The Switch

Twilight knew what had happened to her horn now, or more accurately at this point, Rainbow Dash's horn. Twilight rubbed her eyes, hardly able to believe what she was seeing. Rainbow Dash was standing in front of her with a purple horn sticking out of her mane that was clearly Twilight's and on top of it all, her wings were gone. "I...u...w...HUH!? How did you get my horn!?" said Twilight, her mind reeling with shock.

"It happened to all of us Twilight," said Applejack. Twilight looked at Applejack and jumped back with a startled yell. Twilight saw that Applejack had Rarity's horn on her head. She looked at Rarity who was now an Earth Pony. Fluttershy too had no wings as Pinkie Pie had gotten those and was levitating above the group with her new yellow wings.

"No, no this isn't happening," said Twilight, rubbing her temple with her hoof. She froze for a moment, coming to a horrifying realization. "Uh Rainbow, where are your wings?" said Twilight already knowing the answer, but fearing it anyway. Rainbow grimaced and pointed at Twilight who looked at her back to see Rainbow Dash's wings folded by her sides. She jumped up in the air with a startled yelp and the wings spread themselves and levitated her. "Oh my gosh! This can't be happening," said Twilight, folding her wings and landing back on the ground.

"That's what we all said too!" said Rainbow.

"Well, what now?” said Applejack looking uneasily at her new horn. "I don't know what to do as a unicorn pony. I was always proud to be an Earth Pony."

"Same here!" said Rainbow Dash. "My wings were who I was and now I'm a unicorn!"

"I think being a Pegasus pony will be awesome!" said Pinkie flying around happily. The other five glared at her. She calmed down and smiled nervously. "Oh...yeah, we should probably get this changed back huh?"

"Oh you think?" said Rarity sarcastically. "I can't design clothes as well as I used to without my magic to help me since now I won't be able to find any jewels for my outfits!"

"I know we all want to switch back! We just have to go back to Zecora's place and have Willem switch us back," said Twilight. The six ponies nodded in determined agreement and ran (or in Pinkie's case flew) to Zecora's house to see if Willem could change them back to their normal forms. They ran throughout Ponyville, not even stopping to explain to their friends what was going on, they ignored all of the startled yelps and pointing ponies. They ran faster than ever once they reached the Everfree Forest and within a few short minutes, they found themselves back in front of Zecora's hut. Twilight banged on the door again.

"Coming!" said Willem happily. He opened the door and said "Oh it's you six! What can I do for...?" he stopped in mid-sentence and stared at them in total silence. "I...I..." he said in pure shock before his eyes widened with joy. ”I can't believe it! I have discovered a brew that will change the species of a pony! Oh this...this is the most important scientific breakthrough in the history of Equestria!" He began babbling to himself about how amazing this was before Applejack broke into his rant.

"Yes, yes that's all well and good, but we want to be changed back!" said Applejack irritatedly. Willem calmed down enough and nodded at the six.

"Oh I imagine you do. Yes well, I'm afraid that, since this is a new brew and all, I don't quite know an antidote for your problem," he said nervously. "However, I did run some more tests on the poison joke plant. It seems the effects wear off after a little while on their own so I imagine that you will change back to your normal selves eventually."

"How long will that take though?" asked Fluttershy hopefully.

"Well," said Willem thoughtfully. "If my calculations are correct, then the half-life of the chemical in poison joke that alters DNA, a previously undiscovered element that I named Funnyium, is about 3 years so I would say that it is going to take at least that long."

"Three years!" said Rainbow with a shocked expression that mirrored the other five. "I can't be a unicorn pony for three years, I need to fly!"

"Yes well think about it this way, you six are now a part of something much larger than yourselves! Tests have to be done!" said Willem who glanced inside to see if there were any spare scraps of parchment lying around with which he could take notes on the situation.

"The last time we were involved in a test of yours, our race changed!" said Fluttershy angrily.

"Yes, well at the very least we have to see if your powers changed with you. So, does Rainbow Dash now have the same level of magic that Twilight did or will she have the same skills as a newborn filly? Can Pinkie fly as fast as Fluttershy or faster or slower? We have to discover these things! After all, don't you want to know? You could be stuck this way for a long time!" said Willem excitedly. The six glared at him and he chucked nervously. "I will of course be working on an antidote as best as I can in the meantime, so I suppose I'll be staying in Ponyville for a little while longer."

"Well girls," said Twilight turning towards her friends "I suppose that we should at least see what we can do with our new wings and horns."

"Splendid!" said Willem "I'll go and..."

"Start working on that antidote?" said Twilight.

"Oh, yes of course," said Willem dropping his grin.

"We'll let you know about how everything goes," said Rarity.

"Right, jolly good. I'll see you six later," said Willem, trying his best to hide his disappointment at being left out.

The six left the forest and discussed where exactly would be the best place to test their new powers. After a brief discussion, it was decided that Applejack's farm would be the ideal spot for such an endeavor.

Once they had gotten to Sweet Apple Acres, they went to a small, secluded part of the farm, stopping only to briefly explain the situation to Big Macintosh who reacted to the whole thing with his normal demeanor.

When they reached their destination, Twilight levitated herself a few feet off of the ground and turned to her friends. "Okay, time to see what we can do," said Twilight. Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all looked at each other excitedly, while Rarity and Fluttershy sat down on a log dejectedly. "Sorry girls," said Twilight sympathetically.

"It's okay; I just hope he gets that antidote ready soon. I want my horn back!" said Rarity bitterly.

"We all want to go back to the way we were," said Twilight. She turned to the other three. "Okay, should we get started?" The other three grinned and nodded. Twilight flew over to a tree and picked two apples off of it. Placing them on the ground, she addressed the two new unicorns of the group. "Okay, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, try to use your magic to lift them up in the air." The pair looked at Twilight blankly.

"Uh Twilight, how exactly do we do that?" asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight thought about it for a moment.

"It's just instinct. Think about it real hard and it'll come to you," she said, backing away as Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other uneasily. They turned to the apples and scrunched their faces up and concentrated on lifting the apples. Their horns sparked a bit before shining. They both lifted up the apples with ease. They looked at the other ponies excitedly. Rainbow used her magic to bring the apple towards her and she happily ate it whole the other ponies cheered the two of them on and Rainbow Dash and Applejack grinned and high-hooved each other.

Secure in the knowledge that Rainbow and Applejack had at least a rudimentary knowledge of casting spells, they began work on testing Twilight and Pinkie. "Okay Rainbow Dash," said Twilight. "You're the big flier of the group, what do you want us to do?" Rainbow looked at the two new Pegasi excitedly.

"I want you two to race around Sweet Apple Acres! I want to see which of you two can go faster," said Rainbow.

"Uh, sure, I guess we can do that, yeah! You up for it Pinkie?" said Twilight. Pinkie smiled and bounced up and down like she always did, except now she did it in midair.

"Okie Dokie Loki!" said Pinkie "I think it would be fun!"

"It's settled then! A race around your farm between Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie!" said Rarity who snapped out of her depressed funk for the first time today at the thought of this.

"Okay, Pinkie, let's line up here and we'll start the race then okay?" said Twilight.

"Okie Dokie Loki!" said Pinkie happily. Twilight and Pinkie lined up on top of a large apple tree and got into position to start the race.

"Okay you two, we're gonna get on top of the barn. When I shoot up some red sparks, you go and race around the edges of the farm until you get to the finish. First one back to this tree wins, got it?" said Applejack excitedly.

"Got it," said Twilight and Pinkie together. They lounged around on the tree for a few seconds before they saw a flash of red sparks come from the tip of Apple Jack's horn. Twilight zoomed away from the tree as fast as she could. as she flew, she realized why Rainbow Dash centered her life around flying. There were few thrills quite like seeing the ground zoom away below you and to feel the wind in your mane. She liked it, a lot. She stopped focusing on her flying and looked around to see where Pinkie was. This was a race after all and despite herself, she did want to win. She didn't see Pinkie in front of her but she when she looked behind her, she saw that Pinkie was bouncing behind her in mid-air with that typical Pinkie grin on her face. With each bounce, her wings flapped once which was enough to keep Pinkie in the air. Twilight was confused how, despite her leisurely pace, Pinkie was only just behind her. Twilight knew that she was flying fast, that was no illusion, but Pinkie Pie was somehow always right behind her, no matter how fast she was flying. Twilight looked forward and sped up. She flew faster than ever and soon the starting tree came into view. She knew that she had this one in the bag and smiled to herself. She could see why Rainbow loved racing so much. She looked behind her, and to her continued surprise, there was Pinkie! She was still leisurely bouncing along, still only flapping her wings once per bounce, still smiling that happy Pinkie Pie smile. Twilight was surprised that Pinkie was still behind her, but she was still in the lead and would win this.

Twilight blinked. When she opened her eyes after blinking, Pinkie Pie was in front of her. She was still going at the pace that she had been going this entire time. Twilight's jaw dropped in shock. How in Equestria did she...? No, Twilight had to win this! She flew as fast as her new wings would let her but somehow, Pinkie always stayed the same distance in front of her. Despite Twilight's best efforts, Pinkie bounced and landed on top of the tree before Twilight, winning the race. Twilight landed on the tree a few seconds afterwards.

"Pinkie Pie, how did you do that? You were going so slow!"

"Well, not that slow then I guess!" said Pinkie happily.

"We all saw what happened, Pinkie didn't cheat at all, It's hard to exactly describe what she did but it was a sight to see," said Applejack.

"I'll bet," said an out of breath Twilight. "Good race Pinkie."

"Well thanks Twilight! I had a lot of fun!" said Pinkie Pie, who was now flying around the tree in the same manner that she had flown around in the race.

The six spent the rest of the day doing various other tests of their new abilities. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both tried their hooves at teleporting but neither successfully pulled it off. They spent hours practicing teleporting but the result was always the same, they would try casting the teleporting spell that Twilight had taught them and their horns would begin sparking but they would always stop sparking after a few seconds and Applejack and Rainbow would collapse on the ground from the effort.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie had another race only this time, Pinkie wasn't allowed to bounce, she had to fly like Twilight did. To the surprise of everypony, the results of the race were the same, Pinkie Pie won easily. If anything else, she was faster than before. It was obvious to the group that Pinkie was just naturally faster than Twilight, despite the fact that she was using Fluttershy's weaker wings.

Near the end of the day, the six of them were lounging around the town square discussing their day. They had spent some of it explaining what had happened to the townsponies and they all seemed to accept this without much trouble, but they still got stares from time to time. Rainbow leaned back on the fountain and used her magic to bring an apple to her and she took a bite out of it. Suddenly, a thought struck her.

"Hey Twilight, I just had a thought," she said, chewing on the apple.

"Yes Rainbow Dash?"

"I was wondering, since you are using my wings, do you think you could pull of a Sonic Rainboom?" Twilight looked at her wings thoughtfully.

"I don't know, possibly," said Twilight.

"I myself would love to know if it is possible," said Rarity excitedly. "It would be a true test of your new wings Twilight!"

"I suppose it would be."

"Go on and try it sugar cube," said Applejack. She turned to Rainbow "You don't mind do you Rainbow?"

"No! said Rainbow excitedly, tossing the apple core aside. "I want to see this!"

"Okay..." said Twilight nervously. "How do you do it?"

"You just fly really high and then dive down as fast as you can with your legs in front of you like this," she said demonstrating the proper pose to take when she was flying down. Twilight nodded and flew up a few inches.

"Okay girls, here goes nothing I guess," she said. Twilight zoomed up in the air as fast as she could. She flew as high into the air as she could but stopped after a few hundred feet as she was higher than she felt comfortable going. She looked around and to her surprise, she saw that Pinkie was flying next to her. "Pinkie? are you going to try this too?" she asked.

"Oh no silly, I'm just here to say that Rainbow says you need to go about 300 feet higher!" said Pinkie happily. Twilight looked down.

"H...higher?" she said, not really believing she was capable of going higher than this.

"Yep, higher!" said Pinkie excitedly. Twilight slowly flew higher in the air until Twilight began to worry that her psyche would prevent her from going higher by shutting her wings down, causing her to plummet to the ground. Pinkie flew next to her again. "Okay, you're good. see you at the bottom!" said Pinkie, who then flew down to join the others. Twilight looked down. Ponyville looked way smaller from here and the ponies weren't even visible. She gulped nervously before taking a deep breath.

"Okay Twilight, here goes nothing," she said, trying to reassure herself. She turned her head towards the ground and started flying as fast as she could, straight down towards the ground. The wind resistance alone almost sent her blasting away but she kept flying as fast as she could. The ground was coming towards her very fast, growing larger and larger by the second and she was worried that she would hit it instead of make a Sonic Rainboom. As she flew faster and faster, she saw the cone of light appear before her that marked the beginning of the Rainboom. She started to gain a little hope that she could pull this off and actually create a Sonic Rainboom but now the resistance was getting stronger. She tried to keep pushing through, but the resistance was too strong and she was flung back with a yelp. She spun out of control for a few seconds before she righted herself and flew back to her friends, still breathing heavily from the attempt. She landed next to Rarity with a small grin. "I guess I can't," she said to her amused friends.

"That's okay Twilight, I gotta admit that I'm glad that I'm the only pony who has ever done it," said Rainbow. The six ponies began laughing when a familiar voice came up behind them.

"Ah, there you six are!" said Willem happily. "I've been looking all over for you! Nice flying there Twilight."

"Thanks. What's up?" she said, a little uneasy to see the eccentric zebra again.

"Well, I have been working on an antidote all day and I have come to a discovery."

"Yes?" said the six of them excitedly.

"I don't think an antidote is possible..."

"WHAT!?" they all said in unison.

"..right now. I think it is very possible in the near future. You see, I have sent samples of poison joke to all of my esteemed colleagues all over Equestria. They are running multiple tests on it as we speak. They should have plenty of data between the plant itself and my notes on the plant. Combine that with my notes of what I was brewing as well as a sample of it and I think they can have a good cure ready for you in a few months. I don't think we can create anything that will work before that time."

"A few...months?" said Fluttershy.

"I can't take a break as a fashion designer for a few months!" said Rarity with a small whine.

"Now hold your horses girl, we are all going to help each other through this. With this here horn of yours I can do the magic part of your job for you. Big Macintosh should be able to work the farm well enough when I can't be there and Twilight and Pinkie can surely do the weather jobs around Ponyville since Rainbow can't. We'll all get though this, you'll see," said Applejack.

"Applejack is right. We have to stick together, we can get through this if we just try!" said Rainbow Dash determinedly. The other five ponies cheered in agreement.

"Wonderful!" said Willem. "I'll..." the six glared at him. "...run some more tests about an antidote."

"Thank you," said Twilight. She looked at the slightly crestfallen zebra and sighed. "Look, we don't mean to be so mean to you. We know you didn't mean for this to happen to us, we're just still kind of getting used to all of this. I'm sorry if we've been acting mean." Willem gave a small smile.

"I appreciate you saying that Twilight, I really do. I'll work harder than ever to find an antidote for you, you'll see!" The six smiled at him and thanked him as he rushed off to Zecora's hut.