One happy and sunny spring day, Twilight Sparkle, friendship student under Princess Celestia and Element of Magic, began work on a spell that would accelerate growth in the flower bud she bought the day before. Between floral study and magic practices, she developed a spell she believed would do just that. After one week of this, she called her friends over to demonstrate her findings...
"Thank you all for coming," Twilight said as Spike handed out sandwiches. "It took one long week, and a few sleepless nights to complete, but I've done it."
"Done what, exactly?" Rainbow asked, hovering just overhead.
"I've made a way for flowers to grow faster than natural, allowing for sooner harvests. Say, you really need an extra boost in fruit, Applejack. This spell would allow you to make them overnight, on a tree that is ... less than up to the task of making the fruit themselves."
"Earth ponies, Twi. We don't have horns like y'all," she responded.
"I know that, silly. That's why if this is successful, I'm going to teach it to others and spread the knowledge around." Twilight walked around the flower bud on the table. "With this spell, imagine what this world could accomplish. Overnight, entire acres of vegetable and fruit groves full of their bounty every other day."
"I don't know, Twilight," Rarity cautioned. "Aren't you thinking a little too far ahead? We don't even know if it works."
"That's why you're here. To watch it work." Twilight faced the pot-planted bud and lit up her horn. After several moments of charging, she cast the spell and watched the pot shake a little. In a few more minutes, a green sprout protruded from the soil. "Hahaaa! It worked!"
"Well Ah'll be!"
"this doesn't feel right..." Fluttershy spoke quietly.
"Well, that was boring," Rainbow admitted. "Gonna head out then. See ya!" She took off through the same window she entered.
The others gave various farewells while Twilight looked with wonder at her plant.
~~~~~~~~~
Thunderclap
Morning came for Rainbow all too soon. She had fallen asleep on a tree on Aj's farm. Dinner and a napping place, her orchard provided. A shatteringly loud sound erupted from the ground below, and an unknown distance away. Rainbow sat up and looked out. Again, another loud crack echoed from the hills. Off in the distance, near the homestead, she saw Aj beside a pair of stumps. Quickly, she flew over to see what happened...
"Aj! You shouldn't be outside during a storm!"
"What storm?" Aj looked up. "Ain't no clouds in the sky yet."
"Then... what about those loud noises earlier?"
"Oh that..." Aj walked to another tree. "Y'all may wanna cover your ears for this'n'." She reared up and walloped the tree, sending both a shockwave and wood splinters away from her.
"Mother Almighty, Applejack!" Dash exclaimed, gaping at her raw destructive force.
"Ah know! An' Ah barely tried!"
"Okay, so... What do we do?"
"Go get Twilight. She might know why my magic's gone wonky."
Before Applejack could blink, Dash was gone.
~~~~~~~~~
Lightning Flash
Rainbow took off toward Ponyville at surprising speed, even for her. Faster than she clocked in when she lit the sky with her Rainboom. With that velocity, she overestimated the distance and flew all the way to the edge of Equestria...
"What... how? Where am I?" She glanced to the sky and saw the sun had shifted. "But... It's not that early. I should still be able to see the sun..." She booked it the other way and skidded to a stop at the Manehattan South Harbor. "But- I was just-" Carefully, she opened her wings and hovered toward Ponyville, stopping just outside of Town Hall. With a decisive nod, she walked the rest of the way to the library. "I don't understand... I've never gone that fast. Even an awesome pony like myself would have to feel the effects of such-"
"Are you mumbling, dear?" Rarity asked. She trotted and kept pace with Rainbow's speed walking. Her eyes went wide and noticed Dash had the smell of Manehattan on her, if only faint, and she heard Rainbow's wing muscles stretch from overuse. Coupled with Rainbow's expression, fast heartbeat and careful but fast walking speed, she guessed. "You too, huh? Magic enhancement got you flying coast to coast?"
"How'd you know that?"
"I wish I could say Lucky Guess, but I'm nearly a hundred times more attentive to changes in detail now. And I don't like it. I'm going to see Twilight, because I'm sure her spell is at fault."
"Then..."
"And, since you and I were affected by it, then the others must have been too. You get to the library, I'll go fetch Fluttershy and Pinkie."
"What about Applejack?"
"She'll come when she's fed up with her lack of control." Rarity turned toward the edge of town. "Try not to sonic rainboom in the library."
~~~~~~~~~
Every Little Thing
On Rarity's approach to Fluttershy's cottage, she took in absolutely everything. The speed of the wind, the smells it carried, the bugs in the breeze, how long they lived, where they've been, what the next town over's mayor had for breakfast. That sort of thing...
"C-coming," Fluttershy called. After a moment, the room was hushed. Once the door opened, she greeted, "Good morning."
"It's hardly a good morning." She looked around the cottage.
"What do you mean?"
"We were all hit with Twilight's growth spell, and now our magic is several hundred-fold stronger; Aj's destroying her trees, Dash is flying coast to coast, and I'm really observant."
"Well... I'm... something too..." Fluttershy shifted her weight.
"You want to tell her, or should I?" Angel asked. Rarity jumped in surprise to hearing Angel Bunny speak. "Or she can already know."
"Oh no..." Fluttershy dipped her head. "Ohh, you poor thing, darling. You have a field around you that lets the animals in your vicinity be understood by everypony, ohhhh." She hugged her friend. "Worry not; Twilight's spell is the root of this problem, and we will find a way to fix it! But first, you need to head over to the library. I still need to catch Pinkie Pie. Though, knowing her, she's already there herself."
~~~~~~~~~
When Animals Are Understood
Fluttershy buried her fear and walked through town towards the library. Along the way, more and more animals just converged on her location, swarming around her. Naturally drawn...
"Where are you going?" one asked.
"To see my friend."
"Why?" it asked.
Several ponies stopped and stared. Others approached and asked how they can hear the animals. Fluttershy could not explain it herself. For some reason, the closer she got to the library, the more smiles she saw spread across the faces of those she passed. One even crept over her own visage. "Why am I smiling?" she asked, confused. "I'm upset, and I'm smiling..."
A dog walked over to her and answered, "Well, you see, it's that one mare who throws parties all the time. She-" the dog quick turned its head to the side. Fluttershy coughed. "What? Oh right. She walked to the tree earlier and just spread the best vibes I've ever felt."
"Pinkie too, huh..."
~~~~~~~~~
A World Full Of Smiles
Pinkie was already inside the library when the others arrived. Dash last, and nopony could tell it bothered her, because she was smiling wide. Rarity was also bamboozled, because she couldn't observe any expression but pure joy. Applejack couldn't so much as touch anything, because whatever she decided to do would end with its obliteration. Fluttershy and the others heard the horde of animals try to argue when she told them to stay outside. And Pinkie was in a corner, radiating pink energy throughout the nearest few inches to herself...
"I'm sorry you have to see me like this..." Pinkie apologized.
"If ever my cheeks relax I will wear a frown for days."
"I can't tell if you'd enjoy that or hate that," Dash admitted.
"How'd ya like comin' in last?" Aj asked her.
"I reeeally hated it!"
"Ah couldn't tell, what with that mile smile ya got plastered on your muzzle."
"Just you wait, Aj. Just you wait..."
"Girls, please!" Rarity pleaded. "So Pinkie has nothing but positive energy and she's spreading it through the entire town. Aj is really strong, Dash is really fast, Fluttershy has an animal translating aura, and I can answer just about every question you could have about anything."
"What about Twilight?"
~~~~~~~~~
Power Enough To Fix Her Mistake
Twilight woke up in her bed and got herself ready for the day. The sun had barely appeared in the morning sky, but already, she could feel its glow. She brushed her teeth with her magic, then rinsed. When she reentered her bedroom, she felt something on her forehead. Her horn had grown in length from what it was, to almost twice as long...
"What is going on!?" she cried out. "Quickly, she ran to the mirror and looked again. Sure enough, her horn was much longer, and even sported more spirals than before. "That would only happen if I got a permanent boost to magic. But... no.. No it can't be true..."
She ran down the stairs and looked at the plant. It was a tidy height of 1.5 feet. "That's par with how big they get, but..." Twilight heard the door open.
"Twilight? Y'all in here?" Aj knocked and blew the door in. Twilight made a bubble shield and blocked every splinter of wood. "Uhm. Mighty sorry."
"It's alright. What happened?"
"Ah got a real strength boost overnight. Know anythin' about that?"
"Hmm..." She looked at the flower. Then at Aj. "Maybe the spell I cast affected all of us?"
"I second that," Pinkie added, hopping in. Immediately, the other two had smiled overcome their previous expressions. "Well, aren't we chipper today?"
"Don't say 'chipper', Pinkie. Ah don't need a new nickname," Aj asked with a smile. To which, Pinkie laughed. "No seriously Pinkie."
"If you were serious, then try and frown for it."
Aj gave it her all, and forced a frown. "See?"
"I'll admit, it takes a lot of strength to frown around me."
"An' Ah got plenty to spare." Aj barely poked the chair in the room and watched as feathers blasted the room. "See?"
Twilight took in the displays. "Okay, so you're strong, and Pinkie is a smile generator. Dash has got to be fast, and ... well, I don't know about the others." She walked to the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Aj asked.
"Gonna get some stuff and teleport to the castle. Who knows? Celestia might have an answer on how to fix this." She went upstairs.
Twilight got her books together, and teleported to the castle throne room. But she didn't go alone. The room she was in was ripped out of the library and brought with landing squarely inside the throne room...
Confused, and no longer smiling, Twilight looked around. "I ... I did move, right?" There was a knock at her door. "Twilight?"
She answered it and in walked Princess Celestia. "Good morning?"
"What is the top half of the tree doing in the castle?"
"Uhh... Spreading new roots?" Twilight guessed. "Okay, so ... I cast a growth spell directly onto a bulb I bought last week. And it gave my friends and I growing, and potentially limitless magic power." Celestia tilted her head. "Rainbow's fast, Aj's strong, Pinkie's happy to name a few. And apparently, I'm super-charged as well."
"And what did coming here accomplish?"
"I was hoping you could help me undo the damage I've done?" Twilight tried.
"You cast the spell. Don't you know how to reverse it?" Twilight shook her head. "Well, think about when you were going to my school. You made a very beautiful flower. Not with magic. No, with a mixture. You were never meant to use actual magic on flora. They get their power from nature. To upset the balance, with bring nothing but destruction to the world around you."
"So how do I reverse it?"
"Try to take back what you wanted to gain. With your current level of energy, it should be easy."
~~~~~~~~~
Undoing That Which Has Already Been Done
Twilight and the room returned. She walked down the stairs with a march and stared at the flower all the while. A smile crept over her face, but she didn't care. Twilight came to rest at the table which held the full-grown flower...
"Girls... I'm going to fix this..." She stood in the center of them and lit up her horn. Twilight drew the super-magic out of her friends and the flower, reducing the lattermost to the bulb it once was. With all that magic built in her horn, she walked outside, which was easy due to the lack of door, and fired it up into the sky. The magic dissipated into the aether that surrounded the planet.
Aj walked out and asked, "What was all that about?"
"Nature didn't like me messing with it, so to teach me a lesson, it gave all of you the same dose of spell I gave the flower. When I made it, I had it stop at the object's peak of growth. But, because ponies aren't limited in their magic, your powers grew to very dangerous levels. It had to come from somewhere, so the planet gave you all the magic it needed to sustain it."
Twilight teleported in a quill and ink. "Dear Princess Celestia. I'm sorry for the mess I made on your floor. Our magic has been returned to the planet and we're all better for it. Lesson learned; don't mess with Mother Nature. She doesn't get mad, she gets even."
The others shared a laugh as the letter was sent on its way. And then everypony frowned. Finally.
