To Be One with the Rainbow

"Rainbow, I know it tickles, but I really need you to hold still," requested the purple alicorn.

"That's-what-she-said, heh heh heh," her subject replied, equal parts tickled and amused.

The two had been in the library of Twilight's castle for the past few hours. The more intelligent of the two had asked all of her closest friends to help her perform some minor experiments that day, but all of them were unavailable save the blue pegasus. Pinkie was arranging for Dash's six-months-until-your-birthday party. Rarity was doing busy work getting dresses cut and sewn and sold. Applejack was nowhere to be found on the farm. And Fluttershy claimed to be planning a tea party for Discord (although with how quickly she shut the door, Twilight figured that was a lie and that Fluttershy was simply too scared for this). But Rainbow Dash had finished her cloud work earlier in the day and was left lazing about with nothing to do. Begrudgingly, the alicorn had invited her into her home and began the testing.

She was regretting it even now.

"Ugh... okay, Dash... can you see the watches if I put them here? Just barely, yes?"

Rainbow Dash was sitting in the center of the room, placing her a couple dozen yards from her friend. A few feet from her, on either side of her head, swung two silver pocket watches in perfect sync. Twilight let them swing like pendulums. What caused the tickling were the elongated ear-cleaners wedged into either of Dash's ears - each one connected to one of the swinging watches. Twilight was very careful not to let them leave her head completely at any time, knowing the spell required contact to be maintained at all times. Likewise, she and Dash had to keep each other's gazes on one another the whole time. That was easier said than done.

"Remember not to look at the watches," the alicorn reminded, her magic focused as intently on the swinging as her eyes were on keeping eye contact.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. But how much longer is this gonna take? It took like 30 minutes just to set this up," Dash grumbled even as she continued to look Twilight in the eyes.

"Just a few... slight... adjustments..." Twilight slowly replied, perfecting the swings of the pockets to be just a bit faster than before. Rainbow could see them in her peripheral, and they were perfectly poised so that each one swung through the blindspot of either eye. It was entrancing and distracting - very hard not to draw the blue mare's attention. But of course, it was good motivation knowing that if she messed up, they might have to start all over. The scientist continued: "They should be passing through your blindspots now. Does it look like they glimmer each time they come out from behind them?"

"Yeah, they do. What's this experiment supposed to do anyway? I know you said something about it before, but I was only like half paying attention then," Dash admitted, resisting the urge to rub the back of her neck with a hoof.

"It's supposed to give an earth pony or a pegasus some of the qualities of a unicorn," she explained quickly, now starting to move the ear-cleaners as well. They revolved around the inside of Dash's ear in opposite-going circles - tickling her but also providing a pleasant - if odd - sensation. Her mind felt as fuzzy as the ends of the cleaners as Twilight slowly picked up the pace of their revolutions, careful not to change the pace or altitude of the watch-swings. "How does this feel?"

"It feels... weird... like you're actually reaching in and giving my mind a scrub with these things. I don't really feel any different otherwise, though" the pegasus said, holding back a shrug as the ear cleaners slowly sped up. "Am I supposed to know when the changes hit or something?"

It was hard to tell from this distance, but it looked like Twilight grew a smirk at the question. Containing a chuckle, the purple mare nodded - still holding Dash's gaze. "Yes, Rainbow, you'll know. And you're just about right with your hypothesis." The cleaners began to spin as well as scrub, making the world look fuzzy for the pegasus. The glimmering of the watches began to seem like they were syncing with Dash's heartbeat. Or maybe it was the other way around? Either way, she could feel the cleaners going deeper than they ought to. Yet there was no resistance as Twilight carefully slid them in further. The alicorn said something about a particular lobe of the brain, but Rainbow Dash only heard a garbled sentence. Whether this was from the cleaners or the effect of the experiment was entirely unclear.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat what you said?" Dash asked. Or at least tried to ask. With the way the cleaners were interacting with her head, it was hard for her to even be sure of what she was saying. They were slid in yet further until just the other tip was poking out, at which point, she could barely see her surroundings.

As the cleaners slid into her ears almost like snakes, the pegasus heard a garbled giggle from her friend across the room. Before Rainbow could say anything snarky or grow overly suspicious, she felt a sudden calm wash over her as the cleaners were inserted fully and her eardrums resealed over them. The watches were raised, and Dash was left with a few brief moments of absolute tranquility - not hearing anything and seeing nothing but a blurred world. her senses soon returned, however, and she could see Twilight approaching her whilst the silver watches were set down on a table someplace behind the pegasus. Yet what she saw and heard was so much crisper than it was before. As though she needed glasses her entire life but never known. Twilight smiled a curious smile as she asked, "How do you feel now, Rainbow?"

"I feel... like everything is so much clearer. What... what did you do to me? I kinda like it," she said, smiling and blushing a bit. Somehow this new clarity also brought her a light sense of euphoria that felt a bit like being buzzed.

"Well, I don't know exactly," the alicorn admitted, rubbing the nape of her neck awkwardly. "If the theories I read are all correct - and they might not be - I just awoke a small part of your brain just between the occipital lobe and the temporal lobe. Those two lobes are for..." the alicorn stopped, shaking her head, as she knew that the pegasus's eyes were already starting to glaze over. "-Anyway, what I did should have cleared your perception and made it easier to learn and interpret things in the world." Twilight looked left and right, blush building in her face as she chuckled. "I know that sounds vague, but I guess time will tell if you got magic from it."

"Hmmm... that's kinda lame that you don't know what exactly it did. I mean you are an egghead after all," Dash said, feeling the buzz leave her. "Does it say if there's going to be a surefire way to know, or will I just have to wait and see what happens? I hope it's the former. I want to brag to Pinkie when I stop by Sugarcube Corner later."

Twilight's face was awash with red; she was clearly flustered and disenchanted by Rainbow's bluntness. Still, not one to leave a scientific question unanswered, she swallowed the proud lump in her throat and explained thusly: "You should try to wish for what you want to happen and imagine it happening. That's a big part of how magic works. Once you get a good idea of that, let it happen as you imagine it would. Does... that help? Sorry, it's hard explaining magic to a non-unicorn."

"I think I get the gist," Dash said with a nod. She decided to try to start with something small for now, so she closed her eyes and concentrated on the Apple Family's Cider. Even though it wasn't Cider Season yet, she was still in the mood for some, and she had already blown through her spare supply a bit ago, and with Applejack nowhere to be found, she hadn't been able to get anymore.

Unfortunately for the pegasus, no apple cider manifested itself for her drinking pleasure. However, when she had strained the vein of her temple, she did feel like there was the slight taste of the alcoholic juice in her mouth, and she swore she could feel the lightest buzz - as after downing a mug of what she had wished for. Since her stomach felt empty, it was unclear if this was a sign of magic or if it was simply a mind-over-matter scenario.

She decided that she had to give this a quick test. Even though she was still planning on getting some treats from Sugarcube Corner, it wouldn't hurt to try to see if she could at least get a snack out of this. So she concentrated again, this time on an actual apple. If it was the magic, she should be able to tell with this.

A taste came back into her mouth by her force of will. It was like the taste in her mouth before, but without the feeling of alcohol that tingled her tongue then.

On instinct, she tried to take a bite out of the apple and swallow, even though part of her knew that it likely wasn't an actual apple.

The pegasus was unable to conjure any real sort of food or drink, but trying to bite into an apple she imagined there was... an interesting experience, to say the least. She felt as though her teeth phased through something colder than the general air of the library, and she could soon feel a sour taste spread through her mouth. Like that of an apple, of course. It didn't feel like she gained any amount of nourishment, but her perception made the imaginary apple almost real! Meanwhile, Twilight stood staring at the pegasus biting the air, and she was trying to contain a chuckle upon watching. "I didn't know you were that big of a mouth-breather, Dash," she teased.

Upon realizing that Twilight was still there, she blushed and immediately closed her mouth. "It's not like that at all! I was trying to see if I could summon an apple. And, well... I couldn't, but SOMETHING happened, I know that much," she said defensively, crossing her forehooves.

"Hm. I'll mark that in my notes, but unless anything empirical happens..." Twilight shrugged, offering an apologetic smile to her pegasus friend. "-I have to treat the experiment as inconclusive for now. Maybe you could come back later if anything verifiable happens?"

"Will do. Heh, maybe I could use these magical powers or whatever to find out what happened to AJ and Apple Bloom. Scoots says that the apple squirt hasn't been to any Cutie Mark Crusaders meetings in a bit, and it's not like AJ to just disappear without leaving at least a note."

"I think I heard about Applebloom being absent from the farm too," Twilight nodded. "Maybe the two of them are on a hike somewhere. I know Mac certainly doesn't seem worried." She offered a reassuring smile. "If you can find out what happened to them, that would be great - but it's only been a few days. You know how adventurous sisters get, don't you? If you can't though, I was planning on asking Discord later if he can sense where she might be."

"Alright. Though you might have a bit of trouble pulling him away from Shy. If they're doing what I think they're doing, they won't want to be apart," Dash said with a shrug. "But in the meantime, I've got a date with some grub, so I'll see ya later," she said before flaring her wings and flying out the window towards Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight called after her, head poking out the window, "Tell Pinkie I said hi!"

"Will do!" was the last thing the alicorn heard from the pegasus before she flew out of range.