On an equally-dubious personal bright side, Twilight had found her own small blessing: the search for the prankster had made shopping with Rarity into something tolerable. For as much as the designer complained (generally in private, beyond the hearing of any prospective future clients) about how aggravating customers could be, how little they understood or wished to recognize the effort which went into her creations, the sheer ignorance trotted out on display... she completely failed to recognize that she, in many ways, was worse. Rarity could take forty minutes to pick out a single fabric sample. She would inquire as to point of origin, soil content for the cotton fields, expertise of the combers, and then ask for references, quickly followed by contact information which she would follow up on. When it came to dyes, she carried a folding color chart which had so many entries as to lose most pony eyes within the finest of gradients -- and that was before she unfurled it to full size, which worked out to be twice the length of her own body. If a dye was not precisely as described... well... there would be Words, and there would be many of them, to the points where the offending pony would often look as if she was drowning within the sheer deluge of objecting vocabulary.
Of course, that was just for items which affected Rarity's business. When it came to casual shopping, with things she had some intent to purchase... that was when the inspections took first place in the race to overwhelm Rarity's trembling victims. The slow rotation of any object, carefully peering for flaws while shopkeepers trembled and hoped for silence. A slight intake of breath would indicate the most minor of faults which in no way instantly disqualified the item from being taken home, but simply opened the door to negotiation. Should something be undeniably perfect -- it would be put aside, with another, similar piece being rotated by the soft blue field in the event that it would somehow turn out to be even more perfect. And if absolutely nothing caught her fancy, then there were still the other aspects of retail to consider. How was the store conducting its advertising? What did the display look like? Was that a new kind of promotional gimmick? Did the business contain anything in its practices which Rarity might adopt to serve with her own? Perhaps it was best to consult directly with the owner: just a moment, dears, she wouldn't be all that long, and 'all that long' usually worked out to 'rather'...
Under normal circumstances, going shopping with Rarity could be like delving into a used book sale with Twilight. The race between the unintentional awarding of the relevant degree and the formation of the mob always went down to the nose.
But this time, the designer simply peered into shop windows. If the arrangement of display pieces created blind spots, she would poke her head in, ascertain that none of their targets were present and nothing appeared to have been changed, then moved on. At one point, she absently purchased a spool of gold filigree and did so in less than a minute, passing her bits to a pony who truly wasn't sure of the customer's identity, and that was after the proprietor looked past the color. Rarity had a goal in mind, and very little would distract her from it -- although the instinct which almost had her launch into the first round of a-lady-does-not-use-this-word haggling came close.
They were currently closing in on the town square with fair speed: there had been no bursts from that direction, but Twilight felt she'd picked up traces from something which might have happened while they were in another section of Ponyville, too far away for immediate detection. The loss of casual traffic seemed to have leveled off for the moment: still emptier than it should have been, but with no additional drop in population visible. Twilight was hoping it meant Daisy had finally headed for shelter. They had wound up following portions of the earth pony's trail, and... well, it was easy to tell which streets she had fled down, apparently screaming all the way, for those were the places which held ponies who were peering with suspicion at the unicorn tourist traffic: 'from out of town' had apparently become part of the revised alarm cry.
They could hear activity just ahead: a number of ponies were still at the market, vendors and customers alike. One of those voices was a familiar one and while the words were too far away to make out through the babble of other sounds, they had a distinctly frustrated tone to them. No great surprise: Applejack dealt with shopper stupidity about as well as Rarity did, and with considerably less variety in her words. But there didn't seem to be any anger in them. Even so, it was enough to make the trio move a little faster.
So far, there were no changes visible through what was left of the flowing crowd.
"Twilight Sparkle, a word with you? Concerning a matter of color and hue?"
Audible, however...
Slowly, the group turned to face towards the angry voice.
Spike's palms slammed over his mouth. Rarity, lacking the necessary anatomy, clamped her field around her own jaw. Twilight simply took a breath and kept right on taking it because as long as she was inhaling, there was no chance of the air coming back out as a burst of laughter.
Every single stripe in Zecora's coat clashed with every other, something which technically should have been impossible: given a sufficient number of colors, two would have had to complement. Of course, that consideration would have come before spotting that this was the prank where the unicorn had decided to begin her experiments with plaid. And that was before getting to the mane. Things had been done to the mane. Most of them involved paisley.
The zebra stomped a frustrated hoof. "Yes, very funny, I am sure. And not the least bit immature."
The sounds emerging from Spike's covered mouth had a note of mirthful choking. Meanwhile, Twilight had reached the end of her lung capacity: the narrow rib cage was full to the point of aching, and she just barely managed to make the rushed breath form words. "Zecora, we're sorry, it's an instinctive reaction, we don't mean anything by it..."
Zecora sighed. "I am aware. My load to bear. And Rarity, I see you too have been struck, by mix of spell and accursed luck. No harm from you: just first reaction, an instinctive, comprehensible action. I take no insult, I feel no hate. I simply wish to end this fate."
Twilight quickly closed her eyes, examining the zebra's body on feel alone. The results were just about identical to Rarity's. "A few hours, Zecora... it'll wear off on its own."
"I had guessed you had no counter," Zecora grumbled. "After red-and-black did I encounter..." Rarity blushed, which wasn't particularly detectable. "I wished to shop in Ponyville without facing such ill will."
Spike had managed to work his way back to words. "Zecora -- did you offend anypony today? Any unicorns?"
Widened eyes (which were oddly still blue) and another angry hoof stomp. "I, you say, offend? Fences I did mend! Citizen I still may not be, but welcome to come and go, free! Nothing did I do today which somepony might take the wrong way, beyond simply being here, hoping to be treated as a peer --!"
"-- Zecora, it is not what you have every right to believe we are speaking of," Rarity interjected, her quickened words remaining calm. "As you can see, yours is not the first incident. As best we can track, it is the fourth. We are trying to locate the unicorn mare who has performed this working and make her reverse it. And so far, the only commonality we have for the prior three incidents is that they are things where a pony might have taken offense and used the spell as revenge. The cause could have been so petty as your accidentally bumping somepony, or purchasing the last summer cherry before they could reach it. If you know of anypony whom you might have irritated today, to even the most minor degree... We have four suspects and can describe them all to you. Should any one of them match..."
Zecora shook her head: the spell-tarnished earring shifted while the mane did its best to clash with the very air. "My every action, I do not track. And so it is motives which I lack." Sharply, "Other that than which came before, something I simply won't endure."
Twilight sighed. "Zecora..."
"It is simply a feeling, not towards you," Zecora quietly said. "A memory now... but a memory true. It is not possible to forget. But know I recognize your regret." She sadly looked at Spike. "And you know something of which I speak, when the fear of others reaches its peak."
Slowly, Spike nodded. "Zecora, we still have to try and figure out which pony it was. Will you let us describe them to you? If you remember any of them being around you before it happened..."
Zecora nodded back. They gave her the list.
"It is one of those four -- this you swear?"
Group agreement.
"In that case --" she angled her head towards the market "-- there is one right over there."
They blinked. They ran, moving around Zecora as fast as they were able, galloping past her quickly enough to lose her last words in the impact of hooves against ground, as Spike vaulted onto Twilight's back again in the name of saving precious seconds, racing through the sudden clear gap in the market's traffic, heading towards the pony Zecora had spotted with superior peripheral vision, galloping towards where a friend just might be in trouble...
There was a crowd around the stand. A big one. Dozens of ponies. The suspect was on the outer edge of it. And a familiar voice was coming from the center.
"Ah keep tellin' y'all: this ain't them! Y'can't do anythin' with 'em other than eat 'em! Ah never have enough! If'n Ah had that kinda numbers, Ah'd just make more of the stuff an' sell that! Y'gotta listen t' me! Back off, give me some space, y'don't know what you're doin'! Ah can't take yer bits, not for this!"
There was a little jump at the end of that last word, made in a desperate attempt to get some extra projection. It let Twilight spot the panicked face, and she was seen in return.
The single bound immediately turned into a series, and the brief pause at each peak gave Twilight a stuttering view of the near-winces, semi-twitches, and overall muscle tension which indicated the farmer had finally reached the point of asking for help.
"Twi... Twi, Ah hate t' ask, Ah... need t' clear some space... Ah can't..." Two extra jumps were needed to jar the next part loose. "...handle this... please..."
A friend was under attack and had asked for help. They were the only reasons Twilight needed.
She anchored the shield spell on top of the cart, let it flow just over the edge of the contours as a tight dome, finding just enough room to do so without having to shove any parts of pony bodies out of the way -- mostly because that was something Applejack was already doing as the working formed, making sure nopony got caught. And when Twilight had the edges on the ground, she gradually expanded the shield outwards into the aisle.
It wasn't easy. She could feel the pressure of ponies pushing against it, angry hooves impacting the borders. If the shield had already been fully formed, that level of attempted penetration could have been dealt with using very little effort, and for a long time. But to have it happen while she was still trying to get the working established, before it was stabilized and hardened... it was putting her corona at a full single, threatening to go double with even the smallest bit of extra exertion, and the outermost edges of her vision were starting to fade into white.
"Twilight!" Spike gasped. "Be careful! If any of them get knocked into your horn right now...!"
"I've got it, Spike, I've got it... I'm not pushing that hard, they're not going to come flying at me..."
Her little brother still jumped down and got in front of her, taking up a defensive position, just in case.
More yells. Shouts of aggravation. Twilight was waiting for more than that, waiting for magic. She expected to be hit by the spell at any moment, and disrupting one working while trying to complete her own would be difficult at best. Surely she was offending the target pony through this action and once she was spotted as being the caster, they would have their final confirmation...
But it didn't happen. The teenage unicorn mare was pushed back with the rest, looking confused. Not angry at all. Not even frustrated. And she was holding an apple within her field.
Zecora caught up.
"But it is not her, I must insist," the zebra repeated. "And thus you remove her from your list."
The bright red field.
The nature of the apple within almost dropped to second place.
Twilight completed the casting. The shield hardened. The crowd, which no longer had to contend with being pushed back, looked around until they found the cause. Angry mutters began, with none of them coming from the teen.
Rarity didn't let it get any further than that. "Bearer business!" she called out. "We are consulting with a fellow Bearer!" Much more softly, rapid-fire, "Twilight, I am truly sorry, I know you hate that, but we do not have time to talk our way through this right now..." Back to full volume. "Make a path, immediately! There is no crisis! There is nothing to be alarmed about! There is absolutely no need to flee to your homes! We simply must consult with our fellow Bearer for a few minutes, and then the shield will come down!"
"Yeah, right!" an angry pegasus mare screamed. "You just want to hog them all for yourself!"
"We won't let you!" chimed her stallion companion.
"Not when they're so rare!"
"Not when they never go on sale like this!"
A very large, completely unfamiliar dark green earth pony reared back, slammed his front hooves into the dirt, sending up a cloud of dust for body lengths around. "I'll outbid all of you! I don't care if she wants to take them back before they get away! I'll buy anything anypony's bought already! You can even keep the apples, you can do anything you like with them! Just let me at the seeds!" Huge hooves pounded on the shield, and it was a mark of the strength behind them that Twilight actually felt the impacts. "Let me in! I'll buy them all! You brought them, so that means you have to sell them, and I'll pay anything, anything, and if you don't let me in, I'm going to --"
There was a sound.
For Ponyville residents, it was a very familiar sound. It had a way of getting noticed. It cut through air and made more solid barriers collapse. It made pony ears perk as it dropped down through the skull deep into the brain, where it solidly landed on a button labeled I May Have Gone Slightly Too Far And I'm Really Sorry About That.
The very large earth pony slowly turned his head. It took very little time for his face to come into the even larger shadow cast by the stallion behind him. Because the sound was the exclusive property of the stallion who operated the Day And Night Labor: No Job Too Big Or Too Heavy tent a few spots away from Applejack's cart. And it said to all and sundry that Snowflake had just decided to take a personal interest.
Slowly, with great curiosity, "...yeah?"
The very large earth pony seemed to be somewhat smaller now.
The quartet watched. Everypony in the town square did.
The thing about Snowflake... was that he generally didn't use his strength. Not on other ponies. Anypony who truly knew him quickly became aware that the pegasus would do almost anything to avoid it. He hated hurting others, was incredibly careful in his attempts to make sure it never happened by accident, was as gentle with younglings and animal companions as any pony in the world, which was part of why Fluttershy trusted him first and best to be her substitute caretaker when missions came calling. He never started fights, hated confrontation, and frequently couldn't even bring himself to verbally counter taunts no matter how many lessons Rarity gave him, as defending himself seemed to occupy the permanent bottom position on his personal checklist -- at least until things got physical. Most of Ponyville was aware of all of it, and the crueler ones vocally walked all over him -- from a distance. Just in case.
But this was a tourist. And it was also Snowflake defending somepony else.
Those rules were different. Ponyville was aware of that too.
"...nothing."
"Yeah."
The suddenly very small earth pony retreated (and didn't stop until half a gallop beyond the northern bridge). Snowflake took a long, slow look at the rest of the crowd. Every last pony in it backed away from the shield, and six did so in such a way as to create an aisle.
The pegasus turned to the quartet, gave them a slight nod. They went down the aisle to the sound of absolute quiet, and Twilight opened a hole in the shield to let them in, making sure to seal it immediately.
Applejack managed a smile. It didn't last long.
"Gotta love your timin'," she sighed, keeping her volume low: the shield muffled sound, but didn't completely block it. "Gotta appreciate his too. If Ah had to put up with that for a minute longer... Nopony believed me. If it had been locals, Ah wouldn't have had this problem, but so many of them went home an' we got stuck with the tourists, everypony in the market did, then this happened..."
She sadly nodded to the display.
The usual assortment of colors were gone. No full palette of red with occasional touches of yellow and a few rare greens. Instead, there was simply a rainbow.
And that rainbow was on every single visible fruit at the cart.
(With the exceptions of the ones near Rarity, which had dimmed into more of a negative.)
Rarity took a deep breath. "They look like --"
Applejack sighed. "-- Zap Apples. An' we never sell 'em. Need every one we've got for the jelly. Can't afford t' let the seeds get loose or we won't have as much control over the market. Most ponies ain't never seen a Zap Apple, but they know it's got rainbow colors when it's ripe an' some of 'em know they change colors along the way. They know that... and it ain't enough to let 'em know when things ain't the way they should be. So when the glow hit, somepony decided it meant Ah'd either brought a bunch of 'em by mistake or that we were finally gonna get around t' carryin' the things at the cart. Said that out loud, that Ah had 'em. Lot of other ponies heard it, came over, saw the things... Didn't wanna sell under false pretenses. But Ah couldn't talk 'em out of buyin'. Couldn't make 'em leave. More Ah talked, the more ponies crowded in. It was like that for a while before y'all showed up, an' it just kept gettin' worse..." She looked at Rarity, and her eyes showed nothing but sympathy. "And now it's even worse than that, 'cause Ah know Ah wasn't the only one. Zecora, not dismissin' you, but y'weren't sellin' here today, so Ah've gotta check on mah fellow merchant first. Rarity, is it jus' you, or did they get your stock? An' will y'all be okay?"
"My stock, and permanent on that until countered," Rarity wearily replied. "Please believe me when I say that particular change will not be triggering a purchase frenzy any time soon. However, both of us will revert in time. Applejack, this happened at Sugarcube Corner as well, and Pinkie was able to give us a list of four suspects -- now down to three. Did you have any unicorn mares at your stand before this happened? Were any of them displaying a shimmer-white field?"
As usual, the head shake barely shifted the hat. "Sorry, Rarity... Ah was kind of on the busy side, an' Ah was distracted. Too many tourists, and y'know what tourists usually mean for me? Shoplifters. They leave their own town an' they think that means they can do whatever they want t' anypony at'tall in the new one. When it got crowded, Ah had thieves left, right, an' center. Even had a couple of kids tryin' t' stick their heads through gaps between legs an' snatch apples right quick before Ah noticed. Ah noticed, though. An' Ah stopped 'em, an' Ah told off the parents if they were there... y'had t' hear this one pony, kept sayin' her kid would never do any such thing while the filly's still got the apple in her mouth... But when Ah'm doing that, Ah ain't payin' much attention t' field colors an' all. Just tryin' t' keep mah stock from trottin' away." She peered outside the field, noted the presence of the still-waiting teenager. "They ain't all bad, though. That one's sure bein' patient."
Twilight groaned. "We've been working under the theory that this pony is pranking anypony who offends her, Applejack. We think she doesn't like having to wait. Even just getting stuck behind other ponies while you dealt with customers and -- the rest might have been enough to set her off."
A tiny nod accomplished by a frustrated half-growl. "Tourists."
Rarity pressed on. "Can we give you the list? I know you may feel as if none of them would have registered in your memory, but..."
"Ain't gonna work, Rarity. Ah ain't Pinkie. Don't have that kinda memory. Not sure Ah'd want it..."
Zecora took a half-step forward. "Applejack, please close your eyes. Let the vision be a surprise."
"Huh?" The farmer seemed to feel the syllable said it all.
"Without eyesight in the way, memory may save the day. Senses intrude and sometimes block: seek darkness, then turn back the clock."
Which got them an uncertain frown. "Ah trust you, Zecora... 'specially after what y'did for Apple Bloom... but that jus' sounds weird. You're sure 'bout this?"
Zecora simply nodded.
Applejack didn't even shrug. She simply closed her eyes and waited.
"Think back," Spike encouraged. "You saw the glow hit, right?"
"Uh-huh. Couldn't miss it. Went on every apple -- well, not every apple. Just the ones on top an' a little below -- anythin' visible when it happened. Had a few seconds t' check before it all went bad."
Differentiation, Twilight thought, but didn't say: there was no time for that particular lecture. "Was there any horn showing that color of corona?"
A slow head shake, eyes still closed. "No... hey, this is weird, it's easier. Ah can picture so many of the ponies who were here... Maybe Ah was lookin' in the wrong direction. Saw the glow but not the source. Didn't last long... maybe four, five heartbeats. Covered the place fast. Ah... was startin' to look for the source. Don't want magic messin' with mah stock, but that wasn't mah first thought. Kinda hopin' for a big sale. Somepony about t' take it all, y'know? Canterlot restaurant with an' apple pie night comin' up, that happened once before..." A misty smile spread across her face. "Now there was a tourist Ah'd like t' see again..."
The group was aware that Applejack could easily spend a happy hour reliving Glories Of Sales Past, and Spike hurried to get her back on track. "These are the three ponies we're still looking for, Applejack." He described them. "Was one in the crowd?"
"Naw..."
Faces fell.
"Two."
Heads jerked up.
Applejack slowly nodded. "The light brown one an' the kinda curdled cream. Matter of fact, that last one, Ah got into a fight with."
Eyes widened.
"Y'had to hear her. One of the most annoyin', obstinate, deliberately ignorant --"
"-- Applejack, how far in the past? We may have the perpetrator at last!" Zecora cut in.
The farmer frowned. "Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes? Hard t' keep track... time gets weird when Ah've got a lot of ponies around who won't listen t' me..."
"Did you see where she went? Which way?" Spike insisted.
"West, more or less. But that ain't necessarily --"
"-- then we've got to go!" Twilight decided. The checklist was down to a mere pair of empty boxes, they weren't that far behind, they had a direction... There was a chance, and they couldn't risk staying much longer. "Zecora, do you want to come?"
A single angry nod. "Reversal may come on its own, but I'd like to make my feelings known. Some time have I, but not too much... a potion is brewing, and must stir such. An hour or two, but no more. Until then..." her teeth briefly went into a snarl "...we go to war."
More than good enough. "Applejack, I know you can't join us right now... can you handle the stand?"
The farmer glanced outside the shield again, met Snowflake's red eyes. The pegasus silently nodded. "With the extra eyes an' hooves, yeah. Maybe he can help me get through to 'em. Y'can drop the shield when y'go, Twi... we'll handle it from here. But if you're still lookin' when Ah close, come back an' get me. Ah want a piece of this too."
They agreed, and the quartet headed out. Behind them, Applejack's renewed sales cry rang out across the square.
"Now listen up, everypony! These are not Zap Apples! Just good old high-quality Sweet Apple Acres product! Listen t' me! Hear the words Ah'm sayin'! Y'can't make the jelly with 'em! Can't plant the seeds an' get anythin' other than a normal apple tree! Can't start your own business! Ah did not mess up an' bring some of the rarest, most magical apples in Equestria with me t' market by accident! Gotta listen t' me! Don't wanna sell y'stuff when y'ain't gettin' what y'think you are! Again, Ah ain't sellin' Zap Apples today! No way, no how, an' Ah swear by Celestia's mane, Luna's shoes, Ah'll even throw in Cadance's tail 'cause Ah love mah reputation too much t' sully it like that, ever... No Zap Apples! None at'tall! Do y'hear me? Do y'understand?"
There was a moment of total silence.
Twilight managed a wan smile. "Well, that should get through."
Rarity sighed. "Twilight... think about Daisy for a very brief moment."
Twilight did. "...I don't get it."
"These are tourists, with no more experience of Applejack than they have of Snowflake. Ultimately, ponies believe what they wish, often in spite of all declarations to the contrary. And have you ever heard the saying 'the mare doth protest too much'...?"
There was another short-lived moment of silence, and the cause of death was belief.
From behind them, with full insistence unmoderated by the somewhat more peaceful volume, because surely a simple expressed statement wouldn't get the overseeing pegasus upset:
"Yeah, that's what you say!"
"You just don't want to admit you messed up!"
"Ten apples! Here's the bits! Come on, right in my saddlebags!"
"Give me forty!"
"Give me the whole cart! Including those apples towards the bottom, because they'll be changing next! Nopony else can buy anything now! I called it! Just take all my money! And hold everything until I pull my wagon up!"
The hunting group wearily left the square. Behind them, Snowflake slowly shook his head and trotted closer, just in case a freshly-besieged Applejack, who didn't know which pile of bits to deal with first, needed help with packing the wagon.