Oops! Got Your Soul!

Sprout had never been within the walls of the Crystal Brighthouse's bedroom before.

Or wall. The room was shaped like a circle. Across from the entrance was a small seating area with a curved, rose pink sofa that fit snugly against the wall, right below a window that was currently welcoming in gentle starlight. The rest of the floor was divided into four distinct sleeping areas, each bed immediately recognizable as belonging to the glamorous Pipp, the steadfast Sunny, the sleek Zipp, or the imaginative Izzy. And directly in the center of the room was a huge glass cylinder where the light of the Unity Crystals softly glowed, a vertical rainbow that reached both into the sky and towards the earth.

Izzy had just finished up in the bathroom (which had been a mortifying experience for Sprout, although the ever blithe and carefree unicorn had hardly been bothered by the act of relieving herself with somepony else in her body). She hopped into her hammock bed; It hung from a thick, gently arced beam of wood close to the ceiling, and Sprout got hit with a brief bout of dizziness as the bed swayed from the sudden extra weight. As the movement eased, Izzy grabbed one of the several pillows nestled around her and began fluffing it.

"Hey, Izzy, hold still for a minute."

Izzy paused once the words had finished leaving her mouth, inquisitively tipping her head to one side. "Hmm?"

"Pat your head with your right hoof."

Izzy set down her pillow and reached up before proceeding to pat the space just behind her horn.

She felt the corners of her mouth stretch as Sprout grinned. "Now watch this."

Her left hoof moved to rub circles on her tummy at the same time, coaxing a giggle out of her. "Wow, this is amazing!"

Sprout let out a halfhearted chuckle before moving their hoof away and explaining, "It's easiest for me to control individual parts when you're not using them. But moving muscles you're already using takes more effort, and gaining control of your whole body is even tougher." He was quiet for a moment, and then he sighed as a sudden blanket of misery draped over him.

"Hey, what's wrong, buddy?"

"It's just not fair," Sprout muttered, voice pinched with despair. "You're the one who got me into this mess, but everything's fine for you. You get to sleep in a bed you're familiar with and stay with your friends, but I can't even go home to my mom."

Izzy kept her ears perked as she listened attentively. Then they immediately drooped as sadness and guilt sunk into her fur. "I'm really sorry, Sprout. But Sunny already left for Bridlewood, so you'll get your own body back in a few days. I hope." Pushing for a more chipper tone, she added, "And tomorrow, I'll let you do whatever you want! Besides, this is your body now too, and sharing is caring!"

"Really?" Reluctant gratitude clung to the word.

Izzy chuckled. "Right after that group painting session I told you about, of course! Now relax. Pipp and Zipp will be coming to bed soon, and I'm sure you'll feel hunky-dory after a nice long snooze!"

With that, Izzy snuggled amongst her nest of pillows and curled up into a cozy little ball, before pulling her teddy bear close to her chest and giving it a good squeeze. Yet as she lay there, chin resting upon her teddy bear's head, she thought she felt a single tear moisten the corner of her eye...

It was the day after one of the many contenders for the worst day in Sprout's life.

He remained dormant as he felt Izzy opening up a box of paints, and through her eyes he saw a large, blank white canvas. They were in the garden outside Maretime Bay's renowned art museum--the Houvre--and were about to take part in the painting session led by the museum's curator, Posey Bloom. They were joined by three other ponies: An earth pony, a unicorn, and a pegasus, none of which Sprout had yet learned the names of.

"Who are they?" he asked while Izzy finished setting up.

In a whisper, Izzy responded, "That teal earth pony with the amazing hooves is Jazz, that pegasus with the fiery mane is Flare, and the unicorn with the beret is Onyx. Y'know, I knew her in Bridlewood and she's really good at poetry--"

Izzy's jaw snapped shut once she noticed Posey glaring at her with her brows scrunched together. Izzy chuckled nervously before wetting her lips with her tongue and whistling an innocent tune. Despite sharing her body with Sprout, neither of them could read the other's thoughts, which made communication terribly inconvenient in her opinion. Then again, she wasn't sure how pleased Sprout would be if a unicorn really could read his mind.

"If we're all done whispering to ourselves," Posey began in a voice tart with sarcasm, "I think we can start. For today's session, let's work on our self-portraits!"

A few murmurs of agreement ascended from the small gathering of ponies, followed by a peaceful silence that was touched only by subtle sounds of paintbrushes clacking and bristles gliding across stretched canvas.

Izzy ducked her head, praying her face would be obscured by her easel, and whispered so softly that she was virtually mouthing the words: "Okay, Sprout, I'm gonna let you take the reigns. You gotta learn how to have fun around other ponies!"

"But I don't know how to paint," Sprout responded lowly.

"You know how to draw, right? Hitch said you used to doodle on the whiteboards in CanterLogic all the time, and that you even scribbled on the walls when you were a colt. So c'mon, just pick up a paintbrush and you'll do great." Izzy's throat was beginning to turn sore from whispering.

After straightening his stance, Sprout selected a paintbrush with their right hoof and inspected it closely. He then brought the end of the paintbrush to their muzzle and began using it to pick their nose.

"STOP!" Izzy yanked her hoof away and after a moment, quickly scanned the surrounding ponies. Most of them held confused stares, but Posey in particular was glaring at Izzy with a deep scowl warping her features.

"Is it just me, or are you acting even more like a creep than usual?" Posey asked.

"Heheh... Just drank one too many cups of schmoogleberry juice today!" Izzy said. A huge, awkward grin took up half her face.

The lemony mare's eyes narrowed as she glared at Izzy for a few moments longer, before her gaze flitted back to her canvas. One by one, the other ponies' attentions drifted away as they were all absorbed by their paintings once more. Izzy's cheeks puffed out as a relieved sigh whooshed out of her.

"Sprout, you're supposed to paint with the paintbrush," she breathed. "I know you're still mad about losing your body, but I said I'd let you do anything you want after this!"

Sprout sniffed. "Fine."

Much to Izzy's delight, Sprout behaved very well after that. He dabbed the brush into some red paint on Izzy's palette and began smearing it onto the canvas. Izzy had to admit that seeing and feeling her foreleg move without her say-so never felt any less strange, but the whole experience was becoming somewhat fun. It was as if she was attached to puppet strings, and being unable to predict exactly how her limbs would move was invigorating! She watched Sprout crudely paint himself onto the canvas, adding two green splotches for his eyes and thick streaks of brown paint for his eyebrows.

Once they were done, Posey came around to inspect everypony's paintings.

She stopped by the teal earth pony first. "Oh my gosh, Jazz, you're always such an incredible artist! So much attention to detail!" Posey marveled.

Jazz lifted one of her forelegs and bashfully rubbed it against the other. "Aw, thanks Posey! I do get a lot of practice painting ponies' hooves at the Mane Melody!"

Posey then strutted over to the next ponies, dishing out equal portions of praise for their paintings as well. Izzy giddily bounced on the spot, unable to restrain her excitement. She couldn't wait to find out what Posey had to say about Sprout's painting! The sad, sulky stallion could sure use a confidence boost. A few minutes passed, and Posey began reluctantly trudging towards the final pony. Izzy sucked in a deep breath through her snout to compose herself, putting forth her best efforts to stay still.

Posey soon reached Izzy's easel. As soon as her eyes drank in the streaks and blobs of paint decorating the formerly blank canvas, and the gigantic eyebrows framing the comically lopsided eyeballs, she snorted and erupted into laughter.

"What--HAHAHA--what the heck is this, Izzy?!" Posey struggled to form words through her hysterics. "You were always such an amateur, but this..." Unable to remain upright, Posey's legs folded as she flopped to the ground, chest heaving with hoots of laughter. "That is the worst painting I've ever seen! Everypony, come look at this awful painting!"

Izzy took a few generous strides backwards, her teeth clenching together as Sprout cringed. She watched the other artists huddle around the easel to gawk at the source of Posey's amusement.

"Oh no, when did Izzy get this bad?" one voice said.

"It doesn't even look like her!" another exclaimed.

Izzy flinched as Jazz looked over her shoulder to address her; thankfully, the teal mare's tone brimmed with concern rather than mockery. "Are you okay, Izzy? Usually you can paint a lot better than this."

Completely at a loss, Izzy found herself unable to react, but she didn't have to. She let out a surprised yelp as she felt herself suddenly whip around and gallop off, each strike of her hooves against ground sending waves of pain up to her hocks. Yet she did nothing to stop it. She just silently waited as Sprout raced back to Mane Street, before slowing to a canter, then a trot, and at last walking to a bench and sitting down with a dejected sigh.

"I'm so sorry," Izzy said after a minute. "I didn't know that would happen!"

"I did," Sprout responded in a mutter. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that I'm a failure at everything."

"No you're not!" Izzy insisted. A few passers-by glanced in her direction, and she cleared her throat before lowering her voice to a more suitable volume. "Don't worry about Posey. She always acts like she has a crystal up her butt. I, for one, think your painting was fabulously funky."

"It's not just that, it's..." Izzy waited for more words to leave her mouth, but none came.

After a few minutes of silence, Izzy spoke up again. "Whatever we do next is up to you. So whaddya wanna do? Go to the beach? Bowling? Karaoke?"

Sprout lifted their head and glanced around. Izzy felt realization seep in as Sprout found what he was looking for. His gaze locked in on Maretime Bay's pizza cart, which was only a brief distance away.

"Oh, pizza! That always puts me in a good mood too. What kinda toppings do you like?"

As Sprout got to their hooves and began to make his way to the pizza cart, he responded with, "Mushrooms... tomato... olives..."

Instinctively, Izzy planted her hooves down firmly, stopping Sprout in his tracks. "Oop! Nope, nope, nope. Can't do olives. I'm allergic!"

"What kind of pony is allergic to olives?!" Sprout asked in disbelief.

Izzy sheepishly scuffed a hoof against the ground. "Me."

"Well, I'm not," Sprout replied. Izzy felt her legs lug forward.

"Stoooop!" she hissed, lurching as she abruptly stopped him again. "This is my body, so it will have the same allergic reaction!"

The unsuspecting ponies of Mane Street watched the odd display, most of them tossing bemused glances in her direction before continuing on their way, though an increasing number of them stopped and stared at the strange little unicorn who appeared to be fighting some sort of desperate internal battle. Yet Sprout and Izzy were too caught up in their dispute to pay any mind to their surroundings.

"Remember what you said? Sharing is caring! You promised to let me have this body for the rest of the day!" Sprout spoke through gritted teeth and yanked Izzy's body forward a few paces.

Izzy scrambled a few steps back. "B-but I'll get a rash! My skin will turn red all over!"

"Good, then I can look more like myself again!"

"It'll be really itchy, too!"

"So? My previous body was always itchy."

Izzy bore down with all her might, tensing her leg muscles in an attempt to defend herself from being controlled by Sprout. "I'll get the rash all over my WHOLE, ENTIRE body, I'll be itchy all over my WHOLE, ENTIRE body, and I'll need to scratch all over my WHOLE, ENTIRE body."

Izzy's shoulders rose and fell as she took a few heavy, exerted breaths and waited. A welcome wave of relief washed over her; she no longer felt any unwanted pressure tugging at her legs, so she allowed her muscles to loosen while Sprout weighed his options.

Finally, she felt her lips part. "Whatever, then. I won't ask for olives."

"Oh, thank you! You're the best!"

She let Sprout resume his path towards the pizza cart, both of them oblivious to the gathering of ponies who had witnessed the whole spectacle. Foals and full-grown ponies alike stood in stunned silence with blank or bewildered expressions, Izzy's bizarre conversation with herself ringing in their ears.

One elderly unicorn in particular sighed and shook her head pityingly. "That girl's clearly had too much schmoogleberry juice."