegasus with a brown mane and a clipboard in her hooves looked at the young pegasus and pushed up her reading glasses.

“Name?” she asked in a tone that made it clear she was bored.

“Uh... uh, Rainbow Dash.”

Darn it! Gettin’ all nervous here!

The older pegasus raised an eyebrow at her as she flipped through the pages on her clipboard, “Forget your own name or something there?”

“Heh. Ah had a crazy mornin’,” said Applejack with a nervous smile.

“Right,” replied the pegasus, “Position?”

“...Weather Patroller, First Class.”

“PID Code?”

“Four-three-six-four.”

“You sure about that?”

“Um... oh! I mean, four-six-three-four.”

“Alright, go on through,” said the pegasus with a sigh.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah. Next!”

The guard standing in front of the barred gate moved to the side and opened it. Applejack quickly stepped through, glad that was all over. With no small amount of wonder, she gazed around at the white buildings and pillars. She now stood in Cloudsdale proper.

This city is so beautiful up close...

“Hey lady, would ya mind movin’? You’re blockin’ the gate,” said the guard.

“What? Oh, sure,” said Applejack, stepping aside.

Way to ruin the moment... she thought with some annoyance, Now, where was the station, again? Straight on ‘til that restaurant, then take a right and then... a left? Yeah, second left...

The pegasus unfurled her wings, then took off in the direction of Sunny’s restaurant, hoping she would be able to keep up her act. She also hoped Rainbow Dash would be able to give a convincing enough impersonation. She didn’t like deceiving other ponies, but like Twilight said, some may take advantage that the six weren’t themselves anymore.

Up ahead, she spotted a yellow circle with the words Sunny’s Restaurant in front of it. The large sign was on top of a long, blue building with windows running along its length.

Maybe ah’ll pop in there after ah’m done...

She dipped her right legs and turned the corner, keeping an eye out for left junctions. It didn’t take too long at the speed she was going. After finding the second left, she turned and slowed, looking for the weather station. Less than halfway down the street, she saw a large building with an arch doorway. Above it, in plain lettering, Cloudsdale Weather Station. This was the place. The pegasus opened the door and walked in.

“Time to be AJ,” Rainbow Dash said quietly to herself walking up the path to the Apple Family house. Opening the door, she saw Apple Bloom sitting on the floor of the living room, staring at a book with a pencil in her mouth. Hearing the door open, she looked up.

“Affle–” the filly dropped the pencil, “Applejack! Where have you been?”

“Oh, just decided to stay overnight at Twilight’s,” replied Rainbow, remembering just in time to put on an accent.

“Why?”

“Well... why not?”

“...So, if ah just decided to stay over at Sweetie Belle’s without tellin’ anypony, that’d be alright?”

Oh... what would Applejack say here?

“I... well... no. See, ah’m older than y’all, so ah’m allowed.”

Applebloom looked confused, “What? ‘Y’all’? Who else you talkin’ to?”

Oops...

“...What ah mean is... ah’m older, so ah can make those decisions.”

The filly scuffed the floor with her hoof, “Great. Can’t get mah cutie mark, can’t make mah own decisions...”

Rainbow walked over to the young pony, trying to think of a way to make her feel better, “Hey, uh, don’t think about it. Um... what’re you doin’ right now?”

“Homework,” replied Applebloom, “Ah know, ah know, ah was supposed to do it on Friday when ah got home, but ah was too tired. Forgot about it ‘til now.”

The earth pony had no experience of being a sister before, but she tried doing what she thought was sisterly.

“Maybe I... ah could help you out?”

“Yeah. Please.”

Rainbow sat down next to the filly and looked over the book. It appeared that the task was to think up two different ways of saying the words listed, and Applebloom already had a few filled out.

Speak — Talk — Chat

Bite — Chew — Eat

Soil — Earth — Dirt

Smart — Clever — Intellagent

“Oh! Oh! You spelled a word wrong,” said Rainbow, “Intelligent isn’t spelled like that. Ain’t spelled like that.”

“Huh? Well, how do you spell it?”

“See that ‘A’? Change it to an ‘I’.”

“Oh,” said the filly and picked up the pencil from the opposite end. She rubbed out some of the word and amended her error, “Thanks.”

“No problem. What you stuck on now?”

“The word Shout. Ah got Yell, but ah can’t think of another way of sayin’ it.”

“Hmmm.”

“How’s about Scream?”

“Mmmm. Ah think Bellow might work better.”

“That’s a good one!” said Applebloom and scribbled it down, “Now... Smile.”

“Heh, Pinkie Pie would know plenty of words for that.”

“Oh, ah know! Grin!” she wrote the word down, “And, um... ah dunno...”

Rainbow’s mind was also drawing a blank. Her eyes flicked around as she thought and she noticed the sunlight coming in through the windows, creating bright splashes on the wooden floor. This gave her an idea, “Well, what does the sun do?”

“Shines?”

“Yeah, but this begins with a ‘B’. And it ain’t Bright.”

“Sun does somethin’ that begins with a ‘B’? B... B... Beam!”

“Right!”

Rainbow sat next to Applebloom for the remainder of her homework. The filly was able to think of many words on her own, but the older earth pony helped her when she needed it.

“Ah’m done! Thanks, Applejack!” said Applebloom and hugged her ‘sister’.

Although initially surprised, Rainbow put a hoof around the younger pony. Helping the filly with her homework and receiving a hug felt... nice.

So this is what it feels like...

“You’re welcome, Applebloom,” replied the earth pony, smiling.

Just then, the front door opened. Big Macintosh stood in the opening, looking at Rainbow expectantly.

“What?” she asked.

The large colt calmly nodded behind him. Rainbow just stared. The colt nodded behind him again.

“Uh, Applejack, you’re supposed to be harvestin’ right now,” said Applebloom, “Sorry, Big Macintosh, ah guess we didn’t notice the time.”

Rainbow stood up and went over to the pony who was essentially going to be her brother for a while, “Yeah, sorry. Let’s get goin’, huh?”

“Eeyup.”

Big Mac turned and left for the large apple orchard with Rainbow following. Seeing the veritable sea of trees, the earth pony was momentarily dazed.

Boy, I knew they had a lot, but...

It was going to be a long day.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” greeted the receptionist.

“Hi,” replied Applejack, walking over. A puzzled look passed over her face when the brown pegasus went back to reading her magazine.

Applejack shifted from one hoof to the other and smiled awkwardly. The pegasus looked up, “What?”

“Uh, where do I go again?”

“Ha ha ha! Good one, Rainbow Dash. Okay, what is it you want?”

“No, really.”

“Seriously? You’ve been doing this for three years and you suddenly can’t remember where to go?”

“...No. See, I was at a party last night, and it got kinda crazy, so my head’s all... foggy.”

“Must’ve been really crazy if you can’t remember you go through the door at the end, there,” said the receptionist, pointing to a corridor leading off from the reception area.

“Oh yeah! I remember now! Thanks!” said Applejack and trotted away.

“I’d avoid crazy parties from now on, if I were you,” the receptionist called after her.

The rainbow pegasus ignored her and stood in front of the door with the sign over it saying WEATHER PATROL: First Class. Down the corridor, she could make out two other signs for the Second and Third Class Weather Patrols. She pushed open the door and entered the large room.
The ten other gathered pegasi turned their heads when the door opened. A few of them gave a smile and nod in welcoming and went back to talking with each other. A lavender pegasus with a yellow mane cantered up to Applejack.

“Hey! So, you ready for today, Rainbow?” she asked.

“I guess.”

“You feeling okay?”

“Sure! Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I dunno. Something about you seems off.”

“Oh, you know her, Cloud Kicker,” said another pegasus, “She’ll be back to her usual self in no time.”

“Yeah, ah just... I woke up feelin’ funny,” said Applejack, hoping nopony noticed her accent slipping in.

“Well shake it off,” said Cloud Kicker, “The team leaders are due in about ten minutes. If you wanna do any last minute wing stretches, might as well do them now.”

Applejack did her best to blend in as more pegasi poured in until there were thirty in total in the room. Not long after, the three team leaders entered and began calling out names, not wasting any time — this was First Class Weather Patrol, they should know the drill. The pegasi called formed a line in front of the their respective team leaders, ten in each team.

The rainbow pegasus found herself following a large dark grey pegasus named Storm Chaser. Once outside, he flew into the air and hovered as his team assembled.

“Alright, team, I got a bit of bad news,” he said. The pegasi exchanged worried glances. Storm Chaser sighed, “We’ve been assigned Unicorn Range. Yes, I know,” he said over everyone’s groans, “It’s a big area, but I don’t choose the routes. Since it’s so big, let’s get started now. The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish.”

Oh, ‘course. Mah first weather patrol and it’s a big ‘un... thought Applejack as she flew after the grey pegasus towards one of the ports. She shook her head, Keep it together, AJ. These are clouds. They should be nothin’ compared to trees...

Ah hope...

Chapter 7

As Pinkie Pie approached Carousel Boutique, she couldn't help but feel a little disheartened. Everypony she greeted along the way either awkwardly smiled and waved back or looked at her strangely. Then she remembered no one knew she was her. With a small sigh, the white unicorn summoned her magic and opened the front door, the bell tinkling at her arrival. After entering the boutique and closing the door, Pinkie turned and was about to start looking around, when the door opened again, seemingly by itself. The unicorn looked back and noticed it still had an azure glow surrounding it.

“Oops,” she said to herself and closed the door again, accidentally slamming it shut. She cringed at the loud bang it made, wondering what the ponies outside were thinking. She dispelled her magic and turned back to face the interior of the building.

“What was that? Who’s there?” asked a voice from upstairs. A small white unicorn with a curly purple and light pink mane cantered down into the main room.

“Me!” said Pinkie, cheerily.

“Rarity! Why didn’t you come home last night?”

“Sorry. I was having a sleepover at Twilight’s. It was super-duper fun!” she replied with a large grin.

“It was what now?”

“Oh, eh... it was a delightful evening. Yes...” the unicorn amended with a more subdued smile.

“Are... you okay?”

“Uh-huh, of course. It’s not like anything strange happened at the party,” said Pinkie walking towards her ‘sister’.

“...Yeah...”

“Oh, hey, uh, so did you do your homework? I was supposed to ask you that. I mean, I was going to ask you that anyway.”

“Yes, I did it. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Everything’s fine! Come on, let’s go make dresses!”

“You saying you want me to help?”

“Don’t I always?”

“...No.”

“Then let’s change that, huh?

Sweetie Belle’s face brightened at the prospect, “Really? I’ll do my best to help out, Rarity!”

“Good, ‘cause I really use some help.”

“No kidding...”

Rarity groaned inwardly as she bounced through Ponyville, trying to look like she was enjoying herself. The smile she had manufactured felt completely fake and she was sure it would frighten small children. Upon reaching Sugarcube Corner, she dropped the smile and entered, noting the number of ponies inside. As it was lunch time, several customers were present, explaining why the streets were a little emptier than usual.

“Pinkie! You’re here!” said Mrs. Cake, catching sight of the pink pony, “Sorry, I know you’re off today, but we need you in the kitchen.”

Oh no. Already? thought Rarity.

“Sure thing!” she said as cheerily as possible and started making her way to the kitchen.

“Hold on a second,” said Mrs. Cake as the pink pony passed her, “Could you bake these for me?” she asked, and swiftly placed a small, rolled up piece of paper into Rarity’s mouth.

“Ohay,” replied Rarity through the paper, and passed into the kitchen, pausing for a moment as the wave of cooking smells assaulted her nose. To her surprise, the pink pony discovered she could discern how many different scents there were.

Must be Pinkie’s finely tuned nose...

“Oh, Pinkie! Good timing!” said Mr. Cake, closing an oven door, “I want to go check on Pound and Pumpkin. Could you watch this cake for me? Thanks!”

“Ohay...” said Rarity, frowning anxiously as the father of two exited the kitchen. She put the paper onto a tabletop and unrolled it.

10 fairy cakes
10 cupcakes
2 birthday cakes (1 blue icing, 1 pink icing)

“Oh... well, at least it’s short,” said Rarity and shrugged her saddlebags off in a corner out of the way, her back muscles thanking her. She opened the bag containing the cookbook she had borrowed from the library and took it out, scanning the contents page.

“Let’s see... fairy cakes on page... ah!”

Placing the book on the table, she began collecting the ingredients needed. Not wanting to get anything wrong, she consulted the book several times during the mixture’s preparation.

While she was stirring, Mr. Cake entered the kitchen again.

“Everything okay?”

“...Yes. Fine,” replied Rarity, then remembered she had to be more upbeat, “Finey-doody... doo!”

The older pony looked past her, “You with a cookbook? Ha! Now that’s a sight. Problems?”

“No, no, I’ve got it. Just making the things on that list,” she said, nodding at the paper.

Mr. Cake cantered over and looked at the book, “Fairy cakes? You already know how to make them.”

“Oh... well... it doesn’t hurt to check the instructions once in a while, just to be sure.”

“Huh. I... I guess it doesn’t. But it looks like you’re missing something.”

“What?” she asked, glancing at everything she had assembled.

“Don’t you think you’ll need a cake tin to pour the mixture into?”

“Ah. Yes. Of course. I knew that.”

“It’s not like you to forget something like that. Here, I’ll get one for you.”

“...Thank you,” replied Rarity, and returned to stirring, hoping she would be able to bungle her way through the rest of the day.

“So...” said Pinkie, “How do we start?”

“You tell me,” replied Sweetie Belle, “You’re the dress maker.”

“What, you haven’t paid attention when I’m working?”

“You know I don’t come here all the time. And when I do, you don’t want me getting in your way when you’re busy.”

“Oh, uh, sorry. But I do want you in my way today. Or, not in my way, but in my way, and... helping me.”

“Got it. I think...”

“Goody! I mean, splendid! Let’s begin, shall we?”

Pinkie looked around and spotted a dress design on a large pad of paper.

“Oh, you’re going to continue that?” asked Sweetie Belle, “Great! You think we can finish it today? I can’t wait to see it!”

Woah, woah, woah, woah! This looks super important! thought Pinkie, I don’t wanna mess up something Rarity’s working on...

“Uh... maybe later,” the unicorn replied to her ‘sister’, “Let’s start off with something simple, like a... a...”

“A new cape for the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“Sure! That sounds fun!”

“Yay! Alright! Let’s do it!”

“Okay! So, what should we use?”

“Let’s keep it red! Yeah! And maybe something else so they look cool! Oh, and we’ll need our emblem!” said Sweetie Belle, grinning and dancing from one pair of hooves to the other.

“Sounds good to me! Now, where does Ra... uh, where do I keep the red fabric, again?”

“Try behind you.”

Pinkie looked over her shoulder, “Oh, that’s right! Silly me!”

“Wow, Rarity, you’re really happy and energetic today.”

“It’s the excitement of making something with my sister!”

The young unicorn giggled, “Okay, now I know something’s wrong with you.”

“I’m not that bad, am I?” asked Pinkie, setting a roll of soft red fabric on Rarity’s work table.

“Um... sometimes. Not always. But let’s get on with this!”

Pinkie wobbly floated a pair of scissors over, then stopped, the scissors open next to the fabric, “Wait, how big are these capes going to be?”

“I dunno... oh! I’ll get my own cape and we can use that to help!”

Sweetie Belle ran upstairs and quickly returned with her cape on her back and three smaller objects in her mouth. She placed the three objects on the table, next to the sewing machine.

“What’re those?” asked Pinkie.

“Patches with the Cutie Mark Crusaders emblem on them. No point having plain red capes — we’re crusaders, after all!”

“Wow, you made these when you were upstairs?”

“Yeah, Rarity, I’m so good, I made three patches without a sewing machine or anything in, like, a minute,” said Sweetie Belle, rolling her eyes.

“You are good! Did I teach you that? I can’t remember...”

“Rarity, even you can’t do that. Nopony can.”

“Nopony except my sister!”

The filly simply sighed.

“Burning, burning, burning, burning!” cried Rarity, racing over to the oven that was beginning to emit smoke. Hastily, she opened the oven door and backed away, coughing at the smoke that flowed out.

“Ohhh...” she moaned, “Well, there go my fairy cakes...”

She put a hoof to her face. She had been so involved with the cupcake recipe, that she forgot about her other baking job.

“Come on now, Pinkie,” said Mr. Cake, “Pay attention. We’ll need to put more fairy cakes out soon.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll just... it won’t happen again.”

“Look, do you want me to bake them?”

Rarity sighed and nodded. She was about to say, “Would you, please?” then made her mouth work to instead say, “Yeah. Okay,” feeling that was more in-line with the way Pinkie usually spoke.

This is not going well at all... thought Rarity, returning to the mixing bowl.

“Ooh! Ooh! How about green squares at the corners?” suggested Pinkie, beginning to forget about her act a little.

“Green squares? You sure?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“It’ll look neat!”

The young unicorn’s face scrunched in uncertainty.

“I know what I’m talking about. After all, who’s the fashion designer here?” asked Pinkie, flicking her curls back with a hoof.

“Yeah, okay. Maybe once we add something to it, it’ll look good.”

“Like your emblem!”

“Uh-huh? And...?”

“That’s it!”

Sweetie Belle visualised the cape in her mind’s eye; the Cutie Mark Crusaders emblem on a red background, framed by green squares at each corner. She shook her head, I don’t see this working...

“Alright...” said the filly.

Pinkie grinned and started cutting wobbly squares, which looked more like rectangles, from a roll of green fabric, and then proceeded to cut out the shape of the Cutie Mark Crusaders cape from the red fabric, the two unicorns having measured the size of Sweetie Belle’s original earlier.

“Okay, where’s the glue?” asked Pinkie.

“Glue? For what?”

“For sticking the squares on!” replied the older unicorn and unintentionally floated the ‘squares’ directly in front of Sweetie Belle’s face.

“Okay, okay, I see them!” said the filly, pushing the soft shapes to the side, “But even I know you don’t use glue. You stitch them on.”

“Oh yeah. I mean, yeah! That was a... a test! That’s it! I wanted to see if you knew.”

“Everypony knows that.”

The unicorn shifted uncomfortably, “...Yeah. Anyway, let’s get stitchin’!”

“Rarity?”

Pinkie awkwardly cleared her throat, Gotta be less me and more Rarity...

“Come on, dear. Don’t worry yourself. Now why don’t you help me with this?”

The filly shrugged, “Okay.”

It took longer than she expected, but Rarity managed to make decent enough cupcakes to sell, as well as the two birthday cakes — with a little help.

After the pink pony had put the confections on display under the glass counter, Mr. Cake called her back into the kitchen.

“Look, Pinkie, I don’t know what’s going on with you, today. You should have been able to blaze right through that list,” he said in an almost fatherly tone.

“Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, either.”

Only I know all too well; I’m another pony, that’s what’s wrong...

“Well, you’re done now. Why don’t you go and enjoy the rest of your day off?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. We can handle things here.”

“Alright. Um... see you later!” said Rarity, and exited through the kitchen door, “Well, at least that’s over,” she said once outside, “I may as well see what Pinkie Pie is up to.”

Keeping a smile on her way to Carousel Boutique was a task in itself, as almost every single pony she crossed greeted her, and she found herself using the same replies over and over again.

“Hello!”, “Hi!”, “Nice to see you!”, “What’s up?”, “You, too!”, “Thank you!”

Goodness, is this what Pinkie goes through every day? Well, there’s certainly no question that she knows everypony in Ponyville...

Finally, to her great relief, she saw Carousel Boutique. Giving a half-hearted “Hello!” to three passing unicorns, she approached her shop and opened the door. But inside, there was nopony around.

“Hello?” she called, the word having lost all meaning to her at this point.

“Pinkie Pie!” a small voice shouted.

Rarity turned to see Sweetie Belle running towards her. The sound and sight of her sister made her genuinely smile for the first time that day.

“Hi, Sweetie Belle!”

“Pinkie, you gotta help me! I think my sister’s gone crazy!”

The pink pony frowned, “What’s she done?” she asked, fearing what Pinkie was up to.

“This way!”

Rarity followed her sister to the kitchen and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of herself standing on a table over the remains of a cake, mouth covered with chocolate. Her eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped to the floor. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

“Hi! Want some cake?” asked Pinkie, smiling, completely oblivious to Rarity’s horrified expression.

“Rarity, what’s wrong with you?” asked Sweetie Belle, a quiver entering her voice.

The earth pony cleared her throat, “Oh Rarity, could I have a word with you for a moment?”

“Okay!” replied the unicorn, jumping off the table and following the pink pony out of the kitchen.

Rarity led Pinkie to a room off to the side. She turned to Sweetie Belle, “Just give me a minute. In the meantime why don’t you go, uh... clean up that cake?” she said, smiling.

A worried expression on her young face, the filly nodded and walked back towards the kitchen. Rarity closed the door and spun to face Pinkie, the smile from both ponies’ faces gone.

“Pinkie... what do you think you are doing?” she asked in a piercing whisper.

The unicorn thought for a moment, then, with a hopeful expression, answered, “...Having cake?”

“Having...!” Rarity stopped herself from shouting. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She looked at Pinkie again, more specifically, the chocolate around her mouth, and shook her head. Reaching back, she produced a tissue and wiped it away, “I do not, I repeat, I do not stand on tables and gorge myself on cakes. Nor do I go around grinning all day. I thought I made that clear this morning.”

“Sorry. I forgot.”

“Well, try to remem–” she stopped and looked at the tissue she had produced, now stained with chocolate, “Where did I get this?” she asked, regarding the soft cloth strangely.

“From somewhere.”

“Where exactly?”

“Um... I don’t know...”

“How can you, of all ponies, not know?”

“I just don’t know. If I need something, all I do is reach somewhere and get it.”

“I’m not even going to bother. Some things are best left unknown,” said Rarity, then fixed Pinkie with a stern gaze, “Unlike what you were doing. I’m glad I knew about that.”

“Yeah. Sorry. I’ll try to be more you-ish.”

“If it makes you feel any better, things haven’t exactly gone swimmingly for me, either.”

“What happened?”

“The Cakes asked me to do some baking — because they were extra busy, I suppose — and... I burned a batch.”

“Ah, don’t worry, you’ll get it!”

“Thank you, Pinkie. Now then, what else have you been up to?” asked Rarity, almost afraid to know.

“Me and Sweetie Belle made a new cape for the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“Oh, a new cape? May I see it?”

“Sure!” said Pinkie, and walked back onto the shop floor, “Sweetie Belle doesn’t like it that much, but I think it’ll grow on her.”

Smiling, although not too broadly, the unicorn picked up the cape in her mouth and presented it to Rarity, who gaped. Pinkie raised her eyebrows, asking for her friend’s opinion.

“It’s, uh... well... is this really it?” asked the earth pony.

“Uh-huh!” said Pinkie, accidentally dropping the cape. Sweetie Belle emerged from the kitchen as her ‘sister’ picked the cape back up.

“...Everything okay, Pinkie?” asked the filly.

“I guess so,” said Rarity, “But this cape...”

“What do you think of it?”

“Um... nice. But green rectangles on the corners?”

“They’re squares, silly,” said Pinkie, dropping the cape again.

“So this is what you’ve been doing today?”

“Yeah. Until Rarity said she was hungry, and...”

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Rarity, pulling her young sister close, “She won’t do it again. Will she?” she asked Pinkie, narrowing her eyes.

The unicorn, cape in mouth again, shook her head.

“Good. So, considering... Rarity... demolished that cake, why don’t I make another one?”

I could use some more practice...

“Can I help?” asked Pinkie, clenching her teeth to keep from dropping the cape again.

Having seen the horrible design the unicorn had thought up for the cape, she was about to say ‘No’, but then remembered baking was Pinkie’s forte.

“Yes. Yes, you can help. Just as long as you don’t demolish this one.”

Chapter 8

One advantage to ‘being’ Fluttershy, Twilight realised as she approached the pegasus’ house, was that she got to live in one of the most relaxing places in Ponyville. She had barely crossed the bridge when a small, rainbow coloured flock of birds flapped around her, tweeting. She flinched from their sudden appearance, but then realised they were welcoming her home.

Holding out her right foreleg, she smiled as three birds alighted on it.

“Hello, friends. Did you miss me?” she asked.

One of them began chirping, and Twilight was surprised to discover that she knew what he was saying. Apparently, they were worried about her when she didn’t come home last night.

“I can understand you!” she said in awe.

The feathered creatures looked at each other in confusion, their heads turning at a speed only birds could manage.

“...I can understand you would be worried about me, is what I meant to say.”

With a gentle flick of her leg, she indicated to the birds to lift off. Twilight watched them flutter back to the many birdhouses nearby and then continued up the path to her own home. At least, the house that would be her home temporarily.

Upon entering the cosy little cottage, she immediately found herself meeting the eyes of a small white rabbit, who had apparently been waiting by the door. He scowled up at her, tapping his large foot.

“Hello, Angel,” said Twilight.

Still scowling, he pointed at the clock. The pegasus looked at the clock and then back at him, “Sorry. I know I’m home late. Are you angry?”

He shook his head, then placed a paw over his stomach.

“Oh no, are you hurt?” asked Twilight.

Still holding his belly, the rabbit fell onto his back.

“Sick?”

Angel sat up and glared at her. He opened his mouth and pointed at it.

“Oh, you’re hungry!”

The bunny raised his arms and rolled his eyes.

(Finally!)

“Okay, let’s see what we’ve got for you,” said Twilight, walking towards the kitchen. After searching through the cupboards, she eventually found some fresh carrots next to a head of lettuce. Taking a carrot in her mouth, she carried it over to Angel and dropped it in front of him.

“There you go.”

The bunny glanced down at the orange vegetable, then back up to Twilight.

“Do you want another one?” she asked, and brought another carrot over to him.

Angel crossed his arms and turned his head away.

“Fine... have some lettuce, too,” she said and went back to the cupboard. She hurried over to him with a few leaves, beginning to get a little annoyed. Then Angel turned his back on her.

The pegasus scowled, “Angel!” she said, firmly.

He turned around at the strict tone in her voice. Seeing the hard, stern expression on the pony’s otherwise gentle face, he grabbed a carrot and began to quickly eat it.

“Glad we’ve got that settled,” Twilight said with a nod and turned to attend to the other animals.

“Okay, back a bit,” said Spike, helping Fluttershy with her levitation, “Back a bit more and... stop! Now down. Gently. We don’t wanna break anything.”

Biting her lip in concentration, the unicorn slowly lowered her subject until it made contact with the floor.

“Great job, Fluttershy!” said Spike, “You floated me a really good distance!”

“Only about the length of two ponies,” she replied, shrugging.

“Hey, look at it this way — yesterday, you couldn’t even make something float half the length of a pony. Or at all, actually.”

“Yes, but... I don’t know if I’ll ever get good enough to cast that swap spell.”

“Sure you will! It’ll just take time. And don’t worry, you’ve got me and Twilight to back you up.”

Fluttershy looked at him, “You really think I can do it?”

“Yeah, if you put your mind to it. And even if you can’t, there’s always Pinkie Pie. But hey, that’s no excuse for you not to try.”

She nodded, “You’re right. I... I have to do this! My friends are depending on me! I can’t let them down!”

“That’s the spirit! Come on, try levitation on me again. This time, let’s go for the length of three ponies!”

Twilight felt exhausted as she rushed over to a small group of animals, carrying a bowl of seeds.

“Here you go, some lovely seeds,” she said breathlessly, then realised her mistake as the squirrels and chipmunks cocked their heads at the bowl, “Oh wait, the birds weren’t here. Where were they?”

The feathered creatures tweeted behind her. She picked up the bowl and deposited in front of them.

“So, what was it you wanted again?” she asked the squirrels.

They answered in their own squeaky language, which the pegasus understood as, “Nuts. Acorns.”

“Oh! Right!” she said and dashed off to the kitchen to collect some.

I don’t know how Fluttershy does it. All of these animals to take care of at once? And I still have that duck family outside to lead to the pond...

“Okay, anyone else?” she asked after giving the critters their food.

“There. Done,” said Fluttershy, setting Spike down with her magic again, “I don’t know why you’re harder to move than the books, though.”

“Well, I do have some weight on me, heh,” said Spike, patting his stomach.

“But I’m lifting you with magic.”

“I dunno. Maybe there’s a limit to how much you can lift. But you’re doing good.”

“I need to do better than good. Ponies who see me will think I’m really Twilight. And she doesn’t want anypony to know what’s happened. I need to try and be great at magic!”

“Hey, easy there, Fluttershy. Twilight said not to rush.”

“I know. I just don’t want to let her down.”

“You won’t, will you?”

“I hope not...” mumbled Fluttershy.

“You mean, ‘No, I won’t let her down!’ right? Let me hear you say it!”

“I won’t let her down...”

“Again. Louder.”

“I won’t let her down!”

“Right! Like I said, you can do this!” said the dragon, giving her a thumbs up.

“Yes! I can! Alright, Spike: get me some books! Uh, please...”

“Okay, Mrs. Duck, this way to the lake,” said Twilight, walking backwards past the marketplace with a mother duck and her five ducklings following her, “That’s it, there’s no need to rush, oof!”

The pegasus stumbled when her backside bumped into another pony.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” apologised Twilight, turning to the dark green unicorn, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, fine,” she replied, rubbing her foreleg.

“Sorry. Come on, duckies, let’s go around everypony.”

The yellow pegasus continued walking backwards, occasionally checking behind her. After looking behind her for the third time, Twilight noticed the group of ducks seemed smaller. Then she saw one of the ducklings was waddling away.

“Oh no! Little ducky! Don’t go on your own!” she cried and ran after it. She picked up the feathered animal and turned to see the mother duck chasing after two other ducklings into the marketplace, her two remaining children waddling after her.

“Oh dear...”

Gently tucking the duckling she was holding under one of her wings, Twilight galloped after the quacking creatures. Dodging and weaving around the ponies at the busy marketplace, she eventually managed to scoop up the small escapees and reunite them with their mother.

“Alright, come on,” she said, quickly leading the birds, “Let’s just get out of here and go to the la— aah!”

In her haste to escort the ducks out of everypony’s way, she tripped over her own hooves and collided with a fruit stand, knocking it over and scattering fruit everywhere. In the confusion, the mother duck frantically lead her ducklings away from the noise... and Twilight.

The pegasus made to go after them, but something caught her tail and she fell flat. She looked over her shoulder at the burly brown earth pony who had a hoof on her pink tail.

“Uh, excuse me, sir. You’re standing on my tail...” she said, getting up.

“Yeah. I know.”

“Well, could you get off, please? I need to go get those ducks.”

“You broke my stand! And what about my fruit?”

“I’ll pay for it, just let me get the ducks first.”

“How do I know you won’t just run away?”

“I won’t! I promise! I’ll leave the ducks with you while I get you your money, if it’ll make you feel better.”

“I’m not an animal watcher.”

“Please! They’re getting away!” said Twilight, looking at him with large, pleading eyes.

The brown pony grimaced, then took his hoof off, “Alright, alright. Bring your ducks here. But you’d better not try anything funny.”

“Thank you!”

Twilight took off into the air and scanned the area. She spotted the ducks not too far off, slowly waddling alongside some bushes. She glided towards the birds and gently set herself down next to them.

“Please don’t run away like that again.”

The mother duck quacked in response.

“I understand you were scared, but it was just some fruit falling down... that I have to pay for, now...” she quietly added to herself, “Listen... I’m going to have to leave you with somepony else, just for a short while. Then I’ll take you right to the lake.”

The duck quacked loudly.

“Yes, I know you want to get there as soon as possible, but I... um... I have pony stuff to take care of first. I won’t be long.”

Quack.

Twilight sighed in relief, “Thank you,” she said and led them over to the brown pony who, with some help, was collecting together his fruit and putting in boxes.

“Now you just wait here with this nice, patient, understanding pony, and I’ll be right back.”

As the ducks gathered around the brown colt, who stood awkwardly with the crowd of animals, Twilight beat her wings and took off.

There’s no way I’m going to pay with Fluttershy’s money... she thought.

She swivelled her head left and right, searching for the library. Upon spotting it, she made straight for the large tree, remembering to keep her body level to avoid drifting off to one side.

Fluttershy sat at a table with a quill in her mouth. She had a sheet of paper rolled out in front of her and was writing down notes to herself about using magic, such as Don’t completely focus on something else when using levitation and Try not to have something weighing on your mind.

“Why don’t you try using magic to write, Fluttershy?” asked Spike.

“Oh, I don’t think I can do that, yet,” she replied, taking the quill out of her mouth with her magic.

“Just try it,” said the dragon, placing down a blank piece of paper next to her.

The unicorn’s mouth twisted in uncertainty. She looked at Spike, who gave an encouraging smile and nod.

“...Okay. I’ll try,” she said.

She wrote down her own name and then sighed at the scrawl that resembled writing.

“Keep going,” said Spike, “Try writing down the names of your friends, too.”

More disproportionately-sized letters flowed from Fluttershy’s quill. Loops were either too big or too small, lines that were supposed to be straight were wobbly and slanted, the crossbars of Ts rarely connected with the body, and the dots of Is were off-centre.

“Horrible,” she mumbled, shaking her head.

Peeking over the unicorn’s shoulder, Spike grimaced at the scribbled lines.

“Uh... good for a first try,” he said, trying to keep Fluttershy’s spirits up, although he had seen Twilight’s first attempts, and they were far more legible.

The unicorn had just taken the quill in her mouth again when the front door swung open to reveal an out of breath yellow pegasus.

“Twilight?” said Fluttershy, “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve got everything under control. Calm down,” said Spike.

“No, no, it’s not that,” explained Twilight, breathlessly, “I just need to find... my coin bag.”

“...I’ve got money at my own house,” said Fluttershy, “If you need to buy more food for the animals with it, go ahead.”

“Yeah, uh, about the animals...”

While searching around for her coin bag, Twilight quickly explained what had happened with the ducks.

“They’re with a stranger?” asked the unicorn, her voice rising slightly.

“Ah! Found it!” said the pegasus, pulling the bag out of a desk drawer, “Yeah, but don’t worry! I’ll fix everything! Gotta go!”

Literally flying through the doorway, Twilight left the pegasus and dragon staring after her.

“Twilight broke something... with my body?” said Fluttershy quietly as Spike walked over to the door and closed it.

“It’s fine. She said she’ll take care of it,” said Spike, reassuringly.

“Yes, but... everypony will think it was me. What if... what if when I get my body back and I go there, they all stare at me and say things about me?”

“Look, I’m sure by the time everypony’s back to normal, they’ll have forgotten about it.”

“...I hope they will...” mumbled the unicorn, drawing circles on the floor with her hoof.

Chapter 9

After passing through one of the checkpoints at Cloudsdale, Applejack flew after the other pegasi in her team. Glancing to her left, she saw another team clearing away the clouds above Ponyville. She watched a couple of them kicking and nodded, thinking the technique looked comparable to applebucking. When she turned her head back to the ponies in front of her, she saw they were a little ways off to her right. The rainbow pony realised she must have dipped her left legs enough to sway off course. Correcting her angle, she flew faster to catch up again. She had decided to stay at the back of the group so she would have plenty of time to adjust for changes in speed or direction, so hopefully, nopony saw her breaking away.

“Hey, something up with ya, Dash?” asked a dark blue male pegasus.

Ah, ponyfeathers...

“Oh, nothin’,” she replied.

“Yeah, right. You kinda... flew off for a second.”

“Uh, I was daydreamin’. I just kinda let... my... body drive itself. I’ve been here quite a few times, y’know?” she said, even though the closest she had come was seeing the mountains at a distance while on a train on the way to and from the Crystal Empire.

“Really? I’ve only been here, what, three times? Yeah, three times. Twice back when I was in Second Class and once just after I got promoted to First. Not counting this time, that is.”

“It’s, uh... a nice place, ain’t it?”

“Yeah. I guess so. But come on, I think you’ve got bigger problems than daydreaming. You’re usually up at the front of the pack, just behind the leader.”

“Nah, just a bit tired, is all.”

“You gonna be okay?”

“Of course! Who are ya talkin’ to right now?” she said, flashing him a grin.

The pegasus laughed and shook his head, “Confident as ever! Yeah, you’re fine!”

The lead pegasus, Storm Chaser, held his left foreleg out to his side and swerved in that direction, the rest of the pegasi following his lead. Up ahead, Applejack could see the mountains of Unicorn Range. She gulped; they seemed to go on forever.

That’s what we’ll be doin’?

Her apple orchard back home was large, but it was nothing compared to a whole mountain range. She pushed the thought out of her mind. She had a team of expert pegasi with her and it was summer, so maybe there wouldn’t be that many clouds. Not that she had any idea how many there would be normally.

Lowering her gaze, Applejack noted how different everything looked from this high in the air. It was almost like looking at a map. A giant map with a giant amount of detail. She could see every tree, every house, every bridge perfectly instead of vague shapes and colours representing them.

“Alright, everypony!” said Storm Chaser loudly and stopped to face them, “We’re here.”

Applejack’s head snapped up again and managed to stop just in time avoid flying into someone.

The large pegasus continued, “Let’s just take these one at a time.”

He then called out five names, “You five go left and clear that side. Silver Star, you’re in charge. The rest of you, follow me.”

A white pegasus with shining, light grey hair nodded and flew off with the other four behind her.

Storm Chaser motioned with his hoof, “C’mon, c’mon!”

Applejack took a deep breath, Here goes...

The tree in front of Rainbow Dash seemed sturdy. However, the earth pony looked it up and down with a confident smile on her face.

Easy peasy!

She turned her back to it, launched a strong hoof at the trunk and nodded at the sound of apples falling into buckets. Rainbow turned to inspect her hoofwork and frowned at seeing the tree still having apples on most of its branches. She scratched her head, sure she had heard them falling down. Looking in the buckets confirmed what she had thought, but it wasn’t what she had expected; only three or four apples were in each bucket.

Positioning herself in front of the tree again, she slammed it with her hoof a second time. Again, only a few apples fell to join the others.

“What’s up, Applejack?” asked Applebloom, who was in the process of pushing a bucket to a tree further along, “Need more buckets?”

“...No, no. I got this.”

The filly stood on her hind legs and leaned over one of the buckets, resting her front hooves on the rim. She looked surprised at how little of the red fruits there were. She glanced up at the tree, down at the apples again, and then over to her ‘sister’, giving her a questioning look.

“Oh, about that...” said Dash, attempting to think up a good excuse.

“Since when do you not fill up whole buckets in one kick?”

“We, uh... we all have off-days, ya know?”

“But you’ve never had an off-day.”

“Well... first time for everythin’,” said Rainbow Dash, hoping her smile was convincing enough, fighting her eyebrows from trying to slope upwards and make her fake smile look like the worried one it really was.

“Ah guess...” said Applebloom, setting all four hooves on the ground.

“Yeah. Now, you go set up the rest of those buckets for your big sister, eh?”

“Alright.”

As the filly began pushing the bucket again, Dash turned her head to watch Big Macintosh buck a tree. His first kick knocked off most of the apples and the rest fell after his second kick. He looked over and saw Rainbow watching him. His eyes went up to the tree she was under, still covered in apples. Quickly, she averted her gaze and gave a strong kick with both legs, knocking the rest of the fruit off.

Yeah. See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now you just need to do it, like, five hundred more times...

The air grew colder as Applejack approached the high mountains. There were plenty of clouds around, as she had feared.

The other pegasi spread away from her and started clearing the sky. Two of her team gathered up smaller clouds and stuck them together before kicking them away. Applejack hovered in one spot, unsure of how to proceed.

“Rainbow Dash!” shouted Storm Chaser sternly, startling the sky blue pegasus. She took one look at his electric yellow eyes and immediately went for the nearest cloud.

Taking position like she would as if she were applebucking, she reared back a leg.

Shouldn’t take too much force, right? she thought.

She thrust her hoof towards the fluffy white shape with roughly half the strength she gave the average apple tree and was caught off-guard when it sunk in and got stuck. She looked around and blushed as she saw some of her teammates turn their heads away, obviously trying to conceal their laughter.

Placing her other hoof on the cloud, and hoping it wouldn’t get stuck too, she pushed against it while attempting to pull out her other hoof. It didn’t take her much effort to free herself, but she was beginning to doubt her ability to do the job. She didn’t want to mess this up, as she knew how much Rainbow Dash valued her reputation.

With her second try, Applejack used both hooves, kicking harder than before, and managed to separate the cloud into two halves. She turned and used her front hooves to finish them off.

She flew over to another cloud, and like before, split it in two with a kick, shaking her head at the same result. After disposing of the two halves, she approached her next target and examined it.

Ah’ve seen Rainbow get rid o’ these things in one go. How’s she do it? she thought, trying to figure out if there was a visual clue to a weak spot she had overlooked.

Finding nothing, she launched her rear hooves at the white lump, but ended up sending it spinning into two other pegasi and adding it to their cloud.

The male pegasus of the two scowled and tore off the extra chunk. With a grunt he threw it back at Applejack.

“Do your own clouds, Dash!” his partner said angrily.

The rainbow pegasus caught the cloud and was knocked back a little by the impact.

“Yeah, sorry!” Applejack called back.

Narrowing her eyes at the white object in front of her, she clapped her front hooves together, then pushed them out in front of her, alternating between them; left hoof, right hoof, left hoof. The cloud shrank after each hit, and on the fifth blow, it dissipated.

“Come on, pick it up, Rainbow!” said Storm Chaser as he flew past.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, wondering if she ever was going to ‘pick it up’.

At her fourth tree, Rainbow Dash found she was still unable to applebuck like her farmer friend.

She makes it look so easy... thought the earth pony. She aimed a strong, two-legged kick at the tree and, by pure chance, succeeded in knocking off all of the apples, as well as some of the tree bark. She awkwardly glanced around as a large amount of bark crumbled away from the spot she had kicked. Certain that neither Applebloom nor Big Macintosh had seen her damage the tree, she walked away from it, trying to look as casual as possible.

Seeing movement from the corner of her eye, Rainbow turned her head to watch some pegasi flying through the air, dispersing clouds as they went. She felt glum and jealous as she watched them soar through the sky, feeling the wind beneath their wings. Shaking it off as best she could, the earth pony tilted the brim of her hat up, wondering if Applejack was among them.

Unable to see any rainbow-coloured manes or tails, she shrugged and walked up to another tree.

I hope AJ’s doing better than me... she thought as she kicked the thick trunk. A dejected sigh escaped her as she heard the familiar sound of very few apples landing in the buckets and she closed her eyes. A solid thunk and the sound of falling apples made her turn. Big Macintosh stood before her, regarding his ‘sister’ with a worried expression. He said nothing, but Dash could tell he was concerned.

Forcing a smile, she waved a hoof, “Don’t start frettin’ yourself about me. Ah’m fine. Just feelin’ a little... you know... off.”

The large red colt cocked his head.

“Ah’m okay. Don’t worry,” she told him.

He half-turned, stopped and looked at Rainbow Dash one more time, then went back to the apple trees.

With a quiet sigh, the earth pony approached another of the many, many trees and readied herself.

I’ve gotta get this applebucking thing down fast. I can’t pretend I’m “feeling off” forever...

It was approaching sunset and the huge mountains of Unicorn Range cast long, looming shadows over the land. Clouds still hung in the air, but completely clearing them wasn’t the assignment, as light rain was scheduled for the next day.

A blue hoof struck a white, fluffy mass and dissipated it. Applejack turned her attention to Storm Chaser above who was checking the sky. He nodded in satisfaction.

“Good job, everypony!” he called out, “We’re done! Let’s head back!”

Oh, finally! thought Applejack.

The ten pegasi formed up next to their leader and followed him as he flew back towards Cloudsdale.

Cloud Kicker, sweat visible on her face, drew up alongside the rainbow pony, “I thought this day would never end!” she commented.

“Yeah, it was a tough one,” admitted Applejack.

“Speaking of which, you were having a really tough time of it. What’s up?”

“...I’ve... not been myself recently,” she said, not exactly lying.

“Something happen?”

The rainbow pegasus shook her head, “Nah. Not really. Nothing worth mentioning... kinda...” she added under her breath.

It wasn’t long before the white city of Cloudsdale could be seen. Applejack’s mind raced. She had just remembered about the security checkpoints.

Uh-oh! What was mah code again? Four-three-six-four? Four-six-three-four? Darn it!

Shortly, they landed at one of the ports. Fairly certain the ID code was four-six-three-four, the pegasus took her place in line just behind Cloud Kicker and waited. As the pegasi in front of her answered the questions, Applejack looked to the side to view the sunset. The horizon was ablaze in beautiful reds and pinks. The picturesque scene helped her push the day’s stressful events out of her mind.

“Next.”

The rainbow pegasus blinked, “Oh, me? Right.”

She answered the questions directed at her and, glad she remembered the code correctly, joined the group on the other side of the gate. Once the others had passed through, they flew straight to the Cloudsdale Weather Station.

Ah can’t wait to get back to Sweet Apple Acres and check on Rainbow Dash... thought Applejack as she followed the others, And ah gotta ask her how to kick them darn clouds...

Once inside the lobby, crowded and noisy due to the other two teams having returned earlier, they each signed a piece of parchment stating that they were present and accounted for that day. When the quill was passed to her, Applejack quickly read over the statement at the top of the paper, something she was sure everypony else had already memorised, and signed ‘her’ name. She felt strange and uncomfortable writing out Rainbow Dash’s name, pretending it was hers, but she couldn’t exactly write her real one. She placed the quill inside the inkwell and moved aside to let the next pegasus sign.

“So Rainbow, you coming with us to Cloud 9 tonight?” asked the dark blue pegasus she had met earlier that day.

She had no idea where or what that was, so she quickly thought up an excuse, “...Sorry, no. I gotta go check on a friend, see if she needs help.”

“Oh, is it that one who owns Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Yeah. Applejack,” she answered, a little annoyed at being referred to as ‘that one’.

“Yeah, that one. Well, maybe you’ll be there next time?”

“Maybe.”

Then Storm Chaser’s voice rang out above the chatter, “Alright, good work today, everyone! We’ll see you all tomorrow!”

Good. Time to get outta—

“And Rainbow Dash? I need to talk to you.”

Ah, shoot...

“Uh-oh, the Big S has called ya,” commented the blue pegasus colt, “Good luck.”

Now what in the hay does that mean?

Storm Chaser nodded his head towards a corridor, indicating the rainbow pegasus to follow him. With a nervous gulp, Applejack followed his large, dark grey frame. He led her into what she guessed was his office. Several framed certificates were displayed on the wall behind his chair. On his desk was a short stack of documents held down by a small rock on one side, and on the other side, a framed picture. Applejack couldn’t see what was on it, but she presumed it was a picture of his family.

Even though the window was open, cooling the otherwise stuffy office, the young pegasus still felt uncomfortably hot.

Storm Chaser sat down and sighed. With an expression of disappointment, he shook his head at Applejack and said, “I don’t know what was going on with you today, Rainbow Dash. You’re usually one of the top fliers, if not the top flier.”

“Uh... I... well, I...”

The large colt leaned forward, resting his forelegs on the desk, “Come on, Rainbow,” he said, lowering his voice a little, “Is there something happening at home? You seemed really distracted.”

“No... um, kinda...”

“Do you want to see someone about it?”

“No, no, it should work out...”

“There’s no shame in asking for help.”

“Really, it’s fine.”

“Well, I don’t think it is,” replied Storm Chaser, sitting up again, “Rainbow Dash, I’m going to have to ask you to take a couple days off.”

“Whut?”

“Come back Wednesday morning, see how you are then.”

“But...!”

“I’m not going to allow you to do any weather jobs when you’re like this. Take some time off, get yourself together.”

Rainbow’s not gonna be happy to hear this...

“Okay...” said Applejack, looking away.

The grey pegasus nodded and said, “Alright, you get home.”

Rainbow tail dragging on the floor, Applejack turned and opened the door.

“It’ll do you some good,” said Storm Chaser as the mare left.

“Ah reckon you’re right...” she replied and shut the door.

The grey pegasus pursed his lips, then slid a document in front of him from the pile on his desk. He had just taken a quill in his mouth when he looked up at the door, remembering what 'Rainbow Dash' had said.

“...‘Ah reckon’...?”

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

The third buck caused the brown hat to slip loose and fall from Rainbow Dash’s head. She picked it up and firmly reaffixed it.

Hearing heavy hoofsteps, she turned to see Big Macintosh walking towards her.

“Ah think that’s enough fer now,” he said.

“I... Ah can keep goin’,” replied Rainbow, slightly out of breath.

“Well, it’s dinner time,” said the large colt.

Rainbow Dash had barely noticed the sun setting, “Oh. Oh yeah! Ah’m sure we can all keep goin’ after a good meal!”

Big Mac frowned and said, “...You can keep goin’ after dinner if ya want, but ah’m going to stop fer today.”

“...Y–Yeah, I guess it is a good time to stop.”

“We usually do at this time,” said the colt, nodding, then started walking towards the Apple Family house. The earth pony was about to follow him when a rainbow streaking across the sky caught her attention.

Applejack! thought Rainbow Dash excitedly.

“Uh... ah’ll catch up with ya!” she called after her ‘brother’. He turned his head while walking, saw the blue pegasus gliding towards the farm, and nodded at Dash.

Rainbow ran up to the pegasus, who stumbled a little when she landed.

“Boy, am I glad to see... me,” she said.

“Hoo-ee! Cloud clearin’ is lot tougher’n it looks.”

“Seriously? Do you know how much trouble I had gettin’ those apples down?” retorted the earth pony, pointing a hoof back at the huge orchard.

“‘Yeah, I got it, like kickin’ clouds!’ Sound familiar?”

“Well, I assumed it would be. But c’mon, you had trouble with clouds?”

Applejack blushed, “I, uh... got mah hoof stuck in mah first cloud.”

Rainbow Dash burst out laughing, “How’d you manage that?”

“Ah dunno! Ah kicked the darn thing and mah hoof just sunk in! How do ya do it? Just breeze through ‘em all in one go?”

The earth pony shrugged, “Practice is all.”

“Ah guess...”

“Speaking of which... I could use some practice with applebucking,” said Rainbow Dash, wiping sweat from her brow, “Any pointers?”

“Shouldn’t you be goin’ in fer dinner? How’s about afterwards?”

“Yeah, alright. And I can help you out with cloud clearing for tomorrow.”

Applejack awkwardly scratched her head, “Uh, yeah... about that...”

“Where’s Applejack?” asked Applebloom, sitting at the dinner table.

“Talkin’ to her friend,” replied Big Mac as he laid down the plates.

He almost dropped the plate he was holding as he clearly heard his sister’s voice yelling, “YOU WHAT?”

Chapter 10

“I got my cookbook right here!” said Rarity in a cheerful tone and opened her saddlebags. Momentarily forgetting she didn’t have a horn, the earth pony stood staring at it for a few seconds before rolling her eyes and lifting it out with her hooves.

“Nah, I already know how to make chocolate cake,” replied Pinkie while levitating a mixing bowl over to the kitchen worktop.

“Yes... but Sweetie Belle doesn’t,” said Rarity, wishing the unicorn would remember to play her part more, “So let’s have it out for her, hm?,” then she cantered up next to the unicorn and whispered out of the side of her mouth, “And for me... remember?”

“Ohhh... oh yeah!”

“Now, I just wonder if I, uh, you have everything we need, Rarity?”

Quickly scanning the list of ingredients, Pinkie rushed around the kitchen, gathering together what they had with Rarity and Sweetie Belle simply standing and watching her as she zipped around the kitchen magically picking up foodstuffs and placing them on the worktop.

“Butter, check! Eggs, check! Self-raising flour, check! Caster sugar, check! Instant coffee, check!”

“Instant coffee?” asked Rarity, and looked over the ingredients herself and saw instant coffee granules at the bottom, “Oh yeah! Hm, I didn’t know... I mean, I didn’t see that.”

After a little more searching, the unicorn stopped and frowned.

“We’re missing a few things,” she said, putting a hoof to her chin.

“Yes,” said Rarity, checking the cookbook again, “We need—”

Without even glancing at the ingredients, Pinkie listed off what was left, “Just some plain chocolate, plain flour, cocoa powder, and vanilla essence. Oh, and hot water, but that shouldn’t be hard to get.”

“Wow, Rarity! How did you remember all that?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“‘Cause, ah... well, I...”

“Really good memory, I guess,” said Rarity.

“Yes, that’s it!”

“Yeah! So, about the cake: I guess I could go back to Sugarcube Corner and get what we need,” said the earth pony and began walking towards the kitchen door.

Sweetie Belle trotted over to her sister, “Ooh, ooh! Can I go instead? Please?” she asked, looking up at the older unicorn with a hopeful expression.

Rarity stopped at the door and smiled, regarding her sister knowingly. She had done this before, “You really just want to go and get some chocolate for yourself, don’t you?” she asked rhetorically.

“N...No...” replied the young unicorn, not making eye contact with either of the older ponies.

“Well...” started Pinkie, then looked to the unicorn behind the filly for guidance. Rarity nodded.

“Okay. You can go instead,” said the unicorn. She couldn’t help but smile at the small grin that appeared on the filly’s face.

Rarity mouthed something to her.

“...And you can buy something for yourself.”

Sweetie Belle’s grin widened into a large smile.

“Just remember to get what we need first so you don’t spend most of the money on yourself,” Rarity told her, unconsciously slipping into her ‘big sister’ role, “Hold on and we’ll write you out a list.”

This is actually a good idea... thought the former unicorn, It’ll give me and Pinkie Pie a chance to talk...

With her schoolbag on and money and the list in a side pocket, Sweetie Belle cantered to the front door, then stopped and half-turned.

“Do you two want anything?” she asked.

Pinkie inhaled, but Rarity spoke up before the unicorn had a chance to say anything, “No, no, we’re fine. Besides, the cake’ll fill us up.”

“Oh... yeah. And, uh... I have to watch my weight,” added Pinkie.

Rarity bit her tongue to stop herself responding that statement while her sister was present.

“Okay. See you later!” said Sweetie Belle and left, the door bell tinkling at her passing.

“What do you mean, ‘watch my weight?” asked Rarity, examining her own form for any signs of flabbiness.

“I didn’t mean anything,” protested Pinkie, “It was just something I thought you’d say.”

“Yes, but the way you said it made it seem like I think I’m getting...” Rarity found herself unable to say that word in relation to herself.

“Fat?” finished Pinkie.

The earth pony scowled and muttered, “Yes. That.”

“Well, you’re not. You’re very, um... light and curvy...?” asked Pinkie with an unsure smile.

“Can we please stop talking about my weight?”

“Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

“How about you?”

“Hmmm. Well, I am kinda pudgy, but you’ll get that way eating sweets like I do!”

“Pinkie...” said Rarity, warningly.

“What?” asked the unicorn. Then she realised, “Oh, that’s kind of like talking about your weight, isn’t it? Sorry!”

“When I said let’s talk about you, that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?”

“It’s when I was on my way here. All of these ponies were saying ‘hello’ to me.”

“That was nice of them!”

“I mean every single one of them. I know they’re all your friends, but do you have to deal with that every day?”

Pinkie looked puzzled and said, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Okay, maybe a wrong choice of words. But doesn’t it get a little annoying having everypony say ‘hello’?”

“Of course not!” said Pinkie, smiling, “Like you said, they’re all my friends! I’d feel a little annoyed if they didn’t say ‘hello’.”

Rarity thought about that for a moment, then gave a small smile and said, “I suppose that’s true.”

“Yeah! Oh hey, so what are we gonna do until Sweetie Belle gets back?”

“What say we get you started on dresses?”

Pinkie’s ears flattened, “Oh... okay...” she murmured.

“You’ll have to learn at some point to keep up appearances, darling. Besides, if you become good at it, maybe we could make something together once everything is back to normal?”

“Yeah, that could be fun!” said Pinkie, her ears perking up again.

“Exactly! Let’s get started, shall we?”

Smiling broadly, Pinkie bounced after Rarity, following her to a worktable.

As she walked through Ponyville towards Sugarcube Corner, Sweetie Belle found herself constantly readjusting her schoolbag. It had been emptied to leave room for the ingredients — as well as to avoid the possibility of getting her schoolbooks covered in said ingredients — but it felt strange walking around with an empty bag on her back.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle!” called out an energetic voice.

The unicorn turned to see an orange pegasus with a purple helmet riding towards her on a scooter. The filly came to a stop next to her friend and removed her helmet, revealing an unkempt mane as purple as her headgear.

“Hi, Scootaloo,” greeted Sweetie Belle.

“Hey! So, what’s up?” asked Scootaloo, hanging her helmet on one of the scooter’s handlebars. She frowned and pointed at her friend’s schoolbag, “School’s not ‘til tomorrow, you know.”

“I know. Just going to Sugarcube Corner. Wanna come? I’m going to get some stuff for Rarity and Pinkie Pie; we’re making a chocolate cake.”

“Chocolate cake? Nice! Alright, let’s go!”

“Let’s get Applebloom, too,” suggested Sweetie Belle as they made their way through the town.

“Nah. I just came from Sweet Apple Acres and Applebloom said she was too busy. She was pushing buckets under trees.”

“Ohhh, they must be harvesting their apples.”

“Yeah. But you know, I noticed something kinda weird about Applejack.”

“Weird how?”

“I dunno. Like she didn’t know how to buck the trees. And the way she kicked them seemed familiar, somehow.”

“That is kinda weird. Speaking of which, Rarity and Pinkie have been acting weird, too.”

Scootaloo smirked, “Pinkie Pie acting weird? Yeah, that’s never happened before. But Rarity? What’s going on with her?”

“Well, she...” the filly’s mouth twisted as she thought of her sister’s behaviour earlier, “...She was being more like Pinkie Pie, actually.”

This made Scootaloo stop. She didn’t know Rarity that well, but she couldn’t picture the prim-and-proper unicorn jumping around, smiling. She frowned, “Now... when you say ‘being more like Pinkie Pie’... how do you mean, exactly?”

“I mean what I said. Just being... not Rarity,” replied Sweetie Belle, who had stopped and was waiting for Scootaloo to catch up, “Oh, and you should see the new cape we tried to make for the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“We got new capes?” asked Scootaloo excitedly, pulling up alongside the unicorn.

“Yeah, but the design looks horrible. It’s the same as the ones we have now, but there are green squares at the corners.”

The pegasus raised an eyebrow, “Seriously?” she asked, wondering if her friend was joking.

“Seriously. I didn’t think it would look good, either, but Rarity said it would. So I trusted her, and...”

“Oh, I gotta see this. I mean, it doesn’t sound completely horrible or anything, but still. You got any ideas for something cool?”

“Maybe we can try to come up with something new at the club house later if Applebloom finishes early. But come on, I gotta get to Sugarcube Corner. Rarity and Pinkie are waiting.”

“Okay, good. Try to keep the fabric flat as it passes through the sewing machine,” said Rarity, instructing Pinkie on one of the basics of dressmaking, “Now, gently press your hoof down on the pedal there. Not too much, but not too little.”

Pinkie carefully pushed down on the pedal and smiled when the machine came to life, making a rapid thucka-thucka-thucka sound. She kept the fabric flat as the machine pulled it through.

“That’s it. Good,” said Rarity after the machine had stopped, “Then cut off the remaining thread... yes! Now, I don’t expect you to be able to create anything like I do overnight. Hopefully, if anything needs to be done, I can make a stop over here. Just make sure you don’t accept any orders that require several dresses to be made. I may only have time for one or two a week, since I’ll have to be at Sugarcube Corner, too.”

“Are you sure it’s not gonna be too much for you?” asked Pinkie.

“Oh, I should be fine, dear. I could make most of the orders I get with one hoof tied behind my back.”

“Could you do one now?”

“Wha... no! I didn’t mean that literally.”

“Oh. I was hoping to see that.”

Rarity rolled her eyes and said, “Listen, just keep following the guide book and take care of Sweetie Belle for me, okay?”

“Okay! She’s safe with me!” said Pinkie Pie, nodding.

“I believe that. I mean, you do occasionally take care of the Cake twins...” she trailed off, realising what that meant. She shook her head; surely taking care of the twins couldn’t be that bad? Rarity turned her attention back to the current situation, “Now then, just to be sure you’ve got this down, let’s go over the sewing machine again.”

“Again? ‘Kay...”

While on the way back to the boutique, Sweetie Belle listened as Scootaloo heartily told her about a ‘totally awesome stunt’ she had done at Ponyville Park.

“It took a bit of effort,” said Scootaloo, “but I managed to get my scooter up the chute’s ladder and onto the slide. The trickiest part was getting on without it rolling away from me. I did it, though.”

“Weren’t you kind of scared? What if you fell?” asked Sweetie Belle worriedly; the pegasus had said the park was empty at the time, meaning there would be nopony nearby to help her.

“Yeah, maybe a little scared... but where’s the fun if there’s no danger?”

“I don’t know about that...”

“Hey, I made it through fine, right? Anyway, after I got on, I set off down the chute and headed towards the merry-go-round. I grabbed onto one of the bars, let it spin me around, and headed back up the chute. Got some awesome air time!”

“Wow! Wish I could’ve seen it!”

“Ah, maybe you will, sometime. I’ve still got some fine-tuning to do,” replied Scootaloo, “I don’t want anypony to see it until it’s been perfected.”

One thing Scootaloo had neglected to tell the unicorn was that she had landed in the park’s pond after being launched.

A few minutes later, they stepped through the door of the boutique.

“Hi, Rarity, I’m back!” said Sweetie Belle, “Scootaloo came along, is that okay?”

Rarity stopped herself from answering and looked at Pinkie.

“Hm? Oh! Sure!” replied the unicorn.

“Did you get what we needed?” asked Rarity.

“Uh-huh! Can we go make the cake now?”

“Absolutely!”

After the four entered the kitchen, Sweetie Belle pulled out the ingredients she had bought and laid them on the kitchen worktop.

“What can me and Scootaloo do to help?” asked the filly.

“Er... well, baking doesn’t need four ponies,” said Rarity, “Why don’t you two go and play and we’ll call you if we need some help.”

I should have whispered to Pinkie to say that... thought the earth pony.

“Okay! Come on, Scootaloo, I’ll show you the cape me and Rarity made.”

“Oh yeah. That,” replied Scootaloo.

“That, indeed,” said Rarity once the fillies were out of earshot.

“Oh, that cake looks so good!” commented Pinkie, staring at the finished cake with hungry eyes.

“Just remember what we talked about,” said Rarity, placing a restraining hoof on Pinkie’s chest, “But I agree, it certainly looks delectable.”

“So when do we eat?”

Rarity smiled, “I see no reason why we can’t right now. Why don’t you go call on the girls?”

While Pinkie went upstairs to tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo the cake was ready, Rarity set out four small plates and then cut four slices of roughly the same size.

She frowned at the slice on her own plate. There was something about it that was different from the other three.

Did I... just cut a larger piece for myself? Surely not. I am rather hungry, but still...

She blinked out of her thoughts when Pinkie re-entered.

“Ooh, nice!” said the unicorn, looking at the four plates.

“Listen,” said Rarity, holding a pronged utensil in front of Pinkie, “I know you don’t normally do this, but I eat cake with a fork.”

“Okay, I can do that.”

“I just don’t want my coat, or rather now your coat, getting all... hi, girls!” said Rarity, switching to Pinkie-mode when the two fillies walked into the kitchen, then quickly whispered to Pinkie, “Tell them to sit at the kitchen table.”

“Alright, everypony,” said Pinkie, “Grab your plates and sit at the kitchen table... please.”

“I wish we coulda helped,” said Sweetie Belle as she carried her plate over to the table.

“Ah, it wasn’t that hard. I did most of it,” said Rarity, feeling a little guilty, as the real Pinkie did the bulk of the work, but she was trying to act the part of the pink pony.

When Rarity sat down, she found herself looking intently at the slice of cake again. To her surprise, she felt the desire to grab it and stuff it into her mouth.

No! No. There are limits to how much I’m going to act like Pinkie Pie. I will use a fork like everypony else... she thought, fighting down the uncharacteristic urge. She took a sideways glance at the unicorn and inwardly sighed in relief at seeing her delicately using a fork. While she wasn’t as graceful as Rarity herself, she was good enough.

After they had all eaten, and agreed the cake was delicious, the two older ponies stayed in the kitchen to wash up while the fillies left to play outside.

“Now remember, Pinkie,” said Rarity, drying a plate, “Sweetie Belle goes to bed at no later than half past ten. No. Later. And when she gets home from school, make sure she finishes her homework. Until she does, she can’t go out to play. And... what else... oh, and don’t let her mess up her room.”

“Okay. But couldn’t she do her homework after she comes in from playing?” asked Pinkie.

“These were the rules our parents had when I was living at their house and they still are. I don’t see any reason to change them just because she’s staying here for a while. Now, anything I need to know? Like when taking care of the Cake twins?”

“Oh, you shouldn’t have to worry about foalsitting them too often. But you might wanna learn how to change their...” she stopped when she saw Rarity grimace, “...yeah. Feeding shouldn’t be hard, either — just make sure their milk isn’t too hot and burp them after. Oh, and play with them! They’re fun to play with! But, if you can’t make them laugh, one thing that always works is getting a sack of flour and pouring it all on yourself. They love that!”

“A sack of flour?” Rarity asked dubiously.

“It looks funnier than you think. Hey, wanna see?” asked Pinkie, opening a cupboard with a flour sack inside.

“No, no, that’s fine! I believe you!”

As the day went on, Pinkie practiced dress making while Rarity instructed her. It was only when Sweetie Belle returned that they noticed the sun was setting.

“Hi, Sweetie Belle!” said Pinkie, levitating a spool of thread.

The filly waved in response.

“Goodness, er, wowee! Is that the time?” said Rarity, looking out of a window, “I really need to get back to Sugarcube Corner. So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Oh, okay! G’night!” said Pinkie.

Rarity bid them goodnight and forced herself to bounce out of the boutique rather than walk.

Chapter 11

At a window in the library sat Fluttershy, lost in thought. The setting sun's light accentuated the sombre expression on her face. A face that wasn't her own. She stared glumly at her ghostly reflection in the window, or more specifically, at a unicorn who stared right back.

A tap on her shoulder made her jump. She let out a small yelp and turned to face the baby dragon.

"Hey, calm down, Fluttershy. It's just me," he said, raising his hands.

"Oh... Spike. Sorry."

"What's up?"

"Um... nothing... just thinking about my animals back home."

"I know Twilight's not exactly given you the best first impression, but she'll get better," he replied, and then hopped up to sit on the windowsill next to her, "Hey, how about we go over there now to check up on her?"

"No, no. I–It's fine."

"You sure?"

She gave an almost imperceptible nod, "Mm-hm."

There was something she wasn't telling him, Spike knew. She didn't brighten in the slightest at his suggestion.

"Fluttershy, what's the problem?" he asked, "Come on, you can tell me."

The unicorn was silent for long moments. She shifted uncomfortably, then said, "I... I know Twilight will do fine. It's not that I was thinking about."

Spike nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"It's me. It's who I am now," she said, turning from the dragon to regard her reflection again, wondering if she would ever get used to her new appearance, "I'm not Fluttershy, anymore. I'm Twilight. But I don't want to be somepony else – I want to be me..."

She crossed her hooves on the windowsill and rested her head on them, gazing out at the darkening streets. She enviously watched the other residents pass by, walking in their own bodies, going back to their own homes to live their own lives, completely unaware of the sad little unicorn in the library.

Her day had been taken up mostly by learning how to use magic, which had occupied her thoughts. When she had stopped for the day, she got to thinking about how her life had changed in one morning.

"Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?" asked Spike.

Fluttershy bit her lip. She wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but she thought it would be rude to turn down his offer, since he was just trying to be decent to her. She hesitated and forced a small smile.

"Um... a–a daffodil sandwich, please..." she said, deciding to have something light.

"You got it," said Spike. He leapt down from the windowsill and waddled towards the kitchen. Fluttershy resumed looking out the window, idly watching the interiors of houses brighten as the owners turned on the lights.

With a yawn loud enough to turn the heads of all the animals in the cottage, Twilight stretched her weary body. However, there was still somewhere that felt tense. Then she remembered her extra appendages — her wings.

Making sure there was nothing nearby, she unfurled her yellow wings and stretched them to their full length. She let out a relaxed sigh as she closed them to her sides again.

That's better...

"Hello, friends," said Twilight to the animals scampering around her hooves, "You would not believe the day I've had! Uh... except the parts you were there for."

The day's events had left the pegasus feeling exhausted. First, she had woken up as somepony else, then she needed to teach Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy the basics of how to use magic, and then there was having to take care of the animals at the cottage. And the duck family. Oh yes, the ducks. They had run off into the market, and after getting them all together again, she accidentally knocked over a fruit stand, making the ducks run away again and got into trouble with the vendor. Thankfully, he had accepted the payment Twilight gave him without any further bother.

With the day over, the pegasus carried her weary body up the stairs of the cottage and into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

She was about to brush her teeth when she stopped and looked at the toothbrush. The thought of putting it in her mouth made her feel a little ill. True, it had been in Fluttershy's mouth, which Twilight now 'owned', but it still wasn't her own toothbrush.

That doesn't excuse basic hygiene, thought Twilight, Besides, this isn't my body. I should take extra care with it, and I'd expect the others to do the same. So... I've got to... ugh...

Grimacing, the pegasus began brushing her teeth, and to her surprise, she found it felt natural. It made sense, but felt weird at the same time. Twilight was thankful, however, that the bedtime ritual wouldn't end up being a test of how strong her stomach was.

After cleaning up and putting everything back exactly where she found it, Twilight led herself to Fluttershy's room and climbed into bed, eyes shut before she was even under the light, airy covers. Her head had just hit the pillow when a small weight landed on the sheets next to her. Twilight opened her eyes and in the dim light filtering in from the window, she saw Angel curled up, eyes closed. Smiling, she reached out and stroked his soft fur with her hoof.

Who knows... she thought hazily, Maybe when I wake up, everything will be back to normal...

With her foreleg lightly draped over the bunny's small frame, she drifted off to sleep.

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes to see sunlight streaming in through the windows. She frowned at the room in front of her. Groggily, she sat up in bed, and looked around in confusion. Her disorientation diminished as she remembered where she was.

"Oh..." she said quietly.

Then she remembered why she was in Twilight's room.

"Ohhh..." she moaned quietly, falling back onto the pillow.

Stretching and heaving a large sigh, the unicorn clambered out of bed.

Alright, straight after breakfast, I'm going right back into studying... thought Fluttershy as she made Twilight's... her bed. Strangely, she found she was almost looking forward to opening up the Manual of Magic again.

She stepped quietly, not wanting to wake Spike. Still unsure of the weight of her new body, her hooves moved unsteadily. Despite that, she managed to silently make it to the other side of Twilight's room.

She pushed on the door and gritted her teeth as it creaked. Deciding to get it over with quickly, Fluttershy gave the door a shove, swinging it open and causing the door hinges to to squeak loudly. Biting her lip, she checked over her shoulder to make sure Spike was still asleep — he was — and went to the kitchen to prepare herself a large breakfast; she would need the energy to study for as long as she was planning to.

Half an hour later, Spike walked into the library's main room, rubbing his eyes. He saw the unicorn standing in front of a lectern and didn't think much of it at first, then remembered who was inside her head.

"Morning, Fluttershy."

"Oh, good morning, Spike. Did you have a nice sleep?"

"Yup. One of my best, actually," he replied, stretching, "You?"

"Um... yes, I... I had a nice sleep, too," said Fluttershy, hoping he wouldn't see through her lie; she had actually spent most of the night lying awake on top of the bed covers.

"Hey, wait a minute, did you make yourself breakfast?" asked Spike, noticing the plate Fluttershy had on a small table next to her.

"I did, yes. I'm going to need a lot of energy to keep studying. Why?"

"Uh... it's just that... I usually make it for me and Twilight."

"I see. Well, this means you can concentrate on your own breakfast, right?"

"Yeah... but still, you should've just woken me up and asked me to make you something," said Spike with a small shrug.

"Oh no, I don't want to bother you..."

"Nah, it's no bother. And besides, Twilight usually wakes me up each morning, anyway. You not doing that probably explains why I had such a good sleep," he mused.

"Sorry, you just looked so peaceful."

"Listen, I'm supposed to be Twilight's 'Number One Assistant'. I can't call myself that if I don't assist her."

The unicorn smiled, "Okay. I'll let you do it from now on."

"Need anything now? How about I top up your orange juice there?"

"...Okay," said Fluttershy and with some concentration levitated her half-full glass over to the dragon.

"Be right back!"

She watched him dash off into the kitchen, and then turned back to thick blue book, "Now, let's see... where was I?"

Twilight felt someone touching her left cheek.

Huh? That you, Spike? What do you want?

Her face scrunched up in annoyance when they started tapping her cheek. Without opening her eyes, she batted them away. Moments later, the tapping on her cheek returned.

"Mmmph!" she murmured in protest, irritably batting them away again.

When whoever it was did it a third time, she opened her eyes and rolled over, "Stop it, Spike!"

She was momentarily confused at the white rabbit sitting before her. He tilted his head, clearly confused himself.

"Angel Bunny?" she said, "Wh– oh! Right!"

She sat up and put a hoof on the back of her neck, "Heh. Sorry. I was, uh, dreaming that I was at Twilight's library. I thought you were Spike."

Angel looked slightly insulted at this, giving Twilight the feeling the two didn't get along very well.

"What's wrong? Why were you hitting my face?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "I guess you're all hungry, huh? Okay, I'm getting up."

She stumbled out of bed and pulled the covers back up, smoothing them over until they were perfectly flat, with Angel watching her the whole time wearing an annoyed expression.

She stepped out into the living room and was met with the eyes of animals of all kinds, each looking at her expectantly.

Oh, boy. I better get started on their breakfasts. Then I'll go check on Fluttershy...

By the time Twilight had fed all of the animals in the house, she was extremely hungry. But now she finally had a chance to fill her stomach and get her energy back. She was positively ravenous, to the point where as soon as something was ready, she was eating it even while she prepared another item. When she got back into the living room, her belly was half-full already. As she sat down and ate, Twilight could see how Fluttershy could enjoy taking care of the animals. While the former unicorn wasn't as good as her quiet friend, she was beginning to warm to it. True, it was hard work, but it was worth it to see their happy, grateful faces.

There was a knock at the door.

"Spike, could you get that, please?" asked Fluttershy, poring over the large Manual of Magic, tracing the words with her hoof.

The baby dragon opened the door to see a yellow pegasus standing there.

"Morning, Spike!" she said, smiling. She grabbed the dragon in a hug, then spotted Fluttershy at a lectern, "Good morning to you, too, Fluttershy."

"Oh, hi, Twilight," said the unicorn, glancing up at her friend, then went back to her book. Suddenly, her head snapped up, eyes wide, "Oh! Twilight! I'm sorry. I just... I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," replied Twilight with a shake of her head, "I get like that, too, sometimes. I'm glad you're taking this so seriously, though."

"Oh yes. I want to make sure I get this right. And I think I'm starting to get a feel for how to levitate things, now."

"Good to hear. I trust you didn't push yourself last night?"

"No, I stopped just before the sun went down. By the way, Spike's been a big help. He's been doing stuff like encouraging me and getting things I need. And he even let me practice levitation on him once."

"Oh. Careful..." said Twilight, her voice tinged with concern.

"Don't worry, she didn't levitate me too far off the ground," the dragon assured her, "And she did great," he said, turning to the unicorn with a smile. Fluttershy blushed and smiled back.

"Still, be careful. Don't get ahead of yourself," said Twilight.

"I won't," said Fluttershy, then had a thought, "Um, I'm just wondering, Twilight... how long did it take you to learn levitation?"

The pegasus shook her head, "No, no, no. If I tell you, you'll probably start comparing yourself to me. And remember, I was born with magic. But like I told you yesterday, levitation is one of the easiest spells to learn."

She thought of adding, "You should have it down by the end of today," but stopped herself just in case her friend didn't have it learned it by then.

Fluttershy nodded in response.

"Oh, did you feed the animals?" she asked suddenly.

"Yes, don't worry," replied Twilight, raising a calming hoof, "Although I don't know how you manage to keep up with it all. I was exhausted yesterday!"

"I don't know how, either. I guess my way with animals is like you and magic."

"Hm. That's a good analogy," said Twilight, nodding.

"So, how's Angel been acting towards you?" asked Spike, a slight grimace on his face.

"Angel? Oh, he's been fine."

"Oh. Good. Just let me know if he causes you any trouble."

"Something tells me you two don't get along very well."

The dragon leaned against the lectern and crossed his arms, "Eh, we tolerate each other, I guess," he said with a shrug.

Talk of 'causing trouble' reminded Fluttershy of something, "...Twilight?" she said quietly.

"Yes?"

"What happened yesterday?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know... with the ducks... and the fruit stand... and everypony else there..."

"Oh, it's okay. It's all been taken care of."

"Are you sure?"

Twilight knew why the timid pony was asking this, "It'll be forgotten soon, Fluttershy. Trust me."

"That's what Spike was saying, too. I guess I just care too much what others think of me..."

The pegasus walked over to Fluttershy and hugged her, "For what it's worth, Fluttershy... I'm sorry that happened. And I'm sorry this whole situation happened."

"...It's okay, Twilight. I'm not mad at you. I mean, if I have to pretend to be you, it might help me become more assertive. You know, come out of my sh—"

She was interrupted by the door opening. A yellow earth pony with red hair walked in. Instantly, Fluttershy stiffened, eyes staring.

A customer! Oh no, oh no, oh no!

"Hello?" called the earth pony. She turned her head and saw the two ponies nearby; one looking back nonchalantly, the other acting as if she had seen a dragon land in front of her.

"Uh... which one of you is the librarian?" she asked, hoping it was the pegasus.

"I... uh... I am," squeaked out Fluttershy, hating how her voice failed her under pressure.

"Oh. Okay. I'm looking for a gardening book. You know, this summer weather is the perfect time for it. Where would I find that?"

"It's, uh... well..."

Turning her back to the earth pony, Twilight whispered just loud enough for Fluttershy to hear, "Second floor, back wall."

"O–Oh! That's right, I remember!" said Fluttershy, making a conscious effort to speak loudly and clearly, "It's... it's on the second wall, back floor."

The earth pony gave her a strange look.

Fluttershy averted her eyes, "I–I mean, second floor, back wall!" she corrected hastily, a heavy blush creeping over her face, "Sorry..."

"...Thanks," replied the pony and trotted up the wooden stairs.

"You did great, Fluttershy," complimented Twilight in a low voice.

"No, I messed up and sounded stupid," retorted Fluttershy quietly.

"Nerves get the better of us all, at times. But it'll get easier the more you do it. You wouldn't believe how nervous I was in my first few lessons with Princess Celestia!"

"That's because she's a princess. That one was just another pony..." murmured the unicorn, looking up at the second floor.

"But I got used to talking to her. The nerves went away after a while. Now, like you said, she is a princess, so I'm still just a little nervous around her... but nowhere near like I was before. It'll get easier. Trust me."

Fluttershy looked at her friend. She couldn't recall a time where Twilight had given her a reason to mistrust her. The unicorn nodded, "Okay. I trust you, Twilight," she said sincerely.

"Alright. Spike?"

The dragon stepped forward, "Hm?"

"Once that customer leaves, maybe we should get Fluttershy familiarised with where everything is in the library? Personally, I know the place like the back of my hoof," she said, picking up one of Fluttershy's purple hooves and looking at it, "So, I think we should get our new 'librarian' here up to speed, too."

Chapter 12

It had been a week since the six ponies found themselves living different lives. To make sure they were all coping, Twilight had sent them each a letter asking them to attend a Sunday morning meeting in the library.

"Alright, we're all here," said Twilight, looking at her friends gathered around the table. They all appeared tired, and she suspected that, for most of them, it wasn't because of the early meeting.

"So how's everypony been doing?" she asked, “Picked up any new skills?”

"Ah've been getting a little better at cloud clearin'," said Applejack, "Thanks to Rainbow Dash..." she trailed off as she looked at the earth pony. With her head propped up by a hoof, Dash lightly snored, fast asleep.

"Rainbow, you awake?" asked Applejack. When there was no response, she thumped her hoof on the table. Rainbow snorted and jerked awake.

"Huh? What?" she cried.

She saw her friends looking at her, "Oh. Sorry..." she said, and rested her head on her hoof again, "Just... I've been so tired lately working at Sweet Apple Acres. I'm not used to getting up so early every morning. Did ya ask me something?"

"Ah was sayin' you've helped me a lot with buckin' clouds."

"Oh, yeah, yeah. You're..." Rainbow paused to yawn, "You're welcome."

“Rainbow, how have you been dealing with applebucking?” asked Twilight.

“Uh... Applejack showed me a coupla tricks to get more apples down. I'm still not as good as her, but I guess I'm getting there,” replied the earth pony, stumbling over some words and trying her hardest to keep her eyes open, “Huh... I didn't think applebucking would be that different from cloud clearing, but... it is. And, um... it's kinda fun on the days I'm more awake.”

“Is Applebloom doin' alright?” asked Applejack.

“Hey, I told ya a couple days ago she's fine. She's a great kid,” said Rainbow, smiling tiredly, “Speaking of which... Scootaloo talked to you, yet?”

Applejack looked away, “Actually... ah've been avoidin' her. But not in a way that makes it obvious to her. See, ah... ah wouldn't know how to react to the kid gushin' all over me.”

“Just accept her admiration. And every now and then, tell her I... you think she's awesome.”

“Ah guess that would keep her happy.”

Rainbow straightened up at this, “Hey, I don't say it just to 'keep her happy', y'know,” she said, “I do happen to think the little squirt's awesome.”

“'Cause she's yer number one fan, right?”

“No, of course not.”

Applejack simply looked back at her, smirking. She could tell the earth pony was lying. Rainbow took a deep breath and let it out as a tired sigh.

“Alright, that's partly why. But not just that. She's got potential. Something tells me that when she gets off the ground, if she puts her mind to it, she'll be able to pull off some amazing moves! Not as amazing as mine, you understand... but still... pretty... amazing...”

As she said the last word, her eyes drooped shut and she fell asleep again. Applejack reached over to wake her, but Twilight held out a hoof.

“No, let her sleep,” she said, “Looks like she really needs it. We'll wake her if there's anything she needs to hear.”

The pegasus nodded.

“So,” continued Twilight, brushing some loose strands of pink hair from her face, “Rarity and Pinkie, how have you two been doing?”

Rarity, who seemed more awake than the others, gestured towards Pinkie Pie, offering her to speak first, which she did with no hesitation.

“Gee, I didn't know how much work went into dress-making! I knew it took a lot of time and stuff, but wow! No, really! I mean wow! Like, I was watching Rarity do one and it took days, you know? She was sewing things and cutting things up, then just when I think she's finished, she asks me to get more things, and then she goes back to working on it for another couple of days and I'm just sitting there with a beginner's book! I can barely make a nice looking scarf! But that's okay, because I'll get better at it! Right, Rarity? Right?”

“Uh... yes, that's right, Pinkie,” replied the earth pony, caught slightly off-guard by Pinkie's sudden question.

“How about magic?” Twilight asked the unicorn.

“Eh, I dunno. I've been practising dress-making more than magic. But I visited Fluttershy earlier this week and we did some levitation together. I think Fluttershy's really gotten the hang of it! More than me!”

“Okay, that's good. Rarity? How are things going for you?”

“Me? Not that bad, really. Although, I've got a way to go before I can whip up a batch of cookies with my eyes closed.”

“I could probably do that!” piped up Pinkie.

“Yes, dear, that's what I was implying.”

“Wanna make some now?”

“Maybe later,” said Twilight, trying to get on with the meeting, “So... Fluttershy, you can levitate things easily now, right?”

The unicorn nodded in response.

“I think I'll get you started on something new. Pinkie Pie, do you feel confident enough to start something else?”

“Mmmm... yeah!” replied Pinkie cheerily.

“Great! Now, as for me — I'm not an expert by any means, so I've had to borrow a few books on animal care, but I'm managing to keep on top of the workload, for the most part.”

“Um, Twilight? When do we start something new? Can it be soon?” asked Fluttershy. She had been reading up on a few spells, so she had a fair understanding of a few Twilight might suggest and was eager to learn.

“You're awfully keen,” said Twilight with a surprised smile, “We can start today, if you're up for it.”

“Alright.”

“Alright! Applejack, could you wake Rainbow Dash?”

The blue pegasus gave the pony next to her a firm nudge. Apple green eyes fluttered open.

“Huh? Did I fall asleep again?” said Rainbow, “Sorry...”

“I just wanted to let you know we're finishing up the meeting. We'll meet back here again every week from now on, if you can all make it.”

Dash yawned and nodded, “Okay. I gotta get to Sweet Apple Acres now, so, uh... yeah... see ya.”

The orange pony half-stumbled to the door and leaned on the wall next to it, eyes closed. Worried, Fluttershy rushed over.

“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, fine, yeah, I got it. Just... gimme a minute...”

“Ya don't have to go,” said Applejack.

“Hey, those apples aren't gonna buck themselves, AJ,” replied Rainbow, her voice hinting at irritation, “You do what you're doin'... I'll do what I am.”

With a small grunt, the earth pony pushed off the wall and exited the library.

“Huh... well, she seems to have picked up mah hard-workin' attitude. She's mighty tired, though.”

“Speaking of picking things up...” said Rarity, “I've noticed a few strange things about myself.”

“Yeah, look at you! You're pink!” said Pinkie with a giggle.

“Ha ha, very funny. But really, there have been times where I've looked at a dessert and felt like just... stuffing it into my mouth. Most unladylike.”

“I don't feel like doing that so much anymore,” said Pinkie, “But I have started spending every morning in front of a mirror for a really, really long time. I spend forever on my hair.”

“One hundred brush strokes?”

“I think so. I get bored and lose count. I just stop when I feel like I've done enough.”

“Ah've noticed a change in me, too”, added Applejack, “Now, when ah first started flyin', it was pretty darn fun. But you'd think it would lose its novelty after a week, wouldn't ya? Not fer me. Ah can't stop zoomin' around whenever ah got a free second, seein' how fast ah can go. In fact, ah wanna go outside and fly around right now.”

“And.. studying is becoming less of a chore for me,” chimed in Fluttershy.

“I think I see what's going on,” said Twilight, “The attributes of whoever we switched with seem to be surfacing. For example, I found out I can understand and communicate with animals.”

“We're not going to... become one another, are we?” asked Rarity worriedly, “We're not going to forget who we really are?”

“...I don't think so...” said Twilight, “Have any of you gotten memories that aren't your own? Anything you don't remember actually doing?”

There was silence as the five of them tried to recall any memories that seemed out of place. One by one, they shook their heads.

“Well, alright. As long as that keeps up, I don't think we have much to worry about.”

“Except for doing what we don't want to do,” said Rarity, “It's becoming harder to resist each time I get the urge.”

“It's not all bad,” said Pinkie.

“Oh yes, I really want to start stuffing my face with cakes. Sounds delightful.”

“It does, doesn't it?” said the unicorn, completely oblivious to Rarity's sarcasm, “But I wasn't talking about that. I mean, maybe you'll want to try making others happy. When I get somepony else to smile, I feel good! Really good! You should try it! I mean, you're me now, aren't you? Okay, not me me, but still me. You get me?”

“It's hard to 'get' you, sometimes... but, I understand what you're saying. That actually does sound rather nice,” said Rarity, a small smile on her face.

“Hmmm. I wonder if Dash has noticed anything?” mused Twilight.

“She seemed like she would be too tired to notice,” said Rarity, “Poor dear. I hope she's okay.”

“Me too. Hopefully, we won't get a repeat of what happened with you, Applejack.”

“She's got Big Macintosh to help her out, and ah'm sure we'd all be happy to lend a hoof if she needed it,” said the blue pegasus.

“Of course we would.”

“Anyways, ah gotta get to Cloudsdale. Don't wanna be late for mah patrol. See y'all later!”

“Have a good day!” said Rarity as the pegasus left.

“Okay, then,” said Twilight, turning to Fluttershy, “Let's see... what could we teach you next?”

“I've got a suggestion... if... you know, if you don't mind,” said Fluttershy, “I've been reading over simple transformation. I, um... think I might be able to do that. If you're okay with me choosing that spell...”

“You mean transforming small, inanimate objects, right?”

Fluttershy nodded her head.

“Not large objects or living creatures?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

“Okay, we can do that. It'll be trickier than levitation, but still simple enough.”

“Hey, hey! Does that mean we could turn all these books into cakes?” asked Pinkie excitedly, spinning around as she spoke, “Oh, imagine that! A whole libraryful of cakes! That sounds wondertastic!”

“Wha... no it doesn't!” replied Twilight, mildly dismayed at the thought of all the books in the library suddenly becoming confectionary.

“Oh, okay. So what can we turn into cakes?”

“If all you're going to do is turn things into snacks, then I don't see any point in teaching you this, Pinkie. Does it have to be cakes?”

“Yeah, you're right. What about balloons? Every party needs balloons!”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, “Let's just begin. Now, you might think transformation would be hard.”

“You would?” asked Pinkie.

“Well... yes. Shouldn't it be obvious why?”

The white unicorn tilted her head.

“Think about it,” said Twilight, “You're directly altering the molecular structure of an object.”

“The whoozy-what-now?”

“The molecular structure. You're changing an object's molecules to form something different.”

“What're... 'molecules'?”

“Oh, well, to put it simply, molecules are made of fixed numbers of atoms joined together by covalent bonds, and can range from the very small, even down to single atoms, to the very large, such as in polymers, proteins, or even DNA. Now, the covalent bonds holding the molecules together are very strong, but these are largely irrelevant to the physical properties of the substance. You see, physical properties are governed by the intermolecular forces, that is, forces attracting one molecule to its neighbours...”

Twilight stopped as she saw her three friends' blank stares.

“You catch any of that?” Pinkie asked Fluttershy out the side of her mouth.

“Nope...” replied the timid mare.

“This is... simple?” asked Rarity.

With a frustrated sigh, Twilight hung her head in defeat, “Never mind, it doesn't matter. Look, simple transformation just isn't that hard, okay? Don't ask me why, magic's funny that way.”

Pinkie scratched her head, “Like, 'ha-ha funny'? 'Cause I'm not—”

“Yes, 'ha-ha funny'. Come on, let's get on with it,” said the pegasus and started walking to the other end of the room.

“Wait, I got a question!”

Twilight turned, “Yes?”

“I still don't know what molecules are, but that's okay. The thing I wanna know now is... how do molecules taste? They sound like something yummy! And it's a funny word! Really funny! I'm gonna be saying 'molecules' a lot from now on! Molecules, molecules, molecules, molecules!”

This is going to be a long day... thought Twilight.

"Aren't bowls a little... uh... deeper than that?" asked Pinkie, looking at the oblong saucer, formerly a cup, in front of her.

"It's my first try,"said Fluttershy in a quiet voice, lowering her eyes.

"Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean it like that," apologised Pinkie.

"It's fine, Fluttershy," said Twilight, "Try curving the edges a little more."

“Yeah, change those molecules!”

Fluttershy's horn lit up and she closed her eyes, a glow surrounding the saucer moments later. The unicorn opened her eyes and she extended and curved the rim like a potter manipulating clay. When she was finished, a deep, if somewhat narrow, bowl with an uneven rim sat on the table.

“Not bad for a first try,” said Twilight, nodding, “Now... Pinkie?”

“Mm-hm?” the unicorn turned at the mention of her name.

“See if you can turn it back into a cup. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same one it was before. Now remember, concentrate solely on the shape you want. You can let your mind wander a little once you become more proficient.”

After a few tries and some strange shapes, Pinkie Pie finally managed to create what resembled a miniature vase.

“Not bad. Not bad,” commented Twilight. While it wasn't exactly a cup, it could at least hold liquid better than some of the other indescribable objects the white unicorn had created.

One thing was clear to Twilight — Fluttershy was far better at magic than Pinkie Pie. She guessed this was probably due to her spending most of her time studying, whereas Pinkie's focus was mainly on dress-making. Still, it was worth having both of them learn some spells.

Just as long as no major threat comes to Eques— no! Don't think about it! “Don't think about bad things or they might happen.” Mom always said that, but I never believed it. Right now, though, I don't want to take any chances... Twilight thought to herself.

Chapter 14

The setting sun's rays streamed into Carousel Boutique and shone on the white hooves of a troubled unicorn as she worked on a narrow strip of cloth.

"I can't get this!" moaned Pinkie, sagging her shoulders.

"Whatever is the matter, darling?" asked Rarity, walking over to the unicorn's side.

Pinkie held up the purple length of fabric she had ran through the sewing machine, "I can't do the zigzag pattern like in the book."

"That's strange, you were doing fine yesterday..."

With a sigh, the unicorn put the fabric on the work table, "I guess I'm just too worried about Rainbow Dash..."

"Come, now. You know how tough Rainbow is. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if she's up and about like normal tomorrow. At least as normal as any of us can be, right now."

A thought struck Pinkie, "Hey, how about we change her molecules?" she suggested.

"I can't believe you're still saying that word," said Rarity with a sigh, "Besides, that doesn't even make any sense. What good would 'changing her molecules' do?"

"We could change her sleepy molecules into not-sleepy molecules!"

"You can't alter what's happened to her like that."

"Why not?"

"Because what she's experiencing doesn't have molecules."

"Why not?"

"Because it just doesn't."

"Oh."

"We'll just have to wait and see."

"Okay. Oh, yeah! Have you looked after Pound and Pumpkin, yet?"

"...Not yet," replied Rarity, silently hoping she wouldn't need to. She wasn't sure she could handle two foals; Sweetie Belle was enough trouble as it was.

"Don't worry! I bet you'll get to do that soon!"

"Yes. Sounds wonderful."

"And now that the school holidays are starting soon, I'm gonna get to look after Sweetie a lot more!"

"I don't know about that. Her room will probably be finished by then. If not, she'll most likely be out all day with her Crusader friends."

"I guess, yeah. At least she can stay up later. Then we can play when she comes back home!"

"Stay up later?" Rarity repeated with a slight frown, "Oh, no, no, no. Same bed time."

"What? Why? She won't have school or anything, anymore. Not for a few weeks, anyway."

"I'm not going to have her staying up until all hours and then waking up in the afternoon."

"But..." Pinkie started to protest, then realised it would be fruitless trying to argue her point, "Okay..."

"It took long enough to get her into that routine as it is. You really don't want to break it."

"Break what?" asked a young voice.

The two ponies looked over at Sweetie Belle standing at the kitchen door.

"How long have you been standing there?" asked Rarity cautiously.

"Just now."

"Did you come in the kitchen side door?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Um... no reason..." said Sweetie with a shrug.

Rarity noticed a small, brown smudge at the side of her sister's mouth.

"Was there any cake left?" the earth pony asked Pinkie.

"Some. Why?" she replied.

"I think your sister snuck in the side door and had a slice."

"You could have just asked," Pinkie told the filly.

"No need to sneak around," said the earth pony, "Right, Rarity?"

"Right! Yeah, no sneaking."

"Sorry,” said the filly, “Um, but anyway, what are you talking about not breaking?"

"Oh, er... you know... stuff..." fumbled Rarity.

"Yeah, um... Pinkie was... telling me... not to break... ah... the sewing machines! Hahaha! Silly Pinkie! I won't break my own sewing machines!"

"Yes! Of course! Silly me! What was I thinking?" laughed Rarity, playing along and resisting the urge to bury her face in her hooves at Pinkie's half-baked story.

Sweetie Belle stared at them with a look of confusion, "Oh... okay..."

"Well, I have to get back home," said Rarity, wanting to escape the situation, "See you two later!"

The two unicorns bid her farewell as she bounced out of the boutique, then Sweetie turned to her 'sister', "Hey, Rarity, how come Pinkie Pie's coming over a lot? I mean, I don't mind that she is. It's just... she's never visited so much before."

"She's my friend. Nothing wrong with having friends over, is there?"

"No, no, I didn't mean that. I was wondering is all."

"She's just teaching me some recipes and stuff," replied Pinkie readily, having anticipated this question for a few days. With Rarity coming to the boutique so often, Sweetie was bound to notice.

"Oh. Um... speaking of which... I only took a teeny slice of cake."

"Stop worrying about it!" Pinkie replied cheerily, "But I hope you left enough room for dinner, tonight."

"Uh-huh. What are we having?"

"There's still some vegetable soup left over. How about that?"

"Yes, please! Like I said last night, it tasted great! Even better than Mom's!"

"Aw, thanks!"

"But when'd you get so good at it? Did Pinkie teach you?"

"Uh... sure, yeah!" replied the older unicorn as the two made their way to the kitchen.

After the meal, the two spent the rest of the night quietly relaxing. Sweetie Belle lay on the floor, drawing, while Pinkie read a book on a couch nearby. As it neared the filly's bedtime, the unicorn's eyes constantly flicked between the book and the clock, making it difficult for her to follow the story.

"It's ten-thirty, Sweetie Belle! Time for bed!" called Pinkie suddenly, startling the filly.

"Oh, already?"

"Uh-huh! Come on, you've got school tomorrow! Did you do your homework?"

"I did it on Friday. You know that. I mean, for the past week, you've been watching me like a hawk while I've done it. You don't need to do that."

"I'm just making sure. It's all part of being a big sister."

"Yeah? So, if I was the big sister, you'd be okay with me watching you closely while you did something?"

"No, that'd be really annoying. Anyway, it's time for bed! It's your last week of school, come on!"

"Okay,” said Sweetie, getting to her hooves and picking up her drawing papers, “'Night, Rarity."

"G'night!" replied Pinkie and gave Sweetie a hug.

The filly returned the hug and then trotted upstairs. Pinkie stretched, then, to her surprise, yawned.

Gee, I didn't realise I was that sleepy. Guess I'd better get to bed, too...

She checked every door and window was locked, turned out the lights, and then cantered up to her bedroom. Without thinking about it, she levitated a tub of face cream over and dipped the tip of her hoof in. After applying the cream, she fetched her red silk eye mask and crawled into bed.

Pinkie was awoken by a shrill scream. She sat up in shock and panicked when she opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness. Then she remembered she was wearing her eye mask. She took it off and climbed out of bed.

Was that Sweetie Belle?

Stepping out into the hallway, she quietly made her way to the filly's room. Listening closely from outside, she could hear sniffling and hitching breaths. She gently pushed the door open and peeked in.

“Sweetie?” she whispered.

In the dim light, she saw the small unicorn turn over to face her. Pinkie closed the door behind her, then went to the filly's bedside.

“What's wrong, Sweetie?” she asked.

“I... had a... a ni–nightmare...” replied Sweetie Belle between breaths.

Pinkie couldn't bear to see someone crying and wondered what she could do. Then she remembered when she was younger and shared her room with her sisters; any time she had a nightmare, her older sister, Maud, would always comfort her by laying next to her younger sibling and holding the pink filly close. She never said anything, but she stayed with Pinkie until she fell asleep.

Hoping this wouldn't be too far out of character, Pinkie climbed onto the bed and lay down next to the filly, hugging her, as her own sister had done, “Oh, it's okay, now. It's over. Do you want to tell me about it?”

Pressing her wet eyes into her sister's chest, Sweetie recounted her bad dream.

"I was... I was in Ponyville... and there was this big, red dragon chasing me... and I got trapped in an alley between these two houses and then... and then it was about to breath fire on me... then I woke up."

"Well, that mean old dragon can't get you now. Don't worry, I'm here. Pinkie's here."

The older unicorn stiffened, her eyes wide. She grit her teeth in worry as the filly pulled away.

"What did you say?" she asked, looking into the older unicorn's blue eyes.

"I said 'Rarity's here'. Because that's who I am — Rarity," replied Pinkie with a nervous laugh.

"...You said Pinkie."

"No, no, you're tired. You heard me wrong. Now go to sleep. School tomorrow!"

"I don't care. I know what I heard, Pinkie. I thought Rarity was acting weird..."

"No, uh... I..."

Pinkie tried to think of a way out of her predicament, but could only respond with a sigh of defeat.

Oh boy, rumbled...

"Okay, yeah. You're right."

“No way...”

“It's true.”

"How'd that happen? When?"

"Last week."

"What? Why didn't you tell me? What happened?" asked Sweetie.

"It's a long story... I'll tell you tomorrow when you get ba—"

"No, now!"

"But Sweetie Belle..."

"Tell me!"

"No, Sweetie," said Pinkie, finally, and stepped off the bed, "It's too much for this time of night."

The filly stared back at the older pony before flopping onto her back with a heavy sigh.

"Just please promise not to tell anypony," said Pinkie.

"Why?"

"Just please don't. Promise me."

Long, tense moments passed.

"...Okay..." replied Sweetie at last.

"Thank you."

"Is Rarity in your body?"

"Yeah. Don't say anything to her either. She'll get mad."

The filly narrowed her eyes, "Fine..."

"Alright..." said Pinkie, then cleared her throat, "So... the nightmare still scaring you?"

"No," said Sweetie and turned away, "I can't believe you and Rarity lied to me..."

"Sorry..."

Sweetie didn't respond, so Pinkie turned and quietly left the hurt filly alone.

Upon hearing the door bell tinkle, Pinkie looked up from the sewing book in her hooves. Rarity walked in and looked around.

“Is Sweetie here?” she asked in a low voice.

“No, she's out with her friends,” replied Pinkie, “She'll probably be back for dinner, soon.”

The earth pony nodded.

“Homework?” she asked.

“She didn't have any; it's the last week of school.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Hm.”

“Are you okay?”

“What? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,” replied the unicorn more perkily.

“Are you sure? You seem to have something on your mind.”

“No, just a bit tired.”

She hoped Rarity wouldn't ask any more questions. She didn't want to risk giving away that Sweetie Belle knew about their switch.

The filly had barely spoken to her in the morning. Pinkie guessed she still felt mad at being lied to her face, not only by an older pony, but by her own sister. She hadn't stomped downstairs or slammed any doors, but she was clearly upset. Pinkie could only hope she would keep her promise.

“Have you been getting enough sleep, dear?” asked Rarity, looking closely at the face she used to see in the mirror, “I hope so. A lack of sleep can cause wrinkles to appear early. Not to mention those horrid bags under one's eyes.”

“Oh, I've been getting plenty of sleep. Sweetie Belle just sometimes takes a lot of energy out of me.”

“Out of you?”

“I don't have as much as I used to since I got your body," said Pinkie, putting down the book.

“Actually, speaking of sleep, I'm sometimes finding it hard to get a good night's rest. But I've not felt like nodding off during the day. Yet.”

“I bet you're not using all my energy, are you? Come on, you're supposed to be bouncing around laughing and making everypony else laugh! But I know what you mean. Sometimes, when it's been a slow day, I don't get much sleep, since I haven't used all my energy. Good thing I can run on a few hours of sleep! In fact, I could probably run for a few hours while I sleep! Oh, but then I'd bump into things or end up really far away from Ponyville, so I'd be lost and have these lumps all over me. But I could always turn around and run while sleeping again and maybe end up back in Ponyville by the time I wake up!”

“Oh... yes...” said Rarity, unsure how to respond.

"Strange way for my 'sister' to talk, isn't it?" said Sweetie Belle, entering from the kitchen like the day before.

"Huh?" said Rarity, twisting to face the unicorn, "Oh, hiya, Sweetie Belle! What's with you coming in the side door these days? I mean, I know you've got a key for it and everything, but..."

"Don't worry, I didn't take any cake, this time. Me and Pinkie finished it all last night, anyway."

"You silly filly, I didn't eat any cake here yesterday!"

"I know. I said me and Pinkie did, Rarity."

Behind Rarity's back, Pinkie was frantically swiping her hoof side-to-side under her mouth, trying to non-verbally tell Sweetie to 'cut it out'.

The pink pony laughed nervously, "What... what are you calling me Rarity for? I'm Pinkie Pie."

"I know what's happened, Rarity."

"This is a little joke, right?" she asked Pinkie, "Ha ha ha! Oh, you two almost got me! Funny!"

"Actually..." began the older unicorn.

"You're not going to say what I think you are..." said Rarity through a forced smile.

"There's a small, teensy, tiny, itty-bitty, little problem. Like, really tiny. So small you can only see it with a magnifying glass, and when you see it, you're like, 'Wow, that problem is really small! Aw, it's so cute!' and you wanna be careful so you don't hurt it. Then you wonder if it's hungry. Say, what do you think a problem would eat? Oh well, doesn't matter. So yeah, this small problem, and it really isn't that big—"

"We get it!" said Rarity in an irritated tone.

"Oh. Sorry. Well, um... you see..."

"I had a nightmare last night and Pinkie said her name instead of yours by accident and that's when I found out you two switched bodies," said Sweetie Belle matter-of-factly.

"She 'said her name'?" pondered Rarity.

"Why'd you lie to me?"

"Wh–what?"

"You never told me about this! You lied about who you were! And you and Mom and Dad are always saying I shouldn't lie!"

"Look... Sweetie..."

"What, it's different when you lie?"

"No, but this time..."

"You're my sister! How could you look me in the eyes and lie to me?"

Sweetie's words hit hard. Rarity let out a short sigh, feeling guilty.

"We never told anypony else, either," she tried to reason, "We didn't want anyone to take advantage of the situation."

"Like me?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant!"

"How'd it happen, anyway?"

"It was... Twilight was trying out a new spell, and... er, me and Pinkie were affected."

"Well get her to change you back, then!" cried Sweetie Belle, stamping a hoof.

"Um... she can't, because... it wouldn't work. But she said it'll wear off in time," said Rarity, hoping her lie would come off as convincing.

"How much time?"

"I don't know. Shouldn't be that long. I hope."

"Do you mean 'not that long', or do you mean 'a year'?"

Rarity blanched. She didn't like the thought of having to live another life for a whole year. Or more.

"Oh, nononono. I–I'm sure it won't take that long," she said with a nervous smile

"I hope not..." replied Sweetie, then sighed, "I'm gonna go wash up for dinner."

"Remember to wash—"

"Behind my ears, yeah, I know," said the filly as she walked towards the stairs.

After she had went into the bathroom, Pinkie piped up.

"Hey, how come you didn't tell her about everypony else?"

"Because then she might tell her Crusader friends and then there would be the danger of it getting out that way. Like I said, there are some ponies who might take advantage of the situation. It's just less complicated this way."

"I think you should tell Twilight."

Rarity mused on this. She knew the pegasus would get upset — maybe even angry — but it would be best if she told her. She would probably find out somehow, anyway.

"You're right," said Rarity with a nod, "I'll let her know after dinner. What are we having?"

"Vegetable soup. Sweetie Belle says she likes the way I make it!" replied Pinkie, purposefully leaving out Sweetie's comment about how it was 'better than her mother's", feeling that might be a little rude.

"Really? I wish she said that about my cooking."

"I could teach you how I do it, if you want."

"No disrespect, but I'd like to have a taste of it, first."

"Sure!"

Rarity smiled, then looked up the stairs as Pinkie walked into the kitchen.

"Has she gotten lost in there? Sweetie! Are you done?" she called.

The door opened and the filly stepped out, drying her ears with a towel, "Yeah, I'm done, you."

"Please, Sweetie, don't be like that..." said Rarity as Sweetie Belle made her way down.

The young unicorn stopped in front of the earth pony and looked up at her.

“I'm sorry,” apologised Rarity, “But listen, don't say anything about this to anypony else and... maybe I'll get you something from Sugarcube Corner."

Sweetie looked unimpressed, "Oh, good."

"Let's put it this way: when you come home from school on Friday, you might find a five-pack or two of Wurly-Twurls on your bed."

The filly's eyes widened, "...Pack?"

"All for you. Or you can share with your friends, if you want."

Rarity had long known what her sister's favourite chocolate bar was. It didn't surprise her in the least to see a long, winding bar in the fridge after she and Scootaloo had came back with the ingredients for the chocolate cake.

"Really?"

"Of course. Keep it up and you may discover another pack mysteriously appearing in your room."

The filly couldn't do anything other than swallow to drain her watering mouth.

"See? I'm still your sister. Who else would know your favourite candy bar? Even mother and father don't know for sure."

This made Sweetie smile, "Okay. I won't tell anypony."

"Are we good?" asked the earth pony.

"...Yeah. I'm sorry, Rarity."

Rarity took her sister into a hug, "No, I'm sorry. But you understand why we can't let anyone know, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now, let's get something to eat, hm?"

Chapter 15

Twilight had just sat down to enjoy her breakfast in the living room with the animals when she heard a knock at the door.

Who could be knocking this early? she wondered.

After a quick bite into her toast, she stood up and opened the top half of the door to see Rarity and Pinkie.

“Hi, girls,” greeted Twilight.

“...Yeah, hi, er, Fluttershy,” said Rarity, glancing at Angel sitting on the pegasus' back.

“What's wrong?”

“Um... I got bad news.”

“Oh no, what is it?”

“Well, it's about... you know... what's happened to us.”

Twilight got a sinking feeling in her gut, “Oh... let's talk about this elsewhere,” suggested Twilight and sat Angel down on the floor.

“Now, Angel, Mommy has go to talk to her friends about something important, so you take care of everyone while I'm gone, okay?”

The bunny sighed and nodded. Before hopping away, he shot a glare at the two ponies who were distracting his mother from him.

Twilight walked outside and led the two ponies across the bridge and out of earshot of the animals.

“So, what's going on?” she asked, turning to the two, “This bad news isn't going to be what I think it is, is it?”

“Kinda depends on what you think it's gonna be,” replied the unicorn.

“Pinkie, please,” said Rarity, “This is no time to try and be funny.”

“Who said anything about being funny? It does depend on what she thinks the bad news is. Like, if she thinks it's that Sugarcube Corner is out of cupcakes, then she'd be totally wrong!” replied Pinkie, ending her sentence with a huge grin.

“Get on with it,” Twilight said loudly, her hunger and lack of morning coffee not doing her patience any good.

“Sorry,” said Rarity, “You see... well, you know my sister, Sweetie Belle?”

The pegasus felt her gut sink lower, “Yeah?”

Rarity grit her teeth, hesitating.

“...She knows...” she said in a low voice.

Twilight covered her face with a hoof, “I knew it was gonna be something like that...” she said with a sigh, then looked at Rarity, “How'd it happen? I'm assuming you didn't just come out and tell her?”

“No, no, it was... er...” the earth pony paused and glanced at Pinkie, not wanting to just lay the blame on her.

“It was my fault, Twilight,” Pinkie spoke up, ears flattened against her head, “I didn't mean to, but I kinda gave it away.”

“Meaning?”

“See, Sweetie Belle had a nightmare, so I was comforting her, and telling her that I was there for her... and I accidentally said my name instead of 'Rarity'. That, and I've not been acting very Rarity-ish.”

“Well, this is just great,” muttered Twilight, turning her head away.

"Not to worry, not to worry!" said Rarity quickly in an attempt to douse any embers of anger in the scowling pegasus, "Sweetie has promised to keep quiet about the situation."

"I wonder how long that'll last..."

"We'll do our utmost to make sure it lasts until we're back to normal. Won't we, Pinkie?"

"Yup! Even if it means tying her up and locking her in her room," replied the unicorn with a serious expression.

"Pinkie, that's my little sister you're talking about!"

"Sorry!"

Rarity shook her head, "Anyway, Sweetie thinks that only Pinkie and I have been affected."

"I guess that'll make things easier in case she does spill the beans," said Twilight.

"And if she does, we'll tell her to clean them up," said Pinkie.

"Right," said Twilight, rolling her eyes, "I'm gonna go have my breakfast. I can't think on an empty stomach. If you girls need me later today, I'll probably be at the library with Fluttershy."

As the three separated, the pegasus heard Pinkie asking Rarity what beans had to do with the conversation.

Spike set his cup down with a small clink.

“So, is it okay?” asked Fluttershy, referring to the bowl she had transformed into a cup.

“It held the apple juice perfectly,” said Spike, “It didn't spill or anything. It's a bit lumpy on the sides, but that's no problem.”

"Oh, good. This is tricky, though."

"A lot of things are, at first. But who knows what you'll be able to do in the future? Just keep at it."

"Okay. I'm going to try to change it back, now."

Halfway through the transformation, there was a knock at the door.

"That's probably Twilight," said Fluttershy, glancing over her shoulder at the door, "Spike, could you get that while I finish this, please?"

With all of her attention focused on moulding the cup's sides into a bowl shape, the unicorn didn't notice Twilight walking over to stand on her right, observing. She did her best to smooth out the bowl's sides, then dispelled her magic.

She looked right, and jumped back with a squeak, not expecting Twilight to be there.

“Oh! Twilight! I–I didn't see you there.”

“Sorry for startling you. But, um, I've been... getting that a lot, actually,” replied the pegasus, “Not being noticed, that is.”

“You have?”

“Yeah. Sometimes, I feel invisible.”

“So did I, when I was still me. Not... not that I minded... most of the time.”

“What do you mean?”

“If nopony notices me, then if I make a mistake, I don't have to worry about them seeing it,” said the unicorn, eyes on the floor.

“Nopony's perfect, Fluttershy. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“I still don't want to make them in front of anyone.”

“I understand that. But you also said 'most of the time'. What do you mean by that?”

“Sometimes, I've tried to buy something at a market stall, but the salespony is too busy talking to a friend. I can never get their attention, so I just walk away and try later. That's when I wish they'd see me.”

“Your friends see you, Fluttershy. Remember that. We'll never ignore you.”

The unicorn gave her a small smile.

“So, how are you getting on with transformation?” asked Twilight.

“I'm not perfect with it, but I'm getting better.”

“Pretty good for a few days' worth of practice,” commented the pegasus, lifting up the bowl and inspecting it.

“You think so?”

“I'm surprised at your progress, to be honest. For someone who's never used magic before, you're picking things up quicker than I thought you would. I'm impressed.”

Fluttershy blushed at the praise, “Oh... I–I'm sure I'm not doing that well...” she said, crossing her forehooves.

Placing the bowl back on the table, Twilight walked over and put a wing around her friend, “Don't be so doubtful of your abilities. I'm telling you the truth.”

Fluttershy nuzzled her friend, “Thank you.”

Twilight released the timid mare and closed her wing. She deliberated on whether or not to tell everypony else about Sweetie Belle's discovery, then decided not to, thinking it might cause the others to overact their parts around the filly and tip her off.

While Fluttershy continued her practice, Twilight took a book about otters off a shelf. She was having trouble understanding their behaviour, sometimes, and decided a study session was in order. She placed the book on a lectern near an open window and sat down to read. However, she found it hard to absorb the information like usual and concentrated more on the tweeting of two birds outside. She smiled as she heard a soon-to-be mother bird telling her mate about her eggs recently moving under her.

With a vigorous shake of her head, Twilight stuck her nose in the book again, trying to rekindle the love of research she once had.

“Um, Twilight?” asked a soft voice.

“Yes?”

“After lunch, would it be okay if I go and visit Rainbow Dash at the hospital?”

“Well, of course! Would you mind if I joined you?”

“I wouldn't mind. I'd love for you to. Do you want to come, too, Spike?"

"I'd like to, but I've got a couple of things I really need to do. Maybe next time."

A few hours later, as the two ponies prepared to leave the library, Fluttershy turned to the baby dragon.

"Are you sure you can't just do your chores when you come back?" she asked.

"Yeah, you don't have to do them right now," chimed in Twilight.

"Nah, I just want them done. I don't want to end up leaving them to the last minute," said Spike, filing away books onto an almost completely empty bookcase, "Say 'hi' to Rainbow for me."

"Alright. We'll see you later, Spike. Bye!"

As the two ponies neared the entrance to Ponyville Hospital, they saw Big Mac and Apple Bloom leaving.

“Hi, you two,” greeted Twilight, “Visiting R– Applejack?”

“Uh-huh,” nodded the filly, “She's feelin' more awake'n yesterday and looks loads better.”

“Well, we came to see her, too,” said Fluttershy, “Is... is she awake? Oh, maybe we should come back later?” she said, looking at Twilight, “Maybe she's sleeping?”

“Nuh-uh, she's awake. Least she was when we left,” said Apple Bloom, looking over her shoulder at the hospital.

“I don't think she'll mind if we give her a quick visit, too,” said Twilight, laying a wing over the unicorn's back, “By the way, where's Granny Smith? Didn't she come with you?”

“Nah, she stayed at home fer a sleep.”

“Listen, sorry, but we need to get back to the farm,” said Big Mac.

“Oh, sorry to keep you,” said Twilight and waved them goodbye, "Um, see you later, bye!"

The two ponies entered the hospital and made their way to Dash's room. Fluttershy gently opened the door and peeked in. She stepped in fully when she saw the earth pony, now wearing a pale green hospital gown, sitting up awake in the bed.

“Fluttershy! Twilight!” exclaimed Rainbow, smiling.

“Hi! We met Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom outside,” said Twilight, “They told us you were feeling better. We're glad to hear that.”

“Yeah, a lot better,” said Rainbow, returning Fluttershy's hug, “Just bored looking at these same four walls all the time. Big Mac brought me a book Applejack's been reading, but I can't get into it. It's about a farm filly, or somethin',” she explained, holding up the book. Under the title, the cover displayed a filly with a sprig of wheat in her mouth and a ragged straw hat walking along a river bank.

“Oh, Huckleberry Whinny,” said Twilight, remembering reading it a while ago.

“Eeyup,” replied the earth pony, then shook her head, “Sheesh, now I'm talkin' like an Apple.”

“After living with somepony for a while, you do tend to start talking similarly.”

“I guess,” said Dash and returned the book to her bedside table, “So, what's been going on with you two?”

“Fluttershy's still advancing rapidly in her studies,” said Twilight, smiling over at the unicorn, “You know, I'm enjoying teaching you and seeing you get better every time. You're doing so well.”

“Well, I'm being taught by you, after all,” said Fluttershy.

“Maybe I should become a teacher?” said Twilight, half-joking.

“Yeah, and overload everypony's brains with information,” quipped Rainbow, holding both forehooves to the sides of her head.

“Is that so? Fluttershy doesn't seem too 'overloaded with information'.”

“C'mon, you know I'm just messin' with ya. But I'm glad you're doing good there, Fluttershy.”

The unicorn nodded.

“Oh, by the way,” she said, “Spike says 'hi'. He wanted us to say that for him.”

“Oh. 'Hi' to him, too.”

“He would've come, but he had some chores to do.”

“Sounds like somepony I know...” said Rainbow, gazing out the window with a longing look.

“You'll be out of here soon,” said Twilight.

“Yeah, tomorrow afternoon, if they think I'm okay.”

“Just remember to eat what they give you and drink plenty of fluids.”

Dash rolled her eyes, “Yes, mother.”

“I'm only saying that if they don't see you eating, they might think you're not well enough, yet.”

“I know, you just sound like a mom.”

“Maybe it's because she takes care of Spike?” suggested Fluttershy, “Do you think that counts as being a mother?” she asked the pegasus.

“...It's more of a brother-sister relationship,” said Twilight, “But I do feel motherly towards him, sometimes. I've raised him his whole life, after all.”

“That makes sense. Um, Rainbow Dash? How do you feel about being a sister, now?”

“I'd never thought much about what it would be like, before,” said the earth pony, adjusting her sitting position on the bed, “I've always been an only child, but when I was a filly, I remember sometimes thinking what would happen if my parents had another baby. This is gonna sound weird, but it... it scared me, a little.”

“Why would you be scared?” asked Twilight.

“I dunno. I guess I thought they wouldn't love me as much if a baby was around. I know, it sounds stupid.”

“I can see why you might think that. But you know your parents wouldn't love you less. In fact, when Shining Armor was told he would be getting a sister, he told me he got really excited and kept asking Mom and Dad when I was going to be here. And they loved him just as much after I was born.”

“If only he knew what he was getting into,” joked Rainbow.

“Definitely,” laughed the pegasus, “I sometimes annoyed him because I followed him almost everywhere. Even when he was meeting his friends, I'd tag along like a little puppy. I wonder, though, Rainbow,” she added, tilting her head, “Did you ever feel lonely without a sibling?”

“Nah. I had plenty of friends to play with. And Fluttershy...” Rainbow looked fondly over at the said pony, “You've kinda been like a sister to me for years, anyway.”

“I'm glad we met, Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy softly, “I don't have a brother or sister, and as a filly, I didn't even have any friends.”

“Well, ya got plenty of them now,” said Dash, pulling her into a tight hug.

With a smile, Twilight watched the two embrace, then glanced at the clock.

“Listen, I have to go,” she said, “I need to feed the animals. Will you be okay getting back by yourself, Fluttershy?”

“I'll be fine, yes. Thank you.”

“Okay. Just remember not to stay too long; Rainbow still needs to fully recover. Bye, you two!”

The unicorn and earth pony said their goodbyes to her and she left the room. Once she was sure Twilight was out of earshot, Rainbow sighed.

“Seriously, she's like a mom. I was expecting her to tell me not to stay up too late.”

“You shouldn't, though,” said the unicorn, putting her forehooves on the bed, “You need to have some early nights for a while.”

“Oh, don't you start,” said Dash, grinning.

“I'm just worried about you.”

“I know. And besides, this body isn't mine,” she said, patting her chest, “I need to take care of it.”

“That's right. So be a good girl and eat up all your vegetables.”

“But mooooom...!”

“And I want you to wash your face and hooves before bed. I'll read you a bedtime story if you do.”

“Okay...” said Rainbow pushing her lips out in a mock pout.

The two couldn't keep up the act and burst out laughing.

“You're so silly, sometimes,” said Fluttershy.

“You started it.”

“Only because you said me and Twilight were acting like mothers.”

“Huh. Actually, Twilight started it by acting that way in the first place. Give her a punch on the nose for me.”

“Well, no bedtime story for you, if that's how you're going to act.”

Rainbow smiled placed a hoof one of Fluttershy's, “Y'know, all this talk about moms and stuff has got me thinking; I bet you'd make a great mother.”

The timid mare's face flushed scarlet and her ears flattened against her head, “M–Mother? M–Me?” she squeaked.

“Yeah. I don't mean be one right now, but eventually, you know?”

“But who would want to be with me?”

“What are you talkin' about? You're a catch!”

“No, I'm not. I mean, s–stallions have talked to me before a couple of times... but... but then they find out how sh–shy I am and just give up...” she mumbled, looking at her hooves.

“So? Forget about them. You'll find somepony who'll take the time to learn who you really are,” Dash leaned over and added, “Like I did.”

That additional little line sparked a thought in Fluttershy's head. Her friend was right. If even Rainbow Dash, a brash, speed-loving, and sometimes impatient pegasus could take the time to get to know her, then surely someone else would.

“Maybe... someday...”

“Sure!”

“And... and someday you could be an auntie!”

Dash's face scrunched up in uncertainty.

“I dunno...”

"Why?"

The earth pony scratched the back of her head, "'Auntie Rainbow Dash' makes me sound like an old mare."

Fluttershy giggled, “You're being silly again. It doesn't make you sound old. Besides, you'd be the coolest aunt ever.”

Rainbow leaned against the headboard, “Yeah, true,” she said, grinning.

“What about you, Rainbow? Have you ever thought about being a mother?”

“Only if I find somepony almost as cool as me. But that might take a while. And I'm only countin' stallions, by the way, so, ah... don't think you've got a chance with me,” she added with a wink, making Fluttershy smile and shake her head, “Honestly, though, I think it'd be awesome to have miniature version of me I could fly around with. Yeah, a junior Wonderbolt in the making. Cool thought, isn't it, Auntie Fluttershy?”

“Oh, I'd love to hear a foal say that, someday,” said Fluttershy, clasping her hooves together.

“Maybe you will.”

The two ponies continued talking until it was time for dinner to be served. At that point, Fluttershy decided she should leave, as she was getting hungry, herself. Rainbow grimaced at the portions on her tray.

“Ugh. Say, Fluttershy, before you go... you said you've gotten kinda good at transformation, right?”

“Rainbow Dash...”

“C'mon, can't ya change one of these things into actual food?”

“I'm not that good at it, yet. I might change it into something worse.”

“I don't think that's possible,” said the earth pony, looking at the food as if it were poisonous.

“Please, Rainbow, eat as much as you can. Don't make me and Twilight nag you again.”

“Fine...” sighed Dash. She scooped up some of the cheap, horrible-tasting hay and tried not to gag as she put it in her mouth.

Fluttershy nodded and turned towards the door.

“Bye, Rainbow. See you tomorrow afternoon?”

“Mmf. I hmp sm...”

Author's Note

A new chapter to "celebrate" this story's writing time of... two years! Wow...

So anyway, there's a theme of maternity going on in this chapter that was completely unintentional, but I like that it worked its way in there.

Also, there's a very subtle reference to G1 of My Little Pony. Can you spot it? Here's some clues:

It's in the conversation between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
There's a song in G1 about it. It's one of the (relatively) more known ones.
Remember who Rainbow Dash switched bodies with.

Chapter 16

Rainbow Dash stared out of the window at the early afternoon scenery, daydreaming about cruising through the air and feeling the rushing wind ruffle her feathers and cool her body. She blinked out of her reverie when the door opened and hoped it would be her doctor. Her prayers were answered when a light amber unicorn with glasses walked in, levitating a medical clipboard next to him.

"Good afternoon, Miss Applejack," he greeted, "How are you feeling today?"

"Great, Doctor Horse!" answered Dash, enthusiastically, "Could never be better! Eeyup, everythin' is a-okay with the pony AJ!"

"I see…" said the doctor, giving her a strange look.

"Yeah, I'm all awake and rarin' to go!" she said with a wide grin.

"Wait just a second."

Rainbow's face fell at his words. Surely he wasn't going to say she had to stay even longer?

Oh no, pleasepleasepleaseplease… thought Rainbow, frantically.

"Just a couple of quick checks and you'll be free to go," Doctor Horse assured her.

The earth pony immediately relaxed.

"Now," he continued, "You said your…" he checked his clipboard, "right side hurt when you came in, correct?"

"Yeah. Doesn't hurt no more."

"Let's see. Could you lift your gown on your right, please? Thank you."

He studied the side of his patient, looking for the light bruise, then nodded.

"The bruising has gone."

"Good to hear."

The doctor pushed up his glasses, then gently pressed the tip of his hoof against Rainbow's side.

"Does this hurt?"

"No."

"Here?"

"No."

"Alright. One more thing."

Rainbow resisted the urge to lean back and groan, and instead looked at the doctor, feigning patience.

He levitated his stethoscope's earpieces into his ears, then slid it under the back of Rainbow's gown. She gasped when the cold metal made contact with her back.

"Cough, please," instructed the doctor.

She coughed.

"And again."

She coughed again.

With a nod, he removed the earpieces and stepped back.

"Alright, Miss Applejack. You're free to go. Avoid strenuous activities for a couple of days. You don't want to risk ending up in here again, do you?" he said with a smile.

"Oh no, ah definitely don't," replied Dash.

"You should be perfectly fine, but just to be sure."

"Thanks, doc."

As soon as she was outside, Rainbow jumped into the air, eyes closed.

"Yeah! Out! Finally!"

She laughed as she affixed her hat, then stopped laughing when she opened her eyes and saw the Apple Family, along with Fluttershy, staring at her.

"Uh… howdy, everypony. Ah'm out, heh."

"Somethin' tells me you're happy about that," said Apple Bloom.

"So… what's up?"

Fluttershy closed the book floating in front of her, "We were all about to come inside the hospital, but… I guess you got out a little early."

"Ready to come on home?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Sure am," replied Dash, walking up and hugging the filly. Fluttershy walked over and gave the orange pony a hug, too.

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Just glad ah'm outta there," said Rainbow, looking back at the hospital, "Let's get as far as possible away from here as soon as possible, eh? Just in case they decide to keep me for another coupla days."

The five gave a short laugh and walked down the path away from the hospital, with Dash trotting ahead of the others a good few feet.

One month later

All six ponies showed up for another of their weekly meetings, reporting what had been going on in the past seven days. Besides the fact that they had gotten quite used to their new lives, not much had happened, save for one significant issue; the Cutie Mark Crusaders finding out about the six of them switching bodies.

During a Crusader stunt, Sweetie had accidentally revealed Pinkie and Rarity's switch, surprising the two other fillies. As they had noticed Rainbow Dash and Applejack acting strangely, they decided to 'test' the older mares.

The first to fold was Applejack, who tried her hardest to resist Scootaloo's 'interrogation'.

The two were relaxing under the shade of a tree after Applejack had finished her work for the day when the filly spoke.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo's raspy young voice had said casually, "I got a question."

"Yeah, Scoots?"

"Just wondering; do you still remember when the first Rainbow Dash Fan Club meeting was?"

There's a Rainbow Dash Fan Club, now? thought Applejack.

"Uh… well, of course! Don't you?"

"I can't remember the exact date myself," lied the filly, "Maybe you know?"

"Exact?" the older pegasus began sweating lightly, despite the cool shade, "Um… not exact. Around when do you think it was?"

"You should know. You commitit… you commitatted… you remembered it really well after I told you."

"I… I…" Applejack sagged her shoulders, "…I dunno."

"It was November twenty-sixth. In the Clubhouse."

The pegasus averted her eyes.

"Are you even Rainbow Dash?"

Applejack's head snapped in the direction of the filly, "What? Of course I am!"

"Then show me some neat stunts."

"…It's a little too hot."

"Flying's always cooled you off."

"No, I'm a bit tired, squirt," replied the older pegasus, laying on her front and turning her head away.

"The real Rainbow Dash wouldn't make so many excuses to not perform for somepony. You're not her. Are you?"

"Don't be silly."

"I think you're somepony else."

A heavy silence hung in the air. Appejack could feel Scootaloo's accusing eyes on the back of her head and found herself unable to lie to the filly any longer. She nodded her head slowly, still not looking at the young pony, "You're right…"

"Who are you, then?" asked Scootaloo, walking over to stand in front of the pony who looked like her hero.

"Ah'm…" she stopped and gulped, "…Applejack…"

Scootaloo didn't move. With a blank expression, she just stared at her double reflection in the magenta eyes of the pony in front of her.

"Where's Rainbow?" she asked finally.

"In my body."

The filly looked over her shoulder at Ponyville, "I thought so. The way she bucks trees looks like the way she kicks clouds."

She turned back to Applejack, "So when were you gonna tell us?"

"…Probably never," said the pegasus, feeling guilty.

"Never?"

"This ain't permanent, Scootaloo. We already know the spell. It shouldn't take Fluttershy and Pinkie too long t—"

Too late.

"Oops."

"What are you talking about?" asked Scootaloo. She processed what Applejack was about to say, "Wait. Does that mean everypony else is swapped, too?"

The cyan pegasus laid her head on her hooves.

"The other five of mah friends? Yeah…"

She already knew about Pinkie and Rarity, but there was nothing Scootaloo could think of to say about this new development. She just sat on her haunches, letting the information sink in.

"Don't tell anypony. 'Kay?" said Applejack, rising into a sitting position herself, "Ya gotta promise me."

With a small, quiet sigh, the filly nodded, her eyes on the ground.

"Ah'm sorry, Scootaloo. But everything'll be back to normal before ya know it."

"Will it?" asked the filly, meeting Applejack's eyes again, "You gotta promise me," she said with a small smile, though her eyes were still sad.

Rainbow Dash leaned down and placed a bucket under one of the last apple trees to be bucked for the year.

Can't wait for this to be over… she thought.

She didn't deny that she enjoyed the workout, however. It wasn't quite as fun as cloud busting, but clouds didn't give a satisfying solid thunk when kicked.

"Applejack," said Apple Bloom, "Where's the Red Sauce apple trees again?"

"Over there, remember?" replied Rainbow, nodding her head in their direction.

"Oh yeah. Well, what about… the Gala apple trees?"

Instead of answering, Rainbow looked up at the apples above, then back down to the filly, with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh…"

"You okay, Apple Bloom?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Ah'm just… nothin'. Last one, where's the Wondergreens?"

Wondergreens? thought Rainbow, There's Wondergreen apples?

"Er… over… there, ah think," she answered, pointing in a mostly random direction into the orchard.

"Really?"

"Heh, not too sure, mahself," Dash replied, smiling.

"That's probably 'cause there ain't no such thing as Wondergreens."

"…Ah knew that. Why'd ya say it, anyways?"

"No reason," said the filly with a shrug, before walking away.

Frowning, the earth pony fetched another bucket and placed it under a tree. Light hooves trotted towards her and she turned to see Apple Bloom again.

"Yeah?" she asked the filly.

"Say… you know how it's mah birthday, soon?"

This month? Then why didn't they mark it on the calendar?

"Ah know, yeah."

The young pony watched Rainbow carefully, "Well… can me and mah friends play a little in yer bedroom?"

"Um… long as ya don't make too much of a mess, then okay."

"What, now it's okay?"

"Huh?"

"Any other time we've been in your bedroom, you've always gotten angry and told us to get out 'cause it's your 'own private space'."

"Oh. Well, it is. But it's yer birthday, so ah can make an exception."

The filly shook her head, "Nuh-uh. Even on mah birthdays, ah can't. Speakin' of which… it ain't mah birthday soon."

"It's still… soon… ish."

"Then when is it?"

"It's… you know when. What, ya can't remember where the trees are, and now ya can't remember yer own birthday?"

"When?"

Although outwardly calm, Dash felt her heartbeat increase and her face grow hotter.

"Apple Bloom, we got work to do. Ah don't have time for this," she replied and went to walk past the filly, but found herself blocked.

Rainbow frowned at her, "Don't make me tell Big Macintosh you're gettin' in the way."

There was a flash of worry on the younger pony's face. Although often calm and gentle, Big Mac could be intimidating, even a little scary, when he glowered down at somepony, especially if they were Apple Bloom's size. The filly remained undeterred, however.

"When's Big Mac's birthday, then?"

"Apple Bloom…"

"Why won't you answer? Just answer one and ah'll leave you alone for the rest of the day."

"Ya don't need to do that. Just stop askin' questions that you already know the answer to," said Rainbow, gently pushing the filly aside.

"You're not answerin' 'cause ya don't know, do ya? Are you even Applejack?"

"What is this? Of course ah'm me!"

"Prove it."

"That's it. Ah'm callin' over Big Mac."

"Good. Then he can see you ain't Applejack, too," said the young earth pony, although there was a quiver in her voice.

Big Mac's name died on Rainbow's lips as a thought entered her head. There was always the chance he would try to get her to answer Apple Bloom's questions just to get on with the day, or he would ask something of the sort not long later.

"Well? Call him over," said the filly, the quiver still present.

"Apple Bloom. Come on, now. Stop it."

"Ah want mah sister back," she said accusatorially.

She wasn't going to stop. Rainbow didn't know what had spurned her on to ask these questions, but the filly was going to find out at some point.

Ohhh, this is bad… this is seriously bad…

"Apple Bloom..." began Rainbow, losing the accent and turning to face her.

The filly's brow creased in worry at being right about her sister not being herself.

"Listen, don't... don't freak out, okay? Your sister's fine. Just fine."

"Where is she? Who are you?" then the filly's eyes widened and she took a step back, "Are you one o' them... ch-changelin' things?"

"No, no. I'm..." Dash looked around, then leaned in closer, "I'm Rainbow Dash."

"What? Why? How?"

"AJ's safe, don't worry. She's actually got my body, now. See, a spell went wrong and we all… uh, that is, me and Applejack... got our minds swapped. So, um… that explains a few things that've been goin' on, yeah?"

"This whole time, you've not been mah sister…" said the filly, looking at the ground.

Rainbow hugged the younger pony, "Hey, listen. Everything's gonna be fine. We'll get the spell done again soon and it'll all go back to normal."

With a sad sigh, Apple Bloom nodded.

"And you know, you're a pretty cool little sister," added Rainbow, ruffling the filly's mane, making her giggle.

"…Thanks."

Dash looked at her expectantly, "Y'know, this is the part where you say, 'You're a pretty cool big sister', or somethin'."

"You're a pretty okay big sister."

"What, that's it? 'Pretty okay'?"

"You could still do better."

"Well, tell me how."

Apple Bloom was about to answer when they heard heavy hoofsteps. They turned to see Big Mac observing them.

"Oh. Sorry," said Rainbow, "Was just, uh… let's get on with it, Apple Bloom!"

With a strong kick, Dash filled the buckets under the tree.

"Well, these trees ain't gonna harvest themselves," she said to him, "No use standin' around."

After giving his sisters a quick look, the stallion walked back to his trees.

"Shouldn't we tell Big Mac, too?" asked Apple Bloom in a low voice.

"Nah. The fewer ponies who know, the better."

"'Kay."

"Alright. Now, let's get on with it."

The next day, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sat in the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse, waiting for Sweetie Belle. They both noticed each other seeming down about something, but neither wanted to talk about it.

"I wanna wait 'til Sweetie Belle gets here," said Scootaloo, averting her eyes.

"Actually… me, too," replied Apple Bloom.

They busied themselves with drawing what they thought their cutie marks would be, or what they would like them to be. Scootaloo showed her design first.

"That's just Rainbow Dash's cutie mark," said Apple Bloom.

"No, it's not."

"A cloud with lightnin' comin' out of it? Yeah, totally different," replied the earth pony, rolling her eyes.

"Hers just has one lightning bolt. Mine has three," said Scootaloo, indicating the seperate blue, yellow and red bolts she had drawn.

"All the exact same colours as hers, too?"

"So? Maybe it will."

Apple Bloom shrugged and held up her own drawing.

"What's that? A tree with measles?" asked the amber filly, "You gonna be taking care of sick trees?"

"Those ain't measles! They're apples!" replied Apple Bloom, looking a little insulted, "It's an apple tree. Ah'm gonna own Sweet Apple Acres one o' these days."

Their ears perked up when they heard hooves coming up the wooden ramp.

Sweetie Belle opened the door, "Sorry I'm late. I had a couple of chores to do," she said.

"Even on summer break?" asked Scootaloo.

"I know, right?"

"Aw, quit all yer complainin'. Ah gotta work durin' the summer, too," said Apple Bloom.

"Okay, yeah. I got off easy. Just washing some dishes," said Sweetie Belle, sitting down next to them.

She looked at her friends and saw their faces weren't as bright as they usually were.

"What's up with you two?"

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked away for a second, then both talked at once.

"I found out that…"

"Ah have to tell ya…"

"Oh, sorry, Apple Bloom, you go first," said Scootaloo.

"Really? You sure you don't wanna?"

"…Y-Yeah."

"Okay, um… see, uh… you know how Pinkie and Rarity switched?"

"Uh-huh?" said Sweetie with a frown.

"Well… turns out that they ain't the only ones."

"You know, too?" said Scootaloo.

"Wait, what are you two saying?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Rainbow Dash and Applejack have switched, too," replied Apple Bloom.

"What?"

"That's not all," said Scootaloo, "So have Twilight and Fluttershy."

The two fillies stared at her with wide eyes.

"Applejack told me yesterday. I don't think she meant to."

"Me and Apple Bloom weren't told!" said Sweetie loudly.

"Calm down, Sweetie Belle."

"No! Pinkie and Rarity never told me about anypony else being swapped!" she gave a high-pitched annoyed grunt and walked over to the window, "Why do grown-ups lie to us?"

"She said it's not permanent. Fluttershy and Pinkie are trying to learn the spell."

"What's takin' them so long?" asked Apple Bloom.

"I dunno, maybe it's really hard to learn," said Sweetie Belle, "But come on! They've been like this for ages!"

"They have? How long?"

Sweetie Belle shrugged, "I think since that time they all went for a party at Twilight's and they ended up staying overnight."

"You're kiddin'!"

"No joke."

"So, what do we do?" asked Scootaloo.

"Nothing we can do," Sweetie Belle, then sat down with heavy sigh. She pursed her lips in an annoyed pout, "Does anypony else know?" she asked.

"I don't think so..." replied the pegasus uncertainly.

"What about Spike?"

"I'd be surprised if he doesn't."

"Yeah," agreed Apple Bloom, "there'd be no way he'd miss Twilight actin' all funny."

They were all silent for a while, then Scootaloo spoke up, "I wonder what it's like...?"

"What what's like?"

"Being in somepony else's body."

"Ah dunno. Prob'ly feel weird."

"Which of us would you swap with?"

Apple Bloom looked between the pegasus and unicorn. She shrugged, "Ah like bein' me."

"Yeah, same," she said, then turned to the unicorn, "Sweetie?"

"Why are we asking this? Isn't it bad enough our sisters and their friends are all mixed up?"

"I was just wondering…"

"Well, if you must know: I wouldn't want to swap with anypony. Okay?"

"Listen, ah know you're kinda mad, an' all," said Apple Bloom, walking over to her, "But don't take it out on us. It's not our fault."

Sweetie Belle sighed, "Yeah. Sorry."

"We'll just have'ta wait it out."

"While we do that," said Scootaloo, "You wanna try and get our cutie marks?"

"Sure!"

"Yeah, okay. What do you have in mind?" asked Sweetie.

"Lemonade making!" exclaimed the pegasus, spreading her forelegs for emphasis.

"But… we don't know how to make it."

"I bet it's not that hard. And think about it: it's summer, so ponies'll be hot and thirsty, right?" she said with a gleam in her eye.

"Right…?" said Sweetie, wondering where Scootaloo was going with this.

"So, get this: we make the lemonade… then we sell it! That way, we can get our cutie marks and make some money!"

"Now that there's a mighty fine idea!" said Apple Bloom, excitedly, "What're we waitin' for? Let's go!"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Lemonade Makers, yay!" the three shouted in unison.

Chapter 4

Rarity slowly cantered through Ponyville, looking left and right. She was searching for Carousel Boutique, but for some reason, she couldn’t remember its location. She wasn’t even sure where in Ponyville she was, even though she knew the town like the back of her hoof. The sun hanging low in the cloudless blue sky reminded her how late in the afternoon it was, and the white unicorn started to get anxious. She needed to get back to serve her customers and design new dresses.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie bounced past her, broadly smiling as always.

“Pinkie!” Rarity called out, “Could you help me? Where am I?”

“In Ponyville, silly!” said Pinkie, jumping in place, “I’m going to a party! Wanna come?”

“I need to get back to Carousel Boutique, but I’m lost!”

“Okay! Follow me!” replied the pink pony and bounced off.

Rarity suddenly found it hard to move her hooves. They felt heavy, as if they were made of stone. At that thought, Rarity looked down and saw they indeed were.

“Hey! Wait for me!” she cried after Pinkie who had stopped to face her.

“Come on, slowpoke! Hurry up!” said the pony, then continued bouncing away from Rarity and out of her sight.

“Wait, I... I’m lost...” said Rarity, struggling to move her hooves.

With small, sharp intake of breath, Rarity opened her eyes and, still half-dreaming, moved her right foreleg forward and found it easy to do so. She wondered why her left foreleg was harder to move, then she realised she was lying on it in bed. The last strands of the dream fading from her mind, she climbed out of bed quietly so as not to disturb Pinkie or the others. Once all four hooves were on the floor, she noticed she didn’t quite feel the way she normally did. Her stomach felt a little heavier and her energy was returning unusually quickly. There was something else that bothered her, but she couldn’t place it.

She shrugged the feelings off and tried using her magic to make her side of the bed neat, but found herself unable to. That was when she noticed a strange empty feeling inside, like something was missing. Then she figured out what it was that was bothering her, nagging away at the back of her mind — she had gotten out of the opposite side of the bed she had been sleeping on. She checked the bed’s other occupant and stiffened. She was staring at her own purple curls on the back of her own head.

That’s... me? But I’m me! Where’s Pinkie? She should be in the bed! But... is that me? And where’s my magic? My horn’s fine isn’t...

She choked when she looked up and found herself looking at, not her horn, but an overhanging pink fringe of hair.

No, this is a dream! This has to be!

Quickly, she made her way to the mirror in Twilight’s bedroom. In the reflection, staring back at her with the same horrified expression, was Pinkie Pie. She raised a hoof — pink, not white — and the figure in the mirror did the exact same movement.

She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth to keep from screaming, but despite her efforts, the shrill sound escaped her. In Pinkie’s voice.

Twilight’s eyes flew open and she jerked awake, falling out of bed in the process. She scrambled to her hooves and faced the pink pony, who was standing at the unicorn’s dressing mirror, breathing quickly.

“Pinkie, what’s wrong?” she asked, half-noticing how strange her voice sounded.

She turned her head when she heard another yell from a voice that very much sounded like her own. It took her a few seconds to process what she was seeing. She was looking at herself holding her hooves in front of her, staring at them as if she had never seen them before.

Is this an out of body experience? she thought, It is, right? What am I doing looking at my hooves, anyway?

She checked herself out, not sure what to expect, and gasped when she saw yellow hooves. And to side of her head, she saw a pink mane.

“Hey, what the...?” Twilight turned to the sound of Applejack’s voice, “What’s goin’ on?”

“Oh, for the love of Pete, keep it down, would ya?” muttered Rainbow Dash, rolling over to fix Applejack with an annoyed gaze, but instead stared at her incredulously.

“Oh, come on! Would everyone just be quiet? Sheesh, and you say I’m noisy?” growled Rarity, sitting up in bed, “Pinkie, why are you screaming, anyway?” then her face became a mask of confusion, “Wait, Pinkie? But... what... huh?”

Applejack jumped up, “Okay, what’s goin’ on?” she cried, her voice having strangely lost its usual drawl, “Why is everypony screaming, and why is there another me?” she asked, pointing an orange hoof at Rainbow Dash, “Another thing, why do I sound like Applejack? Why am I the same colour as her? Why—”

“Everypony just calm down!” yelled the yellow pegasus.

The others were so shocked at the timid pony’s loud, authoritative voice that they all stopped and stared at her. Instead of looking away and apologising, she met each of their eyes confidently, although she seemed to keep eye contact with Twilight longer than anyone else, frowning as she did so.

The door burst open and Spike rushed in, almost tripping over his own feet, “What’s going on? I keep hearing screaming!” he raised his hands to Twilight, asking for an explanation.

“Uhhh...” was all the unicorn could utter.

“Listen, everypony,” said Fluttershy, “I think I’ve figured out what’s going on. I don’t know how or why, but I think I know what.”

She walked to the front of the room where everyone could see her, “I think we’ve all somehow switched bodies. Think about it — would the Fluttershy you know do what I’m doing right now?”

“You’re right,” said Applejack, “Okay, who are ya, and what did you do?” she asked, stalking towards Fluttershy.

“I’m Twilight,” replied the pegasus, coolly.

The earth pony stopped in her tracks, “Say what?” she asked, then narrowed her eyes, “Oh, a trick? Well, you’re not foolin’ me! Give us our friend back!”

“And judging from your attitude, I’m guessing you’re Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah?”

“How can you be if you’re over there?” she asked, nodding at the rainbow pony at the back of the room.

‘Applejack’ turned to the blue pegasus, then back, “Because... because...” her mouth worked, but no sound came.

“Y’know, ah think she’s right,” said ‘Rainbow Dash’, the thick accent of the Apple Family evident, “Ain’t no other explanation.”

“And there’s Applejack,” noted ‘Fluttershy’.

Spike grabbed his head in confusion, “Argh, what’s going on? I don’t get this! Applejack’s Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash is Applejack and Fluttershy’s Twilight? Oh, it’s too early for this kinda thing!”

The pegasus put a hoof on his shoulder, “Don’t worry about it, Spike, we’ll get this figured out.”

Spike looked between the bodies of the yellow pegasus and the purple unicorn.

“Twilight?”

Twilight the pegasus nodded.

“What happened?” asked Spike.

“It seems we’ve switched with whoever we were sleeping in close proximity to,” she explained, “I don’t know... maybe I accidentally cast some kind of mind-swap spell.”

“Well change us back, then!” cried Rarity the earth pony, stamping a hoof.

“I can’t if I don’t know what spell was used. Besides, I don’t have my horn, any more. Well, I do, but...” she looked over at Fluttershy the unicorn, still awkwardly sitting in bed.

Fluttershy reached up and tapped the horn lightly with one of her purple hooves.

“My horn is on my other body, too,” said Rarity, tapping a pink hoof and eyeing Pinkie the unicorn, “You’d better be careful with my mane.”

Pinkie blinked, “I’ve heard of talking to yourself, but this is ridiculous,” she said, then instantly smiled, “Hee-hee, it’s kinda funny, too!”

“Must you pull such ridiculous expressions with my face? Besides, it’s not funny!”

“Rarity, please calm down,” said Twilight.

“Sorry, Fluttershy, er... Twilight,” said the pink pony, “I’m just frustrated! My lovely purple curls are gone, my beautiful white coat is no longer mine, and I have business to run! I can’t go to work tomorrow looking like... this!” she said, flicking her pink fringe.

“Ah’m sure...” started Applejack, then put a hoof to her throat after hearing Rainbow Dash say those words, “Usin’ this voice is gonna take some gettin’ used to... anyway, ah’m sure everypony would understand if we told them all what happened.”

“No, no, no! We can’t!” said Twilight, widening Fluttershy’s already large eyes, “I can’t imagine what would happen if Princess Celestia found out!”

“Just say it was an accident,” suggested Rainbow Dash, affixing Applejack’s hat to her head.

“Yeah... mine...” said Spike, “I’ll take the blame, Twilight.”

“You don’t understand,” said Twilight, “I’m not supposed to learn spells of that level, yet. Affecting just one pony was hard, but pulling it off made me feel good. I got... overconfident. I’m sorry, girls...” apologised the pegasus and lowered her head, closely resembling the real Fluttershy, “If the Princess finds out... let’s just not tell everyone, okay?”

“So, what? We act like we’re somepony else?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“...For now, yes. Besides, if other ponies found out, they could essentially take advantage of us.”

“Ah see where you’re comin’ from, Twi, but lyin’ about who ah am? Eh...” said Applejack.

“I understand this will be hard, Applejack, but it’s for everypony’s safety.”

“Ah guess...”

“It’s not that hard being me, AJ,” said Rainbow Dash, “Just remember, now you’re the coolest pegasus in Equestria!”

“Yeah, great. But ah’d much rather be mah old applebuckin’ self.”

“You think I don’t want to be me, either? I miss my wings.”

“I know how you all feel. We’ll fix this,” said Twilight.

“How?” asked Applejack.

“With magic. But the only ones who can use that now are Pinkie and Fluttershy.”

“Pinkie Pie with a horn,” said Rainbow Dash, “Now why doesn’t that thought make me feel all warm and fuzzy?”

“I could cover you in nice, warm fur if you wanted,” said Pinkie and pointed her white horn at the orange earth pony, “Abracadabra, alakazam!”

Nothing happened.

“Pinkie, stop that. You don’t even know what you’re doing,” said Rarity.

“...I don’t know how to use magic, either,” said Fluttershy, feeling strange sitting with a magical horn plainly visible on her head.

“We can teach both of you,” said Twilight, “Just remember, you’re not going to learn overnight. But before that, we need to figure out which spell was used in the first place. Let’s get started.”

The ponies walked out of the bedroom and into the main room of the library, but Twilight stayed behind with Spike.

“Spike?” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Listen... I’m sorry I got angry at you last night. I’m the one who should’ve been careful. I shouldn’t have gotten in over my head.”

“It was my fault, really. I dropped that glass...”

“No, I’m putting the blame on myself, alright?” said Twilight with a small smile, “Do you forgive me?”

“Wait, you’re asking me to forgive you?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, of course I forgive you. But I still–”

“Don’t,” she interrupted. Then she held a foreleg out, asking for a hug. The dragon awkwardly walked into her embrace. It felt strange to be hugging Twilight while also seeing her walking around from further away.

They broke the embrace and looked at each other for a moment. The dragon stared into the soft blue eyes of Fluttershy and saw Twilight behind them.

“Come on, Number One Assistant,” said the pegasus, “Let’s help the others.”

“So, uh, what exactly are we lookin’ for?” asked Applejack, running a hoof along the spines of books.

“Basically, magic spells,” replied Twilight, “Specifically, a mind-altering spell that allows the switching of bodies or minds or something to that effect.”

The former unicorn focused on three books and attempted to float them in front of her face, but found she was unable to summon her magic. She was confused at the absence she felt inside her, then remembered she was in Fluttershy’s body. The pegasus sighed and pulled a book out by hoof, wondering how earth ponies and pegasi could cope with having to physically handle everything they wanted to use.

Once she had the book, she again instinctively attempted to use magic to open it and flip though the pages. She shook her head at herself and placed the book on a lectern.

What a bother... she thought as she flipped the front cover open and read through the contents.

Twilight scanned the page and her eyes happened on a spell called Mind Over Matter. She had a feeling it wasn’t what she was looking for, but hoping against hope, she flipped to the page it was listed on — at a, to her, frustratingly slow pace — and quickly read through it. As she suspected, it wasn’t the spell she needed; it was used to raise the mental processes of a pony for a short time, with the side effect of lowering their physical abilities.

Another spell to stay away from for a long, long while... she thought, flipping back to the contents again. Seeing nothing else close to what she wanted, Twilight closed the book and placed it back on the shelf.

Half an hour of searching later, as Twilight was carrying another book to the lectern, she heard Pinkie Pie’s voice calling out to her.

“Twilight, I believe I’ve found it!”

Hastily putting the book on the lectern, the pegasus rushed over next to the pink pony, “Are you sure?” she asked, skimming the page Rarity was indicating with her hoof.

“Yes, yes, this looks like it!” said Twilight excitedly, “Let’s see; swaps the minds of two ponies in close proximity. If three or more are present, the spell will lie dormant. The two ponies wishing to swap minds must stay within approximately four feet of each other for at least an hour. While the spell is active, it can cause headaches, nausea, and/or drowsiness. May be cast multiple times.”

Her brow furrowed as she silently read over the directions, noting that they were very similar to the spell she had intended to cast the night before.

“Oh boy, this is a tricky one,” she said, shaking her head.

“Just... tell us what to do and we’ll do it,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah, we can handle it!” added Pinkie.

Twilight’s eyes flicked between the two unicorns, “I doubt either of you will be able to do this right now.”

“Why?” asked Pinkie.

“I’ll put it this way — try and lift this book with your magic,” replied the pegasus, nodding to the book in front of her.

“Alright! Stand back!” said the white unicorn. Twilight rolled her eyes and did so.

Pinkie locked her gaze on the book, a determined look on her face. She pointed her horn at it, leaned forward, waved her hooves, and even stood on her head — an act that caused Rarity to bring a hoof to her face — but the book remained where it was.

“Uh... I dunno how to do that,” said Pinkie on all fours again.

“Fluttershy, do you want to try?” asked Twilight.

“...I know I can’t...” replied Fluttershy quietly.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t expecting either of you to. But like I said, we’ll teach you how.”

“I’ll do what I can to help,” said Rarity, “But I still have to get back to Carousel Boutique tomorrow. Or rather... Pinkie Pie does.”

“And you have to go to Sugarcube Corner tomorrow,” replied Pinkie, “Do you know how to bake cakes? I have to do that tomorrow. But since you’re me, I guess that means you have to do that tomorrow. Or would that still count as me? Hmmm...”

“Oh shoot!” cried Rainbow Dash suddenly, “What time is it?”

“About nine o’clock,” replied Spike, “Why?”

“I just remembered, I gotta be in Cloudsdale around noon to start my weather patrol! But Applejack, you’ll have to do it.”

“Weather patrol?” asked Applejack, “Ah dunno what you do there.”

“Pretty simple — we fly around an area and make sure no clouds are where they shouldn’t be. If they are, we kick them apart or move them.”

“Cloud kickin’ ah should be able to handle, but ah don’t know your patrol route. Or how to fly.”

“You shouldn’t need to worry about the route. You’ll be assigned to a group leader, so just follow them. And flying’s easy, so don’t get worked up about it.”

Applejack unfurled her wings, feeling muscles she never had before stretch, “So you just need to flap these up an’ down?”

“Both in time, yeah.”

“I’d better practice, too,” said Twilight, unfurling her own wings, “I wouldn’t make a very good pegasus if I couldn’t fly.”

“Alright, now the harder you beat your wings, the higher you’ll go,” said Rainbow, “Once you’re at the height you need to be, just casually start flapping.”

She sighed and looked back at her new body, missing her wings.

Applejack gave her wings a few test flaps, getting a feel for how they worked. Then, she gave two great beats and lifted off the ground. Caught off-guard at the sudden increase in altitude, she began frantically flapping, slowly losing height before steadying and hovering a few feet off the floor.

“Hey! Ah’m flyin’! Wow!” she cried.

“Yeah... great,” muttered Rainbow Dash, turning her head away.

“Hey, come on, Rainbow. You’ll have yer wings back in no time.”

The earth pony sighed, “Yeah...”

Twilight, having watched Applejack, lifted herself off the ground and found she was swaying from side to side.

“Twilight, keep your body level,” said Rainbow Dash, noticing her friend was having trouble controlling herself, “You move to whatever side you dip your legs.”

The pegasus managed to level herself out. She experimented dipping her left legs and, sure enough, she floated in that direction. Within an hour, the two pegasi were slowly, albeit a little unsteadily, flying around the main room of the library.

“Applejack. Twilight. You’re doing great,” said Fluttershy.

Rainbow forced a smile, “Awesome. Definitely,” she said, wishing she could join them.

After a few more minutes the two landed.

“Okay, before we do anything else, I say we eat,” suggested Twilight.

“We’ll get it, right Spike?” said Pinkie.

“Sure,” said the dragon with a nod.

Spike and Pinkie Pie made their way to the kitchen.

“Be careful with my mane while you’re doing that,” Rarity called after them.

While they were eating, Applejack was struck with a thought, “Hey, since we’re gonna be actin’ like each other, ah think we should start learnin’ ta talk like each other. Me, ah gotta try and lose this accent when talkin’ to everypony else.”

“Good point,” said Rarity, “Pinkie, do you think you could try and be more refined in your speech?”

“‘Kay!” replied Pinkie, “Uh, I mean, okay!”

“Try, ‘Certainly, dear’.”

“Um... certainly... dear.”

“That’s more like it. And I’ll have to be more, shall we say, animated.”

“Let’s see! Let’s see!” cried Pinkie excitedly.

Rarity rolled her eyes, “Must I? Now?” she asked.

“Yeah! Do it!”

Swallowing her pride, the pink pony repeatedly jumped up and down, “Wooooo,” she said, half-enthusiastically, then sighed, “This is so degrading.”

“Alright! Go Rarity!”

“Eh, not bad,” said Applejack, “Just a little more energy and you’ll be pretty close.”

“Yeah. Then times that by, like, a thousand and it’ll be perfect,” added Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, by the way,” said the blue pegasus, “Do ah... I... sound like Rainbow Dash right now?” she asked her friends, consciously trying to subdue her accent.

“Um... that ain’t bad,” said Rainbow, doing her best not to overdo Applejack’s drawl, “How ‘bout me?”

“None too shabby, yerself. Ah mean, you’re not too shabby, yourself.”

Twilight giggled, “This is weird. But I think if we all stick to it, we should be able to pull off each other without anypony noticing. I’ll have to start speaking more quietly. And Fluttershy? I’m afraid you’ll have to speak up a little more.”

“I’ll try,” responded the unicorn.

“After you’re finished eating, Fluttershy, Pinkie, me and Rarity will get you started on using magic.”

“And with any luck, we’ll be our old selves again soon,” added Rarity, “Very soon, I hope.”

Chapter 13

Bleary-eyed and moving sluggishly, Rainbow Dash pushed against the gate leading to the farm but found she was unable to budge it.

“Ugh... c'mon! Stupid thing. Open!”

Although she was certain she had unlocked the gate, the earth pony decided to check the lock again regardless. Sure enough, it was unlocked. That was when she discovered she wasn't pushing the gate, but rather the fence next to it. With a furtive glance to the left and right, she sidled over and practically leaning on the gate, opened it. Not expecting it to swing over so quickly, the earth pony lost her balance and fell forward. With a groan of pain and frustration, she shakily stood up like a foal finding its legs and pushed her hat back, the headwear having fallen over her eyes.

“Stupid gate...” she grumbled and shoved it closed.

With a tired sigh, she turned and slowly cantered over to the house.

“Hey, I'm home,” she said upon entering, without a hint of an accent, nor bothering to open her eyes to see if anypony was actually there.

“Applejack?” said a deep voice behind her.

It took Rainbow Dash a few seconds to realise she was being addressed and turned to look over shoulder.

“Oh hey, Big... um... Big MacDonald... or... yeah, hi. So, we harvestin'?”

“Eeyup. But you should go to bed and get some sleep. Now,” said the red stallion.

“And you should stop telling me that every day!” retorted Dash, “I can handle this, so if ya don't mind?” she waved him out of the way with a foreleg.

With a drooped head and heavy, plodding steps, the earth pony carried herself past Big Macintosh towards the apple orchard, not even noticing Apple Bloom standing next to her brother.

The stallion shook his head and followed his sister, knowing better than to argue with her when she was tired.

A few minutes later, he had just finished bucking his second tree when he heard Apple Bloom scream. His head snapped in the direction of her voice and he dashed towards it. He stopped in his tracks when he saw his orange-coated sister lying on her side, eyes closed, unmoving.

“She... she just fell over!” cried the filly, shaking and clutching the older pony's dislodged hat, “She won't wake up! Is... is she...?”

Big Macintosh placed a hoof on his prone sister's side and put his ear close to her pale face.

“It's alright, she's breathin',” he assured Apple Bloom.

He shook the blonde pony, softly at first, then a little more firmly. When there was no reaction, he shoved his muzzle under her and manoeuvred himself until she was lying on his back. He then carefully lowered her onto a cart with two hay bales. With little effort, he lifted the bales off and using a few loose pieces of hay, made a small pile which he laid his sister's head on.

“Everything'll be fine,” said the stallion, hitching himself up to the cart, “Tell Granny that Applejack's fainted and ah'm takin' her to the hospital.”

Sniffling, Apple Bloom wiped her tears and nodded. With the cart securely attached, Big Macintosh turned and headed towards Ponyville.

With the tips from Rainbow Dash, Applejack was able to clear clouds a lot faster, but she still wouldn't be setting any world records.

She landed on a cloud and dug shallow ruts with all four hooves like she had been taught. This would allow her to grip the cloud and rip it apart by moving her legs out in a starfish shape. With a casual glance over the side of the cloud, she stopped and leaned down, something catching her eye.

She saw her brother walking through the town, drawing a cart, which in itself wasn't unusual. What made her stop and look was what, or rather who, was in the back of the cart.

Lying there was her. Or rather, Rainbow Dash in her body. She knew Dash wouldn't just climb into a hay cart for a sleep, no matter how tired she was. Not after that one time when Applejack had found her napping in a full cart about to be transported into town. After a short argument, the rainbow pegasus had reluctantly promised never to do it again.

Now here she was once more, lying on her side in an empty hay cart. Something bad must have happened. Applejack looked around for her team leader and flew over to him.

“Uh, 'scuse me... Storm Chaser, sir?”

The dark grey pegasus launched a kick at the cloud behind him, “What is it?” he asked.

“Can I be excused? I'll be right back.”

“Can't you hold it in for ten more minutes?” he asked, flying to another cloud.

“No, no, it's not that,” she said following him, “It's just... you see that cart down there? With the pony in it?”

Storm Chaser sighed, “What about it?”

“That's my friend. I... I think she might be hurt or something. Please, can I go and check on her? I'll only be a couple of minutes. Please?”

The pegasus looked around at the clouds. There weren't that many left, so he supposed that he could give her a moment.

“Alright, but don't be too long. I want you right back,” he told her.

“Thank you,” replied Applejack and flew down towards her brother.

“Big Mac!”

The stallion stopped and looked over his shoulder at the sound of Rainbow Dash's voice. He watched as she landed inside the cart, staring worriedly at her friend.

“What happened to R... Applejack?” she asked, leaning over the earth pony.

“Ah don't rightly know. That's why ah'm takin' her to the hospital,” he explained, continuing on his way.

“What was she doin'?”

“Applebuckin'. But it don't seem like she even finished her first one. Ah heard Apple Bloom scream, and when ah got there, Applejack was just lyin'on the ground,” he said, then shakily exhaled, “...Ah'll admit ah got a fright...”

The rainbow pegasus felt like hugging him, but knew that would be a strange thing for her to do. At least from his perspective.

“Thanks for taking care of her,” she said instead.

Big Macintosh looked back and gave her a small smile, “She's mah sister.”

Upon hearing those words, the pegasus felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Ah miss you, Big Mac...

“Uh, listen, I gotta get back. I'll swing by the hospital as soon as I finish work.”

The red stallion silently nodded in response and the pegasus flew back into the summer sky.

With a low groan, Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes halfway.

“She's wakin' up!” said a young voice to her left.

Turning her head towards the voice, the earth pony struggled to focus her eyes, but all she saw was a blurry yellow shape. She closed her eyes for a few more seconds, then opened them again. Her vision wasn't fully clear, but she could see she was lying in a bed and saw Apple Bloom nearby. Next to her was Big Macintosh and on the right sat Granny Smith with sunlight coming in through a window behind her. And at the foot of the bed was her hat, hanging on a corner of the frame.

“What...? Where...?” mumbled Dash in confusion.

“You're in the hospital,” said Apple Bloom.

“Hospital? Why?”

“You fainted,” said Big Mac, “So ah brought you here. Ah told the doctor about it and he said it sounded like you passed out from exhaustion.”

“I'm not exhausted... not even tired...” said Dash, oblivious to the fact her eyes were still only half-open and she was talking in the voice of somepony who just woke up.

“They said you should stay here fer a coupla days,” said Apple Bloom.

“Stay here? Don't think so.”

The earth pony tried to push herself up and out of the bed, but after discovering her forelegs had no strength, she slumped back, breathing heavily.

“Now listen, Applejack. You stay here and do what those doctor-folks tell you,” said Granny Smith.

“But Granny, I don't—”

“Ah ah!” said the old mare, holding up a wrinkled hoof, “Don't 'but Granny' me. You just lie there and get some sleep like we've all been tellin' ya to do. Okay?”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and sighed, “Fine...”

With her eyes closed, she gradually felt a pleasant calm come over her and it wasn't long before she fell into a deep sleep. The ponies around her stayed at her side for another few minutes and then decided to leave her to rest. Apple Bloom took her sister's hoof and pressed it to her cheek for a moment before following her brother and grandmother out.

Lying on her right side, Dash opened her eyes halfway and saw a familiar cyan pony with a rainbow mane. She stared at the pony blankly for a few seconds, barely registering who it was, before closing her eyes to the smiling face.

Her brow furrowed and she opened her eyes for another look. The other pony's expression had changed to one of confusion.

“Rainbow Dash?” said the pony.

“...Applejack? What're you doin' here?”

“Checkin' up on you, what do ya think?” said Applejack with a small smile, but lines of worry were clearly visible on her forehead.

“I dunno. Maybe ya like walkin' around hospitals for no reason?” Rainbow Dash said back, a smirk on her own face.

“Ha! Looks like whatever happened to you hasn't changed ya at all. Speakin' of which, what did happen? All's ah know is that you collapsed, accordin' ta Big Macintosh.”

With a small amountof effort, the earth pony pushed herself into a half-sitting, half-lying position, resting against the headboard.

“I don't know,” said Dash, “Last thing I remember is going out to the apple orchard... then something happened... and next thing I know, I'm in a hospital bed. Exhaustion, or so the doctors say.”

“Ya pushed yerself too hard, Rainbow. We Apples might be hard-workin', but if we don't rightly feel up to strenuous work, we take a step back until we do. And after what happened to me last applebuck season, ah learned that we get some sleep if we need it.”

With a slight blush, Rainbow looked away and stared at her hooves on her lap.

“Everypony was telling me to do that... but I didn't want to let you down, AJ. I figured I should work my hardest so when we get back to normal, you wouldn't have to pick up after me.”

“Aw, you don't have ta do that, sugarcube. Ah'd understand,” replied Applejack, placing a hoof on Dash's.

The earth pony looked over at her rainbow-maned friend and smiled thankfully. They turned when they heard a knock at the door.

“Oh, ah went round and told everypony else before ah came here,” said Applejack.

Sure enough, four ponies and a baby dragon entered, headed by a purple unicorn with a troubled look on her face. When she saw Rainbow Dash lying in the bed, her expression changed to shock and she rushed over to her oldest friend.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” asked Fluttershy, her voice quivering with emotion.

“Hey, don't worry, I'm fine,” said the earth pony, “I just got a little too sleepy, heh.”

“Are you sure? You're not hurt?” asked the unicorn, trying to blink back tears.

“No, no, no. I just... fell asleep, y'know? Don't be so worried.”

Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Dash's neck and buried her face in the other pony's shoulder with a small squeak.

Rainbow smiled, “Oh, Fluttershy...” she said with a sigh and returned the embrace.

A fluffy pink mane came into view at the foot of the bed, “We brought you some flowers to spruce this dreary room up,” said Rarity, holding a vibrant bouquet of flowers in one hoof, “Hospitals do a lot of good for one's health, but not the senses. Their décor leaves much to be desired. A simple painting or two wouldn't hurt.”

While Rarity looked around the room to decide the best place to put the flowers, Twilight, with Spike riding on her back, walked to the bedside.

“What do you mean by you 'fell asleep'?” she asked.

“The doctor says exhaustion,” replied Rainbow, holding a calmed Fluttershy's hooves, “I just fell over, I guess, and... then I woke up here.”

“You mean you just collapsed?”

“Collapsed?” repeated Fluttershy and held onto Dash's hooves tighter.

“Twilight!” mouthed Rainbow.

“Sorry...” the pegasus mouthed back.

“Yeah, but like I said, I'm fine now. I just need to get my strength back. But I...” she paused to yawn, “But I just don't feel right lyin' here doing nothing...”

“They'll be able ta handle things 'til you're back on yer hooves,” Applejack assured her.

“If you say so.”

“Ah do. Now, you want us to leave so you can get yer sleep?”

“Actually, I wouldn't mind if you all stayed for a bit.”

“Hey, Dashie?” piped up Pinkie Pie, “Are you hungry? Want me to bring you a cupcake or seven?”

The earth pony put a hoof on her stomach, “No, I'm not hungry right now. But if you bring me a couple in when you've got time, I'm not gonna complain. Especially since all I'll have to eat for the next few days is that delicioushospital food,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Really? Hospital food's delicious now? Hey, can I have some? When are you getting fed?”

“Sure, you can have it. Might not be for everypony's tastes, though.”

“Yay!” cheered Pinkie, jumping up and down.

“Is it good?” asked Spike, “I've never had hospital food before.”

“Believe me, you don't wanna...” replied Dash, shaking her head, “About the only good things are the desserts.”

“Rainbow, you really should eat what they give you,” said Twilight, “It might not be the best cooking, but like you said yourself, you need to get your strength back.”

“I'll try...”

“Oh, this is just terrible!” said Rarity.

“Calm down. Having to eat hospital food isn't that bad,” said Rainbow, giving the pink pony a strange look.

Rarity held up the flowers, “No, I mean I can't find a single good spot to put these. There's not even a vase in here.”

“Just... I dunno... put 'em on that chair in the corner.”

“On a chair?”

“It's somewhere. And I'll be able to see them from here.”

Rarity considered this, then raised her eyebrows and nodded.

Following another yawn, Rainbow found her eyes closing on their own accord, despite her best efforts to force them to stay open.

“I think we better leave,” said Twilight, smiling, “Looks like Dashie-washie is getting sleepy-weepy again.”

The earth pony was too tired to shoot her a look, so instead mumbled incoherently as she slid under the covers, admitting defeat to the weariness overpowering her.

They all quietly left, and although Fluttershy wanted to stay at her side, she was convinced to leave her friend in peace and quiet.

After visiting Rainbow Dash, Applejack had went straight to her cloud home. She had a few chores to do, including cleaning the house, washing the dishes, and feeding Dash's pet turtle, Tank. For the past few days, she had been cleaning up the house, room by room. Rainbow wasn't exactly a saint when it came to keeping her house clutter-free, but she at least had her dishes washed and fresh food in her kitchen. That didn't mean things weren't randomly and haphazardly placed all over the house, as if the pegasus had just put something down on the nearest surface when she was finished with it. Why else would there be two unfolded newspapers lying on the kitchen counter right next to the sink? Not to mention the tower of Daring Do books in her bedroom.

Good thing Rarity can't fly, thought Applejack amusedly, 'Cause if she saw the mess in this house, she'd probably go stir-crazy...

She laid down some chopped lettuce leaves for Tank in his pen, smiling as his neck slowly stretched out and he began chewing. It was so relaxing to watch him slowly toddle around and swim in his pool. Much different to taking care of an active farm dog like Winona. If Applejack had been gone for more than a few hours, Winona would run up barking and try to lick her face. Tank, on the other hoof, would simply turn his head towards the opening door and smile when he saw his owner walk in.

The thought of Winona got Applejack thinking about the rest of her family. After some deliberation, she opened the front door and flew out into the night sky towards Sweet Apple Acres. She knew everypony in her real home would be sleeping at this time, but that's what she wanted — it would mean they wouldn't question why 'Rainbow Dash' was hanging around outside their house.

When she reached the house, she hovered outside Granny Smith's window and saw her sleeping soundly, her false teeth in a glass of water on her bedside table.

“Hope you're keepin' well, Granny...” she said in a low voice.

She moved to Big Macintosh's window, but could barely see him in the dark room.

“Thanks fer doin' what you did today, Big Mac. You've always been there.”

With a sigh, she then flew to Apple Bloom's room window and saw her in bed, her face lit by the light of the moon.

Her window was open and with a sense of apprehension, Applejack opened it a little more and quietly glided in. Her little sister barely reacted, but the pegasus still felt a knot of anxiety in her stomach. She crept over to the sleeping filly and carefully reached out a hoof. She lightly stroked her sister's mane, taking care not to wake her. After pausing to take a breath and get her emotions under control, Applejack leaned down and kissed the filly's cheek. Apple Bloom stirred slightly and smiled in her sleep.

“Ah love you, Apple Bloom,” whispered Applejack.

The pegasus took another look at her sister and then flew out just as quietly as she entered, moving the window to where it was before. She turned and headed back the way she came to get some sleep of her own.