Chapters Silly Species
The skies above Ponyville were usually the picture of tranquillity but right now they were host to one very un-tranquil Rainbow Dash. She’d promised to help out Twilight with a new bit of magic she was working on and Twilight had asked her to give her wings a good exercise beforehand.
Meanwhile at the library; a lone unicorn could be seen taking down some notes on the latest of many scrolls. She was Twilight Sparkle and she was convinced this day would be one for the history books, the first time her name would appear in the pages of a spell book.
She had got the idea after going over some of the more difficult spells she had been using in the last few months; Advanced Telekinesis to subdue the Ursa Minor, Mind alteration to change the diets of the Parasprites and even her growing skill with Teleportation were all worthwhile subjects for study. But there was one spell she knew she could improve on; a spell that was not only difficult but dangerous (A sure-fire way to score big points with the school board) and that was the gift of flight to wingless ponies.
The last attempt at giving wings to a pony was met with mixed results to say the least. While the wings themselves worked well and even proved to be some of the nicest looking anypony had seen, they were far from durable and that was their downfall, or rather Rarity’s downfall. They were made from gossamer and morning dew, not the best materials for flight above the clouds and as Rarity was performing in the best young flier’s competition they evaporated.
The spell was difficult, overly complicated, draining, and dangerous to the subject.
It was perfect.
A spell like this was rarely touched but had so much potential, and after weeks of preparations Twilight believed that she had found the perfect way around it. All she needed was a willing Pegasus with a good set of wings.
Fate, however, rarely allows things to go to plan in Equestria. As could be found by the small party congregating outside the very library Twilight and Rainbow were in.
Twilight’s spell was almost ready. The aura around her horn had grown to a tremendous side, generating a variety of sparks that were slowly focusing on Rainbow’s wings and Twilight’s bare back. Rainbow felt the ground leave her feet. Not an unusual sensation for her, except this time it was not through her own means. Rainbow and Twilight had begun to float above the ground as the sparks connecting the two grew into strikes of lightning…
“SURPRISE!” Pinkie Pie’s party exploded into the room along with Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy all in tow.
The result was definitely not what any of them had hoped. The aura around Twilight’s horn became erratic as her concentration was shattered. Lighting scattered around the room, hitting each of the six ponies and streamers were set of as their charges were ignited. The scene created was a bigger mess than Pinkie’s last party when she had the “brilliant” idea to combine fireworks in a cake.
“uuuurgh!” Twilight got up from underneath a large pile of scrolls she had fallen into. She looked around the room as 5 other mounds began to form in the sea of books.
Rainbow remained grounded, the feeling was totally alien to her, she would just flap her wings and up she’d go. Her wings…HER WINGS.
“But…But who’s got MY horn?” Twilight was genuinely worried, without magic she had no idea how to reverse the spell.
(To be continued)
Silly Species Swapping
2 minutes had passed since Twilight had discovered the loss of her horn, and 2 minutes wasn’t even close to the amount of time needed to come to terms with the state Twilight and her friends had found themselves in. Twilight was hurriedly going through her notes, looking for a way to reverse the spell without her horn. Her progress was slowed by the fact that the earlier explosion had scattered many of her scrolls around the room.
Of the six Ponies, Rainbow was taking things the worst, her normal loud personality muted while the others talked amongst each other trying to understand what was going on. Rainbow just stood in silence. She was getting this nagging itch, not the sort that could be dealt with using a hoof; it was the urge to fly, to be airborne. Even when she was indoors she would often hover and staying still drove her crazy.
“I’m sorry everypony,” Twilight set her work down, “I’m afraid we’re gonna be stuck like this for at least 3 days.”
“So I can have some fun with unicorn magic?” Pinkie said as she began to prod her new horn.
It started with a slight popping noise followed a few seconds later with a stray balloon falling to the ground. Fluttershy was the first to notice it as it landed on her head on its way to the floor. This was not the first as more and more balloons floated down; all the while there were less and less books circling around. The books were turning into balloons, each one popping into their new state of being in the blink of an eye.
“Pinkie! You’re losing control!” Twilight called out, “Try to focus on something simple, it’ll stop a magic build up.”
Twilight was about to witness her second.
This time however she was viewing it from the outside as Pinkie was enveloped in the aura previously isolated to her horn. Pinkie’s body convulsed and twisted with magical energy.
It seemed Pinkie’s subconscious REALLY wanted a party. However, 5 ponies was only a small party, she could bring so many more smiles to the faces of ponies. Ponyville would become the party centre for all Equestria.
A bright flash flooded the library for the briefest of moments, followed by a distinct lack of Pinkie Pie and a scene not unlike the very mess Pinkie had set to clean up (Although with much more of a party atmosphere).
“Will someone quit yankin’ on my tail!” Rainbow Dash was the one to break the silence, only for her outburst to receive blank faces in return.
Rainbow’s newly found “Pinkie Sense” was right; something was falling although it was not inside the library as Applejack discovered. She stopped almost as soon as she had started running out into the open, her mind unable to process the sight she was witnessing.
Streamers! Not just falling but raining. The sky was filled with the sight of raining streamers, tumbling to the ground and piling up in the streets. Raining streamers was not the only new addition to the weather; after all these streamers had to come from somewhere and the clouds that were producing them were about as strange as anypony would expect. They were bright pink and judging by the sight of one slaking Ditzy Doo eating one of them, they were probably made of cotton Candy.
Twilight and the rest were not the only ones to notice this; many of Ponyville’s residents poured out into the streets to witness this phenomenon, their expressions not one of worry but of fascination. Then again brightly coloured rain and balloon weren’t exactly on the top ten list of things likely to scare a pony.
Ponyville was set to become the party centre for all of Equestria.
(To be continued)
Silly Species Swapping
Pinkie was terrified.
“Don’t you want to party?”
Pinkie couldn’t tell where the voice came from, it sounded so familiar but there were no names she could link to it.
“Everypony loves to party!”
Pinkie looked around in search of the voice; her eyes were only met with more white. She liked light and sunshine but colour was so much more fun.
“You’re right! This party does need more colour!”
“How did you know what I was thinking?” Pinkie tried talking back but found she could only think her words.
“Don’t be a silly filly! Anypony could tell you a party needs colour.”
Back outside the library the rain of streamers continued, this time though in new and more varied colours. These new colours flowed like a river over the bodies of the ponies below, mixing with the previous downpour into larger piles of multi-coloured paper.
“We’re in over our heads here.” Twilight muttered to herself as she observed the changes around her. She turned around and dashed back towards the library, doing her best not to trip on the piles of streamers cluttering the ground.
“Um Twilight?” Fluttershy spoke softly from behind Rarity, “Is there anything we can do to help?”
Twilight stood up straight and steadied herself, “Okay this is the plan…” She pointed down the main street towards the centre of Ponyville, “Applejack; I want you to take Rarity and Fluttershy and see if you can find where Pinkie got to.”
“Y’all heard the lady, let’s go save Pinkie from…well herself.” Applejack launched herself into the air and flew over the mounting piles of streamers, leading the way for Rarity and Fluttershy to follow.
“This Party sure is going into full swing.”
“I don’t think I want this party.”
“You’re right! This party is nowhere near good enough yet, we’ve got to do better”
This voice wouldn’t listen, Pinkie felt more and more helpless with each passing moment. Just like back on the rock farm, her fate wasn’t decided by what she chose to do, but by what she was expected to do.
“I know what this party needs. More Friends! Let’s makes some!”
“But I already know every pony in Ponyville.”
“Then let’s make some new friends!”
The ocean of balloons parted as Twilight and Rainbow burst back into the library, the waves flowed around the room as the two ponies made their way to the second floor.
“I don’t care how much noise you make I’m staying put!” Spikes voice could be heard coming from the foot of Twilight’s bed, while the purple tail poking out of Spike’s basket really gave his hiding place away.
“Please Spike this is important!” Twilight ran up to Spike’s basket and started to shake it, only causing him to tighten his hold on the blanket covering him. “Please Spike there was an accident with one of the experiments and I need to send a letter for help!”
Spike was sporting a very fine owl’s beak.
“Bwahaha!” Rainbow Dash fell to the floor with laughter, “You were right Spike. You DO look ridiculous!”
Spike’s face flushed red with anger, “Oh yeah? Well...” he faltered for a second before noticing something strange about the two ponies in front of him, “...wait a minute Rainbow where are your wings? And what happened to your Horn Twilight?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. The spell swapped all our wings and horns around and now Pinkie’s got herself stuck in a magic surge!” Twilight was trying her best to stay as calm as possible, “I need you to send a letter to the Princess so we can fix this.”
“Whoooooooooo!”
Rather than the thin green flame of his normal dragon breath, there was instead the call of Twilight’s pet owl.
Twilight stood frozen, she was running out of ideas fast and thoughts of what might be happening at that very moment were quickly flooding her mind like the very balloons in the library.
Applejack, however, was about to meet some of these “happenings”, and a rather angry group of “happenings” they were. Three objects; each as alive as the 3 ponies heading towards them, each of them waiting for any trouble makers at Pinkie’s party and each of them in a not too friendly mood.
“So what are we s’posed to be doing hanging ‘round these parts again?” the object producing the voice wobbled in place.
“Oh Rocky you impatient fellow you, we are ‘ere to ‘elp miss Pinkie with ‘er party” The weighty bag of flour shifted its weight as it too spoke up.
“It looks like we’ve got some troublemakers coming this way,” a third, deeper voice came from a shaking bucket of root vegetables, “It’s those rude ponies!”
The Bag of flour shifted once more standing upright on its side “Well zen ve vill ‘ave a chance to teach zees ponies a lesson!”
Silly Species Swapping
“Come on Rainbow, think! Think! Think!” Rainbow sat on her haunches, tapping her hoof on her forehead in frustration. Rainbow was not used to situations like this; she was usually one to react to what was happening than plan out what she had to do. It was what made her good at her job. Lightning fast reflexes kept storms out of Ponyville. She left the planning to the weather coordinators.
She was doing a whole lot better than Twilight though, who was now mirroring Spike by hiding under the covers of her own bed. Twilight WAS the sort of pony to plan ahead for every eventuality; to have a back-up plan and a BACK-UP back-up plan just in case the first back-up didn't work. But now there was no back-ups left, and anything she could think up was cut short by her sudden horn loss.
Twilight had never considered how much she used her magic for everything. It was a part of who she was, and she had spent nearly her whole life with her horn as an extra limb ready to help her out. Had she really taken it for granted all this time, or was it that she’d let the rest of her body become wasted?
Meanwhile, in the streets of Ponyville, Applejack was leading Rarity and Fluttershy in search of Pinkie Pie. She was flying just ahead to guide them through the rapidly building piles of streamers that had filled the roads.
The attack came from nowhere, or at least it seemed to come from nowhere. There were no ponies around, and yet that turnip had found its way in a flight path directed straight at the flying Applejack.
“Now! What are the three main rules of flight?” Rainbow paced back and forth in front of Twilight. They had been going over the basics of flight for the last few minutes, both of them impatient to get Twilight airborne and the situation around them constantly reminding them of the urgency of their task.
Rarity had been in many situations she would find uncouth or unflattering to her standing as a lady of refinement. However her current situation would definitely have to be placed in her top three of situations she would rather not repeat. The talking burlap sack of flour had managed to get onto her back after somehow leaping through the air onto her. This had taken Rarity by surprise despite the fact that, really, she shouldn’t have been surprised at what those things could do.
A predicament that…Suddenly stopped.
(To be continued)
Silly Species Swapping
Chapter 5
“I ain’t got to tell you nothin’!” Rocky remained firm in the face of the white pony standing above him. If only her friend had been willing to face him herself. The two had been having quite the rough day, and Rarity was making no effort to hide it as she stared down at the rude little rock pile.
“Now see here, you nasty little lumps of rock.” Rarity leaned in closer and stared into the place she could only assume a pair of eyes would go. “I have been zapped, pulled, yanked, pushed, squashed, covered in flour, my mane is a mess, my best friend is upset, and another good friend of mine is missing. Today is NOT a good day to find out how far you can push a lady.”
“They’re being party poopers!”
“Urgh! Did somepony catch the name of that wagon?” Applejack grumbled. Her question was not met with a response, save for a sharp pain that made her head feel like it was splitting in two. “Gosh darn it! I don’t know how Rainbow manages to keep a straight head the number of times she takes a tumble.”
“Okay! One and two and one and two…” Twilight kept the rhythm of her new wings alive in her mind, with every few beats getting a little more lift or momentum. “Angle left, adjust for wind speed, give direction to speed, create velocity towards Canterlot.”
“Where is Pinkie Pie?” Rarity shouted directly into the rock pile.
Twilight was not prepared for the assault by this airborne river of paper; she couldn’t even hear the rumbling from below, she was still trying to give herself more forward momentum when it hit her.
(To be continued)
