Jake had to admit, he felt like crap. After Rainbow Dash had failed her Sonic Rainboom, she had left without saying anything to Jake or the Wonderbolts. Jake had apologized to the Wonderbolts, thanked them, and told them that they could leave.

When Jake had confronted Rainbow Dash, he had asked if she was okay.

"Okay? I've been embarrassed in front of all the Wonderbolts, and you ask if I'm okay?" she had said.

"Hey! I didn't tell you to try a Sonic Rainboom! You know as well as I do that you haven't been able to do one in a long time!" he had retorted.

"What did you expect me to do? Because of you, the Wonderbolts expected me to do one! It would have made me seem like a coward if I didn't try."

"I only said that because I was trying to show Soarin' that you are an amazing flier. He was asking me why I hadn't tried to become a Wonderbolt, but I knew you wanted to be one more than anything."

"He said that you could be a Wonderbolt? He hadn't even considered me?"

"No! I mean yes, but-"Jake had been about to explain that Soarin' was probably considering Rainbow Dash too, but she cut him off.

"Forget it. Goodbye Agile." She had said as she flew off towards Cloudsdale.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!" Jake had yelled after her. He stared in the same direction. He sighed, and turned.

He had gone back to the apartment, depressed by what a failure his date was. He had expected it to perfect. He had imagined Rainbow Dash either hugging him or kissing him at the end of it all.

The whole Poison Joke thing came as a surprise to Jake. What were the odds that Cameron had been able to not only find Poison Joke, but to know what it did. It was even more amazing that he had known not to touch it.

He had underestimated Cameron. He would not do so again.

Jake kept his guard up after the sandwich, scanning the room for anything else that could hide the mischievous blue plant. While Mike was scolding Cameron, Jake had slipped away so that he could get to bed and be relieved of the horrible day.

However, he had noticed that multiple blue leaves had been hidden in his bed sheets and pillow.

That sneaky little… Well played, Cameron. But not well enough. He had thought.

With blinding speed, he had switched his and Cameron's sheets and pillows. He then hopped into bed and pretended to be asleep.

In the morning, Jake was awoken by the Cameron's sleep talk.

"Camping noob…" He grumbled.

Ugh. He must seriously miss Call of Duty.

As he started to get up, he made sure that he hadn't been affected by any Poison Joke. He checked his wings and tried flying.

Seems fine.

His thoughts were interrupted by loud knocking on the door.

"Damn it, Cameron! Get up, you dunce!" Mike yelled. Jake now remembered that he wasn't the only one Cameron wanted to prank.

Jake walked over to the door and unlocked it. Mike burst in and exclaimed, "Where is he?"

Jake took a look at Mike and saw that he no longer had his horn. He walked up to Cameron, who had covered his head with his sheets, and smacked him upside the head.

"Agh!" Cameron exclaimed. He grabbed his pillow and covered his head with it.

"Wake up, Buttercup! You have five seconds to fix me!" Mike threatened.

"Huh?"

"Wrong answer!" Mike said as he took off the pillow to thump Cameron once more. He stopped as he pulled the pillow from Cameron's grasp.

Instead of a Cameron, there was a mare that looked like him. Mike stifled a laugh.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked. He looked at the new Cameron. "Oh. My. God. This is freaking hilarious."

"He still has the same voice, but he's a mare now! Oh, where's Facebook when you need it?" Mike said.

"… the hell are two talking about?" Cameron said, rubbing his… err her eyes.

"Look in the mirror."

Cameron did so. She cringed at her new appearance.

"What the hell? I only put that plant in your bed and in Jake's bed!" Cameron yelled. He had always been proud to be guy. He found that the opposite gender was weaker and more complicated. Becoming one was at the top of the list of the things he feared.

"I switched the sheets. Shame on you for trying to prank me after my horrible day. Kick me while I'm down, why don't you?" Jake said.

"Forget about that! I'm a girl horse!" Cameron exclaimed.

"Technically you are a pony. And the term for a female pony is mare." Mike informed.

"Guess how much I care?"

"Not at all?"

"Ding! We have a winner. How the hell do we reverse this crap?" Cameron inquired.

"We'll have to head over to Zecora's house and ask for the cure." Mike answered. He heard a grumble come from the sofa.

"Crap! We have an entirely new problem" Mike said. "Without my horn, I can't use magic. Luna will wake up if we don't get this fixed quick.

"Then move your sorry butt!" Cameron ordered as she pushed Mike towards the door. She turned to Jake. "Don't think I'll forget about this."

After the two left for the forest, Jake headed outside. He needed to make things right with Rainbow Dash, even though she would probably never forgive him.

He flew towards Cloudsdale and searched for her house. He knocked on the door and said, "Hello? Rainbow Dash? Can you please come out?"

The door opened slightly and Jake let loose his full apology.

"I am so sorry! I'm sorry that I put you in that situation! I should have kept my mouth shut. I don't want to become a Wonderbolt, but I know that you would be a great one! I'm so sorr-", Jake said.

Rainbow cut him off by hugging him and kissing him.

Jake had not been expecting this. At all. He turned crimson before he finally returned the kiss.

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have been so stubborn." Rainbow said.

"That's actually one of the reasons I like you so much." Jake said with a smile. Rainbow Dash blushed.

They hugged each other for a long time.

"Well, I have nothing going on today, as always. What do you want to do?"

"You haven't been around Cloudsdale. I'd like to show you around."

"Sure thing."

At the Everfree Forest…

"Are we lost, Cameron?" Mike asked.

"No. I just don't know where we are." Cameron said, chuckling at her answer.

"Oh, ha ha. This is serious Cam. We need to find Zecora's hut as quick as possible." Mike scolded.

"Calm down. It's right here." Cameron said as she moved a bush. Mike saw the small hut in a clearing.

Cameron knocked on the door. "Zecora! Things didn't go as planned. I got that herb for the cure. Can you let me in?"

The door opened. Zecora looked at the ponies at her front door. She looked at Cameron.

"Facade, is that you? You are a mare now, this is true." Zecora said.

"Yeah. This is my friend, Keen. I managed to prank him. It's a long story." Cameron replied.

When Cameron had finished his story, Zecora agreed to make the cure.

"So is this a pill or something?" Cameron asked.

"No, you must bathe in the brew in order for you to become you." Zecora answered.

Zecora prepared a large washtub with the potion. The two friends looked down into it.

"Ladies first." Mike snickered.

"Shut up." Cameron said.

At the apartment…

Princess Luna was starting to regain consciousness. For the past few days, she had been in a strange limbo, not truly understanding where she was. She thought of it merely as a dream.

She opened her eyes.

"What is going-", was all she said before she slumped back down onto the sofa, sleeping from Mike's spell.

In Cloudsdale…

Jake had at first been interested to see all the places of Cloudsdale in person, but now he was just bored. Rainbow Dash led him to their final destination, the Rainbow Factory. This was perhaps the only place that interested him.

"Here we are. Make sure you put on all the goggles and stuff." Rainbow said as they walked into the main room.

Jake was about to ask Rainbow if she knew what Rainbow's tasted like when he heard a rather obnoxious voice come from behind him.

"Rainbow Crash has a coltfriend? Hah! What loser actually wants to date her?" said one with a dark brown mane and light brown body. He had basketballs for his cutie mark.

Oh, God. These fools.

"Care to say that to my face?" Jake said as he turned to the stallion.

"Sure. I said, what loser wants to date Rainbow Crash? What's your name, loser?"

"Agile. My name's Agile. I'm going to warn you once. Leave Rainbow Dash alone, or you will regret coming to work today."

"That's some big talk coming from a loser." Said the other who had a blonde mane and a dark brown body.

Jake turned to Rainbow Dash. "Care to introduce me to your friends?"

"They're just some bullies I know." Rainbow answered. "Just ignore them."

"Easier said than done." Jake said with a sigh. He turned back to the two stallions. "Is there something you wanted besides insulting my marefriend?"

"Not really." Answered the blonde one.

My patience levels are dropping.

"Rainbow, I'm going to have to do something. Wait here for a little bit. I won't take long." Jake said as he walked up to the two pegasi. "Name anything that you think you can do better than me, and I'll show you I'm better at it."

"It kinda sounds like he wants to race us or something." Said the blonde one.

You don't say?

"Ha! Fine. There's no way you can beat us in a race." Said the brown haired one.

"I guess we'll find out." He said as he winked at Rainbow Dash. She smiled because she knew they didn't stand a chance.

"Race to the stadium and back." Said the blonde Pegasus.

"That's it? Fine." Jake replied.

"Three… two… one!"

The two bullies zipped off in the direction of the stadium. Jake turned to Rainbow Dash.

"After I'm done here, do you want to get something from Sugarcube Corner? My treat." He asked.

She nodded and said, "Get going!"

Jake smiled and took off. As he expected, the two pegasi hadn't reached the stadium yet. He passed them and reached the stadium in only a few seconds. He waited for them to reach the stadium

"No way!" The blonde pony exclaimed.

"Yes way. See you two later." Jake said as he accelerated for a sonic boom. The sheer force from the sonic boom caused the two pegasi to blast off into a completely different direction.

As he reached the Rainbow factory, the few workers still there were staring in awe. Jake took off the coat and protective gear and headed straight to Sugarcube Corner.

At Sugarcube Corner…

Cameron thought that it felt good to be back to work making cupcakes. Things were actually quiet today and business was slow, which left Cameron with some thinking time. Pinkie Pie hadn't been around the shop for a while, which was bliss for Cameron. The pink pony was driving him mad.

Maybe I could go see Fluttershy today. I hope she isn't busy. It would be great if that bunny wasn't with her today.

Just as he was about to leave the bakery and close it for the day, Rainbow Dash came through the front door.

"Hey, Facade! I haven't seen you for a while. Agile's gonna be here soon. Do you mind making just a few more cupcakes?" she asked.

"But I was just… I was gonna… never mind. Fine." Cameron said as he put his apron back on.

At the apartment…

Mike was worn out from his day. After the whole Poison Joke fiasco, he had teleported back to Rarity's boutique. As he had walked in, he could hear Rarity humming as she worked on her new dresses. She greeted Mike with a long hug and asked where he had been.

"It's a long story. I'd rather not talk about it." Mike had said.

Aside from his usual work of duplicating gems, he had found interest in talking to Sweetie Belle. Unlike her sister, she was incredibly random and seemed to have a never ending supply of energy. She would walk up to him and ask a variety of questions for no apparent reason.

When he wasn't doing that or working, he would just come up next to Rarity and talk with her.

After work, he went back to the apartment to go and check up on Princess Luna. He had feared earlier that she might have awoken because he had lost his horn and magic.

As he walked through the door, the first thing he noticed was that Luna was shivering. He scanned the room for a blanket, but found none.

He then remembered that he had sent the sheets to be cleaned. He did this so that all trace of the Poison Joke was gone.

All of a sudden, Luna woke, much to the surprise of Mike.

"Who are thou?" Luna exclaimed.

How is she awake?

Mike concentrated on his magic again, and Luna returned to her slumber.

The spell must be weakening. Either that or she's finding a way to fight it. I'm going to need to check up on her more often so that she doesn't awaken while I'm out of the apartment.

Mike thought about how much longer he and his friends had until the Summer Sun Celebration.

Three days. We just have to hold out for three more days.

Next Chapter: Calm before the storm. Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 29 Minutes