Scootaloo couldn’t believe it was morning already. But she didn’t even need to open her eyes to see that the world beyond her eyelids was way too bright to still be night. Fighting the inevitable anyway she rolling over, turning her back to the lighter side of the room, pulling her sheets over her head and burying her face in her pillow.
That woke her mind up. Sheets? Pillow? Didn’t I fall asleep on the couch? How’d I get in bed? She asked herself in the back of her mind. Laziness was no match for the feelings that continued to assault Scootaloo’s mind. More than the bed around her, something about her body felt… wrong. She couldn’t tell what was wrong but it sure didn’t feel right.
Scootaloo opened her eyes and pulled the sheets off her head only to find more confusion waiting for her. She recognized the room but it made no since that she was here. Why in creation was she in Apple Bloom’s room, or her bed for that matter?
Noticing the yellow hoof holding up the sheet, and the leg with the yellow fur coat it was attached to, Scootaloo lowered her leg only to watch the yellow limb obey the mental command. Her eyes started darting around Apple Bloom’s room until she found her friend’s mirror. Bolting out of bed and to the mirror, she found Apple Bloom’s reflection looking back at her. Scootaloo blinked only to see her earth pony friend’s orange eyes do the same in the mirror.
“This… can’t be real…” Scootaloo muttered to herself, only to hear her own words spoken in her friend’s voice. A dream maybe? Scootaloo thought to herself. She remembered being taught something about dreams by somepony, but what was it? Pain, it was something about pain. “That’s right, you can’t feel pain in your dreams. That was it, wasn’t it?” she whispered to nopony.
Raising her now yellow hoof she slapped her other front leg with it. “Oww…” she moaned from the pain. She was definitely awake. A stray thought made her friend’s orange eyes go wide with panic, if she was in Apple Bloom now, who was in her body?
Scootaloo bolted for the door, with one more stray thought bringing her back in the room. If she was going to run to her house, even if she somehow got back in her body Apple Bloom wouldn’t have time to come back and get her schoolbags before class time. Quickly looking around the room Scootaloo spotted her friend’s bags and with a quick peek inside she saw books that were the right color to be the schoolbooks. That was confirmation enough for her to throw the saddlebags on and bolt from the room.
“Morning sis… uh, where are you goi’n? And she’s gone…” Applejack said, as she watched who she assumed was her little sister dash through the kitchen and out into the fields of sweet apple acres. The elder sister looked to the clock in the room and thought aloud, “Ah wonder what’s got her in such a hustle.” Then looking down to the untouched plate that held Apple Bloom’s breakfast, Applejack followed the thought to the bagged lunch still sitting on the counter. “It’s mah turn again ain’t it, Big Mac?”
“Euyup,” was all the stallion with the red coat and blond mane said.
Outside Scootaloo only got halfway to the sign welcoming ponies to sweet apple acres when she felt something wrong, no many things wrong. Apple Bloom’s saddlebags felt too light. Slowing to a trot just long enough to open the flaps of the saddlebags and actually examine the contents. Counting off the right number of books and even seeing some stray papers tucked between them that she hoped was Apple Bloom’s homework, Scootaloo had to conclude that everything was here.
She gave the bags a bounce with her back and was sure the books felt lighter than they should. Apple Bloom’s body, Scootaloo thought, then adding, She must be stronger then me. That felt like the right answer, and some of the feeling of wrong-ness went away, but something else still felt off. Though Scootaloo reminded herself that she didn’t have time to ponder every little thing if she was going to get to her house before a potential disaster, so she galloped off into town.
Running through the streets of Ponyville she found two more sources of the wrong-ness she was feeling. First was feel of Apple Bloom’s muscles, the more she thought about them the more Scootaloo felt that they seemed stronger, but felt slightly sluggish to respond to her will. She could finally understand what people meant when they spoke of earth pony strength. It was a subtle difference, but she could feel that Apple Bloom’s muscles were built for raw, unmitigated power, at the expense of agility.
Scootaloo salved the riddle of the final source of wrong-ness when she rounded a corner and spotted a sign at the far end of the street. She knew what the sign said by heart, but that was just it, she had to read it by memory as Apple Bloom’s eyes couldn’t bring the otherwise large letters into focus until she came closer to the sign. With that thought Scootaloo realized that it wasn’t just the signs, but all distant objects weren’t quite in focus anymore. Eventually she would concede that that actually made since, as she was use to looking at the world through the eyes of a pegasus, but earth pony eyes weren’t built to look for things hundreds of feet away like pegasus eyes were.
* * * * * * *
Scootaloo finally reached her house. Tired, sweating and gasping for air, but she was here. After carefully opening the door, she slipped quietly inside, and looking up saw her own body curled up in a ball, still sleeping peacefully on the couch. First Scootaloo smiled, then a shiver ran down her spine at the awkwardness of looking at herself from across the room.
The thought of having to wake herself, or whoever was in her body, up was just too wired to Scootaloo. So naturally she did what any pony her age would do. Stall for time by inventing something else on the to-do list before having to get to the unwanted item. In this case the weight on her back reminded her of her own schoolbags upstairs in her room.
Quietly Scootaloo made her way up the stairs, but when she opened the door to her room she froze. In her earth pony friend’s body she had no wings to make an easy jump over all her booby-traps. Carefully, Scootaloo walked through her room, exaggerating her steps to make sure her legs were above the tripwires, and making sure to avoid the pressure-plate under her rug.
Once she had retrieved her schoolbags from beside her desk and made it back to her doorway Scootaloo thought how much of a pain in the flank it was to go through her room like that. Why did she even still have these booby-traps anyway? It had been years since being the only pony sleeping in her house gave her nightmares. No promises that other things didn’t give her nightmares from time to time, but she didn’t need to sleep surrounded by traps to feel safe in her own house anymore. The simple fact that she had fallen asleep downstairs on the couch was proof of that.
The thought crossed Scootaloo’s mind that if she dismantled her traps there would no longer be a reason to keep her friends out of her room. Turning her eyes to the master bedroom’s doorway, she whispered, “Dad’s house. Dad’s secrets.” Aren’t in my room. She added in her thoughts. Scootaloo shook the idea from her mind. There was no way her dad would allow her to have friends over. Not unless he was there to make sure they stayed away from the important parts of the house anyway, and trying to predict when he’d be home would take a miracle.
Scootaloo decided that whoever was in her body was a deep sleeper, as she hadn’t been nearly as quiet coming down the stairs as she had been going up. Still not ready to face herself Scootaloo turned to the kitchen instead. Making a sandwich to put in her schoolbag, the weight on her back reminded her that she had two sets of schoolbags today, so she fetched another paper bag and made a second sandwich. The low growl in the belly reminded her she hadn’t had anything to eat yet, but she didn’t really have time for a real breakfast, so she just grabbed an extra piece of bread and ate that instead.
Feeling that she couldn’t delay any longer Scootaloo stepped out of the kitchen ready to wake the sleeping pegasus filly on the couch. She froze instantly when a stallion’s voice came from the stairs. “Oh, hello. Hmm… yellow earth pony, red mane, pink bow. That sounds familiar are you-” he began in a low voice, trying not to wake the sleeper on the couch.
“Dad! What are you doing here!?” Scootaloo’s hushed cry cut him off, before the orange stallion with a red and yellow mane and white flames for a cutie mark could finish his question.
The stallion raised a curious eyebrow over his orange eyes. And with a forced smile he whispered in a flat tone, “Ha, ha, I know I’m not around that much but I do know that my daughter is a pegasus.”
Scootaloo didn’t have time for this, in her panic she didn’t know why, but she did know she didn’t want the pegasus filly on the couch to wake up to this. Pulling out her trump card she started whispering something only she and her dad should know, “Las Pegasus, Grand Pegasus Hotel, seventy seventh floor, room seven-seven-two-one-”
She would have continued but the stallion’s hooves swept her aside and pressed against her yellow muzzle. “That’s enough Scoots,” he whispered, then gesturing a wing toward the orange filly on the couch he quietly added, “But if you’re you, who’s that?”
“Don’t know. Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle, I gue-” Scootaloo responded, only to cut herself off when the filly on the couch stirred.
The pegasus stallion and earth pony filly beside him watched in absolute silence as the pegasus filly on the couch awoke. First she stretched and yawned. With her eyes still closed she started pawing around, searching for sheets that didn’t exist. Scootaloo watched her body across the room as her own eyes opened. Slowly at first, that lasted about a half-second as the sleepy smile vanished from the young pegasus’ face and her eyes went wide in panic as they started darting around the room.
The panicked pegasus’ eye’s fell on the earth pony filly standing beside a stranger. “Apple Bloom! What’s going on? Where are we? Who’s that? What’s wrong with my voice?” the pegasus filly practically pleaded for answers.
“Good morning, Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo sighed at her own body, then adding, “It’ll be easier to just show you what’s going on then to explain. There’s a mirror in the bathroom, second door on the right.” She gestured toward the hallway not far from the couch.
Scootaloo watched as her own body looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but then turned and disappeared down the hallway. Bobbing a yellow hoof in the air she whispered, “Three, two, one.” On queue she heard her own voice scream from the bathroom. Scootaloo cringed as he heard the sound of her own body falling off the bathroom stool. Following the clatter of small hooves running down the hall, her body returned to the living room, wings flared and eyes once more showing a look of panic.
Revelation flashed in those panicked purple eyes as they once more found the yellow earth pony. “Wait! If I’m Scootaloo now, how did you know I’m really Sweetie Belle?”
“Because I’m Scootaloo, and you sure aren’t Apple Bloom or you’d have freaked out when you first saw your body across the room. That and you were the only other pony around when that artifact thingy started glowing,” Scootaloo explained her simple process of elimination.
“Oh yeah,” Sweetie Belle mused.
“Wait, what artifact?” the pegasus stallion asked.
Scootaloo’s earth pony eyes flashed with revelation as she answered her dad, “Oh yeah! Yesterday we were out crusading for our cutie marks as explorers. And we found a figurine like thing. When we took it back to the clubhouse it started glowing. At first we didn’t think it did anything. But now that I think about it, that has to be what made us wake up in the wrong body.”
“That sounds right,” Sweetie Belle agreed in Scootaloo’s voice.
The instincts honed by his work kicked in for Scootaloo’s father and they demanded swift action. “Okay, here’s the plan. Scootaloo…” He looked first to the orange pegasus filly, then shaking his head he looked to the yellow earth pony beside him, “…Gah, just, you two, go to school. Find your other friend and keep a low profile. I’ll go get this artifact thing. If I recall correctly, Princess Celestia has a student of magic stationed at the Ponyville library. If it turns out time is of the essence, I’ll come excuse you from class.”
As the three ponies headed for the door Scootaloo’s dad leaned down to whisper to his now earth pony daughter, “One question, where’s your clubhouse?”
Scootaloo made no effort to humor her dad’s attempt at subtlety. “Sweet apple acres, the tree-house in the north field,” she responded in a plane voice, even shacking her head in mock disappointment.
Once outside the two crusaders were trotting toward school, but they didn’t get far before Sweetie Belle had a barrage of questions. “So this is your house? What, that means that was your dad, right? Wait a second, are you sure all your books are here? You bags feel kind of light.”
“Yes. Yes. And yeah I thought the same thing about Apple Bloom’s bags until I realized she’s stronger then me, so the books just feel lighter to her,” Scootaloo answered as quietly as she could, hoping to draw as little attention as possible from the other ponies out and about.
Seeing a hint of annoyance from her friend Sweetie Belle lowered her voice as well but asked one more question. “Okay, last question. I promise. How do you get your wings to fold?”
Scootaloo glanced back at her unicorn possessed body and realized that Sweetie Belle’s borrowed wings were still flared, as they had been when she first panicked. “I don’t know. They just do what I want, same as my legs I guess,” Scootaloo said, as she sat down, freeing up her front legs, and then used her front hooves to gently push on her wing’s major joints and force them to fold back to a resting position.
“Oh wow that feels weird,” Sweetie Belle shivered as she spoke, as the forced movement made her truly feel Scootaloo’s wings for the first time.
“Not as weird as waking up without wings I bet. At least I know what Rainbow Dash felt like when Discord took her wings away,” Scootaloo whispered, as the two friends resumed their journey to the schoolhouse.
* * * * * * *
“I hope Apple Bloom brought my homework,” Sweetie Belle moaned as they neared the schoolhouse. “I hope she wasn’t too scared waking up as me,” she added as she continued to think out loud.
“Relax, we’re been to your place tons of times. I’m sure it wasn’t anywhere near as scary as waking up in a place you’ve never seen before,” Scootaloo said, trying to ease her friend’s mind.
“Yeah, I guess so. Oh good she’s here… or I’m here?” Sweetie Belle said, on seeing her own body pacing back and forth anxiously in the yard in front of the schoolhouse.
The earth pony possessed unicorn came running up once she spotted her other friends. Although Scootaloo couldn’t help but to greet her friend with her own voice. “Hey, Apple Bloom. Crazy morning huh?” she whispered and giggled.
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at her own body. “If y’all can guess that Ah’m guessing that makes you Scootaloo.” A nod answered her question. Then, as she fixed her bow for Scootaloo, Apple Bloom added, “Well, what are we goina do? Ah don’t wanta be stuck like this forever!”
“Don’t worry. My dad is already taking that artifact to Twilight. He asked us to keep a low profile during school though. So all we have to do in not draw any attention to ourselves through class then we can meet him at the library so Twilight can fix us,” Scootaloo whispered.
Apple Bloom kept her eye trained on her own body as she asked, “Well how the hey are we suppose to do that?”
“Come one, we’re best friends. I’m sure I can pull off acting like you Apple Bloom. You’ve got to know Sweetie Belle well enough to pretend to be her for just a few hours.”
“Yeah how hard can it be? But, Apple Bloom, you might want to try to talk a little more like me. I Don’t stretch my ‘I’s out into ‘ah’s, and I say girls, or everypony, not y’all,” Sweetie Belle added.
As her friend agreed to go along with the plan Scootaloo made a mental note to try and mimic Apple Bloom’s way of speaking, that and try not to talk around other ponies at all if she could help it.
* * * * * * *
Lunch had been interrupted by Applejack showing up with Apple Bloom’s lunch and having to explain why Scootaloo ‘sharing’ somehow produced full potions for the both of them. Class had gone acceptably well, as far as the three friends could tell anyway. Although, Scootaloo wasn’t entirely thrilled that Sweetie Belle’s idea of 'pretending to be Scootaloo' meant pretending to sleep through history class, but Cheerilee didn’t seem to notice that the topic had been entertaining enough that Scootaloo didn’t think she would have slept through that story.
The crusaders were approaching the library and Apple Bloom was making small talk as they walked. “Ah… um, I can’t believe you got to see Scootaloo’s house.”
“I know. But it was weird, it felt like something in the living room was missing,” Sweetie Belle answered, giving a slight flutter of her borrowed body’s wings.
“Like what?” Scootaloo had to ask. She knew that Sweetie Belle had never seen her living room before, so how she could say something was missing from it seemed truly odd.
“I don’t know. I was kind of busy panicking about waking up as you to figure out why the room felt wrong too. It just did,” Sweetie Belle answered, thankful that they had finally reached the library, saving her from any more scrutiny on the feeling she couldn’t explain.
As they entered the library Scootaloo was lost in thought, for the life of her she couldn’t think of anything odd about her living room. Her secrets were all in her room, and her dad’s secrets were in his room, the attic, and the first floor storage closet. Scootaloo’s pondering was interrupted when her dad saw they had arrived and spoke. “Are you telling them or am I?” he said, clearly addressing his question to the purple unicorn with the darker purple mane.
“I’ll tell them,” Twilight Sparkle said, with a sigh. The three fillies glanced at each other with nervous looks. If Twilight wasn’t happy than this couldn’t be good news. They didn’t need to wait long to find out as Twilight launched into her lecture mode. “Well, first off, the artifact you three found is from the early classical era, not long after the founding of Equestria. While the events of the hearth’s warming did a lot to bring the three tribes together-”
“Twilight, enough with the history lesson. Can you fix us?” Scootaloo interrupted.
“Well I was getting to that. But the short version is. As long as it remains active, the artifact will continue swapping your minds every midnight, however, it was only intended to be used on two ponies at a time. And judging from the cyclical nature of the magics within the artifact, I’m guessing you’ll probably wake up in your other friend’s body tomorrow and then be back in your own bodies the day after that. I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait this out, and once you wake up in your own bodies come back to me and I’ll turn the artifact off, so it stops messing with your minds.”
“So there isn’t a reverse switch on it or something?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“That’s not how magic works Scoota… wait, who are you again?” Twilight asked of the pegasus filly who had just spoken.
“I’m Sweetie Belle. And can’t you just fix us with your magic?”
“Right, and no, I don’t know that spell. I even sent Princess Celestia a letter on the matter and her reply was that the last unicorn she’s aware of knowing that spell died over three hundred years ago. She also advised you simply wait out the effects as I just suggested.”
The three friends looked to each other, not sure what to do about their current situation. Although Scootaloo also looked up to her dad, knowing he was the only other pony in the room that knew that this problem was bigger than her friends could ever know.
Apple Bloom was first to break the silence. “Well what do we do now?” Neither of her friends had an answer so she tried to answer her own question. “Ya know, Ah thought it was kinda fun pretending to be you Sweetie Belle. If we have to be stuck like this, why not have a little fun with it and see if we can get through this, with as few ponies as possible finding out we’re not really ourselves?”
Sweetie Belle promptly agreed to the plan, and the two friends decided that Scootaloo agreed by not rejecting it. Scootaloo didn’t answer at all because she didn’t know what to say, not with her dad standing around listening to all this. Thankfully the stallion answered on her behalf. “If you want to pretend to be Scootaloo I’m not going to stop you. But you’ll have to pretend to be Scootaloo while she’s staying over at Apple Bloom’s place.”
“Aww, how come?” Apple Bloom and Sweetie said together.
The stallion rolled his eyes as he answered, “First, I already know Scootaloo’s not herself today, so that would defeat the point of your game to try to hang out with me. And more importantly, my house isn’t foalproof, and I know I can trust my Scootaloo. I know she knows how to stay safe in a dangerous place, but I don’t know that of you two. And I am not going to let you hurt yourselves just so you can play ‘being Scootaloo,’ especially since you’d be hurting her body if you did.”
Scootaloo tried not to frown listening to her dad’s lies, knowing there wasn’t anything dangerous in their house, only secrets. Her life seemed to be filled with secrets these days. While a part of her was proud to be a trusted guardian of her dad’s secrets, a part of her was annoyed by all the lies that came with that. Was that why she like being a cutie mark crusader so much? Because it was the one part of her life where she didn’t have to hide anything?
“But-” Apple Bloom started to protest, but was immediately cut off by a harsh, commanding glare from Scootaloo’s father. A kind but submissive look from Sweetie Belle sealed the deal and Apple Bloom backed down completely. “Ah guess you’re right. That wouldn’t be fun at all.”
* * * * * * *
Before leaving the library Twilight Sparkle agreed not to tell anypony about the magics messing with the crusader’s minds as long as they stayed out of trouble. Now the three crusaders plus Scootaloo’s dad were walking down a dirt road with seemingly endless apple trees on both sides. The bright red farmhouse that marked the core of sweet apple acres came into view, yet all eyes were searching the fields around them as they walked.
“There she is,” Apple Bloom said, pointing a white hoof through a wooden fence. Beyond was a tan-ish-orange mare with a blond mane.
With a quick flap of his wings Scootaloo’s dad was over the fence and landing not far from the mare in question. “Excuse me, Miss. Are you Applejack?”
“Well howdy. Ah sure am. You’re a new face, ya new in town? My sister an her friends ain’t giv’n ya trouble are they?” Applejack replied, taking a break from the art of kicking apples out of the trees that she called apple bucking.
“Actualy I’m Scootaloo’s father, and I was hoping to ask you something,” the stallion said, forcing a smile.
“It’s a pleasure to meet ya, sir. What can ah do for ya?” Applejack said, with an honest, neighborly smile.
“Well, the thing is I’m going to be out of town for a couple of days, and Scootaloo will need to stay someplace. Her friend Apple Bloom offered here, so can you look after her until I’m back in town?” He asked, having made the story up on the spot, drawing a confused look from the pony whom appeared to be his daughter. Yet the earth pony filly beside him just smiled and nodded to confirm the fabricated story.
“Sure, wouldn’t be the first time Apple Bloom’s had her friends over for a sleep over. Ah reckon we can manage hav’n Scootaloo stay here for a little while.”
“Thank you. If this doesn’t cover the cost of looking after her I’ll pay you the difference when I get back,” the stallion said, as he dropped a small coin pouch to the ground. The heavy rattle of coins with in it drew the farm pony’s eyes down. Glancing at the pegasus filly nearby Scootaloo’s dad added, “And don’t be afraid to put her to work around here. I’d expect you to help out around here, just like at home.” He directed the last line to the pony that looked like his daughter.
“Yes, Sir,” Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but say, thanks to the military style glare baring down on her from Scootaloo’s dad.
The pegasus stallion didn’t give anypony a chance to change their minds before he flapped his wings and took to the sky. Everypony except Scootaloo watched her dad fly off. Her mind was already elsewhere, pondering how she was going to get where she needed to be without explaining anything to anypony.
She didn’t have a chance to find an answer because right then Applejack spoke, saying, “Now that ah think about it he does buy apples from me every now and then. Never did catch his name… Say, Scootaloo what is your pa’s name?”
It took Sweetie Belle a good two seconds before she even realized the question had been directed at her, at which point she started sweating bullets. Scootaloo just shook her head ‘no’ because she knew that her dad never used his name around town, never. In fact there were probably only three ponies in Ponyville that even knew her dad’s name, her dad, herself and the mailpony, and the latter two probably only knew the stallions name for the same reason, they’d read it off his mail.
“Umm… I just call him dad?” Sweetie Belle finally answered, noticing her clear lack of confidence in her voice she put on her best ‘I’m innocent please believe me’ smile. Scootaloo wouldn’t have believed it for a second. But apparently all of Sweetie Belle’s practice manipulating her older sister paid off as Applejack hesitantly accepted the response, or perhaps she just thought she had better things to do than pry into the filly’s life if she wasn’t even going to be honest with her.
When Applejack finally responded she said, “Ah guess ah wouldn’t have known my pa’s name at your age if ah hadn’t read it of his tombstone… Anyway, Apple Bloom ya know where the sleeping bags are. Get one out an set your friend up to stay with ya in your room.”
Once Apple Bloom had helped ‘Apple Bloom’ comply with her older sister’s orders, by showing Scootaloo where the sleeping bags were, the three friends were heading toward their clubhouse when Scootaloo spoke up. “Look I need to go take care of my chores real quick. I promise I’ll be back in like an hour, tops.”
“If they’re your chores shouldn’t I be the one doing them?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“My dad just explained why he doesn’t trust you in his house… I have to be the one to do them,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes.
“But he also said he was leaving town. He even told me to do chores here. He can’t expect you to do chores at an empty house,” Sweetie Belle replied.
“And half of that was a lie,” Scootaloo said, honestly enough.
“Wait. You mean your dad isn’t leaving town?”
“Not likely.” Scootaloo lied. Ironically enough that part of what her dad said was likely going to be true, and the house probably would be empty for a few days. Scootaloo sighed. “Just, cover for me with Applejack if she notices that ‘Apple Bloom’ isn’t around until I get back. Please?”
The disappointment on the faces of Scootaloo’s friends made it clear they had hoped this unexpected turn of events would help them learn more about their pegasus friend. Thankfully a certain chain of events surrounding the school paper had taught the crusaders that sometimes it’s better to leave other ponies secrets be, so they agreed and let Scootaloo go without further challenge.
* * * * * * *
Scootaloo had arrived early at the average looking tree at the edge of town, just ten minutes before four in the afternoon. She climbed up the tree knowing that Cloud Wall wouldn’t come if he saw somepony he wasn’t expecting waiting. The act of climbing the tree had proven easier than Scootaloo had anticipated given her current lack of wings, but the strength of Apple Bloom’s body made it easy to pull herself up the tree even without the help of wings to cancel out most of her weight.
Soon enough the white pegasus with the blue mane landed by the base of the tree. “Captain Cloud Wall,” Scootaloo greeted him from her hiding place in the tree’s branches.
The captain gave the filly above him a wary eye as he responded, “Oh hello. I was kind of expecting to meet somepony. I don’t suppose you’ve seen a pegasus filly around lately?”
“Scootaloo? Yeah I’ve seen myself plenty today.” Scootaloo’s response made the pegasus stallion raise an eyebrow but he said nothing. So Scootaloo asked, “What do I need to tell you to make me believe I’m me? Want me to tell you what we did yesterday morning in Hoofington?”
“You clearly know too much. So that either means you’re Scoots or she’s dead and I’m about to be ambushed in two seconds,” Cloud Wall said, taking a combat stance.
“You’re going to be waiting a lot longer then two seconds if you’re waiting for an ambush. Besides this is the only tree for like a hundred feet, and you’re already looking up. So where would anypony hide to ambush you from?” Scootaloo asked, partly curious if there was an answer to her question.
Apparently it was a good observation as his answer was, “Fair enough, I’m listening.”
Scootaloo then told him about the ruins and the mind-swapping artifact. “…And if Twilight’s right tomorrow I’ll wake up in Sweetie Belle’s body,” she finished her story.
Cloud Wall sighed, “Dang.” The yellow earth pony filly raised an inquisitive eyebrow, so he finished his out loud thinking, “I’m guessing that means you won’t be able to provide a distraction for me tomorrow. Right?”
“I don’t think so. If I don’t have my wings I don’t think I can pull off any of my good stunts. Besides I don’t want to risk getting Sweetie Belle hurt if something goes wrong. Sorry,” Scootaloo added the apology when she saw the captain hang his head in disappointment.
“No, you’re right. I really shouldn’t get used to planning around the assumption that I have a fourth member on my team when you’re an off the books civilian agent. I wouldn’t be much of a tactician if I couldn’t make do with my actual team,” Cloud Wall said, with a weak smile.
“Can I still help once things are back to normal?” Scootaloo asked, fearing she’d just been written off the captain’s team altogether.
“Of course, I’ll drop you a note the next time I find a use for you. See ya around,” he said as he took flight, leaving the earth pony filly behind.
* * * * * * *
On her way back to sweet apple acres Scootaloo took a moment to swing by her house, not to do any chores, but to pick up her scooter and helmet. By the time she returned to the apple farm she truly wondered how earth ponies thought scooters were fun, with only her legs to push with, she couldn’t really get going any faster than she could run, unless she was going downhill anyway. And while it was easier than running, without her wings to help she couldn’t get that satisfying since of speed that made scooter riding so fun to her.
Once Scootaloo rejoined her friends the crusaders passed the afternoon by finishing Apple Bloom’s chores, doing their homework and playing games at the clubhouse.
Sweetie Belle was first to break up the game they were playing when she noticed the time. “Apple Bloom, you’d better get going. The sun’s getting kind of low, dinner will be soon and my mom and dad will get worried if I’m not home on time,” the unicorn possessed pegasus said. Once Apple Bloom had taken the saddlebags with Sweetie Belle’s homework, Sweetie added, “Before you go lets hear your me impression.”
“Fine. Mom, dad, I’m home!” Apple Bloom said doing her best to sound like the unicorn filly she appeared to be.
“Close enough,” Sweetie Belle giggled. The two remaining friends waved goodbye as the earth pony turned unicorn left. As they watched from the window Sweetie Belle turned to the friend who’s body she was in and asked, “Scootaloo. Are you okay?”
Looking to her own body Scootaloo cocked her head to the side and asked, “What do you mean?”
“It’s just that I’ve been getting use to your body all day and all, but… Something still feels… not right. I can’t place it but it’s worse outside.”
Scootaloo smiled. “Outside huh? Take a look over there,” she said, as she pointed out the window to some trees a few hundred feet away.
“Okay… What am I looking for?” Sweetie Belle asked, as she looked over the familiar field of apple trees around the clubhouse.
“Now try looking at the tree next to the clubhouse,” Scootaloo suggested, still grinning.
Sweetie Belle looked back and forth between the near trees and the far ones. Little by little Scootaloo watched the eyes of her body growing wide as revelation set in, until Sweetie Belle finally proclaimed her understanding out loud, “Everything’s so clear! Wow! Scootaloo your eyes are so amazing! Wow, the sunset looks so beautiful!”
Scootaloo joined her friend in looking to the setting sun, although she frowned. The sunset looked nice enough through Apple Bloom’s eyes but she could see a more beautiful sunset by closing her eyes and remembering what one looked like through her own eyes. Opening her eyes, she spotted something that gave her an idea. “You want amazing, I’ll show you amazing,” Scootaloo said, and then called out, “Rainbow Dash!”
The colorful speck Scootaloo had seen in the distance grew bigger and closer until it could clearly be identified as a sky blue pegasus mare with a prismatic mane and tail. “Did I hear somepony over here calling for the most awesome flyer in all of Equestria?” the mare asked as she came to a hover just outside the tree house’s window.
Doing her best Apple Bloom impression, Scootaloo said, “Yep, Ah did. You see, Scootaloo and Ah were talking about the sunset and Ah started thinking the only thing that would make it look even better was a sunset rainbow. And being an awesome weather pony and all, Ah don’t suppose you could make one?”
Rainbow Dash brought a hoof up to her muzzle as she pondered the question. She knew liquid rainbow evaporated quickly without the light of the sun, so she wouldn’t need any high quality rainbow since it only needed to last a few minutes. “I don’t know… I guess I can just use some rainbow from my home fountain so I can get away with an unscheduled rainbow. What do you think squirt? Should I do it?” Dash asked the pony she thought was Scootaloo.
Despite having spent the day pretending to be Scootaloo it still took Sweetie Belle over a second to realize the question was aimed at her. Sweetie looked to her friend and the earth pony filly nodded, so she said, “Yes please. I mean, that would be cool.”
Rainbow Dash raised a skeptical eyebrow, wandering what was up with Scootaloo. But just as quickly shrugged it off, turned to who she thought was Apple Bloom and said, “Okay, I’ll do it. But don’t go thinking I’ll be taking orders from you at the drop of a hat like I do from AJ. I have to do that because she’s runs the farm and it’s part of my job as a weather pony to help the farmers in Ponyville.” Despite her choice of words Dash’s voice was playful enough to make it known she didn’t mind petty requests from friends as much as she said she did.
Rainbow Dash then darted out of sight and a minute latter a rainbow started appearing in the distance, framing the setting sun. Scootaloo watched the awe in her own body’s eyes grow into pure wonderment. That must be what I look like when I’m watching Rainbow Dash fly. Scootaloo thought to herself, before turning to look out at the scene that had Sweetie Belle transfixed.
Scootaloo breathed a silent sigh. It was as she expected. As beautiful as the scene before her earth pony eyes was, it paled in comparison to her imagination combining the memories of a sunset and a rainbow as seen from her pegasus eyes. The two fillies sat there watching the scene before them, though it only lasted a few minutes before the sun disappeared behind the horizon and the rainbow began to fade.
With the splendor of the sunset rainbow gone Sweetie Belle finally managed say, “Wow… So beautiful… I don’t… Thank you.” She concluded by pulling her friend into a hug, knowing her words couldn’t convey the thanks she felt for the gift she had just been given.
“Umm, you’re welcome. But can you lay off the mushy stuff? What if Rainbow Dash comes back and sees me acting like that?” Scootaloo responded, slightly startled by the show of affection. She knew the world looked a little clearer through the eyes of a pegasus but she didn’t think it was that big of a difference.
Sweetie Belle didn’t release her friend from the hug but tried to convey her thanks again. “I know you didn’t mean to let me borrow your eyes or anything, but letting me see that, through your eyes. I will always remember what you showed me. And I’m sorry that there’s nothing I could ever do to repay you for this.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s what friends do, right? But for now I’ll settle for you letting me go,” Scootaloo said. To which Sweetie finally released her from the hug. “Come on Sweetie Belle. We should get back to the house before Applejack comes looking for us,” she added, gathering up their saddlebags.
* * * * * * *
The two crusaders had managed to get through dinner without raising the Apple family’s suspicions, mainly by keeping their answers to questions as short as possible until Applejack and Granny Smith got talking about things the two fillies didn’t feel any need to comment on.
Up in Apple Bloom’s room the two friends stood still, occasionally tossing a glance to one another. “Well this feels weird.” Sweetie Belle broke the silence.
“I know, I don’t think I’ve ever been in Apple Bloom’s room without her around before. It’s like I don’t want to touch anything since she’s not here,” Scootaloo whispered, trying not to be heard by anypony outside the room.
“Yeah. I guess we should just go to bed then?” Sweetie suggested.
“Agreed.” Scootaloo answered, as she climbed onto Apple Bloom’s bed. Looking down at the sheets a thought made her ask, “Do you think I should be in her bed? If Twilight’s right then tomorrow she’ll wake up in my body. Do you think she’d rather wake up in her bed or would she only what her body in her bed?”
Sweetie Belle stared back at the earth pony on the bed for way longer then Scootaloo would have liked before answering, “I don’t know, but wouldn’t Applejack find it odd if she checked on us and found Scootaloo in the bed and Apple Bloom in the sleeping bag?”
“I guess so…” Scootaloo’s reply drifted off as she fell into thought. The idea that somepony would check in on her while she slept was such a foreign concept that it had never crossed her mind. It must be nice to feel like somepony would watch over and protect you while you sleep. She thought to herself as she slipped into Apple Bloom’s bed.
Scootaloo reached out and turned off the lamp on Apple Bloom’s bed stand feeling a mix of pride and regret. She was proud that she knew her dad let her be alone in the house all the time because he trusted her, because she wasn’t a baby anymore and didn’t need to be looked after all the time. But at the same time she regretted that earning her father’s trust also meant being alone so much of the time. It was to those muddled feelings that she drifted off to sleep.