"Amethyst, we need to clean up your room."
That was Garnet's order for the day for the, to be honest, annoyed Gem. Amethyst wasn't one to clean up her room, at least not in a way any normal person or pony would. Her "room", if one would call it such, was basically made up of a huge, crystal lined cave with light coming in from a waterfall close by. The floor was mainly sandy, with puddles and streams from the pre-mentioned waterfall flowing in, not that Amethyst minded much. What she did mind though was having to clean up her stuff. Many of this stuff consisted of all sorts of human knickknacks, from small little objects to pieces of furniture. Amongst these piles included animal hunting trophies, a fridge, a number of bikes, all sorts of instruments, and even a fully in tact T-Rex skeleton, just to name a few things out of her many piles of junk. To Amethyst, this was basically cleaning out her place, in terms of what goes where. Even if they all just look like piles for the nearest junkyard, Amethyst still had some spots still, in her own eyes, categorized (a pile with stuff for music, and another pile for extra weapons for instance). No matter the case, Amethyst still was put in charge of cleaning up her room to make it look a bit more decent. To Amethyst, "cleaning up" mainly would include throwing things away, and that was something she especially didn't want to do. On the bright side, if anything, she didn't have to do it by herself; a number of other Gems were also tidying up Amethyst's piles of trash everywhere. As for help in general, Amethyst got Pearl, Lapis Lazuli, Garnet, Peridot, Emerald, Fulgurite, and even Jasper was brought down to help out. As far as to who did what, it was self-explanatory. Garnet and Jasper handled some of the heavier stuff, Lapis and Pearl handled precise details, and Peridot and Fulgurite handled the lighter things. Amethyst wasn't thrilled at all with this idea, as she watched them all go through her things for stuff to throw out, and basically cleaning up her room.
"Come on, Garnet!" Amethyst whined, not wanting any of her stuff messed with.
"Amethyst, it has to be done," Garnet replied strictly.
"This is my room, I can handle it if I want to! You're messing up my whole system!" Amethyst retorted, arms out in emphasis. Her "system" was putting stuff in messy piles, really, but it was still her system. Unfortunately, not a system everyone agreed with. Before Garnet could go any further, the T-Rex skeleton was being pulled from place by Jasper, making amethyst rush over.
"Hey, put that down!"
"We don't even need this," snorted Jasper, as she held the T-Rex head up above her. She may not be too familiar with organic creatures, but, whatever owned this skeleton was pretty big and threatening indeed. She could care less though, as Amethyst tried to get it back in place before it collapsed into itself, being fragile enough as it was.
"It's called "decoration"? Seriously, who wouldn't love a T-Rex in their room?" Amethyst said, seemingly presenting the T-Rex skeleton to Jasper. Rather than ask what a T-Rex was, Jasper just rolled her eyes, pinching the bridge of her gemstone.
"Not even my room's this clustered," Jasper groaned. She didn't care much for cleaning either, but at least her room didn't look this bad. Nearby, suddenly a pile of picture frames and paintings were levitated in the air by Emerald, who was enjoying this just as much as Amethyst was ... other words, not at all.
"Can't we just chuck this stuff in the sea or something? nobody and nopony for that matter bothers with it there, and I see humans do it all the time," Emerald suggested, wanting the job over and done. Pearl however was against it.
"The sea's polluted enough with them involved, there won't be any life left in the ocean if we dump all this in," Pearl said in a salty tone.
"Oh, HA HA, very funny," Amethyst sarcastically remarked, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. Seriously, she knew things were messy, but she didn't need that kind of salt-filled remark from Pearl. She'd much rather do anything else than this; stuff her face, sleep the day away, anything but this.
"You go on ahead, fine, I'll be with Steven if you need me," Amethyst said, just about to head out the door for someone who'd rather play than work. However ...
"No, Amethyst, you help too. Besides, Steven isn't here," Garnet told her, making the purple Gem stop.
"Where'd he go?"
"He went with his father to show him Equestria today. It'll give you enough time to clean up," Garnet said, going through a pile of furniture, and pulling out a old-used sofa. Groaning loudly, Amethyst decided to just bugger it, and get to cleaning up her piles of stuff.
"Alright, fine, I'll do it!" Amethyst groaned, finally going through one of her piles as Garnet wanted. The pile she started with was a pile of animal stuff, and as she tried to get something out of the bottom, the sheer force of her pulling managed to dislodge a rhino hunting trophy from its place, landing right on her head.
"OOF!"
The purple Gem sat down in a daze, the stuffed rhino head apparently replacing her own , even aimed like it was her real head. While unexpected, Pearl and Emerald couldn't help but snicker, as Amethyst tried to pull the head off of her own head. She'd not work for more than twenty seconds, and already she made a completely idiot of herself.
"Get it off," Amethyst murmured from in the rhino head. Peridot, being close by when this occurred, decided to try to pull it off herself. It wasn't exactly easy, but with a good *pop*, the rhino head was dislodged from Amethyst's head. Peridot flew back, landing on the ground with the rhino head staring her in the face. Peridot cringed, and tossed it aside, as Amethyst shook off the thick foam that was used to keep the head together. After Peridot tossed it though, something else suddenly rolled off of the pile, and landed nearby Amethyst, rolling out smoothly until stopping in front of them all.
The object looked fairly small, and appeared to look like some sort of odd Gem piece. It didn't look like any normal gemstone like they had on them, and once more, it didn't had any exact shape. If anything, it looked more like one of those Rubix cubes; multiple extensions of different colors put into one shape. Different sides showed different colors, and it made out different point like a chipped away, icy ball. The appearance alone wouldn't normally get attention, but the reaction it got from landing on the ground did; beginning to blink a little bit like a lightning bug or something.
"What's that thing?" Peridot questioned, pointing to it. Amethyst actually shrugged, her *hmm* sounding like "I dunno."
"Shouldn't you know what this is?"
"Hey, I can't keep track of everything in here!" snapped Amethyst, as Garnet went in and picked it up, looking it over a little bit more. As she held it in place with one hand, the object continued blinking, though it didn't appear to be anything dangerous really. Everyone took a moment to look at it, when it suddenly began to blink a bit faster, different colors aimed at different Gems. at first, the colors matched each Gem aimed at, but the second time it did this, the colors switched about quickly. Once that was done, it calmed down, and became dormant again.
"What's with the light show? It trying to give us seizures?" Emerald commented.
"Gems don't get seizures," stated Garnet, as she got it in a bubble easily. the object spun a little inside the bubble, but not much else. Garnet then turned to the others.
"I'll go handle this. you all keep going," Garnet decided. Garnet didn't entirely know what exactly it was herself, and she much rather have it in a safe bubble rather than have it. As Garnet began to walk away, the object inside the bubble started to spin some more, becoming agitated from being bubbled up. Garnet looked back at her bubble, but it was too late for her to react; the object spun around, and one of the sharp edges popped the bubble from the inside. Suddenly, it launched itself upward in the air fast, the lights blaring out of it like a electric disco ball, yet bouncing around as erratic as a rubber ball would. Everyone tried their best to catch it, but it moved too erratic for even Fulgurite to get it. The more it bounced around, the more brighter it got. And finally ...
*BOOM*
The object quick made a huge booming noise, a camera-like flash exploding out so no one could see what was going on. When the light cleared, and things calmed down, the object had disappeared, launching itself out of sight, and out the door during the light. As for the Gems themselves, no one was physically hurt, but they all needed a moment to regain their eyes from the glare that flash gave them. It took a few more seconds before they felt better, but then the Gem group began to realize something after a while. The first to regain herself was Pearl, but ...
"Uuughhh ... What happened?" Pearl groaned. However, her voice did not sound the same at all ...
"I don't know. That -" Amethyst cut herself off, noticing something was wrong with her voice too. There was a long silence, as everyone in the room began to try to piece together what the heck happened. Pretty soon though, it was starting to become painfully clear to every Gem there. Everyone looked eachother over more and more, and they all came to the big conclusion ...
"MY BODY!" Jasper gasped.
Sure enough, their bodies were indeed swapped! Quite a shocker, to say the least. In Jasper's case, rather than her huge Buffy body, she was stuck with Peridot's miniature doll body. Her large body, shaggy hair, and muscles were all gone, and Jasper didn't know exactly what to think. The same thing can be said about everyone else, their shocked expressions easily apparent as they tried to figure out who was stuck in what body. As for who was in Jasper's body. Well, if Jasper got Peridot's body, it was only reason to think that Peridot would've gotten Jasper's body. However ...
"This is new."
That was all Emerald could really say. In just a few seconds, he'd gain over double his height, triple in weight, and got muscles to put bodybuilders to shame. Of course, height was something she needed to get himself used to. He got up, suddenly finding himself towering over everyone else - something he couldn't do with his old body. Much to Jasper's anger, Emerald began checking himself out, his hands exploring a little bit.
"Dang, Jasper, you got some nice curves," Emerald complimented, making Jasper even more ticked off. Bad enough her body was switched, now someone else was pretty much feeling her up. Seriously.
"Stop that, you clod!" Jasper demanded. Of course they weren't the only one's having trouble; Pearl and Amethyst both were basically swapped too, and Pearl didn't enjoy being the opposite of herself. Pearl quickly figured out who had her body from the embarrassed smile.
"Amethyst!!" Pearl growled, going as far as to grab Amethyst by her throat.
"Eh, sorry about that."
"Sorry?! You manifested us into eachother's bodies! How're we supposed to -" Pearl stopped, getting very bugged by all of her new shaggy hair. "How do you even manage with all this hair?"
"How do I manage? Seriously, what did you do to yourself?" Amethyst retorted, referring to her new thin body. Sure, she was taller and that was nice, but Amethyst was more used to some more mass on her rather than being so rail thin. However, before their bickering could continue, suddenly they all heard someone becoming undone. The body switching didn't stop at the single Gems, and soon Garnet was soon split in two. Ruby stood firm, but with a deeply calm expression, though Sapphire looked absolutely terrified, both hands gripping her head. Pretty clear that Sapphire wasn't in her own body here.
"Everyone just relax. Arguing won't get us anywhere," Sapphire instructed, from Ruby's body. For whoever was in Sapphire's body, she was going through quite a rough stage with what she was trying to handle. Switched bodies meant switched powers, and only the real Sapphire knew how to properly control them.
"W-What just happened?! Where's my body?! Who has it?!"
Eventually she saw Jasper in Peridot's body.
"Give me back my body, you clod!"
"Oh, there's Peridot," Emerald commented. It was easy to figure out who was what when they call out their own bodies. Sapphire cleared her throat first.
"Okay, okay. Let's start with figuring out who's where. Sapphire."
"Amethyst."
"Pearl."
"Emerald."
"Jasper."
"Peridot."
"Lapis."
"Fulgurite."
"Ruby."
Well that was simple enough to figure out. Everyone in the room basically switched bodies with someone else, and the main result from that was complete confusion and worry. Sapphire was probably the calmest out of all of them, basically already understanding Ruby inside and out. Too bad she couldn't say the same for everyone else. After roll call was made out, Lapis (who was in Fulgurite's body) then pretty much brought up the elephant in the room.
"Where'd that thing go, anyway?"
"Its not here?! You gotta be kidding me," Ruby said (who was in Lapis's body).
"Don't worry. We'll find it eventually."
"Wait, I got it. Come on, Sapphire, check that future vision of yours, did you see where it ended up?" Fulgurite insisted, going right up to her. Unfortunately, Sapphire simply shrugged.
"Not my power anymore. I'll have to help Peridot with that," Sapphire replied, turning to Peridot, who was still trying to figure things out. If they were going to get anywhere, Sapphire's future vision was what they needed. However, since Peridot was now the holder of that power, that might be a lot of trouble to figure out. Sapphire went over to Peridot, getting her to her feet.
"In the meantime, it looks like we all have to play pretend for a while until we get this sorted out," Sapphire said, starting to go to the door. Lapis though wasn't so sure about it, and rushed over to Sapphire and Peridot. However, with Fulgurite's speed, that immediately got her charging right into the room wall in a blur. Lapis peeled herself off the wall, completely dazed, and trying to regain her senses.
"Easier said than done," sighed Fulgurite. Did they really need to deal with this kind of trouble?
"Eh, can't be too hard to play as Pearl. You just needed to practice like me," Amethyst said, hand to chest. Of course, Pearl got a little suspicious.
"What do you mean you practiced?" Pearl asked, judgmental. Amethyst cleared her throat.
"Hello, darling, I am Pearl. You did such a splendid job on making breakfast, but I'm afraid I have another engagement to keep, tidying up my room and all because I enjoy it O so much, because I'm the primpiest, and most stylish Gem in the whole team!"
There was a pause for a bit, Pearl annoyed at the past bit. Emerald smirked to Amethyst.
"Perfect impression," Emerald commented.
"I'm not primpy - whatever that is," Pearl said with a bemused expression. It was going to be a pretty weird day, they could all tell ...
~~~~~~
With each Gem swapped about, things had to be put under wraps until they could figure things out. If anyone told them this would happen, the most likely answer would probably be for it being ludicrous (sort of), but yet it happened anyway, even without Sapphire's future vision warning them in the first place. It didn't exactly help that what they ended up with was, more or less, not what they were used to. So, until they could get their minds and identities back into place, they had to figure out how each bodies worked, and the powers that came with them. Luckily for them, the other Gems weren't around to see what had happened, so they had that going for them anyway. At a more secluded area of the beach, far enough to not cause much trouble, one Gem though was taking this opportunity to check out what power his new body had. Emerald, being a normally small Gem, now had a body that towered over his own. With such power and strength now at his disposal, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Fortunately, the spot was where Jasper would normally go and train/release some stress. And now, with Jasper's body, Emerald decided to "release some stress".
"Oh yeah! I don't even feel it!" Emerald yelled, in the zone with testing out his newfound strength. Jasper stood aside, watching Emerald go all out on the boulders, rocks, and whatever else around. Jasper knew what Emerald was talking about, but what can she do to stop him with Peridot's body?
"Are you done beating up the place yet?" Jasper asked.
"You kidding me? This body's awesome! I mean look at this." Emerald then grabbed a huge boulder, and lifted it up with ease. Jasper wasn't really impressed. After all, this was her body Emerald was playing with, and Jasper basically did this a lot of times. Emerald, with one huge swing, threw the boulder clear out to the ocean. After that, he gave a flex of satisfaction, though he was enjoying the body more than just the strength it gave him, as a hand rested on his new enhanced hip.
"I swear, Jasper, how does a hot beefcake like you not distract every boy on the beach?" Emerald joked, showing off in front of Jasper. It felt rather uncomfortable to Jasper, mainly because she was basically having her own body being shown off by a male Gem. Like Jasper needed to be reminded this way how her body looked. Besides, she didn't know what this 'beefcake' was. Sure, she knew what a cupcake was thanks to a particular pink pony, but a beefcake?
"What's a beefcake? I'm a Gem, not food," Jasper said crossly. Emerald laughed, patting Jasper on her new pointy head.
"That's a Earth term - it means you look downright gorgeous with your muscles and your sweet curves," Emerald teased, again showing off Jasper's own body. Jasper blushed up, and thought the idea was downright ridiculous. She was a Gem to fight, not a Gem to show off her body to other Gems, or other races for that matter. Still, the cheeky Emerald pretty much showed off her beefy body to Jasper to prove his point. For Jasper, it was hard to watch, but harder to ignore.
"Stop. Just stop."
Emerald turned to her, bending down to better look to her (and possibly to show off the curves to Jasper's body).
"Aww, does widdle cheese puff wanna feel?"
"What's a cheese puff?"
Before Jasper got her answer, suddenly Emerald was on top of her - literally! Laying down comfortably, Emerald ended up having Jasper under him! Since Jasper had a body that was a lot smaller, she was pretty much smothered by Emerald's huge, thick body. Emerald laid on his side, resting his head on his hand, and shoulder in the sand, as his other arm rested on his hip. Jasper just avoided getting her entire body under Emerald, but only her arms and head stuck out as the rest of her was stuck between her own body, and the sand.
"When I get my body back, I swear on my Diamond's gemstone, I'll murder you," Jasper growled. Emerald didn't seem to care though, playfully giving Jasper a noogie with his giant fist. Oh how satisfying it will be once Jasper gets her body back when all of this was over ...
~~~~~~
"Okay, Peridot, breathe."
Back at the Beach House, Ruby, Sapphire and Peridot were staying there, trying to help Peridot figure out this future vision stuff. Peridot, personally, was very curious over how exactly Sapphire's future vision actually worked overall, but this wasn't what Peridot had in mind. She had plenty to work with, and plenty more to try to get used to (not that she wanted to keep it). This worry was also making the room a lot colder, as far as having ice form up where Peridot was sitting. The only other thing there was Lion, resting over by the front door next to the stairs, but since he was a animal, the Gems figured it was alright (how could Lion talk to anyone anyway?)
"How do you even deal with this?! All these pictures going through your head, how do you even control it?" Peridot asked, annoyed and freaked out over what the future vision was doing. All of the possible futures were really messing with Peridot's head, and she didn't know how to get them to stop! So many futures, none of them Peridot was sure would happen or not. Sapphire rested her hand on Peridot's back.
"Listen to me, all you have to do is calm down, and relax to get the visions to cease. The more frantic you are, the more visions become visible and unstable. Now, just breathe deeply," Sapphire instructed. Peridot tried to relax, ignoring some of the visions she was seeing, and after five minutes of breathing and calming her nerves, Peridot was as cool as a cucumber, the visions calming down, and now able to see the present much better.
"My stars. No wonder you're always so calm, Sapphire," Peridot said, getting her nerves together. Ruby and Sapphire were glad that Peridot wasn't getting paranoid from the vision surfing her mind took. Course, that wasn't Peridot's only issue; having one eye and a long dress past her legs wasn't Peridot's usual forte.
"Also, how do you deal with one eye? It's so we - uh I mean, special. Yeah, that's what I meant," Peridot said, correcting herself so she wouldn't insult Sapphire. Still, Sapphire could understand Peridot's feelings towards the changes, especially when changing from two decent-sized eyes to one big one. That, and being able to turn any place into ice was also something to trouble over.
"Don't worry, I understand your discomfort, Peridot. You'll have your own body back once we figure things out," Sapphire promised. Peridot felt good after hearing that, a sigh of relief, but suddenly another vision rushed through her head, not anticipated by her own will. This one was quick, short, and showed Flint and Jade coming in soon ... And sure enough ...
"Hello, everyone," Jade said.
As if like clockwork, Flint and Jade both soon enter the room from the back door, Ruby, Sapphire and Peridot seeing them. To Jade and Flint though, it was Lapis, Sapphire, and Ruby there, not aware of the body swapping earlier.
"Hi, guys! What's up?" Ruby asked, trying to act friendly like Lapis Lazuli would normally do. On the bright side, the voices changed with their bodies, so trying to change their voices wasn't much trouble to do, and it seemed to work with Jade and Flint.
"Had any of you seen Diopside anywhere?" Flint asked, arms crossed as per usual. None of them seen the girl around, so, this answer was pretty easy to say.
"No, we didn't. sorry," Peridot answered, acting calm and collective like Sapphire normally does. The two were bummed out from that, as Lion raised his head to look at them. It was Flint though that noticed the ice on the couch, but he didn't know Sapphire that much, so he dismissed it as just a side effect to her powers.
"Well, thank you anyway. Come on, Jade," Flint said, beginning to go out the door. Jade nodded to the three, who were relieved that the two didn't suspect anything wrong with the situation. Lion knew what was going on though, and got up soon after Flint and Jade left. Peridot, getting worried again over what Lion might do, went right over to him, falling to the ground and holding Lion's front paw.
"W-Wait, please, please, please, don't tell them. Please, Lion," Peridot begged. Lion knew it wasn't such a good idea, but to get Peridot to let go (and avoid freezing him in place), Lion just nodded yes and slipped his cold paw from Peridot's grip, stepping outside before it closed on him. Peridot sighed in relief, still on the floor. Still, Lion took an extra glance from outside before walking off from the Beach House. This feline knew this wasn't going anywhere at this rate, especially if they were going to be quiet about it to the other members of the team.
~~~~~~
"Amethyst!"
With a hop in her hooves, and a sharp eye out, Pinkie Pie had come back around to their world from Equestria, finding it a nice moment for meeting her purple Gem. Since her friends were still going about with Steven and Greg in Equestria, and since Pinkie Pie had finished her bit when showing him Sugarcube Corner, she felt in her heart that it'll be a nice moment to get Amethyst for a nice favor she had in mind. As for where she ended up to locate Amethyst, the magic door her key had got her nearby the farmhouse. Not seeing the place in sometime, and a nice spot to see if Amethyst was indeed somewhere around here. As Pinkie hopped over, she tried to see of anypony was around, but she couldn't see anyone there. She then gave a whistle.
"Here, Amy, Amy, Amy -" Pinkie was suddenly cut off when she heard something zoom by behind her, too fast for her to catch a glimpse of it. Pinkie turned around, feeling the wind rush against her tail, but didn't see anything. Soon, she felt the same rush behind her again, closer that time, but then she spun around and saw who it was. To her eyes, it was Fulgurite with Emerald holding onto her, but in reality, it was Lapis and Fulgurite in body-swap mode. The two didn't notice Pinkie yet.
"Did I do good there?" Lapis asked, though Fulgurite was in a bit of a daze, the body she got not used to such high speed.
"Yeah. you got it," Fulgurite responded, before falling down onto the ground. Lapis still wasn't used to going so fast just by running, but at least she got the main idea down without charging through a wall. As for Fulgurite, she wasn't bothering to get used to her body; she wanted her body back A.S.A.P. It wasn't until Fulgurite landed, and looked up to the sky, when Pinkie Pie suddenly popped up in front of Fulgurite.
"Hi, Emerald!"
"Oh. Uh, hi Pinkie," Fulgurite replied. Pinkie Pie hopped over Fulgurite, looking up to Lapis (who she thought was Fulgurite).
"Hi, Ms. Sparky!" Pinkie Pie said with a big grin. While knowing her, Pinkie had come up with her own nicknames for the Gems, Ms. Sparky being for Fulgurite for her electric powers. however, Lapis Lazuli wasn't aware of this, and she made a critical error; she hesitated.
"Uh, yeah, hey Pinkie Pie. Thought you were helping Steven," Lapis said, rubbing the back of her head. Pinkie, being the childish pony she was, didn't take in account of the sudden toned-down behavior just yet.
"Steven's got it covered with his daddy tour of pony world. you seen Amethyst anywhere; got a super duper fun thing for her that I just KNOW she'll love to do without question!"
Talk about forcing it in, and in this case, that meant telling her where Pearl was, not Amethyst. Still, if any task by Pinkie was for Amethyst, maybe it wasn't the best idea to get the pink pony involved with her. Lapis and Fulgurite tried to think of something to say, Pinkie Pie quickly catching their hesitation.
"Well, I don't know if it's such a good idea," Lapis quickly said. Pinkie tilted her head in confusion.
"Why not?"
"She's on mission, that's why - Garnet got her on it this morning while you were away, and we don't have a clue when she'll be back, right Fulgurite?" Fulgurite quickly said, nudging Lapis to play along.
"Uh, Y-Yeah that's right! Slipped my mind. sorry Pinkie, another time then?" Lapis said. Pinkie Pie, having gone through a similar situation before involving a chase all over Ponyville to get at Rainbow Dash, and her having a bucket of turnips for a friend for a few minutes, knew a bit more than that. Pinkie took a good look at them both, a suspicious stare eyeing them both down, even if Lapis was taller than her. The two kept on their smiles to try to look innocent, as Pinkie tried to read into what they were really trying to say ... Eventually, Pinkie quickly got happy again.
"Okie dokie lokie! I'll just check in on Garnet when she'll be back. See ya!"
And with a quick pink blur, Pinkie Pie bolted off before anyone could stop her. Oh well, they were out of hot water, for now at least.
~~~~~~
Unfortunately for the swapped Gems, it wasn't just Pinkie Pie going about from Equestria to look for a Gem; with a magic door opening up closer to the Beach House, this time it was Rarity who decided to come around to visit. She stepped out onto the sand, her hooves comfortably taking each step, as the door closed behind her, and Rarity putting the magic key away. She looked over to the Beach house, where Lion was still sitting around by the sandy shore. Like Pinkie, Rarity had a sort of planned date with one of the Gems, and now she decided to come over to get her. As she trotted over the sand to the Beach House, Rarity took a moment to see Lion, who got up once she approached.
"Oh, hello Lion. Nice day, isn't it?" Rarity said, stroking Lion's mane. As she did this, Lion began to hear something coming their way from further up the beach. It started out small, but was growing very fast as whatever was coming closed in fast. Lion took a glance up the beach, and quickly pulled Rarity away as Pinkie rushed by them, skidding to a stop over by the Beach House porch steps.
"Hi Rarity! Hi Lion!" Pinkie said, waving her hoof. Only until after Pinkie Pie bolted by did Lion let Rarity go, and letting the unicorn move around. Rarity trotted over to Pinkie Pie.
"Ah, Pinkie, nice to see you," Rarity said, as they both went up the Beach House steps.
"Cool to see ya too, Rarity! Here for a Gem too?" Pinkie asked.
"Well, not the proper way to put it. Me and Pearl were going to work on a collaboration dress, but she didn't show up so I'm here to see if she's available," Rarity explained.
"Oh, I need Amethyst to eat up some yummy sweets for me," Pinkie replied. Pretty soon, the two ponies were right in front of the front door. Lion snuck to the bottom of the stairs, and watched as Rarity used her magic to open the door. Comically, the two were hit by a deep cooling wave, enough to have snow cover them from head to hoof. The two took a moment before shaking off the snow, and seeing what happened inside. Inside, Peridot and Sapphire both were still inside, but Peridot's worrying over if Lion was going to spill the beans (somehow) kinda froze the place up, the floors and ceiling covered in a thin, cyan blue ice sheet. It was a odd thing to see, and considering the two ponies knew Sapphire for a longer while, that just upend the ante.
"WOO! INDOOR ICE RINK!" Pinkie beamed, immediately starting to skate around the house. Peridot didn't mean to, by any means, but she still didn't had a grip on the ice abilities. Trying to balance herself, Rarity got herself over to the center of the room, over to who she thought was Ruby and Sapphire, but really Sapphire and Peridot. Sapphire was worried to look.
"Pardon me dear, but, is everything okay?" Rarity asked, as Pinkie happily was zooming around on the ice in the background.
"Y-Yes," Peridot replied, though trying to be calm wasn't something she wads getting good at by this point. Of course something was wrong - the whole house was frozen! Rarity still wasn't sure if she should believe that.
"You sure, darling?" Rarity asked, trying to keep from falling onto the floor.
"I'm sure, really. What brings you by?" Peridot replied, still a bit jittery. Sapphire couldn't watch this, and even without her future vision, could sense things were going downhill. Rarity cleared her throat.
"Well, I was wondering if Pearl was available. She and I were going to work on a dress together, but she didn't show up," Rarity explained, Pinkie still skating around, not paying attention to what was going on. Sapphire decided to answer this time.
"Oh. Well, honestly ... I haven't seen her. She's probably off on -" before Sapphire could finish, they all heard the door open up, Amethyst walking in. Being stuck with Pearl's body was a pain, but Amethyst had it handled by just staying in her room. Amethyst wasn't aware of what was going on though, and after stretching her arms out from a nap, Rarity (trying not to fall), went over to her, thinking she really was Pearl.
"There you are, Pearl dear. Pardon for my intrusion, but, you ready to work on our dress?" Rarity asked, excited to begin as anypony. Of course, Amethyst didn't know a thing about this, nor knew what she was talking about.
"Wha?"
"Uh, our project? We talked about it over tea yesterday, remember?" Rarity asked, obviously confused. Amethyst didn't know what to say to get out of it. Pearl glanced over to the others. As Pinkie was busily zooming around, Peridot, worried, quickly made a slicing motion across her throat. This was something Amethyst had to just roll with.
"Oh, oh yes, the collaboration, of course! How could I possibly forget?" Amethyst said, trying to act formal like Pearl would. The attempt wasn't very impressive, and Sapphire could only pinch the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes.
"Oh? Well, in that case, let's be on our way," Rarity said, beginning to open another magic door. Before they left though, suddenly Pinkie leaped right onto Amethyst, holding herself up with her front hooves wrapped around Amethyst's torso.
"Hey, Pearl! You seen Amethyst around? Is she done with her mission yet?" Pinkie asked, looking around with a hoof over her eyes like scaling the horizon. None of them knew where that came from, and weren't prepared for it. Then again, who would be prepared for Pinkie's antics, really? Rather than let Pearl off the hook, Amethyst became the lure.
"Oh, Amethyst? I last saw her over by the lighthouse, why?"
Before she answered, Pinkie Pie rushed right out the door, the ice probably making her go faster, as Rarity opened the magic door to go. If it's anyone's guess, Pinkie would find Amethyst in a maximum time of two minutes. Still, Amethyst couldn't get out of this, so, she had to go with Rarity. Pretty soon, with Peridot and Sapphire waving goodbye, Amethyst went through the door with Rarity, the door closing. Now, the two Gems didn't know exactly what to really do. When they glanced out the front window, what do they see?
Lion, sitting there, shaking his head slowly with a disappointed expression in his eyes.
"What?!" Peridot snapped.
~~~~~~
"So, why do you need me again?"
As expected, probably, Pearl was quickly found out by the lighthouse. Like Amethyst, Pearl figured just staying away until getting her old body back would make it easier on herself, but unfortunately, Pinkie Pie wasn't giving her the chance to even come up with an excuse. She'd have to deal with Amethyst later though, as she had to play out as Amethyst until Pinkie was done with her. On the bright side, at least for the time being, both Pearl and Amethyst had the same problem, so whatever Rarity was having Amethyst to do couldn't be any better for her. Soon, Pinkie Pie brought Pearl right over to Sugarcube Corner, as she told the other Gems, and happily went right inside. Pearl followed her inside, and what did she end up seeing?
Inside Sugarcube Corner, it turned out there was a ton of boxes, stacked up nice and high.
"I got an order earlier this morning, and I swore the customer said he wanted twenty cakes to go. Turned out he wanted just two, and now I'm stuck with eighteen yummy, super, duper, jelly cakey goodness!" Pinkie explained, as erratic and goofy as ever. It didn't take a scientist to know what Pinkie wanted, but there was a problem; Amethyst loved to eat, but Pearl did not. In fact, Pearl found eating as disgusting, but she was stuck with the body of a Gem who loved to stuff her face whenever the opportunity rises. It's too bad that Pearl now had to deal with it.
"So, you need me to eat up these cakes?"
"I knew you'd love it!" Pinkie answered, moving away to let her do her thing. Pearl knew all too well that she couldn't get out of this without Pinkie suspecting anything, so what else could she do other than begin? Pearl opened up one of the boxes, seeing a Jell-O cake inside, made up of blue Jell-O. Pearl got the cake out, not sure if she wanted to. Again, Pearl thought eating was completely disgusting for her to do, but she had to play out as Amethyst still for the time being. Pearl gulped, and opened her mouth, at the ready. Gathering up courage and guts, Pearl got the cake all in her mouth, tasting the cake in her mouth. Pearl chewed carefully, and after what felt like forever, finally swallowed. Pinkie Pie found it a little bit slow, but she still thought it was still Amethyst. It was far to celebrate though, as Pearl had many more to go ...
Oh joy.
.......
It took longer than Pearl would like, but after what felt like forever, she had just managed to finish up her food, much to Pinkie's delight. Amethyst felt stuffed like a Christmas goose, and stuck with the taste of Jell-O in her mouth. On the bright side, Pinkie felt happy that she found a good use for the goods she made by accident, and didn't had to throw anything away. For Pearl, she could only wonder how Amethyst was holding up on her end? Pearl had managed to hear what was going on with Amethyst thanks to Pinkie's rambling, and her next stop was straight off to Rarity's Ponyville boutique. She had to at least figure out if Amethyst had wrecked everything yet.
The walk was slow, but Amethyst did manage to get herself off to the boutique. Pearl knew well where Rarity worked, which in this case was up on the second floor. Just walking right into the boutique on a whim was out of the question, for Amethyst wouldn't normally bother herself when just stopping by for no reason, so she decided to took in from the Boutique window. Just inside the building, Pearl could see Rarity busily at work, and she saw Amethyst inside trying her best to help her out. From outside, Pearl could easily tell that she was having trouble figuring things out. Amethyst didn't know a thing about sewing, or making dresses in general, so this was hard to watch for Pearl outside. Pearl tried to think on what exactly to do in order to pull this off. Eventually, she got it, and began heading for the door. Soon, they both then heard a knock at the fornt door, with Rarity going over rather than Amethyst.
"Oh, Amethyst. Quite unexpected," Rarity said.
"Yeah, yeah. Hey, is Pearl in there, or what?" Pearl asked.
"Yeah, she's right here. Sorry, is there a problem?" Rarity asked, unsure why would Amethyst just stop by to see Pearl. For Amethyst, standing by the sewing machine, unsure how to proceed, she was on thin ice at this point. She'd been trying to act it out, but there was only so much she can mimic.
"She was supposed to be helping us, that's what," Pearl replied, arms crossed. Rarity looked a little bit puzzled, as she didn't hear a thing about this from Pearl herself. Still, looking at the dress, it wouldn't be very long until they were finished with it.
"Well, just give us a few minutes, dear, and she'll be free to go back with you. Just have to find some bows somewhere," Rarity explained, trying to locate some bows somewhere in her boutique. However, as she kept looking, she couldn't really find any around, though she was sure she bought some the day before.
"Hold on, maybe I left some upstairs. Be right back," Rarity said, beginning to leave them alone. Good thing too; Amethyst was having too much trouble with this. The second Rarity was out of earshot, Amethyst grabbed Pearl by the shoulders, looking frantic.
"Pearl, I can't take this! You have to help me, please," Amethyst said, almost begging. Very few things can push Amethyst to beg, and being Pearl in this situation was one of them. For Pearl, while she saw this as the universe giving her a free B for payback, she didn't want to see the collaboration project go to waste, or go to disaster.
"Maybe this will have you think twice before taking strange stuff like that," Pearl said, quite salty in tone. Amethyst knew she was right, but she'd do anything to get out of this.
"Come on, Pearl, just do this. I mean, you love sewing, don't you? And your so much better at it."
"True. Just to let you know, I'm only doing this so this mishap stays silent, understand?" Pearl explained. Amethyst was more than happy to have that, and the two basically switched places, tagging eachother as they did. Amethyst relaxed over by the front door, as Pearl got to work right away. She may not be used to her thick arms and chubby fingers, but she still managed the best she could with what she got. Lucky for them both, Rarity was too busy upstairs looking for the bows to realize anything going on downstairs, as Pearl continued her work to get the dress correctly. It took just a few minutes, with Pearl's deep focus and precision. Soon, the dress was properly made, looking beautiful. Of course, Pearl didn't finish it completely, as it was a collaboration after all.
And not a moment to soon.
"Alright, Pearl, I found the -" Rarity stopped cold once she saw the dress just made, a levitating box of bows by her. Rarity was amazed; not just from how much improvement was done, but also from how quickly it was made. Yes, Rarity made excellent dresses, but when it comes to speed, she'd take her time with it to avoid any mistakes. This was her own level of precision done under a few minutes, and the results were amazing to say the least. Rarity turned to Amethyst (who was right by the dress to avoid any suspicions).
"Excellent work, Pearl. Thank you so much! now, all it's missing are these," Rarity said, levitating some bows out with her magic, and sewing them into place along the rim. While Rarity had her back to them, both Gems gave a quick high-five to eachother, pulling it off. Pretty soon, the dress was complete, and it looked simply divine with the bows sewed into place. It had a sort of old England regal look, with colors of velvet red and rustic orange mixed in, the bows highlighting the orange colors.
"Alright, great. Can we go now?" Pearl said, mimicking Amethyst again. It wasn't too hard to act rude, and Amethyst would act the same way if she had to wait here to get things finished. Amethyst, acting like Pearl, just gave a glare to her. The unicorn took the dress, and got it set up on one of her standees to make fine adjustments to the design.
"I'll be able to work it out from here. Have a good day you two," Rarity said. Grateful to be able to go without much trouble, Amethyst gave a sigh of relief, as the two went for the door. But the second Pearl did so, the two were suddenly greeted by a loud, blunt growl. It was enough to make them both jump back, as a large pink feline strolled in.
"Lion? What're you doing here?" Rarity asked, appalled to have Lion just show up. She didn't remember Lion going back with her, or him having any real key to figure things out exactly, yet Lion was undeterred. to make sure there was no tricks, Lion closed the door behind him with his back leg, having Pearl and Amethyst both inside. Lion had enough with this game of secrets, and the process was getting nowhere really when it came to finding the object.
"Oh, what a surprise Lion! I'll get him. Shoo, shoo," Amethyst said. However, Lion knew who she really was, and wasn't playing along with them. Instead of going away, Lion began to venture around Rarity's boutique. They tried to stop him, but Lion knew what he was doing, and won't be bothered by the two sneaks. After some snooping around, Lion managed to locate some sketch paper Rarity had.
"Lion, drop it. Drop it!" Rarity said, but Lion ignored her, as his jaws also got out one of Rarity's pencils. For such a large cat, he was surprisingly accurate with his mouth, managing to get the pencil pointed out correctly. Soon, with two pieces of paper, Lion drew out a Pearl and an Amethyst on each piece of paper. Rarity didn't know what Lion was exactly doing, looking over to see what was what. After that, Lion picked up both pieces of paper, and placed them down on the floor in front of the two Gems in the room.
"Uh, Lion?" Rarity asked, obviously confused. Lion aimed his paws to each picture, and pointed to who they belonged to. However, by how they were set, Lion seemed to messed up. From what the drawings shown, Amethyst was Pearl, and Pearl was Amethyst according to the drawings and where Lion was directing each one to.
"I'd hate to disappoint you, Lion, but I think there might be some ... misunderstanding," Rarity said, trying to be friendly about disagreeing. Lion gave a low groan, and grabbed the pencil again. Quickly, Lion added something extra to the drawings he did; words.
I.D.
"I.D. ... Identity?" Rarity questioned. Lion nodded, and pointed to the two again. Rarity thought over the identity hint a little bit, looking them over, but then it hit her.
"Wait. A-Amethyst?" Rarity asked, looking to Amethyst in Pearl's body. Lion nodded yes, the two Gems not sure what to say. Eventually, Amethyst just gave up.
"Alright, fine, you got me! I can't keep up with this," Amethyst said, just giving up on the sharade. Rarity's eyes went wide, ears bent back, not expecting this. Rarity looked over to the dress that seemingly Pearl made.
"B-But if your Amethyst, then who -"
"I did it," Pearl said, one hand over her face while the other raised up. Rarity still tried to comprehend what the heck happened.
"Wait. Does Pinkie Pie know about this? She took you to Sugarcube Corner didn't she?" Rarity said.
"I still taste that jelly cake," Pearl said, feeling a little sick from thinking about it.
"Seriously?! Your lucky," Amethyst said, feeling annoyed that she missed out on such a fun job. She'd rather do that than deal with Rarity. Lion still had more to get aware of the problem though.
~~~~~~
"Lion somehow told you, then?"
"How could you?!"
Lion got Pinkie, Rarity, Amethyst and Pearl back to the Beach House, where Rarity pretty much explained what happened at her boutique. Of course, with some time on his paws, Lion managed to locate Jade and Flint too, who both were standing by the door, listening to what Rarity had said. Peridot really didn't want to get this secret out until the problem was solved, but what good would it do at this point? They tried though, that was all they could say. Luckily, the house wasn't full of ice this time, Sapphire using her new heat ability to warm up the place. It was still wet, but not as cold anyway.
"OH, OH, waitwaitwait, let me guess!" Pinkie said excitedly, wanting to play the guessing game with the Gems to figure out who's who. Pinkie Pie brought her hoof under her chin, trying to think over who was in which body.
"I shouldn't matter who's where. How did it even happen, and how many were involved?" Flint asked firmly. He didn't have much interactions with the group on personal terms, but he wasn't going to play any guessing games with who was supposed to be who. The Gems decided to just get on with it.
"We were trying to clean Amethyst's room for a bit, when we came across this spiked, flashing, thing or whatever-it-is. It made came alive, bounced around the place, and I guess ... switched us somehow?" Ruby explained. The details were pretty vague, as the blinding light blocked their vision from what actually happened. Flint took a moment to think it over a little bit.
"As for how many; I counted about nine Gems," added Sapphire. It was easier to figure out who Sapphire was due to her calm behavior, especially in a body of a hot-headed Gem like Ruby (no pun intended).
"And ... You didn't see where it went?" Jade asked, still trying to take it in.
"No. We did not."
"It did this weird flash thing before it disappeared."
"That so? Well, it can't go off too far unless it grew legs. Had any of you looked around here for anything?" flint asked, as Lion was actually doing just that; sniffing around the place for some sort of clue. Lion would get Blue if he wasn't with Steven, thus making it easier to do.
"Someone froze up the house," Ruby said, eyes over to Peridot.
"Hey, I'm still new to this, give me a break!" Peridot snapped. The issue though; when looking at who they were talking to, it just ... didn't feel right. Pinkie hopped over to Lion, who was still looking around the Warp Pad for some sort of clue to where this thing had gone. Lion had his head to the ground, sniffing the ground like a dog would, and keeping his eyes wide open and focused, even with the pink mare close by. All of a sudden though, Lion turned, and began growling loudly to get their attention.
"What's wrong now, cat?" Flint asked. Lion suddenly began to paw the ground, Jade going over a bit as Lion did so. All of a sudden, Lion dug a small hole, bowed down, and lifted his head up to show -
"What? ... IT WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME?!"
"Hi Ruby," Pinkie chimed in. Low and behold, despite everything, the object in question was in Lion's mouth! After being launched out, it hid itself underground in the same room, but it wasn't enough to avoid Lion. Of course, they all felt flat out stupid for not noticing it hiding right next to them in the first place. For the moment, it was dormant, and not much light being shown on it that time, but it still showed its colors from before, mixed matched in a number of places.
"At least we got it. Thank you, Lion. You wouldn't mind getting the others, would you?" Sapphire asked. Lion nodded, and gently placed it down on the couch next to Ruby, before heading off out the door. It was a good thing Steven wasn't back yet, because they'd like to get this fixed before that at least.
It took quite a while, more or less, but Lion did manage to get every Gem who was switched outside the Beach House to start. Flint, Jade, Pinkie, Lion and Rarity stood clear away, just in case the thing would end up making them switch instead. To make sure it didn't end up zooming away, they all encircled it, blocking off any sort of escape it had to go. Even if being switched might've benefited some more than others, it was best to get themselves back into their own bodies.
"Well, isn't it gonna do anything?" Jasper asked, growing impatient.
"Maybe it needs a good kickstart," suggested Ruby. As if not wanting to be forced or get hurt, the object began to become active again. It flashed its lights at the others, at first messed up, but then the correct colors for the correct Gems. After spinning in place, shining bright as before ...
*BOOM*
The blinding light shined again, the sound ringing in the Gem's ears. Those on standby waited for the results, as the light faded, and the object dropped to the ground. The others came down soon afterwards, and waited for someone to speak, for something to happen ...
"Uugghh ... Wait. Wait. YES, I'm back!" Amethyst beamed, seeing she was back in her own body. A bit fuller than she remembered, but still her same body no less.
"Oh, that's so much better," Pearl added, checking herself to be sure. Yep, everyone was back in their own body, and therefore, no more confusion.
"Oh, thank the stars, no more visions," Peridot sighed, finally able to properly relax herself without seeing tons of images flash in her head. As for the object, Lapis started to go back over to it, but before she could, Lion suddenly got in the way, giving a tough snort. Rather confusing, really, but Lion knew what he was doing. And after checking her future vision, Sapphire knew to (she was so happy to have that back)
"Alright, Lion, you can handle it," Sapphire allowed. Lion nodded, backed up, and bowed down to the object. Lion saw it still flickering, but Lion made sure to be gentle as he picked it up. Soon afterwards, he turned, and ran off. Probably a good time too, as Jasper realized she had her body back. Which means ...
"Oh Emerald~?" Jasper said, almost in a angered sing-along tune. Emerald suddenly remembered what Jasper told him before, and he looked a bit nervous.
"Oh, would you look at the time, I, uh, got to, uh, fix up Greg's van, OK see ya!"
Soon, Emerald bolted off.
"COME BACK HERE!" Jasper bellowed, charging after him. Jasper was not going to let him off that easy, and the others only wondered what Emerald actually did. Whatever it was, Emerald needed all the luck he could get to avoid getting pummeled.
A LOT of luck.
~~~~~~
As for Lion, his running with the object in his jaws had quickly got him from Beach city, off to the countryside. Lion had come by this part earlier, before getting himself to Ponyville to get Amethyst and Pearl, and for him, he knew exactly where to go to find the true owner of this object. The object itself remained dormant, not only from not feeling threatened, but also for the fact only one being was present. Lion kept going, occasionally slowing down to sniff the air, until he stopped over by a familiar old tree. Once he stopped there, Lion placed the object down, and looked up to the branches. As he figured, a particular creature was sleeping comfortably, with his own blanket and pillow, and even two slice pickles to cover his eyes like those in a spa. Lion wasn't having any of it; he inhaled, and gave a mighty roar. The roar was so forceful, it woke him up immediately, and he tumbled out of the tree. Upon landing, he hopped right back on his goat and dragon feet, in a boxing pose ready for a rumble. Lion gave a quick growl to get his attention, moving the object to his feet.
"Oh, there it is, my body puzzler! Been wonderin where it ended up. Good kitty," He said, playfully patting Lion's head.
Lion just sighed.