What the Hay Happened Here?
It was a completely new world to Princess Twilight Sparkle. Her alicornhood made her magic stronger than she had ever thought it would be. Simple spells, like levitation could be preform with absolutely no concentration. Although, with simple magic already mastered, what really made excited was the new array of seemingly impossible spells within her grasp.
After her coronation, Twilight Sparkle studied the spells that were previously impossible for her to perform. Trixie's magic duel had opened Twilight's eyes to another level of magic. The newest Princess had used her royal influence to request ponies to become pony guinea pigs, in which they agree almost immediately. Of course with experimental magic there were a few minor problems, including some former mare's refusing to turn back, or the clones of Spike holding the original hostage; they bargained that they return him and Twilight doesn't disintegrate, so she considered the pony trials a modest success. But there was always one spell she was never able to perfect.
After rounding up her fellow friends, who had obligingly agreed to become her test subjects for the moment (it took some effort to persuade Rarity and Applejack due to their hesitance and skepticism of the situation, but they were convinced after being reassured by Twilight herself that the spell would do no harm to them and was easily reversible.)
The spell seemed incredibly easy at first, although Twilight was barely able to make it through the incantation without fainting during the first few tries. She had enough by the fourth try. Twilight was determined and, like a real trooper, she concentrated as best as she could, focusing her mindset on the spell as her friends circled around her in concern and anxiety.
A faded image came into view within Twilight’s mind, revealing a long list of incomprehensible letters, symbols, numbers; whatever they were. In her mind she knew that the scrolling information must have meant something, but the letters made sense in only a general way. It was as if normal English lettering had somehow been changed into Sanskrit or Egyptian Hieroglyphics. That the forms were some sort of alphabet was clear to her, but the letters themselves had no associations in her brain from which to form a conclusion.
Suddenly Twilight was seized by an incredibly sharp pain in her head. The pumping and pulsating sensations quickly increased and Twilight was immediately overpowered by the sheer strength of the pain itself. Her arms and legs became immobilized by an invisible force and she collapsed to the ground, her eyes squeezed tightly shut and her teeth clenched.
During this, a rapidly dissipating halo of water vapor formed around Twilight’s head like an angel’s halo. When the sunbeams which lanced through the window stuck the water vapor, the light was diffracted into a local rainbow that encompassed the upper portion of her body with a surreal aureole of a mercurially shifting aura. The multihued glory that danced around her head made it appear as if she had somehow been blessed by the spell’s effects.
The pain seemed to dissipate until it had ceased to a high-pitched ringing in both of Twilight’s ears. She could feel her adult mind and maturity evaporate and her mental stability quickly began to wane and slip out of her wits’ grasp. Twilight found it difficult to even say a single word. She tried to form syllables, but her mind started to take a holiday, as she stopped caring about pronunciation and muttered gibberish to herself. Her eyes started to glaze over, uncaring about what was going on around her. Her wings flapped and buzzed fervently while her entire body began to shrivel.
Her friends gasped in horror as an extremely bright light consumed the room. It was then the very same rainbow that was always created when the Elements united appeared within the room, striking the five mares below and knocking each one unconscious directly on impact. Twilight remain in the middle, her mane and wings flowing wildly in the air. Her eyes sprang wide open, revealing hollow white pupils.
~
Spike was pleased. He strode merrily down the path towards Golden Oaks library, a box of donuts in his right claw, courtesy of Pony Joe. The purple dragon hummed a delightful tune to himself, one that was oddly familiar to a certain theme song of a TV show on the Hub network, although the outcome of the show resulted in grown men becoming dedicated fans of the show as well as little girls. (Hint, hint.)
As he took one step closer towards the library, he had a decidedly odd feeling deep down in his gut. As if something wasn’t right. Speaking of which, his stomach gave a low rumble, signaling to Spike that his stomach was expecting some lunch, and soon. Spike smirked as he popped a chocolate donut into his mouth and quickly devoured the snack, licking his lips when he was finished.
Spike walked up to the front door of the Golden Oaks library and stopped dead in his tracks when his sensitive hearing was attracted to a very strange sound. It sounded like it was coming from inside the library. Suddenly a massive boom echoed somewhere in the distance. It sounded almost like one of Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainbooms at first glance. The force of the boom was so fierce that it nearly knocked Spike off of his heels.
The little purple dragon regained composure and slowly opened the door to the library. He walked inside only to find that the electricity had gone out, most likely due to the boom. Spike sighed. Setting the box of donuts momentarily down onto the floor, he went into the other room to gather some candles.
When Spike returned, the box of donuts was gone. His eyes widened when he heard what sounded like tiny hooves and quiet giggling that was very nearby. “T-Twilight? I-is that you?”
The giggling continued.
Now Spike was horrified. He frantically tried flipping the light switch, but it was no use. More giggling was heard, and it was even closer now.
“O-okay, you guys got me real good. N-now stop it; this isn’t funny!”
The giggling stopped. Spike briefly thought he was in the clear when a loud shriek pierced his ears. Spike screamed and ran upstairs, quickly diving underneath Twilight’s bed. He sighed in relief when the giggling and shrieking stopped. Suddenly something poked him.
Frozen in fear, Spike slowly jerked his head around to see something white and small, giggling and poking him whilst it tugged on his tail. He couldn’t quite make out the small thing, but it’s piercing blue eyes was enough to tell Spike that this was not somepony he knew.
The purple dragon screamed again, yanking himself out of the creature’s grasp, making it whimper. He dashed over to the closet and slammed the door shut. Once he knew he was safe, he sank to his knees, panting heavily. He was safe. Finally.
Another giggle.
Now Spike was getting annoyed.
He turned his head to meet the source of the unknown giggles and saw a tiny pink foal munching on a donut. Spike gasped and backed away from the foal until eventually he busted the door down and raced down the stairs. He was relieved to know that the lights had come back on, until he tripped.
He tried to stop, but he was unable to control his wildly careening tumble down the stairs. He rolled down the steps all the way to the bottom of the stairs only to bump into a blue filly with a multicolored mane and tail.
“Hey!,” The filly Pegasus yelled indignantly, “Watch where you’re going!”
Spike screamed for what felt like the millionth time that day.
Oh Great. Where's Pinkie and Twilight?
“What’s your deal, purple? I’m tryin’ to walk here!” The blue Pegasus filly exclaimed, magenta eyes narrowed. Spike’s jaw hung low as his mind desperately tried to comprehend the situation. “I…You….Rainbow Dash?!”
“Yeah, who’s askin’?” Rainbow Dash retorted.
“But…you…”
“But what, butthead?”
“How-how did you get so young?!”
“Whaddya mean? I’m four.”
“No you’re not! You’re supposed to be older than that!”
“Okay…you’re freaking me out now.” The blue filly took a few steps back.
Before Spike could react, a bright flash of blue mist popped into the room, followed by a small white unicorn foal that dropped to the floor. Her curly purple ringlets and piercing blue eyes quickly attracted Spike’s attention. That purple mane and those eyes…they were all too familiar to the little purple dragon.
He rushed over to the foal’s side, gasping, “Rarity?!”
The ivory foal squealed and hugged Spike’s leg, “’Ikey!”
“Who’s that?” Rainbow Dash inquired, jabbing a hoof in the foal’s direction.
“It looks like Rarity! But…it can’t be! I mean…Rarity isn’t a foal…” Spike trailed off. Suddenly it hit him: the foal that knelt at his feet WAS Rarity! It made sense in a way. Seeing a filly version of Rainbow Dash with absolutely no memory of her friends or her life as an adult mare made it clear that someone, or something, had cast a spell and reverted Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and whoever else involved into younger versions of themselves. Although one thing didn’t seem to make sense: Why weren’t they both the same age? Spike knew how old they were as adults, and their ages were the same. It didn’t make sense!
Rarity gurgled and cooed, happily babbling away some incoherent nonsense that Spike wasn’t able to understand. She pointed at the stairs and waved her hooves in the air as if trying to tell him something. Spike turned to look at the stairs and noticed two fillies perched at the top of the stairs, standing atop a flattened cardboard box. One was a tiny purple alicorn, wings buzzing rapidly and her horn ominously glowing. The other was a bright pink filly with a poofy magenta mane. The congruence was uncanny. They were Pinkie Pie and Twilight!
Before Spike was able to stop them, the two fillies shrieked in glee as the cardboard box slid down the stairs, launching them into the air. Spike attempted to catch them but they were instantly teleported away by Twilight’s magic. Seconds later they were teleported back, but this time they had two guests.
An orange colored earth filly, probably about Dash’s current age, with green eyes and a blonde mane, appeared within the telekinesis grasp of Twilight’s magic. The second filly was yellow with soft teal eyes and a pastel pink mane that partially shadowed her face, and she was without a doubt a Pegasus. They both were dropped to the floor when Twi’s magic died down and whimpered on impact.
Picking up Rarity, Spike rushed to their aid, alongside Rainbow Dash. “Are you two okay?!” He asked them, helping up Applejack.
The orange filly raised an eyebrow, “Who the hay’re you? This ain’t ta farm!”
“Applejack, it’s me, Spike!” Spike exclaimed, crossing his claws in hopes of her remembrance.
Applejack frowned, “Ah don’t know anypony named Spahk.”
“Of course you don’t remember me,” Spike momentarily rolled his eyes. He adjusted the squirming unicorn foal in his arms before asking, “Do you have any idea what happened? Can you remember ANYTHING?”
“Well, ah can’t put mah hoof on it, but ah rememba’ wakin’ up here. Plus ah do remember a bright light hittin’ me, and it hurted lots.” The orange filly bashfully brushed her hoof against the other.
“Wait…how old are you?” Spike asked.
“Ah’m three an’ a half, almost four.”
“Hey! That means I’m the oldest here!” Exclaimed a smug Rainbow Dash.
Rarity squealed again. Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, “Yep! I sure am!”
Spike looked at Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Applejack, squeaking quietly to express her shyness. “It’s okay Flutters, I won’t let this purple dude hurt ya!” Rainbow Dash added gently, stroking her yellow friend’s wing. Fluttershy flinched, but smiled nonetheless.
Spike looked around the room in a panic. “Wait, where’s Pinkie and Twilight?”
