"RAINBOW DAAAAAAASH!!!!"
The pegasus looked up at the glaring alicorn from behind a bush. She smiled an innocent smile, followed by an adorable squee. Still, the accusing stare remained intact. "Hehe, 'sup, Twi? Just came by for a short visit, that's all."
"And for a quick snack as well, apparently." She pointed out the spread of berry juice on Dash's muzzle. "How many times do I have to tell to stay away from my blueberry patch? You know I have to grow them just right in order for me to use them to make my new potion."
"That's just it, Twilight." She used her tongue to wipe away the juice remains on her face. "You're growing them so well, it could make AJ jealous! Plus, they're not even in season! I can't resist trying some while they're here."
"Well, I can't stand you trying to GET some while they're here! This is the third time this week, and I've had enough of this!"
"Awww, come on, Twilight! I still left you some!" She motioned over to a small bunch of about five blueberries left on the bush. "See? I didn't eat them all!"
Twilight half sighed, half grumbled at the sight. "How about next time, you leave me a little more than that. Let's say, THE WHOLE BUSH!"
"But Twilight..."
"No buts!"
"They're sooooo good!"
"Too bad. If you want some so badly, go grow some yourself!"
"But they won't be as good as yours..."
"If you use the proper technique, they could."
"But Twiiiiliiiight..."
"RAINBOW!"
She got up in Rainbow's face and said, "I don't want to see you sneaking a meal from my bushes again. If I do, there will be consequences! Do I make myself clear?"
Rainbow Dash whimpered and backed up a bit. Suddenly, she flew up her arms in frustration. "Fiiiiine!" She then flew off, mumbling to herself as she went.
"That pegasus, I swear, she can be such a nuisance!" said Twilight to herself as she walked back into her castle. The princess walked into her huge chemistry lab, where she created another concoction to regrow the eaten berries quicker. She walked back outside to pour it on, when suddenly, a pink figure came into view.
"Hey, Twilight! Whatcha doing?!"
"GAH!" The sudden exclamation caused her to stumble back a bit. "Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here?!"
"Oh, my eyebrows were twitching!"
"..."
"That means Dashie is causing trouble, and it lead me here!"
"Oh, well, you could definitely say that. Though, I wish you would've come here two days ago. For the last few days, Rainbow has kept coming here and eating my blueberries, knowing full well that they're meant for an important potion I've been working on."
Pinkie went over to investigate the ruined crop. She took out a magnifying glass from her hair. "Hmmm, veeery interesting...but it's quite simple!"
Twilight cocked her head. "What is?"
"Why she keeps taking your blueberries!" She couldn't help but giggle. "Don't you know how much Dashie loves them? Like, so much that she would eat anything blueberry related once she sees it?"
Twilight simply blinked. "Really?"
"Of course! In fact, she's been my number one taste tester for my blueberry sweets, like muffins, pies, cobblers, tarts, candies, smoothies, pretty much anything you can think of!"
"Wow, she must really like them..." said Twilight.
"You can say that again! She almost likes them as much as cider, but not quite. Though, I understand why you're in quite a 'bunch!' Heehee!"
Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes at Pinkie's little joke. "Yeah, I'm thinking about putting a barrier around it, with small holes on top to allow it to still get its necessary amount of sunlight, and..."
"No, don't do that!" interrupted Pinkie.
"...Why not?"
"Well, I guess you could do that, but that's the boring way of doing it. I know a much better way to keep her away, and at the same time, teach Dashie a lesson."
Twilight was a bit intrigued by what Pinkie was talking about. "What do you have in mind?"
"Come with me, and I'll show you!" With that, she started skipping away to Sugarcube Corner, Twilight following close behind. The pink pony trotted up to her room. Once they were both in, she closed the door and locked it. She looked around her and through the window to see if anypony was watching. When she was sure they were safe, she opened her drawer. From inside, she pulled out a spray bottle of some sort of blue liquid.
"Uh, Pinkie, what is that?"
"This is a very, super duper secret formula that I made. It's actually a prank I was intending just for Dashie, but then I thought that this would be taking it too far. But, we're not using it for a prank. We're using it to teach her not to steal from you never, ever again!"
Twilight inspected the blue liquid inside the bottle. "What does it do exactly?"
"That's what's so funny about it. I got the idea for it when I was eating some cupcakes, and Mr. Cake came up to me and said, 'If you eat too many cupcakes, Pinkie, you might just turn into one!' That's when I thought, 'Oh my gosh, that would be the perfect prank! Especially if I did it to a certain blue pegasus who just so happens to love a certain juicylicious fruit!' So that's where this comes in!"
The alicorn thought about what her friend just said, then gasped. "Pinkie, you didn't..."
The party pony burst out into a fit of giggles. "Yepper deppers! But don't worry, she doesn't really turn into one, she just turns blue and fills up with this stuff!" she said shaking the bottle.
Twilight winced slightly. "But, she won't be like that forever, will she?"
"Silly Twilight! Of course she won't! After making this, I made a super duper big juicing machine for Dashie."
"You WHAT?!"
"So, what do you say, Twilight? Wanna give this a shot?" she said, ignoring Twilight's question.
Believe it or not, Twilight actually DID want to do this! Finally, she can get some revenge on that cocky pegasus. This may not be the best for her reputation as the princess of friendship, but it was all just to get some sense into Rainbow's noggin. "Okay, let's do this!"
Despite Twilight's warning, it seemed as though those berries were calling Rainbow's name; those ripe, plump, juicy berries that made her mouth water. Today, she was going to get some of them, despite the consequences, and possibly the end of her life. "Just one bite, that's all I need." she thought to herself as she snuck behind Twilight's castle to her giant berry bush. Just above, in a puffy, white cloud, Twilight and Pinkie spied on their cyan friend, watching her circle around her prey.
"Are you sure this is safe, Pinkie?" whispered Twilight. "I sorta wish we tested it first."
"Awww, don't worry, Twilight, she'll be just fine! I also remember testing it on Gummy, and it worked perfectly!"
"On Gummy...? Oh well, if you say so."
They continued to watch Dash as she took her first bite. Suddenly, her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "Oh no," thought Twilight, "she can taste it. She's gonna spi-"
"MMMMMMM!"
Suddenly, Dash dove her face into the bush and greedily started to eat all the blueberries she could fit in her mouth, swallowing mouthful after mouthful of juice when she bit down, causing them to explode in bountiful rivers of liquid. Some of the juice leaked from between her lips, her puffed cheeks not being able to hold the heavenly extract before she could swallow.
"Heeheehee, perfect! The more berries the better!" claimed Pinkie as she gazed at Dash through a pair of binoculars. "Ooo! I think it's starting!"
Twilight looked down to see a peculiar sight: Rainbow's nose was turning a deep, rich blue. The color started spreading across her face, to her neck, to her chest, to her belly, to her legs, and finally her rump, Though, Rainbow didn't seem to notice the sudden change, as she was too mesmerized to pay any attention. Twilight took out the notepad she brought along with her. The princess decided it she should make some observations; maybe she could do some experiments later.
*GUUUURGLE!!!*
The sudden noise startled the three ponies, meaning Rainbow was broken out of her trance. "Wha...huh? What's going o..." Rainbow looked down at herself and shrieked. Her body wasn't the totally awesome, sky blue that she knew she was. It was more like an ocean blue, no, a deeper blue than that. Maybe like...
*GUUUURGLE!*
"Oooh...I don't feel so good..." she mumbled to herself. Her belly felt queasy, like she just at a huge meal at Applejack's place and Pinkie Pie brought dessert to go along with the farm pony's share. Dash reached down to rub her sore midsection, but something didn't feel right. It felt like her belly was...changing. She slowly looked down and, to her horror, she was right. Only, it wasn't really changing, it was growing!
"GAH! W-WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!" she cried, the rumbles and gurgles still dancing in her swelling tummy. The swelling didn't stay in her stomach, though. She noticed it was starting to happen everywhere! Her legs and back were filling up at a quick a pace. A slight disbalance in her stance made her turn around to realize her behind was getting round and plump as well. Her face turned a deep violet. "Thank Celestia, nopony can see me right now." she thought.
Although, Twilight and Pinkie Pie still kept watch in the clouds above, Twilight's jaw hung agape. "How is this physically possible?!" she asked. "This must be terrible for her organs! It could cause displacement, damage, and what about her bloodstream? Do I even have to mention skin elasticity?"
"Twilight, trust me, nothing bad is going to happen to Dashie!" insisted Pinkie. "I would never hurt her, and you know that! Though, there was this one fanfic I heard of..."
"Never mind tha- wait, what?" Twilight shook her head. "Once again, never mind. My point is that I think we should go down and help her."
"I guess she isn't very happy about this, is she?" said Pinkie, observing the swelling pegasus. By now, Rainbow Dash has grown to the point her belly lifted her hooves off of the ground, rendering her immobile. She flailed her hooves, whining and whimpering about her situation. Desperate to find help, she flapped her wings for takeoff. Unfortunately, her newly acquired weight kept her anchored.
"Somepony, please, help me!" she whined.
"Yeah, I'd think she'd like a visit." agreed Pinkie. Then, from out of nowhere, she pulled out a pair of oars and rowed the two of them to the ground.
"I'm not even going to ask." said Twilight as they landed. They approached the still growing pony. Dash shrieked when she saw them.
"Twilight! Pinkie! Keep questions for later. You have to help me!"
"Really, Rainbow? You think you're just spontaneously inflating and you don't even think about what I said to you yesterday? I told you there would be consequences if you ate my berries again!" said Twilight, a stern look on her face.
"What? You mean...YOU'RE TURNING ME INTO A BLUEBERRY?!"
"Actually, it was Pinkie's idea." Hearing this made Pinkie grin a sheepish grin.
Knowing this didn't help Rainbow feel any better. "PINKIE?! Why would you do this to me?!"
"I'm sorry, Dashie. When Twilight told me about what you've been doing, I remembered that I had a mixture I made for a prank, but decided to keep because I was worried I would be taking it too far. But this is to keep you from stealing from Twilight, no pranking whatsoever."
The two kept backing up as Dash kept expanding to incredible sizes that Pinkie herself couldn't believe. The swelling showed no signs of stopping. Rainbow's face soon swelled up, removing her speech completely, leaving her to only moan in protest. Her hooves disappeared into the big, blue ball that was her body.
"Uh, Pinkie, is she almost done?" asked Twilight with a worried look on her face as she looked up at the towering blueberry in front of her.
"I-I'm sure it'll be very soon." the party pony replied, her voice shaking slightly. "But, of course, we should be concerned for ourselves as well, Twilight."
"Huh?"
"DUCK FOR COVER!!!!!!!"
Pinkie dashed behind a nearby bush, waiting for the impending doom to strike. Before Twilight could say anything, she was pulled next to her. The pink pony dug in the bush and pulled out an umbrella big enough for the two of them.
"P-Pinkie, I-I thought you said she w-wouldn't-"
"I TAKE THAT BACK!"
Meanwhile, Dash, accepting her fate, was calmly praying her final prayers to Celestia in her head.
"Dear Celestia, please don't let me pop, please don't let me pop, please don't let me pop! I can't die like this! I'm too awesome! I have a life to live! Scootaloo has her first flying lessons tomorrow, and I can't miss that! Plus, if I explode, I can't get revenge on Pinkie Pie for this! So PUH-LEEEAAASE MAKE IT STOOOOOP!"
I'd say she's taking this quite well.
*GUUUUUUuuuuuuuuurr...rr...r...*
"..."
"..."
"..."
It stopped. It finally stopped.
Twilight and Pinkie slowly peeked out from their refuge. Rainbow was still there, but not splattered all over the castle. Instead, she was slowly rocking back and forth on her barrel. Pinkie crept up to her bloated friend, curious at the sight. She carefully lifted her hoof, and gave Dash a little poke.
"Mmph!"
Pinkie looked up and saw a very disapproving stare from her best friend. "Oops, heehee, sorry...Dashie..." Pinkie backed up behind Twilight. "I don't think she's in a very good mood."
"It makes perfect sense why." replied Twilight. She spread her wings and flew up to Rainbow Dash so they could talk face to face. Well, Twilight would do the most talking; I'm not sure about Dash. "Okay, Rainbow. I'm pretty sure you know why you are in this state."
Rainbow did her best to nod, since talking wasn't really her best option right now.
"Just to let you know, we will turn you back to normal, but we first need to negotiate. Now, Pinkie told me you have a bit of a sweet tooth for these certain berries. After thinking it over, I decided to offer you an agreement. When the berries are ripe, I will collect as many as I need, then I will give the rest to you. If you want more, I'll give you some seeds and my own personal copy of 'Better Equestrian Homes and Gardens' for you to use as reference. So, do we have a deal?"
Rainbow quickly nodded. Sure, she'd have to do some work, and maybe get a crew of earth ponies to help, but it was worth getting back to her normal size.
"That's good!" Twilight flew back down and faced Pinkie. "You know what to do, right?"
"Abso-tuta-lutely!"
Rainbow could swear she could feel the, from what she could remember from Pinkie's rambling speech earlier, blueberry juice boiling madly inside her due to the heat of her anger. Pinkie's speech, you may ask? Well, it seemed like when she agreed on Twilight's little deal, she fell into a trap of humiliation and embarrassment. The party pony grabbed a pair of stilts from the same bush she got the umbrella and used them to stand and talk to Rainbow. Then she went on about how sorry she was, but at the same time how really funny this whole ordeal was. She mentioned something about rolling her back to Sugarcube Corner, putting her in a huge "Dashie-sized" juicer, and squeezing her back to normal.
Rainbow thought to herself, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're gonna do what now?! Can't I have my say of how this should go down? Well, I guess I can't due to my stupid condition. It's like they set this up just to ruin my reputation. Why must the world be this way? WHYYYYY?!"
If you know Rainbow, you know she doesn't like anypony touching her hooves. That, and pretty much anywhere else. So, when you have two pairs of hooves pushing against you, it can be pretty uncomfortable. Also, the fact that they were doing it to roll her, which she didn't approve of in any sort of way.
Second, they just HAD to roll her through town where everypony could see her. This was one of those moments where she wished her iconic rainbow mane and tail were purple, too. Plus, she wished she could be a blank flank just for a couple minutes until they could get to the bakery, that way nopony would know it was her. There wouldn't have to be the embarrassing murmurs from the townsfolk saying, "Is that Rainbow Dash?!" "What in Celestia's name happened to Rainbow?!" "That's one way to get into the Equestrian Produce Competition."
Yeah, it wasn't pleasant. At least they didn't run into the Cutie Mark Crusaders on the way there. Having to explain to her number one fan why her idol was now a giant piece of fruit would have taken up a majority of their day.
Anyways, behind Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie had built an enormous juicing machine built just for a certain pegasus. "Here, Twilight. I want to return this to you." She handed Twilight a big book. The title read "Kitchen Appliances 101 - Improve Your Kitchen with Today's Modern Technology and More!" Twilight never remembered lending that book to Pinkie. She'd have to ask Spike about that later.
"Pinkie, I would like to inspect this before we put it to use." she said, looking over the contraption.
"Whatever you say!" replied the pink pony.
Much to her surprise, the machine was actually very well built! All she had to do was adjust some gears, tighten some screws, and simple fixes like that. "Wow, Pinkie, I never knew you were this good at building machinery!
"Oh, that's just from all the years of working on the rock farm." she replied. "We had to build a ton of stuff in order to mine and break up boulders and stones and stuff."
"Interesting...anyways, I think it's ready for use."
"OH NO! Oooooooh nonononono!" thought Dash to herself, and really wished she could say out loud. "There is no way you are gonna put me in THAT!"
Unfortunately, she felt the now oh-so-familiar feeling of hooves pressing against her, preparing to shove her into the huge contraption. She couldn't let this happen. There was no way this was going to work! She had to stop this madness.
"NO! You can't do this to me!" Rainbow screamed. "Do you have any idea what's going to happen? I'll be squished to nothing but a pile of mush! Please, I beg you, DON'T DO THIS!"
Well, it kind of worked. It just didn't come out the way she wanted. It was actually more like this:
"MMPH! Hmm mmph mm mmph mm hmm!" Rainbow screamed. "Mm hmm hmph mhmph mm-mph hmph mmph mm mph-mm? Mm mm mph mm mmph-m mph mm hmph mm mmph! Mmph, mm mmph hmm, MMPH MM MMPH!"
Pinkie and Twilight looked at each other, not being able to comprehend the pegasai's cries for mercy. "What do you think she's saying?" whispered Twilight to Pinkie.
"Let's juice her, then we can ask her when she's done!" Pinkie replied.
"I guess, if she still wants to ask." The two then continued to push Rainbow into the juicer, ignoring her muffled shouts to stop. After shoving her in and slamming the metal door shut, Twilight looked over to Pinkie and asked, "So, now what?"
Pinkie rushed over to the side of the machine and pushed some buttons, making it roar to life. "We wait." she answered. The earth pony zoomed away and back in a blink of an eye, bringing back with her a lawn chair, some sunglasses, and a strawberry banana smoothie. She reclined into her seat and released a sigh of contentment.
Twilight blinked a couple times before saying, "Well, if you say so." From her saddlebags, she pulled out a book to read for the remainder of the time.
The sun was about to make its descent over the beautiful land of Equestria. At the same time, a certain rumbling noise was fading away from behind Sugarcube Corner. With a snort, Pinkie woke up from her nap, while Twilight just finished up the novel she was reading. A green light flashed above the door, signaling its completion of the juicing process. "Oh goody!" cried Pinkie as she pressed a button to open the door. "I was beginning to think Dashie wasn't going to be fully juiced until next Tuesday!"
When the door opened, a slight flood of juice rushed out. "Oh dear," cried Pinkie, "I was sure the storage tanks were big enough!" Pinkie Pie peaked into the machine. "Yoo hoo, Dashie! How's it going in here? Feeling better?"
All that came out was a long groan and a couple mumbles.
"Rainbow Dash, are you okay?" asked Twilight as she came in. She illuminated the room with her glowing horn to check out the scene. Luckily, Dash was not a pile of mush and was returned to her normal size. Though, this procedure does lead to the following side effect: extreme soreness.
"I've never wanted to do nothing so badly in my life." replied Dash, limp and motionless. Twilight levitated Rainbow onto her back, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling of blueberry juice dripping onto her. Rainbow was soaked from head to hoof. Later, they were going to beg Rarity on her secret to removing these juice stains.
"We'll prepare you a nice, hot shower, Rainbow. After that, if you wish, you can rest at my place for a while." offered Twilight.
"Thanks, Twi. That would be awesome." During their slow walk back, Dash could finally relax and be happy that today's HUGE commotion was over with.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'LL BE BLUE FOR A WEEK?!" shouted Rainbow as hot water poured over her. Rarity had stopped by to help get the stains out. To avoid eternal embarrassment, they told her that Rainbow accidentally crashed into a blueberry stand at the market, which surprisingly was a good enough explanation for her. The scent of fancy soaps danced in the room, accompanying the mist and steam of the hot shower.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but as I've claimed in the past, blueberry juice stains are a pain to remove. Now, if you do this procedure right when you get up in the morning and right before you go to bed, you should be back to your normal, rainbow-y self by next week."
"But what about my job at the weather factory?" the pegasus complained. "I can't go to work looking like THIS!"
"I'm sure a simple visit to the manager's office with a quick note will suffice." replied Rarity, massaging soap into her back.
Rainbow sighed and slumped into the tub. She mumbled something to herself as she felt the cold shampoo drip from her head as it was applied.
"Don't worry, Dashie. Everything will be okay. I'll throw a "Get Better and Not-so-Blue Anymore" party!" claimed Pinkie, jumping up and down.
"NO!" cried Rainbow, some of the water splashing onto the floor.
Pinkie stopped in midair. She slowly descended. "Awww, why not?"
"Don't get me wrong, Pinkie. I love your parties, but I don't want everypony seeing me like this."
Pinkie nodded understandingly. Meanwhile, Rarity got out a towel. "Alright, Rainbow. You can get out, now."
Dash eagerly stepped out, but forgetting where she was, she began shaking the water off.
"Rainbow, stop it!" cried Twilight as she tried to block off the water.
"GAH! My hair, my hair!" It was pretty obvious who was saying that. The unicorn immediately covered Rainbow with a towel.
"Hey! What's the- oh yeah...sorry..." Rainbow wrapped herself up, impressed by how warm it felt against her fur.
"It's...quite alright." said Rarity as she patted herself down with a towel.
"Well, I'd better be getting home. All of today's events sure tuckered me out." claimed Rainbow as she hung up her towel (Not that she usually would do that, only for Rarity's sake. And the fact she didn't feel like getting a lashing from her.).
"What do you mean 'events', Dash?" asked Rarity. "I thought you only crashed into a blueberry cart, which I hear you do quite often. The crashing, not into a cart specifically."
"Well, you see, um..." Twilight tried to find an excuse for Rainbow, until Pinkie Pie interrupted.
"Oo! Oo! Is it story time? Rarity, you're going to LOVE this one! You see, what actually happened was that we turned Dashie into a bl-mmph!" Luckily, Dash covered her mouth before she could say anymore. She gave her the glare of glares, making sure her lips were sealed.
Rarity gave an odd glance between them. "Is there something else I should know?"
"Nope! Nothing at all! Everything is perfectly fine!" said Dash as she slowly removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth.
With that said, she gave a quick goodbye and flew out the door. After she left, Pinkie leaned over towards Rarity and whispered, "I'll tell you later." She also bid her farewells as she bounced out the door.
"Twilight, are you sure everything's alright?" she asked the alicorn.
"Oh, believe me, Rarity. After what happened today, I'm sure everything will be just fine."