Rainbow Unicorns: Bridle Gossip

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Oddballs Assembled

Rainbow Burst and Spike stood in the main room of the library, looking at book after book. Most of them were simply skipped over, being of no use at all. When one was a maybe, Rainbow would flip through it, taking a quick look to see if there was anything useful. This was slower than usual since Rainbow was forced to flip through the pages by hoof instead of using magic. That made it all the more frustrating for her because it was so slow.

With a sigh of frustration, Rainbow tossed the most recent book (a collection of body modification spells believed by the author to be used by famous performer Moon Walker) onto the pile to be re-shelved when they were finished. While ideas of adjusting the size of the muzzle and nose, or lightening the color of the coat, were interesting, none of them were really useful about figuring out a way to return a horn to its proper position or break a curse.

"What about this one?" Spike asked as he held out another book.

Rainbow read the title.

Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-alls That Are Simply Super

With a sigh, she shook her head. There had been a moment where she had been feeling hopeful too.

"We're not dealing with something natural, Spike," she stated. "This is strange magic we're dealing with. It's not going to be cured by... rubbing ourselves with mint and eucalyptus or something."

The book was returned to the shelf, and several others were pulled and looked through. While they may have some interesting information in them, none of them could explain what happened to her, or how to reverse it.

There was a knock at the door, getting the attention of the two.

"I'll get it," Spike offered. Hopping off the ladder, he made his way to the door while Rainbow hid behind one of the library tables.

As soon as he turned the knob, the door was thrown open, forcing him to stumble back. A pony shot into the room and past him. He could not make them out as they were covered with a hat, sunglasses, scarf, and a trench coat. The dressed up figure ran past him, hooves tapping on the wood as they ran into the room.

"Rainbow, darling," the familiar voice of Rarity called out. "I need your help, immediately."

"Why?" Rainbow asked, peeking out from behind the table. "What's the problem?"

Taking off the hat, glasses and scarf, the earth pony revealed herself. Her normally pristine white coat was a swampy green color, like it had all been covered in algae. Her mane was not its typical rich, regal, purple, but a bright neon orange with streaks of yellow, all of which stuck straight up somehow. Tears formed in Rarity's eyes.

"I look like a rejected children's toy," she whined out. "My colors clash horribly, and I can't do a thing with my mane and tail."

She grabbed a hold of Rainbow, pulling her out from behind the table. Bringing the other mare close, Rarity leaned in until their nuzzles were pressing up against each other. Her purple eyes were wide with terror.

"You have to fix this!" Rarity demanded. She then started to shake Rainbow. "Fix it-fix it-fix it!" She then pulled Rainbow into a hug, burying her face into Rainbow's shoulder while breaking down into full sobs.

Rainbow looked down at the sobbing Rarity pressed against her, then shifted. Slowly, she reached a hoof around and patted the upset mare on the back.

"Uhm... there... there?" Rainbow said. She gave a glance to Spike, who shrugged. "Uhm... we were looking for a way to break the curse already. So, we should be able to break it for you too."

Rarity stopped and looked up, her eyes red from crying and mascara running down her cheeks (which -- Rainbow realized -- meant that she had actually stopped to put on mascara before disguising herself and coming over).

"Really?" Rarity asked, letting out a sniff.

"Really," Rainbow assured.

Pulling a handkerchief from her trench coat, Rarity wiped the tears and runny mascara away.

"Thank you, darling," she said. Her eyes then shifted, narrowing as she looked at Rainbow's forehead. "Forgive me for asking, but, where is your horn?"

"That's not important right now," Rainbow blurted out, moving to hide her hind in from sight. "Right now, we need to figure out what to do." She looked Rarity over quickly. "Which, I think means we should find the others. See if anything's happened to them as well."

"Ain't necessary," Applejack called from the door.

Rarity, Rainbow, and Spike all turned to the open door. There, they saw Apple Bloom, Twilight Comet, and Pinkie Pie.

"Where's Applejack?" asked Spike. "Could have sworn I heard her."

"I'm here," Applejack's voice announced. There then appeared on top of Apple Bloom's head a tiny version of Applejack, about three inches tall, complete with a miniature hat. "That there witch shrunk me somehow or other."

"Aww," Spike cooed out with a grin. "You're a fruit fly."

Rainbow could not help but snicker a little, and Rarity held a hoof over her mouth to hide the hint of a smile.

Tiny Applejack, however, did not find it funny in the slightest. The miniature pegasus took off, flapping her tiny feather wings as she flew up toward Spike. She came to a stop, hovering right in front of his snout.

"Now you see here, mister!" Applejack snapped, poking his nose with an adorably tiny hoof. "It was you and Apple Bloom what got us into this mess in the first place." She then leaned forward, trying to get eye to eye with him and failing miserably since she was nearly half the height of one of his eyes. "So I'd be mighty appreciative if ya'd button your yap, 'fore I button it for ya. Got it?"

"Got it," Spike replied.

"Good."

Unnoticed by the others, Apple Bloom flinched and took a step back, ears pinning back against her head. She stepped backwards, hiding behind the other two mares. It was not really their fault. Was it? How come she and Spike were not the ones to get cursed for it?

Maybe if she went and asked nicely, Zecora would help with whatever was wrong with Applejack and her friends.

She just needed to wait for the right moment to sneak away.

As Applejack landed on the table, Rainbow, Rarity, and Spike's attention turned to the other two mares.

"You two seem unaffected," Rarity stated.

Twilight Comet frowned and shook her head.

Pinkie opened her mouth, and the sound of a buzzer came out. This caused the others to jump, eyes wide.

"What was that?" asked Spike.

Pinkie turned to look at him, and he saw her mouth moving like she was talking. Instead of words, however, sounds came out. There was the sound of birds singing, followed by the sound of an alarm clock going off, then the sound a train, glass being shattered, some pony running, and finally, a knocking sound.

The other four mares all stared at her eyes wide.

"Oookay," Rainbow said slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Weird." She turned to Twilight. "Do you just sort of make random noises too?"

Twilight sighed and shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"Retteb yna em dnatsrednu nac uoy tboud I tub on."

"...what?"

"Yltcaxe!" Twilight replied.

Several seconds passed as they all looked at each other in silence, letting it all sink in.

"So, just be clear," Spike spoke up, breaking the silence. "We got: a teeny Applejack; a mis-colored Rarity; a Pinkie Pie that can't talk, but makes sound effects; a Twilight that talks gibberish; and a Rainbow Burst that has her horn in the wrong place."

"SPIKE!" Rainbow cried out as all the others turned to look at her.

"They were going to notice eventually," Spike replied. "Easier to get it out all at once. Besides, they all told you what happened to them." He crossed his arms. "It's only fair."

Sticking out her tongue, Rainbow made her feelings about it "being fair," very clear, but did not actually argue. Instead, she let out a sigh of annoyance as she got up and walked around, letting them all see the horn sticking out of her back end.

"Kcub gnivol-reve tahw?" Twilight cried out. "elbissop neve taht si woh?"

The stomping of a hoof got everyone's attention on Pinkie Pie. Reaching up, she took a hold of her mane, pulling it straight and having it cover half her face. Pinkie then crouched down and looked away, practically hiding behind her mane until it puffed back into place.

"Oh my," Rarity cried out, eyes wide. "Pinkie's right. We really should check on Flowershy. I don't know what could have happened to the filly, but I'm certain it must have left her absolutely terrified."

"Great," Applejack cried out. "Then with the six of us, we can find that there witch and make her take the curse off us."

"Sesruc sa gniht hcus on s'ereth," Twilight huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Right," Rainbow called out. "So, we'll go by Flowershy's pick her up, then find Zecora, and have her change us back to normal." With the last part, she punched one hoof into the other.

She turned to Spike.

"You stay here and start re-shelving the books."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving a hand. He grabbed a book and walked toward the shelves. "Have fun going through the dark spooky forest full of strange monsters." He then turned to look at her. "If you get eaten, do I get your stuff?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Sure," she replied. "You can enjoy it until you're living with Mom and Dad."

"Apple Bloom," Applejack called out, "you stay here too. I'll be back for ya once we're all back to normal. Got it?"

There was no answer.

"Apple Bloom?" Applejack repeated, looking around.

Again, there was no answer, and Apple Bloom was nowhere to be seen.

Applejack had some very choice words to say about the matter.

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

Applejack had some very choice words to say about the matter.

I imagine.

[Alticron]

Nice chapter as always. One minor thing.

"If you get eaten, do I get your stuff."

Shouldn't that be a question mark?

[Comickook]

Excellent job on (most) of the alterations to the "Poison Joke Effects" particularly Pinkie's "random sound effects" and Twilight's "backwards speak" . At any rate, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all well done in all the right places. Of course, now I'm wondering what happened to Flowershy (as she is the only one of the affected who DIDN'T appear in this chapter), even if I know that is going to be answered in the next chapter .

At any rate, I DO have a possible idea for MUCH later in the series: Thorax actually left Chrysalis's hive two decades sooner than in canon and met Cadance shortly after she ascended. Over the years, the two became REALLY good friends, even to the point of eventually becoming lovers. Ultimately, Thorax gets MUCH stronger (not just from SHARING love with the Alicorn of Love herself, but also from learning to develop a backbone without losing the niceness). Of course, since the guards don't have any unicorns strong enough to cast force fields around an entire city in this universe AND they already know about the existence of Changelings (due to Thorax becoming a good friend of the court), that means the Royal Guards are FAR more on the alert here and Chrysalis will need to rely on a much sneakier approach when the "Canterlot Wedding" analogue in the "Rainbow Unicorn" universe rolls along. I mean, just because Shiny ends up with Luna in this universe doesn't mean Cadance doesn't deserve SOMEBODY good.

Unless, of course, you already have other/better plans for both Cadance AND Thorax (which, admittedly, is VERY possible).

At any rate, I will, obviously, be looking forward to more of this story.