//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Change Your Mind // by Scottish Brony //------------------------------// The setting sun's rays streamed into Carousel Boutique and shone on the white hooves of a troubled unicorn as she worked on a narrow strip of cloth. "I can't get this!" moaned Pinkie, sagging her shoulders. "Whatever is the matter, darling?" asked Rarity, walking over to the unicorn's side. Pinkie held up the purple length of fabric she had ran through the sewing machine, "I can't do the zigzag pattern like in the book." "That's strange, you were doing fine yesterday..." With a sigh, the unicorn put the fabric on the work table, "I guess I'm just too worried about Rainbow Dash..." "Come, now. You know how tough Rainbow is. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if she's up and about like normal tomorrow. At least as normal as any of us can be, right now." A thought struck Pinkie, "Hey, how about we change her molecules?" she suggested. "I can't believe you're still saying that word," said Rarity with a sigh, "Besides, that doesn't even make any sense. What good would 'changing her molecules' do?" "We could change her sleepy molecules into not-sleepy molecules!" "You can't alter what's happened to her like that." "Why not?" "Because what she's experiencing doesn't have molecules." "Why not?" "Because it just doesn't." "Oh." "We'll just have to wait and see." "Okay. Oh, yeah! Have you looked after Pound and Pumpkin, yet?" "...Not yet," replied Rarity, silently hoping she wouldn't need to. She wasn't sure she could handle two foals; Sweetie Belle was enough trouble as it was. "Don't worry! I bet you'll get to do that soon!" "Yes. Sounds wonderful." "And now that the school holidays are starting soon, I'm gonna get to look after Sweetie a lot more!" "I don't know about that. Her room will probably be finished by then. If not, she'll most likely be out all day with her Crusader friends." "I guess, yeah. At least she can stay up later. Then we can play when she comes back home!" "Stay up later?" Rarity repeated with a slight frown, "Oh, no, no, no. Same bed time." "What? Why? She won't have school or anything, anymore. Not for a few weeks, anyway." "I'm not going to have her staying up until all hours and then waking up in the afternoon." "But..." Pinkie started to protest, then realised it would be fruitless trying to argue her point, "Okay..." "It took long enough to get her into that routine as it is. You really don't want to break it." "Break what?" asked a young voice. The two ponies looked over at Sweetie Belle standing at the kitchen door. "How long have you been standing there?" asked Rarity cautiously. "Just now." "Did you come in the kitchen side door?" "Yeah." "Why?" "Um... no reason..." said Sweetie with a shrug. Rarity noticed a small, brown smudge at the side of her sister's mouth. "Was there any cake left?" the earth pony asked Pinkie. "Some. Why?" she replied. "I think your sister snuck in the side door and had a slice." "You could have just asked," Pinkie told the filly. "No need to sneak around," said the earth pony, "Right, Rarity?" "Right! Yeah, no sneaking." "Sorry,” said the filly, “Um, but anyway, what are you talking about not breaking?" "Oh, er... you know... stuff..." fumbled Rarity. "Yeah, um... Pinkie was... telling me... not to break... ah... the sewing machines! Hahaha! Silly Pinkie! I won't break my own sewing machines!" "Yes! Of course! Silly me! What was I thinking?" laughed Rarity, playing along and resisting the urge to bury her face in her hooves at Pinkie's half-baked story. Sweetie Belle stared at them with a look of confusion, "Oh... okay..." "Well, I have to get back home," said Rarity, wanting to escape the situation, "See you two later!" The two unicorns bid her farewell as she bounced out of the boutique, then Sweetie turned to her 'sister', "Hey, Rarity, how come Pinkie Pie's coming over a lot? I mean, I don't mind that she is. It's just... she's never visited so much before." "She's my friend. Nothing wrong with having friends over, is there?" "No, no, I didn't mean that. I was wondering is all." "She's just teaching me some recipes and stuff," replied Pinkie readily, having anticipated this question for a few days. With Rarity coming to the boutique so often, Sweetie was bound to notice. "Oh. Um... speaking of which... I only took a teeny slice of cake." "Stop worrying about it!" Pinkie replied cheerily, "But I hope you left enough room for dinner, tonight." "Uh-huh. What are we having?" "There's still some vegetable soup left over. How about that?" "Yes, please! Like I said last night, it tasted great! Even better than Mom's!" "Aw, thanks!" "But when'd you get so good at it? Did Pinkie teach you?" "Uh... sure, yeah!" replied the older unicorn as the two made their way to the kitchen. After the meal, the two spent the rest of the night quietly relaxing. Sweetie Belle lay on the floor, drawing, while Pinkie read a book on a couch nearby. As it neared the filly's bedtime, the unicorn's eyes constantly flicked between the book and the clock, making it difficult for her to follow the story. "It's ten-thirty, Sweetie Belle! Time for bed!" called Pinkie suddenly, startling the filly. "Oh, already?" "Uh-huh! Come on, you've got school tomorrow! Did you do your homework?" "I did it on Friday. You know that. I mean, for the past week, you've been watching me like a hawk while I've done it. You don't need to do that." "I'm just making sure. It's all part of being a big sister." "Yeah? So, if I was the big sister, you'd be okay with me watching you closely while you did something?" "No, that'd be really annoying. Anyway, it's time for bed! It's your last week of school, come on!" "Okay,” said Sweetie, getting to her hooves and picking up her drawing papers, “'Night, Rarity." "G'night!" replied Pinkie and gave Sweetie a hug. The filly returned the hug and then trotted upstairs. Pinkie stretched, then, to her surprise, yawned. Gee, I didn't realise I was that sleepy. Guess I'd better get to bed, too... She checked every door and window was locked, turned out the lights, and then cantered up to her bedroom. Without thinking about it, she levitated a tub of face cream over and dipped the tip of her hoof in. After applying the cream, she fetched her red silk eye mask and crawled into bed. Pinkie was awoken by a shrill scream. She sat up in shock and panicked when she opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness. Then she remembered she was wearing her eye mask. She took it off and climbed out of bed. Was that Sweetie Belle? Stepping out into the hallway, she quietly made her way to the filly's room. Listening closely from outside, she could hear sniffling and hitching breaths. She gently pushed the door open and peeked in. “Sweetie?” she whispered. In the dim light, she saw the small unicorn turn over to face her. Pinkie closed the door behind her, then went to the filly's bedside. “What's wrong, Sweetie?” she asked. “I... had a... a ni–nightmare...” replied Sweetie Belle between breaths. Pinkie couldn't bear to see someone crying and wondered what she could do. Then she remembered when she was younger and shared her room with her sisters; any time she had a nightmare, her older sister, Maud, would always comfort her by laying next to her younger sibling and holding the pink filly close. She never said anything, but she stayed with Pinkie until she fell asleep. Hoping this wouldn't be too far out of character, Pinkie climbed onto the bed and lay down next to the filly, hugging her, as her own sister had done, “Oh, it's okay, now. It's over. Do you want to tell me about it?” Pressing her wet eyes into her sister's chest, Sweetie recounted her bad dream. "I was... I was in Ponyville... and there was this big, red dragon chasing me... and I got trapped in an alley between these two houses and then... and then it was about to breath fire on me... then I woke up." "Well, that mean old dragon can't get you now. Don't worry, I'm here. Pinkie's here." The older unicorn stiffened, her eyes wide. She grit her teeth in worry as the filly pulled away. "What did you say?" she asked, looking into the older unicorn's blue eyes. "I said 'Rarity's here'. Because that's who I am — Rarity," replied Pinkie with a nervous laugh. "...You said Pinkie." "No, no, you're tired. You heard me wrong. Now go to sleep. School tomorrow!" "I don't care. I know what I heard, Pinkie. I thought Rarity was acting weird..." "No, uh... I..." Pinkie tried to think of a way out of her predicament, but could only respond with a sigh of defeat. Oh boy, rumbled... "Okay, yeah. You're right." “No way...” “It's true.” "How'd that happen? When?" "Last week." "What? Why didn't you tell me? What happened?" asked Sweetie. "It's a long story... I'll tell you tomorrow when you get ba—" "No, now!" "But Sweetie Belle..." "Tell me!" "No, Sweetie," said Pinkie, finally, and stepped off the bed, "It's too much for this time of night." The filly stared back at the older pony before flopping onto her back with a heavy sigh. "Just please promise not to tell anypony," said Pinkie. "Why?" "Just please don't. Promise me." Long, tense moments passed. "...Okay..." replied Sweetie at last. "Thank you." "Is Rarity in your body?" "Yeah. Don't say anything to her either. She'll get mad." The filly narrowed her eyes, "Fine..." "Alright..." said Pinkie, then cleared her throat, "So... the nightmare still scaring you?" "No," said Sweetie and turned away, "I can't believe you and Rarity lied to me..." "Sorry..." Sweetie didn't respond, so Pinkie turned and quietly left the hurt filly alone. Upon hearing the door bell tinkle, Pinkie looked up from the sewing book in her hooves. Rarity walked in and looked around. “Is Sweetie here?” she asked in a low voice. “No, she's out with her friends,” replied Pinkie, “She'll probably be back for dinner, soon.” The earth pony nodded. “Homework?” she asked. “She didn't have any; it's the last week of school.” “Oh. Right.” “Hm.” “Are you okay?” “What? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,” replied the unicorn more perkily. “Are you sure? You seem to have something on your mind.” “No, just a bit tired.” She hoped Rarity wouldn't ask any more questions. She didn't want to risk giving away that Sweetie Belle knew about their switch. The filly had barely spoken to her in the morning. Pinkie guessed she still felt mad at being lied to her face, not only by an older pony, but by her own sister. She hadn't stomped downstairs or slammed any doors, but she was clearly upset. Pinkie could only hope she would keep her promise. “Have you been getting enough sleep, dear?” asked Rarity, looking closely at the face she used to see in the mirror, “I hope so. A lack of sleep can cause wrinkles to appear early. Not to mention those horrid bags under one's eyes.” “Oh, I've been getting plenty of sleep. Sweetie Belle just sometimes takes a lot of energy out of me.” “Out of you?” “I don't have as much as I used to since I got your body," said Pinkie, putting down the book. “Actually, speaking of sleep, I'm sometimes finding it hard to get a good night's rest. But I've not felt like nodding off during the day. Yet.” “I bet you're not using all my energy, are you? Come on, you're supposed to be bouncing around laughing and making everypony else laugh! But I know what you mean. Sometimes, when it's been a slow day, I don't get much sleep, since I haven't used all my energy. Good thing I can run on a few hours of sleep! In fact, I could probably run for a few hours while I sleep! Oh, but then I'd bump into things or end up really far away from Ponyville, so I'd be lost and have these lumps all over me. But I could always turn around and run while sleeping again and maybe end up back in Ponyville by the time I wake up!” “Oh... yes...” said Rarity, unsure how to respond. "Strange way for my 'sister' to talk, isn't it?" said Sweetie Belle, entering from the kitchen like the day before. "Huh?" said Rarity, twisting to face the unicorn, "Oh, hiya, Sweetie Belle! What's with you coming in the side door these days? I mean, I know you've got a key for it and everything, but..." "Don't worry, I didn't take any cake, this time. Me and Pinkie finished it all last night, anyway." "You silly filly, I didn't eat any cake here yesterday!" "I know. I said me and Pinkie did, Rarity." Behind Rarity's back, Pinkie was frantically swiping her hoof side-to-side under her mouth, trying to non-verbally tell Sweetie to 'cut it out'. The pink pony laughed nervously, "What... what are you calling me Rarity for? I'm Pinkie Pie." "I know what's happened, Rarity." "This is a little joke, right?" she asked Pinkie, "Ha ha ha! Oh, you two almost got me! Funny!" "Actually..." began the older unicorn. "You're not going to say what I think you are..." said Rarity through a forced smile. "There's a small, teensy, tiny, itty-bitty, little problem. Like, really tiny. So small you can only see it with a magnifying glass, and when you see it, you're like, 'Wow, that problem is really small! Aw, it's so cute!' and you wanna be careful so you don't hurt it. Then you wonder if it's hungry. Say, what do you think a problem would eat? Oh well, doesn't matter. So yeah, this small problem, and it really isn't that big—" "We get it!" said Rarity in an irritated tone. "Oh. Sorry. Well, um... you see..." "I had a nightmare last night and Pinkie said her name instead of yours by accident and that's when I found out you two switched bodies," said Sweetie Belle matter-of-factly. "She 'said her name'?" pondered Rarity. "Why'd you lie to me?" "Wh–what?" "You never told me about this! You lied about who you were! And you and Mom and Dad are always saying I shouldn't lie!" "Look... Sweetie..." "What, it's different when you lie?" "No, but this time..." "You're my sister! How could you look me in the eyes and lie to me?" Sweetie's words hit hard. Rarity let out a short sigh, feeling guilty. "We never told anypony else, either," she tried to reason, "We didn't want anyone to take advantage of the situation." "Like me?" "No, no, that's not what I meant!" "How'd it happen, anyway?" "It was... Twilight was trying out a new spell, and... er, me and Pinkie were affected." "Well get her to change you back, then!" cried Sweetie Belle, stamping a hoof. "Um... she can't, because... it wouldn't work. But she said it'll wear off in time," said Rarity, hoping her lie would come off as convincing. "How much time?" "I don't know. Shouldn't be that long. I hope." "Do you mean 'not that long', or do you mean 'a year'?" Rarity blanched. She didn't like the thought of having to live another life for a whole year. Or more. "Oh, nononono. I–I'm sure it won't take that long," she said with a nervous smile "I hope not..." replied Sweetie, then sighed, "I'm gonna go wash up for dinner." "Remember to wash—" "Behind my ears, yeah, I know," said the filly as she walked towards the stairs. After she had went into the bathroom, Pinkie piped up. "Hey, how come you didn't tell her about everypony else?" "Because then she might tell her Crusader friends and then there would be the danger of it getting out that way. Like I said, there are some ponies who might take advantage of the situation. It's just less complicated this way." "I think you should tell Twilight." Rarity mused on this. She knew the pegasus would get upset — maybe even angry — but it would be best if she told her. She would probably find out somehow, anyway. "You're right," said Rarity with a nod, "I'll let her know after dinner. What are we having?" "Vegetable soup. Sweetie Belle says she likes the way I make it!" replied Pinkie, purposefully leaving out Sweetie's comment about how it was 'better than her mother's", feeling that might be a little rude. "Really? I wish she said that about my cooking." "I could teach you how I do it, if you want." "No disrespect, but I'd like to have a taste of it, first." "Sure!" Rarity smiled, then looked up the stairs as Pinkie walked into the kitchen. "Has she gotten lost in there? Sweetie! Are you done?" she called. The door opened and the filly stepped out, drying her ears with a towel, "Yeah, I'm done, you." "Please, Sweetie, don't be like that..." said Rarity as Sweetie Belle made her way down. The young unicorn stopped in front of the earth pony and looked up at her. “I'm sorry,” apologised Rarity, “But listen, don't say anything about this to anypony else and... maybe I'll get you something from Sugarcube Corner." Sweetie looked unimpressed, "Oh, good." "Let's put it this way: when you come home from school on Friday, you might find a five-pack or two of Wurly-Twurls on your bed." The filly's eyes widened, "...Pack?" "All for you. Or you can share with your friends, if you want." Rarity had long known what her sister's favourite chocolate bar was. It didn't surprise her in the least to see a long, winding bar in the fridge after she and Scootaloo had came back with the ingredients for the chocolate cake. "Really?" "Of course. Keep it up and you may discover another pack mysteriously appearing in your room." The filly couldn't do anything other than swallow to drain her watering mouth. "See? I'm still your sister. Who else would know your favourite candy bar? Even mother and father don't know for sure." This made Sweetie smile, "Okay. I won't tell anypony." "Are we good?" asked the earth pony. "...Yeah. I'm sorry, Rarity." Rarity took her sister into a hug, "No, I'm sorry. But you understand why we can't let anyone know, right?" "Yeah." "Good. Now, let's get something to eat, hm?"