Swapped

Swapped
Ch. 3 - Differences

Twilight stared down at the text filled pages of the book she was reading. She had been awake so long her eyes felt like they had been bathing in lemon juice every time she blinked. As she tried to focus her attention to read, the words started dancing on the page. Slowly they broke apart, until the letters, and then the lines themselves danced. Unconsciously, she followed the dancing lines until her eyes spun. Spinning lines led to a spinning page, which led to a spinning book on the floor, until she finally got dizzy from all the spinning.

She rolled over onto her side to calm down before she made herself sick. All the spinning started giving her a headache, so she let her eyelids drift closed. As they slipped closed, that sting from her long night reignited in them. She squeezed tightly, getting some much needed hydration to her bloodshot eyes. As the pain receded, her whole body relaxed. Every inch was sore from her long hike up a mountain, and subsequent fall after a teleportation mishap. She was so sore, so tired, all she wanted to do was let her weary mind and body drift off into sleep’s sweet embrace. However, the sudden tickle of feathers pressing into her side gave her a silent reminder of why she was digging through this pile of books.

Lazily she lifted her head up, and fought desperately to open her heavy eyes. The clock across the room from her was too blurry to read, and to top it off, it was also dancing like the letters in the book had been. She came up with the conclusion that the current time was officially “too late” and she needed to get some sleep. Her head dropped lifelessly onto the floor, eyes falling closed immediately. She weakly tried to move her legs, but they felt completely numb. She let out a small laugh as she resigned to sleeping there for the night.

The birds chirped outside the quaint wood-frame window. A mess of a blonde mane gently roused at the symphony of cheeps and chirps with a small groggy groan. Applejack wasn’t a stranger to waking up early, but today was different; her body was stiff, and felt weak. When she looked towards her window, a bright beam of sunshine shone through the glass. It took her a moment to figure out what was so peculiar about the sun shinning into her bedroom window. Suddenly, it hit her like a bale of hay. She realized it wasn’t early at all, usually she would have been up before the sun.

She silently cursed her brother and sister for not getting her up as she jumped out of bed. As soon as her legs felt weight on them, they almost buckled under her. Unsteady would have been an understatement when she saw how bad her legs were wobbling under her. Applejack looked down at her hooves, questioningly, confused as to why her body felt so weak. She shook her head, putting it out of her mind, as she carefully hobbled over to her bureau.

Upon placing her hooves on the dresser, and looking into the mirror, she noticed a long orange protrusion sticking from her forehead. Her eyes widened, as she gave it a tentative poke. Sure enough it was real, and that meant her dream last night was no dream. She let out a sigh, putting the whole mess yesterday out of her head. She had too much work to do around the farm to dwell on it, chickens to feed, hay to bale, apples to buck, the list went on. She grabbed her hair brush, and ran it through her mane, straitening the mess. There was a mild sigh of frustration when her new horn was in the way of her usual method of brushing, but she didn’t let it bother her too much.

After her hair was brushed, and tied in its usual way, she reached for her trademark stetson hat only to find it wasn’t in its usual resting place. Another vague memory came drifting to her from yesterday’s fatigued haze. She remembered lending her hat to Rarity, since that finicky pony found something wrong with every other hat Applejack owned. After a small annoyed groan she left her room to go tell her brother and sister off for not waking her up.

“Big Mac? Applebloom?” she called out into the empty house. “Granny?“ she added after there was no reply from her siblings. Her echoing voice was her only response, reminding her yet again of a minor detail she had forgotten. Her family was away visiting Braeburn and his family in Appaloosa, and they wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Applejack was supposed to go with them—that was until Twilight needed her help getting back that mirror. She sighed, figuring she might as well get some work done while everyone else was gone. She couldn’t very well slack for two days in a row, that would just make her already tremendous list of chores longer.

She hadn’t even taken her first step out of the house when she saw two ponies strolling up to her farm. The familiar outline of Fluttershy and Rarity appeared at her front gate, the two looking a little different considering yesterday’s events, but they were still recognizable. Applejack grumbled a bit when she noticed Rarity still wearing her hat.

“Good morning,” Fluttershy said with a small smile.

“Good morning, Applejack,” Rarity tipped the hat slightly flashing a small smile.

Applejack nodded to her shy friend. “Mornin’, glad to see yer okay, Fluttershy, considerin’ yesterday, ” Applejack said with a big smile. Her timid only friend tried to hide her face behind her mane.

“So umm, Applejack...how are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not so bad I suppose. I forgot about this here thing on my head. Gave me a bit of a start when I looked in the mirror this morning‘, but all things considered, I ain‘t too bad.” she chuckled as she pointed at her horn.

“Well, at least you’re feeling better.” Rarity said shifting her hat again, seemingly to draw Applejack’s attention to the fact she still had it.

“So what brings y’all here?” she asked her two friends.

“Oh yes, Twilight asked us to come by the library this morning. She said she should have some news for us.” Rarity brushed her mane off to the side, turning her head as she did so. A bright pink feather caught Applejack’s attention on the side of her hat. The farmer glared at Rarity, or more accurately the hat sitting on her friend’s head.

“What the hay did ya do to my hat!” she yelled as she reached for her stetson. Rarity quickly dodged her hoof, pushing Applejack back with ease as she did.

“I’ve just added a bit of color to this drab old thing. Though I think one of Twilight‘s feathers would match my mane better. The pink doesn‘t quite suit me.” Her hoof found its way on top of the hat, holding it down in case Applejack started grabbing at it again like she did yesterday with the treasure.

“That hat belonged ta my Pa!” The cowpony grit her teeth.

“Oh, my apologies, I didn’t know it meant so much to you, with the way you treat it.” Rarity returned Applejack’s attitude back to her. Applejack glared at Rarity for a moment, a burning anger filling her eyes.

“Ya mind givin’ it back?” she snipped at the designer.

“I do mind, I will need to borrow it until I can make a proper hat for myself.”

“Now I know ya got plenty a hats at yer house.” She raised an eyebrow to the designer knowing full-well she had an arsenal of hats for just about any occasion one could imagine.

“That’s true, but my hats are all fitted for a unicorn, not an earth pony.” Rarity looked down at the dirt, a touch of disappointment in her eyes.

“Unicorns don’t need different hats than earth ponies, now give it back,” Applejack protested.

“Oh please, Applejack. Unicorns do wear different hats from earth ponies. My hats all sit much farther back on my head, accentuating my horn. Your hat on the other hand, can sit anywhere on my head and look...passable—in a fashion sense of course.” Rarity tried to stifle a small chuckle.

“I’m bein’ serious now, Rarity. Give me back my hat!” Applejack stomped her hoof on the ground as her horn sparked. The sudden glow caused a small bit of worry to spring up in Rarity’s eyes.

“I will give it back. Just let me borrow it for today, alright? I’ll even fix the hole I made for the feather.” She raised a hoof, swearing on her honor. Her face went from arrogant to sincere in the matter of a second.

Applejack’s magic died down once she saw Rarity was being earnest for a change. A sudden throbbing burning sensation at the base of her horn nabbed her attention. Her hoof quickly found its way to her head, rubbing away the pain. “For cryin’ out loud, does this thing always hurt for no reason?”

“It wasn’t for no reason. You were starting to use magic just now.” Rarity pointed out.

“Well, why the hay does it hurt so much?”

“Umm, I’m not sure. It doesn’t hurt when I use—used magic...” The added past tense stung a bit for Rarity.

“We could ask Twilight...I’m sure she probably knows.” Fluttershy finally spoke up after her friend’s bickering had ceased.

“Right, we should be off, lest we keep her waiting.” Rarity started walking towards town. A small tug on Rarity’s tail caused her to turn around about halfway to the gate. She turned to see Fluttershy pointing nervously back towards the orchard. Her eyes followed the shy pony’s hoof, noticing Applejack wasn’t following them. Instead she saw the farmer heading deeper into the bowels of the orchard.

“Applejack, where are you going? We need to get to the library!” she called after the cowpony.

“I can’t, I got work at do,” she yelled back. Rarity rolled her eyes. She looked to Fluttershy, who didn’t seem too sure of how to handle the situation. After a small internal debate, she finally lowered her head a bit, giving up. Fluttershy would have just left, not wanting to impose if Rarity hadn’t been there with her. Rarity shook her head at Fluttershy’s indecisiveness, before motioning for her to follow. Begrudgingly, they chased after the cowpony into the depths of the orchard.

“So she ended up falling asleep after all, huh?” Spike muttered to himself as he gathered the mess of books. Twilight had books scattered everywhere in her fevered search for information on the mirror, and the pony it belonged to. Luckily for Spike, there was a sort of method to her madness. Books behind her, and off to the side were ones she had read, while the ones in front of her were untouched. He paused in gathering the discarded books to straighten the ones in front of her into a nice neat pile. Spike stopped himself when he reached for one open book in particular. The book he was about to grab for was a makeshift pillow for the sleeping librarian. He sighed slightly with a small smile on his face.

“Still the same old Twilight,” he chuckled a bit as he straightened the books in his hand. He set the stack down next to a shelf before heading to the kitchen. Right as he disappeared behind the doorway, he heard a small yawn from the couch.

“Mornin’, Spike,” Rainbow Dash said. He poked his head back out of the kitchen, and gave her a small wave before ducking back in.

“You guys got any coffee?” she said groggily, following the small dragon.

“Yeah, give me a sec and I’ll make some.” Spike grabbed a stool and fetched her a mug. He set it down on the counter, and started the morning brew. “So what time did Twilight pass out at?” he asked Rainbow as he tossed some grounds into a filter.

“I think around three or four. That’s about when I noticed she stopped groaning ever few minutes and she stopped tossing books.” she said, lazily resting her head on her hoof. She was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting patiently for the dragon to finish brewing a cup of coffee for her.

Spike set the filter over the coffee pot before dashing off to grab a kettle. Rainbow watched in a mild amusement as the little dragon dashed around the kitchen. After he filled the kettle, he lifted it just above his head. Without much warning, he blew a steady stream of fire at the bottom. It didn’t take long before a strange crackling sound could be heard from within the kettle. Just as the pot was about to start whistling, he cut off his flame

Much to Rainbow’s surprise, Spike was rather practiced at this. While it may look like he was in a rush, it was all very purposeful. The dragon let out a small, content sigh as he slowly poured the hot water over the dark ground powder.

“Seems like she had a long night,” he commented. Rainbow nodded weakly, though Spike couldn’t see since his back was turned to her.

“Yeah, though I hope she found something before passing out like that.” She started occupying her time while waiting for the brew by circling her hoof around the edge of the coffee mug.

“Cut her some slack, she was up for most of the night.” Spike gave her a stern look.

She shrugged her shoulders, still feeling her point was valid. “I just want to be back to my old self, this whole not being able to fly thing really sucks...”

“Come on Rainbow Dash, I’m sure being a unicorn isn’t all that bad.” Spike flashed her a sly smile.

She only rolled her eyes at the dragon. “Yeah right. If I get a little worked up my magic starts going haywire, sounds like a blast. I’d rather be able to fly than have magic any day...”

“Twilight’s used to lose control like that too when she was younger. With a bit of practice, you can get over it too.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve got no intention of getting used to using magic.” Rainbow Dash sighed, staring at her empty mug. Her concentration was broken by a sudden black stream falling into its confines. Her eyes looked up to see Spike giving her a reassuring smile as he poured her a cup.

“Thanks,” She smiled up at him with still groggy eyes. She stared at the steaming black liquid for a moment, entranced by the dancing vapor rising from the surface. A sudden slurp snapped her attention back to reality, when she saw Spike drinking a cup. “You guys got any sugar?” she asked finally.

“Applejack, we need to go to see Twilight!” Rarity called out the farmer as they caught sight of her again. By the time they caught up to her, they found her placing buckets at the base of a tree. Rarity immediately jumped in front of Applejack, stopping her in her tracks. “May I ask what it is you think you’re doing?”

“I’m about to get some work done, and yer standin’ in my way. So ya wanna move?” she asked plainly.

“You must be joking. Twilight asked us to the library so she could fix this! You can’t just go back to work!” Rarity protested, but Applejack ignored her by simply walking around the designer.

“Rarity, when ya work on a farm, a day off can mean the difference between eatin’ and goin’ hungry. If I don’t do this work, then that’ll be two days off. I can’t have that!” she explained as she backed up to the tree.

“Applejack, I wouldn’t...do that if I were you...” Fluttershy muttered.

“What? Just because I’m a unicorn now don’t mean I can’t do my job! Ain‘t a dang thing changed!” Applejack lowered her front, and lifted her back legs into the air. The whole process of bucking was mechanical to her at this point, she had been doing it her whole life. A simple magical mishap wasn’t going to change her daily routine, at least that’s what she thought.

She pulled her hind in close and stored the energy like she had always done in the past. The power in her legs built, and built, but something didn’t seem quite right to her. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her head—one that was distinctly different from her friends—telling her that this wouldn’t work. But by the time she could even pay that nagging voice any mind, she was already kicking her legs back at the tree. The last thing she heard from that voice was “Don’t say I didn’t warn you”. Once her hooves made contact, Applejack realized just how big of a mistake she made. A sudden shockwave of pain shot up from her hooves, up her legs, into her hips, and then rocketed through the rest of her body; it felt like a bolt of lightning ripping through her. Her eyes shot open in shock, and she fell over forward. She immediately grabbed a hold of her legs, yelping in pain. “What the—”

Rarity covered Fluttershy’s ears to block out the on-coming stream of cursing from Applejack. Every time the cowpony went to open her mouth, Rarity winced slightly. Her jaw fell in complete shock of the words spewing from her injured friend. Fluttershy watched, almost too scared to even imagine the foul obscenities pouring from the farmer’s mouth. She sat there helpless, and sheltered, only looking on as Applejack curled on the ground. In her hooves, she had a firm grip on her hind legs, squeezing them as close as possible to her body. The only thing that crossed the shy pony’s mind was that Applejack might have broken something.

After the cursing finally died down, Rarity removed her hooves from the sensitive pony’s ears, letting her hear again. In an instant, Fluttershy’s motherly instincts kicked in, and she rushed over to Applejack‘s side. Immediately, she was trying to get her to calm down. The farmer was still holding her legs tightly, and wasn’t too keen on the idea of letting go.

Rarity followed after Fluttershy, feeling much of the same worry for her fallen friend. “Let me see what’s wrong.” She put her hoof on Applejack’s foreleg, but the cowpony hissed.

“Le’go-le’go-le‘go!” she screamed almost too fast for Rarity to understand, but seeing her friend in pain, caused the designer’s grip to loosen. Applejack panted a bit, trying to breathe the pain out. Her face relaxed considerably once Rarity’s unwitting iron grip was released. Carefully, she let go her hind legs after some gentle coaxing from Fluttershy, finally let her friends help.

“Just relax, and breathe,” Fluttershy coached as she felt Applejack’s legs. Her eyes darted from where her hooves were to Applejack’s face, seeing if she was causing any discomfort to her patient. As she worked her way up Applejack’s leg, it became apparent that nothing was broken. “Does this hurt?” Fluttershy asked, poking Applejack’s leg one final time. The injured pony shook her head, putting her two friends at ease.

“I told you, you shouldn’t have done that,” Fluttershy scolded in a motherly tone.

The two looked over at the buckets below the tree, seeing only a few apples that fell. The tree had barely shaken at all from Applejack’s kick. The few apples that dropped from the branches felt like pity from the tree. Applejack sighed at the sight, too embarrassed that was all she could muster from the old tree.

“You should be fine if you don’t try that again any time soon.” Fluttershy said giving her fallen friend a small, warm smile.

Applejack reluctantly agreed to Dr. Fluttershy’s prescription. “So...why the hay did my buck not work?” Applejack asked.

“Unicorns aren’t as strong as earth ponies, Applejack. In fact they’re considerably weaker physically. You won’t be able to buck apple trees as a unicorn unless you want to put yourself in the hospital.” Rarity said, pulling her friend up onto her hooves. She held Applejack for a moment, seeing if she could support her own weight on her legs.

She took a hesitant step to see for herself. It wasn’t easy for her, but she could walk. “Wait, so I can’t work?” she asked, just now registering what her friend said.

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Rarity gave her a nervous smile.

Applejack stood silent for a while, just staring down at the ground. “Well, that’s just great...” she muttered. “Now, y’all’re sayin’ Twilight should have a fix fer this mess?” she asked, limping back towards the house. Rarity gave her a small nod, following after Applejack.

“Well, we’re hoping at least.” Rarity kept pace with her friend, making sure she didn’t over do it.

“Let’s git goin’ then.”

“So besides the whole not being able to fly, and how much that sucks, how are you feeling about this change thing, Rainbow Dash?” Spike probed the new unicorn.

“I don’t know. Something just feels...off,” she said, as she stirred a diabetes-inducing amount of sugar into her morning brew. “It’s kind of like when you sleep in a bed that’s not yours...that’s how I feel...” She was returned a blank stare from the small dragon.

“Uh-huh...Yeah I don’t get it. I‘m fine sleeping anywhere,” he said with a small chuckle.

“It’s weird...Ya’know, it’s hard to explain exactly.” She took a sip of the piping hot, black coffee. As soon as the sweet with a touch of bitter liquid hit her tongue her eyes shot open. The flavor was unlike anything she had tasted before. She let the dark roasted beverage sit on her tongue for a moment, savoring the complexity in its flavor. “Where do you guys get your coffee?” she finally asked after forcing herself to swallow the intoxicating liquid.

“We just pick up some beans, and I roast them myself.” Spike had a prideful smile on his face, and rightfully so. Rainbow Dash had been interested in the coffee since she first got a whiff of the enticing roasted aroma.

“I gotta say, this is really good. You’re on to something here.” She smiled at the dragon before taking another sip. “So you make the coffee, breakfast, and do just about all the house work, huh?”

“Yeah, Twilight’s a pretty organized pony, but once she’s got her head into something, everything else falls by the wayside. Plus, I kind of had to pick up the slack in the housekeeping department since she doesn’t know how to cook or anything like that.” He looked mildly irritated.

“Sounds like her,” Rainbow muttered with a small chuckle. Spike laughed a bit as well.

As the two sat there chatting over their morning cup of joe, the door to the library swung open with a crash, sending a shockwave through the tree. The loud crack from the door smashing into the wall caused Twilight to jump up, her legs barely able to support her. Her eyes lazily darted around, still half closed, and still very dazed from her abrupt, and shocking alarm.

“W-What’s going on?” she mumbled, trying to find the cause of the intrusion.

“Twilight!” A high pitched wail came from the door. A barrage of clops quickly charged towards her, only startling the still half-asleep pony some more. Before Twilight could respond, she was being squeezed in a death-hug by a pink blur, being rocked back and forth in its iron grip.

“This is terrible!” Pinkie’s yell echoed through the previously quiet library, alerting Spike and Rainbow Dash to the source of the mysterious crash they heard.

“I tried to bake this morning, and my wings just wouldn’t stop flapping! They just kept knocking everything over when I turned around, and they blew flour all over the place, I couldn’t make cupcakes, or pies or anything!” she exclaimed, desperately holding onto to Twilight like she was about to disappear into thin air.

“P-Pinkie, let go...I-I can’t breathe...” Twilight gasped, trying to escape her friend’s unwitting chokehold.

“Oh, sorry.” she said, dropping her friend into her pile of books, scattering them everywhere.

“I just picked up those books...” Spike sighed as he walked over to tidy up the new mess. By this point he and Rainbow Dash had already left the kitchen to see what the interruption was on their peaceful morning.

The unicorn strolled up to her two pegasus friends. “What‘s going on now?” Rainbow Dash asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

“My new wings won’t stop moving!”

“If they don’t stop moving how did you sleep last night?” Twilight asked.

“Sleep? What’s sleep?” she asked with a concerning serious tone. Twilight and Rainbow both looked at each other. They knew it had to be a joke, but it was still a very believable coming from their hyperactive, party-obsessed friend.

“Did you try just not flapping them?” Spike asked in a sarcastic tone. Pinkie froze for a moment, wings and all as she pondered the concept.

“I tried, but every time I get excited they just start going! See like right now! I‘m excited because I came over to Twilight’s!” She point a hoof at her spastically flapping wings. Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash did a collective sigh.

“I need some coffee...” Twilight finally muttered.

“Got it all ready for you.” Spike whispered to her just loud enough for Twilight to hear.

She flashed him a weary smile as thanks before heading to the kitchen. “Thanks, Spike.”

“Pinkie, I don’t get the problem here. Just stop flapping your wings; it’s not hard.” Rainbow Dash looked at her friend with a nonchalant look.

“You don’t understand—”

“I do understand. I’ve been a pegasus my whole life—well...until yesterday...It’s not like your wings are uncontrollable.” She looked down at her half-empty mug, before taking a sip.

“Mine are uncontrollable!” Pinkie stressed, pointing to her excitedly flapping wings one more.

“Maybe it’s a new Pinkie sense?” Spike proposed.

“That actually could be,” Twilight said poking her head out of the kitchen. “Maybe it’s one of your old senses coping with the changes to your body, or even a whole new sense.” the librarian offered before disappearing back into the kitchen.

Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. “It might be, who knows. Does it feel like how your Pinkie sense usually feels?”

“Umm, hmm...” Pinkie sat down on the ground, putting her hoof to her chin. Spike cracked a small smile as he watched the party pony think. She had an incredibly serious look on her face, her back was hunched over, and her hoof was pressed firmly to her chin. No one had ever seen Pinkie sit so still before, she looked like she was posing for a sculpture. The whole sight wouldn’t have been so entertaining if her wings weren’t still fluttering every few seconds. “I think it kind of feels like it? Wait, no...it’s different...”

“Different how?” Spike asked. Pinkie scratched her head, trying to pin-point what felt so off about her.

“Umm, It’s not outside...it’s inside...” She tilted her head to the side, as her face contorted. She was having a hard time deciding if that was the right wording she wanted to use. Finally after minor deliberation, Pinkie shook her head. “It’s like something’s off with me, not like something is about to happen.” she corrected herself. In a quick hop, she jumped back up onto all fours. “Oh! It’s off with Twilight and Rainbow Dash too!” she said after looking back at her flapping wings.

“Congratulations Pinkie, you discovered that something is different about us...” Rainbow Dash sighed as she took the final sip of her coffee. “I’ll alert the media.”

“Come on now, something else might be off other than our races.” Twilight reappeared from the kitchen.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, turning into a pegasus has made Pinkie even more crazy...”

Twilight hung her head with a slight shake as she approached. When she looked back up, she was inspecting Pinkie thoroughly. “There could be a multitude of things wrong that we don’t know,” Twilight said as she grabbed Pinkie’s fidgeting wing.

“Speaking of not knowing, did you find anything out about that mirror last night?” Spike asked. Twilight froze for a second, like a filly caught sneaking a cookie. Her wings twitched slightly, giving a small perspective into how still she actually was. Slowly she gave a nervous smile, which grew into an equally nervous chuckle. As Rainbow Dash and Spike stared at her, she realized how awkward she was being.

“Not yet,” she finally said. Her smile and laugh faded quickly, leaving a defeated pony in their wake.

“You should just write the Princess, she probably knows,” Spike urged.

Twilight shook her head firmly. “No, Spike...I have to solve this on my own.” She added a small annoyed glare at the dragon, accentuating her stance on the issue, before going back to inspecting Pinkie’s wing.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I...I have to fix this. I got everypony into this mess, so I have to be the one to fix it!” Twilight’s frustrated explanation was interrupted by Pinkie giggling.

“That tickles!” She snorted as her wings started fidgeted again.

“That’s a pretty silly reason...” Spike muttered.

“More like stupid,” Rainbow Dash corrected him, rolling her eyes as she did so. “You mean to tell me you didn’t find a single thing about this what’s-his-face?”

“Heavenly Shimmer, and no, nothing at all. He’s not in any historical documentation that I read through, nor was his mirror. And this thing isn‘t in the encyclopedia of known magically enchanted artifacts.” Twilight gave up on her examination of Pinkie’s wing. After a second, she closed her eyes, sticking her lips out expectantly. After a quick sucking sound, Twilight’s eyes shot opened. She groaned as she walked back into the kitchen to actually grab the coffee she had forgotten. “I hate not having magic...” she muttered under her breath.

“So what are we going to do?” Rainbow Dash asked in an annoyed tone when Twilight came back.

“Oh I know, we could just bake a cake and throw a party to introduce the new us to Ponyville!” Pinkie pulled her three friends into a tight hug, almost causing Twilight to spill her coffee.

“I think she’s talking about a cure, Pinkie,” Spike coughed out as he was squeezed together with his friends.

“What in tarnations are you four doin’?” The southern drawl of Applejack coming from behind the party pony caused Pinkie to hop in place a bit out of excitement. Much to her captives’ dismay, she hadn’t let them go quite yet, so they were along for the excitement-induced ride.

“Oh a guessing game! Umm, let me see...we’re...being friends? Or are we hugging? OH! Maybe we’re playing a guessing game!” Pinkie started spouting answers without even turning to face the farmer.

“Pinkie, let go!” Rainbow Dash yelled, tired of being shaken. As her frustration built, her horn lit up. In an instant, a burst of magical energy blew the other three away from her, sending Twilight and Spike plowing into a book shelf, and Pinkie at the foot of their newly-arrived friends.

After a second, Twilight, and Spike shook their heads, trying to focus their senses again after the impact. When the looked back, they saw an unsteady Rainbow Dash wobbling back and forth, her eyes looking rather dazed, and unfocused from the sudden eruption of magical energy.

Pinkie immediately jumped up from the ground, still beaming with excitement. “That was fun!”

“Are you girls alright?” Fluttershy asked.

After a moment, Rainbow Dash shook her head violently, trying to snap herself out of her daze. She sighed, before nodding to Fluttershy. “Why does magic hurt so much?” Her hoof found its way to her temple, gently massaging her pain away.

“I know what ya mean RD,” Applejack agreed with a solemn nod.

“Magic doesn’t hurt, it’s only because you two aren’t used to it,” Twilight corrected them as she climbed back onto her hooves. “Wait, my coffee!” Twilight searched around her, finding only a broken mug and a puddle of black liquid. “Rainbow Dash!” she groaned. After looking at the still unsteady pony, she decided to let the matter go. There didn’t seem to be much point in yelling at an inexperienced unicorn over some spilled coffee. Twilight let out a dejected sigh, as she slowly walked back to the kitchen.

“So, the unicorns are struggling with magic, and the pegasi can’t even fly. Sounds like we two earth ponies are the only ones coping with our changes,” Rarity said with a smug smile growing on her face. She glanced over to Fluttershy, who tried to hide herself as best as she could behind her mane.

“I-I don’t know about that...” she muttered.

“Ya gotta be jokin’ me. When ya grabbed me earlier ya dang near pinched one’a my legs off,” Applejack give Rarity a stern glare, showcasing her bruised leg.

“Oh please, you’re overreacting.” Rarity laughed a bit.

“I can too fly!” Pinkie added, jumping into the air. She closed her eyes as she flapped her wings as hard as she could, only slowing her fall back to the ground. Everyone stared at her for a second, watching her flap her wings, and squeeze her eyes closed as she stood on the ground. Suddenly her wings came to a stop, and her eyes popped back open. “Did I do it?”

“Nopony is coping with these changes!” Twilight yelled, stopping the brewing argument. “I can’t fly any father than a pony could throw me, Rainbow Dash cant control her magic, Fluttershy can’t control her strength, and neither can Rarity apparently! Pinkie is too hyper to fly, and I’m sure Applejack is—” Twilight noticed a bandaged back leg on the cowpony. “What happened to you?” she rushed over to her farmer friend.

“Let’s just say buckin’ ain’t fer a unicorn...” She looked away, too embarrassed to look Twilight in the eyes.

“Clearly, you’re not adapting either...” she muttered to herself. “We just need to fix this,” Twilight added firmly.

“And how’re we gonna do that?” Applejack asked.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Twilight muttered, taking a small sip of her new cup of coffee.

“Well, what did you find out about the mirror?” Rarity asked the librarian only to see a defeated look in her eyes.

“She didn’t find anything out, Egghead here fell asleep,” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“Rainbow Dash, I’m sure Twilight was trying as hard as she can.” Fluttershy jumped to Twilight’s defense with her motherly tone.

“Well, I got an idea, how about we just break the stupid thing. That might break the spell.” Rainbow Dash sat back on her hind legs, crossing her forelegs as she did so.

“Or that might just break our one chance to fix this mess,” Twilight remarked.

“Let’s take a vote then, who wants to smash the stupid mirror?” The former pegasus raised a hoof. Reluctantly Applejack raised hers as well, slowly followed by Rarity. “Well, that leaves a tie...Spike, what do you say?” Rainbow Dash looked down at the small dragon.

“Oh no, you’re not dragging me into this mess. Breaking a mirror is seven years bad luck, and that’s on top of what Princess Celestia will do to you.” Suddenly everyone in the room exchanged a worried glance, unsure how to proceed. It hadn’t occurred to Rainbow Dash that the mirror was Celestia’s. The thought of upsetting the princess sent a collective chill down everyone’s spine.

“Actually, a magical blast might possibly be enough of a catalyst to activate the mirror.” Twilight took a step forward.

“You can’t be serious, Twilight...” Spike looked at the librarian like she had lost her mind.

“It doesn’t have to be a strong blast,” she reassured. Her friends all shot concerned glances at one another, sharing in Spike‘s worry. Silence fell over the room as they thought about their choices.

“If it will get us back to normal, we should try it...right?” Rarity asked the rest of the ponies, like she was scared of her own suggestion. Rainbow Dash cautiously nodded her head in agreement.

“Wait now, if that thing gets so much as a scratch, the princess’ll have our hides!” Applejack tried to reason with her friends, but they ignored her.

Twilight fetched the mirror from her saddlebag on the library shelf. She held it in her hoof for a second, giving the magical item a final look over. Her eyes continued looking onto its pristine surface, finding something particularly odd about the ancient item. As Twilight stared, it really bothered her, but she also couldn’t quite place her hoof on what was so off about the mirror.

Pushing it from her mind, Twilight placed the artifact down on the floor in front of Rainbow Dash. She shook her head at the old mirror, sad to be subjecting the antique to such a horrendous act. Just before standing clear of the unpracticed unicorn’s line of fire, she gave the athletic pony an uncertain glance. She wasn’t happy about blasting the mirror, and even more, she really didn’t trust Rainbow Dash with the task. But there wasn’t much choice in the matter, she couldn‘t use magic, and the other unicorn in the room wasn‘t any better suited. With a small sigh, she took a step back.

Rainbow looked at Twilight returning her unsure gaze. “I have to be the one to do it?” she asked. Twilight nodded her head in response.

“T-This doesn’t seem like such a good idea...or safe...” Fluttershy’s soft mutterings barely grabbed anyone’s attention.

“Yeah, I kind of like being a pegasus!” Pinkie stomped her hoof on the ground in protest.

“You were just complaining earlier that you couldn’t bake...” Spike pointed out to the party pony.

“Oh yeah,” she giggled.

“What else are we going to do? I can’t find anything on the pony who made this thing, and as far as every book in this library is concerned it doesn’t exist!” Twilight looked at her friends, radiating irritation.

“I bet Princess Celestia would know what to do...” Spike muttered from behind Twilight. He was met with a quick glare that screamed “not now”.

“Rainbow Dash, just focus on your horn. Channel your magic up to your horn, and build it up at the tip. Point down at the mirror and then fire,” Twilight explained plainly. Rainbow Dash gave her a blank stare, like everything she said had just been in a different language from Equestrian.

“What?” she finally asked, having been staring at Twilight for a few moments.

Twilight slapped her hoof to her face, suddenly realizing how Fluttershy felt trying to explain how to fly to her yesterday. Basic—even more basic than basic—the most basic of the basic of basic elements is what she had to explain; that’s how she would have to tell Rainbow Dash. Twilight paused, thinking how to explain things she didn’t even realize she was doing. It was like explaining how to breathe, or make your heart beat.

“Okay, when you use magic, you know what that feels like. Try to remember that feeling, and push it up through your horn. Make sure you hold it back a bit at the tip, and just let it build for a moment. Then after a few seconds just let it out, and it should be a simple magical blast.” Twilight felt like she was talking to a brick wall.

Rainbow Dash was only shaking her head, not sure of anything Twilight had just said. “Everything you’re saying doesn’t make sense. How am I supposed to even build up magic? I can’t hold it back, or even make it come out when I want to.”

Twilight groaned in frustration. Channeling magic was something every unicorn knew how to do, even from birth. Rainbow Dash has even used magic, so it’s not like the concept of it flowing through her horn shouldn’t be completely foreign. Twilight just didn’t understand how Rainbow Dash could be so inept at something so simple. Twilight took a deep breath, before she said something she might regret.

“You know that pain you felt? Imagine that. Remember when Pinkie was shaking you? Or when you were freaking out yesterday? Imagine feeling like that again.” Twilight was calm in her explanation. Relating it back to previous experience should jog the former pegasus’s memory on how to channel magic. If not, she only hoped Applejack could tap into it a little easier.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to be blamed for not trying. She closed her eyes, imagining her frustration when Pinkie was shaking her a little bit ago. She pictured herself being shaken back and forth, squeezed together with Twilight and Spike in the Pinkie's grip. The rocking back and forth, the tightness, how uncomfortable she felt. She took that mental image, and internalized it, let her body feel all that discomfort. A burning sensation grew at the base of her horn, causing Rainbow Dash to wince slightly from the pain. It felt like a boiling mass, shapeless, but definite; it had an edge, and she could see the roiling mass shifting in a mental image.

She remembered Twilight’s instructions and imagined herself pushing the hot bubbling magic up into her horn. As it moved through, her eyes strained from the heat, and power. The familiar sound of unicorn magic filled the air as she heft the unstable mass to the tip of her horn. Behind this burning magic she was moving, a steady stream followed, making the mass bigger, heavier with each passing moment. As she pushed, she felt like she was on the edge of a cliff in that instant, she realized this was the tip of her horn. Cautiously, she opened her eyes, seeing the magenta glow from her horn dancing just barely in her field of view. It was almost awe-striking how beautiful it was to her, she had never been so close to a unicorn’s magical aura.

“That’s it Rainbow Dash, you’re doing it!” Twilight cheered.

Rainbow Dash chuckled slightly. “Yeah I am pretty awesome,” she remarked, letting her guard down for a moment. In that instant her horn felt like it was on fire. The heat became completely unbearable, sending a pulsing ache deep into her head. Just as she was about to lose control of the power she had built up, she pointed her horn down at the mirror. Suddenly there was a bright flash as she released the stored power into a bolt of magic.

As Twilight watched her friend use magic for the first time purposefully she couldn’t help but think about what was off about the mirror. As the bolt of magic traveled at it, she realized what was so wrong with the artifact. There wasn’t a scratch, a ding, or even a scuff on the ancient item. That meant it was either a fake—and Twilight knew it wasn’t, it radiated too much magical energy for that to be the case—or it had very powerful protection spells on it.

As the bolt of magic hit, it quickly ricocheted off its target. The magical mass was sent flying where it bounced off the wooden wall of the library—apparently still under the protection spells influence. It rebound again, hitting the ceiling, and then narrowly missing Fluttershy. It bounced more, missing Spike, and then just barely Applejack. Rarity quickly ducked out of the way, dodging it on another pass-by. Pinkie jumped over the magic missile, making yet another narrow miss. The bolt bounce again, this time setting a course for Twilight. The librarian smacked the magical attack down at the ground with her hoof, causing it to fizzle. She looked at her friends rather unenthused.

“It really wasn’t a strong attack, girls. You may have gotten a small tingle from it.”

Rarity cleared her throat. “I-I knew that,” she mustered, getting her lady-like demeanor back.

“Well, what’re we gonna do now?” Applejack asked.

Twilight only sighed. Her idea had failed miserably, and never had a chance of working in the first place. Furthermore she didn’t know anything about the mirror, so she wouldn’t even know where to begin with fixing this mess. She looked around at her friends staring at her expectantly, their eyes filled with hope that she had a solution. The librarian couldn’t use magic to discern all the enchantments on the mirror, nor to devise a spell to fix this whole mess—not that she would know where to even begin with the latter. There really wasn’t any solution for this mess that didn’t involve getting help. Her eyes drifted to Spike next, who wore an “I told you so” look. Twilight sighed once more.

“Spike, take a letter...” she mumbled in defeat.