Change Your Mind

by Scottish Brony

Chapter 16

Rainbow Dash stared out of the window at the early afternoon scenery, daydreaming about cruising through the air and feeling the rushing wind ruffle her feathers and cool her body. She blinked out of her reverie when the door opened and hoped it would be her doctor. Her prayers were answered when a light amber unicorn with glasses walked in, levitating a medical clipboard next to him.

"Good afternoon, Miss Applejack," he greeted, "How are you feeling today?"

"Great, Doctor Horse!" answered Dash, enthusiastically, "Could never be better! Eeyup, everythin' is a-okay with the pony AJ!"

"I see…" said the doctor, giving her a strange look.

"Yeah, I'm all awake and rarin' to go!" she said with a wide grin.

"Wait just a second."

Rainbow's face fell at his words. Surely he wasn't going to say she had to stay even longer?

Oh no, pleasepleasepleaseplease… thought Rainbow, frantically.

"Just a couple of quick checks and you'll be free to go," Doctor Horse assured her.

The earth pony immediately relaxed.

"Now," he continued, "You said your…" he checked his clipboard, "right side hurt when you came in, correct?"

"Yeah. Doesn't hurt no more."

"Let's see. Could you lift your gown on your right, please? Thank you."

He studied the side of his patient, looking for the light bruise, then nodded.

"The bruising has gone."

"Good to hear."

The doctor pushed up his glasses, then gently pressed the tip of his hoof against Rainbow's side.

"Does this hurt?"

"No."

"Here?"

"No."

"Alright. One more thing."

Rainbow resisted the urge to lean back and groan, and instead looked at the doctor, feigning patience.

He levitated his stethoscope's earpieces into his ears, then slid it under the back of Rainbow's gown. She gasped when the cold metal made contact with her back.

"Cough, please," instructed the doctor.

She coughed.

"And again."

She coughed again.

With a nod, he removed the earpieces and stepped back.

"Alright, Miss Applejack. You're free to go. Avoid strenuous activities for a couple of days. You don't want to risk ending up in here again, do you?" he said with a smile.

"Oh no, ah definitely don't," replied Dash.

"You should be perfectly fine, but just to be sure."

"Thanks, doc."

---

As soon as she was outside, Rainbow jumped into the air, eyes closed.

"Yeah! Out! Finally!"

She laughed as she affixed her hat, then stopped laughing when she opened her eyes and saw the Apple Family, along with Fluttershy, staring at her.

"Uh… howdy, everypony. Ah'm out, heh."

"Somethin' tells me you're happy about that," said Apple Bloom.

"So… what's up?"

Fluttershy closed the book floating in front of her, "We were all about to come inside the hospital, but… I guess you got out a little early."

"Ready to come on home?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Sure am," replied Dash, walking up and hugging the filly. Fluttershy walked over and gave the orange pony a hug, too.

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Just glad ah'm outta there," said Rainbow, looking back at the hospital, "Let's get as far as possible away from here as soon as possible, eh? Just in case they decide to keep me for another coupla days."

The five gave a short laugh and walked down the path away from the hospital, with Dash trotting ahead of the others a good few feet.

---

One month later

All six ponies showed up for another of their weekly meetings, reporting what had been going on in the past seven days. Besides the fact that they had gotten quite used to their new lives, not much had happened, save for one significant issue; the Cutie Mark Crusaders finding out about the six of them switching bodies.

During a Crusader stunt, Sweetie had accidentally revealed Pinkie and Rarity's switch, surprising the two other fillies. As they had noticed Rainbow Dash and Applejack acting strangely, they decided to 'test' the older mares.

The first to fold was Applejack, who tried her hardest to resist Scootaloo's 'interrogation'.

The two were relaxing under the shade of a tree after Applejack had finished her work for the day when the filly spoke.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo's raspy young voice had said casually, "I got a question."

"Yeah, Scoots?"

"Just wondering; do you still remember when the first Rainbow Dash Fan Club meeting was?"

There's a Rainbow Dash Fan Club, now? thought Applejack.

"Uh… well, of course! Don't you?"

"I can't remember the exact date myself," lied the filly, "Maybe you know?"

"Exact?" the older pegasus began sweating lightly, despite the cool shade, "Um… not exact. Around when do you think it was?"

"You should know. You commitit… you commitatted… you remembered it really well after I told you."

"I… I…" Applejack sagged her shoulders, "…I dunno."

"It was November twenty-sixth. In the Clubhouse."

The pegasus averted her eyes.

"Are you even Rainbow Dash?"

Applejack's head snapped in the direction of the filly, "What? Of course I am!"

"Then show me some neat stunts."

"…It's a little too hot."

"Flying's always cooled you off."

"No, I'm a bit tired, squirt," replied the older pegasus, laying on her front and turning her head away.

"The real Rainbow Dash wouldn't make so many excuses to not perform for somepony. You're not her. Are you?"

"Don't be silly."

"I think you're somepony else."

A heavy silence hung in the air. Appejack could feel Scootaloo's accusing eyes on the back of her head and found herself unable to lie to the filly any longer. She nodded her head slowly, still not looking at the young pony, "You're right…"

"Who are you, then?" asked Scootaloo, walking over to stand in front of the pony who looked like her hero.

"Ah'm…" she stopped and gulped, "…Applejack…"

Scootaloo didn't move. With a blank expression, she just stared at her double reflection in the magenta eyes of the pony in front of her.

"Where's Rainbow?" she asked finally.

"In my body."

The filly looked over her shoulder at Ponyville, "I thought so. The way she bucks trees looks like the way she kicks clouds."

She turned back to Applejack, "So when were you gonna tell us?"

"…Probably never," said the pegasus, feeling guilty.

"Never?"

"This ain't permanent, Scootaloo. We already know the spell. It shouldn't take Fluttershy and Pinkie too long t—"

Too late.

"Oops."

"What are you talking about?" asked Scootaloo. She processed what Applejack was about to say, "Wait. Does that mean everypony else is swapped, too?"

The cyan pegasus laid her head on her hooves.

"The other five of mah friends? Yeah…"

She already knew about Pinkie and Rarity, but there was nothing Scootaloo could think of to say about this new development. She just sat on her haunches, letting the information sink in.

"Don't tell anypony. 'Kay?" said Applejack, rising into a sitting position herself, "Ya gotta promise me."

With a small, quiet sigh, the filly nodded, her eyes on the ground.

"Ah'm sorry, Scootaloo. But everything'll be back to normal before ya know it."

"Will it?" asked the filly, meeting Applejack's eyes again, "You gotta promise me," she said with a small smile, though her eyes were still sad.

---

Rainbow Dash leaned down and placed a bucket under one of the last apple trees to be bucked for the year.

Can't wait for this to be over… she thought.

She didn't deny that she enjoyed the workout, however. It wasn't quite as fun as cloud busting, but clouds didn't give a satisfying solid thunk when kicked.

"Applejack," said Apple Bloom, "Where's the Red Sauce apple trees again?"

"Over there, remember?" replied Rainbow, nodding her head in their direction.

"Oh yeah. Well, what about… the Gala apple trees?"

Instead of answering, Rainbow looked up at the apples above, then back down to the filly, with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh…"

"You okay, Apple Bloom?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Ah'm just… nothin'. Last one, where's the Wondergreens?"

Wondergreens? thought Rainbow, There's Wondergreen apples?

"Er… over… there, ah think," she answered, pointing in a mostly random direction into the orchard.

"Really?"

"Heh, not too sure, mahself," Dash replied, smiling.

"That's probably 'cause there ain't no such thing as Wondergreens."

"…Ah knew that. Why'd ya say it, anyways?"

"No reason," said the filly with a shrug, before walking away.

Frowning, the earth pony fetched another bucket and placed it under a tree. Light hooves trotted towards her and she turned to see Apple Bloom again.

"Yeah?" she asked the filly.

"Say… you know how it's mah birthday, soon?"

This month? Then why didn't they mark it on the calendar?

"Ah know, yeah."

The young pony watched Rainbow carefully, "Well… can me and mah friends play a little in yer bedroom?"

"Um… long as ya don't make too much of a mess, then okay."

"What, now it's okay?"

"Huh?"

"Any other time we've been in your bedroom, you've always gotten angry and told us to get out 'cause it's your 'own private space'."

"Oh. Well, it is. But it's yer birthday, so ah can make an exception."

The filly shook her head, "Nuh-uh. Even on mah birthdays, ah can't. Speakin' of which… it ain't mah birthday soon."

"It's still… soon… ish."

"Then when is it?"

"It's… you know when. What, ya can't remember where the trees are, and now ya can't remember yer own birthday?"

"When?"

Although outwardly calm, Dash felt her heartbeat increase and her face grow hotter.

"Apple Bloom, we got work to do. Ah don't have time for this," she replied and went to walk past the filly, but found herself blocked.

Rainbow frowned at her, "Don't make me tell Big Macintosh you're gettin' in the way."

There was a flash of worry on the younger pony's face. Although often calm and gentle, Big Mac could be intimidating, even a little scary, when he glowered down at somepony, especially if they were Apple Bloom's size. The filly remained undeterred, however.

"When's Big Mac's birthday, then?"

"Apple Bloom…"

"Why won't you answer? Just answer one and ah'll leave you alone for the rest of the day."

"Ya don't need to do that. Just stop askin' questions that you already know the answer to," said Rainbow, gently pushing the filly aside.

"You're not answerin' 'cause ya don't know, do ya? Are you even Applejack?"

"What is this? Of course ah'm me!"

"Prove it."

"That's it. Ah'm callin' over Big Mac."

"Good. Then he can see you ain't Applejack, too," said the young earth pony, although there was a quiver in her voice.

Big Mac's name died on Rainbow's lips as a thought entered her head. There was always the chance he would try to get her to answer Apple Bloom's questions just to get on with the day, or he would ask something of the sort not long later.

"Well? Call him over," said the filly, the quiver still present.

"Apple Bloom. Come on, now. Stop it."

"Ah want mah sister back," she said accusatorially.

She wasn't going to stop. Rainbow didn't know what had spurned her on to ask these questions, but the filly was going to find out at some point.

Ohhh, this is bad… this is seriously bad…

"Apple Bloom..." began Rainbow, losing the accent and turning to face her.

The filly's brow creased in worry at being right about her sister not being herself.

"Listen, don't... don't freak out, okay? Your sister's fine. Just fine."

"Where is she? Who are you?" then the filly's eyes widened and she took a step back, "Are you one o' them... ch-changelin' things?"

"No, no. I'm..." Dash looked around, then leaned in closer, "I'm Rainbow Dash."

"What? Why? How?"

"AJ's safe, don't worry. She's actually got my body, now. See, a spell went wrong and we all… uh, that is, me and Applejack... got our minds swapped. So, um… that explains a few things that've been goin' on, yeah?"

"This whole time, you've not been mah sister…" said the filly, looking at the ground.

Rainbow hugged the younger pony, "Hey, listen. Everything's gonna be fine. We'll get the spell done again soon and it'll all go back to normal."

With a sad sigh, Apple Bloom nodded.

"And you know, you're a pretty cool little sister," added Rainbow, ruffling the filly's mane, making her giggle.

"…Thanks."

Dash looked at her expectantly, "Y'know, this is the part where you say, 'You're a pretty cool big sister', or somethin'."

"You're a pretty okay big sister."

"What, that's it? 'Pretty okay'?"

"You could still do better."

"Well, tell me how."

Apple Bloom was about to answer when they heard heavy hoofsteps. They turned to see Big Mac observing them.

"Oh. Sorry," said Rainbow, "Was just, uh… let's get on with it, Apple Bloom!"

With a strong kick, Dash filled the buckets under the tree.

"Well, these trees ain't gonna harvest themselves," she said to him, "No use standin' around."

After giving his sisters a quick look, the stallion walked back to his trees.

"Shouldn't we tell Big Mac, too?" asked Apple Bloom in a low voice.

"Nah. The fewer ponies who know, the better."

"'Kay."

"Alright. Now, let's get on with it."

---

The next day, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sat in the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse, waiting for Sweetie Belle. They both noticed each other seeming down about something, but neither wanted to talk about it.

"I wanna wait 'til Sweetie Belle gets here," said Scootaloo, averting her eyes.

"Actually… me, too," replied Apple Bloom.

They busied themselves with drawing what they thought their cutie marks would be, or what they would like them to be. Scootaloo showed her design first.

"That's just Rainbow Dash's cutie mark," said Apple Bloom.

"No, it's not."

"A cloud with lightnin' comin' out of it? Yeah, totally different," replied the earth pony, rolling her eyes.

"Hers just has one lightning bolt. Mine has three," said Scootaloo, indicating the seperate blue, yellow and red bolts she had drawn.

"All the exact same colours as hers, too?"

"So? Maybe it will."

Apple Bloom shrugged and held up her own drawing.

"What's that? A tree with measles?" asked the amber filly, "You gonna be taking care of sick trees?"

"Those ain't measles! They're apples!" replied Apple Bloom, looking a little insulted, "It's an apple tree. Ah'm gonna own Sweet Apple Acres one o' these days."

Their ears perked up when they heard hooves coming up the wooden ramp.

Sweetie Belle opened the door, "Sorry I'm late. I had a couple of chores to do," she said.

"Even on summer break?" asked Scootaloo.

"I know, right?"

"Aw, quit all yer complainin'. Ah gotta work durin' the summer, too," said Apple Bloom.

"Okay, yeah. I got off easy. Just washing some dishes," said Sweetie Belle, sitting down next to them.

She looked at her friends and saw their faces weren't as bright as they usually were.

"What's up with you two?"

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked away for a second, then both talked at once.

"I found out that…"

"Ah have to tell ya…"

"Oh, sorry, Apple Bloom, you go first," said Scootaloo.

"Really? You sure you don't wanna?"

"…Y-Yeah."

"Okay, um… see, uh… you know how Pinkie and Rarity switched?"

"Uh-huh?" said Sweetie with a frown.

"Well… turns out that they ain't the only ones."

"You know, too?" said Scootaloo.

"Wait, what are you two saying?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Rainbow Dash and Applejack have switched, too," replied Apple Bloom.

"What?"

"That's not all," said Scootaloo, "So have Twilight and Fluttershy."

The two fillies stared at her with wide eyes.

"Applejack told me yesterday. I don't think she meant to."

"Me and Apple Bloom weren't told!" said Sweetie loudly.

"Calm down, Sweetie Belle."

"No! Pinkie and Rarity never told me about anypony else being swapped!" she gave a high-pitched annoyed grunt and walked over to the window, "Why do grown-ups lie to us?"

"She said it's not permanent. Fluttershy and Pinkie are trying to learn the spell."

"What's takin' them so long?" asked Apple Bloom.

"I dunno, maybe it's really hard to learn," said Sweetie Belle, "But come on! They've been like this for ages!"

"They have? How long?"

Sweetie Belle shrugged, "I think since that time they all went for a party at Twilight's and they ended up staying overnight."

"You're kiddin'!"

"No joke."

"So, what do we do?" asked Scootaloo.

"Nothing we can do," Sweetie Belle, then sat down with heavy sigh. She pursed her lips in an annoyed pout, "Does anypony else know?" she asked.

"I don't think so..." replied the pegasus uncertainly.

"What about Spike?"

"I'd be surprised if he doesn't."

"Yeah," agreed Apple Bloom, "there'd be no way he'd miss Twilight actin' all funny."

They were all silent for a while, then Scootaloo spoke up, "I wonder what it's like...?"

"What what's like?"

"Being in somepony else's body."

"Ah dunno. Prob'ly feel weird."

"Which of us would you swap with?"

Apple Bloom looked between the pegasus and unicorn. She shrugged, "Ah like bein' me."

"Yeah, same," she said, then turned to the unicorn, "Sweetie?"

"Why are we asking this? Isn't it bad enough our sisters and their friends are all mixed up?"

"I was just wondering…"

"Well, if you must know: I wouldn't want to swap with anypony. Okay?"

"Listen, ah know you're kinda mad, an' all," said Apple Bloom, walking over to her, "But don't take it out on us. It's not our fault."

Sweetie Belle sighed, "Yeah. Sorry."

"We'll just have'ta wait it out."

"While we do that," said Scootaloo, "You wanna try and get our cutie marks?"

"Sure!"

"Yeah, okay. What do you have in mind?" asked Sweetie.

"Lemonade making!" exclaimed the pegasus, spreading her forelegs for emphasis.

"But… we don't know how to make it."

"I bet it's not that hard. And think about it: it's summer, so ponies'll be hot and thirsty, right?" she said with a gleam in her eye.

"Right…?" said Sweetie, wondering where Scootaloo was going with this.

"So, get this: we make the lemonade… then we sell it! That way, we can get our cutie marks and make some money!"

"Now that there's a mighty fine idea!" said Apple Bloom, excitedly, "What're we waitin' for? Let's go!"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Lemonade Makers, yay!" the three shouted in unison.

Comments

[Regreme]

Before continuing reading, got one complaint... how you're showing Scootaloo as stupid. It's already been proven that in terms of knowledge, she's intelligent due to that thesaurus level of knowledge... she just doesn't like to show it cause she wants to be cool like Rainbow Dash. Admittedly, smarts in term of memory and smarts in term of knowledge use are two different things, but still...

[Arcane Howitzer]

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Lemonade Makers, yay!"

Ten minutes later:
"WHY WOULD THAT EXPLODE?!"
...

[Regreme]

Another adorable chapter.^^ Loved how the CMC just bounced back. Kids will be kids. XD

[Pump It Up]

Heh, I've had this in my bookmarks for forever.

Still not going to read it, yet.

[Jphyper]

4983026 Some ponies don't need Cave Johnson's help to make combustible lemons.

[Arcane Howitzer]

4983105
... Then why are you commenting?

[Pump It Up]

4983227
Good point. I mostly commented because of the first half of my comment.

[pahnazd]

4983026
"And how in the hay did we still get covered in tree sap?"

[Scottish Brony]

4982978 When was I showing her as stupid? Do you mean when she stumbled over that one word? If so, that's not how I was trying to portray it. It was more a little something that was meant to be kind of cute about what I would assume to be an unfamiliar word at her age.

[Shumiry]

Very cute! Poor Crusaders, nopony trusts you with anything. That's okay, you weaseled it out of them, serves em right too, being all nervous and flustered. As always, I'm excited for more!

Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!

[Imagernation Idea]

Nothing about new chapter?I hope mane 6 can back but i guess not

[TheCoolRock]

dead