Twilight Sparkle has a new spell. Rainbow Dash doesn't know what it is but with everypony acting out of their minds she's the only who can figure it out.
Fluttershy assertive? Pinkie Pie clumsy? Rarity distractible? Rainbow Dash doesn't know what's going on in Ponyville, but it's probably Twilight's fault. Can she figure out how to fix things before they get any worse?
Not properly late. The kind of late where ponies started organising search parties and posting fliers; no it was a more modest form of tardiness somewhere beyond fashionably late and approaching overslept late with alarming speed. Of course, Twilight was going to be there and she had no appreciation for the subtleties of arrival time, a minute after the stated time was enough to make her frown, so it was unlikely to matter that much. Rainbow Dash had been working hard to give the poor pony a better appreciation of the art of being late but it was slow going.
As she wasn’t super late, Rainbow Rash didn’t bother flying at breakneck speed to Fluttershy’s cottage, just faster than any other pony. Alighting in the garden she paused a moment by the pond to make sure her mane was just the right level of windswept, skipped around an irate group of bunnies camped out in front of the house and knocked on the door.
“Argh!” There was a loud thud from inside the cottage.
“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash called, lifting into the air. “You okay in there?”
She hovered over to the window and was just peering in when Twilight appeared on the other side of the glass, the alicorn’s face locked into a manic grin.
“Hi Rainbow,” she said she said in a rush, somehow managing to smile even wider. “Everything is a-okay in here. Nope nothing to see here at all. Everything is just, great.”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Right... So can I come in?”
“In, why would you want to come in? There’s nothing to see in here,” Twilight babbled. “Just boring old Fluttershy’s cottage.” She let loose a nervous giggle.
“But we were all meeting here today,” Rainbow pointed out, crossing her arms. “Our weekly get together, remember?”
Twilight glanced behind her, Rainbow Dash tried to peer over her shoulder but saw nothing but an empty sofa. “Oh, well that got cancelled,” Twilight persisted, shifting her head so as to block the window again. “Rarity, um... Had a big order to fill!”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Well nopony told me.”
“Sorry, but there’s nothing happening here today, so you’ll just have to go home.” Twilight yanked the curtains shut.
“Okay, that was weird,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. She glanced down at the bunnies who were hopping up and down frantically. “Hmm, okay maybe not that weird but still.”
Shrugging she called out. “Twilight?” as she hovered over to the other window. “What’s going on in there?” Twilight beat her to it, the curtains closing magically before her nose. “Twilight this isn’t funny.” Again she flitted to another window and found the curtains closed.
“Alright, you asked for this.” She snorted, pawed the air and then set off like a bolt through the air, trailing her trademark rainbow she gained altitude. A tight loop around the cottage later she spotted her target, a small window left open at the top of the house. “Too, easy,” the pegasus said, grinning to herself and folded her wings, going into a stooped dive.
Twilight appeared at the window, waved and slammed it shut.
“No, no, no, no!” Dash exclaimed, backpedaling with all four hooves, spreading her wings wide to try and slow herself down but all for no avail. With a crash she hit the window and stuck to it, spaild out against the glass.
“Ow...”
She peeled herself off the glass, dropped a few feet before catching herself and hovering in place. Regarding the closed window with annoyance she huffed, made sure her mane was still perfect and descended back to the front door.
“That was not cool Twilight,” she called through the door. “I just want to come in.”
“I don’t know why, nothing exciting or ‘radical’ in here,” Twilight shot back, with another little nervous laugh.
Rainbow Dash slumped. “First, no one says radical anymore. Second I need to talk to Fluttershy.”
She heard Twilight glup. “...Fluttershy?”
Rainbow Dash groaned. “Yes, a yellow pegasus, lives somewhere around here. Have you seen her?”
“Umm... ah. Well I- Oh!”
Dash looked down at the rabbits and sighed. “I get the feeling she just came up with a terrible idea.” The bunnies nodded in unison. Rainbow Dash cocked her head at them. “You guys are weird, you know that?”
Before they could answer the door was flung open and Fluttershy dropped onto the front step. “Oh!” she said brightly, then froze, hung her head and flicked her hair so it covered more of her face. “Oh,” she repeated in a softer voice. “Hi Dashie, Twilight said you wanted to talk to me.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t hear me trying to get in,” Dash snapped. “What are you and Twilight doing in there?”
“Nothing of any importance,” Fluttershy replied in a rush, glancing around.
“Right,” Rainbow Dash drawled. “Well I was going to ask you a question about Tank. See he’s been turning down my health shake smoothies, which are awesome by the way, and I’m getting a little worried he might be coming down with something. He seems as lively as ever but I thought I’d ask for the expert opinion.”
“Hmm,” Fluttershy said, rubbing her chin with her hoof. “Well, what’s in the smoothies?”
“Oh the usual thing any growing pegasus needs. Oats, cherries, soy milk, coconut husks (for fiber of course), tomatoes, raw eggs, Wonderbolts brand energy drink-”
“Wait, raw eggs?” Fluttershy interrupted. “Turtles are vegetarian.”
“Tank is a tortoise,” Rainbow Dash corrected, testilly. “Besides I’m a vegetarian and it doesn’t bother me.”
Fluttershy facehooved.
“You okay Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dashed asked, cocking her head. “You seem rather ‘off’ today.”
“Off? No, no, everything’s fine,” Fluttershy insisted, bobbing her head up and down, trying to smile.
Rainbow Dash nodded slowly back. “Riiight. Well what do you suggest I do with Tank?”
“I don’t know, feed him better tasting smoothies,” Futtershy snapped, then smiled nervously. “Now I think I hear Angel calling, if you’ll excuse me.” She darted backwards and slammed the door shut in Rainbow Dash’s face.
Rainbow Dash was still trying to process Fluttershy slamming a door when she heard a deep sigh of relief from inside the cottage. She glanced down at the bunnies who’d moved onto gesturing wildly, shrugged and called out. “Hey, is Pinkie Pie still in there?”
“No!” Fluttershy called out. “No one here but me and Twilight.”
“Oh, guess she already went back to Sugarcube Corner. I was going to pick up a cake from her today.” There was no reply. Rainbow Dash shook her head, lifted off and did a quick circle of the cottage but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “Weird,” she said softly to herself, before heading back into town.
Sugarcube Corner was a comfortable step back to normality. Well, it was it’s usual cacophony of smells, colours and shapes but that was the result of Pinkie Pie occupying any building for more than a half hour a day. Twilight had once made a graph of the process, Rainbow Dash had ignored it.
“Morning Mrs Cake,” Rainbow Dash said to the aqua mare, floating over to the counter.
“Ah, morning Rainbow Dash,” she replied, in her sing song tone. “And how are you today?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Eh, it’s off to a shaky start but we’ll see how it goes. Is Pinkie Pie in?”
“I think she went to Fluttershy’s today.”
“I just got here from Fluttershy’s, she said Pinkie was-”
There was a sudden crash from upstairs and both ponies looked up.
“Well that sounded encouraging,” Rainbow Dash drawled. “Pumpkin still throwing spells around?”
Mrs Cake shook her head. “No, usually there’s more yelling when that happens. Pinkie!” she called.
“Just a sec!” Pinkie Pie called back. A moment later she was at the top of the stairs, traveling far too fast. She missed the top step and, with uncharacteristic clumsiness went tumbling, hitting every step on the way down. Rainbow Dash and Mrs Cake watched helplessly, wincing at every impact.
“I’m okay!” Pinkie Pie protested, lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.
“Are you sure about that?” Rainbow asked, fluttering over.
Pinkie lay on the floor, a hoof over her eyes. “I’ll live,” she groaned. “That first step is a doozy.”
Rainbow offered her a hoof and hoisted the pink pony up. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you fall like that before.”
“Don’t be silly, silly,” Pinkie Pie teased, sticking her tongue out. “I’ve fallen over lots of times.”
“Usually, you end with a flip,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. Pinky ignored her and trotted over to the counter.
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you girls need anything,” Mrs Cake said retreating, as Pinkie Pie took over at the head of shop.
“Thanks,” Pinkie called after her, then turned her widest smile on Rainbow Dash. “Right, so you wanted a cake then Rainbow Dash?”
Dash blinked. “How did you know that?” she demanded.
“Umm... Pinkie sense?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. The day was getting weirder by the second. “I would have thought we’d have run into that one a while ago. Anyway, I was looking to get a cake for Scootaloo. I’m giving her a crash course on flying later this afternoon, emphasis on the crash. It needs to read either ‘Congratulations’ or ‘You Did Your Best’, I’m not sure which yet but if I could get one of each that’d awesome.”
“Umm, well we’re very, very busy today,” Pinkie Pie said, smile fading away.
“Well I’m probably not going to need the first one,” Rainbow Dash admitted, lounging on the counter. “I was just going to end up eating it afterwards.”
“Rainbow Dash, that’s not a very nice thing to say,” Pinkie Pie chided.
“Okay, okay, I’ll share both cakes but we can’t let Scootaloo find out we made two.”
Pinkie Pie sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”
“What?” Rainbow Dash protested. “Even with the best trainer in Equestria these things take time.”
“Fine, I’ll make the cakes,” Pinkie Pie snapped, tapping her hoof nervously. “Come back in a few hours and everything will be sorted out.”
“Right,” Rainbow Dash lifted off. “Oh, did you go to Fluttershy’s today?”
“Um, yeah,” she replied, voice squeaking.
“Did Fluttershy and Twilight seem off today?”
“No. Nope, nothing off. Just plain old Twilight and Fluttershy.” She laughed, nervously.
Rainbow Dash pressed her face up against Pinkie Pie’s, eyeing her suspiciously. “Something strange is going on here. And I’m going to find out what.”
Pinkie Pie blinked then, with a tongue of unusual size, licked Rainbow Dash’s face.
“Argh!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, reeling back. “What was that for?”
“You look super silly with your super serious face on,” Pinkie declared, then hopped around the counter.
“Okay, false alarm, everythings is as strange as normal,” Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Yep, nothing strange here,” Pinkie pressed. “Now if that was everything, I have some serious baking to do.” She began to bound off.
“Alright, I need to find Rarity anyway.”
Pinkie froze mid leap, spun round and then dropped to the ground. “Why?” she demanded.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well I lost my lucky goggles last week and, well, turns out there’s only so much ground a tortoise and a pegasus can search. So I’m getting a new pair. Rarity said she had something nice picked out for me.”
“Argh!” Pinkie Pie fled up the stairs at top speed, leaving a pink afterimage behind her.
“Yeash, she’s acting weirder than Twilight and Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said to the empty room. Then she shrugged. “Though I guess that isn’t that unusual.” She shook her head, lifted off and headed out the door.
The Carousel Boutique was, much to Rainbow Dash’s surprise not open that day. Rarity had placed her usually understated ‘The genius is out’ sign on the door but that wasn’t something that slowed Rainbow Dash down for long. Flitting round to the rear of the building she picked up a rock and was just eyeing up the best window to bounce it of off when Sweetie Belle appeared at the backdoor.
“Oh, hi Rainbow Dash!” she exclaimed.
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash clipped, hurriedly dropping the rock before the filly noticed it. “Can I come in?”
Sweetie Belle frowned. “Well, I’m supposed to be watching the store,” she admitted, then brightened sudden. “But you can watch it with me.”
“Sure, I guess I could spare a few minutes,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging. Sweetie Belle stepped and gestured Rainbow Dash into the kitchen with a mock bow. “Are you here alone today?”
“Yep.” Sweetie Belle beamed. “Rarity said I was in charge while she was away.”
Rainbow Dash shot her a look. “You do know the shop’s closed, right?”
The unicorn’s smile wavered somewhat. “My sis says I have to practice more before I’m ready for it to be open.”
“You’ll get there,” Rainbow Dash assure her, ruffling her hair. “I’m surprised you haven’t got the rest of the crusaders here to keep you company.”
“Oh, Apple Bloom has chores and Scootaloo has been doing wing-ups since sunrise.” Sweetie Belle sighed. “And there’s only so many times I can sing Hearts as Strong as Horses before it begins to drive me out of my mind.”
“I liked that song,” Rainbow Dash protested.
“I did too, but I’ve been singing to for three days,” Sweetie Belle squeaked.
‘Note to self:’ Rainbow Dash thought. ‘Add chillaxing lessons to Scootaloo’s regime.’
“Well, anyway,” Rainbow Dash said, trotting into the main gallery of the Boutique. “I was wondering if Rarity was free.”
“Oh, well she’s not here right now.” Sweetie Belle stuck to Dash’s heels as the cyan pegasus began to poke around the shop. “I thought you were all meeting at Fluttershy’s today.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I thought that too, however Twilight insisted Rarity had a big order to fill today.”
“She didn’t tell me,” Sweetie Belle protested, sounding hurt. “If she was busy I could have helped.” She pouted a moment. “I suppose we could check to see if she’s in her inspiration room.”
The pair made their way upstairs, pausing before the ornate door with a large ‘keep out’ sign tacked to it. Rainbow Dash shook her head, and knocked.
“Rarity, are you in there?” she called. “Twilight said you were busy today but I’m worried she’s just talking crazy again.”
“What!” Rarity demanded, throwing the door open. Both Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle blinked, mane disheveled, her mouth fixed in an angry snarl, Rarity was only recognisable by her cutie mark. “I mean-” she corrected, taking a step back and trying to stand a little straighter. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Are you okay sis?” Sweetie Belle said, confusion writ large upon her face.
“Oh of course Sweetie,” Rarity shot back, tossing her head. “No need to worry about moi.”
“Oh-kay.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Impeccably so,” she insisted.
Rainbow Dash decided just to go with it. “Right. Well, I was going to ask you about getting a pair of goggles.”
“Oh, whatever happened to your lucky pair?” Rarity exclaimed. “The lovely blue and gold ones.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “Who ever said anything happened to my goggles.”
“Ah, well, um, I assumed what with you wanting another pair,” Rarity stammered. “Oh, nevermind. How can I help?”
“I just need a replacement pair,” Rainbow Dash said. “Only, could you make them-” She paused for full effect. “About twenty percent cooler.”
“Right, fine, that’s just fine Rainbow Dash,” Rarity replied, nodding her head enthusiastically. “Now, if that is all I really am very busy today.” She smiled. “Toodles.” And slammed the door.
“That-” Sweetie Belle began, but Rainbow Dash cut her off.
“If you need any more suggestions I’ll be at Sweet Apple Acres,” she called through the door. “Applejack wanted some help with the harvest I think.”
There was a frantic yell from behind the door and then silence.
“Come on Sweetie Belle,” Rainbow Dash whispered, dragging the stunned unicorn away.
“That... that wasn’t Rarity,” Sweetie Belle stammered.
“Yeah I know. The real Rarity said she’d feed me my own tail if I ever said to make anything twenty percent cooler again,” Rainbow Dash explained, suppressing a shudder.
“But, who was she?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “One of those changeling things? What’s happened to my sister!”
“Hey, don’t sweat.” Rainbow Dash said, leaping into the air and thumping her chest. “Rainbow Danger Dash is on the case. I’ll get everything sorted out by lunchtime. In fact, I already know where to find my next clue.”
“Where?”
Rainbow Dash allowed herself a self satisfied grin. “Well, somepony just told whoever that was that I’m meeting Applejack next when I know we made no such plans.”
“Oh,” Sweetie Belle cooed, wide eyed. “Shall I get the Crusaders together so we can catch them?”
“Sure, why not?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Now, I’d better get moving before they get suspicious.”
“You can count on me Rainbow Dash!” Sweetie Belle saluted and then ran off as fast as her hooves could carry her.
“Right,” the pegasus said to herself. “Now, how to sneak up on Sweet Apple Acres.”
Dash lay, belly pressed against a cloud as she stared down at the familiar pink and purple barn. The occasional flick of her wings kept the bundle of fluff descending slowly towards the farm; it was a tough trick to pull off, only the most experienced and awesome pegasi could keep a cloud together all the way to the ground but no one ever saw it coming. Sweet Apple Acres looked rather normal that afternoon, Big Mac was working in the outer orchards, Granny Smith was sleeping on the porch and of Apple Bloom there was no sign.
A purplish flash from the barn caught Rainbow Dash’s eye. Moments later Applejack stuck her head out the door, glanced around, straightened her hat and trotted into the yard.
“Hmm, very suspicious,” Dash muttered to herself.
Below her Applejack sighed, wiping her brow. Rainbow Dash considered that to be her cue, bounced herself up off the cloud, flicked her wings and hurled herself through it. A moment later she had her wings flared and landed hard next to Applejack.
“Hey AJ!” she yelled.
AJ lept in surprise, all four hooves kicking wildly. “Rainbow Dash what are you-” she exclaimed, without the faintest hint of an accent. “Ah mean, what in the blazes do you think you’re doing?” she corrected, hastily dropping into her country drawl.
“Oh, just performing a little experiment,” Rainbow assured her. “Right, now I think you needed my help with some applebucking.”
“I- ah did?”
“Yep, so pick a tree and get bucking,” Rainbow said, pushing her towards the orchard.
“But, but, but, but,” Applejack tried to protest.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “Hey, time’s a wasting Applejack. Just pick a tree.” They reached one of the outlying apple trees, laden with heavy red fruit. “This one’s a good place to start.”
Applejack looked up at the tree and quailed backwards. “I- I- I-” she stammered.
“Well?” Rainbow Dash asked, expectantly.
“It’s... not the right kind of tree?” AJ suggested, a nervous smile breaking across her face.
“Just buck the tree!” Rainbow Dash lifted off and retreated to a safe distance. “Come on! While we’re young.”
Applejack took a few deep, steadying breaths as she eyed up the tree and Rainbow Dash tried to stifle her giggles.
“Hah Rainbow Dash,” Apple Bloom called suddenly, trotting over to stand by the pegasus. “Ah didn’t realise you’d be visiting today.” She glanced over at AJ who was still psyching herself up and said happily. “And my sister’s home early.”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Eh, Jury is still out on that one.”
Applejack finished her warm up and, in a flurry of movement spun round and lashed out at the treetrunk with both hooves. There was an earsplitting crack as she struck and the tree didn’t move in the slightest; instead the impact seemed to reverberate back down Applejack’s legs, sending her crashing to the ground in an untidy heap. Her hat floated down after her, landing lopsided on her rump.
In a solemn tone Apple Bloom pronounced. “Whoever that is, it ain't mah sister.”
Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think it’s Twilight.”
“No way!” Apple Bloom squinted at ‘Applejack’ as she picked herself off of the ground, groaning. “No horn, no wings, not Princess Twilight.”
“I think I can settle this. Hey! Twilight!”
“What?” Applejack snapped, fixing Rainbow Dash with an angry glare. Then realisation struck and she facehooved. “Argh. How long have you-”
She was interrupted by two blurs, white and orange that raced towards her yelling at the top of their lungs. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Changeling Catchers Go!” ‘Applejack’ had just enough time to rear before the fillies slammed into her, bearing her to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Apple Bloom and Rainbow Dash rushed over, only to find ‘Applejack’ lying on the floor with her hooves over her eyes and the fillies bouncing on her back.
“Did you see us Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo gushed. “We captured the sister stealing changeling!”
“That’s great kid, but that isn’t a changeling,” Rainbow replied with a sigh. “That is Twilight.” “Twilight?” they exclaimed.
“Yes, Twilight,” the orange earth pony snapped. “Now can you please get off me?”
The fillies leapt away as if she’d just become red hot and hid behind Rainbow Dash. “Sorry miss Twilight,” they chorused, peaking out past Dash’s tail.
“It’s okay girls, I’ll live,” Twilight said as Rainbow Dash pulled her to her hooves. “Urgh. Could this day get any worse?”
It was the strangest thing seeing Applejack acting like Twilight. It was the stance that seemed to sell it more than anything; though Rainbow Dash would have admitted that the radical change in accent rather gave it away. Applejack was always solid, every little was considered to bring to bear the maximum amount of force to a problem. Twilight stood higher on the same hooves, a refined canterlot stance but flighty, flexing wing muscles that didn’t connect to anything real. It was bizarre.
“Why are you pretending to be my sis? Apple Bloom demanded suddenly.
“And my sister!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.
“And I’m pretty upset too!” Scootaloo added. The other Cutie Mark Crusaders glared at her. “What?”
“I’m pretending to be every pony because... Well, because...” Twilight began, then swallowed, a nervous smile.
“Because?” Rainbow Dash pressed, eyes narrowing.
Twilight took a deep breath. “Because I discovered an astral projection spell last night and I wasn’t going to cast it because I didn’t get much chance to practice but Fluttershy really wanted to find out what it was like to be a bunny, but something went wrong and everyone’s minds have somewhere and I don’t know where and I haven’t been able to find out because I’ve been chasing after you all day trying to stop you finding out I messed up another spell.”
Rainbow Dash cocked her head at the panting pony. “I thought we agreed no untested spells after the whole, cutie mark shuffling incident.”
“That didn’t end too badly,” Twilight admitting, glancing nervously around.
“I almost got eaten alive by bunnies and Rarity was two minutes from being run out of town on a rail,” Dash snapped, scowling at the memory. “It couldn’t have been much worse.”
“You lost my sister’s mind?” Apple Bloom demanded, cutting to the heart of the matter.
Twilight rubbed a foreleg, looking guilty. “I’m working on it. Her body is more or less fine.”
“That’s not the bit Ah’m worried about,” Apple Bloom shot back.
“You’re right, you’re right.” Twilight shook her head. “I’ve got to fix things.”
“Correction,” Rainbow Dash cut in, swooping over and wrapping a wing around the orange pony. “We’ve got to fix things.”
She smiled. “Thanks Dashie.”
“Hey, someone’s got to stop you hurting yourself with books.”
Twilight’s smile soured.
“We can help,” Sweetie Belle insisted, all three crusaders stepping up and putting on their best grins.
“Well, hurry to the library then,” Twilight told them, pushing them along. “I’ll zap Rainbow Dash and I over and meet you there.”
“Cutie Mark Crusader Sister Saviours!” The fillies raced away.
Twilight watched them go. “Sweet kids,” she sighed, “Right. Come on, I left my body in the barn.” She set off at an ungainly gallop, Rainbow Dash flying at her shoulder.
“Now that’s phrase I didn’t expect to hear today.”
“Well I didn’t expect to say it,” Twilight shot back. The pair burst into the barn and skidded into one of the stalls where Twilight’s body seemed to sleep.
The alicorn guised as an earth pony stared down at her body for a moment, then shook her head. “This is not getting any less weird.” She lay down her borrowed body before her real one, lay it’s head on the hay and then there was the faintest whisper of magic. Twilight the alicorn sat up, blinking. “Now, let’s fix this mess.”
There was a flash of purple light and then the stall was empty.
Twilight dropped them a few feet onto the floor of the Ponyville Library and stood for a moment, legs trembling. “Sorry,” she panted. “Not used to teleporting quite this much.”
“Hey, I’ve taken worse knocks falling out of bed,” Rainbow Dash shot back. She glanced down at Applejack who’d fallen in a sprawled heap. “So, what’s the plan egghead?”
Twilight didn’t seem to notice the slight. “First, get Applejack upstairs.” Her horn flared as she lifted the unconscious earth pony by the forehooves, Rainbow Dash grabbed the other end before the poor pony dislocated something. “Second,” she continued, heading for the stairs, her friends in literal tow. “Figure out where the spell went wrong. Finally, actually fix the problem.”
“Oh, so we should be done by dinner then,” Rainbow Dash muttered.
The sarcasm went over Twilight’s head by a wide margin. “Well maybe it’ll be an all nighter.” She paused, half way up the stairs. “Hmm, have I crossed off all night study session with friends off my wish list yet?”
“Er Twilight, unconscious AJ here.”
“Right! Sorry.” They hurried up to Twilight’s bedroom. Occupying the bed were the slumbering forms of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy and on the spare was Rarity, who’s blue mane was being brushed out, tenderly, by Spike.
“Spike!” Twilight snapped, as she set eyes on him. “I told you to stop doing that.”
“But you’d messed it up,” he protested, not taking his smitten gaze off the pony. “She’d be mad if I left it crooked.”
“It’s creepy,” Twilight growled, dumping Applejack on the bed next to Rarity with such force it bounced the little dragon to the floor. “Stop it. Get us something to drink, or get some books or something.”
“Right away Twilight.” He saluted and raced away.
“Now where did I put that chart,” Twilight muttered, wandering over to a cupboard and began rooting through it. Rainbow Dash hovered over to where Rarity and Applejack lay side by side and grinned as she considered the long list of compromising positions she could put them in. It was too bad she didn’t have a camera. Maybe the CMC would be able to get their hooves on one.
“Okay!” Twilight announced, setting down a large easel complete with oversized cards. “To catch you up. Yesterday, I was perusing a number of books Princess Celestia gave me the last time I was in Canterlot.” She removed the first card to reveal a cartoon version of herself reading. “One of the books was a compendium of spells all to do with the mind and the manipulation thereof. I was naturally, very interested and went to show my friends at our weekly get together.” Another slide, this time of her walking to Fluttershy’s.
“Umm, when did you make these?” Rainbow asked, raising a hoof into the air and looking askance at Twilight.
“Please hold all question till the end,” Twilight replied without looking around. “Now, the spell I thought they would be particularly interested in was an astral projection charm that allowed a pony to project their thoughts into another creature.” Another diagram, this time with a large arrow between the cartoon pony and an owl. “I tested this extensively with Owlowicious without a single problem, the spell was even designed to be cast on all types of ponies and controlled with simple mental phonemes.”
Twilight swapped to another slide, that one explaining the word phonemes and Rainbow Dash facehooved. “So, what went wrong?” she pressed.
“Oh, I have no idea,” Twilight admitted, dropping. “Fluttershy wanted to try out the spell on one of her bunnies and, well I thought there wasn’t anything that could obviously go wrong. So we got a bunny, I cast the spell and ‘poof’, I was the bunny. By the time I’d cancelled the spell everypony was like this and a few moments later you knocked on the door.”
Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. “So, how have you been pretending to be everypony?”
“The spell’s not supposed to work on ponies but while they’re ‘out’ it seems to just allow you to take possession of them.” Twilight shook her head and sighed. “I just can’t understand what went wrong to lose everypony like this, I’ve been casting the spell all afternoon and everything seems to be fine.”
“Well, only one thing for it,” Rainbow Dash declared, puffing herself up. “You’ve got to cast that spell on me.”
“But, we don’t know why it’s going wrong!” Twilight protested whirling. “You could end up lost too.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Duh, but do I have to get ‘element of loyalty’ on a badge or something. Of course I’m going to do anything I can to save them and it’s not like I can help out with the magic in any other way.”
“Thanks Dashie.” Twilight’s eyes misted slightly.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Enough with the mush make with the magic,” Dash said, waving her on.
“Right, well this time let me teach you the escape clause,” Twilight said, pulling another slide to the front of the stack. “It’s really simple, just focus really strongly on a body part you no longer have.” Rainbow Dash cocked her brow at her. “Um... like when I was the rabbit, I just focused on my hooves and I was back in a jiffy.”
“Okay, focus on the weird, gotcha,” Rainbow Dash assured her. “So who do we test this on?”
Twilight glanced over at her sleeping friends. “Hmm, Applejack’s probably best. She’s got no wings so you’ve got something blatant to focus on and you don't muddy the waters with any magic as you would with Rarity. Pinkie Pie is twitchy if you understand what I mean so might throw you out too fast and Fluttershy is too similar and you might get stuck.”
“Right.” Rainbow Dash walked over to where Applejack slumbered. “So do I need to...”
“Just, keep focused on her as I cast the spell,” Twilight replied, standing next to her and kindling her horn. “You may feel a slight discontinuity.”
“What kind of-
For a moment Rainbow Dash felt like she was floating in infinity. It was quite unlike flying; there was no air, no breeze, no land below or sky above, just a bland nothingness that didn’t even have a definable colour. She focused in on the last thing she’d heard, Twilight’s voice telling her to keep calm and in a rush the world returned.
-dis... Whoa!” Rainbow Dash found herself looking at herself. Or her body at least, it stood about two hands away, staring down at Applejack which was not exactly where she’d expected it to be. Fighting the urge to flinch she looked down at her now purple legs and crossed her eyes, staring at a horn still trailing a few errant sparks of magic.
“Argh!” Twilight yelled, backpedaling wildly, blue wings flapping back and forth as she fought to retain her balance. “What? How?” The blue pegasus sat down heavily on her rump and screamed at the ceiling. “This isn’t supposed to be possible!”
“Oh awesome, I’m a princess!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, straining to examine her new form from all angles. Twilight’s body was just taller enough than Dash’s for it to be off putting, but not enough for it to be utterly alien. The sense of a horn between her eyes was weird beyond description but otherwise she had four hooves and wings so at least that was normal.
“You are not a princess!” Twilight cried. “I am the princess! That is my body and I don’t know why you’re in there. You were supposed to be thinking of Applejack.”
“Oh yeah, I may have not quite done that right,” Rainbow Dash admitted, then shrugged. “Though, there may be an upside to this.”
“No, no, no, no,” Twilight shot back. “No upside! An astral projection spell is now swapping bodies and I don’t even know how.”
“Princess Rainbow Dash.” The alicorn grinned, not paying enough attention to the pegasus’ distress. “I quite like the sound of that. Ooo! Does this mean I can get a rainbow kingdom?”
“No rainbow kingdoms for anyone!” Twilight snapped. “Now let’s get this spell reversed so I can figure out what went wrong this time.”
Rainbow Dash shrugged, fluffing out her new wings. “Eh, I was thinking of staying. I’ve got the wings, the magic, the power, the ear of the princess. It’s a pretty sweet deal.”
“Get out of my body!” Twilight stamped her hooves and raised her wings threateningly.
“Make me!” Rainbow Dash shot back, champing.
Twilight paused; an evil grin crossed her face and she seemed to relax all of a sudden. “Well fine,” she drawled, tossing her head and flexing her borrowed muscles. “Maybe I’ll enjoy being the fastest flyer in all of Equestria for a little while.”
“You wouldn’t make it past the first cloud,” Rainbow Dash shot back, spreading her purple wings wide. “Awesome flying is a state of mind, not a state of-ow!” Her wing twinged as she flexed it too far and the alicorn shot it a nasty glare. “Okay, so I might need to do some conditioning. I’ll still be the fastest flyer at the games.”
“Oh no you won't,” Twilight teased. “Princesses aren’t allowed to compete.”
“What?” Dash’s jaw dropped.
“Yeah it’s in the bylaws, something about it being unfair so we just get to watch. But if you-”
“Alright! We’ll swap back,” Rainbow Dash snapped, crossing her arms and pouting. “Stupid bylaws, always ruining my fun.”
“That’s what they’re there for,” Twilight assure her, sitting down opposite the alicorn. “Right, so let’s try and synchronize our return phonemes. Just, focus on how you don’t usually have a horn and keep doing it till we switch back.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. Her chance at being a princess seemed to be slipping away, but it wasn’t like she could have pretended to be Twilight for more than five minutes without going crazy with boredom. Instead she focused on the strange crawling sensation that came from having a horn on her forehead. For a moment she wondered whether it’d be worth trying to cast a spell but Twilight’s magic could than helpful when the expert was controlling it, she didn’t fancy giving herself an extra leg.
“Okay, now just concentrate... There.”
The pegasus shook her head. Then did a double take as she found herself observing at Twilight’s body from the outside.
“Ha! Well what do you know,” Rainbow Dash said, beaming as she checked herself over. “We actually fixed something.”
“No need to sound quite so surprised.” Twilight winced as she shook out her wings. “Ow, what did you do?”
Dash shrugged. “It’s not my fault you’ve got no flexibility in those things. Maybe someone needs to spend more time in the air and less time buried in their lab.”
“I don’t think this is getting us any closer to rescuing our friends,” Twilight snapped.
“Hey, did I miss anything?” Spike called suddenly, climbing the stairs with teaset in hand.
“Well-”
“No!” Twilight cut her off. “Nothing interesting happened.”
“Good, well bad I guess, but good I didn’t miss anything.” Spike placed the tray on Twilight’s bedside table and began to pour out the tea. “Oh, the Crusaders are here.”
“Urgh, I forgot about them.” Twilight turned back to her note cards and dropped her voice. “Rainbow Dash, can you keep them busy for a little while while I deconstruct this spell? I can think of a few ponies that I’d like less to have a body swapping spell but not many.”
Rainbow Dash shuddered. “Agreed. I’m on the case.”
Downstairs the Cutie Mark Crusaders were distracted by the quintet of rabbits they were keeping confined in the center of the library. Rainbow Dash drifted down from the upper floor, a bemused look on her face. “Umm?”
“Hi Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said, stepping forwards and beaming. “Look what we found.”
The rabbit with it’s arm’s crossed thumped it’s foot against the ground.
“Right, sorry Angel,” Scootaloo corrected herself. “Look who found us.”
Rainbow Dash shook her head, she should have recognised the bunny by the scowl. She floated closer to him. “Right, well Fluttershy is under the weather right now-”
Angel jabbed a paw at one of the other rabbits. The one trying it’s best to hide behind it’s own ears.
“I have no idea what you’re trying to say,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “But when Fluttershy-”
This time, every bunny pointed at the shy rabbit, who smiled, weakly. Rainbow Dash cocked her head and did a slow spin.
“See-” Scootaloo began.
“Hold up, I got this.” She pointed at the shy bunny. “Fluttershy.” The bunny hopping on the spot. “Pinkie Pie.” The bunny with a long loop of plant stems over it’s shoulder. “Applejack.” And the bunny with the flower behind it’s ears. “Rarity.”
Rainbow Dash glanced over at the Cutie Mark Crusaders who beamed in unison. Sighed, then called out. “Twilight! You ended up as a rabbit right, could everypony else ended as rabbits too?”
“Theoretically,” Twilight called back from somewhere in her bedroom.
Everyone waited a beat for Twilight to asked another question. When no question came Rainbow Dash continued, “Twilight, everypony ended up as a rabbit.”
“What?” Twilight stuck her head over the balcony at regarded the scene below. “Oh, you found them!” she exclaimed, elated.
Rainbow Dash looked down at bunny Applejack who shot her a look. “I think it’s fair to say that they found us.” Applejack nodded.
Twilight beamed. “This is wonderful,” she announced, leaping down to ground level with a single flap of her wings. Angel, forwarded or just more experienced escaped her grasping hooves but she swept the rest of the bunnies into a rabbit crushing hug. “I thought I’d lost you guys.”
“Twilight, you might want ease up on the hugs,” Rainbow Dash suggested, making a face that was mirrored by Scootaloo as the rabbits struggled for freedom.
“Right, we can fix things now,” Twilight agreed and hurled herself back into the air. Rainbow Dash followed her through the air followed by the Cutie Mark Crusaders who had to take the stairs. “Now, is everyone where they should be?” Twilight asked, placing each bunny on their respective forms. “Figuratively speaking of course.”
The bunnies watched her expectantly. “Oh right, um well there isn’t a reversal to the spell per say,” she explained, blushing. “Just concentrate on being yourself and you should snap back.” Four pairs of black eyes stared back at her, incredulous. “No, really it is that simple. I probably should have explained before casting-”
“Oh sweet Celestia that was awful,” Rarity exclaimed, sitting up and brushing the bunny from her chest. “All that dirt, and hopping.” The bunny shot her a nasty look and Rarity blanched. “Oh, right. Um, thank you dear,” she said, patting it on the head. The bunny huffed and hopped away.
“I liked it,” Pinkie Pie announced, leaping to her feet. “It was all like. Boing, boing, boing-” She punctuated each word with a bounce.
“Argh, Twilight,” Applejack exclaimed, wincing as she tried to stand. “What did you do to my hip?”
“Girls, you’re alright!” Twilight eyes were more than a little damp as one by one her friends woke up.
“Thank you Angel,” Fluttershy whispered to her bunny companion, as she fluttered out of the bed. Angel looked even more annoyed than normal to see her back on her hooves.
“Oh Twilight,” Applejack sighed. “Why’d-rgh!” She shot her back legs a nasty look. “No seriously, what did ya do?”
Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. “She tried applebucking. It was hilarious.”
“Why did you try applebucking?” Applejack demanded, rounding on the alicorn.
“Because I spent most of the day running around town trying to convince Rainbow Dash nothing was wrong,” Twilight admitted, hanging her head.
Rainbow Dash stuck her hooves on her hips “I still don’t know why you didn’t just tell me.”
“I... kind of panicked,” Twilight sighed. “I know you’re still mad about the cutie mark incident.”
“Yeah, death by rabbits!” Half the room glared at the pegasus and Rainbow Dash sighed. “Fine, I guess I have been dragging that out.”
“See sugarcube, if you’d just told her straight away we could have sorted this whole thing out at Fluttershy’s,” Applejack chided, wrapping an arm around Twilight and smiling.
“I guess.” She sighed again. “Well, looks like this is one for the friendship journal.”
“And Rainbow Dash, did you learn anything today?” Applejack pressed.
Rainbow nodded. “Oh yeah. Twilight’s impressions of everyone are hilarious!” She burst out laughing, rolling around in midair as everyone stared daggers at her.
“What?” she demanded. The next few moments were a blur of many hooves and angry yelling before she found herself thrown bodily through the library’s front door. Experience allowed her to catch herself before she hit the ground and she turned around and shouted back. “Well I thought it was funny!”
Rolling her eyes she glanced at the Ponyville town clock, made sure her mane conveyed the correct level of awesome still and set off like a bolt.
