Twilight Sparkle's Bogus Brain Journey

Day 18

On the next afternoon, five mares and one dragon were being led by one alicorn to one room.

“Are you sure Twilight’s alright?” Applejack asked the towering form of Princess Celestia, who was setting a brisk pace through the castle corridors. “Cause, and ah don’t mean no offense, but it kinda feels like something bad’s happened.”

“Patience, Applejack. All will be revealed shortly.” Replied Celestia, without turning her majestic head around.

“Kinda didn’t answer mah question…”

“Applejack! Don’t be rude!” said Rarity, slapping the orange mare in the wrist sharply. “I’m sure Twilight is fine.”

“Just sayin’…” muttered AJ, rubbing her wrist. The continued silence of the normally sunny alicorn filled the farm mare with uneasiness. She was a pony who trusted her gut feelings, and her gut was telling her in no uncertain terms that something bad had happened since last time she had saw Twilight. And given that the last time she had saw Twilight she had just had her brain fucked out of her own head...it wasn’t as if she was starting from a place of confidence. Still, she held her tongue for now. Celestia clearly had something to show them, and seemed reluctant to discuss the matter in front of the guards and servants.

Celestia had led them to her personal quarters. She opened the door with her magic and walked right in without breaking stride, and the rest of the group followed her inside. Princess Luna was already there. She was wearing her royal attire and a sombre look, and she nodded her head in greeting at the Elements of Harmony as they entered.

“It is good to see you all again.” She said, although her expression was dour. Her hands were clasped in front of her waist, the fingers twitching occasionally as she fought the urge to start fidgeting and cracking her knuckles. “My sister and I have some news to share.” Hearing this, and seeing her face, Fluttershy put a hand to her face and started to tear up.

“D-did…something happen?” she stammered. This set off a barrage of questions and general panic from the other girls, with Spike foremost amongst them, and Celestia had to raise both her hands and her voice to silence the assembled group.

“Fear not” she said, as the hubbub died down. “I can confirm that Twilight Sparkle is alive and well.”

“Phew!” said Pinkie, wiping her brow, before frowning. “Heeey, that’s one of those comforting statements that isn’t comforting at all!”

“Yeah, what’s going on?” demanded Rainbow. She didn’t quite get in the princesses’ faces, but she stood to the front of her own group and stuck her chest out like an angry bird. “Is this all cause of what happened with Luna and Twilight?”

“No!” cried Luna, before wincing as her sister glared at her. “Well…” she sighed. “Yes. My recklessness is to blame for this.”

“Wait, what happened between Twilight and Luna?” asked Spike, looking confused. “Did they have a fight?”There were shared uncomfortable looks between the Elements. They had elected not to tell Twilight’s teenage dragon assistant about the events of that day, not anticipating that they would ever have to fess up in front of him like this.

“Well, Spike dear,” began Rarity, trying to figure out an artful way of painting the right picture for Spike. “Princess Luna here decided to show off a very special trick she could do…and…”

“Is this a sex thing?”

“Cock-Fu is not a ‘sex thing’, it is a noble art form!” fumed Luna, as Spike shot her a sceptical look. “I was merely demonstratin the correct technique for a particularly difficult manoeuvre”

“Princess Luna stuck her big cock in Twilight’s ear, and then cummed so hard it went flying out the other ear!” explained Pinkie. She looked around at the rest of the room, who looked flustered to varying degrees over this. “Well, ok, it was more like she pressed her dick up to rather than in her ear, but you know what I meant!” Spike now looked more befuddled than anything else. Luna attempted to fumble out further explanations, but Celestia raised a hand to silence her sister.

“I didn’t bring you all here to point fingers.” She said. “Let me continue: To be blunt, we are currently unaware of Twilight’s whereabouts. She has went missing, and we are conducting a thorough search of the castle.”

“And I contact Twilight Sparkle in her dreams, to make sure she is safe.” Added Luna, recovering some of her normal regal demeanour. “Her ability to sense the world around her is greatly diminished, sadly, else I could merely ask her where she is.”

“Well what are we doing standing around here?” asked Rainbow, heading towards the door. “Let’s get looking!” The dark blue alicorn shook her head firmly, her magic holding the door shut.

“Nay, Rainbow Dash; we will attend to this ourselves.” She said, her voice as firm and unyielding as a mountain. “I am to blame-and I will be the one to remedy this situation. I will look Twilight in the eye and apologize for my actions.”

“But we can’t just sit around doing nothing!” protested Spike, his tail raised in frustration. “What are we meant to do in the meantime?!”

“We cannot let the populace believe anything is amiss. Therefore we ask you to carry on as normal, and make sure no rumours spread.” Said Celestia.

“And how are we s’posed to do that when Twilight’s…uh…” Applejack paused mid question, before asking another one. “Where even is her body, anyway?”

“Allow me to answer both of those questions at once.” Said the sun princess. She walked over to a door and knocked on it. “You can come out now.” The door opened, and in walked…

“Twilight?!”

“Greetings!” said Twilight Sparkle. Or at least it seemed like her. She looked virtually identical to the pony who was apparently missing. Everyone gathered around her, goggling at her.

“But…you said…Twilight…” stammered Fluttershy, as “Twilight” grinned. Spike stood there, suspicious. It looked like Twilight alright, but the way she stood seemed subtly off. And that smug grin seemed awfully familiar…

“Twilight’s brain is indeed missing, but her body was always accounted for.” Explained Celestia, standing behind the purple alicorn and putting a hand on her shoulder. “We were able to find a volunteer who agreed to lend her own brain to act as a stand-in, for as long as it takes us to resolve this issue.”

“Really? Who?” asked Rarity. “Twilight” giggled, in a way that seemed rather sinister.

“Oh, someone you know.” She said. “The one person up to the job of impersonating a famous magic user.” Suddenly, it clicked for Spike, and he felt a pit in his stomach as he realised who’s brain had been placed in Twilight’s head. He pointed a claw at the figure. “You’re…”

“Yes, that’s right! But for now you can call me…” Twilight struck a proud pose, hands on her hips, clearly delighted at the situation she was in. “The Great and Powerful Twilight!”

“Don’t actually refer to her as that.” Added Celestia calmly, as the rest of Twilight’s friends cottoned on and readied their outraged responses. “Trixie, I believe we have already made you aware that we will not tolerate any…” the princess searched for an appropriate term. “shenanigans from you. This is an important job. Please reward us for the faith we are putting in you.”

“Oh of course, dear princess-“

“Because if you don’t…” Luna interjected with a growl, glaring at the stand-in Twilight. She said no more, but instead simply lifted her dress slightly, revealing her cock. It hardened in an act of aggression, unfurling and extending further and further downwards. Having learned what had happened to her rival, Trixie quickly got the message, gulping nervously and putting on a brave smile.

“Y-yes, Trixie understands.” She said. Luna continued glaring. “I mean…Twilight understands?”

“Just try not to address yourself in the third-person at all, if you could be so good.” Celestia gave “Twilight” a gentle push, and she stumbled forwards towards “her” friends. None of the other mares looked pleased about this, standing with their arms crossed and staring daggers at Trixie, who at this point was practically sweating buckets.

“So, my er, loyal and forgiving friends, how about we go back to Ponyville and…do whatever it is friends do?” she said. “Because I love friendship. Me, Twilight Sparkle.” She made for the door immediately, shuffling along at speed in her temporary body. The other girls looked to Celestia, who continued to smile with that confident serenity of hers.

“From crisis comes opportunity.” said Celestia. “Trixie could learn great lessons from this.”
“We’ll see.” Muttered Applejack, but she still bowed along with the rest of the group before leaving. At the end of the day, they all trusted in her judgement, although the farm mare was now really, really hoping that they found Twilight soon. With some luck, she might even find Twilight on her way out!

============================================================================================

Twilight felt very, very wet. She had felt this way for quite a while now, actually, although it was getting harder and harder for her to keep track of time in any sort of meaningful way. The only way she really had of marking the time was whenever she fell asleep and met with Luna, and even then, it was difficult to fully recall her dreams. She had met with the Princess of the night about two, maybe three times? It was so hard to remember. Her mind felt like mush. If things kept going the way they had been that would probably be a literal statement in short order.

Twilight had been pretty sure that she had been floating around in the sewers for at least a day, which was not the most pleasant thought, and she had informed Luna of her suspicions the previous night. The Canterlot waterways were long and treacherous, spreading down into the mountain on which the castle was built and leading out into the sea But now…things felt a little more open ended, and she was spending less time bumping into walls and such. And if that was true, then she must have been flushed out into the river. And if that was true...

“I’m going home!” she thought to herself, happily. The river would run all the way through Ponyville. If she was lucky-and she was due a bit of luck, surely-somepony would see her floating down the river and pick her up, at which point her friends would no doubt realize it was her. This thought cheered up the worn out little brain immensely as she floated on the current of the water. All she had to do now was wait, and in the meantime, enjoy a leisurely cruise through the river. Sun on her lobes, breeze on…the same lobes, fish nibbling at her underside. Ah yes, this was the life…

Twilight realized that one of those things she had listed was not, in fact, ideal. There were fish biting at her soft, wet brainflesh! Admittedly it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as when the rats had been doing it earlier, but still, losing a little more of her grey matter was unfortunate. She could only hope that she tasted bad to fish and that they would leave her alone for the rest of her journey home. It’s not like fish liked meat, right?
Unfortunately, while she was right that fish did not enjoy meat, she did not take into consideration that fish are very stupid, and that there were a lot of them. The next 30 minutes or so was filled with tiny little bites from her water-dwelling tormentors, with some fish following her around and taking repeated bites before remembering that no, brain bad taste do, fish no like. Twilight made a mental note to go fishing here at some point as a means of payback. “Yeah, bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you, you stupid fish!” she thought to herself. “Not so tough when there’s a hook sticking out of yourrsernsonfogoeg-“

At this exact moment, by virtue of the laws of irony, a fishing hook pierced Twilight’s frontal lobe.The fish that had gathered around her scattered as the bundle of nerves twitched, before getting dragged towards the riverbank and hoisted into the air.

“Ah got something!” said a young voice that went unheard by Twilight, who’s thoughts were getting scrambled up like her mind had been put in a blender. “It’s…uh…”

“What the heck kinda fish is that?” asked another voice.

“Oooh, is it a pufferfish maybe?” added a third.

“It’s clearly a brainfish!”

“Applebloom there’s no such thing as a brainfish. You made that up!”

“Well whatever it is, it looks kinda gross. Just throw it back into the river and catch a real fish.”

“Yeah, I am not eating that thing.”

“Alright, alright!”

The brain was quickly cast back into the river, the hook being torn out of the frontal lobes and leaving a large tear, with some bits of grey matter sticking to the hook. Not that Twilight felt anything for at least another 5 minutes, maybe ten. It was like getting an electric shock. Surviving otherwise lethal damage was of course a welcome perk for alicorns, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t feel anything from it. Still, thought Twilight after she finally recovered most of her mental processes, at least the fish had went away. Now surely she would be home and dry soon enough!

Suddenly, Twilight felt a new sensation around behind the back of her brain. It was different from the fish, like something brushing against her. Something long and hard, and not in a good way. Twilight tried to think about what else could be lurking in the waters of the Ponyville river…and then gasped, at least mentally. Of course. How could she have forgotten! Twilight felt another forceful prod on the base of her stem, causing her lobes to jiggle like jelly. This was clearly the work of the famous Ponyville River Crab!

The little brain quivered with a mixture of fear and simply physics as she was continually probed by the creature’s claw. Her options were essentially limited to “play dead”, a tactic that had so far brought her absolutely no success whatsoever since getting disembodied all that time ago (it felt like a millennia since she had been in a body). Twilight was entirely at the crab’s mercy.

“Hehe...nice Mr Crabby!” thought Twilight. She cast her mind back to all those delicious crabs legs she had enjoyed with her friends over the last few years. Was this karma? Was this not just a crab, but some holy crab-warrior sent to avenge its comrades? Had her brain taken so much damage that she was now thinking of a crab as some sort of mythical crustacean vigilante? All these questions and more were sidelined when she suddenly felt those claws close around the base of her brainstem.

“No, wait, sto-“

SNIP

=================================================================================================

From the moment they had left Celestia’s room to when they had gotten off the train at Ponyvile, Spike had been staring a hole into Trixie’s very soul. The gangly teenage dragon was practically blowing steam out of his nose, such was his displeasure at this current course of events. Trixie wasn’t sure what his problem was, to be frank. Honestly, you turn somepony into a basketball and then dunk them just once and they never let it go.

Also there was the time she had set an Ursa Major on the town, and then enslaved everpony that other time. Trixie was not suggesting that she was perfect. But everypony makes mistakes, right?

“Oh hello, Twilight! You’re back!”

A cheery purple earth mare had spotted the group and was now waving at Trixie. She turned her head.

“Hello…you!” Said Trixie, putting on a big genuine smile just like she had taught herself to in the mirror while waiting in Celestia’s private bathroom. “It’s good to see you!”

“Thanks, and same to you, Princess Twilight!” said the mare, before walking off. Trixie felt her heart nearly bust out of her chest. That mare had just called her princess. Before she woudn’t have merited so much as a hello, and now ponies were going to be fawning all over her! She giggled softly to herself, but then stopped as she felt one of the girls kick her in the shins.

“Stop doing an evil laugh, “Twilight”, jeez!” hissed Rainbow. “Just laugh like a normal pony.”

“That was a normal laugh, honest!” protested Trixie. “Right?” The rest of the girls all shook their heads. Hmm, she would have to work on that, clearly. Trixie began to dwell on her new status as they continued to walk down towards the castle, approaching a bridge going across the river. Yes, that’s right, a castle. Her castle, at least until that blithering stuck up fool Twilight was found. Trixie would have to milk this for all that it was worth. Nothing too extravagant of course, she had been well warned by the royal sisters. But there would be plenty of time spent wafting in the rarefied air of princesshood, soaking in the love and adulation of her subjects, eating for a royal discount at restaurants, and whatever other benefits Twilight presumably enjoyed daily. And of course, there were…other extras…

“Applebloom, get away from those crabs!”

Just as they were about to cross the bridge, Trixie turned around to see Applejack yelling out and sprinting away up the riverbank towards somepony in the distance, with the other girls either looking on or rushing to help. At the same time, Trixie felt her foot step in something very squishy.She looked down. She had trodden on something round, wrinkly and greyish pink, her foot flattening it out almost entirely. The more sthe stared at it, the more Trixie thought about how it looked rather like a brain. She goggled at this, her naturally paranoid mind immediately assuming the worse case scenario: that this was Twilight Sparkle.

It certainly looked like a brain that bad been through some bad times. There were tiny holes peppered all around the surface, the front looked like it had been rubbed on barbed wire, and the stem had been sliced off. It was also soaking wet, as if it had just emerged from the river somehow-perhaps swept ashore by the current. Trixie’ eyes wandered up towards the distant figure of Canterlot Castle, high up on the mountain, connected by the river. The pieces definitely fit, but her mind began to work quickly. Trixie was not always the smartest pony, but she had her moments of low cunning. And she knew one thing: she was absolutely not ready to give up her new leash on life before it had even begun.

Thinking quickly, she gave the sodden brain a swift, but subtle boot, sending it splashing back into the water. It disappeared under the bridge and away from her and the rest of the group, who were now coming back from the opposite direction along with three younger fillies.

“Sweetie, fishing for crabs is dangerous work. Why the could snip your little fingers right off!” tutted Rarity, making a scissor had gesture for emphasis. “Snip snip snip!”

“Sorry, Rarity, we just wanted to catch any sort fish, really!” replied the white filly.

“Yeah, those crabs just kinda came out of nowhere!” insisted her orange-coated friend, who then spotted Trixie loitering by the bridge. “Oh hey Twilight!”

“H-hello, filly who I definitely know.”said Trixie, chosing to stay where she was. “Sorry for not coming over, I just…stubbed my toe on the bridge! Oh, ouch!” Trixie bent over and rubbed her toe. “I hope you’re all…well?”

“They are. The lucky things.” Said Applejack, shaking her head. “Think ah’m gonna take the little one home ‘fore she get up to any more mischief.”

“Yes, a fine idea Applejack. I will do likewise.” Agreed Rarity, taking her little sisters hand. “Will you be heading home now, Twilight?” she asked Trixie. Seeing an opportunity to escape socialising with her “friends”, Trixie redoubled her toe massage, wincing.

“Yes, I suppose I better go back to the incredible crystal castle that I sleep in every night. To rest in.” She blinked as everyone stared at her. “Well…nice talking to you, bye!” Everyone watched her go, some of the adults groaning audibly.

“Huh, she runs fast for someone who just stubbed their toe…” said Scootaloo, scratching her head. “But I’m glad that Twilight’s back!”

“Yeah.” Muttered Spike, walking over the bridge and after her. “I’m so happy.”

================================================================================

Winston was a good boy. He knew this this to be true because the nice yellow pegasus had told him so. Winston liked to be a good boy for her. She would give him yummies and pet him and scratch behind his ears, which felt very good indeed, and then he would go home to live in the forest. Winston was something of a lone wolf usually, which is to say that he was literally a lone wolf. But she was such a nice pony mare, he always went to visit her cottage when he was feeling particularly lonely. The brown, unsquishy wolves were not very nice compared to her. They weren’t even good to bite.

Sadly for Winston, the nice yellow pony was not at her cottage when he had visited earlier. He was tempted to eat some of the smaller animals that had been there, but usually when he tried that the nice pony got very sad and worried, and that made Winston feel sad, and she might not give him yums or pets. So he left, and decided to search around the riverbanks for anything tasty or fun that might be around.

It didn’t take the 105 pound grey wolf long to notice something unusual lying near the water’s edge, stuck behind a stray branch. He trotted over to it. There was an odd smell coming from it-like meat, but not quite. Not being a cautious sort, Winston stuck his nuzzle forward and gave it a good sniff, followed by a few tentative licks. He had sniffed and licked an awful lot of things in his time, with a few regrets along the way, but the wolf didn’t know what to make of this new thing. Still, he decided that it could make for a potential tasty treat, or a fun thing to play with at worst.

He opened up his muzzle and bit down gently on the squishy thing. Then he turned tail and trotted off into the woods, tail wagging happily behind him as the sky above started to darken.

============================================================================================

Princess Luna drifted through the realm of dreams, her noble brow furrowed. There was work to be done of course, as always, but right now the princess had a singular goal in mind, and was searching for one pony in particular’s dream. Normally it was easy, but tonight something was different, which worried her. Luna had stumbled through a few unrelated dreams in the process of finding Twilight’s, interrupting what looked like a very pleasant dream of Rarity’s involving herself and what looked like an awful lot of other ponies, before eventually zoning in on Twilight’s own personal headspace. She dived right in.

“What in Equestria…”

The interior of Twilight Sparkle’s mind was a rolling sea of chaos. The sea metaphor was not just poetry, either. Great waves of water rolled around for miles upon miles deep into the horizon, while the sky was full of stormclouds and the roar of a mighty gale. And yet the colours were allwrong-the sea was bright pink, the sky sickly green and the clouds were rich yellow and producing bolts of purple lightning And every now and then the dream seemed to tilt, as though this was all taking place in some seaborne vessel. It was all rather headache-inducing, truth be told, but worse than that, it made Luna even more concerned than she already was about the mental, and perhaps physical state of Twilight’s brain.

“Twilight Sparkle!” shouted Luna into the sea, scanning the pink waves for any sign of the missing princess.”Mark me, Princess Twilight! I, Princess Luna, have come to-“

“Biusfeisenfs! j8ajri [jef8i 0i?”

“Wat”

Luna spun around in a hurry as she tried to locate where that stream of purestrain nonsense had come from. She located her target towards her right. Floating on a tiny raft was Twilight Sparkle herself, but like everything else in this world she too was discoloured. Her fur was bright red, and her mane was entirely white save for an orange streak. The technicoloured pony was wearing a pair of bright white sunglasses and a silver bikini that looked about two sizes too small. Her breasts strained visibly against the fabric of the bikini, wobbling as though with minds of their own, and there was a similar conflict going on between her legs, cock and balls bulging out obscenely against the outmatched panties. Her attired was so skimpy it was as though she had somehow been sunbathing in the middle of the storm. But now she had sat bolt upright, taking her sunglasses off and making eye contact with Luna.

“Are you…is this…” said Luna, descending down towards the raft and gesturing at the bizarre landscape that the two of them were in. “This is all very unlike you, Twilight.”

“8hj9un egu tuan2GGGGGGGGGGIWN “ said Twilight. Luna blinked, the gasped. As a dreamwalker she had seen this sort of thing before. There was a part of the brain that dealt with dreams, and Twilight’s must have been damaged. Direct communication between the two of them would now be practically impossible. Luna tried to assess the damage.

“Can you understand my words?” said Luna, in as gentle a voice as she could manage over the roar of the ocean. Twilight nodded franticly as she sat on the raft, her legs spread out.“Good. That will make this easier. I cannot comprehend your words, but please, nod your head if you think you’re still in the castle!” Instead, the currently bright red Twilight shook her head, before gesturing around her. Luna felt a chill go up her spine.

“Do you mean you are…in the ocean?” she asked. Another shake of the head. “No, that would be very unlikely…the river leading out of Canterlot?” This time there was a nod, although it was a tentative one, followed by a shrug. “You just think you’re there?” asked Luna. Another nod. This was good, at least, narrowing down the list of possible locations. Of course, the river was no place for a brain…

“I see. This is welcome information.” Luna said. “I will inform my night guards immediately, and search the river for you. Our reunion grows closer ever day, Twilight Sparkle-remember that.”Before Luna could leave, she was startled by Twilight leaning in and giving the alicorn a big hug, still muttering her nonsense-speech. Luna realized how isolated she must have felt, and returned the hug, rubbing her hand across Twilight’s back, before she made her exit. “Stay strong as ever, Twilight. I will see you soon!”

Luna woke with a start, sitting bolt upright in her bed and then leaping out altogether. She opened the door to her room and addressed the guards standing outside.

“Assemble the rest of the guard! Tonight we search the rivers!” she boomed, standing as naked as the day she was born, cock pointing upwards to match her dramatically pointing finger. The guards didn’t blink an eye at this-they were used to it by now. They merely nodded and left to find the others. There was work to be done.

===============================================================================
Day 20

Applebloom hummed happily to herself as she made her way up towards Zecora’s hut, the afternoon sun sitting low and lazy in the sky. It was funny to think that she used to feel kinda nervous walking through the forest before. Now she’d taken this trip enough to develop a sort of fearlessness about it. Of course Applejack would still fuss and ask to come along in case anything happened, but Applebloom liked going on her own, feeling like a grown up.

Whenshe knocked on the door of the hut, Zecora’s voice bade her to come in , and Applebloom walked inside. The zebra was standing over her cauldron, adding some sort of ingredient to the pot. She turned and smiled warmly at the filly.

“Ah Applebloom, so nice to see you! Come over here and see this new brew” said Zecora. The yellow-coated filly walked over to the bubbling pot of green potion, resisting the temptation to dip her finger into it.

“Wow, what kinda potion’s this?” she asked. Zecora, dressed in her usual combination of a simple black robe with extravagant jewellery, walked over to the countless pots of ingredients that she had on hand at all times as she explained.

“Ah, just a common remedy. But something else has puzzled me.” she said as she rooted through her jars. “The everfree to me has sent a curious ingredient.” Finding what she was looking for, Zecora picked up a jar filled with a murky, colourful liquid, and then extracted something from within-an ugly looking pale lump. Applebloom walked over and Zecora deposited it in her hands. It felt much warmer than she had expected, but also very wet and spongey. The filly turned it over in her hands, noticing the holes, cuts and other signs of wear and tear.

“The heck is this?” she asked.

“I found it in a patch of ivy. But it’s true nature…totally escapes me.” Confessed the zebra, taking it back off of Applebloom. The farmgirl couldn’t help but think she had seen something like that before...nah, it must have just been her imagination. She would have definitely remembered seeing something that gross. Zecora took the brain over to a nearby surface and produced a knife, before neatly slicing off a sliver from the back of the lump. Then she placed the slice in a bowl before starting to grind it up into a fine powder.

“I will test this plant’s effects through alchemy and other texts” said Zecora, placing the mysterious plant (if it even was a plant) back in the jar she had found it in. “For now though, let’s leave it be. What lessons would you like from me?”

And so Applebloom forgot about that weird ingredient entirely as she began her potion lessons with Zecora. They went on for about 90 minutes, with the wise Zebra giving advice on the proper way to prepare a standard healing potion. Applebloom was getting better at it, but at the end of that day’s particular session her potion ended up a sort of unappealing grey rather than the healthy reddish pink it should have been.

“Gosh, Idunno what ah did wrong!” exclaimed the filly, feeling bad about getting it so badly wrong. Zecora put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Practice is important, Applebloom. Do you try it at home? Perhaps in your room?”

“Well, ah’m sure I can find someplace to practice safely, yeah! Just give me some ingredients and ah’ll get right on it!”

Cheered at her student’s earnest enthusiasm, Zecora gathered up some jars and gave them to Appleblom in a bag, which the farmgirl slung over her shoulder.

“Ok, ah should be heading back now, AJ will start getting worried if I ain’t back for supper, haha.” She said. “Especially now that it’s Zap-Apple jam season. Shoot, ah bet she’ll want help with that actually. Gotta go!”Applebloom quickly said her goodbyes and left the hut, moving briskly through the forest. Zecora watched her go, happy for the visit, before going back to clean up from the lesson.
It wasn’t until a few days later, when she went to make a new healing potion, that Zecora realised she had given Applebloom the wrong jar.

=============================================================================================

Day 21

After going through the usual protracted steps for ensuring the best possible harvest of Zap Apple Jam, Applebloom was in charge of transferring the freshly made jam to the jars, after which they would be taken into town by Applejack to be sold. The jam was getting so popular that there were now buyers from all over Equestria: Manehattan, Appleloosa, and even far to the north in the Crystal Empire. Granny was pretty proud of this; the whole family was, really. Knowing that one of their prized products was so well liked just made them want to make the best Zap Apple Jam they could. Even if it had kinda got in the way of potion practice-Applebloom hadn’t even had a chance to check out the ingredients Zecora had given her.Actually…where had she put them again?

“Applebloom, you still got enough jars for this?” asked Applejack, poking her head into the room.

“Sure do, sis! Just leave me to it!” replied the hard-at-work filly, screwing the top onto her latest jar of jamand setting it alongside the other finished one on the table. Behind her was a series of empty jars, and she reached for one now.

“By the way,” continued Applejack, moving slightly further into the room from her place at the door, “you haven’t seen anything, uh…weird, recently, have ya?”

“What do you mean, sis?” asked Appbloom, her hand settling on a jar and bringing it towards the vat of jam. Applejack took her hat off and rubbed her messy blonde mane.

“Uh, you know. Just like…anything weird.” She said, trying to act casual. “Like when you and yer friends were fishing the other day.”

“Well we caught a weird fish” said Applebloom, her eyes rolling up towards the ceiling as she opened up the jar’s lid, not fully concentrating on what she was doing,or why the apparently empty jar felt a little heavier than it should. “But we just threw it back into the river. It was all pink and lumpy.” Applejack came closer, now visibly worried.

“Ya…ya don’t say.” Said the orange mare, biting her lip.
“Hehe, yeah, it was one weird critter.” Laughed Applelbloom as she started to fill the jar. “Kinda looked like a brain! Which is weird, cause far as ah know, brains don’t really like swimming-hey, where a going, sis?” But Applejack was already gone, sprinting out of the room at full speed. Applebloom looked at the space where her big sister had been, wondering what had gotten her so spooked, before shrugging. She finished filling the jar and put it with the others, every one of them looking exactly like each other. Applebloom smiled at them. She was sure that the would all make somepony really happy!

========================================================================================

Spike delicately turned the page of the comic he was reading as he sat in the spare bedroom, cross legged on the mattress. Usually it was easy to get into the story and lose yourself, but he was finding it kind of hard to concentrate. He didn’t normally wear headphones for this, after all. The music playing in his ears was drowning out almost every other sound in the castle. Almost ever other sound, that is.

“Oooh! Aaaaah! Yes! More! Ahaha!”

Spike winced. It turns out that Trixie had been completely unprepared for dealing with the first time she got a massive boner in her new body, which she had experienced the minute she was alone in her new bedroom last night. Spike honestly didn’t think she had stopped jerking herself off since then. The sounds coming from in there painted pictures in Spike’s brain that he had never wanted to see. At least Twilight had the common courtesy to use a sound-proofing spell when she felt the urge. And now he was essentially looked out of his usual bedroom. There wasn’t a force in all Equestria that could compel him to go in there until she had worked this out of her system.

“Mmmm! Ahh! Eee! My cock feels so good! Mine, mine, mine!”

The dragon sighed and cranked the volume up on the music. He just hoped she was cleaning up in there, because he sure as hell wasn’t gonna. With any luck she’d soon pass out from exhaustion or something, he thought, as he turned to the next page.

“AaaaaAAAAA! AAAH, Aaaaah….ooooh….”

There was a heavy thumping sound from the other room, followed by silence. Spike paused the music.

“…You OK in there?” he shouted. Another pause.

“…just one more…”

“Screw this, I’m going over to Rarity’s”