Hot Swap

“You think this will work, Applebloom?”

Rumble eyed the small glass bottle with interest. He and Applebloom were sitting together inside the old CMC clubhouse. It was a hot summer Sunday and the two had concocted an idea together yesterday about what they could do with themselves. Both Rumble and Applebloom were dreading going to school tomorrow for similar reasons.

Neither were happy about how they looked.

Rumble was five-foot eleven but not very built. In fact, he was reedy and not at all in-shape. Despite his efforts working out he was going nowhere fast. At five-foot-four Applebloom wasn’t much better off: she lacked the stature and curves of her older sister and wasn’t much of a looker in any sense of the word. It should be a crime that at her age she was barely filling out a training bra.

“This should work perfectly! Listen Rumble, ah’ve been doing potion brewing as a hobby for years and with Zecora’s help… well. Ah don’t mean to be tooting my own horn but I’m pret-ty darned good at it,” said Applebloom, swirling the potions in each hand.

Rumble shifted on the wooden floor. “I’ve never drank a magic potion before.”

“It’s not a magic potion it’s regular,” corrected Applebloom, corking both vials shut. “Magic potions are infused with a unicorn spell. These are jus’ natural magic ingredients you find growing in the Everfree forest.”

“Huh, that’s actually kind of neat,” Rumble mused, glancing out the window at the setting sun. “I guess being an Earth pony helps too somehow.”

“It does! Twilight told me ah had an extra special touch on making them,” she began swirling the two near-identical mixtures. One of them glowed blue, the other red, and then both potions simmered into a dull dark purple. Applebloom set them down on the desk and checked over her potions book.

“We oughta wait until the liquid cools down before drinking them,” said Applebloom, picking her bottle up by the neck. After a minute she raised it up high. “Y’all ready to do this?”

Rumble picked his up glass bottle and held it up, clinking the glasses.

“Here’s to a better us!” said Rumble enthusiastically, putting the drink to his lips.

“APPLEBLOOM! ARE Y’ALL UP THERE?!”

The two ponies practically jumped at Applejack’s voice. They put their drinks down on the desk and stuck their heads out the window. Applejack was standing below the tree with a small basket of apples braced against her hip.

“What the hay are you two doin’ up there?” she continued, squinting at Rumble specifically. “Nothin’ untowards I hope.”

“Me ‘an Rumble are just talkin’ about classes tomorrow! Honest!” said Applebloom. “Plus I’m pretty sure you’d be able to tell if we were doin’ anything untoward up here.”

Applejack harrumphed, seeing that neither of them were flushed or panting heavily. “Well, y’all wrap up whatever you’re doing in there. Sun’s goin’ down.”

“Alright!” said Applebloom, with a big grin on her face.

Not seeing any point in continuing this conversation, Applejack did a half-shrug and sashayed towards the barn. Rumble couldn’t help but stare at the sway of her wide hips and plump rear stuffed into those daisy dukes.

“Hey!” Applebloom snapped her fingers at Rumble. “Wake up!”

“Oh! Sorry!” blushed Rumble, pulling his head back inside. “I didn’t realize uh… sorry.”

“Yeah well,” Applebloom balefully looked him up and down. “Pretty soon it’s gonna be me that’s gonna be the apple of your eye ‘cause I’ll be drop dead gorgeous!”

Rumble idly grabbed the glass vial closest to him, picturing Applebloom with her sisters figure. “I mean, sure? Everyone’s going to be talking to you soon. Plus, I’m finally going to ask out Scootaloo.”

“Tch. C’mon Rumble you coulda already asked her,” scoffed Applebloom. “She already said she likes ya.”

Rumble brought the vial to his lips, “Well, no time like now for a confidence booster, right Applebloom?”

“Right! Down the hatch!” she grinned, mimicking Rumble. “Drink!”

They simultaneously chugged the lime green potion down.

“BLEGH!” the two stuck out their tongues and wiped it best they could.

“Applebloom that tasted disgusting,” Rumble grabbed his water bottle and swished the liquid around his mouth. “What the hay is in this potion?”

Applebloom retched. “Egh. Everything you saw me put in it! Ah bet those mushrooms didn’t help it none.”

Rumble’s face contorted in pain. “Yuck! I wish you made it taste like apples.”

After a minute of dealing with the flavor of the vile vials , the pair began inspecting any changes to their bodies. So far no mass was adding to Rumbles physique or Appleblooms.

“Do ya think my boobs look any bigger?” asked Applebloom pointedly, pulling her shirt tight against her chest. “ Ah can’t tell if it’s working slowly or not.”

Rumble glanced it over. “Not really no.”

“Dangit!” Applebloom huffed, kneeling at the table and scanning the potion instructions. “Now ah know that all the ingredients on this here list went into the potion. It should have kicked in about now already!”

“Maybe it’s a delayed reaction?” offered Rumble, sidling up next to her.

Applebloom frowned. “All the potions I brewed have been instant use. Why the hay would this one be different?”

The two re-read the page together and went over the list of ingredients collected. There were no substitutes. Applebloom had successfully scoured the area for every necessary frond and flower to make this potion happen.

An hour later with no answers, no changes, and no ingredients to make another potion the sun was going down fast. Both ponies were wholly fed up.

“I botched it,” Applebloom threw her arms up in defeat. “Ah dunno how, or where, but the potion’s a dud.”

Rumble shrugged. “I feel like a warm feeling in my stomach that's spreading outwards. Like, it’s down to my knees now.”

“An’ I can feel that too!” exclaimed Applebloom. “Feelin’ it but it’s not working! UGH! Tomorrow morning we’re both going to wake up and it’ll be out of our system. Sooner if y’all plan on chugging a lot of water tonight before bed.”

“Actually, I don’t feel very hungry or thirsty,” Rumble said. He could probably even do without dessert tonite at dinner. Despite his mothers cheesecake creations it didn’t sound appealing.

“Well I am tired and famished,” Applebloom closed her book shut and clopped her hooves against the floorboards. “Spent all dang day workin on this with no results. No wonder Twilight gets annoyed when her experiments get nothin’ out of it.”

Rumble patted Applebloom on the back and she sighed. The frustration slowly left her.

“We can try it again,” he suggested with a hint of optomism, heading to the door. “Let’s get going before your sister comes around again.”

Applebloom snorted and followed Rumble out the door. “Like you’d be so torn up seeing her right?”