Okay. I can't deny it any longer. I like Friendship is Magic. It's funny. And full of fun stuff. No judging, now. :P
That being said, I saw a picture on the internet the other day showing what it'd be like if the Mane 6 traded places with each other. That brings me to this one-shot. It should be funny, hopefully. That's what I'm going for.
Oh, and this takes place in the canon universe. Not the one from Appledash Pie. So no romance, actually. THAT'S different for me... So, here we go!
Oh, and for simplicity's sake, I'll be referring to the pony in costume, not who they're disguised as.
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A Mile in My Hooves
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It was a bright and sunny day in Equestria, brought about by the royal princess Celestia. Everypony was thankful for the bright, spring weather. Many were outside, playing, working, or just walking around and enjoying the day. There was one pony, however, who had chosen to stay inside instead of basking in the sunlight.
"Spike! Can you bring me that book on the founding of Ponyville?" Twilight Sparkle. Bookworm. Pretty antisocial when she first came to Ponyville, and still a tad even now, nearly a year later. Her horn glowed a faint purple as she rearraged the books in her library, her small assistant dragon Spike helping whenever he could.
"Sure thing, Twi." Aforementioned dragon smiled up at the purple unicorn and handed her the book. She flashed him a smile as she put it away.
"Thanks, Spike." It was then that they heard a knock at the door. Not surprising; her friends often came and got her when she was wrapped up in anything to do with books. She let out a sigh and headed to the door. She opened it to find her unicorn friend, Rarity. They smiled. "What is it, Rarity?"
"Well, dear, we were wondering where you were. Fluttershy suggested we all take a walk, and we agreed, but Rainbow Dash insisted we get the, erm... 'Egghead' to join us..." Twilight facepalmed at this.
"Egghead? I'm not an egghead. I'm-"
"Well-read. Yes, darling, I know. We all know." Rarity's face cracked in a smirk and Twilight shot a glare at her.
"Let's just go... Spike, I'm leaving. Can you watch the library for me?" She turned to look at him, already putting books away.
"On it, Twi. Go have fun! Tell everyone I said hi, though." He grinned at the unicorns and they nodded, heading outside.
Twilight had to shield her eyes from the sunlight. When had it gotten so bright out? She really HAD been inside too long... Rarity let out a small chuckle at Twilight's expense.
"What's so funny, RARITY?!" Her voice raised at the white unicorn's name, causing her to blink and look over at her.
"I-I just... You need to get out more, that's all, darling... I didn't mean anything by it." Twilight's features softened a bit and she nodded, walking silently. A cyan-colored blur snapped them out of the quietness, nearly smashing into Twilight from behind. Twilight let out a yelp as she flopped forward from the wind alone, falling with her rear in the air. She shook her head and stood, dusting herself off. She snapped her gaze forward at a tomcoltish laugh.
"Jeez, egghead, 'bout time you came out to hang with your best friends." Rainbow Dash. Brash. Loved pranking everypony at any given chance. And currently the target of Twilight Sparkle's irritation, who was already annoyed that she had to leave her books.
"R-Rainbow! You need to be more careful! You almost hit me! A-And I'm not an egghead, I'm-"
Rainbow Dash interrupted her. "Well-read, I get it, I get it... Jeez. You're a buzzkill sometimes, Twi." Rarity stifled a laugh, at which Twilight glared at her again.
"What's so funny now?!"
"Well, darling, you can be... A bit preoccupied and... L-Less than fun, occasionally."
Twilight's anger hit a peak. "Oh, so that's it?! And what about you?! You and your dresses... You wouldn't last a MINUTE in my place!"
Pinkie Pie let out a giggle. "Maybe you two should trade places for a day! That'd be fun! And Fluttershy could switch with Fluttershy, since they're both pegasi, and me and AJ could since we're earth ponies!" All eyes were on the bubbly pink, pony, and no one said a word. Until Rarity spoke up with a smirk on her face.
"I agree, Pinkie, dear... That DOES sound like a blast. 24 hours, we all trade places with one another. And I'll prove that I could EASILY do your job." This last line was a jab at Twilight, who immediately retorted.
"You're on, Rarity! Pinkie, how are we doing this?" Pinkie looked at them both, studying them.
"Hmm... Got it! Dye your manes, tails, and coats. You have to act like each other, too. I can even make cutie mark stickers! Oooh, this'll be so much fun!" She let out an excited squeal, and Applejack raised her hoof.
"Um... How exactly did we get caught up in this, sugarcube?" Pinkie stared at her for a second before grinning wide and giggling.
"Because, silly filly, I wanna have fun too!" That response was so Pinkie Pie. The other 5 simply shrugged and went home to prepare themselves for the bet to begin.
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Twilight and Rarity were, not surprisingly, the first ready. Twilight had dyed her mane and tail a deep indigo color, curling them to look more like her unicorn friend's, albeit a little off. Her coat had been dyed white, the only thing not remotely accurate being her cutie mark and her eyes. She had even gotten the eyeshadow right. To say Rarity was impressed was an understatement- Not that she would ever admit it, of course.
The other unicorn had reluctantly brushed out her mane and tail, straightening it before dyeing it with Twilight's signature colors. Her coat was nearly the same pinkish-purple, but a tiny bit lighter from her naturally white coloring. She was nearly a perfect imitation, as Twilight was. They hadn't messed around.
"How absolutely gorgeous, darling. You look stunning."
"As you do, Rarity. Er... I mean 'Twilight Sparkle'." They laughed at this before seeing Fluttershy trotting happily over to them. Only it wasn't Fluttershy, it was...
"...Rainbow Dash?" Both unicorns stared. Aside from the shorter hair, magenta eyes, cutie mark, and the air of confidence around her, you wouldn't have been able to tell.
"Bingo! I pulled it off, right? I even make it look good. I'm downright adorable!" At this, Rainbow Dash put on the cutest face she could muster.
"...I dunno... You'd better work on it, Darling," deadpanned Rarity. Rainbow Dash waved her off.
"Whatever, egghead number 2." She smirked, a look that did not at ALL fit the Fluttershy facade she had adopted. Just as Rarity was about to respond, they heard yet another of their friends.
"Hey, y'all! Whatcha think? It's different, Ah know, but it ain't bad. Least, Ah think Ah did good." They turned to see Applejack, who was now sporting a pink coat and a darker pink mane and tail, which had been poofed up to some extent. "Don't ask 'bout the mane and whatnot... Ah couldn't get it like Pinkie's fer the life of me!" She had even abandoned her hat and mane tie, something they'd never seen on her before. She grinned. "Ah suppose Ah should be prancin', huh?"
Rainbow Dash looked impressed. "Darn, if my hair had been longer, I could've pulled off Fluttershy that well..."
"U-Um... Hi, girls..." Anypony would recognize that soft voiced stutter. Rainbow turned to see herself. Well, sort of. The hair was too long, and she practically exuded shyness. Yup, it was Fluttershy.
"Wow, fluttershy, not bad... We ALL went all out for this bet, huh? The only one we're missing is..."
"Pinkie Pie, at your service! Ah, I mean, Applejack!" Said pony bounced over to them. Everypony's jaw dropped at the sight. Her mane and tail had been perfectly straightened and dyed the exact blonde color, her coat the perfect orange, and she had even found a hat that matched the farm pony's. Her cutie mark was covered by what they assumed to be one of her stickers she mentioned before. Not only that, but she had copied the freckles and... Were those green contacts? Nopony could believe it. If they hadn't known any better, they'd all have sworn that they were looking at the actual Applejack.
"Dang, Pinkie... That's a mighty good costume y'all made..."
"I'll say, darling..."
"W-Wow... Pinkie... A-Amazing..."
"Holy hay..."
"Unbelieveable... She's the best one out of any of us!" Twilight exclaimed. "H-How do we even compete with that?"
Pinkie giggled, which was REALLY off considering her look at the moment. "Silly filly! It's not a contest of who looks the best! Now, come here! I've got the stickers!" They shuffled over and, one by one, Pinkie applied the appropriate stickers to their flanks. "Well, go ahead! Applejack, you're at Sugarcube Corner for the day! Just no more baked bads!" AJ blushed in embarrassment at the mention of that horrible day before heading to the bakery. "Which means I'm at Sweet Apple Acres! Yay! You 4 know where you're going, right?" Before they could even blink, Pinkie was off. The remaining 4 of the Mane 6 looked at each other. Twilight would need to go to Carousel Boutique, Rarity had to head to the library, Fluttershy into the sky to clear the clouds, and Rainbow Dash was to be at Fluttershy's cottage to take care of her animal friends.
"Well then, my dears, I supose I'll be off to the library... To prove I can do it just as well as Twilight." Rarity let slip a small smirk and walked away to begin her day as Twilight Sparkle.
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As she walked to the library, Rarity couldn't help but laugh. Of course she could do this! Twilight needed to get out anyway. She just hoped her purple unicorn friend could take care of the dress comissions as well as Rarity herself could. Not that she didn't have faith, but... Well, perhaps she didn't.
she arrived at the door and was about to knock, but stopped herself. "No... I'm 'Twilight' today. I imagine she doesn't knock on her own door! That would be silly!" A small chuckle escaped her lips as she stepped inside. She noticed Spike was sleeping on a stool. "Poor dear... Twilight surely wouldn't let her friend sleep on something so uncomfortable. I wouldn't either." She used her magic to lift the small dragon onto her back, making sure he would stay on. Surely he had a bed around here somewhere... She had to search.
Realization set in as Rarity saw there was only one room on the upper floor. This wouldn't have been any problem, but she was 'Twilight' for the next 24 hours... Which meant they would have to sleep in the same room. And, despite what you may think, she was fully aware of Spike's crush on her. So she had to hope with all her heart that he didn't find out who she really was and try anything. 'Spike is a dear friend, but... Not in THAT way. Sorry, my young dragon friend.'
Sighing, she lifted him to his bed and lay him carefully inside, so as not to wake him. she went back downstairs, taking in the sight. "My goodness, how had I not noticed the mess before? So uncivilized, so... So uncouth! Really, Twilight, you're better than this!" With great energy, she began putting the books away. But... Wait, that one went somewhere else... What was the system to organizing these? Rarity knew she couldn't ask Spike. It would jeopardize her even being here. "Oh, dear..."
Before long, her head started spinning. She was so flustered and confused! A whole day of THIS?! She had an overwhelming urge to scream But she was a lady, above such a thing... So she continued her quest of trying to crack the 'code' as she called it. She HAD to do it!
Finally... Done... After 2 hours, Rarity had figured out that you had to arrange the books by the title and the genre, along with the author's name if neccessary. So complicated! A thought went through her head. She really wished she could be making a dress in the 3 MORE hours it took to actually organize the books. Inspiration hit at the strangest times. She had had an idea for Twilight's dress for the next Grand Galloping Gala. What she wouldn't have given to be sewing at that moment!
Her head turned at the sound of footsteps, seeing Spike walking downstairs. 'Time to 'knock 'em dead' as they say.' She did her best to disguise her accent. "O-oh, good morning, de- Er, Spike. How was your nap?"
"Oh, hi, Twilight. It was good, but... You're not mad at me for falling asleep, are you?"
"Ohh, d- Spike, of course not. It's okay." 'So far so good... Now I just hope he doesn't ask me-'
"So, what did you 6 do today?"
'Drat...' "W-Well, we, um... Went for a walk. Like I- R-Rarity said when she came and got me earlier." 'Oh, that was smooth, Rarity...' She was mentally urging him to buy it. She had feared for the worst when he gave a look that seemed to say he didn't, but relief washed over her body when he nodded.
"Sounds like fun. Again, sorry for falling asleep."
"I said it was okay, d- Spike. Really." 'This s going to be a long 19 hours...' The unicorn mentally sighed and prepared herself for the rest of the day.
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Pinkie Pie smiled cheerfully, bucking yet another bushel of apples. Big Mac and Apple Bloom stared, amazed with the amount of work their 'sister' was putting out today. Apple Bloom found herself whispering to Big Mac before long. "Um... Does she seem different, big bro? Like... Ah think she's actin' kinda... Happier 'n normal. Is it just me, or do ya see it too?"
Big mac gave an astonished nod. "Eeyup."
"Maybe we should ask her? Ah'm a li'l bit worried..." She watched Pinkie, not even knowing it wasn't really her sister. Big Mac looked at the bushels of apples. There were more than usual. "Like... Maybe we should let her rest or somethin'?"
His response, though short, was completely sincere. "Nnnope. She's not tired." Apple Bloom sighed to herself, still watching the bucking pony fill bushels. And... Humming? Clearly she was having a good time. Were the others? Pinkie sure hoped so.
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Applejack sighed as she pulled out yet another burnt batch of cookies from the oven. "Horse apples... Ah hope everypony else is havin' a better time then Ah am... These're awful, just like the rest!" She had to toss them into the garbage. Footsteps alerted her to Mrs. Cake's presence.
"Pinkie, dear, are you okay?"
"Y-Yep!" She had to keep her sentences as short as possible, or else Mrs. Cake would've known immediately.
A frowm cracked Mrs, Cake's face, but she said nothing about her feeling. "A-Alright, then, erm... Pinkie... Bring out the cookies when you're all done. We've got hungry ponies waiting."
'Well, that's just PERFECT!' "O-Okie dokie lokie...?" Applejack grinned like Pinkie, hoping it would work.
They were silent for a few seconds before Mrs. Cake left, deciding not to press the issue. The farmer let out a sigh of relief and got to work on another batch, making sure they weren't going to be baked bads.
A small cheer escaped her lips when she finally made a successful batch, 3 tries later. "Alright, this ain't so bad after all... Here we go again. Ah can do this... Ah WILL do this!"
Meanwhile, everypony who was waiting for their treats stared at the kitchen, immediately guessing that the voice didn't belong to the normal baker.
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Rainbow Dash wasn't having an easy go. All her attempts to approach the animals had gotten her growled at, scratched up, or, more often than not, both. She growled in frustration as they all refused to come near their 'best friend' which, if you think about it, wasn't really all that surprising. As animals, they could immediately tell it was Rainbow Dash, who hadn't been their favorite pony. She sat at the table, sighing to herself. "Why is this so hard? Ugh..." Her head turned to the bookshelf, and one book caught her eye.
Slowly she read the title out loud. "Animals and you. How to take... How to take care of your furry friends! That's it! Haha, yes!" She immediately grabbed the book and flipped through.
Of course, Rainbow being as anti-reading as she was, it wasn't long before she found herself dozing off from boredom. Angel, Fluttershy's pet rabbit, noticed and kicked her hind leg. "Ow! You little... Oh... Hey, Angel... Gonna set the bears after me again?" Angel squeaked and chattered. Too bad Rainbow didn't actually have Fluttershy's ability, and therefore, couldn't understand a thing the rabbit was saying. "Ugh... Look, can you just SHOW me what to do? I'm trying to help, but you're all attacking me." Angel facepalmed and tugged her wing, pulling her out of the chair. She yelped and fell to the floor before lifting herself up. Sighing, she followed the rabbit. "At least I'm getting a little help now..."
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Fluttershy stood in the same spot she had been for hours, not knowing how to round up clouds. No one had taught her. It wasn't her strong suit. She had a bunched of mixed worries for her friends at home. Was Rainbow Dash being a good caretaker? Were they being fed properly? Were they getting along? Knowing how Rainbow Dash acted normally, she was extremely worried. But she couldn't be distracted. She flew upwards, took a deep breath, and flew at a cloud. Instead of making it disappear, like Rainbow Dash would've, she was bounced back by it. She bit her lip and tried again, a little harder, but with the same results. "Ohh, this is hopeless... No wonder everyone called me Klutzershy... I AM a klutz...!"
She kept trying to push the cloud forcefully with her entire body, which didn't work. She let out an aggravated sigh and began to hit the cloud with her hooves. Nothing happened. "Aw, come on... Please cooperate..." She flew under the cloud and looked up at it, trying to see if there was anything she could do about the stubborn clouds. A bolt of lightning came down and struck her, zapping the shy pony to the ground and into a bush. She popped out of it, tearing up. Sticks and twigs were stuck in her mane, and a few leaves between her teeth. She spit them out and whimpered, more tears forming. She shook her head and wiped away the tears. "N-No... I have to do this... For my friends in Ponyville!"
However, just when she had gathered herself and strengthened her resolve, a burst of rain fell on her from the cloud she had punched. Her lip quivered and she broke down. "Noooo! I hate this!"
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Twilight entered Carousel Boutique, smirking to herself. She was confident in her abilities to sew. How hard could it be, right? "Okay... Oh! I've gotta talk like her too... Ahem... Opal, darling, I'm hooome~!" Her accent, though a bit off, was good enough for her. Aforementioned cat lazily walked up to her, sniffed her hoof, and hissed. Being a cat, she could immediately tell this wasn't her owner. Twilight backed away. "O-Opal, dear, what's wrong? Are you ill? Oh! You must be hungry!" The entire time she spoke, her forelegs waved about in exxagerated movements. Not because Twilight was mocking Rarity, but because she thought that's how fancy ponies talked. This only made her look even less like Rarity, not that she'd acknowledge it. Opal simply glared at Twilight before stalking off to a different part of the boutique.
A sigh escaped the unicorn's lips as she looked around, eventually spotting a pair of half done dresses. "Those must be her commisions... Should I? I mean, I AM Rarity for the day... But... I'd feel horrible if I ruined them... No! No doubts! I can do it! And I'll do it better than Rarity!" She ignored the voice in her head telling her she was lying to herself through her teeth and walked over to them. They were, without a doubt, very pretty. One was a pale blue, almost the color of the sky. the edges were lined with sparkling blue... Something. They were too small to see. Gemstones perhaps? The side of the dress rose up, high on the flank but not showing anything. It even covered the cutie mark. Throughout the blue of the dress were very subtle pink and orange streaks, making the entire garment appear as though it were a sunset or sunrise. "W-Wow..."
The other was almost completely opposite. It was a dark blue with purple mixed throughout, almost looking exactly like the night sky. The edges were, again, lined with near microscopic gemstones, but these were a silvery color, almost like stars. It was then that she noticed that the sunset-styled one was a bit bigger than the night sky one. Suddenly, it hit her who these dresses were for. "The royal sisters..." Nerves suddenly overtook her. "I-I can't work on these... I'm confident, but not... THAT confident..." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "N-No... I have to... Surely Rarity left some notes...?"
Twilight searched the nearby area for something, anything, to help her out. She finally found a sheet of paper with a few sentence fragments scribbled hurriedly onto it. "Man, for someone like Rarity, her handwriting's not very... Neat... Oh! I mean... Oh, dear, these scribbles will never do!" 'Oh-ho-ho, yeah. I'm good at that.' She grinned to no one as she read the notes as best as she could. She looked at the sewing machine. "How do I... Oh, forget it, I'll just hoof-sew it."
She walked over to the sewing supplies with Celestia's dress and sat down, starting from where the notes directed her.
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As one could probably guess, Twilight's confidence did nothing. The dress was totally ruined. In the course of an hour, she had managed to rip it in three places, prick herself with the needle, and even sew her mane to it which, with the dye, had colored a nice hunk of the dress a deep purple. She was on the verge of crying. Or punching something. Or maybe just screaming. She wasn't sure what emotion was strongest in her right now. She finally sighed in defeat, admitting to herself that she couldn't do it. Now if only she could undo the thread and get her mane free...
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The 24 hours was up. The bet was now over, and the group of friends was to meet up in front of Twilight's place. Pinkie was the first there, followed by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. The last two to show up were Twilight and Rarity, the ponies who had started the bet in the first place. Once there, Pinkie suggested they all say what had happened. Pinkie went first. "Well, I had a lot of fun! I bucked apples, aaand played with Apple Bloom, aaand ate some good dinner, aaand slept in AJ's comfy bed-"
"Ah think we got it, sugarcube... Ah learned to bake just like Pinkie! It, uh, just took me a spell ta figure it all out... Hehe..." Applejack rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. Fluttershy giggled.
"W-Well, um... I had a bit of a problem... W-With the clouds... I-I couldn't get them to move..." She looked at the ground, frowning. Rainbow lifted her chin.
"Hey, it's okay, Fluttershy. I'll teach ya sometime. Okay? And maybe you can show me how to take care of animals... 'Cause, uh, I couldn't do it. Not without Angel's help anyway..." She grinned in embarrassment. Fluttershy giggled and nodded. Their eyes all went to Twilight and Rarity, who were silent. "Well? How'd it go?
Rarity chuckled nervously. "W-Well... To be honest... It went well." Twilight's gaze fell. "...For the first few minutes. After that, everything went downhill. All that organizing and everything... To be honest, darling, I couldn't do it without being bored out of my mind. It just... Wasn't me. I'm sorry, Twilight." She placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder and pulled her into a friendly hug. "No hard feelings, I hope, darling?"
"Well... Rarity, I... Accept your apology, but... I have to apologize too. I can't sew at all... A-And... Your commision... F-For Princess Celestia, it's..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. Her heart sunk further as she faced the ground. To her surprise, Rarity sounded as though she was trying to stifle a laugh. She looked up at her unicorn friend and stared. "You're laughing...? But why?"
Rarity wiped a tear from her eye, still in a giggling fit. "Darling, that wasn't the real dress! I would never leave something so important unfinished, especially if I wasn't going to be the one to finish it. Those were decoys for you to practice on!" Twilight stared at her for a second before eventually laughing along with her.
"I was so worried! Ahaha!" They embraced each other, smiling. "But... I was wrong. And no hard feelings. I'll never make a bet like THAT again..."
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Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that while I may be good at what I do, I'd better leave everyone else's work alone for them to do themselves. I guess that's it... Oh, and Spike keeps sniffing me for some reason. I still have to figure out why he's doing that...
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
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Okay. So I think this may be my longest one-shot ever. But the episodes are like... 22 minutes long, right? This could possibly translate to that... If some filler were added... Sorry about not going into detail with anypony's day except for Twilight and Rarity. That was just... That was my bad. Ehehe...
Review as usual. Oh, and AppleDash Pie will be updated in the near future to answer any questions about it (and I KNOW there are some) with Chapter 5.
Peace out, yo!
~DarkLordK~