Being a brain in a jar meant that it was very, very easy to sleep. Twilight was not a lazy pony by any extent of the imagination, and she had often found herself frustrated at how often she would find Rainbow Dash snoozing away on a cloud late into the afternoons. But now, after spending a few days suspended in a potion, with no way of seeing or hearing, it was impossible not to doze off on occasion. She had no senses save for the vague feeling of being surrounded by water, leaving her oblivious to everything around her. Indeed, it had occurred to her that staying in a jar for too long might make her lose all sense of time and space.
Of course, Twilight would make sure to experience that at least once just to see what it was like. But right now, and until she best figured out how to recreate her senses while in the jar, the jarred princess was entirely reliant on a certain blue pegasus to act as her gateway to the outside world. After all, there was no point in trading in your entire body for a book you couldn’t read, was there? Dash had made her dissatisfaction with this arrangement well known. Often, and loudly. Twilight was sure she would figure out a way. There was a spell for anything, if you knew what you were doing.
On the morning after finding the CMC, Twilight was jolted from her formless dreams as she felt a pair of hooves grab hold of her lobes, the tell-tale sign that Dash had woken from her own slumber. She braced herself for the incoming sensual assault, and within a few seconds, Twilight was looking around her bedroom again, safe and sound inside her friend’s empty head. They had spent tonight in Twilight’s castle. After the business with the crusaders the others day, Twilight had no intention of leaving Spike on his own, even if the dragon had insisted that he was doing fine by himself.
“Morning, Twi.” Came Rainbow’s voice, as she yawned. “Sleep well?”
“Great, thanks!” replied Twilight, her voice sounding only within the confines of Rainbow’s mind. “You know, I bet you would love being a brain in a jar. It’s the best sleep you’ll ever get!”
“A little too late for that now.”
“I guess. What time is it?” Twilight watched as her field of vision moved of its own accord as it looked for a nearby clock. “Uh, just after ten. Urgh, is that all it is? I might just…go back to bed…”
“Actually, I was kinda hoping to see Clearheart about last night.” Said Twilight. “I want to apologize. She seemed…sad.” She recalled the look on the unicorn’s red-coated face as the matter of the missing fillies had been resolved. It had maintained the studied neutrality that was her trademark, but Twi had sensed a certain melancholy from her. Maybe it was because she had been in Pinkie’s head at the time and picked up that strange, inexplicable intuition during her time there? Whatever it was, there was a bad feeling lurking in the back of her brain that she needed to deal with.
Twilight explained as much to her friend as best as she could.
“Well, if you say so.” Dash replied, shrugging. “I don’t know why this can’t wait till a reasonable time, though.”
“Ten o’clock is a reasonable time, Dash.”
“Whatever. It’s not like she’s going to have moved away or anything.”
============================================================================================
“What do you mean, you’re moving away?!”
Dash stood on the shop floor, mouth agape. Scores of large wooden boxes lay around the wooden floorboards, heaped on top of each other and packed seemingly to bursting. There was a wagon outside apparently waiting to be filled, although nothing had been loaded yet. In front of her, Clearheart was currently in the storeroom, fetching items to pack into one final box.
“It was always how it would go. I told you; I’ve always been a traveller.” Said the shopkeeper. Her voice was calm and flat, more so than usual. There was the sound of glass clinking in the back. “I’ve never said I would stay here forever.”
“Yeah, but you never said you would be leaving, like, straight away!” said Dash, shaking her open head. “That’s crazy!”
“It’s what I do. I’m sorry, Ms. Dash.” Clearheart reappeared. She was levitating five jars in her magic as she walked in front of the shop counter. Dash squinted her eyes.
“Wait a minute. Those look familiar…”
“They should. Well, one should.” Said the unicorn, bringing one of the jars over for Rainbow to hold. The pegasus stared into the glass. There was a brain floating inside of it.
“Huh.” She said. “Someone I know?”
“It’s yours.” Said Clearheart, causing Rainbow to almost drop the jar in surprise. “I hope you’re still satisfied with your trade? I see you’re not wearing your jacket this morning.” Rainbow realised that she was right, and looked down at her very much unclothed body.
“Oh, yeah. Don’t worry, that baby’s taken pride of place in my wardrobe. I don’t wear it all the time, though. Who wears clothes all the time?” She asked.” Even Rarity wouldn’t go that far.” She shook the jar and giggled as her brain bobbed up and down. “Heh. Nice to see you again, buddy. So is that everyone else’s brain, then?” she asked, indicating the other jars.
“That’s right. Except for Princess Twilight, naturally.” Replied Clearheart, causing Rainbow to subconsciously reach up and rub on her friend’s lobes. “The rest of their parts are in those boxes,a long with the trinkets I have left. The princess took two boxes, actually.” Rainbow looked around, feeling a little weird at the idea of there being so many body parts lying all around her, unseen and packed away. Her attention refocused on her own brain, the brain she had traded away for a sweet jacket. She sensed that this would be the last time she ever saw it.
“Hey, before you put that away…can I…”
“Go ahead.” Said Clearheart, smiling faintly as she watched the pegasus retrieve her former brain from its glass container. Rainbow hadn’t really missed it at all in the time since the trade, but as she looked at the wet, winkled little thing she did feel a pang of…nostalgia? She wasn’t good at articulating that kind of thing. She held it up to the other brain currently taking up space in her head. Curious, she quickly removed Twilight and held them up together, as if to compare.
“Heeey, did mines shrink or something?” she asked, brow furrowing. Clearheart suddenly turned away, raising a hoof to her mouth.
“It’s…possible.” She said, as Rainbow quickly popped the bigger organ back inside her head.
“Yeah, it must have.” Affirmed the pegasus, nodding her head. “Well either that or I’ve been feeding Twilight too many treats since she got jarrrasfeosefhj.” Dash’s body twitched violently for a second or two before going still, head lolling, and she dropped her brain onto the wooden floorboards. Concerned, Clearheart put the other jars down in their waiting box and trotted over to the malfunctioning Rainbow.
“Are you…feeling well?” she asked. Rainbow blinked, before raising her head and smiling sheepishly.
“Er, sorry about that.” She said. “This is Twilight Sparkle speaking.” This earned a brief look of surprise from the shopkeeper, but the maroon shopkeeper’s face soon broke out into a smile.
“I wasn’t sure if that was possible.” She said.
“It’s not difficult, although this is the first time I’ve tried it when Dash has been awake.
“Is she still conscious?”
“Uh, yes. Very much so.” Said Twidash, wincing a little. “Sorry Rainbow! I won’t be long, I promise!” The voice was still Rainbow’s, although the exact patterns of her speech had definitely changed. Clearheart couldn’t help but marvel at the site.
“I’ve done this for a long time, but there is always something new for me to experience.” She said, before starting to close the box of jars beneath her.
“What about making friends?” The question hit the shopkeeper like a hammer, and she was visibly stunned. Twidash sensed that she had hit a raw nerve, and continued on. “You’re a really unique sort of pony, Clearheart, and I know that we’d all love you to stay.” The shopkeeper said nothing, looking down at the now sealed box, before sighing.
“I am not good at making friends.” She said. “Ponies find it hard to trust me. I can’t blame them. Even you and your friends didn’t fully trust me, remember? Those fillies went missing, and their first thought was I had something to do with it.” There was no anger in her voice. Just a sense of sad acceptance, which somehow hit Twilight harder. She walked over to Clearheart, who looked up into sympathetic eyes.
“I’m sorry for that. We all felt bad-“
“It’s not your fault. As I said, I don’t blame them. I’m secretive by nature. This happens a lot”
“But you can’t just up sticks and leave every time there’s a misunderstanding!” said Twidash, trying her best not to sound exasperated. “You might not think you can make friends, but I think you’re wrong. Stay, and I’ll prove it.” There was a pause. “Dash says that you’re…well the term she’s using is “way awesome”. So she agrees with me, basically.” Clearheart let out a little laugh.
“That does sound like something Ms. Dash would say.” She looked around the room full of boxes, shaking her head. “This is a nice town, really. I’ve never done so much business in a single place before.”
“What were you planning on doing with the parts you got, anyway?” asked Twidash, looking around as well at the huge collection that Clearheart had acquired in mere days.
“Oh, I get all sorts of buyers looking for the right sort of purchase. Alchemists, enchanters, cooks…”
“Ah, well that makes sen-wait, cooks?!”
“Of course! Griffons and Dragons have to eat too, you know.” Said Clearheart, shrugging. “And some ponies just like collecting strange things. Brains are a popular choice on that front. They make good conversation pieces, I imagine.”
“Hah, I bet.” The two of them sighed happily. The sun had started to stream into the room through the windows, and there were one or two passers-by. Clearheart trotted over to the door and stuck her head out, and Twidash came over to join her. Derpy Hooves was walking down the street with Dinky on her shoulders, the young filly acting as a sort of jockey, guiding her steed along. Dinky looked over and waved happily at Clearheart, and once Derpy figured out what was happening she gave a cheery wave as well. Her brand new unicorn horn was tied around her neck, swaying in the wind.
“Rarity told me about them.” Said Twidash, as the shopkeeper looked on. “And Fluttershy said they’re both closer than ever these days.” They watched as the two grey mares disappeared down the road. “You’ve done a lot of good in this town, Clearheart. Ponies would be really sad if you had just disappeared without even saying goodbye…”
“I… hmm.” Clearheart turned away suddenly, coughing, and a hoof quickly wiped something away from her face. “Yes. Yes, I see what you mean. Er…” the unicorn faltered. “Sorry, I’m not used to this sort of conversation.” Looking around, she spotted the brain that had been dropped on the floor earlier, when Twilight had temporary seized control of Rainbow’s body. She picked it up with her magic and then opened the box with the other jars, carefully putting it back in its rightful place.
“I’ll need to clean that now.” She said, taking the jar out of the box. Twilight trotted back inside as Clearheart started to take the other jars out. “These ones too, I think. Oh dear.” The jars were lifted onto the shop counter as their owner turned to the stacks of boxes that were crowding out her little shop. “I reckon I’ll have to clean all of these as well. Better start unpacking, then.” A box was opened and Clearheart began to levitate the assembled contents (in this case, a collection of bones) out and carry then back into her storage room. Twidash grinned.
“Would you like help with that, Clearheart?” she asked. The shopkeeper turned around and smiled.
“I’d appreciate it, Princess Sparkle.”
“Please, just call me Twilight. That’s what all my friends call me! And I think I know a few other ponies who’d love to come help…”
=====================================================================================
Ponyville had changed in a lot of ways since Clearheart decided to set up shop. But in many way it was the same as always. A walk down the streets would bring up the same old faces doing the same old things. Metaphorically speaking in the case of Vinyl Scratch, of course, but the point still stands. Speaking of Vinyl, her not-so-subtle attempts to convince Octavia to make the trip down to the modular merchant’s store had eventually payed off. Now Octavia had access to technology similar to what Rarity had acquired, in that it let the musician draw forth those tricky, hard to transcribe compositions and make them a reality in an instance. Only instead of this technology taking the shape of a pen, it was more of a vase, or a pot. By complete coincidence, the price Clearheart had asked for was everything of hers that couldn’t fit in said pot. So now the sight of a faceless DJ carrying around what amounted to a head sticking out of a large, futuristic flowerpot was decidedly unsurprising to the local populace
The other ponies in town still went about their day to day business. You could find Lyra and Bon-Bon down in the park, reading a book together as they sat on a bench. Bon-Bon had taken a while to get used to her friends particular way of sitting down, but she had to admit that it was surprisingly comfortable. Plus, she was enjoying the benefits of a unicorn horn now, even if it was shared half the time with Lyra. It made sweet-making a lot easier, at least. But best of all, the two mares had gotten to really know each other in a way that few ponies could possible understand. It was maybe a consequence of their brains being effectively melded into one, or at least having the remaining halves squashed together constantly. After a few weeks, it was like one knew what the other was going to say before it had been said.
The other town residents were similarly content-barely anyone had been totally unaffected by Clearheart’s shop, even if it was as small as trading an eye or a tail. No one ever seemed to miss the parts that they had traded, and at first some theorized that this was a result of some mysterious magic that the newcomer had cast on them. But once Clearheart started to socialise a little more, and answer the more frequently asked questions about her magic and her shop, these notions disappeared. It was soon apparent that although she was shy and reserved, she was also fundamentally sweet and caring towards those she had dealt with. Which in Ponyville was pretty much everyone.
For her part, Clearheart found that getting to chat with the recipients of her trades was a wonderfully fulfilling experience, as she got to see how her magical gifts had helped ponies in their lives. From helping Derpy with her magic lessons to getting drunk under the table by Berry Punch (To her credit, she might have won had Berry had a stomach to fill up), the once-nomadic unicorn found that she had suddenly became part of these ponies lives.
For the first time in a long time, Clearheart felt at home.
===========================================================================================
In the garden behind her cottage, Fluttershy tried her best to explain a problem.
“Um, I know it seemed a good idea at the time, Pinkie, but…”
She was interrupted by another tearful wail, as tears cascaded from her friend’s face. Her normally poofy hair had straightened out, a classic sign of Pinkie distress. These cries were themselves punctuated by the steady sound of loud chewing. Fluttershy had tried to warn Pinkie that bringing a small platoon of her living gingerbread ponies to visit might not go the way that Pinkie had clearly intended. But the party pony hadn’t listened, and, well…
“They were only trying to be friendly! Waaaaaah!” cried Pinkie, rubbing her eyes with her hands. Fluttershy’s spectral projection tried her best to comfort her friend, hugging her in a ghostly embrace. Well, really she was just hugging herself. Pinkie had managed to connect her head imbs to Fluttershy’s torso for now, resulting in a pink-and-yellow hybrid pony. Fluttershy couldn’t feel anything different right now, but she did want to try cancelling her astral projection and see if she could feel her friend’s parts. That could come later, once the crying stopped.
“Oh, there, there. It’s ok. But, well, I did tell you the animals can get hungry.” She said, as gently as she could. “And to be honest, your little gingerbread ponies didn’t seem to mind.”
“R-Really?” said Pinkie. She looked over to a pair of racoons, who were daintily wiping ginger crumbs from their furry mouths, looking decidedly guilt-free about what had happened.
“Well, they are gingerbread. Getting eaten is what they’re made for, right?” Pinkie considered this, then almost immediately perked up, her hair poofing back into shape.
“Yeah, what am I crying about? Heehee, thanks Fluttershy!”
“Oh, no problem. Just be careful next time, I don’t think all that sugar is good for my animals…”
“Okay-doakie! Oooh, I almost forgot!” Suddenly Pinkie was leaning in close to her transparent friend. “I need to talk to you about a super secret project.” She whispered, in a voice louder than her usual talking voice. Fluttershy gulped.
“Um, ok? This doesn’t involve me pranking anypony because I’m invisible now, does it?” There was an awkward silence as Pinkie’s face went google eyed, before it snapped back into her poker face.
“It definitely doesn’t not involve you not not doing that.” She said.
“So…it does?”
“Oh pleeeease! I just know Rainbow Dash is going to ask you first, please please pleeeease!”
“Umm….” Sometimes, Fluttershy knew that she should just say no. Sometimes.
“Yes! Oh, Dash won’t see this coming…literally!”
“Hehe.”
===============================================
“Afternoon, Rares!”
“Applejack! So good to see you!” said Rarity, as she stiffly moved towards her friend. “You’re looking…trim!”
“Heh. And you’re looking a lot fuller these days. In a good way.”
Rarity smiled happily as she continued to levitate both herself and her sister over to Applejack, who was herself just exiting the Crusaders clubhouse. It was easier than it looked really, especially after practice. After all, Sweetie was a lot lighter these days, even with her jar. Rarity was a lot lighter too of course, although she had taken the trouble to create a makeshift skeleton out of a very light, plastic material. It gave her form and she could even use her magic to manipulate the joints to mimic certain movements, such as a wave of the hoof. Of course it wasn’t as good as an actual skeleton, but such was the price of progress.
“I do hope I’m not late. I’m not as quick on my feet as I used to be.” Said Rarity to the farmer skeleton.
“Not at all. Rainbow dropped Scootaloo off not ten minutes ago.” Said Applejack. Go on up ahead, I’l just be bucking apples over here.” Rarity nodded. Climbing the ladder up to the treehouse was a lot easier now that she could just levitate herself up. She entered the building and saw the crusaders so-called “Meeting Tank”, which was the exact same tank they had shared for a few days when they had first been disembodied. As Applejack had said, there were two brains floating in there already, so Rarity went ahead and added Sweetie to the water.
“Now you have fun in there, girls! I’ll be back tonight, Sweetie, and then we can-“ There was a sound like bowling pins scattering, followed by heavily accented cursing. Excusing herself and leaving the girls to their meet-up, Rarity leaned her head out of the treehouse. There was a pile of white bones by an apple tree.
“Need a helping hoof there, dear?” she called out.
“I can manage just fine!” came a voice.Rarity could see her friends skull staring up at her, somehow looking embarrassed despite not having any real expression on it. Laughing, Rarity floated down anyway.
“I beg to differ, Applejack. Really, you should let me build you a wire-support system or something. I could make it so that nopony even sees it.” Rarity said as she picked up her friends skull, before her eyes rolled up in thought. “Although to be honest, I’d rather make it so people did notice it.”
“Just put me back together first. This don’t always happen.” Said Applejack meekly. “I feel all jumbled up like this.”
“Well, you are.”
“Exactly!” Rarity obliged. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and it was surprisingly easy to get the pieces to fit together again. She was about halfway through when she suddeny yelped in surprise and dropped the skeleton, which promptly fell apart again.
“Aww for land’s sake, Rarity! What is it?” grumbled Applejack. Rarity spun her skull around to what she had seen. “Oh, that? I not tell you ‘bout them?”
“No, you didn’t!” said Rarity. It was the crusaders, walking along in the distance beside the bigger robot servants that Applejack had purchased. They looked like they were playing a game of some sort. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, Rosie and her family managed to build three more little robo-brains, or something.” Explained the skull in Rarity’s stiff hooves. “The girls ain’t using their bodies much these days, so uh, guess Rosie just put them in their heads. Bloom and the rest thought that was pretty neat. I guess I can see their point.”
“Huh. Yes. Isn’t life interesting these days.” Said Rarity, dreamily.
“Sure is. Now would you kindly put me back together?”
“Oh, right. Of course.” Said Rarity, duly obliging after a quick ten or so minutes. When she was finished, she moved her hoof so that she was scratching her chin thoughtfully “Although I do have an idea that will make you more stable for now.” She said.
“Is that so?”
“Oh, yes. This won’t take a minute.” Her horn glowed, and suddenly her mouth opened impossibly wide as she pulled herself off of her own artificial skeleton. Applejack instinctively flinched as her vision was suddenly blackened, and a strange sensation of pulling on a very large sweater overwhelmed her briefly. When it was over, she looked down, seeing white fur on her legs.
“There, much better.” Said Rarity. “Oh, I wish I had a mirror with me. Could you possibly nip to the house so we can see how we look?”
“Well I kinda have some work to do first, and-“
“Oh puweeeeeeas-“
“Fine, fine, just don’t whine!” said Applejack, making her way back. Truth be told, she was a little curious herself. Rarity always did have a nice coat, after all…
===================================================================================
Meanwhile, in the meeting-tank, Sweetie Belle was just finishing off her latest idea.
“…and if that is right-and I’m pretty sure it is-then that only means one thing.” She said, pausing for dramatic effect. “ROCKET. SCOOTER.”
“Wooah! Awesome!” said Scootaloo, bubbling excitedly. “Although, to be honest, I don’t really use my scooter much anymore. They’re not really made for brains.”
“Can’t ya just put your jar on it and have someone push it around?” asked Applebloom.
“Nah, it just isn’t the same. Beside, I’ve got a way cooler ride now: Rainbow Dash! She lets met ride around in her head all the time!” The others all gave out an appreciative “ooo” to show that this was indeed cooler than a scooter. “Also, I don’t really have a proper jar when I stay at RD’S”
“No?”
“It’s more of a Tupperware dish.” Admitted Scootaloo. “But it’s a really cool one!”
“How can you have a really cool Tupperware dish?”
“Cause it’s Rainbow Dash’s!”
“I don’t actually have a jar either.” Said Applebloom. “Appejack just keeps me in a barrel at home.”
“That sound…roomy.” Said Sweetie Belle. “I’d rather be in a barrel than a boring old Tupperware dish.”
“No fair, girls!” complained the pegasus brain, causing the other two to laugh.
“We’re just messing with ya, Scoots.” Said Applebloom. “Although sometimes, she drops me in a barrel of cider. Now THAT’s fun.”
“Rarity would never let me do something like that.” Said Sweetie’s brain. “But she does like designing new jars for me. Opal knocked over my first one by accident-“
“Yeah, right, I bet she thought you were a big fat fish to eat.” Said Scootaloo.
“That’s not true! It was an accident! Both times!” replied Sweetie, outraged that anyone would question the moral integrity of her pet cat. “Anyway, turns out she’s got a ton of idea for them, thanks to that pen of hers. I think she said she’s going to make one like a champagne flute, next…Oh, and Twilight said she’s got a prototype spell for a jar that can see and hear and talk and stuff!”
“Now that’s cool!” said Scootaloo. “It’d be like…well, a normal head, then! But made of glass.”
“Or wood!”
“Yeah, or wood.” Laughed Scoots. “Actually, speaking of heads…do your sisters ever let you in their heads much?”
“Not really, Rarity likes showing off her jars too much.”
“Yeah, AJ doesn’t do it for me much outside of talking at the end of the day. How come?” Scootaloo and the other brains huddled together. There was no real need to whisper, but Scootaloo did it anyway.
“Well, one time, I was in Dash’s head when she was sleeping, and…I managed to walk around with her body.” This got a huge reaction from her friends, with bubbles shooting up like a bath bomb had been thrown into the tank.
“No way! Did you do anything cool?” asked Applebloom. Scootaloo shook slightly to indicate no.
“I didn’t want to end up falling out of the sky and not know how to fly. Imagine if I wrecked her body?” she said. “Rainbow Dash’d be so mad. She’s not even got a brain anymore to put in a jar!”
“That’s true. Still…I’m going to have to try that one.” Said Sweetie, giggling. “Cause Rarity hasn’t even got any bones to break! Except her fake ones, I guess.”
“Let’s all take over our sisters and meet up sometime!”
“Yeah! And then I can build that rocket sled, and then…”
And so it went, the three happy young brains excitedly coming up with plans, sharing ideas, and dreaming of new adventures, well into the evening time.
======================================================================
Twilight was deep in thought in her jar, pondering what she had read in Starswirl’s lost diary that morning. It was in moments like these that she was truly appreciative of her current state. The legendary unicorn’s notes were incredibly hard to digest fully. First you had to sort the nuggets of gold from the rest of the writings, which were honestly a little, well, scattered. In her opinion he spent too much time detailing what he had for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but maybe that was part of the secret to his genius? She would have to run that past Pinkie at some point.
When Starswirl did get to talking about magic, it was almost like he was speaking in a different language entirely. If she was still in a body, there would have been so many different distractions-an itchy nose, pins and needles, a craving for pancakes, a leg that wasn’t quite comfortable enough no matter how she sat, and so on. But like this, there was none of that. Just peaceful, quiet contemplation of the universe. Why, Twilight reckoned that she could stay like for-
The world shifted. Suddenly, her senses returned, and Twilight became aware of an excited blue face peering into her jar. In an unusual change from what had become the norm, there was a rainbow-colored mane attached to this pony. She stepped back, revealing that she was wearing a black jacket with a garish flame pattern.
“Yo, Twilight! Can. You. HEAR. Me?” shouted Rainbow Dash, causing the brain in the jar to retreated defensively to the back of the jar. “Do I have to press this button three times or something…I said DO. I NEED. TO-“
“Rainbow, you don’t need to shout, I can hear you just fine!” said her voice, which rang out clearly. “And yes, you can hear me. We tested this together before you left!”
“And you tested it with me.” Came Spike’s voice from somewhere below. “Like, twenty times.” Twilight couldn’t see him, and strained her metaphorical eye looking for the top of his head. Rainbow leaned down to let him climb onto her back, and when he emerged into view, Twilight realised why she hadn’t see him.
“Spike, you’ve sold your brain!” she said. “I was expecting something different. Like your tail, maybe.”
“No way! My tail is super useful, you know.” Said Spike. He was holding the top of his head in his hands, so that he could show off both the fact that he was indeed now brainless, and to show his prize. “Clearheart did want to buy more of me actually. Apparently dragon parts are pretty valuable. She said to come back later when she replenishes her antique collection. Then I can get even cooler stuff than this-if that’s possible!”
“Oh, let me see what you got!” said Twilight, pressing her lobes against the glass eagerly (not that this affected her field of view, which was fixed in place in front of the jar). When she realized what she had bought, she mentally frowned.
“Spike.” She said, in her “annoyed mother” tone. “Is that a comic book?”
“It’s THE comic book, Twilight! Power Ponies, issue #0! This is the only copy!” said Spike, taking it out of his head and looking at the cover with a look of adoration. “It’s spoken about in legend. Some say it was drawn with a pen carved from a magical tree…”
“You sold your brain for a comic book! Rainbow, back me up here-oh wait, I forgot” Twilight sunk to the bottom of the jar as she looked at her two brainless friends, both grinning happily. “I should have sent someone else to supervise Spike. I should have went myself.”
“Oh, it’s fine. He’s happy with the trade, right Spike?” said Rainbow, extending a wing and wrapping it around the dragon. “Just like I am. Remember when you thought I was making a bad trade?”
“Yeah, I guess. Oh yeah, I see you got your skullcap back, Rainbow!” At this, Rainbow used her other wing to yank said skullcap clean off her head, and then held it in her hooves, spinning it around with an unusually thoughtful look on her face.
“Hmmm…I kinda got used to not having it around.” She said, flipping it upside down and studying the inside, rainbow mane hanging downwards. “Feels weird wearing it. Like a hat, you know? And I feel like it’ gonna fall off when I fly.”
“You could just glue it on or something” said Twilight.
“Eh, might just leave it for formal occasions. Don’t wanna show up to Wonderbolt stuff with the inside of my head on display or anything.” Rainbow turned to Spike and placed the skullcap on his head. It turned out to be a bit too large for his head, and the rim drooped over his eyes, causing a brief panic.
“Aah! I’ve gone blind!” cried the dragon. “Well, half-blind?”
“Hehe, sorry!”
Twilight giggled despite herself. Her friends may be brainless, but they were still her friends, and she loved them for what they were.
“How is Clearheart, then?” she asked. “I’ll need to drop by later on.”
“Oh, she seems way happier these days!” replied Rainbow, who was now trying on Spike’s skullcap, letting it drop into her own, much bigger skull. “I think she’s really settled in well. In fact, she said she had something to show you!”
“Really? I wonder what it could be?”
==================================================================================
In the depths of the storeroom, in a corner lit by candles, sat what was essentially an elaborate aquarium. It was comprised of two medium sized tanks connected with long, winding tubes. Each tank had a set of separate decorations-a large castle sat in the middle of one, while a pirate ship lay in the second. It was not a rare antique like the rest of the items that lay around the room on shelves or in boxes. It was quite new in fact, having been purchased from a store by Clearheart just the other day. The maroon unicorn was in the process of filling the two tanks with new occupants. When she was done, she stood back and smiled.
“I hope that is suitable for you all.” She said. “Apologies for the jars. It wasn’t until I had a chat with those lovely young fillies that I realized that maybe I should be more accommodating.” There was no reply, of course, but Clearheart new in her heart that she was right about this. She had asked Spike the dragon to invite Twilight round; she had heard that the latter had developed a way for disembodied brains to communicate with the outside world. That would certainly put to rest any doubts, one way or the other. There was a jingle that indicated the shop door had been opened, and Clearheart turned to leave. Business was business, after all.
“I’ll be back soon. Play nice, everyone.” With that, the shopkeeper left to do what she did best. Silence reigned over the tank, but that did not mean there was no life there. Six pink, wrinkled masses-one noticeably smaller than the others- began to explore their new home. One in particular began to move with much more agility than the others, zipping through pipelines and testing the boundaries of the tank. After a while, heard only between those in the tank, that brain spoke up in a raspy, feminine voice:
“Finally, room to move! Nobody can coop up the Dash for long!”