“Rarity....” Twilight blushed deeply as she looked at a picture of her best friend. “What do I do?”
Twilight knew that Spike was in love with her, but she secretly loved her as well, she couldn't do that to Spike, he tried so hard to be with her, but would that mean to give her up just like that?
She tried to before, she cheered for Spike to get her, but she couldn't get her out of her head, she put the picture down and sighed. “I can't do that to Spike...even if I get hurt”
Then as she was deep in thought there was a knock on the door, Twilight was glad that somepony came by, she needed to get Rarity out of her head, she went over and opened the door.
Her worst fear hit her right there as Rarity was the one who knocked. “Hello Twilight darling! I needed to see you, we must chat right away!”
Twilight looked at her and gulped being nervous. “Wha...what did you want to talk about?”
“I must confess I am emotionally confused!” Rarity said walking in.
“What happened?” Twilight asked watching her closely.
“I fell in love with such a manly stud of a stallion recently!” Rarity confessed.
“Oh....really?” Twilight looked down disappointed for both herself and Spike. “Who is he?”
“Oh who cares!?” Rarity said annoyed. “I was about to ask him, when his six wives showed up, I could NEVER be with such a pig, no matter how good looking he is! I can't stand colts!”
“So, your...available?” Twilight asked getting her hopes up.
“Yes, and this time I'm thinking about going on the other swing for bit and see where that leads me” Rarity said looking at her hoof.
“Really!?” Twilight blushed from her excitement.
“Are you okay Twilight?” Rarity looked at her confused.
“I have to tell you something Rarity...” Twilight got really close to her.
“What is it?” Rarity stared at her watching what she was doing.
“I love you.., I always have, I just never found to words to say...” Twilight said blushing more.
“Twilight....I..I never knew...you felt that way...” Rarity had to admit she never thought about it, but Twilight was a princess, and she was very dear to her, so what if Twilight wasn't the colt in shining armor she dreamed of, if it was Twilight, it was better then even her wildest dreams. “If you love me...truly...then would you....kiss me?”
Twilight nodded as she gazed at Rarity, her eyes meeting with hers and locking on, each second of looking into her beautiful eyes made her heart skip a beat, Rarity blushed and moved her mane back embarrassed.
Twilight put a hoof under Rarity's chin and gently leaned in moving her head slightly to the side, Rarity closed her eyes feeling Twilight's breath on her lips, she felt her heart pound against her chest and Twilight locked lips with her.
“And that's my story so far!” Pinkie Pie said showing Rock Candy and Winter Sugar a book she was writing in. “I've been working on a cute little romance with my friends as the casts!”
“Wow!” Winter said excited and clopped her hooves together. “What a touching scene!”
“Is there anymore!?” Rock Candy said looking over the book. “That was so h-I mean cute!”
“I'm glad you two like it, I'm thinking about making it a book, although if I did, I would have to change the characters and I just love using Twilight and Rarity, it's hard to choose” Pinkie said as she packed up the snacks they made.
“That story really touched me” Rock Candy said. “I can't wait to read more!”
“Aw, thanks Rocky, I'm glad you liked it!” Pinkie giggled happily.
“Hehe, it's perfect for Rock Candy” Winter sugar said jokingly.
“Huh? Well I uh, sure I guess” Rock Candy blushed.
“Your silly Rocky, don't be shy about being a lesbian, that's just who you are” Pinkie went and padded her back.
“Actually....” Rock Candy looked down. “It's a bit more complicated then that”
“Your secretly not a lesbian?” Pinkie asked. “Or is it that your only pretending?”
“Well it's true I'm into girls, but um...I'm not all....you know?” Rock Candy was far to embarrassed to say the rest.
“OH!!” Pinkie had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to say. “Your into both!”
“I'm a...hermaphrodite” Rock Candy said looking away.
“A hermafrodate?” Pinkie asked confused. “What's that?”
“Hermaphrodite Pinkie, it means she has both genders” Winter Sugar explained. “That's why she's into girls so much, I've never seen one before though”
“I hope this doesn't ruin our friendship or anything, I'm still me after all” Rock Candy lost a lot of friends due to her little secret, and she didn't want to lose her new friends because of it.
“Rock Candy, don't be like that, nothing will ruin our friendship, and that whole herma thing is just a part of who you are!” Pinkie explained.
“Really? Your not grossed out?” Rock Candy was used to being pushed away but Pinkie was really something.
“Well duh, Pinkie don't judge!” Pinkie said with a laugh at the end.
“Thanks Pinkie, that means a lot!” Rock Candy felt a whole lot better getting that off her chest. “Now how about we go and bring these snacks to your friends?”
“Sounds like a plan!” Pinkie said and went back to packing.
They soon finished packing up and then they headed out, Rock Candy seemed a lot happier then before, she was happy to finally be herself, Pinkie and Winter looked at each other and smiled knowing that their friendship could only increase.
Meanwhile Twilight and the others were busy trying to care for Rarity, Twilight was looking over book after book to find anything about what happened to Rarity, but nothing came up.
“Melody?” Twilight turned to the unicorn who was currently looking into a book herself. “You lived back in the past, did you see anything like this before?”
“You make it sound like I'm old” Melody joked, she knew this wasn't a joking matter and closed the book shaking her head. “I'm sorry Twilight, I've never seen this before”
“Darn it, how can we cure something we can't understand?” Twilight was more flustered then ever.
“Maybe if we shake her?” Rainbow Dash asked as she went over to Rarity about to shake her.
“That won't do anything Rainbow Dash, you can't shake her soul back into her” Applejack said annoyed.
“Well all their doing is reading books, how is that helping!?” Rainbow Dash complained.
“Girls” Fluttershy said trying to stop them.
“Their doing their best Rainbow, don't get in the way!” Applejack shouted.
“In the way of reading!? Come on, Rarity's in trouble and we're doing nothing!” Rainbow Dash shouted back.
“Girls!” Fluttershy shouted getting in between them. “Stop it!”
They looked over and Fluttershy huffed annoyed. “You girls aren't helping Rarity by arguing, if your nothing going to help Twilight, go wait outside!”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked shocked at Fluttershy's outburst, Rainbow Dash knew her for a long time and never heard her that loud before. “I'm sorry Fluttershy, I'm just...worried”
“Yeah, we both are, seeing her like that is...terrifying...” Applejack admitted. “It's worse that we can't do anything about it..”
“I understand, I feel that way too, but if any pony could solve this it's Twilight, now let's let her work, please?” Fluttershy said getting quiet again.
“Yeah okay” Rainbow Dash said and the three of them stepped out of the room.
Twilight sighed as she kept reading. “Nothing in all the books in the history of Canterlot, nothing in the magical books, I'm getting worried...”
“Me too, those bugs are going to be a problem from what I hear” Melody said looking over another book. “But I now know twenty one ways to bake bread”
“So Melody, what do you think we can do?” Twilight asked hoping she would know.
“Well if we could find out where her magic went we could put it back into her and that should turn her back to normal, although that's just a guess, she might be like this forever” Melody said thinking about it.
“I hope not” Twilight said looking at Rarity. “What in Equestria do we do...I wish you could tell me what happened to you Rarity”
“Don't worry, she'll be back to normal in no time” Melody said serious this time.
“Yeah, I know she will” Twilight said.
Outside Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy were waiting, Nightwish was out there already and she was watching the clouds. “How is she?”
“Same as always” Applejack said. “Still spaced out”
“That's not good, Rarity seems really nice and she has to suffer like that..” Nightwish sighed not sure if she'd ever be normal again.
Pinkie and her new friends all came up with a lot of bags. “Hey everypony!”
“Hey Pinkie, what's up?” Rainbow Dash said not feeling herself.
“You girls want some cupcakes!?” Pinkie asked as Rock Candy opened a bag full of snacks.
“You all need to eat” Rock Candy said smiling.
“Hey...don't I know you?” Rainbow Dash asked Rock Candy looking at her confused.
“Huh?” Rock Candy cocked her head in confusion.
“You know Rock Candy Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked.
“Rock Candy? I do know her!” Rainbow Dash went over to her and looked her over. “Your that pegasi that disguised herself as a baker, that cutie mark of yours is a fake!”
“Wha!?” Rock Candy backed up and shook her head. “I don't know what your talking about!”
“Wait, fake cutie mark?” Winter and Pinkie looked at each other and then at Rock Candy. “What is she talking about Rock Candy?”
“She was an amazing flier, she was once a wonderbolt, her special talent was working with tools, she built a lot of devices the wonderbolts use today in training!” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “I'm a HUGE fan of the wonderbolts, I know everypony that was a wonderbolt ever!”
“Oh man...” Rock Candy sighed and put a hoof on her head. “This is why I came to Canterlot...Pegasi are rare here, nopony would realize who I am”
“So it's true? Your really a wonderbolt!?” Pinkie said excited. “This is crazy!”
“But..why would you hide that?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
Rock Candy worked up the nerve to speak. “There is a reason...but...”
“Come on Rock Candy, you were going to be a big shot, one of the best wonderbolts ever, why go through all that trouble to hide?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It's an incredible honor to be one of them, and you just gave it up?!”
“I did give it up Rainbow Dash...” Rock Candy sat down. “It was a long time ago, well it feels like it anyways”
They all gathered and Pinkie gave them each some snacks, then Rock Candy spoke. “The thing is, my family comes from a line of really amazing wonderbolts, each one making the family horseshoes bigger and bigger”
“A family line of wonderbolts!? Awesome!” Rainbow Dash went into geek mode.
“It's not that awesome, not awesome at all” Rock Candy said. “It was actually horrible”
“How can that be bad!?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Having a line of amazing wonderbolts is amazing!”
“It's stressful, that's what it is” Rock Candy said brushing her mane back. “It sounds nice, but they set the bar too high, everypony expected me to be as good if not better then all of them combined, if I messed up even once they would all judge me and look down on me”
“Well if you put it like that” Rainbow Dash said. “Is that why you quit?”
“I couldn't live up to it, I tried so hard...and I failed” Rock Candy said hanging her head. “I crashed hard, broke my wing and failed my family line, I felt so ashamed that I covered my cutie mark with paint and made this fake one, I then moved to Canterlot to get away from it all”
“That's horrible” Fluttershy said feeling bad about what she heard.
“I'm not fit to be a wonderbolt, so I'm just a candy maker now” Rock candy said.
“Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash smacked her hoof on the ground. “You can't give up just because you got hurt once!”
“What else could I do? I worked so hard and I humiliated my family name” Rock Candy said.
“Oh come on, your Rock Candy you invented the flight simulator, you made devices to turn clouds into food, you inspired a lot of mares to really challenge themselves, you set records that pegasi can't break even Spitfire hasn't been able to beat some of them, you did all that, that was you all you! Not your family, it's stupid to give it all up over a small mistake!” Rainbow Dash shouted annoyed.
“I....” Rock Candy looked at her in shock.
“Well it's harsh, but she has a point there Candy” Applejack said. “You shouldn't throw away who you are for a mistake, you've made a name for yourself already, you don't need to feel pressure from your kin folk's past deeds”
“I agree, what you do is what matters not what your ancestors did, you can't live unless you step out of their shadows” Fluttershy said surprising everypony there with her words.
“Wow...thanks everypony, that means a lot” Rock Candy said starting to smile.
“You need to go back to who you really are Rock Candy” Rainbow Dash said. “Or should I say Misty Gale?”
Rock Candy hadn't heard that name in a long time, she smiled fully, she never said it but she had changed her name as well, her real name was Misty Gale and she felt like she could go back without any worries, she couldn't help but tear up from the joy she felt. “Thank you Rainbow Dash...everypony....thank you so much..”
“It's no biggie” Rainbow Dash said with a smile.
“Wow! First we learn Rocky is a hermaphrodite, and then we learn Rocky is actually Misty! That's crazy awesome!” Pinkie said eating a cupcake. “And she's a wonderbolt!”
“I'm still in shock myself” Winter Sugar said eating a brownie. “I wonder what you didn't change about yourself?”
“Haha! Oh I changed almost everything, but don't worry, I'll go and clean up this disguise and you'll see me for my true self soon” Misty said laughing a little.
As they all laughed and talked Fluttershy noticed a familiar figure in the corner of her eye, it looked almost like Rarity but that couldn't be, right?
“Fluttershy?” The voice called out to her asking her over.
“Huh?” Fluttershy stood up looking confused.
What's wrong Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.
“I don't know, I have to check something out, I'll be right back” Fluttershy said walking away.
She turned the corner and saw the Rarity look alike Greed in the shadows. “Rarity?”
“I've been looking for you” Greed said grinning.
“Wait...your not Rarity...who are you?” Fluttershy got a better look at her, she had the same shape and size, but her color was off and she didn't have a cutie mark.
“Your element is needed for our fathers” Greed said and walked over to her.
Fluttershy backed up looking scared. “M...my element?”
Greed grabbed her and her horn glowed the same color of Rarity's, the magic wrapped around Fluttershy's neck and started to choke her.
“Gah!!” Fluttershy tried to reach for the magic but her hoof just went through it. “Uhhh..ahhh..”
Greed laughed as Fluttershy was getting choked. “Haha, time to get your element!”
She loomed over Fluttershy as she choked her and got to work as the forgotten ones taught her.