//------------------------------// // Sister Swap // Story: Switched By Earth // by Mystical Rainboom //------------------------------// In an attic in a house grey field, a circular plate with 4 colors and four marbles sat alone. Suddenly a squeak came from a wall. A hairy rat ran up to the disc and stared at it. Meanwhile, In Ponyville four mares were sleeping in the same room. The Pie sisters were each asleep with their own expressions. Pinkie slept with a smile, Maud slept with no real emotion in her face, Limestone slept like she was constantly on guard, and Marble Pie slept like she was scared. Suddenly, the rat took a marble and tried to bite it. A squeak of pain ran through the air and her started swearing. He jumped off in frustration and sent the disc in a spin. The sisters in Sugarcube Corner suddenly swapped expressions about a dozen times. Then an alarm clock went off and a grey hoof nearly beat it into the desk. Limestone woke up and sprang for a hug. "Good morning!" Pinkie was surprised by this and tried to get loose, but Maud didn't have to even try. She escaped and marched to the window to see outside. "C'mon, grouchy pants. Smile for us." Limestone said. "Maybe later. I've got other things to do." Maud said in an angry voice. Marble had gotten up and brushed her teeth. She had escaped her sister, but showed no sign of emotion. Pinkie slowly crept into the bathroom after her. The group went downstairs and waited on Limestone to make breakfast. She wasn't the best cook, so Pinkie went in to try an help. She had to be pushed into the room to motivate her though. Suddenly, Twilight Sparkle came in to visit. "Morning, everypony." Twilight smiled. "Hi." Pinkie said in a soft tone. "Hello." Marble said in a monotone voice. "Who are you again?" Maud asked in a frustrated tone. Limestone suddenly broke into a dance and started singing a hello song. She bounced through the room and eventually stopped right in front of Twilight, who looked confused. "Er...are you all okay?" Twilight asked with a grin on her face. She wasn't so sure if this was abnormal with the Pies or not. "We're fine." The group said in unison. "Okay the-" Twilight was cutoff by a loud gasp. "Pinkie! You Never told me you had so many instruments here!" Limestone brought down a bunch of instruments. "Oh well. I don't exactly remember-" Pinkie said as she was also cutoff. "Thank you!" Limestone grabbed a drum and harmonica and started making music. The neighbors assumed it was Pinkie, but when she walked out the house with her hair deflated they felt something was off. The quartet had plans to meet Twilight and the others for a picnic. They all went to an open field and took spots. The ponies immediately felt something was strange. Pinkie and Applejack described the group before, but that suddenly seemed far off. Maud was examining the ground with a sea of anger in her eyes. Marble was having a full fledged conversation with Applejack and everyone, but it still felt like talking to a wall with a mouth. Pinkie Pie was acting like Fluttershy without a single lesson. Her attempts to run away were constantly thwarted by Limestone, who was making balloon animals and bouncing around with a ton of energy. "Pinkie, you seem awful quiet today." Twilight said. "I'm fine." Pinkie looked at the ground. "Are you trying impressions again? I do a much better Fluttershy than that." Rainbow said. "Err...I mean you seem pretty timid today." Fluttershy stared at Rainbow Dash for a second. She then turned towards Limestone, who was acting just like Pinkie before Twilight moved to town. "I'm fantastic! I could sing a song about the joy I have!" Limestone shouted. "I didn't even ask you yet." Fluttershy looked amazed. "I was reading your mind." She said. Rarity turned towards Maud. She said hi and Maud just glared and said hello. "How are you today?" Rarity asked suddenly feeling nervous. "I'm fine. I've already said it twenty times." Maud had an angry expression and voice to match. "Twilight, can I speak to you for a moment?" Rarity asked as she pulled her away. "What's wrong?" "That is not Maud Pie!" Rarity shouted in a whisper. "I know she can be hard to understand sometimes, but we probably never noticed her emotions on that level before." "I went to the Pie Sister Celebration Day thing. She didn't show a single drop of anger at a swindling colt or anything else. She'd never get irritated by simple questions so much." "How do you know that?" Twilight said. "Pinkie has told me she's never gotten a real dent out of Maud in years. The other's are acting as if they've been swapped over too." "Maybe we should ask them." Twilight said. "We can hear you!" All of the Pie sisters shouted. The group brought up the trouble and remembered a family heirloom in their home, the sibling rock plate. It was as strong as earth tectonic plates, and represented all for of them. They each had a marble to put on it. If the marbles were rearranged, they didn't know what would happen. Pinkie could never get close enough to it as a filly. The group went to the farm to sort things out, but the Pies memories were a bit frazzled and they couldn't remember where they lived. They eventually made it. Rainbow flew over and tried to look on a giant boulder, but Maud snatched a lasso and yanked her back. "What the-?!" Rainbow Dash said as she plummeted to the ground. "Don't touch Houlder's boulder." She said with a fiery glare. The group found the sibling plate and the marbles. They tried rearranging them. The dots were individually colored with one matching spot each. They put them together and now Pinkie had flat hair and a monotone voice. "I don't think that's right." Rainbow started to laugh a bit at how Pinkie looked while being Maud. She eventually tried to rearrange them from oldest to youngest. "Will you hurry up!" Apparently Marble had taken her angered sister's tone. "Drat! It didn't work." "No you've got them mixed up. Maud's the oldest." Applejack tried to rearrange them and found the sisters were still mixed up. Maud suddenly bounced into the room and found a photo. "Awww. Such a cute photo." She showed it to her sisters and it had the plate in it. "Was I really that small?" Limestone said. Twilight grabbed the picture and tried arranging the marbles again, but something was missing. A big rock was stolen from the plate. They looked around for it, but a squeaky voice was swearing in the wall. Fluttershy looked in to see a mouse with a chipped tooth and the rock. "Hello Mr. Rat." Fluttershy called him. He came closer to her and complained about his tooth and explained what happened. He also proved have a colorful vocabulary too. "I know it hurts, but can we please have that rock you have in there?" Fluttershy asked. "Thank you." The rodent complied and gave her the rock and she returned the favor with a few cherries. Once the deed was done, the sister went back to normal. They found a note that said their parents were out on business and to get a new case for the plate. "I'm me again." Pinkie said. "Well that's better." Maud said in her monotone voice. "I'm glad I'm back. This farm needs me." Limestone said. "Thank you." Marble said. Naturally, they left things as they were, but with a temporary magic shield.