What Happened To Yesterday

Boredom was not something that Rainbow Dash was used to, well not in the conventional ground pony sense. If she was ever in need of something to do, she would usually just go flying...or if she was truly-really-super-bored; she would do her job.

Today was not like most days, though. It was her first full day of being flightless and being a surrogate mother to a gender swapped younger Berry Bubble. Yeah, today was not like most days.

“This sucks, Rarity…” Dash, half of her body hanging over the arm of the couch, groaned out. “Like really, majorly sucks.” Rarity, for whatever it was worth, did her best to keep her eye roll to a minimum at her friend’s overexagerated dramatics. “Like, almost-as-much-as-Berry-used-to sucks.”

“Yes, well you can make as many colorful analogies as you want, but it won’t help you become any less bored Rainbow.” Rarity was keeping herself occupied with her work; sewing up an old dress of a favored client. It was work she could, quite feasibly, do in her sleep but it was also enough to hold her attention.

“Well it better be enough until Berry wakes up…” Dash rolled over to face her unicorn friend. “Stupid kids with their naps…” Rainbow grumbled quite audibly. It turned out that the little...filly, man that’s still weird to say, was the only thing to keep Rainbow to keep herself from going out of her gourd bored.

“You mean Pinkie, dear.” Rarity corrected the flightless pegasi. “I know it is strange, but we must respect her choices...until this is all sorted out, anyways.” Rarity wasn’t one to be closed minded, even if it was over something this bizarre. She might’ve not totally agreed, nor understood, what was going on here but it was best just to go along with it for the time being.

“It’s still technically Berry, just a little....different.” Rarity raised an eyebrow at her friend’s remark.

“A little different? Rainbow Dash, Berry switched genders, reversed in age, and lost all of his memories. That’s quite a bit different.” Rarity put down the dress, and lifted her glasses to rest above her horn. She could feel that something might start soon with this conversation. “You seemed alright with all of this earlier, why the sudden...hesitation with the subject?”

Rainbow sat up, a contemplative look upon her face. Her back muscles visibly strained, as if she was trying to flex her wings. She was agitated, that much was obvious.

“Why are we so accepting of this? I mean, Twilight practically held us all hostage and put some kind of hex on Berry, and we didn’t do anything! We just let her go! One of us should’ve went after her and done something!” Rainbow got up from the couch and started pacing. “Instead we let her go off with Applejack and do Celestia knows what, Rarity!”

“We had more pressing matters to attend to, you know.” Rarity levitated the dress to a nearby rack and let it rest atop the myraid of hanging clothes. “Berry-or Pinkie as it were-needed our help, and still needs it. It would’ve been irresponsible to just leave to go after Twilight.” Rainbow, on her next go round of pacing, stopped face to face with the seamstress.

“But just doing nothing? That’s not how Rainbow Dash operates! I should’ve done something!” Rarity could see the hurt on Dash’s face, her words were true but they were also hurting her.

“But you couldn’t leave her.” Rarity read the speedster’s subtext aloud. It was a little touching, Rarity had to admit, that the headstrong Rainbow Dash held back for her best friend. The only response that came was silence from the daredevil.

“I’m going for a walk, gotta get in my excercise somehow.” And with that, she left. She opened the door and lefr. What was Rarity supposed to do or say? You can’t force someone like Rainbow Dash to bear it all on the spot, that would take time.

Rarity could only sigh.

Applejack was fighting through the fog of his own mind. It was an uphill battle that he was losing, and it was taking its toll. Imagine it like a snake that has winded its way around your throat; you can try to pull it off, you can try to scream for help...but you’ll just be wasting your strength.

This thought, this obsession with Twilight, was keeping his mind in a vice and the more he struggled against it the more powerful it became. The simple farmer was trying to keep his focus on one thought to keep a hold onto his mind for a little bit longer.

Right now he, or at least his body, was with Twilight. They were in the orchards and the insane mare was hanging all over him. Her hooves were wandering over the body, leaving a much needed chill sitting at the base of his spine.

“How did we ever go on without each other, Applejack?” A thick layer of magic and confusion made the words come through his ears slowly and malformed as if he was a few seconds behind the rest of the universe.

“I don’t know, Twilight.” Each word was a monotonous battle through thick sludge to get out. He was saying these things, but they weren’t his words. The evil enchantress’ magic had a firm grasp on his mind, manipulating his words and forcing sounds that were not his through his throat.

“Neither do I, my love...neither do I…” She leaned in for a kiss, which his body shakily and without his consent, reciprocated.

This was torture, plain and simple.

Rainbow Dash didn’t mind running. It was good exercise, good for the heart, and a pretty simple way to make sure her wings weren’t too overpowered compared to the rest of her body. It was refreshing at times, hooves pounding the ground to carry her among paths many had gone down before.

Today was not a refreshing exercise run. Today she was running from her problems, like she had done few times in the past. The speedster could handle many things; old mares’ tales coming to life, gods of chaos turning the whole world upside down, even a fear demon made of smoke that tried to enslave crystal ponies, but this whole situation? It was just too...weird for her sanity.

Rainbow had been friends with Berry for years now, ever since they had both been in Ponyville. They had gone through their awkward teenage years together, they had lost loved ones together, and  they had saved the world together. But now…? He wasn’t himself, heck he wasn’t even a he anymore!

Appearance didn’t matter, not usually anyways. If Rainbow met a new pony, she didn’t care what they looked like, as long as they were awesome on the inside. That’s how Rainbow viewed Pinkie at first, an entirely new pony...But then they looked through the photo album. This was Berry Bubble, her closest friend and wackiest comrade! Maybe if Berry had been regressed into a little colt she could have coped… but now she couldn’t.

Add to it this whole thing with Twilight and it’s just a mess. Rainbow needed guidance, she needed somepony whose head was still firmly on their shoulders.

Rainbow Dash needed to go see Fluttershy.

“I’m sure she’ll be back, darling! in fact, I promise you she’ll be back!” Rarity was trying to calm down a very very upset Pinkie the best she could. It was safe to say, however, that her best was not good enough.

The filly, despite all of Rarity’s begging and pleading, was still sitting on the bed with tears staining her bubblegum pink face. She missed her cuddle-buddy, and she wasn’t going to be happy until Rainbow came back.

“B-but why did she leave…?” The pure hurt and betrayal that came with Pinkies words made Rarity’s own heart ache. Empathy may not be an element of harmony, but Rarity sure was adept at it.

“She just had some errands to run, sweetheart! She will be back later today, alright?” She was trying to hide the slight panic that was rising in her chest with a thick layer of false certainty. Truthfully, she didn’t know when or if Rainbow Dash would come back, and it was mostly her fault. She could’ve tried to stop her somehow, instead she just sat there and gawked at the spectacle.

“O-okay..” Pinkie wiped her eyes to free them of tears that plagued her peepers. “What about your sister, Sweetiebelle? Did she leave too?” Rarity had to suppress the frown that was trying to force its way onto her face. Her parents, hearing that Sweetie had gotten her cutie mark, hurried back to Ponyville and arrived early this morning-after Rainbow Dash left and before Pinkie woke up- to pick up the squeaky unicorn.

“She’s with our parents, they wanted to celebrate her earning her cutie mark.” A weight had been lifted from Rarity’s chest. This was the first time in what seemed like forever that she was actually telling the truth. Recently her life had been lie after lie in a hellish blur, but now...telling the truth felt surprisingly good.

“Oh…” Pinkie circled her little hoof around a spot of tear stained fabric on the couch. “I wanted to play with her…” Great, now Rarity was going to have a bored Pinkie on her hooves. She would’ve asked the young filly if she wanted to go to the park, but that was absolutely out of the question. What if somepony saw her? Celestia forbid if somepony realized who she actually was! “Will you play with me Rarity?”

“I would love to Pinkie.” A warm smile spread across her face, which quickly became contagious, as Pinkie was soon grinning ear to ear. “You stay here while I go and get some of Sweetie’s old toys, alright?” The surprisingly obedient filly nodded and crossed her hooves, a smile upon her face.

Rarity quickly trotted upstairs and as she passed her own room she saw something that made her stop in her tracks and made her jaw hit the floor. A collection of prototype dress designs she had been working on late last night to try and calm her nerves were now in tatters all over her floor.

The culprit was still at the scene of the crime; Opalesence was laying upon the shredded fabric, perfectly content and unaware of the storm she had started.

“OPALESENCE! YOU GET OFF OF THOSE RIGHT NOW!” Rarity, while breathing through clenched teeth, thought how good it felt to actually yell at something. It was good to scream at something like this instead of the problem sitting in her living room.

‘Problem? Pinkie’s not a problem. Why in Equestria would I ever think that?’ As she stopped to consider her own thoughts, her berated feline made a quick exodus from the room.

“Is everything okay, Rarity? I heard you yelling…” A small timid voice came from behind her. The unicorn turned to see Pinkie poking her head round the corner just enough that she could see everything.

“Everything’s fine, darling. Opal just ruined something I’ve been working very hard on for a while and I got mad. I shouldn’t have and I apologize.” Her head was still swimming with rage, but she would not let it loose on an innocent pony who did not deserve it. “I just-I don’t know if I’ll be able to play with you now. I was supposed to get these to Canterlot next week and now I have to do all of this work from scratch…” Rarity’s ears fell flat. It was a little depressing to know all of her hard work was seemingly for nothing. It hurt even more knowing that her creative process was going to be completely on a different track now and the dresses weren’t going to be anywhere near her original designs.

“Oh...okay.” Rarity watched silently as Pinkie slowly trotted down the stairs, her tail and hooves dragging along. Her heart was near breaking, but there was a subtle undercurrent of relief...and that part terrified her.