//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: A Productive Day // Story: The Modular Merchant // by Pozzo //------------------------------// In the end, all four of the girls went to see Pinkie. Fluttershy made sure to wear Rarity again, and Rainbow had been forced to pick up and wear a discarded wizard’s cap of Twilight to hide her open skull. She had protested this indignity, loudly and often: “It totally clashes with my jacket!” she had said, but her cries fell on unhearing ears. Everyone had agreed to try and keep up appearances for now, until Twilight had sorted everything out with Clearheart. “I will have to try and rush home before she returns” Rarity had said, as they all walked down to Sugurcube corner. “I reckon I can squeeze out a good few dress designs before I have to return that pen.” “Bet you’ll be thankful to get your skeleton back, at least.” Said Applejack. “I wouldn’t trade my bones for all the apples in equestrian. That pen must be something special.” “You have no ideal, darling. And to be honest, this…experience has been not without its unique charms. Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?” “MM-mmhp” “Fluttershy aggress with me.” Said Rarity. She smiled wide, and for a second you could see flashes of yellow coat before she stopped herself. “Oh Rainbow, do stop sulking like that. That jacket never suited you anyway.” “Leave the jacket out of this! The jacket rules!” said the floating pegasus, angrily fixing her wizard hat. “Ponies here can be so judgemental. They can’t look past stupid stuff like selling your brain. If you ask me, wearing this dumb hat around is way weirder. Twilight doesn’t seriously embarrass herself in public like this, does she?” “Ponies in glass houses should not throw stones, dear” sniffed Rarity. “Ah, here we are. Brace yourselves, ladies, anything could be happening in there.” “Yeah, who knows what Pinkie’s bought. Or traded!” said Rainbow. “Oh no, I just say that to myself whenever I come here, you know what she’s like.” “Ah, fair ‘nuff.” They opened the door, to be greeted by an empty counter. “Hello? Pinkie?” There was a veritable chorus of high pitched greetings from the kitchen area. The girls exchanged looks of worry, perhaps having flashbacks to the business with the mirror pool. Then, there was a very quiet stampede. From the kitchen emerged at least a dozen tiny brown ponies, all squeaking out hellos and skipping towards the newcomers, leaving a soft trail of crumbs in their wake. “Hi! Eat me!” “Yes, eat all of us!” “Eat us! Eat us! Eat us!” The cookie ponies advanced, voices almost singing their demands. Right as they had backed the friends into a corner, Pinkie Pie’s voice rang above the din, commanding her creations to stop. “No, bad cookies! Don’t be pushy, that’s not how you make friends!” The cookies bowed their heads as Pinkie and her various parts all bounced their way into the room, a sight that sent the already overloaded Applejack into further overload, the poor earth-pony mare simply dragging her hat down across her eyes and muttering to herself through the fabric. “Sorry about, everypony” said Pinkie pie, looking up as her cookie creations circled around her. “The recipe’s still got a few things to work out…” “Recipe? Is this what you got from Clearheart?” asked Rainbow. “Yup! It’s a whole magical cooking set! Aren’t these guys just adorable?” said Pinkie. On cue, her crowd of sentient cookies went in and hugged her head, rocking it back and forth slightly. Rarity coughed. “Yes, heartwarming and all that. Not that you seem to have one, Pinkie.” “Hahaha, good one! But it's ok, I'm sure my heart is in the right place! Get it?" “Very witty, Ms. Pie!" said a voice. Everyone turned to the newcomer. Clearheart waved pleasantly as she strolled into Sugarcube Corner. In her magical grasp was a clear jar filled with liquid, with a pink, wrinkled object floating in the middle. It was gently spinning in a lazy circle, bubbling every now and then like a fish. Also being held was an old book of some sort. Seeing this, Rarity connected the dots. “…Twilight?” she asked, prompting everyone on scene to gasp, including a muffled one from inside Rarity. Applejack pulled her hat back up over her face and stared hard into the newcomers eyes, fighting the urge to stare at the contents of the jar. “Clearheart, right? I think ah have a few choice words for you, alright.” Said the earth pony, narrowing her eyes. She was expecting some sort of haughty reply, perhaps a cool chuckle and a shake of her vibrant mane. But instead, the unicorn looked genuinely hurt. “I…see.” Said Clearheart, simply. “Well…I just came to drop your friend the Princess off. She’s not very mobile like this, but I think once the Princess figures out how to read the book-“ “You mean she can’t even see like that?” asked Rainbow, flying up close to the brain in the jar for a better look. “Hey how does that work anyway, where’s her body? Is she in there?” Rainbow tapped the jar with her hoof, but the brain inside didn’t seem to notice her. Clearheart placed the jar on the counter of the shop. “Everypony reacts differently. I had a feeling she would be more of a brain type than a brainless one…” she said, setting the book down next to the jar. “Oh, if you want my suggestion: Try placing her inside your head. She’d have access to your senses that way, a fact that she would find most useful. I’ll just get out of your way now…” She went to leave, passing by the still glaring Applejack with a neutral poker face on. As she neared the door, Rarities hooves suddenly moved to her mouth and pulled her lips open, as Fluttershy’s head emerged, a sight that nearly had Pinkie's eyes bulging out of her head at the sight. “Wait!” she said, as Rarity grunted wordlessly, her eyes swiveling from their new position by the pegasus’s neck. “Um…I just thought I should say…Applejack, I know you’re upset, but Clearheart has good intentions. She wouldn’t do anything we wouldn’t want, would you?” said Fluttershy, smiling at the departing unicorn. “Ghuhig-gsnignmph!” said Rarity. “Rarity agrees with me…I think.” “Yeah, you’re ok with this pony head!” said Pinkie, causing her cookie companions to hop up and down excitedly, squeaking out little “Yeah!”’s of their own. This earned a smile back from Clearheart, who nodded her head. “Thank you, that’s very kind. And if any of you want to do business, I’d be glad to help.” “Hah!” snorted Applejack. “I’m more likely to turn into a pear.” “Ggghgh-ghmmhsg!” said Rarity, her eyes glaring frostily at the farmer. “I…see. Well, you’ll know where to find me.” With that, Clearheart breezed out into the night. The Elements of Harmony were left alone. Only two of them now had a full inventory of body parts. Applejack watched her friends, taking stock. Rainbow unscrewed the lid of the jar, and prodded the water within like she was testing it’s temperature. Fluttershy went over to talk with Pinkie and the cookie ponies, kneeling down next to them. Rarity had given up trying to speak and was content with looking around the room. Applejack was struck with a feeling of dread. Nopony was hurt or complaining, but she had a terrible feeling that sooner or later that would change. Twilight may have caved in, but she wouldn’t make that mistake. She resolved to stay as far away from all of this as she possibly could. If her friends were happy then let ‘em be happy, but she would have nothing to do with Clearheart and her trading ways. “Righto, ah’m gonna call it a night right about now.” She said to the room at large. “I just hope y’all have thought about this, cause I got a baaaad feeling bout that mare. And my gut never lies.” Applejack tipped her hat in farewell before leaving the bakery. As she left, she heard a faint crunching sound, followed by shocked gasps. “Crispy, no! Your legs! Oh you poor thing!” “Sorry, she just looked so tasty! Forgive me, crispy!” ============================================================================================ Meanwhile, in a treehouse on Sweet Apple Acres, Sweetie Belle’s brain was practically vibrating. After all possible topics of conversation had been carried out, which was approximately two hours ago, all three brains had fallen into something of a silence. She had theorized that, just as they had developed the ability to hear each others thought, they had all now learned how to shut them out. It was probably something to do with their rapidly evolving mental wavelengths, growing more flexible and far strong in lieu of any physical stimuli. These were all thoughts and words that Sweetie would never normally use, but when you’re just a floating brain in a jar, you do a lot of thinking. As a matter of fact, Sweetie had thought about a lot of interesting things. For example, she had worked out a fairly satisfactory answer to some of the deeper questions that she had overheard from Twilight, like “What is it to be?” or “Why do hayburgers cost so much more these days?” And her plans for improving Scootaloo’s scooters were potentially very promising, assuming she could procure the parts needed for the engine, and if Rarity wouldn’t mind if she stayed out too late. In a way she already way. She was not concerned that she had not been found though, for she had already imagined 56 possible hypothetical situations that explained this, and only 21 of them were alarming, so statistically both Rarity and herself would probably be fine. Sweetie Belle didn’t hear the cawing behind her as the bird in Scootaloo’s head roosted on her nest, warming the eggs inside. Nor did she see the squirrel climb into her skull cavity and hide some nuts in there, with one rolling down the hole where her brainstem used to be and getting lodged inside. Instead she merely hummed a happy little tune as she thought of what other of life’s great mysteries she could solve… =============================================================================================== After the girls had gone their separate ways for the night, Rainbow had taken Twilight’s jar in her hooves and flown back to her home. She had placed the book inside her own head and covered it with that dumb wizard hat, although it meant she had to fly kinda slowly in case either it or the book fell out. It was only about halfway through the flight that Rainbow noticed that she had left the lid of the jar sitting on the counter, and she had very well almost let her passenger slip out. Stopping and jerking back up right again, she sighed with relief before continuing on carefully. She wondered if losing her brain really had made her more forgetful. Then again, she was always kinda bad for stuff like that, so maybe not. At any rate, she had clutched the jar close to her chest as she flew, making sure not to go to fast or to change direction suddenly, lest she risk another near-miss like before. When she got home, Rainbow headed straight to bed, feeling pretty tired. Yawning, she placed the jar and the book down on the bed. Then she pulled her jacket off, staring at it lovingly before hanging it up in her cupboard. It had felt like a long day alright, and she was ready to hit the hay. Before she did though, she thought about Clearheart’s advice, and looked at the brain in the jar on her bed. She fished Twilight out, wincing at the spongy, slimy feeling in her hooves, before quickly depositing the organ into her skull. After a few seconds, she heard a voice. “…What’s this? Where am I?” said the voice. It was unmistakably Twilight. “Hello? Am I…this looks like Rainbow Dash’s house.” “Uh, it is.” Said Rainbow out loud. The voice in her head gasped. “Rainbow! What’s going on?” “You know you’re just a brain now, right?” “Ah, yes…everything went black, and I couldn’t hear or smell or anything. Am I back in my body?” “No, you’re in MY body.” Said Dash. “Pretty cool, huh?”” She moved towards a nearby mirror, looking at the pink brain sitting neatly in her head like it was made for it. “I’m in your head? But…that…hmm.” Said Twilight, thinking. “…Actually…yeah, this is pretty cool! Good thinking, Dash!” “Oh it’s nothing, Clearheart told me to try this. Said you’d appreciate it.” “She did? Hmm…it’s hard to get a read on that mare. This all still seems, well, weird, but-oh, the book! Rainbow, please tell me you have the book!” said Twilight, with new urgency. Rainbow looked around, causing more gasps as Twilight could now presumably see what she herself seen. The second it entered Dash’s field of view, Twilight practically wooped. “Amazing! I was worried I had been tricked, but she kept her word! Dash, please, you have to read it!” “What?” said Dash, immediately regretting her decision to put Twilight in her head. “It’s a lost diary. Guess who wrote it?” asked Twilight, giddy. “Uh…Celestia.” “Nope!” “I give up.” Said Dash, looking longingly at her soft cloud-bed. “You aren’t even trying!” “Yeah, well I’m pretty tired is all, so-“ “It’s Starswirl the Bearded’s lost diary! In our very hooves! Oh, I might read the whole thing in one go.” “Uh, yeah, maybe tomorrow Twi. I’m gonna go sleep.” “What? No, nonono!” cried Twilight. But Dash had already climbed into bed. Twilight protested inbetween noting that she, too, felt the bed. “Yeah, great, innit. Night, Twi.” “But-“ “You want to go back in the jar?” threatened Rainbow, her eyes trying to stare at the brain her own skull with limited success. Twilight fell silent, and Rainbow turned the lights out. It wasn’t long before she was fast asleep, snoring gently. After about 20 minutes, the pegasus’s eyes opened up again. She slowly sat up, turning her head side to side, stretching out her limbs and her wings experimentally. Then she grinned. “Sleep tight, Rainbow.” Said Rainbow Dash. Or at least, her body did, before softly chuckling to itself. “But I’m in charge now. And I know exactly what I want to do. Hehehehe….”