The Switch

by BronyWriter

The Switch: Chapter 1

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The sun was shining bright in the sky, bearing down on a group of six ponies who were walking together. Twilight Sparkle and her five friends were walking in the Everfree forest towards Zecora's house. As the six friends entered the Everfree Forest, one of them got very nervous. "So, what exactly are we doing here Twilight?" asked Fluttershy nervously walking looking around for fear that something would come out at them at any moment.

"Well, Zecora's going back to her native homeland to visit her family for a few weeks so she asked us to check in on her house while she is away. See, her cousin was conveniently in town for the weeks that she was gone so she asked us to check up on him, make him feel welcome or see if there is anything he needs while staying at her house."

"Well I think that's mighty dandy Twilight," said Applejack. "I can't wait to meet another Zebra. This should be really interesting."

"I agree," said Rarity. "If he's anything like his cousin then he should be a delight to get to know better." Pinkie Pie bounced up in the air happily.

"Ooh, ooh! Do you know what we should do for him? We should throw him a party!" she said happily. All five of her friends mouthed the words along with her as she said them. They all chucked to themselves at they saw Zecora's modest hut grow nearer to them as they continued walking. When they reached it, Twilight walked up to the door and gave a few loud knocks. They all heard a crash inside and some stumbling and muttering but in a few seconds the door was opened and they saw Zecora's cousin. He was a zebra with a wild mane and tail who was roughly the size of the six friends. He was wearing a white lab coat with a few odds and ends inside of the front pocket and lab goggles were perched on his forehead. He looked down at the six friends curiously for a moment but when he saw who it was, he began grinning at them excitedly.

"Well hello everyone." he said before grabbing Twilight's hoof and shaking it vigorously. "You must be Applejack! I've heard so much about you from Cousin Z and it is a delight to finally meet you all!"

Twilight pulled her hoof away and smiled an amused smile at him. "No, no, I'm Twilight Sparkle." she pointed at Applejack. "That's Applejack." Zecora's cousin looked at Applejack with interest.

"Well goodness, you don't say! Well sorry about that, Cousin Z sent me a letter telling me all about you six, and I guess I didn't read it well enough. But please do come in," he said grabbing Twilight's hoof again and pulling her inside the house, followed by the other five. "My name is Willem and it is a pleasure to meet all of you!" He ran over to a scrap of parchment and began reading it furiously.

"Did you say your name is William?" asked Fluttershy, who was having a bit of difficulty understanding the happy zebra with the accent.

"No, no, my name is Willem. Professor Willem Q Giraffe is my full name but do please call me Willem, everybody does." He scanned the parchment a few more times and pointed at Rarity while still reading it. Okay, I got their names but if the info Cousin Z has given me is spot on then you are...Rarity."

"Yes that's right," said Rarity happily. Her face turned into a confused frown as she said "You said 'Giraffe' is your last name?"

"Indeed it is lass! Sometimes life is funny that way am I right? And you," he said pointing to Pinkie Pie "Are Pinkie Pie, am I correct?"

"Indeed you are," said Pinkie Pie bouncing happily.

"Splendid and you two are Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash then right?" said Willem pointing to the respective ponies."

"Right on," said Rainbow Dash.

"Right on indeed! I must say that it is wonderful to have met you all. I'm sure you know that I'll be staying in Ponyville, well, roughly speaking, for the next 18 days."

"That's what Zecora said. If you need anything please do let us know," said Twilight.

"I highly appreciate that." Willem thought for a moment. "Actually, I could use a little help with something that I am working on."

"Sure, what do you need?" asked Pinkie.

"Well do you all see that?" said Willem pointing to a large bubbling cauldron filled with a strange orange liquid. "I have been working on a little experiment while Cousin Z is away. The technical aspects of it would bore you to tears but suffice to say, I think I am on the verge of a breakthrough but I realized I am missing a vital ingredient that I believe was said to grow somewhere around here. Since you six have lived here for a while, I was wondering if you might know something about it."

"Oh sure, Fluttershy and I know all of the plants around here. What is it called?" asked Applejack.

"Well I believe the layman's term for it is 'Poison Joke' are you familiar with it?" The six ponies looked at each other uncomfortably. Noting the shift in mood, Willem asked curiously "What's the matter?"

"Well, we've run into Poison Joke before," said Fluttershy. "It played little jokes on us when we were exposed to it; so for example, it changed my voice into a deep bass voice." Willem's eyes widened in excitement.

"You don't say! Oh my goodness is that what it does!?" he excitedly. He rushed over to a stray scrap of parchment and began furiously scribbling notes on it. "Indeed, indeed, and all six of you were affected?"

"Oh yeah, Rarity's hair got all tangled, it turned Rainbow's wings upside-down, Applejack shrank down to a small size, Pinkie's tongue swelled and it rendered my horn useless," said Twilight. Willem was positively giddy with excitement at this.

"Amazing! Simply amazing! The scientific community will love to hear about this! I mean, there were rumors that that was what it did but no real data to speak of."

"R...really?" said Rainbow Dash, finding that hard to believe.

"Oh yes, P.J. is really rare and hard to find but this is real data!" he said, practically squealing in delight. He looked around the room excitedly but noted the expressions of the other six and calmed down just a bit. "Oh umm, yes," he said clearing his throat embarrassedly. "Well um, see I was wondering if one of you six could get a sample for me. Two or three leaves should suffice. If it is too much trouble just let me know and simply point me in the direction of it."

"Well, I suppose it isn't too much trouble, we just have to be careful with it is all," said Twilight. Willem brightened again.

"Brilliant! You won't regret this I promise, do you have any idea what I am about to accomplish here!?"

"Umm, do you?" asked Fluttershy timidly. Willem rushed over to her and put his hoof over her shoulder.

"Not in the slightest, but that's half the fun am I right?" said Willem grinning.

The ponies were getting nervous about Willem, but Zecora had mentioned that while he was eccentric, he certainly wasn't dangerous or even the slightest bit mean. Twilight went over to the door.

"Don't worry, I'll be back with a sample in a few minutes," said Twilight as she walked out the door and into the forest.

"Hurry back!" said Willem who was bouncing with excitement. Twilight looked back to see that Pinkie was bouncing with him.

"Whoo hoo, I love bouncing!" said Pinkie.

"Isn't it the best?" said Willem happily as Twilight rolled her eyes and walked out the door. using her mental map of the forest, she walked in the direction where she knew the Poison Joke was and soon, she came to a small clearing at the edge of the forest. The clearing was full of Poison Joke and she used her magic to gingerly collect a few leaves. She held them as far away from her as her magic allowed, memories of what this plant was capable of were still fresh in her mind, and went back to Zecora's hut.

When she opened the door she saw Willem doing his best to explain what he was working on in the cauldron as he placed new herbs and such inside and the other five looked on in genuine interest. When he saw Twilight, he smiled. "Excellent! Now I just need you to put it in this bowl here and I can begin."

Twilight walked over to the counter while her friends backed away from the plant like it was a live hand grenade. She placed the leaves in a bowl and Willem went over to the bowl and began grinding the leaves down. After a minute or so, to the surprise of everyone, the leaves had been ground into a liquid. Willem looked at the dark blue liquid with interest. "Ooh, it turns into a liquid when ground down? Oh this stuff just keeps getting better and better. Now then, any volunteers to put it in the cauldron?" said Willem looking around expectantly.

"Well, not to be rude or anything but uh, why can't you do it?" asked Applejack who was trying her best to never have contact with the plant.

"Oh that's not rude at all my dear, it's a perfectly reasonable question. See, I need to be Johnny-on-the-spot with observations, taking notes studying it for reactions and so forth so I need to be watching at all times to take notes my dear," said Willem.

"Oh, well I guess that makes sense," said Applejack who was still clearly nervous about the whole affair.

"Well, I'll do it Willem. I have magic so I don't even have to touch the bowl and I have a scientific background," said Twilight.

"Excellent!" said Willem who promptly dove behind a couch and popped his head up. "Proceed when ready!"

"Umm...are you taking cover?" asked Fluttershy nervously.

"Of course I am! I have no idea what is going to happen," said Willem. "But please Miss Sparkle, we are at a critical moment in the process! You have to put it in now!" he said worriedly. Twilight bit her lip but proceeded to pour the contents of the bowl into the cauldron. Everyone stared at the cauldron expectantly, each of the six friends were expecting the worst to come of this. Willem's quill was at the ready so he could record any changes and a huge grin was plastered on his face. The liquid inside the cauldron bubbled green for a few minutes before turning dark blue. It stayed that way and everyone looked at it in total silence. Willem stood back up, a disappointed look on his face. "Well I..." said Willem before gasping and ducking behind the couch again. The six ponies looked at him worriedly but before they could react, the cauldron exploded. The blast knocked the six ponies not hiding behind furniture against the walls and the contents of the hut shook wildly. Everypony in the room had her mane completely straight from the force of the explosion and silence once again filled the hut as everypony tried to register what had just happened. There was silence for a few more seconds, broken only when Pinkie's mane and tail bounced back to their normal forms. Willem popped his head up with a gigantic grin on his face. "BRILLIANT!" he yelled in delight. "That was absolutely brilliant! Oh my gosh did you see the explosion from that one! My goodness I...I...that was beautiful!" he said charging over to his notes and furiously scribbling on his parchment. The six dazed ponies got up slowly.

"Everypony okay?" asked Applejack. The six looked themselves over. There didn't seem to be any damage at all. They looked completely normal.

"I think I'm okay," said Twilight, examining herself.

"Well I for one say that explosion was magnificent! Much better than the one I caused the other week. So you all say that there was no damage to you? Well that's very good," he said before scribbling down some more notes.

"Yeah, we seem to be okay," said Rarity. "Umm...is there anything else you need?" she asked, hoping to get out of there before they were caught up in another explosion. Willem tapped his quill on his chin thoughtfully.

"I think I'm good for now, this is going to keep me up all night! The scientific community is going to adore this one!" he said happily.

"Well if you're fine, I think we're going to go, we got stuff of our own to attend to," said Fluttershy.

"Oh by all means please don't let me keep you from your own work! Do come back again anytime you wish! Oh, and if there are any side effects to that explosion please do let me know."

"Uh, will do Willem. We'll see you later," said Rainbow Dash.

"Goodbye!" said Willem. The ponies left the hut and walked out of the forest, back to Ponyville.

"I really hope that there were no side effects of his explosion," said Pinkie who was bouncing nervously next to the group.

"It's the fact that what made it explode was Poison Joke that makes me the most nervous," said Rarity. "But we all do seem to be fine."

"I hope we are, I hope we are," said Twilight. "Well girls, I think we had better go our separate ways right now. It's getting late and I still have some work to do."

"And I as well," said Rarity. The other four nodded in agreement and they went back to their respective homes. When Twilight did get back to her library home, she realized that she was way too tired to do any work. Despite the fact that the day had hardly begun, Twilight felt like she had just run a marathon and decided that her work could wait for now while she took a nap for a few hours. She shuffled up to her room, plopped down on her bed, and immediately fell asleep.

Twilight's dreams during the nap were all pretty normal for her: she was taking a test in Canterlot, she was fighting Discord again, and she was playing with her friends in the fields. The only odd thing about her dreams was that they all seemed to be narrated by Willem.

Eventually, Twilight could sleep no more and she woke up groggily, partially wishing she could just go back to sleep. She decided against it and she sat up with a tired groan. "What a rough nap," she said to herself. "I still have to do my essay for Princess Celestia on Pegasus cloud artists throughout history," she said, clearly not in the best state to write such a thing. She walked over to her writing desk, steadily becoming more awake, and tried to summon a quill and a scroll of parchment to do her essay. They didn't come. She looked around and saw on the table next to her was a scroll and a quill. She tried to summon them but they did not budge. She was getting really confused now until she remembered being caught in the explosion this morning. She remembered the last time she had been exposed to poison joke and she bolted over to the mirror to examine her horn. She gave a startled yell. Her horn wasn't floppy...it wasn't there. She pulled back her mane on her forehead but she didn't find her horn, it was completely gone. She looked around frantically, hoping to find something to help her. She ran up to her bed and tore back the sheets. She turned over every item in her room in the vain hope that she would find it. She even overturned Spike's basket but with no luck. She didn't expect to find her broken off horn but she didn't know what else to do. Suddenly, she heard Applejack call from outside.

"Twilight! Come out here, we need your help!" Twilight bolted out the door and saw her five friends. She gasped. She knew what had happened to her horn.

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