Sneak Peek Of Chapter 37

Hello, to all my faithful Divided Rainbow readers! The next chapter's chugging along nicely; I give you all my absolute word of honor that I'll be finishing up with it MUCH sooner than the previous one. I'm grateful to every one of you.

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Twilight had been quiet for several minute in thoughtful contemplation. It was brought to an end when she spoke up. “I think I’ve come up with a hypothesis about The Swap. Specifically how equilibrium works, and why ponies are so hopeless before it happens.”

“Oh?” said Lero, with an easy smile. “Yeah, sure. I love hearing your thoughts on our dear old friend.”

That pet name made Twilight roll her eyes, but Twilight snuggled against him a bit more. “Remember how lazy the Swap is? Particularly in terms of revising the personal histories of the ponies it swaps?”

“Lazy and shallow,” Lero reminded her. “Don’t forget shallow.”

Twilight smirked, nosing his chest, as his arm slid around her. "Believe me, I haven’t!" She leaned over, sneaking a bite of the snack Lero held in his hand. "I’m pretty confident that when Swapped Ponies are freshly swapped, their original memories are immediately repressed, only available as subconscious inklings, at best. As for their new lives, the Swap only starts them off with enough memories to be immediately functional in their new roles. Additional memories are only provided when something or someone else makes them remember more details.”

Lero hmmed. "Interesting. But Twilight, it sounds to me that you believe the Swap only functions in terms of short-term immediate-present needs.”

Lero's skeptical tone cause Twilight's eyebrows to raise. "You don’t?"

Lero shook his head. "No, I think the Swap’s at least capable of some degree of planning and foresight. Like… do you remember Rarity talking about her pegasus parents? Wouldn’t you say her story felt rather… prepared?"

Twilight hmmed at well, rubbing her chin with a hoof. "Yeah, you’re right… But on the same note, it was something that'd have to be known to explain her basic functioning in Dash's place. So yeah, it can have foresight, but only bothers in areas where it has to."

Lero nodded "Why wouldn’t it? I mean, the Cutie Mark was one of the most pivotal moments of their life; that's not something it could fake or withhold, right? I spent an entire day interviewing the Swapped Five for stories on how they got their cutie marks, and they didn't seem to hesitate at all."

Twilight held up a hoof. "Right, right, but let’s get back on track. In spite of their new memories, Swapped Ponies still retain much of their own personality, right?"

Lero paused thoughtfully, and nodded. "Mostly, yes."

Twilight nodded back, smiling the way she did when she thought she was onto something. "You see, I think that’s why they come off almost as parodies of the ones they’ve exchanged lives with! Especially early on: they're acting the way the original ponies subconsciously thought their counterparts acted!"

Lero opened his mouth to reply, but then paused, furrowing his brow in thought, before replying slowly, "Let me make sure I’m getting this straight, Twilight... You’re saying that Pinkie The Farmer went and turned herself into that... workaholic, because that’s who the Real Pinkie subconsciously thought the Real Applejack was, at heart? Just some farm chore maniac?”

"Pretty much. Remember her own experiences with farming? 'No talking, no smiling, only rocks'?" Twilight pointed out.

"And the Original Applejack thought that the Original Rarity was just somepony who spent all her time sewing weird clothes?" Lero continued.

"To put it bluntly." Twilight nodded.

"And the Original Rarity felt that the Original Rainbow Dash was just some…” the next part was very hard for him to say, “...xenophilia freak? Which was why she adored me and everyone in Herd Bellerophon with such an exaggerated, cartoonish degree of passion? Even for a committed, loving family girl?"

It was a cold, cutting feeling for Lero.

"Well, not only that, but... remember how focused she is on weathermaking? That's not Dash at all. Sure, that's her job, but it's always been a sideline to her dream of joining the Wonderbolts. But Rarity's always been a career-focused girl. And, as a unicorn, becoming a Wonderbolt just isn’t an option. Therefore, it'd make sense for her to interpret Dash as ‘a weathermaker’."

"In short... you’re saying the Swap forced those five into becoming the very caricatures they devised in their own heads for their best friends, beforehand. Wow… that’s just unbelievably cruel."

"Well, more like, 'inevitable result of it's own minimal-effort behavior..." Twilight started.

"Laziness." Lero interjected.

"...Laziness." Twilight corrected. "And the girl's own subconscious prejudices. But, yeah. If it was intentional, It’s like something Discord would’ve cooked up, before his reformation."

"And to think, the five of them never really knew each other on any meaningful level. Their friendship was all shallow, superficial, narrow-minded presumptions." Lero said, matter-of-factly.

Twilight winced at his harsh cynicism. "That's hardly fair, Lero. After all..."

Lero frowned at her pause. "...What?"

"...Lero, you like dogs, right?"

That caught him off guard. "Uh, yeah! Dogs are great. Very lovable, wonderful pets. ...Why do you ask?"

"Well..." She drew out. "Dogs have all sorts of funny little habits, don’t they? Burying bones. Barking at the moon. Needing walks…"

"Mmm-hmm. " Lero replied, idly wondering where she was going with this.

"But can you personally relate to all that, Lero? Have you, yourself, ever felt the same need to mark your territory as a dog does? Hmmmm?" She looked hard at him.

"Wha... NO!" he denied.

Twilight wore that smug smile she got whenever she was making a point. "Can you explain why dogs, themselves, have that need?"

Lero was lost. He was a historian, masseur, and handyman before he was a veterinarian or biologist. "Uh... Well… dogs, they, er..."

But Twilight waved him off. "Biologists have filled books answering that question, of course. But here’s the short answer: that’s how dogs operate. Because they’re dogs. It’s always been that way. Yet we honestly love dogs. And they love us back."

Lero nodded slowly. "...Right."

Twilight relaxed against him, snuggling her head up under his chin. "Even between two beings as as intelligent as you and me… people can be awfully quirky, can’t they? Imagine asking Fluttershy a year ago why Pinkie Pie does all the unusual things she does. Heck, imagine trying to answer that question yourself."

Lero made the attempt. "Um… well, she’s just… Pinkie’s being Pinkie, you know? She’s just high-spirited and… very random. Thinks outside the box. Really imaginative."

Twilight shrugged, her shoulder rubbing against his chest as she did. "Perhaps you’re right and they never really did ‘understand’ each other. Each one of them had certain habits and ways of thinking that baffled the other four. Stuff they couldn’t personally relate to. Stuff they’d never incorporate into their own lives. But their friendship was still real, Lero. You don't have to perfectly understand someone to care about them... and how many people do you get to really, truly know in the course of your life?"

"Not many." Lero admitted after a moment's thought.

"In fact, let me bring up one of the traits I find most admirable about you, Lero. Even when you didn’t fully grasp what their problem was, you never let that lack of ‘understanding’ stop you from going over and being a true friend to them all, in their time of need." She sighed, slumping against him. "Unlike me. And they were always the same way with each other. So please, Lero, don’t EVER use words like ‘shallow’ or ‘superficial’ to describe their friendship.”

Realizing how harsh his words must have been, Lero slumped his shoulders. "Twilight, I’m very sorry. Please forgive me."

She smiled. "Always." She shifted up, embracing him, which she returned, sharing a quick kiss.

"Oh!" Twilight said suddenly. "In fact, we’ve gotten quite off-track, haven’t we? I almost forgot about the second part of my theory!"

Lero eyed the pony who was still in lecture mode, despite still in a close embrace. He let out a small chuckle. "Second part?"

She nodded energetically "Yes! I believe that the more revised memories are generated within a Swapped Pony’s brain, the more she’ll start to understand -- and thus, emulate -- the pony she’s been swapped with. Equilibrium represents the moment that they truly 'get' the other pony on a fundamental level, and make the link between themselves and their own element- and the element and pony which they're swapped with. And this allows them to better function in the role of their counterpart."

It clicked in his head. "The moment kind Old Fluttershy finally saw all the Kindness that’d always been in Pinkie Pie…"

She nodded. "...Or, the moment Pinkie, herself, was able to see the Laughter and good cheer in hardworking Applejack’s heart… and so forth with all the rest of them..."

A knocking at the door stopped them.