//------------------------------// // Rainbow's Foalish Behavior // Story: Rainbow's Foal Hypnosis // by Zubric //------------------------------//                  While Rainbow had been playing foal at Sweet Song’s house, all of her friends had decided to hang out at the castle that very afternoon. Various snacks had been set upon the map table, and Spike was currently handing out cups of fruit punch. The get together however had turned to concerning matters when the girls started talking about Rainbow Dash and what Applejack had witnessed earlier that morning.                   “Sucking her hoof?” Twilight asked, as Applejack finished telling her story.                  Applejack nodded while biting into a granny smith apple. “Yeah. I spoke to Rainbow about it, but she darted away faster than a worm inside an apple on the first day of cider season. It’s like she was afraid of anypony findin’ out.”                  “Oh my,” Fluttershy commented, putting her hooves up to her mouth. That’s odd, but then Dashie was acting odd when she came to visit me,” Fluttershy then gasped! “I mean I uh…” She rubbed her neck, as the others looked at her with suspicion and concern.                  “What is it, darling?” Rarity inquired, taking a cup from Spike’s tray. “Do you know something about Rainbow too?”                   “Sort of. B-but it would be rude to talk about it,wouldn't it?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, I don’t think it’s related to what Applejack saw. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sucking her hoof or anything like that.”                  “If something’s wrong with our friend, we need to know,” Twilight replied. “At times she’s been acting off ever since Trixie’s show, but she won’t tell us what it is and we’ve only got speculation to go on.”                   Fluttershy blushed and took her seat as her friends give her their full attention. “Well, it was the just the other day.” And as she spoke, she began to recall where she’d been and what she’d been doing when she’d noticed the odd behavior from her friend.                                     Rainbow was enjoying a nice afternoon at Fluttershy’s cottage. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had tagged along as well, and the energetic trio were currently playing tag, while Rainbow lounged on a chair near by. She let out a sigh, adjusting her dark sunglasses. “Ah, took us forever to get those clouds from the Everfree to behave. I swear Discord himself would be impressed by those things.” She commented, looking at Fluttershy as she came out with a pitcher of freshly squeezed lemonade and a few drinking glasses.                    “Well I’m glad you could come over. You deserve a break after working so hard all the time. Sweet mentioned you’ve been stressed a lot lately.” Fluttershy replied, as she set of one the drinking glasses in Rainbow’s hoof.                   Rainbow sipped the lemonade, watching the three fillies play as they ran past her. Them seemed to enjoying themselves as if they didn’t have a care in the world.                   “Maybe I can play too,” Rainbow mumbled before shaking her head. “Ah, Scootaloo might not mind it, but Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wouldn’t find it any fun to play against a grownup like me.” She smiled, as she watched Tank sunbath himself on a large rock. Then she he turned her attention to a few butterflies that were fluttering about. Their various colours were like a moving rainbow, and Rainbow’s eyes kept tracking them, entranced by the simplicity of it all. Suddenly, one of the red and orange colored butterflies fluttered over, landing squarely on Rainbow’s nose. The mare froze, holding still and going cross eyed as she looked at the creature. All her focus shrank to just that tiny being on her nose, as a goofy smile began to form on her face.  The beautiful colors reflected off the fine wings as it perched on her snout. Her mouth hung partly open, as she watched it flap slowly.                   Fluttershy watched the sight, while simultaneously keeping an eye on the crusaders. She observed her friend’s eyes tracking the tiny creature, soon seeing Rainbow sit up slowly as she watched the butterfly flutter away.                 “Bye bye, butterfly. Butterfly fly away.” Rainbow babbled in a foalish, moments before shaking her head and blushing. Fluttershy meeped and turned, watching her friend hurry over to join in the game of tag with Scootaloo and her fellow crusaders.                                     “And when I tried to ask for details, Dashie just denied it and claimed I was seeing things. But I know I saw that butterfly attract her even though it wasn’t doing anything,” Fluttershy concluded, as she finished telling her story. She watched as Twilight wrote the facts down onto the paper before her. “I mean it was rather nice of her to play with the CMC. Maybe I’m just overthinking things.”                   “Well, your butterflies are pretty,” Pinkie commented, taking a cookie from the tray nearby. “Oh, if we’re going to mention odd occurrences with Rainbow Dash, I have one to tell.”                    “Really?” Twilight asked, looking at her party planning friend.                    Pinkie swallowed her snack and cleared her throat. “Well, Rainbow came over to help foalsit the twins again a few days ago.” Like with Flutttershy, Pinkie started to recall where she’d been and what she’d been doing when she’d noticed the odd behavior from her rainbow coated friend.                                            Pinkie closed up the cake box, hoofing it over to a brown coated earth pony stallion with a smile. The stallion’s purple eyes meeting Pinkie’s blue ones, the party pony memorized the cream colored mane and tail styled straight, and his cutie mark depicting a cream pie. “Come again soon.” She chimed, taking the bits and putting them in the register.                       Just as the stallion left, Rainbow trotted in, humming a tune to herself. “Hey Rainbow, nice job with the clouds. That smiley face was silly.” Pinkie commented. She didn’t notice Rainbow blush for a moment, as she turned her attention to the foal monitor, waiting for the twins to wake up.                       “Hey Pinkie,” Rainbow greeted, not acknowledging what had happened with the clouds earlier. “Got the rest of the day free so I thought I’d come and bake something I guess. Been ages since we did that together.”                        “Oh I’d love to, but I’m keeping an eye on the twins for the Cakes while they are doing some catering gig,” Pinkie explained with a slight hint of unhappiness, as she snatched a taffy out of a bag and quickly ate it up. “I love them to pieces, but when it’s just me and them things always get out of control.”                        “I could help with that, again. Those two are pretty energetic.” Rainbow offered, her smile grew, just as the sound of babbling and shifting was heard over the monitor.                        “Well look at that, they just woke up it seems. I’m definitely going to need your help.” Pinkie replied, as she led her friend up the nursery. The nasty odor of a dirty diaper was there to greet them when the nursery door was opened.                          While Pinkie waved her hoof at the repulsive smell, Rainbow, for some reason, blushed. “Phew! What’s Mrs. Cake been feeding them?” She joked, while watching Pinkie pick Pound out of the crib and inspect his diaper. A quick check confirmed he was the source of the stench.                        “I got this, Dashie. You just keep an eye on Pumpkin really quick.” Pinkie instructed, as she set the colt on the changing table and prepared to perform a diaper change.                         Rainbow moved over to the crib smiling at the filly. “Hey there, Pumpkin,” She cooed, sticking her tongue out and shaking her head. The resulting tongue wobble made Pumpkin giggle and clap, before she grabbed Rainbow’s snout with her hooves. Rainbow beamed, feeling joyful, even as Pumpkin did what most foals do to feel things. “Aww, you got my nose.” She giggled, making more silly faces that caused more laughter.                        The little distraction was all Pinkie needed to change Pound and set him down. She then came over to Rainbow. “Wow, you’re a natural,” She commented, as she picked up Pumpkin watching Rainbow boop her hoof on the mobile, making it spin. Pinkie found it odd that, for some reason, her friend appeared really interested in it as it spun once more. “Uh, Rainbow?” She asked, as nudged her friend’s shoulder.                         Rainbow jumped back, turning around! “Huh, what?!” She exclaimed, as she shook her head in confusion.                         Pinkie seemed to briefly tilt her head before she responded with. “Nothing, just keep an eye on Pound for me. Pumpkin’s a little wet.” She instructed, taking the little filly to the changing table.                         Rainbow leaned down to Pound, seeing his smiling face as his tiny wings flapped about. “Aww, I bet you’ll be a great flyer, just like me,” She nuzzled Pound and tickled him a bit. Pound squeaked and tried to crawl away, only for Rainbow follow him. “Grr, can’t escape me!” She taunted, playfully corralling the foal into the playpen. The colors of the foal toys in it distracted Rainbow for a second, causing her to trip over a rattle that had been left lying on the ground, and plant her face into the ground. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt.                         Pound giggled at Rainbow’s stumble as the cyan coated pegasus mare got up, her hoof knocking against the rattle again. “Hehe, um oops,” She meeped as she slowly left Pound to play by himself in the playpen. “Focus Rainbow, d-don’t even look at them.” She thought, seeing Pinkie tilt her head as she set Pumpkin into the playpen as well.                         “Hehe, they sure are fun aren’t they?” Pinkie asked, as she made silly faces at the twins and shook a bunny about which rattled inside.                         “Y-yeah,” Rainbow replied, as she bit her lip. For a moment her eyes looked at the foal toys again. “I’m just…. going to go use the washroom!” She declared, and before Pinkie could say a word, Rainbow zipped out of the room.                          Pinkie, suspecting nothing, just giggled and kept shaking the rattle for the twins, watching them clap and coo. It filled her with joy to see the twins happy, moments like these more than made up for the times when they could be a hoofful. “Hehe, just wait til you’re old enough for potty training. I can tell you guys are going to give your parents and I quite the experience.” She cooed, as set the rattle down and passed a bouncy red ball to them.                      .  About five minutes later, Pinkie’s ears picked up the sound of flushing, then flushing again, and again. The realization came to Pinkie pretty quickly, as she simply blushed, while the twins seemed to be confused. “Oh wow, I thought Rainbow eats better then that. Pound, Pumpkin, you two stay here really quick. Auntie Dashie needs some help in the bathroom.” After making sure the foals would stay put, Pinkie trotted toward the bathroom to help Rainbow unclog the toilet. Another flush could be heard as she approached the door. “Uh, Rainbow Dash? Do you need any help? If you’ve clogged the toilet, it’s okay, I brought the plunger.” She called, as she knocked on the door again. There was no response, only another flush sound, this time accompanied by a childish giggle.                      Pinkie tried the doorknob, finding it unlocked, and pushed the door open. What she saw nearly made her eyes pop out!                      Rainbow pulled the toilet lever again, watching the water swirl down the drain. “Hehe, water go down the hole!” She giggled, as the water returned. She only snapped out of the trance when PInkie nudged her side. Startled, the big foal jumped up in surprise! “Gah, PInkie! W-what are you doing in here?” She asked, as her muzzle immediately radiated with a fierce blush.                      Pinkie tossed the plunger aside. “I uh, thought you must’ve clogged the toilet after hearing you flush so much,” She explained, as rubbed her neck. “Were you giggling at...draining water? That’s something I’d expect from the twins.”                      “W-what?! No! I mean…. uh,” Rainbow stuttered in embarrassment. “Laters!” She called, bolting away before Pinkie could say anything else.                       “Dashie, wait, you left the toilet seat up!!” Pinkie called, but it was too late, Rainbow Dash had already left. Pinkie just sighed. “I’d better put the lid down before somepony falls in.”                        But before Pinkie could do so, she heard the toilet flush again and this time she felt her tail being pulled by a powerful suction. “Pinkie go down the hole!” The twins giggled, not realizing Pinkie was too big to fit down the drain.                                                “And then Dashie just ran away before I could ask. What’s even worse is that she got the twins excited about playing with the toilet and I couldn’t get them to settle down for another nap.” PInkie groaned slightly, as she finished telling her part of the story.                        Twilight’s quill wrote upon the scroll with quite the flurrying pace. At last she put her quill down, rubbing her chin. “All these odd occurrences are so close together that they can’t be coincidence.” She concluded, double checking her notes one last time.                       “Don’t forget how messy she was eating at our picnic last week,” Rarity commented. “Even Rainbow Dash never eats that sloppy.”                       “How is that connected though?” Applejack asked, as she raised an eyebrow.                        “Well I’ve only seen Pound and Pumpkin Cake eat that messily. Oh and don’t forget she asked about mind control.” Pinkie blurted out.                        “That’s right, she did. And I told her hypnosis and mind control aren’t the same thing, unless you’re subverting someone’s free will.” Twilight replied, recalling the conversation from that picnic that had previously seemed so unimportant.                         Rarity put her hooves to her mouth and gasped. “You don’t think somepony messed with Rainbow Dash’s head, do you?”                          The group all look towards Twilight, she opened her mouth and prepared to speak, but then she suddenly paused for a moment. “Well, Trixie was looking up books on the mind and spell casting. I didn’t think anything of it before though, but it could be related.” She finally told the others. Then, before anyone could respond, a loud shriek was heard emanating from down the hall.                          “Don’t hurt Trixie!” Trixie’s voice rang out in a pleading tone.                          Spike and the girls got up in a hurry, galloping (or in Spike’s case just plain running) along until they entered the library. They gasped upon seeing the sight of Trixie covering her face, while pinned under Rainbow’s hooves. Rainbow looked quite furious, and if her slanted brows and narrowed eyes were any indication, something had really set her off!                        “What’s going on here!?” Twilight demanded, hurrying over to Rainbow who turned to look at Twilight and the others. Reacting quickly, Twilight pulled Rainbow away, making sure she was at a far enough range to prevent hoof contact.                        “Trixie’s got answers and I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” Rainbow replied, as glared at Trixie. “Now, tell me why I’m acting like a foal! I know you’re involved in this, somehow!”                         “Please, Trixie can explain everything, if you promise not to hurt her!” Trixie pleaded in desperation. “Trixie meant no harm!”                         “I’ll be the judge of that!” Twilight declared, casting a suspicious glance at Trixie. “Why have you been looking up information about the mind?!”                         Trixie looked all around, and saw nothing but stern glares or glances that indicated everyone in the castle library wanted answers. With a reluctant sigh she told them all. “It was just supposed to be a harmless little prank, but somehow it got out of hoof.”