It was not quite morning, but Rainbow Dash was wide awake. Indeed, she was out of her bed. And her room, and her house. Actually, the Pegasus was halfway across town, just coming in for a landing in front of the tree that served as the town’s library.
As she touched down her hooves, first fore-, then hind-, Dash took a moment to relish the soft crunch of fresh snowfall compressing under her weight. The weather team’s night crew had done a perfect job with the traditional Hearth’s Warming Day snow cover; it was just enough to blanket every surface in white, not a flake more or less.
However beautiful and peaceful the pre-dawn landscape could be, this particular Pegasus would not be away from her cloud-covers so early without a good reason. This reason took the form of a package to be delivered to the primary resident of the treehouse.
Reaching a hoof forward, Rainbow knocked on the door. After a count of five, she growled in frustration and lifted off with a flap of her great blue wings, intent on entering by the upper balcony. Just because she was awake didn’t mean she was enjoying the experience. The sooner she could get back to bed, the better. Preferably before the Sun got up.
Settling on the equally snowy balcony, the Pegasus paused. It occurred to her that the librarian may be sleeping, as any sensible pony was at this hour. It would explain why nopony answered her knock. Rainbow shrugged and reached for the handle to the balcony’s sliding door, content that she had met her ‘caring for others’ quota for the day. If Twilight wanted this box, she would just have to wake up for it.
To Dash’s surprise, the room she gazed upon was brightly lit, and the intended recipient of the package was already wide awake. From the looks of it, the Alicorn had been up for some time, if she had even gone to bed the night before.
About the mare sitting in the center of the room were piled many of the books that usually resided on the shelves throughout the library-house; there were several stacks ten volumes high, each topped with at least one open tome, and several more floated in front of Twilight, held in her magic. On the floor near the librarian lay a cushion; it was likely meant to be sat upon, but it seemed to have been forgotten.
A few seconds passed, but the purple librarian continued to flip through her books, not appearing to notice that she had a visitor. Rainbow stepped inside and called out, “Twilight? Rarity wanted me to get this to you before you left for Canterlot today, so…”
Twilight lifted her head from her work, but looked rather dazed. She made no move to acknowledge what Dash said, nor to take the package being proffered.
A few more seconds passed.
Just when the Pegasus opened her mouth to say something else, Twilight moved. First, she blinked; several times, to focus on the non-print objects before her eyes. Then, she stood up; it was a rapid motion, fueled by the same frustration that lit up her face. It wasn’t an emotion directed at Rainbow Dash; it had the nature of an expression that had been resting there for some time, having only been briefly interrupted by outside thoughts.
Dash knew what Twilight did when she was frustrated. It was the same thing she did any other time, but more so; she lectured. Dash was in no mood for a lecture, not while she was racing Celestia’s Sun back to her bed. The Pegasus dropped the package on the ground and began to edge back towards the balcony, filling the moment with her voice, “Well, there’s the box, so I’ll be on my way-”
But Twilight wasn’t going to let her leave so soon. “Wait! Did Rarity say what was in the package?” She had picked up the unmarked white box, turning it over in her magic as she tried to remember if Rarity had mentioned it to her.
Rainbow stopped moving as she scrunched up her brow, wracking her brain for the information that would get her out of there. “She said something about a dress…” Dash knew there was more, but her memories were still blurred from sleep, so she couldn’t quite grasp it.
The princess tilted her head, her frustration fading to confusion. “I didn’t order any dresses.”
The Pegasus finally managed to wrestle the relevant memory into her mind’s eye. “It was… Oh yeah, Rarity said your mother ordered it. She thought you could take it with you when you visit them today.”
Confusion cleared from Twilight’s face, leaving it momentarily placid. “Ah. That makes sense.” But the frown of irritation crept quickly back. “At least one package made it on time.”
“I’ll just be going now; have a nice trip!” Dash turned to leap off the balcony, but a magical yank on her tail brought her up short.
Behind her, Twilight’s frown had shifted to one of contemplation. “Wait,” she called, “I think you can help me with something.”
Rainbow Dash sighed and turned around, resigned to missing out on her bedrest. “Help you with what? Aren’t you leaving soon?”
“That’s just it. I’ll be gone for a week, and I’d promised Mrs. Nest I’d give her something before I left. But my order was delayed, so now I’m stuck; I thought maybe I could make one myself, but I don’t have the proper tools or the time.” Twilight stopped pacing and abruptly turned back to Dash. “That’s where you come in.”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “What, you want me to go get your order? I’m fast, but unless it’s just the next town over, I don’t think I’d make it in time-”
Twilight shook her head. “No, that’s not it.” She inched closer to Dash, looking her up and down.
“Uh, I’m not any good at arts and crafts, if that’s what you’re getting at.” She was starting to feel uncomfortable under her friend’s gaze, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on why.
In answer, Twilight reached out with a foreleg and lifted up one of Dash’s own legs; she proceeded to bend and unbend it at the elbow, gazing at it in seeming fascination.
The Pegasus jerked her hoof out of Twilight’s grip and chuckled nervously. “What did you even order?”
Dash’s sudden motion appeared to startle Twilight. She blinked and shook her head, before taking a few hurried steps back to restore proper conversational distance. “I was going to give her… have you seen that new Daring Do inflatable toy?”
Dash’s ears perked at the name. “You mean the Articulated Balloon Commandable Action Figure they just released? The one with a personality enchantment?” Her eyes widened at the thought. “You can afford to buy one, let alone just to give it away?”
“It wouldn’t be Hearth’s Warming without a little generosity.”
“Still…”
“So will you help me?” Twilight began to pout, her lip quivering and her eyes quavering.
“…Sure.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure why, but Twilight’s secret weapon never failed to compel her.
Twilight jumped up and down with a wide grin on her face. “Great! We can get started immediately!” She turned tail and hurried back to her stack of books.
Dash followed cautiously. “Okay. What are we doing, again?”
The Alicorn picked up three books in her magic, flipping to the pages she’d marked. “You’re going to be my gift to Mrs. Nest!”
The rainbow-maned pony stopped in her tracks. “What?” She followed that reasoned response with the first objection that came to mind. “Wouldn’t Mrs. Nest notice that I’m not a Daring Do action figure?”
Twilight looked up from the books with a frown. “Of course she won’t notice, because you will be a Daring Do action figure.”
Rainbow’s mouth opened for another objection, but only silence came out as her brain struggled to process the situation.
Twilight walked back over to Dash, dragging some books with her. “I couldn’t make the toy on my own, but your Pegasus physique is pre-shaped, so I only have to do a few minor adjustments like color, and your joints will be great guide points for the thaumic skeleton. Even your mind will only need a few tweaks-”
Dash held up a hoof. “No.”
“But Dashie-”
“Not gonna happen.”
“If you would just-”
I get it, you’re stressed out right now; but I’m not going to give up my life just so you can give someone a present on time.”
“But it would just be for a week, then I can switch you out with the real one when I get back.”
“…Still no.”
“Please?” Twilight sat down right in front of Dash, clasped her forehooves together in plea, and began to pout again.
Rainbow Dash withstood the onslaught. For a count of five.
“Fine. If it’s really that important…”
“Thank you thank you thank you!” Twilight wrapped Dash in a sudden stranglehold that was probably meant to be a hug, before releasing her and looking around for the books she’d dropped.
Dash had a mere few seconds to come to terms with what she had just agreed to before Twilight’s voice rang out:
“Ready?”
“Uh…”
“Great! We’ll start with the simple and work up.”
Twilight’s horn began to glow, and a similar purple glow obstructed Dash’s vision. She raised a leg and watched as her fur turned from purple-blue to purple-tan. Turning her head, Dash saw her beautiful rainbow tail fade to a purple-tinted grayscale. Then her cutie mark warped, morphing from a lightning bolt to a compass rose. The purple aura faded, letting a less rainbow-y Dash see herself for what she was; a near-perfect twin of the action hero. All she needed was-
“Catch!”
She only had enough time to look in Twilight’s direction before some sort of cloth hit her in the face. Dash peeled it off to see that it was a green shirt exactly like Daring Do’s. She figured it was part of a Nightmare Night costume Twilight happened to have lying around, and was just wondering where the pith helmet was when another object clocked her on the side of the head.
Twilight grinned eagerly at Rainbow Dash as she closed her closet and jumped back down from the loft of her room. “Go on, put them on.”
Dash shrugged. She slipped on the vest, then set the hat on top of her mane. Twilight’s magic immediately adjusted both items, making them slightly more visually appealing and noticeably less comfortable.
Dash flapped her wings a few times to get used to the wing-holes in the shirt, then turned to face Twilight, who was staring at her with a dorky smile. “Now what?”
The librarian giggled. “Sorry, it’s just that you really do look like Daring Do, now.” Her horn started glowing again, but apart from a slight tingling on her scalp, Dash didn’t notice any further changes.
The Pegasus rolled her eyes. “Of course I look like Daring Do. I am Daring Do.” Wait, that wasn’t right. Dash frowned, trying to puzzle out where those words had come from. As she looked inward, she found her own mind to be turned around. She knew from a detached standpoint that she was Rainbow Dash, but emotionally she rebelled at the name, insisting she was the explorer Daring Do. Memories of novels and comic book adventures grew into proper past experiences, while her old life was shoved into a corner, accessible but distant.
She opened her mouth to express her discomfort to Twilight when a stinging sensation, like an ice cream headache, overwhelmed her. Dash dropped to the ground cradling her head. She was just about to cry out in pain when the sensation stopped as suddenly as it had begun.
“Sorry about that; a pony’s brain resists mental programming. Speaking of, stand up.”
Dash was about to disobey out of instinctual obstinacy, but her muscles moved of their own will, bringing her back to her hooves. She stood still for a few seconds before observing, “That felt kind of creepy.”
Twilight walked over and ran a comforting hoof through Dash’s mane. “I’d be intrigued to know more, but I need to leave soon, so we’ll leave that for another time.” She moved her hoof to Dash’s cheek, turning her head so they were nose to nose. “Say you love me.”
Rainbow Dash had some trouble processing that instruction. It took a few moments before the words slipped out of her mouth, “I love you.” Obviously the result of whatever spells Twilight had put on her. It was a few moments more before the words reached her conscious mind. “Hey!”
Twilight gave her a half-lidded look, then abruptly turned away. “Okay, the mental commands work. Just two more steps; first, miniaturization!” By the time Dash registered what had been said, Twilight was already several feet away, holding up one of the magic tomes.
Twilight lit her horn, scrunched her muzzle up cutely in concentration, and Dash began to fall. Or at least, that’s what it felt like. It also felt like standing still. The ground shot up toward her, abruptly stopping much closer than before. Dash looked up to see Twilight standing over her; she guesstimated she was about the size of AJ’s dog, now. It occurred to her that she was already utterly unrecognizable as Rainbow Dash, and Twilight wasn’t done yet.
Twilight reached down and picked her up in her foreleg. She struggled briefly against the hold before the other foreleg came up and conspired with the first to give Dash a warm and fuzzy hug. The sensation gave pause to her squirming, but she had been placed on a table before she could decide how to react. She turned around to look at Twilight, who already had her head buried in another heavy book.
“We’re almost done. All I have to do now is convert your biological matter into an air-filled rubber balloon with a thaumic skeleton.”
Rainbow Dash was just about to ask how that counted as ‘almost done’ when the Alicorn’s magic enveloped her again, lifting her into the air.
Dash started to struggle instinctively, but Twilight promptly uttered “Hold still, please.” Daring Do immediately stopped moving, holding her limbs as still as she could. Dash felt an icy touch creep through her body; first through one leg, then another, then the other two, followed by her wings. The sensation traced each limb, pausing to ruminate in its chilling sensation at each joint. Then it traced connections through her torso, washed down her spine, and finally crept up her neck to end at the base of her head.
The miniature Pegasus tried to resist shivering as the cold structure settled inside of her. But soon enough, she didn’t have to. Shivering became impossible as her muscles began to dissolve into goop, along with her bones and internal organs. Said goop began to pool in her legs, making them look unnaturally thick and rounded. It was at this point that Dash noticed her eyes had frozen in their sockets; and indeed, as she focused on this new detail as a convenient distraction, it appeared that she didn’t have eye sockets at all. Instead, her entire face had become one relatively smooth piece of rubber, shaped like a rather deflated pony head.
The organic puddle in her legs began to expand upward, quickly evaporating entirely into some kind of gas. Her legs remained abnormally rounded, but the gas also rushed back into her torso, up to her head, and down her wings and tail, puffing everything to a slightly chubby state. She felt fresh seams down her back, along her limbs, and across her belly prickle as they reached their greatest extent and halted the expansion.
Twilight let Dash go, and she floated slowly to the ground, landing, and bouncing slightly, on her curved hooves. Her fur was gone, and her mane and tail were now inflated rubber, like the rest of her. Her wings stuck out awkwardly, and her legs had lost some of their tone. Even the Daring Do shirt she’d been wearing had adhered to her skin, becoming part of her rubber shell, though it felt like her pith helmet was still removable, merely resting on her air-head. Daring Do felt a brief thrill at the adventure that awaited her before realizing that she wasn’t, and there wasn’t. She wasn’t even Rainbow Dash anymore; she was just a toy, stuck where she stood.
“You can move again if you want.”
Twilight’s command fixed that last part. Dashing Do turned her head, then raised her hoof to test her new form. It wasn’t the easy, clean movement she was used to, and there was a squeaking of rubber every time she shifted, but she managed to take a few steps forward without falling over. It helped that her inflated body didn’t feel particularly inclined to listen to gravity’s demands.
She looked up at Twilight, having to shift her head to shift her field of view. It bobbed a bit when she stopped moving, but stayed in the general direction she had oriented it in. Her mouth remained in a grin, and she realized with dread that it was painted on, just like her eyes; she only remembered now that the ABCAF she had become wasn’t capable of speech. Dash’s apprehension had reached a peak, but it was too late to turn back now.
And as Twilight smiled down at her, clearly relieved that her gift was ready and her promise kept, Dash felt like it was worth it. Then Twilight reached out with a hoof to flip her over. The hoof held her down as the Alicorn leaned in, opening her mouth – and clasping the valve on Dash’s belly with her teeth, popping it open to the sound of rushing air and the sensation of breathing out through her belly button. And continuing to breathe out. And still breathing out.
Twilight’s other hoof came up, pressing down on each of her legs in turn, pushing the air out of them. Then came her wings, her tail, and finally Twilight’s hoof pressed against Dash’s rubber snout, covering her eyes and flattening her head, nudging away the separately inflatable helmet in the process. Her sight only came back in a vague, blurred manner when the hoof was lifted away, and as the last of the air was pushed out of her chest, she felt rather sleepy.
She didn’t actually drift off, but the subsequent sensations of each limb being folded up behind her back had an otherworldly quality to them, like the edge of a daydream. She felt her tail pressed behind her legs, then the lower third of her body folded further behind her, and finally her head folded so that the top of her deflated mane just touched her deflated rear.
Large hooves carried the rubber pancake that was her some indiscernible distance before placing her down in a box, face pressed to the bottom. A second, smaller piece of rubber was placed on her belly, and her slow mind took a few moments to decide it was probably her helmet. There was a shuffling noise, and the sounds of her friend above became even more muffled; following this was a brief tearing noise, signaling that the package was sealed.
A jostling sensation told her that Twilight was taking her to be delivered. Daring Dash was a Hearth’s Warming gift. Her sluggish thoughts bounced between dread at the situation she’d gotten herself into, and excitement at the thought of all of the amazing adventures she was about to have.
Author's Note
Merry Christmas! Have Rainbow Dash getting turned into something. Again. To be continued. Eventually.