The Will of Magic

Chapters

It Begins
2: It Gets Better, Right?
3: Pawns
4: Well That's One Solution

It Begins

Situated in the middle of a vast nest of red brick buildings, sat a clock tower dutifully ticking away. The greenskeepers went about their daily rounds keeping the college clean and helping it exude an atmosphere of learning. It was almost peaceful in its own way, at least until the bell struck three.

Dong, dong, dong, the clock tower rang almost lazily.

Nary a second after the second chime students of Crystal Heights University flooded away from the buildings like a living tidal wave. The air was full of cheering, flying papers, and more than one text book. For today was the last day of school before summer break.

Such jubilation was a hard thing to achieve for some, however. Trudging out of a squat red bricked building, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle dragged their heels as they fled to the sunny afternoon. Nearly half of the students behind them were in even worse shape, giving some passers-by a surreal reenactment of a zombie apocalypse. “Can you feel your head?” Sunset droned as theoretical physics swam around in her cotton-filled brain.

“Unfortunately,” Twilight groaned out in response as she tried to relieve her pulsing headache. She smiled in spite of the pain. “I’m just glad Miss Rubric gave me a test that actually challenged me for extra credit.” Not that I needed the points, she silently added with a touch of pride. “But you didn’t have to take it with me.”

In everyone’s rush to start summer break, the benches around the nearby fountain were thankfully empty. Sunset made a slight detour and flopped unceremoniously on the bench and gave off a long tired sigh. “There was no way I was going to let you do it alone, even if you did ask for it.”

Twilight draped herself on the bench as well, although her fatigue was buffeted by the glow of a test well taken. Yet half of that light feeling was from Sunset’s companionship. “Thanks, Sunny.”

Only nodding in reply, Sunset stared up at the few wispy clouds above. The last few months saw that both she and Twilight had mirrored classes, save for electives. I had to take that test with you, Twilight. You need a friend who you can see as an intellectual equal, or at least on par. Saving the thought for now, Sunset rolled her head over to give a weak smile. “Miss Rubric is criminally brutal with her tests, with or without your ‘insane’ mode difficulty added to it.”

“You two look like crap,” came a raspy voice directly in front of the bench. As if turning her head once was difficult enough, she had to do it twice in a row now. Nevertheless, Sunset summoned just enough strength to turn her head to see Rainbow Dash smirking at them with a soccer ball cradled beneath her arm. “Your instructor come through with the test from hell?”

“UUUggghhhh.”

Twilight giggled quietly and adjusted her fallen glasses. “That she did.” Twilight’s better physical condition, albeit only slight, kept her from toppling over when Rainbow shoved her way into the middle of the bench. “I’ll be the first to admit I love a scholastic challenge, but my brain feels like putty after that.”

“I swear, once you got that idea in her head for a super test, she must have had an evil cackle in her office as she wrote it up,” Sunset droned as she leaned back to stare at the sky again.

“Well I bet you disappointed her by passing, right?” Rainbow snickered while clapping Sunset on the shoulder. Sunset flinched at the impact, but managed to smirk at the blue athlete.

“Damn straight we did, right Twilight?”

“Mm hmm,” Twilight nodded eagerly with a thumbs up.

“Glad to hear it!” Rainbow tossed the soccer ball up so she could bounced it on her toes. “We can officially call the summer break a go since I know I passed my stuff.”

Twilight yawned sleepily. Good feelings or not, the test still took a lot out of her. “Have you seen Fluttershy around? She should have gotten out before any of us.”

“Not yet. Lemme check, I had my phone off during the exam.” With Sunset out of action, Rainbow caught the bouncing ball with a foot before jumping to her feet. She rustled around her cluttered backpack to grab her phone, buried somewhere in its recesses. As it turned out, all three of them received a text at once. Sunset bit the bullet and heaved herself up to a sitting posture so she could check her phone along with the others. Twilight found her phone first and read the message that was mirrored for all of them. “Looks like Dr. Blue Cross called her into the vet office because the lions are at it again, but she says she’ll be back in time for band practice.”

“Translation,” Rainbow replied snarkily with a kissy face, “Flutters is Frenching Big Mac in the janitor’s closet.”

Twilight and Sunset fumed at Rainbow for reminding them they were both single, though they were more bothered by the rumors other girls on campus had spread around about them, rather than the fact they had no squeezes of their own. Crystal Heights can be such a pain sometimes, Sunset grumbled, her mood sunk further by the lack of mental energy after the harsh exam. But finals are over now, and I can finally put the time into having a relationship… Or maybe visit Celestia again.

A relationship would be the next logical step in learning different levels of companionship, Twilight brooded with a sullen frown. But I still haven’t had a chance to read up on how to ask a boy out… and I think I should avoid asking RD for help on this one. She’d end up pairing me with a meathead.

Even through the hustle and bustle of students itching to scatter to the four winds, one of them peeled off from the pack to rope his arm around Rainbow Dash’s waist. “What’s up, pony girls, you guys still doing the concert tonight?”

Rainbow Dash giggled at the nickname and turned around to give Soarin brief hug. As soon as he tried to reciprocate, she locked him in a headlock. “You know, it! The Rainbooms are top dogs around here!” Sunset moaned a half-hearted ‘oorah’ while Twilight feebly pumped a fist along with Rainbow. Soarin looked at his girlfriend unconvinced. “They’re fine,” she stated with a shrug, releasing the football running back. “They just need to remember to pony-up to get their strength back.”

Twilight blinked at the suggestion and frowned a little. “I’ll try, at least.”

For her part, Sunset Shimmer was still staring off into space uncomprehendingly for a few seconds until it finally clicked. “...Too tired for that.”

Ever since her brief stint as Midnight Sparkle, Twilight had the gift of magic, but even to this day summoning it was still next to impossible. She furrowed her brow and clenched down to focus while balling her hands into fists. Twin motes of light appeared on her head where her pony ears would be. After half a minute, she felt like she was going to pop a blood vessel and released the breath she was holding while wilting in her seat. She felt the top of her head, but no pony ears were forthcoming. “Guess I still need to work on that.”

Rainbow scowled, but ultimately gave a knowing nod. “Then we need plan B: Pinkie’s cupcakes. A few of those and they’ll be ready to rock.”

Soarin gave the two girls on the bench a worried look. “Need some help getting them there? They look kinda dead.” Sunset didn’t bother trying to rise, while Twilight’s summoning attempt left her a little breathless.

“Nah, they’re just being lazy.” Rainbow Dash tugged Sunset up to her feet, to which she only gave feeble protests, followed by Twilight Sparkle a few moments later. Lastly, Rainbow Dash took all three of their book laden backpacks with ease. “See you at the concert right, Soarin?”

“Wouldn’t miss it, Dashie.” He waved at them before running off.

Sunset shook her head to clear some of the fatigue away before digging around in her purse for her car keys. “Here, RD, since you’re still alive.”

Rainbow snatched the keys with a nod and started gently pushing both of her mentally exhausted friends to the parking lot. “Come on, girls, we need time to practice before the big show!”

As it turned out, Pinkie Pie’s emergency cupcakes were exactly what Sunset and Twilight needed. Sugar Cube Corner was barely a mile away from the university, so it was packed to the absolute brim with students. Thankfully though, Sunset Shimmer and the others were allowed to eat up in Pinkie Pie’s loft apartment. Pinkie had a small circular table for times like this with all four of them sitting around it. The expert pastry chef had a stash of fourteen cupcakes saved for exam recovery.

Even though the rush hour was in far and above full swing, the Cakes allowed Pinkie a five minute break with her friends. Sunset Shimmer licked the icing from her lips after polishing off her second one. “Thanks again Pinkie, it’s good to feel alive again.”

Pinkie waved dismissively as Twilight and Rainbow gave thanks as well. “Pff, no problem, girls, it’s not every day you get to escape school for a few months.” She held one of the cupcakes up. “They’ve got my own perfectly designed sugar - longer energy and a weaker crash afterwards. They’ll keep you going long enough for us to pony-up on stage.”

Twilight choked down her current bite with some water to speak before anyone did. “You know, that whole ‘pony up’ thing,” she said while waving her hands around, “is still… elusive for me. You girls can summon it at will, but I can’t get it to work for the life of me,” she added with a defeated hand wave.

Sunset Shimmer shuddered at all of her past attempts at figuring out magic in this world. “Trust me, Twilight, unless we had horns, and could study magic with magic, we’ll never be able to figure out why our magic comes easily and yours doesn’t.” She took another bite to think. “Between the us and the feds, we’ll figure it eventually.”

“Trial and error isn’t my favorite method…” Twilight grumbled silently.

Pinkie Pie jabbed a thumb at Sunset while addressing Twilight. “But that’s better than that one time Sunny almost flooded the science lab with apples trying to find a way to get Applejack to solve world hunger.”

“Sadly, the fruit only lasted a few minutes after AJ powered down,” Sunset added wistfully. “It all evaporated into fleeting magic.”

“Well magic works just fine for me,” Rainbow Dash commented with a smirk. Focusing inwardly, she thought about protecting her friends, standing by them in all the hard times of the past, and being there to help Sunset and Twilight find a better path in life. Barely a second later, small flashes of light heralded her pony ears, wings and hair extension appearing. As with every time before it, magic surged through her body, filling her with so much energy that she could run a marathon. Flashing a smirk, she leaned against the table and jabbed a thumb at herself. “I can ‘pony up’ whenever I want during the games, and the refs can’t even say I’m cheating because the magic’s part of who I am, instead of some drug.”

“It’s still cheating ya know,” said a new voice from the door. Applejack shook her head in annoyance before giving the other girls a friendly nod. “It’s sumthin’ all the other athletes can’t get, and you can bet no professional team’ll put up with that.”

“Hey, AJ!” Pinkie cheered, obvious to the newcomer’s irritation. “Got you a perfect apple tart jamboree waiting for you!”

Casting her mild indignation aside, Applejack nodded and walked over to take the pastry. “Much obliged, Pinkie.”

“It’s no different than any other competitive edge,” Rainbow defended while leaning back in her chair.

“So are steroids,” Applejack countered dryly.

“Well there’s no law against magic… yet.” With a whim, Rainbow let go of the magic, causing her pony features to vanish the same way they came. “Besides, the magic lets me compete in the boy’s team as long as I don’t fly around, and that’s a win no matter how you see it.” While she wasn’t allowed in the locker room with the men, Rainbow Dash recalled hunky memories of times she snuck in for a show.

“Still cheat’n,” Applejack grumbled stubbornly while forcing herself to remain friendly for the others’ sake. “Yer just lucky the feds threw in the towel about tryin’ to cover-up our magic.” She stuffed her mouth with a cupcake before she had a chance to stick her foot there instead.

Everyone’s phone let off a variety of alert tones, prompting them to check. “Oh cool. Rarity’s closing shop for the concert,” Rainbow thought aloud.

Twilight climbed to her feet. “We should get going. I have get there in time to make sure all my settings are still in place.”

“We could all use one final practice run,” Sunset Shimmer agreed. “Meet you all at the football field?”

A round of cheerful acknowledgements rang out as the girls thundered down the stairs to find their respective cars or hitch a ride.

Unlike Canterlot High, Crystal Heights University didn’t have a dedicated outdoor stage, due to the city crowding around the campus. In its place a mobile stage was being set up on the football field. With the student’s tuition at work, the mobile stage was of extremely high quality. Enough so to have scaffolding crowning the stage, allowing curtains and lights to be set up. The sun had just set over the horizon, letting the field lights illuminate the area. At present, a thick curtain completely concealed the Rainbooms as both they, and Twilight’s backstage crew, made their final preparations for the Summer Blow Out Extravaganza.

While the band was supplying the music, there was a massive throng of students milling about on the field and in the stands. Tables were laden with pizza, soda, and other snacks courtesy of a parent group that only twenty attendees cared enough to know the name of.

The air was alive with anticipation as the crowd waited impatiently for the music to start. For now, they resigned to occupy themselves with the party itself (with smuggled beer helping smooth things over).

Thankfully for their already rapidly shrinking patience, the stage opened up with smoke pouring out like a welcome mat. The Rainbooms were revealed in all their glory as three lights focused on them with Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash taking center stage. Rainbow Dash struck a mean riff, fully drawing all eyes to the band. There were quite a few familiar faces in the audience, Sorian and the rest of the athletes chief among them in her eyes. Wow, there’s a lot of faculty out there too - sweet! “Who’s ready for suuuummmeerrr!”

Cheering filled with hoots and hollers resounded throughout the whole campus. Rainbow Dash looked unimpressed. “I said, are you ready for summer!?”

The crowd redoubled its cheers, sending a thrill of excitement through the band. Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow looked back at the rest of the band. Fluttershy grasped her tambourine close to her chest and gave a nod and pensive smile. Rarity, looking as fabulous as ever in a custom outfit held her keytar at the ready. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were itching to get started and stood at the ready. Rainbow looked to Sunset for one final nod before jumping right into the first song.

Twilight Sparkle was standing up in her director’s booth at the far back right corner of the catwalks. The strong but thin steel walls rattled from the speakers barely five feet away. In the grand scheme of things, she had to admit she enjoyed her part in the band. The lights, the smoke, the excited energy the crowd, it was like nothing she had ever felt in Crystal Prep. If only I could sing like the pony-me, but I have no talent for it. Twilight sighed wistfully as she dreamed of herself being on stage singing her heart out. Old excuses of stagefright felt hollow as her gaze drifted towards Fluttershy who was happily tapping her tambourine. Of course pony-me also comes from a society that randomly breaks out in song on a weekly basis. Again, her excuses felt half-hearted.

From her vantage point, Twilight started the pre-programmed light and smoke movements for the next song, but as always she kept an eye out, in the off chance things went wrong. Below her, Twilight’s friends had all ponied up. They were pouring their skill and magic into the music, and out to the cheering fans beyond. Even from her seat, Twilight could see the top of Rainbow’s head as the guitarist hovered in place, looking for all the world like she belonged in the air. Nothing ever goes wrong when I run the lights. I just sit up here watching them have fun…

“I know magic-me never had any problems jumping into the band.” Twilight grumbled at having this same argument with herself again. “That’s it. I’m done practicing in front of Spike. I know all the words, next time, I’m going to-”

Twilight’s call-to-action halted when she noticed an errant yellow light among her perfected choreography. “Oh no, no, no!” Fearing she made a mistake, Twilight leapt to the control console before looking out to find the malfunction. Relief and confusion washed over her in equal measure when everything to do with the stage was fine. Following the source, Twilight located a bright yellow light in the distance, standing out like searchlight during a new moon. Slowly climbing out of her seat, Twilight poked her head out of the glass-less windows to get a better look. “What the? That looks like it’s coming from on top of the theater. There weren’t any plans to include a searchlight...”, she thought aloud while fixing her askew glasses.

She glanced down at her friends. They were still in the middle of a song, but Pinkie Pie was already looking up at Twilight’s booth with a puzzled half-frown. Twilight shrugged back at her, prompting Pinkie to return her attention to the drums. Maybe it’s just some random fan, or entirely unrelated to us.

She was about to retake her seat when the yellow light slammed into the band. The music cut out instantly and was replaced by the amplified screams from her friends. Rainbow Dash remained in the air, but was curling up into a ball. Twilight looked on in horror as the rest of her friends looked as if they were having seizures. The crowd was caught between panic and stupefaction at the sudden attack as the beam’s yellow color encompassed the entire stage.

The glow lasted only a few seconds before the magic exploded outward. Twilight shielded her eyes from the blinding yellow light that filled her world. She stumbled backwards and fell over her chair, losing her glasses in the process. She did not even have a chance to find her glasses or check on her friends before a searing hot pit of burning coal burst to life in her chest.

The pain in Twilight’s chest spread throughout her entire being like a spider web filling every nook and cranny of her body. She curled up into a fetal position in some vain attempt to resist the pain that was making her tear up and add her scream of agony to the pandemonium surrounding the entire football field. In the shrinking recesses of her mind, the pain and fear pulled up the old memory of when Twilight was transformed into Midnight Sparkle. Only this time, there was no euphoric surge of power, no personality warping, only mind numbing pain so profound she lost the ability to scream. The sheer agony reached a crescendo, setting fire to every nerve in her body before sweet darkness claimed her far too slowly.

Muffled incomprehensible sounds slowly assailed Twilight’s ears. She might have stayed on the hard cold floor of her booth were it not for the piercing noise of sirens slicing away at the cotton in her mind.

While the wailing sirens cut away at the fog, they also hurt her ears enough to make her open her eyes and fumble for her glasses. “W- what happened?”

She tried to pull up her most recent memories, but all she was got was light and pain. Pain. Forgetting the glasses for the moment, Twilight shakily sat up and started patting herself down, trying to detect any injuries. Only a faint dull pain lingered in various patches, centered below her heart, but that too was fading away. She swung her legs around a bit, and found her glasses after her calf grazed them, making the eyewear clatter along the ground.

Feeling nothing worse than a renewed headache and mild numbness in her chest, Twilight reclaimed her glasses. It was only then that she started making out hurried voices calling out below. Her first instinct was to check on her friends, but logic dictated otherwise. First rule of an emergency: check yourself for damage first, then help others.

With several stage lights still offering illumination this late at night, and with her glasses in place, Twilight could finish checking for injuries. A cursory inspection found no obvious broken bones or hemorrhaging outside of a few shallow cuts and early bruises along her legs and arms from landing wrong on the chair.

Okay, legs, arms, torso, head, all feel undamaged. No magic raven wings or… mana mask, or mind altering magic this time, so there’s that. Hopefully the adrenaline isn’t hiding any internal injuries.

“She’s conscious!” Twilight heard a voice yell out, from the direction of the ladder that lead up to her catwalks. She looked through the open doorway to see a tall male paramedic illuminated by one of the stage lights.

Twilight propped herself up by pushing on the control board and got to her feet by the time the paramedic reached her. “I-I’m fine. Just a little banged up.”

He gave her a once over, seeing her blood slowly oozing down her boots and right lower arm. Her face had a long scratch from her right cheek to just below the ear. “Can you walk?” Twilight nodded shakily. “Alright. You’re all banged up, and might have a hairline fracture since you were so close to the epicenter. I’d prefer to take you to the hospital just to be safe, miss…”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she offered with a nod. Twilight saw no flaw in his reasoning, yet before giving any further answer she poked her head out of the window to check on her friends, yet didn’t find any of them on stage. She turned back to the medic with fear and trepidation. “W-where are my friends? The girls who were on stage.”

“Some of them were pretty banged up. They should already be in the ambulances, or nearly there.”

Oh no, if they were knocked unconscious like I was, their magic might not have saved them from getting seriously injured! Mental images of her friends injured enough for hospitalization assailed Twilight in flash, making her nod in agreement to the medic’s suggestion to go to the hospital. After making sure she didn’t have any hidden injuries that might keep her from moving on her own, Twilight followed the paramedic off the stage and catwalk. As they reached the grassy field, Twilight swept her gaze over the throng of students and faculty. Most had no serious injuries, save for falling to the ground. A few, however, who had been on the bleachers were being carted away on stretchers. Watching their mood carefully, it looked like none of them were flashing any angry or dirty looks her way. Whew, I guess no one thinks this is somehow our fault.

As she got closer to the street, most of the sirens were muted, save for distant ones heralding more arriving police and ambulances. Those emergency vehicles already present still had their lights flashing. “How long was I out?” she asked the medic as they reached the street through a break in the bleachers.

“If you were just waking up when I got to you, the 911 call came in twenty minutes ago.”

“I blacked out for that long?!” Her heart jumped in her throat, which wasn’t helped by the medic’s curt nod.

When the pair reached the road, Twilight was relieved to see her six friends sitting on a bench. All of them were awake and seemed whole enough to not be on a stretcher. Yet her good cheer was muddied when she noticed two men in semi-casual clothing standing nearby. One was having a ‘heated discussion’ with a paramedic while the other inspected her friends with a handheld device very similar to the one she had used all those years ago to detect magic. The second man’s task was made all that much harder with Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer giving him grief the entire time. All it took was noticing both men’s strong yet lean frames and hard set faces to know who they were. As if confirmation was even needed, Twilight noticed her friends, save Pinkie and Fluttershy, were livid. They also had their pony attributes active as well.

Wish I could use mine at will to heal my injuries, Twilight thought with a brief flash of envy before banishing it in a heartbeat. Doesn’t do much for bones, but ponying-up gets rid of flesh wounds easily enough.

Twilight waved at her friends and joined them near the bench. Rainbow’s tirad at the man scanning the girls stifled any conversation she might have brought up. “Just where were you, Agent Thompson? I thought your little possie were supposed to keep this sort of crap from happening!”

As if he had been through it all before, Thompson affixed her a flat look while sweeping his mana scanner over Rainbow’s face. While he was looking at the pseudo-human/pegasus hovering in front of him (so that she could be eye level with him no doubt), he addressed all the girls at once. “As stipulated in the contract you signed, we keep our presence around you to a minimum. We warned you from the onset that under such circumstances, we can’t guarantee nothing will ever happen to you.” The corner of his mouth twinged upward as the readings came up green. “Not to mention the lot of you are more durable than a tank half the time. Whatever happened to you, doesn’t seem to have done much.”

Sunset Shimmer slid over to peer at the device’s readings. “Our mana output is nearly fifty percent higher than normal. That’s not much?”

Now that Twilight was here, Thompson switched his scanner over to her. Twilight nervously fixed her glasses while standing up to allow him to take a cleaner reading. Thompson gave her an appreciative yet curt nod before proceeding with his task. “Which, if you remember, is normal when you’re regenerating wounds… or highly stressed.”

Thompson’s partner joined the conversation with an exasperated paramedic grumbling profanity as he shifted his attention towards other patients. He studied each of the bandmates with a critical eye. “I hate to do this to you seven, but under article nineteen, I’m going to have to isolate the lot of you until a more thorough exam can be conducted. We can either do it down at the station, or one of your houses, your choice.”

Almost all of her friends turned to Twilight Sparkle. She nodded meekly. “We can go to my place then. We already have the equipment in my basement.”

Rarity huffed at Thompson. “I hope this doesn’t take too long, boys, the last thing any of us want this summer is to sit in another one of your labs for months on end.”

Fluttershy poked her head out from behind Rarity. “The shelter’s already understaffed as it is. I have to get back by tomorrow afternoon at least.”

Thompson held out a restraining hand towards Pinkie Pie before she could add her antics to the list. “Then the sooner we get started the better.”

The drive to Twilight’s sizable home started off a muted affair. The seven of them were riding in Fluttershy’s van, which stank of animal musk, but thankfully not urine. With Fluttershy driving, Rarity sat up front to avoid most of the smell while everyone else sat in the back. Thompson and his partner drove a plain white sedan behind them.

Rainbow Dash fumed from where she sat in the back of the van as she kept stealing glances at the car behind them. “Can’t believe the feds dropped the ball on this one. How do they missed someone running around with a giant magic beam weapon!?”

Sunset Shimmer, who had calmed down a little, scratched her chin. “I remember seeing the blast originating from on top of the theater building. Plus we only have two guards. I think we were a little hard on them.”

“It’s hardly an excuse, Sunset,” Rarity fussed irritably as she hoped her outfit was salvageable. “It’s been four years since the the feds took notice of us after the Games, and this is the first time we’ve been attacked like this.”

Pinkie Pie poked her head forward to be next to Rarity. “You mean besides demon Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset rolled her eyes, “The Dazzlings, Midnight Sparkle,” Twilight covered her face from the old shame, “those crazy mazy guys from Guam, and we can’t forget-” Pinkie’s list was cut short by Rarity covering her mouth, though the party planner didn’t stop talking for a few more seconds.

“She’s right though,” Applejack drawled while rolling her hand. “Ta be honest I’m not exactly sure how we’ve managed to go ta school, run a business, the farm, or anythin’ like that. There’s gots to be people out there want a piece. Ah say the feds are doing right by us.”

“I have to agree, Applejack,” Sunset added with a diplomatic tone towards Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “We were lucky the government is as accommodating as they are. If you believe all the movies, we could have ended up on the dissection table or stuck in a lab for decades.”

“Granted it took them repeating my mistakes on magic,” Twilight added glumly as she pressed her index fingers together, causing Rarity and Rainbow Dash to lose some of their hostility. “But all in all, we get a lot of freedom out of the deal.”

Rainbow Dash huffed and stared back out at the passing city. “It’s like we’re super heroines without a villain to fight. No wonder the Joker never dies, Batman would be out of a job within two issues.”

“Don’t jinx us, Rainbow,” Rarity pouted - more at the tears in her clothing from being thrown against the metal scaffolding than anything else. “I have no intention of galavanting around Super City, or whatever, in a tacky costume fighting for my life every night.”

Despite the content of her argument, Rarity’s tone told Pinkie that her spirits were on the rise. Mission accomplished, now to see if I can get Dashie laughing again.

The sky blue athlete brooded in her seat, silently texting with Sorian. Glad he only had a minor concussion. So help me, the Feds better let me punch the creep who did this.

Oh boy, I got my work cut out for me, Pinkie mused as she pondered on how to tackle the problem as the van neared Twilight’s home.

The years since high school had been very kind to the Sparkle family. Ever since Night Light had hit it big in the business world, not only had they been able to move into a sizeable estate along the edge between the city and the suburbs no less, but it also allowed Twilight to expand her science lab to replace the one from Crystal Prep. It helped that the FBI had funded and researched half of her equipment with the sole purpose of trying to understand magic, with little success sadly. However, the Sparkle family had not shaken their frugal mindset entirely. As a result, Twilight continued living at home while in college.

While the manor was impressive, the actual parking area was cramped, barely having enough room for the family cars, Fluttershy’s van, and the agents’ car. The girls plus, two agents, found Twilight’s parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light, waiting for them in the entry hall with an air of dreadful worry about them. Spike’s barking rang through the house as soon as Twilight entered, with the mixed breed quickly leaping to his human’s side. Twilight Velvet was first to squash her daughter, with Night Light soon after. “We were so worried about you, honey.”

Night Light looked over the rest of his house guests. His daughter’s illatease was mirrored by her friends. “Please, make yourselves at home.”

Twilight bent down to pick up Spike shortly before her parents crushed her in a hug. It wasn’t long before Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie joined the group hug. Sunset felt the need to join them, and turned to Rainbow who was still trying to reign in her emotions by herself. With only a nod towards their friends, Sunset gently grabbed Rainbow’s hand and pulled her towards the group hug.

Reluctantly, Rainbow joined in behind Fluttershy and Rarity, burying her face in Fluttershy's shoulder so no one could hear her muffled, half-halted sobs. Fluttershy bore it with practiced grace and pulled her arm away from Rarity so both of them could properly rope Rainbow into the much needed embrace.

As much as he liked to banish any sadness from Twilight and her friends, Spike was getting the air squashed out of him. “Can I get a little air please?”

Everyone separated a little, giving Thompson and his partner an excuse to interrupt. “Ladies, Mr and Mrs Sparkle. I hate to break up the moment, but due to the nature of tonight’s attack, I’d prefer to scan all of you as soon as possible.”

Twilight Velvet kept her daughter close as the other girls slowly broke away. “I want to hear from your superior about how this was allowed to happen! My daughter and her friends may have magic powers and a modicum of combat training, but but allowing this sort of thing to happen yet again is inexcusable!”

Modicum indeed. If only you knew of how many people we’ve stopped from doing that over the years. Thompson took the heated accusation with professional deference, if only because he was used to the woman. Thompson gestured to his partner. “Agent Polaski would be more than happy to get you in touch with Director Bowler.”

Night Light worked his jaw trying to think as his wife fussed with the federal agents. He studied his daughter intently. Twilight still had tears dampening her eyes as she held onto Spike, yet he saw she wasn’t shaking and had a steady voice as she quietly spoke with her dog. He saw similar strength mirrored in Twilight’s friends, even Fluttershy had a brave face. They’ve grown up before my eyes. “Honey,” he said while gently tugging on Velvet’s shoulder. “We shouldn’t keep them from the mana scans.” He gave a fatherly wink at Twilight. “We can at least make sure the guest rooms are ready for them. It’s been a long day, and they’ll need their rest, regardless of what the tests reveal.”

It was nearly five in the morning by the time Twilight Sparkle flopped down onto her pillow laden bed, making Spike bounce in place. He padded over to cuddle with her after she settled in some. Due to the magic within him, he was barred from the basement during the tests for control purposes. “Hey, Spike,” she said tiredly with a yawn. “Sorry you had to wait outside.”

“Aw don’t worry about it.” He licked her face a few times, making Twilight giggle hug him. “All that science stuff is over my head most of the time anyway. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt.” He looked up at his human and studied her face as dogs often did. “You’re not hurt, right?”

“All the quick tests showed everything was okay, but the computer is still going through the more in-depth results for now. We’ll know more in the morning.” She stifled another yawn and deposited her glasses on the night stand. “Good night, Spike.”

Content with that, Spike backed up to let Twilight get under the covers before curling up around her knees. “Night, Twilight.”

Out of everyone staying at the Sparkle manor, Twilight was the first to waken. Although that was mostly due to the sun beaming through the window and straight into her face. Twilight Sparkle’s mind was in that limbo state between being forced awake and trying to get back to sleep. Without school hanging over her head, her sleep addled mind wanted nothing more than to stay under the warm covers. She rolled over, pulling on the covers over most of her head as she did.

The act made Spike roll over, jumping the mixed dog to full wakefulness. He quickly got to his paws and sniffed the air, sadly detecting no eggs or bacon cooking. However, his nose caught something amiss with Twilight’s scent. It was faint, something only a dog’s nose could pick up. “Hey, Twilight, you awake?”

She moaned tiredly and curled up into a ball. “Five more minutes, Spike…”

Normally, he’d let her be, given that school was out, but the oddity of her scent made him curious. Following his nose, he started sniffing all around his oblivious human. He circled around, making sure to keep his paws off her pillow until his nose guided him to the top of her head. Poking out from her messy hair were two pony ears that flicked away from his nose.

Spike’s tail began wagging and he jumped excitedly. “Twilight, wake up! You finally managed to pony up!”

Uncomprehendingly, Twilight feebly swatted his nose away from her head. “That’s nice, Spike. Go see if Mom’s cooking.”

Far from being as focused as his dragon counterpart, Spike’s dog brain jumped ship at the thought of bacon. “She hasn’t started yet,” he took several long sniffs of the air, coming up empty. “But I can wake her up for you!” Jumping off the bed, Spike started barking his head off as he raced away, only to catch himself at the door. He kept quiet as he ran out as to not disturb the rest of the house guests.

Short lived though it was, his high pitched barking was finally enough to shove Twilight’s brain just over the edge where she knew she wouldn’t get anymore sleep. “Okay, fine, I’m up!” She threw the covers off and swung her legs over the side. She groaned noisily while rubbing her face, and letting her hair fall free. She yawned sleepily and stretched her back, legs, and arms in her morning ritual to get the blood flowing.

Once limbered up, Twilight felt energetic enough to put on her first smile of the day. “Alright!” she said with a snap of her fingers. “If I hurry, I can get washed up and copy the test data to my phone so I can read it over breakfast.”

With a shower at the top of her list, Twilight attempted to put her glasses on, only to find the earpieces had nothing to rest on and dangled loosely across her nose. She grabbed them before they could fall with one hand and searched her ears with the other. “What the?!” She looked towards the the mirror hanging above her dresser and ran over to it. There she found two fully formed pony ears perched atop her head. With a manic grin threatening to cleave her face, she put her glasses down to feel the ears with both hands. “Finally!” she cheered while jumping around whisper-shouting, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I’m officially part of the pony-girl squad! No more seventh tire for me!

“Oh, maybe the magic will help my singing voice. That's gotta be pony-me’s secret!” Nodding proudly to herself, Twilight made sure to remember it. “Note to self: remember to record singing while the ears last to see if there is a marked improvement.”

Twilight had both hands rubbing her ears, enjoying every second of it. She returned to the mirror to get a closer look. Without her glasses, she had to move her head back and forth a bit so her reflection wasn’t blurry. As expected, the side of her head where her human ears should have been revealed absolutely no sign they had ever existed in the first place. In their place was smooth skin below and a slightly lower hairline from above. “I can’t believe it! This is the first time they’ve lasted this long since the Games.” Her good mood soured a little as something finally clicked into place, causing her grin to falter. “Wait a second. Unless I was singing in my sleep, how did I get these ears?” She rubbed her chin while going into deep thought. “Something's not right. I can’t pony-up for the life of me, and yet I do it in my sleep somehow?” She rubbed an ear, feeling the downy fur. “And yet the ears aren’t going away.”

The events of the previous day returned to her in full force. “Oh no.” Panic set in before skyrocketing with her hair starting to frizz out in all directions. “What if I got them because of the attack? The scanner said my magic was higher than normal. And so was… everybody else's.” Her breath caught in her throat. “I - I’ve got to get Sunset, and the others, maybe even magic-me!”

Twilight pulled out a shallow drawer and found her rarely used contacts lenses and solution. “These things are so irritating, but I don’t exactly have any pony-style eye-wear now do I?” she grumbled heatedly. But I can’t fix much if I can’t see.

With her shower forgotten, Twilight hastily got dressed for the day and stepped outside her bedroom to find her friends, breakfast, and the data, not necessarily in that order.

2: It Gets Better, Right?

Twilight Sparkle nervously chewed on a piece of bacon as she read over the test data on her tablet. Her friends sat all around her, enjoying their own meals. Twilight Velvet and Night Light were silently eating at the head of the table. Most of that silence was caused by the piles of food the Rainbooms had devoured with gusto. That is with the exception of Rarity who had consumed two plates of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and toast with lady-like gusto. She was fairly adamant that there was a difference. I swear, it’s like having seven Shining Armors over for dinner, Velvet mused with a half-smirk. But I’m not going to complain if they have a healthy appetite.

Agent Thompson stood alone at the kitchen door holding a plate of his own. The man was an ‘honored’ guest in the Sparkle house, but he never sat at their table unless asked.

Were it not the day after the attack, and the fact that all the girls had seemingly permanent pony ears, the sunny summer day would have been as cheerful as any other. Now however, everyone, save Pinkie Pie, was fretting in one way or another. Sunset Shimmer was pouring over the data on her own tablet, and Rainbow Dash was texting Soarin. She put her phone down to look up at her two smartest friends. “Hey, Twi, Sunet, if you guys are done with tests and whatnot, I really want to visit Soarin. The docs say he can go home, but he lives alone and I want to watch over him just in case.”

Rarity, who was sitting next to her, put a reassuring hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. What if those ne'er-do-wells who attacked us go after you?”

With a flash of indignation, Rainbow summoned her wings and pounded on the table, rattling several plates. Twilight and Sunset cringed at the wings being summoned. “Then I’ll bust some heads!” She looked over at Twilight and Sunset. “You guys got the Feds here, you don’t need me to stick around, and I can’t leave Soarin by himself while he’s dealing with a concussion.”

“Rainbow, I understand how you feel, but I really don’t think you should be using your magic right now.” Sunset lifted her table displaying several readouts that were lost to Rainbow. “Our magic is giving off readings I can’t make heads or tails of. It might not be safe to pony up.” She looked up at one of her pony ears and flicked it absently. “Well, anymore than we already have.”

“There’s no telling what using magic might do to us right now,” Twilight added worriedly as she tugged on her ears. “we could all be stuck in pony-up mode.”

“Fine,” Rainbow growled as she made her wings vanish. “But someone’s gotta take care of Soarin for the next day or so.”

The girls turned to Agent Thompson who had momentarily stopped eating to listen in. “I’ll have dispatch send someone to look after him. Unless you’re willing to play bait.”

Velvet spiked with anger. “You want to use her as bait?!”

Thompson gave the flustered woman a deadpanned look. “She’s a consenting adult with a modicum of combat training.” He refocused on Rainbow and the girls. “The agency already dispatched a team to take a heavier hand in your protection. But having one of you seemingly isolated could draw out the suspects.” Masking what he was doing, Thompson carefully studied everyone’s response to the idea.

Rainbow Dash surprised no one by wolfing down the last of her waffles and eggs before jumping to her feet. “Fine by me. But no promises on not smashing the punk before your boys show up to my ‘rescue’.”

Caught between her obligations and not wanting Rainbow to be the only one in the line of fire, Applejack piped up as well. “Well Ah hope you got more than just one team. If we’re goin’ with a bait idea, Ah volunteer as well.” She wilted a little under Velvet’s piercing glare and Night Light’s worried frown. “Well, it’s plantin’ time for the summer crops and mah family needs all the hands they can get. Besides, if those guys think they can’t get Rainbow, then they might come after me, what with the farm being so open and all.”

Twilight flustered at the prospect of her friends leaving and got half-way out of her seat. “But we still don’t know what’s going on. Why can’t we dismiss our pony ears? Why is our magic still climbing, and who attacked us in the first place? We might need to run more tests as time goes on, and if all of you are scattered around town, we might not get all the data we need.”

Sunset was about to speak when Rarity politely cleared her throat. “While I can see this isn’t a normal pony up, since Fluttershy and Rainbow’s wings are not stuck in the ‘on’ position, making it seem like we’re spread out and vulnerable could at least answer that last question. Assuming the riff raff come after us again, of course.”

“I don’t like it,” Sunset began as she frowned at the data on her tablet, “but…” She suppressed the flash of anger making her want to pound the table. “Our equipment can only tell us so much. If Thompson’s men could figure out how this happened from the people who did it then we can fix this much faster.

Pinkie’s face lit up as she caught on. “Oh! Sort of like how antivenom is made by capturing the animal that bit you.”

Twilight blinked at bit and looked at her parents for guidance. Velvet scowled with her arms crossed but ultimately said nothing while Night Light shrugged in begrudging acceptance. “I - guess that would probably work fastest.” Twilight bit her lower lip as she flipped through the tablet, searching for something that would give her a valid argument for everyone to stay here where it was safe. However the readings teased her with a solute that always felt out of reach. Eventually, Fluttershy had to pat her on the back to get Twilight to see the futility. “Not like we can do much about it in any event,” Twilight finally admitted with sad frown.

Fluttershy shored up her courage while giving Twilight a much needed hug. “Um, Twilight, Sunset, if Rainbow’s going off, I can call the shelter and tell them I can’t make it today. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied with a faint smile while Sunset nodded slightly in agreement.

The two scientists looked to Rarity and Pinkie Pie, with the fashionesta sighing while raising a hand to her chest. “Well I’m staying here for the day at least.” She cast Thompson a derisive glance. “Missing a day or so of business is far better than your gorillas with guns holding a high-noon gunbattle in my shop.” Thompson suppressed the urge to groan while Rarity addressed her friends. “If no one so much as pokes their nose at Rainbow or Applejack, then I’ll reopen my shop. Secret organizations or not, I can’t run a business if I’m not there and all, and I’m not going to live in fear.” Past today, anyway.

Pinkie Pie shrugged helplessly at her friends. “Sorry girls, but with summer starting, Sugarcube Corner is going to be busier than beehive during triple rush hour for like the next two weeks, not to mention the twins. I can’t let the Cakes down.”

Thompson rubbed the bridge of his nose in mild exasperation with a moderate dose of approval mixed in. I knew I should have asked dispatch for more than one tac team. At least with Rarity and Fluttershy waiting a day it will buy us time to get more boots out here. “I’ll have people stationed at each location within the hour.”

Twilight wanted to protest, but caught herself flopped back in her seat with a defeated frown. “Alright. If we do manage to find something, we’ll let you know.”

Fluttershy quietly thanked Velvet and Night Light for their hospitality and grabbed her backpack and keys. Sunset gave her a quizzical look while Twilight intensely focused on the data while rubbing her forehead. “Umm, everyone left their cars at the school, so I have to drive. Plus I need to see my parents and pack some clothes. It wouldn’t be fair to them to tell them about this over the phone.”

“Okay, just be safe getting back,” Sunset replied with warm caution.

And I’ll just pull some more people out of thin air Thompson grumbled to himself as he pulled out his phone.

Within the hour, Twilight, Sunset, and Rarity were left alone on Sparkle manor’s marble front porch, as they watched Velvet and Night Light drive off to work. Spike stood by Twilight’s side, ever ready to defend her. The parents only left after making sure at least one federal agent was going to arrive shortly.

Rarity waved goodbye to them before reaching for her phone. “I better check in with my family as well. Shame they’re out of town at a time like this.”

Spike started sniffing the air, picking out all kinds of odors from the surrounding neighborhood. “I’m going to check the fence,” he announced boastfully. “There won’t be a single bad guy that gets past me!”

Twilight smiled and scratched his head before hugging him. “My fearless protector. Just remember not to wander off the property again. I don’t care what that squirrel did, okay?”

“He had it coming,” Spike replied with undirected ire. “Think he can steal my beggin strips does he?”

Twilight watched Spike run off into the yard while Rarity wandered back into the house for some privacy. Twilight remained quiet until Spike ran out of sight towards the back of the house then she turned towards Sunset. “You wrote a letter to pony-me last night right?” Sunset nodded. “Has she written back yet?”

“She should have by now,” Sunset reentered the house while waving at Twilight to join her. “Let’s go check.”

Both girls rushed up to Sunset’s guest room on the second floor. The room had a moderate mess about it. Sunset’s bed was undone, and a few articles and knick knacks were out of place. Twilight tried to keep her need for exacting order in her home from driving her up a wall while Sunset withdrew the journal from her backpack. After hearing about Princess Celestia from pony-me, I don’t know how Sunset managed to stay such a clutter bomb during her time in the castle.

Oblivious to Twilight’s musings, Sunset flipped the journal open to find the right page. “Hmm… Here we go.” Twilight caught herself before she could bend down to toss Sunset’s dirty clothes in the hamper by the door. “Sorry, Sunset Shimmer, but you’ve caught me while I’m out of town.” Both girls’ sagged at the book’s pre-recorded message. Of all the things she could have copied from earth, she just had to emulate answering machines didn’t she? Sunset continued to speak with much less enthusiasm “I’ll be back in Ponyville within a few days.”

Sunset slumped onto the bed and placed the journal back into her bag. “Well, it’s not like she’d be able to do too much anyway. Not without a horn anyway.”

“We can run a few more tests,” Twilight suggested meekly. “See if our magic is stabilizing.”

“It’ll give us something to do at least.” Sunset idly scratched an itch between her shoulderblades as she got up to follow Twilight to the basement lab. Were it not for Rarity chatting away in the den near the stairs, the house would have been eerily quiet to Sunset’s ears.

The basement stretched out to be on par with the ground floor above. With a flip of a switch, the fluorescent lighting snapped on, revealing a plethora of scientific equipment. Sadly, a good number of items were broken or still in disarray from last night’s testing.

Twilight made her way over to the headset for monitoring brainwaves. “Oh good, the cotton candy disappeared.” She grabbed the headset to put it back while Sunset surveyed the damage.

Most the mess had come from the girls’ magic overloading the various machines, sending things flying everywhere. Thankfully, the mountain of apples and cotton candy were gone, but half the lab was still a disaster area. “This is going to take a while.”

Rainbow Dash all but leapt out of Fluttershy’s van as it pulled into Soarin’s driveway. He lived in a one story brick apartment complex within walking distance of the university, so there was no need to get her car first. “Thanks, Fluttershy. I’ll see you girls later when Soarin’s feeling better.”

Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy waved at her. “Remember he needs lots of rest,” Fluttershy called out.

“Yeah, no hanky panky, RD!” Applejack chided with a smirk.

“Duh! Who do you take me for?” Rainbow snarked back. “He’s recovering from a concussion remember?” Ignoring Applejack’s banter, Rainbow fled the parking lot and made her way to Soarin’s place.

The van lingered just a little longer to watch Rainbow run off. I hope Thompson’s team gets here soon, Fluttershy fretted nervously before driving off once Rainbow rounded the corner.

As Rainbow fished for her keys, the wind gusted past her strongly enough to make her pony ears to flick. The act shot them back to the forefront of her attention. Damn, I don’t want Soarin worrying over me. I better pony up fully and just roll with it.

Upon summoning her wings, Rainbow unlocked the door to Soarin’s apartment and let herself inside. There were moving boxes everywhere in the front TV room along with most of the furniture being out of place to make space for them. Attached to the den was a full kitchen towards the back, with a short ‘L’ shaped hallway linking an office, bedroom, and bathroom beyond. In Rainbow’s mind, it was practically a castle for a college student. It wouldn’t be long before it became both Soarin and Rainbow’s castle.

With the door closed and locked behind her, Rainbow Dash let her mask drop. Much of her bravado and decidedly-tomboyishness took a backseat at the thought of her injured boyfriend. “Soarin? You awake?”

Her ears bent forward and twitched for a reply, but none came. With the low ceiling and doorframes, Rainbow was forced to stay on the ground as she navigated the treacherous path between the door and the hallway. Must be asleep.

With that in mind, she kept quiet and crept her way towards Soarin’s bedroom. It was dark with the windows drawn, but she smiled all the same at the sight of Soarin’s sleeping form. Going to have to thank Spitfire for driving him home.

“Hey, pony girl,” Soarin said with a smirk, knocking Rainbow out of her thoughts. She cursed silently for waking him up before fixed him with a snide grin. “You come over just to mock poor little ol’ me?”

“Hardly.” Rainbow sat on the bed next to him and brushed some errant hair out of her eyes. “Doctor Dash is here to make sure you stay off your feet for the day.”

It took the rest of the morning, but Twilight’s basement laboratory was once again in pristine order. Twilight clapped her hands over a trashcan to clear some of the dust off while Sunset Shimmer wiped the sweat off her brow. “Whew, at least with Pinkie and AJ absent, we shouldn’t have to worry about magic food blasting all the equipment around.”

Twilight nodded and hummed in agreement. “All this time spent cleaning has bought us enough time to see if our magic levels have changed at least.”

“Right, and Fluttershy should be back soon too.” Sunset spied the spectrometer a few tables over and waved Twilight to join her over to it. Unlike Twilight’s first spectrometer, this refrigerator sized model wisely did not store or trap magic. Instead, it gave much more detailed readings. “You want to go first?”

“Sure,” Twilight chirped a she checked her phone. A specialized application notified her that Thompson had come through with the defense team who were staking out along the street and around the outside of the house. With the notification of protection, the thread of terror she felt at being kidnapped or attacked again died away. The last thing we need is some criminal interrupting our research. The more we know now, the less pony-me needs to figure out on her own.

Twilight stepped up to the spectrometer while Sunset manned the console. The pair had already prepared the machine ahead of time while cleaning, so Twilight’s magical field appeared almost immediately. Similarly to an x-ray, Twilight formed a black silhouette on the display screen with a pale blue shell enveloping her. The blue field had jitters and weak points cropping up and fading in a slow but constant fashion. That much at least, was par for the course with Twilight. However, what took Sunset’s breath away was a single dense column of mana represented as a deep red going from just below Twilight’s heart, coursing up along her spine before terminating at a bright spot at her forehead. The spot itself was a small bulge that should have no place on the human skull. The final thing that chilled her to the bone was that Twilight’s brain was permeated with a massive amount of mana on top of it all. “H- how - this wasn’t there last night!”

“W-what wasn’t there?” Twilight asked worriedly at Sunset’s outburst. She felt a twinge of pain on her forehead and started rubbing it only to feel her skull was a little thicker at that point.

Yet any exploration of this thickness was cut short by Sunset Shimmer walking over to Twilight. “Switch places with me. I’m really hoping what I just saw was a side effect of your…” The need for haste aside, Sunset still walked on eggshells about it. “unique mana signature. Just record what you see in me.” Sunset herself was also feeling as if an icepick was starting to lightly tap its way out of her skull.

“O-okay.” Trying to keep from rubbing her sore head, Twilight manned the console and freaked when she saw the last ten seconds of her scan looping on screen. “What the hell!? I’ve never had this much mana before.”

“I know, but it’s the funnel to your forehead that’s worrying me more than anything else,” Sunset said from behind the scanner. She banged the side of the machine a few times to jump Twilight back to her work.

‘Sorry, sorry,” she reset the scanner to Sunset, which was becoming increasingly difficult. Even with both hands on the keyboard, the lump on her forehead was slowly, but noticeably, growing larger as it pushed on her skin.

The machine gave off a quiet hum as Sunset fretted and tapped her foot impatiently. Please let this just be an abnormality. By Celestia just give me that.

Not even knowing what to expect anymore, Twilight bit her nails waiting for the image to pop up. When it did, she could only look at it in stunned silence. Sunset’s aura was clean and solidly blue throughout. However it was the intense collum of mana between her torso and forehead that left Twilight speechless for several seconds. “Recording it now,” Twilight said mechanically as her brain went on autopilot.

Feeling around with her fingers, and looking at her reflection on the scanner’s reflective surface, any hope Sunset Shimmer had left died when she felt the skin around her bulge thinned to the point where a small nub of ivory revealed itself. We’re in so much trouble.

“I’ve got a recording for you, Sunset,” Twilight said with shared fear. When Sunset didn’t respond, Twilight moved around the machine to spy her friend trembling while hugging herself. In that moment, Twilight dearly wished Spike was here if only to hug his furry self.

“This is bad, Twilight, really really bad.”

Any sort of talk between them was interrupted as a bloodcurdling scream resounded throughout the house, freezing the thought processes of both girls. “Rarity!” they cried in unison. Their own plights forgotten for the moment, they bounded up the stairs as fast as their legs could carry them. Sunset took the lead, charging up the stairs and almost plowing into Rarity at the top. Rarity barely managed to sidestep away, and grabbed the balcony railing to keep from falling.

In her attempt to dodge the sudden appearance of Rarity, Sunset spun to the right, and barely managed to keep her balance. Twilight briefly checked to see if Sunset was okay before moving to comfort Rarity. Rarity’s face would have been sheet white were she not alabaster already. “Heavens, girls, as if all we’ve gone through wasn’t enough already!? Now I have a massive pimp-ha-ha-haal!”, Rarity cried out with tears welling up.

“It’s not a pimple,” Sunset replied with a tremor in her voice.

“It’s a horn,” Twilight added with even deeper worry.

“A... horn?” Rarity gasped with an intrigued tone, her tears evaporating. With that perspective in mind, Rarity gently tapped the ivory protrusion and took a compact mirror out to properly investigate it. Interesting… “Well, that’s different then.”

Seeing her friend calm down, Twilight’s curiosity practically forced her to touch the bony nub on her own head as well. Sadly, she was quickly falling into a panic attack. “What are we going to do? What if this doesn’t stop at just ears and horns!?”

Sunset’s breath hitched when she felt her horn push a little further out. “We - we’ll think of something. Just got to remember to keep from panicking. Can’t think and panic at the same time.”

“I agree,” Rarity said with enough calm to make Twilight’s eye twitch. “I’m sure you girls will come up with a solution. Out of all the crises we’ve gone through together, some ears and horns are pretty low on the totem pole. This is nothing compared to that private army out of Guam.”

The memory of the incident made the other girls shudder. Thankfully, it did the trick and Twilight started to calm down as well. “You might be right, Rarity.” She looked to Sunset who was wrestling with Rarity’s logic and the shock of her changes. “If this is all that attack did was forcing us to become pony-ish, then it shouldn’t be anything we can’t fix eventually.”

For the sake of her friends and her sanity, Sunset dropped to her knees, covered her face and gave off a long slow sigh to release the tension. “…Okay,” she said at length. “You’re right. Compared to that I guess this is small stuff. The feds can handle finding the guy who hit us with the beam while we find a way to get back to normal. We’re going to find a way to fix this, girls,” Sunset declared with thready conviction.

“Absolutely!” Twilight added with mounting confidence.

Rarity’s muse was already dancing with ideas on how to modify some of her wardrobe to accommodate a horn. She had to contain herself to sound both sober and concerned. “I have total faith in both of you.” An idea occurred to her, making Rarity brighten even further. “Say, now that we have horns, especially you Sunset, it should be a lot easier to find a solution. You always say you need to study magic with magic, right?”

“Sure… If I remember how.” Sunset grimaced. She absently touched her spiraled horn. It was still less than an inch tall, but there was no doubt it was still growing.

“We need a plan,” Twilight stated as she sobered from Rarity’s peptalk. “Rarity, can you call our friends and let them know what happened?”

“Of course, dear,” Rarity replied with barely showing impatience. Her muse demanded satisfaction at the helm of a sewing machine. Much like Twilight, she needed to act if only to keep from exploding with creativity. “I’ll even speak with Mr. Thompson for you, I’ve always found him to be a reasonable man.” She flipped her hair and practiced lady-like blinking.

Twilight nervously pressed her index fingers together and cowed a little. “Good idea. I hate to say it, but Thompson needs to know what’s going on. I only hope our friends aren’t having problems like this.”

Rainbow Dash peered through the blinds on the tv room’s window. Her frown faded a little at seeing the plain white sedan with the driver watching the streets. He probably has two partners nearby.

Her wings ruffled nervously though as Rainbow tried to refocus on Soarin. It took her a second to realize that and turned to look at her feathery appendages. Did they always used to do that?

“Are you going to sulk by the window all day, or come and watch tv with me?” Soarin gave her a sultry leer, making sure it was obvious he was checking out Rainbow’s muscular body.

In the privacy of her future home, Rainbow Dash drank in the attention and leaned against the wall while casting him a wry grin. Well, with Thompson’s boy’s out in force, I can relax a little. “Alright, buddy boy, you win.”

With a few gentle flaps of her wings, Rainbow bounded over an armchair and landed next to Soarin’s sofa with a perfect two point landing. Rainbow mentally de-summoned her wings and spun around so she could land back-first into Soarin’s awaiting arms. At least that was the plan anyway. The moment she plopped down, pain lanced through her wings and upper back from the impact while Soarin coughed and sputtered at having feathers thrust into his mouth. “Ack, ppft, what’re you doing, Dashie?”

Rainbow sat forward and pushed away from Soarin while rubbing her tender wings and ruffled feathers. “Sorry, sorry, I thought I put my wings away.”

“And here I thought I was the one with brain damage,” Soarin teased showing there were no hard feelings.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, smart guy,” Rainbow fussed. As Soarin turned his attention to channel surfing in hopes of finding a good show to watch, Rainbow tried to desummon her wings again. It should have been easy really. To Rainbow, her magic always felt something akin to a jacket that wrapped around her when she wanted it, and felt completely absent when she didn’t. Try as she might, however, the long blue wings refused to leave. “What gives with you two?” Rainbow muttered heatedly.

“Something wrong?” Soarin piped up giving her a neutral expression.

“N-no, I’m fine, just making sure my feathers are okay for next time.” If Rainbow’s hesitant tone and stutter were any clue, she was lying poorly. Soarin might have called her on it, but suspected she was embarrassed and let her be.

When she wasn’t being scrutinized by him anymore, Rainbow Dash scowled at her left wing. Maybe it’s like my computer sometimes. Gotta turn it off and on again. Switching gears, Rainbow filled her mind with memories of protecting her friends and standing up for Scootaloo against bullies on numerous occasions. The familiar surge of energy came, but was only a ghost of it’s former strength. In addition, the ends of Rainbow’s hair grew out as expected as the “pony tail” formed. Now to turn it off. Rainbow ‘released the jacket’ and saw the hair extensions fade away in a dim flash of light, but her wings remained in their entirety. They fidgeted again, reacting to her mounting irritation, as if mocking her efforts.

Rainbow Dash repeated her efforts, then again, a third time, and a fourth for good measure, yet her wings remained steadfast against her attempts to dismiss them. Stupid wings. I love you, but you make cuddling a pain sometimes, you know that. I bet this is because of that creep from the concert.

“You sure you’re okay?” Soarin called out worriedly. Rainbow turned her head back around to see him giving her a concerned grimace.

“I’m fine, really, just that bozo from last night messed up my magic apparently, I can’t get my wings to go away. I think he locked my pony mode on.”

“Well you look rather dashing with pony ears and wings, Dashie,” Soarin replied in a miserable attempt at wordplay to cheer her up.

Thankfully for him, he was speaking with Rainbow Dash instead of Rarity because it got her to playfully punch him in the shoulder. “Laugh it up scuzz ball.” Rainbow tried to reach around to grab the back of her shirt and found the wing holes were large enough for her to pull her shirt off. However, she had never actually taken her shirt off with the wings still present. She fumbled around with them until Soarin helped her out, with more laughter at her expense all the while. “If you’re going to laugh, scoff and make fun, you can give me a wing massage since I made lunch for you.”

“Ha, a fair trade.” Though he always played it off as a favor for her, Soarin actually enjoyed the activity. She flopped belly down on his lap while facing the TV, extended her wings, and puffed out her feathers as she eagerly awaited his soothing hands.

Since two wings obviously required two hands, Soarin gave up channel surfing when the TV landed on the sports channel. With two years of practice under his belt, Soarin assaulted Rainbow’s wings by gently threading his fingers in between her feathers to massage the dense muscles beneath. The results were instantaneous. Rainbow felt like she was melting into the sofa and his warm lap as waves of relaxing pleasure washed over her.

Only the excited chatter of the sports announcer kept her from falling asleep within minutes. Soarin spared neither her wings nor the flight muscles in her upper back. Warm simple bliss enveloped both of them in a moment they'd shared countless times over the last few years.

Soarin might have turned the TV off right then and there had the screen not flashed ‘AMBER Alert’. Briefly grabbing the remote control, he turned the volume up before resuming his massage.

The expected big drab font text and missing child information never came. Instead, the screen cut to a figure wearing a plain white shell of a mask with a voice modulator concealing the person’s gender and identity. However, the quality of the modulator made the voice clearly understandable. “For all of human history, magic has been the stuff of fairy tales and myths. Things you would only see on TV, movies, or read about in books. But now, people of Earth, now we have had a chance to change all that.”

“Hey, Dashie, wake up, you gotta see this.” He scratched between her wing elbows to rouse her. Rainbow blearily pulled her head up to listen in.

On the TV, an in-screen cut away to the Rainbooms appeared next to the masked speaker where their pony features were clearly visible. “Years ago, it was discovered that magic was real. It does indeed exist!”

Her image on screen made Rainbow snap to full alert and she got up to listen carefully.

“‘But what happened’,you might ask?” the speaker continued accusatorially, “The US government seized control over these heralds to the next golden age of mankind.”

Rainbow Dash balled her fists and was moments from punching something.

“It should be obvious to all that the US government seeks to control magic for themselves!” The picture of the Rainbooms were replaced by multiple images from around the university of several federal agents hidden around campus. To make them easier to identify, the men were highlighted by red circles. “These young women’s precious gift to the world has been hoarded for far too long. But today, that comes to an end,” the speaker stated with a flourish as he jabbed a finger at the ground.

“We have found a way for all share in the gift of magic, and we will grant everyone access to it very shortly.” They moved towards the camera as if to turn it off, but stopped themselves. The mask looked one last time in the camera with one hand hovering over the switch. As for the those seven courageous women, it was regretfully necessary to take what was yours, but you need not fear us, rest easy, because your part in our goals is finished.

“Until we speak again, humanity.”

The AMBER alert jumped back to the sports announcer who was momentarily speechless, having seen the broadcast from an in-studio screen. Whatever he was going to say never reached Rainbow’s ears since Soarin muted the TV. “Just what the hell does he mean by that?” he asked with more disbelief than anything else.

Rainbow Dash pounded the coffee table as her wings flared. She glared at the television with murder in her eyes. “I don’t care what that freak says from his moral high horse, I’m going to beat the shit out of him!”

Her phone buzzed and rattled on the table. Rainbow scooped it up to find Rarity was calling her, she didn’t even wait for Rarity to say hello before half-shouting, “Rares, tell me you saw that on TV!”

Rarity’s news about growing horns died in her throat at the hostility in Rainbow’s words. “I - I, well no, I haven’t watched any TV today, why? What happened?”

“This whole mess just got a lot bigger…” Rainbow glared at the TV. “The guys who did this to us just hijacked the TV to tell the world what they did.”

“...Oh my,” Rarity said after she recovered from shock. She cleared her throat. “I hate to pull you away from Soarin, but Thompson might want to call us all back to the house, or worse, to the agency.”

Rainbow hesitated. Soarin idly scratched one of her wings to comfort her, but only made her decision that much harder. “Hey, Rares, lemme talk to Soarin for a minute.”

“Sure, thing, deary,” Rarity replied with sympathetic regret as she hung up to await a text later.

Rainbow looked to Soarin with a carefully constructed neutral mask. “Hey, I might get called in, and I don’t want you to be alone with that bump on the head. You wouldn’t mind me taking you to your folks' house, would you?”

“I can take care of myself,” Soarin replied with more hostility than he wanted. “Greg will just give me grief all day if I do that.”

“I know he’s a prick, but I also know your mom will take care of you, pleeese?” Rainbow gave him her best puppy eyes. She leaned against his chest to get her pleading eyes even closer. She by no means possessed Rarity’s charm, but she at least knew Soarin.

He purposefully turned away to avoid the eyes, but when she didn’t let up for almost a minute he groaned in defeat. “Fine, but I’m taking my car. You can follow after me if you need to, but I am not staying near Greg without a way to leave.”

It wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but Rainbow could sympathize. “Deal. But take it slow, you don’t want to end up like Brick did.”

Soarin couldn’t hold back a cringe at the reminder of the linebacker’s car crash last year. “Alright, you win. Let me grab my keys.”

“Meet me at the field’s parking lot, I left my car there,” Rainbow replied as she struggled to put her shirt back on. Soarin had to help her get it back on, flashing a teasing smile all the while. Rainbow blushed bright crimson before limply pushing him away. “Bah, here I am trying to help you and you mock me. I see how it is.”

“You know you love it,” Soarin replied with a grin as he wrapped his arms around her in a loving embrace after the shirt was back in place.

“Maybe,” Rainbow replied with forced neutrality. Had it been any other day, she would have taken him to the bedroom already, but between the concussion and the TV broadcast, a romp was the last thing on her mind. “We should get moving, see you there.” Rainbow pulled away and raced for the door.

“See you,” he replied despondently. Soarin cursed and lightly kicked the table in exasperation for the ruined day. Might as well get my gear in order.

Rainbow left with such haste though, that she didn’t catch the short growth of fur on the tips of Soarin’s ears.

Author's Note

Will Twilight adapt toothpaste for horns? Will Rainbow Dash live her dream of a folk tale singer? If Applejack cracked corn, would she care? Can Sunset avoid banging her horn on the door frame? Can Pinkie break the world record for most sugar devored in a single sitting?

Maybe find out next time on the WoM!

3: Pawns

Three days. It had been three days since Sunset Shimmer woke up with a horn on her head and she was no closer to discovering a means to remove it. Both she and Twilight Sparkle were in the lab beneath Sparkle Manor,and had been toiling away throughout night. The lab stank of coffee and the unwashed as the two finished conducting their latest scan.

Sunset pulled off the headset microphone she’d been wearing for the past two hours during the latest test on Twilight. For her part Twilight had lost the struggle to stay awake, since the test had left her sitting down for those hours. Sunset was barely an inch away from giving in to sleep as well, but she had a duty to science and herself. Poor Twilight. She hasn’t slept a wink since we started.

Sluggishly trying to refocus on that very science, Sunset averted her gaze away from the lab-cot by the wall. “I… I just gotta type up my findings… first.” Sunset feverishly rubbed her eyes to keep from passing out and snatched the last partially filled cup of coffee. The once good cup had turned into sludge overnight, but Sunset forced it down. The gag helped in its own way of keeping her awake.

The cup clattered back onto the desk before Sunset leaned back in her chair to collect herself. This is just crazy. What were those idiots planning to do? Her now prominent horn was the focus of her attention as she grumbled in impotent anger. Remembering why she wasn’t going to bed yet, Sunset looked down and grabbed her full length tail out from the side of the chair and pulled it up so she could kick her rolly chair over to another desk where the computer with her notes was located.

She let the armrest keep her tail out of trouble and clicked the computer out of sleep mode. Plenty of time for that myself later.

She didn’t get far when her government-issued chat program chimed softly before the face of a bald shaved man imposed itself on her desktop. “Miss Shimmer, glad to see you remembered our scheduled talk this time.”

“Uhh…” Sunset’s brain took a few moments to process the man’s words until she glanced at the clock. Seven AM… on a Tuesday. Ah shoot, that’s today “Ah, yes, Director Bradley. Of course. I just finished with my latest test with Twilight.” Sunset gave her best forced smile in history.

The Director of Section EM was typically a hard yet fair man, and today he only showed a ghost of his expected mildly good humor. “Good. Have you paid attention to the news as of late?”

Sunset grew worried, some of her fatigue faded for a few brief seconds. “No, director, aside from Twilight, I’ve only seen my friends around meal times. But they did mention a lot of people at the concert have… started developing pony features.”

“Then you already know half of the issue,” Bradley stated bluntly, causing Sunset’s nerves to frazzle even more. “However I want your report before we go into anything else.” He steepled his hands and prepared to listen, fully expecting Sunset to forward him her notes later.

Well I guess it can’t be much worse than the concert’s audience going pony. Sunset hoped she was right as she activated her dictation software. “Well, sir, the changes we’ve undergone so far seem different than originally expected.”

Bradley skimmed a file he had on his desk as Sunset tried to look more presentable by styling her hair around her horn. Sadly she could do little without a comb. “From what I’ve seen in your latest report, you think the so called Element of Magic is the root of all this?”

Sunset was caught with a lock of hair in her hand, and scrambled to pull over some of her notes from earlier. “Well in a way, sir. Pony magic is like any other force in nature, it strives to find a resting state. For us, that meant our magic was dormant for most of the time, but it had to convert us partially into ponies whenever we wanted to use our magic, hence the ears, wings and “ponytails”.

“Whatever the attack at the concert did, it must have broken what stability there was that the Element of Magic had given us. Now our magic is trying to find a new resting state, and changing us into ponies in the process.”

Bradley’s face became grim, far more so than Sunset thought he should be expressing. “Troubling, very troubling. Do you think you could reverse or at least halt these changes?”

“If I could get my hands on whatever tool or weapon that hit us at the concert, then maybe. But since the Element of Magic is unrecoverable…”

“…Yes,” Bradley said at length while working his jaw. “So you had mentioned a few years back. How far along these changes are, by the way? Do you have a time frame?”

Sunset narrowed her eyes in both confusion and suspicion. Why would he ask that? Thompson’s men are keeping tabs on all of us, so he’d know without asking. Keeping up an air of civility, Sunset didn’t call him on his elusive questioning. “If things keep going the way they are now,” Sunset started with downcast eyes, fearful of finishing that thought. The subject up brought her attention to her new, or old one could say, tail and the fur going from her neckline to her knees all the more out of place. “Even though I can study magic with magic now thanks to my horn, the only definitive thing I can really give you is that the changes were quick at first, but are thankfully slowing down now.”

“So there might be a chance after all,” Bradley muttered to himself, barely audible to Sunset’s new ears. The flash of deep concern was gone as quick as it came, leaving Sunset flat footed in trying to act like she hadn’t heard him. “You mentioned in your latest report that these changes are turning you into a pony, but… at the same time trying to keep you as human as possible. Care to elaborate on that?”

It was the question Sunset feared the most. Her face burned with embarrassment and she shrunk away from the screen. “Well. I only have one piece of evidence on that.” She paused, but Bradley impatiently cleared his throat. “It’s… my… ahh… my breasts, sir.”

Bradley arched an eyebrow at the pensive young woman. He saw no reason to draw this line of conversation out any more than necessary. “From what you’ve told us about normal ponies, they mostly resemble horses, correct?”

Some of Sunset’s embarrassment ebbed at his continued impassiveness. At least he’s making it easy on me in his own way. “Yes, Director, I was fully expecting to grow teats in soon after fur covered my stomach, or that my breasts would start to shrink for the same reason, but so far, neither has happened.”

Bradley was silent for a second or two as he mulled over the information. “Just how equine are you right now?”

“Well…”

Elsewhere…

Rainbow Dash was strutting her stuff through downtown wearing nothing but socks, shoes, a small backpack, and a sports bra the same color as her skin. With her new fur now covering everything from her neckline to her knees, it took over the job of covering the rest of her body. Mostly because the only other thing she had on was a smug grin plastered on her face. She was headed towards her favorite music shop for some much needed strings.

Even with a city as large as Canterlot, the Rainbooms’ pony-up states were barely a curiosity anymore after four years. A signpost for tourists really. Yet with Rainbow Dash now sporting an actual tail and half her body covered in fur, she was starting to turn a few heads.

However most passed her fur off as some new form fitting outfit and paid little attention to her beyond a few seconds.

All of which suited Rainbow Dash just fine as she wound her way through the streets. She came up to an intersection and opted to vault over the passing cars with a few flaps of her wings, grinning madly at the expected jealous faces of those still waiting for the crosswalk light.

Rainbow passed a few more streets before her phone started buzzing like mad in her backpack. Without breaking stride, she pulled the backpack off and fished for the phone, grabbed it, then replaced the pack. In a rare act of thinking ahead, Rainbow had brought her pony ear-adapted headphones to make up for the increased distance between her mouth and ears. “’Ye-ellow!”

Rarity’s voice practically screeched out at her. “Rainbow Dash! Please tell me Fluttershy was mistaken!”

Rainbow Dash casually inspected her outstretched hand, her grin never wavering. “About what?”

Rarity scowled at Rainbow’s tone of voice. “Don’t play dumb with me, missy! Are you seriously running around town in the buff!?”

“Maybe.”

“Rainnnboooow Dash this is by far the dumbest idea you’ve ever had! And there’s a long list of those I assure you.”

“Come on, Rares, we’ve got fur in all the right places,” Rainbow scoffed dismissively as she scratched an ear. She flew over another crosswalk, loving every second of freedom her wings granted her. “Besides, it’s not illegal to run around without clothes. Not that you can see anything anyway, my new tail hides it all.”

“You do realize that law only lets you go topless, right? You’ve got it backwards.”

“Hey, if the eggheads fix all this, there’s no way I’m ruining any of my good shorts by cutting tail holes,” Rainbow countered with her patented snark.

She could almost feel Rarity’s exasperated groan as the fashionista pinched her nose. “Stop, stop getting me off track. The Department’s not going to like it if you show yourself off in public, you know.”

“What? Bradley? He can kiss my ass if he thinks I’m going to stay cooped up in the house all day until Sunny or Twilight fixes everything. Sides, Soarin needs some ibuprofen for his headaches, and I’m not letting him drive just yet.”

“What if you run into any of those ruffians who attacked us at the concert, hmm?” Rarity rebuked with a condescending tone. “You don’t even have one of the Department’s guards watching over you right now, do you?”

“I’m not that stupid, Rares,” Rainbow Dash was starting to get irritated, even if her friend meant well. “I let Thompson and one of his goons trail along.” Rainbow was about to say more when high tempo electronica music started playing. She turned towards the music to find a man had placed an active boombox down and was spinning some sort of advertisement sign. Rainbow gave him no more attention when Rarity’s nagging brought her back to the conversation.

“Honestly, Rainbow, I know how flippant you are about rules, except those pertaining to sports at least, but you should seriously rethink your-”

At this point, Rainbow was grumbling at the phone. “Rarity, I’ll be fine, okay! I don’t need the goon squad holding my hand.”

Pained shrieking in the streets forced Rainbow away from the conversation and drew her attention back behind her. The sign spinner was screaming in fearful shock and doubling over as a bright blue light shot out of the boombox and enveloped him.

Rainbow’s gut reaction was to vault into the air and try to kick the boombox away from him. Yet she only managed to get half way over the street before the mana surrounding the man exploded outward in a shockwave of blue energy.

Having no time to react, Rainbow Dash took the shockwave full on. The force of it jarred her from the air, causing her to land roughly on top of a semi-truck trailer. What felt like static electricity ravaged her, making Rainbow cry out in shocked pain. Rainbow felt her legs burn like fire as her muscles twitched and spasmed from the aftermath.

It took her several long minutes before Rainbow could perceive anything other than pain. She blinked a few times as her vision returned. Emergency sirens and shouting could be heard from below, but she knew she had to check herself for injuries.

Rainbow looked and flexed her hands in front of her face. “Ah nuts, I got fuzzy all over now?!” Sure enough, the fur that had once been limited to above the elbow now fully encased her hands, although the fur was absent on her palms and the palm side of her fingers. “Great.” Rainbow quickly checked her face, finding it human enough after rubbing it a few times, but like her hands, she now had fur completely covering her head.

She growled in anger at the sign spinner before turning her attention to her legs. Rainbow gasped in shock. Not only was she furry from head to toe, but she didn’t have toes at all. In place of her feet were hooves along with her legs being structured differently, with her lower legs bent just like that of a pony. As her feet and legs changed, Rainbow’s shoes had slipped off unharmed. “Da hell?! I got pony legs now? I swear I’m going to kill that guy!” A brief check found that the rest of her body was for the most part thankfully human, just with fur.

Since the explosion had happened on a stopped intersection during the light changes, there had been only one wreck. As a result of not being apart of that wreck, Rainbow’s trailer started moving again when the trucker believed both he and his truck were no worse for wear. Not wanting to be dragged off to who knows where, Rainbow tested her wings for a moment before grabbing her shoes and taking off. She flew over to one of the low rise shops before landing on the roof. Seeing an A/C unit, Rainbow propped herself up, eternally thankful that her bones were at least still designed for two legs only. Although her new hooves were by no means easy to stand on. She quickly tore her socks off and placed both them and the shoes into her bag.

Rainbow gazed back out over the intersection to find Thompson standinging over the pony-eared man while cuffing him. The man himself was barely conscious and absently muttered to himself while threatening to pass out. “Damn! He caught the punk before I could.” Rainbow fumed at being robbed her chance for a good beating.

Rainbow's vengeance was replaced by dread when she noticed Thompson had lime-green pony ears. She quickly looked around to find no one else had any signs of tails or altered ears. What the hell is going on!? Why did that bomb thing give me pony legs, Thompson and that guy the ears, but did nothing to everyone else?

Rainbow nearly fell on her shaky unfamiliar legs, but she steadied herself by gripping the A/C unit harder. I gotta get back to Sunny and Twilight. They’ve got to be able to slow or stop my changes. Wings are great, but I’ll be damned if I end up on four hooves. Two’s too many already!

Not trusting her new sense of balance, Rainbow pulled her phone out to find Rarity frantically trying to text her. The call must have dropped when the bomb hit me. Instead of reading the avalanche of texts and missed calls, Rainbow opted to just call Rarity back. “Hey, Rares, sorry-”

“Heavens, Rainbow,” Rarity all but screamed over the phone, making Rainbow thankful her headset had been knocked out of her ears and on her neck. “What happened to you? There was all this static and then the call dropped. Are you hurt, was it just a glitch? What’s all that racket in the background?”

“One thing at a time, Rarity,” Rainbow started, trying to slow her friend down so she could think. “Sorry, but I can’t talk right now. Something big just went down. Can we meet up back with you at Twilight’s?”

Rainbow’s tensed voice and curt tone was all Rarity needed to hear, and she knew to be quick. “Alright. See you there.”

With her friend placated for now, Rainbow speed-dialed Thompson. She watched him from her perch and waited for him to finally pick up. “Miss Dash, I saw you were caught in the explosion, but I couldn’t see where you landed. Are you alright?”

Rainbow huffed angrily through the phone. “No, I’m not. Damn thing sped my changes way up. I’m half surprised I’m still on only two legs.”

She could see Thompson grab one of his new lime-green ears with dread. “Aye, we’ll get some answers out of him.”

“Give him a bloody nose for me will ya? Oh and send that boombox he used over to Sunny and Twilight, they might find a way to reverse this!”

Thompson was wary about touching the now silent device. Aside from a thin wisp of black smoke, the boombox was inert. Nevertheless, he pulled the spin advertiser away from it just in case he suddenly awoke and tried to activate something on it. “I was thinking the exact same thing, but only after I’ve had a bomb expert inspect the thing.”

“Sounds fair to me, see you later.” Rainbow hung up. While her altered legs were unfamiliar, her wings at least was something she had plenty of practice with.

Rainbow Dash decided against flying over the streets and climbed high enough to clear any of the local tall buildings before making her way back to her car a few miles away. The normal thrill of flight was heavily dampened by the foreboding oddity of her legs and the bomber himself. A younger Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have taken even a second before giving a cursory snap judgement, but the Department’s training had taught her to think. I don’t like it. Why would the bomber even bother going on foot? Since that thing didn’t do any serious property damage, he could have just sat in a car, blew the magic bomb, and then drove away when he came to. Or at least try to flee the scene.

It’s almost as if… Rainbow Dash came to a complete halt as a worrying trail of thought entered her mind. “...Like he didn’t know he was a bomber.”

She shook her head at the impossibility. “Nah, no way. The others can probably make better sense of it.”

Right as she resumed her flight, Rainbow Dash saw a brief blue flash in the corner of her eye. Fear kicked into overdrive and she sprinted away from the flash, dearly hoping she wasn’t about to be forced into being a full pony.

It took her a moment, but she realized this time, the flash was far in the distance. Rainbow hovered over the parking garage where her car was, yet her eyes were fixed on the skyline, searching for where that second flash came from. However, a third flash occurred, a few miles further downtown.

Rainbow Dash felt a pit of cold fear sink into her stomach, which deepened when a fourth flash detonated from the south, then another up north. Every last one of them was street level, save for an eighth flash in the middle of a glass skyscraper. The last one had been close enough for Rainbow to see it came from a window washer now slumped in his scaffold. She dared not to get any closer, for fear of a repeat mana explosion.

“What the hell is going on!?” Rainbow forcibly shook her head to get her thoughts on track. No way I’m driving back. I might get caught in more of this craziness. Her thoughts were punctuated by yet another mana shockwave deeper in the city. Big boss’s gotta know what’s going on.

Rainbow flew as fast as she could to Sparkle Manor while dialing Director Bradley directly. He’s going to flip when he hears about this.

Author's Note

Was the sign spinner a hapless pawn, or a dastardly rogue? Will Rainbow learn to love hooves? Seriously, ponies need more coffee over here!

4: Well That's One Solution

Since the blog commentors have voted for a Hive tie it, so shall it be. However, whether it is changeling or alicorn Twilight, she'll ultimately only play a short role in this story.

In the following morning, Changeling Queen Twilight Sparkle jumped through the Earth-side portal and found herself in the second basement under Sparkle Manor. The section of the old Canterlot High statue’s pedestal had been moved years ago into a pleasant oak-paneled room. Lights blinked on in reaction to her arrival. The queen herself looked almost identical to her human counterpart, save for unmistakably vertically-slitted eyes and slightly elongated canines. As always when she crossed the portal, the ever-present hive mind was muffled to be nearly unintelligible.

I swear, the one time I let Gentle Touch talk me into a resort retreat is the one time a serious issue crops up here that really can’t be fixed by anyone else! The fact that no one had thought to keep tabs on the journal for the past week didn’t help her mood in the slightest.

Queen Twilight wasted no time in departing the portal room to race for the lab above. ’It’ll be great,’ she said. ‘What could happen,’ she said. ‘If anything pops up we can contact you immediately,’ they all said. Bah! She shifted her duffle bag full of books and one research tool in particular over her shoulder. At least… I hope I can fix it, she fretted as a cold sweat took hold.

Queen Twilight knocked on the lab doors before entering. There she found Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and her human counterpart. Human (well, mostly human) Twilight and Sunset Shimmer were using their magic to probe Applejack and Rainbow Dash respectively while Rarity watched on with deep concern written across her furrowed brow.

“Hey, everyone!” Queen Twilight called out apologetically at being so late to help. The reactions of Sunset and the other girls ranged from elation to being borderline manic at her arrival. Rarity and Sunset were the first to race over and squash the humanized changeling in a vice-like hug, causing her to drop the bag with a crash. Rainbow, Applejack, and human Twilight joined in a few moments later with less force, if only to keep the queen from being suffocated.

“Finally, you’re here!” Rainbow cheered from her hovering position after letting go. “How’s my favorite vampire?”

Queen Twilight scrunched her mouth in mild yet friendly irritation. “Just fine miss fuzzy.”

“Yeah, about that. You’re going to fix this right?” Rainbow asked rapidly while gesturing more at her legs than anything else.

Rarity interposed herself between Rainbow and Queen Twilight. “Have some tact, Rainbow.” Rarity flashed her friend an apologetic smile. “While time is of the essence, I just want to thank you again for assisting us with this rather peculiar problem. I know you must be extremely busy back home.”

“Trust me, Rarity,” Twilight said as she waved off the supposed slight. “I get that kind of thing all the time from my world’s Rainbow.”

Now that she actually had a spare moment to look at her changing friends, and otherworldly twin, Queen Twilight was taken aback by the sight of them. Rainbow Dash took up the lion’s share of that silent and stunned observation. Partially because of her advanced metamorphosis, and partially because of the unexpected sight of her wearing no clothing at all. “I – wow… You weren’t kidding, Sunset.”

“I wish I had been.” Sunset was caught between the joy of seeing her friend and the niggling fear in the back of her mind about the prospect that Twilight might not able to find a solution. “We could really use your expertise on this one.”

Queen Twilight’s human counterpart couldn’t get over the irony that the queen was currently far more human than she was. I hope my friends won’t start calling me mostly-human Twilight. Shaking the thought aside, she hastened to follow the group as Sunset started moving them deeper into the lab. “We’re in a real jam in trying to figure all this out. Sunny’s kinda out of practice with high level magic research, and I’m used to being able to see data on readouts or on screens, not… best guess sort of things.”

The more human than Human-Twilight, Twilight was fixated on observing her friends’ pony features. “It’s certainly an art that takes time to master. I’ll do my best to guide you through it. But it’s a good sign that I came through the portal fully human.”

Applejack had been around the three scientists long enough to know when technobabble was about to get underway. “Do ya need me ta clear out, or t’ gather the rest of th’ band for more tests and what not?”

Queen Twilight found a clipboard with blank paper and swiped a pen from the desk. “Please gather the others, AJ. I’ll need data on everyone.”

“Alright, Ah’ll be back soon.” Applejack stepped away to make the necessary calls, and dragged Rainbow away to give the trio some time to set themselves up, while Rarity excused herself to make everyone some tea.

Human-Twilight gathered a laptop from a second desk and started pulling up files and datasheets. “I don’t know how much they’ll help since we’re moving entirely to this whole analogue magic scanning, but I’ll bring up all the data we gathered before switching over to our horns.”

Sunset pulled out some paper of her own and rolled over a chair to sit next to Queen Twilight. “As much as I want to catch up, we really do need to get some data on you as soon as possible.”

“Why me? I’m not changing,” the queen mildly protested as Sunset already started using her magic to probe her, specifically where her carbuncle would be.

“You will be within an hour,” her human counterpart stated directly with a grim frown. She started rubbing her other arm and looked down with a glum face. “M-my parents along with several of the Department’s agents and Soarin have started changing too.”

“We think it’s because of the excess mana we’re radiating,” Sunset added with a similar expression.

“Well then it’s a good thing I brought this.” Queen Twilight heaved her duffle bag onto an empty spot on the desk, and rummaged through the books to find a box. “Ah, good. It wasn’t damaged by that hug/tackle.”

The other two girls looked on in curiosity as Queen Twilight withdrew two objects out of the box. The first looked like a bronze and gold wrap around for a unicorn horn. It had a very cobbled together look about it which was compounded by the second item she gathered. That one looked like a web of gold and bronze that could wrap around the head. “I had to cobble together a prototype of a prototype so it doesn’t look that good.

“It’s called the MAgic Sensory Transference device, or MAST for short, but this will allow me to feel what you detect with your magic.” Human Twilight immediately thought of brain scanners while Sunset Shimmer was truly astonished. “Oh wow. Did you invent this?”

“Can’t claim that feat,” Queen Twilight chuckled, “nor did it come from my hive, but I’ll tell you about it later.” She handed Sunset the piece for the unicorn, before starting to put on its counterpart. “If you can only give me an hour before I start going back to my normal self, we need to get as much data on my pure human form as possible.”

Rainbow Dash tried to busy herself up in the indoor patio by continuing her attempts to walk on hooves. Mostly to distract herself from the faint stretchy feeling she was getting from her face, and the fact that her hairline was already halfway down the back of her neck.

She was having mixed results at best, and wobbled constantly. Applejack was leaning against a wall so that Rainbow was between her and the brilliant view of the landscape beyond. Sparkle Manor was situated perfectly where its north face observed the city while the southern face had a majestic view of the Everfree Forest Nature Preserve.

“Have ya tried thinkin’ of it like wearin’ high heels?” Applejack offered after Rainbow started using her wings to compensate for her lack of balance.

Rainbow might have risked turning around to scowl at the farmer, but she feared the shift in balance might cause her to topple over, so she opted to just give a sidelong glare. “You’re kidding right? Even if I ever put myself through the torment of high heels, these legs work differently. You know, in case you hadn’t noticed!”

Applejack waved her arms placatingly. “Easy there, RD. We’re all in the same boat. Iff’n it takes Sunset and the Twi Twins too long to fix this the rest of us’ll be right thar with ya on hooves.”

Rainbow grumbled and refocused on her legwork. “Yeah well, by that time I’ll probably be on all fours. What if they can only stop these changes, but not reverse them?”

“Well if that happens then ya won’t have Rarity naggin’ you ‘bout need’n ta wear clothes anymore.”

Rainbow chanced a look back at her farming friend to see Applejack was only wearing a tattered old blue jean skirt herself. “Speaking of which, I thought I was the only one to show off. What happened to that southern decency?”

Applejack huffed and found a chair to sit in so that she could rub her sore feet. Her boots were feeling very confining to the point of being painful. “There’s a reason people don’t wear fur coats in summer time, RD. You try workin’ in the sun all day on the farm with fur from head to toe and see if you don’t sweat like a dog in a sauna. There’s a reason Big Mac hardly ever wears a shirt durin’ summer.”

“Just one more reason for me. Clothes are redundant for us now if you ask me.” Rainbow Dash quipped.

Rarity overheard it, and fully expected the comment was bait. I’ll not give her the satisfaction. Besides, her arguments don’t mean much considering she’s a shameless exhibitionist anyway. Even then, Rarity cast a worried glance at Applejack who didn’t give Rainbow’s quirks the same dismissive snort as usual.

However, Rainbow’s snarky smile didn’t last long as she purred at the memory of the big farmer’s muscle bound chest that rippled with muscle. “Big Mac’s quite a sight, that’s for sure. Too bad for him Soarin has him beat.” Fluttershy blushed tremendously at the mental image of her own escapades with Big Mac and tried to hide her burning cheeks with her hair. Speaking of which, I need to call Soarin to come over. Maybe Spitfire can give him a ride.

“How ‘bout we drop that particular subject matter about mah brother, thank you very much.” Applejack tried to let go of her irritation after seeing Rainbow snicker at her expense. She finally managed to yank her left boot and sock off, only to find her foot was deforming. Her toes were beginning to merge, leaving Applejack with only three toes which had very thick nails developing. “Ga dang it! Now that’s not a pretty sight.”

Hearing that, Rainbow flew over to see what her friend was getting worked up about. She backed up a bit after seeing what had become of Applejack’s feet. “Gross. Maybe I got lucky with getting hooves all at once. Does it hurt?”

“A little, yeah.” Applejack rubbed her foot, trying to ease the dull ache giving Rainbow the excuse to return to her walking exercise. Ah really hope RD is frettin’ over nothing. Sunset and th’ twins will fix things no problem… I hope

On the other side of the house, Agent Thompson was on a short lived break in the bathroom, trying to get a new hat to properly conceal his prominent lime-green pony ears. Given the nature of the agency, and the girls themselves, he had been hand-picked for his mental flexibility which let him roll with even the weirdest of punches.

If anything he was actually delighted to have the ears in a morbid way. Once all this is fixed and the girls find a way to reverse it, perhaps I could end up with permanent magic at the end of this. That could be an interesting little wrinkle, assuming I don’t blow my head off trying to use it.

His musings of the future paused as the new fedora seemed to fully encase his new ears. He took a step away from the mirror and turned his head this way and that to see how nonchalant the hat looked. It took him all of about four seconds to give up and toss the fedora back onto the sink with a huff. Yeah right. These hats just scream ‘look at me, I’m suspicious’. And it muffles everything. He rubbed the side of his head, taking in the unnerving oddity of smooth skin where his ears should be. A pinch in his lower back soured his mood even further. “Not that a hat could hide the tail coming in.”

Resolving to simply enjoy a few quiet moments until his break was over, Thompson collected the fedora, intending to get a refund from the store, he was living off a government salary after all, only for his phone to start buzzing. With practiced swiftness, he unclipped it off his belt and answered right as the second ring started. “Hello.”

A highly professional sounding woman answered back. “Agent 2205.”

“Reply code: lightning whisky niner two,” Thompson replied mechanically. He quickly pressed the volume on his phone to maximum so his distant ears could hear his handler better.

“Very good. I have the latest intelligence update for you. This information is classified, but can be shared with your charges as you see fit.” The woman paused briefly to give him time to mentally prepare, since she would not repeat herself. “The incidences around Canterlot City yesterday were isolated to just Canterlot. It is believed to be either a proof of concept attack, or a declaration that the group responsible for the attack at the concert is willing and able to achieve their stated goals.

“All of perpetrators of yesterday’s ‘bombings’ completely deny any and all involvement with the group, claiming that they were unaware of the mana bombs they carried with them.”

Thompson scowled at his reflection in the mirror. “You’re not seriously telling me they were all innocent pawns are you?”

The woman’s tone was just as bothered by the news as he was. “The Director isn’t taking chances, so we’re keeping them in custody for the time being, and before you ask, we had the police round up as many victims of these bombings as we could into isolation wards in city hospitals. Although we hold no illusions that we got everyone.”

“Br-” Thompson caught himself before saying a real name. “But Papa Bear knows normal NBC protocols don’t work against mana radiation! That’s going to infect all of our ground staff and any medical personnel working there.” Not to mention the media fallout.

“Our ground teams took an oath of service, as you should well know. We told the medical staff of the risks, their fate is of their own making.” Thompson was not happy, but there was little he could do outside of venting his frustrations. Not that his handler gave him the chance just yet. “I am also to inform you that the CDC and National Guard have been alerted to the situation, and are already mobilizing.”

Thompson half expected this, but feared it all the same. “Martial law under quarantine? What if this gets bigger than one city? Even if the Guard managed to get into position within the hour, we don’t know if we can stop every last individual involved with the organization that started all of this.”

“That is outside of your purview, agent. Your orders are to remain with your charges and make sure they devise a cure uninterrupted. Luck willing, we’ll have one soon.”

It was left unsaid, but Thompson knew riots would break out once numerous people started showing signs of the pony epidemic. Assuming the whole thing stays in the city at all. “Orders received…” At least I was able to fast track the approval for shipping a few of the mana devices over here so that the ladies can analyze them. Thompson grumbled at the impossibilities his job tossed his way from time to time. “I’ll let them know.”

“Very well. Carry on, agent. Pappa Bear has faith in you.” With that, Thompson’s handler hung up.

He pocketed the phone and rubbed his face as a sense of helplessness washed over him. I hope this doesn’t get any worse than the Tirek incident.

A few hours later, with the exception of the two Twilights and Sunset Shimmer, all of the girls were trying to keep themselves preoccupied in Sparkle Manor while they waited for a solution. Although most of them were here because it was getting nearly impossible to walk due to the fact their legs and feet were caught halfway between human and pony. When she wasn’t retraining herself to walk, Rainbow Dash was busy trying in vain to push her face back. Her nose and mouth were starting to jut forward into a muzzle. Even her eyes were starting to grow larger.

For the most part, the room was largely quiet as the group of friends stayed close for mutual support. The silence was broken by the television flicking on after Applejack finally had enough of the oppressive worry hanging over everyone.

“Come on, yall, I wanna see if people know what’s goin’ on out there.”

As much as misery loved company, no one present loved misery. As such the girls agreed to have a distraction. Pinkie Pie seemed to have no trouble running and bouncing over to her favorite bean bag chair and snatching the remote control. “OOO! The baking channel right? I get the feeling Chef Moriarty is going to unveil a new pumpkin cake recipe!”

Please no more talk of food right now,” Rarity said with her signature whine as she went a little green in the face. “I had to eat a salad made by my sister and…” Rarity couldn’t finish her thought and just groaned in pain and rolled onto her side, begging her stomach to keep it down because she was in no position to run anywhere.

“We could watch the nature channel,” Fluttershy offered hopefully.

“Sounds like a plan ta me,” Applejack agreed with a smile with Rainbow Dash giving mild disinterest, but no objections. Rainbow Dash flew over to join in while still trying to mash her proto-muzzle back.

Seeing Fluttershy had the majority, Pinkie Pie started pressing buttons. “Then nature it is!”

In her bubbly haste, Pinkie pressed the wrong number, bringing up the local news station. “Woops.” Yet Pinkie hesitated before correcting herself when she saw the picture next to the news anchor was the University stage with the Rainbooms present.

“-are currently unknown. The Canterlot Police Department states that the people or organization that caused the unusual explosion at the student concert was also responsible for the thirty eight similar explosions yesterday.”

The image swept to enlarge the video of the Rainbooms being hit by a distant beam of magic. “As you can see, some form of energy detonated outward, knocking people down, but strangely causing little property damage.” The video looped a couple of times before returning to the news anchor. “And here we see a similar anomaly happened just yesterday. Viewer discretion is advised,” the news anchor continued as a new video popped up.

This time it was someone’s camera phone from a second story balcony as the camera followed a very fuzzy Rainbow Dash as she walked down the street.

“Look Dashie! You’re on TV!” Pinkie cheered, only fanning the flames of Rainbow’s ego, letting her forget her growing muzzle for a moment and watch. Rarity simply sighed with empathic embarrassment for what her friend should be feeling. Applejack just huffed and watched her friend strut down the street. However, Rainbow wasn’t the focus of the video for long.

Rainbow Dash felt a chill crawl up her spine when that familiar screaming of the sign spinner started. Just like the concert, the mana exploded outward right as the camera caught Rainbow Dash trying to fly over the street. However after that, the camera man had been thrown backward with the phone clattering onto a patio table.

Fluttershy cupped her hands over her mouth in shock while Pinkie Pie cringed in shared pain. Rarity however, was livid at Rainbow. “You flew above people’s heads wearing practically nothing!?”

“And?” Rainbow challenged with a raised eyebrow. “I think my choice in attire is not the issue here.”

The video feed cut ahead to where the cameraman had recovered and brought his phone back over to the scene. The screen quickly focused on Rainbow Dash who was trying to shake off the aftereffects. The video froze and zoomed in on Rainbow’s new pony legs and hooves.

The girls’ blood ran cold as the reporter spoke as the video was now split between Rainbow’s human legs before the mana shockwave and the pony legs afterwards. “As evidenced in this alteration of local celebrity Rainbow Dash,” the news anchor continued with an edge of fear in her tone. “This is much more than a common terrorist attack.”

“Girls!” Queen Twilight called out from the room’s entryway. “I think we found a way to at least halt the changes!”

Rainbow and the others turned back with hope in their eyes only to be shocked by what they saw. Queen Twilight Sparkle was humanoid, but that was it. She was covered in purple fur and sported a full mane and tail. Her legs mirrored Rainbow Dash’s exactly. Twilight had a short yet unmistakable muzzle with fangs that jutted past her lips. Her eyes were almost twice as large as a human’s, making her friendly slitted lavender irises stand starkly out.

Twilight’s horn sat prominently on her head, yet it had no groove like a unicorn. Instead it was entirely smooth and ended in a razor sharp point and curved backwards like a scimitar. Unlike human Twilight and Sunset’s horns, the purple ivory of the queen’s horn turned starkly red towards the tip.

The large horn also brought a small purple crown with four deeper purple nodes, which nestled between her horn and ears. The changeling queen had broad vibrantly crimson insectile wings that looked severely tattered on the edges. The wings were visible only briefly before they folded in behind Twilight’s back.

“Somehow I doubt that,” Rainbow prodded verbally in an attempt to break herself out of her stunned state.

There had always been the slitted eyes and fangs with Twilight, but this moment truly stunned them all. Fluttershy tilted her head at the sight of her friend. “I don’t mean to be rude, but how does you changing so fast mean you have a cure?”

Twilight looked down at herself and saw how confusion could spread. “We had to do some trial runs on the three of us to make sure our math was right.” She turned to Rainbow Dash. “You need to hurry. You’re nearly beyond the point where we can help, I think.”

“For real?!” All it took was a nod from Twilight to make Rainbow jump to the air and bolt for the lab, flying by Twilight so fast, the Queen’s hair was plastered all over her face.

After taking a moment to get the hair out of her eyes, Twilight flew over to her other friends who were trapped by ill-working legs. Applejack used the back of the sofa to prop herself up so she could be eye level with Twilight. “Ah knew you’d come through for us.”

“Never any doubt!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing around as if walking was as easy as ever. “If eggs were heads, you three would be the eggiest of them all.”

Twilight chuckled as Pinkie Pie skipped her way to the lab. While Fluttershy typically prefered the ground, here at least she kept to the air. “Thank goodness, Twilight. What fix did you come up with?”

“I’m dying to know myself,” Rarity stated as she felt Twilight’s magic lift her off of her currently less than useful legs. Twilight easily also took Applejack into her magic as well before guiding her friends to the basement laboratory. “Oo. It's so strange traveling like this.” Rarity shook her head to remain on topic. “It must have been simple if you did it within a day.”

Twilight did her best to shake off a dull headache from being without the full voice of the hive mind for so long. “Well, the people who did this didn’t enact any sort of curse or enchantment to keep us from interfering. The root of the problem is that your magic was forcibly destabilized by the blast. However, we found out that as you become more and more pony, that instability diminishes.

“So after tweaking that device Thompson gave us, we accelerated my changes. We figured since I live in Equestria and not here, it would be best to find out where I would be stable enough for us to work with. Sunset found a way to loop my magic into an runic array that would create a counter-resonance wave that helped in calming my magic down-” Queen Twilight paused when she noticed how deeply lost her friends were. “Short version?” she asked, half expecting the answer.

“Please,” Rarity replied with all the tact she could muster. Fluttershy and Applejack nodded in friendly agreement.

Twilight gave an amused huff. Human or pony, some people never change. “You have to be as pony as I am now for us to be able to freeze your transformation.”

The group reached the carpeted stairs, which thankfully had a railing since it was too narrow for anyone to fly. “Not for nuthing, Twi, but you’re not exactly much of a pony ta begin with.”

“Eehhh, I’m close enough in all the ways that matter this time.”

“Says the girl who’s just grown a crown on her head.”

A brief round of stifled laughter filtered through them. The group of friends reached the bottom and entered the lab to find Rainbow Dash shakily standing in the middle of a white holographic magic array on the floor. Oddly, there was a large collection of pillows surrounding the one meter diameter array. What shouldn’t have surprised them, and yet did anyway, was that both Human Twilight and Sunset Shimmer were as ponified as Queen Twilight was changelified. The two scientists had a few blackened scorch marks on their clothes, and had badly frazzled manes, Twilight’s more so than Sunset. Yet despite this, they were charging their horns in preparation to do the same to Rainbow Dash, which at this point wouldn’t be very much. Pinkie Pie was standing several meters away with a bag of popcorn to keep herself from ruining the charging spell.

Fluttershy found some rolling chairs and brought a couple over so that Rarity and Applejack could sit down. After a round of thanks, Queen Twilight alighted through the air to join her fellow scientists. “Okay, girls, are we ready to go?”

Human Twilight kept her magic at the ready, an act that felt akin to holding her breath, as she quadruple checked the array pattern displayed on a computer screen. “We’re looking good… The array is displaying normal energy levels.”

The two Twilights looked to Sunset Shimmer who gulped at the coming test. Let’s hope this works on pegasi the same way it does on unicorns and former-unicorns. “Activate the array in five, four, three, two, one, go!”

The scientific trio flared their horns along with the array. Human Twilight found it immensely easier to focus her magic by outstretching her arms and cupping her hands towards the array. Rainbow Dash jumped a little when the array lit up and reached out from the floor to encase her like a spider would a fly. She did her best to keep from crying out in short lived panic, if only to maintain her cool status.

The array held onto her tightly as Queen Twilight watched their progress. “Good… Keep it steady, we still have a ways to go.”

Everyone watched in frightful anticipation as the color of the array turned a shade of purplish-red, matching Rainbow’s eye color. Rainbow Dash’s muzzle was jutted out the last inch needed to match that of the scientists. What surprised Applejack and the rest of the bystanders was a thick white ring manifested on her thighs.

Rainbow Dash didn’t get much of a chance to contemplate the odd addition to her fur when the array sank far deeper than before, making her cry out in surprise.

“We’re on track,” Queen Twilight called out, more for Rainbow’s benefit than Sunset Shimmer and Human Twilight. “We’re almost done.”

The array flared even brighter than before. Rainbow Dash bit back a cry of pain as the two circles burned like firebrands as the magic surging around and through her like a torrential river. Then the heat shifted to become pleasent, like the sun warming her face on a cold day.

That warmth spread through her entire being, burning away an aching pain she didn’t know she had. Rainbow Dash felt her muscles relax as if she had just walked away from a masseuse.

The lights around her dimmed tremendously, leaving Rainbow Dash too dazed to remain on her hooves. She fell, unable to process the fact that her face had a date with the floor of pillows. The last thing she heard before her relaxed mind could succumb to the sudden drowsiness was four words: “...And down she goes.”

Author's Note

Was full ponification the evil-doers' goal all along? Do they even see themselves as evil-doers? Is the pony cultural lack of bodily modesty strictly a cultural construct, or is it a social norm brought about by subconscious instinct? Does Pinkie Pie have the blood of a draconequus? Place your bets on what happens next on the Will of Magic!!!