I brushed a lock of soft pink hair out of my way as I bent down to pet one of the new born baby bunnies Angel just found. Their cute little pink noses wriggled in satisfaction. One of the little brown rascals darted away from the litter only to be blocked by my faithful little Angel, bless his little bunny heart. One of the mamma bunnies ears flicked up from where it was washing one of its young. I paused, her leg started thumping against the hard packed dirt and all the kits scurried towards her, Angel shepherding the loose harebrained young. I frowned. Sometimes animals knew about oncoming disasters ahead of time, and other times, especially with cute adorable bunny rabbits, they would just over react. I wondered which this could be when I heard the sound of racing hooves coming up the hill to my cottage.
"Meep!"
I ducked for cover underneath a hibiscus bush, knocking some petals off, while some got stuck in my mane. I cowered under there, shivering like a leaf before the annual Running of the Leaves. I didn't want anymore trouble, not today at least. I just wanted a nice quiet day with some fluffy little animals, maybe a tea party later with one of the bears. Why did this always seem to happen when I wanted a quiet day.
"FLUTTERSHY!"
I recognized that voice. I peered out beneath some of the thick leaves of the flowering bush. Above me stood my dear friend Twilight Sparkle. And oddly enough she seemed to be wearing one of Rarity fine black cloaks, the kind she wears when she doesn't want others to see one of her fabulous new designs, had Twilight taken up fashion maybe? She hadn't seen me and though she was above me when I peered out she soon started her famous rut forming pacing right in the middle of my garden. Oh, I hope the rabbits don't mind.
"Where could she be, where could she be? Maybe in the shed," Twilight glanced up for a second and then dismissed the idea, "No,no Fluttershy always told me never to go in there."
I decided to speak up, Twilight was right, I didn't want her to go in the shed, it was a mess of animal food, kibbles and what not, and I hadn't cleaned up in there in years. What, you thought I was some kind of serial killer? I'm meek lil' Fluttershy.
"Er...Twilight? I'm down here...please don't go into my shed..."
"Fluttershy! I've been looking for you everywhere! It's an emergency!"
Herr cloak, still a mystery, began to billow in a breeze that didn't even previously exist, I lifted a hoof out of the bush. I was right, the was no actual breeze, it was more of that newfangled unicorn magic and Twilight's flair for dramatics. It was one of Those Emergencies. Twilight did have a tendency to freak out over the little things, not at all like me. No sirree, not me.
I smiled kindly as I squirmed out of the bush, it was much easier going in then trying to get out but I figured if it was one of Those Emergencies I had nothing to fear. Probably. I froze, what if there was something to be afraid of. I almost dove back under right then and there.
"Please Fluttershy?"
Those soulful eyes convinced me and I got the rest of the way of of the bush, my mane and tail stuffed with twigs, dead leaves and delicate flower petals. I tried shaking my head, in an attempt to knock them loose. One of my blue jays was startled , shooting out of my mane like a harpy out of Tartarus. Poor little thing. I gave up on getting my mane straightened and focused on Twilight. Her pupils were tiny and her hood had fallen down. I blinked and cocked my head to the side, something seemed different about her appearance. There was some orange residue on her forehead but I didn't think that was what was different, she probably just had lunch or something. Or something.
"Did you get a mane cut Twilight? It looks nice."
I smiled benignly, maybe Twilight was just upset about her hair cut. I mean that seems like more of a Rarity problem but... I smiled either way I felt good about noticing and reassuring such a good friend.
" No Fluttershy, I did not get a mane cut," Twilight's voice had a dead pan tone to it, I opened my eyes, "My horn..."
I gasped with shock. Twilight was right, she didn't get a mane cut, I felt terrible. What kind of friend was I that I could make such a mistake? I turn away from her, feeling tears start to seep their way into my sea-foam green eyes, coming forth in slow waves. Twilight didn't deserve such a lousy friend such as me, she needed better, the best! I gave one last glance at my old friend, noticing again that orange residue, what was it even? A carrot? And her horn...?
"Twilight! Your horn!" I stared in shock. And I think I might have blacked out after that.
Next thing I knew Twilight was standing over my prone body, her large concerned eyes staring deep into my softly lit orbs. Our muzzles were actually quite close together, imagine royal purple mixed with cream yellow, I let out a sigh. As I did Twilight jerked back, I sighed again, this time thoroughly depressed. We came so close and yet we are still so far. Maybe if I were a unicorn like her...like her! I stared where her horn typically was. In its place was the chunky orange stuff. Actually it look pretty well stuck on here and as if somepony had take a bite out of it. Maybe that was just what Twilight was into though, I don't judge. I did however raise a suspiciously wet forehoof, choosing to ignore the dampness, to question where her horn went.
"Yes Fluttershy, my horn is missing. That's why I'm here!"
I was curious, was it entirely missing or better yet, "How?"
"Well, I guess if I'm going to ask you for help you might need to know.... It all started this morning."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike had requested, no implored, Twilight for help. He had recently, having postponed his childhood crush on Rarity recently, moved on to the orange beauty, Carrot Top. The had met one fateful day while Twilight had been helping Applejack figure out a more efficient way of harvesting the plethora of apple trees that grew on their family plot. Out of boredom from the growing amount of technical terms from his mentor and sister Twilight and the confused 'huhs' emitting from Applejack's muzzle, Spike began to wander. Without realizing he had wander across the Apple family borders and into the Carrot territory where upon their attack sloths slowly crawled toward him. And in the time it had taken the first one to reach the first scale upon his tail he had already wooed the lady of the household and Applejack's rival.
Anyways this morning Spike wanted his smart sis to figure out how to make carrots, kind of like the Apples to Oranges spell. Figuring it wasn't going to be too difficult the purple mare hit the books. After a couple of hours this became literal hitting.
"I don't care anymore, I'm going to just do this spell already, buck the consequences."
A purple glow started surrounding the mare's violet horn, swirling around it with the occasional fizz and spark. A drop of sweat appeared upon the lavender fur. The purple dragon sat nearby, steadily munching his way through his non fat chocolate frogurt, Hen and Larry's brand. Drawn out by his mistress unusual amount of magical strain the brown owl, Owlicous, left his perch and went to go sit upon his step brothers shoulder, however still unaccustomed to the restrained flying one has to practice within one of the pony buildings his wings would hit against many an object. Specifically a half empty tub of low fat chocolate frogurt.
The tub flew through the library, a single drop of melted chocolate fell dreamily upon the cream colored page of an open book. The tub itself flew on, landing, quite like a piece of toast just buttered, upon Twilight's horn, the purple swirls being swallowed up by the shiny brown frozen treat. Twilight Sparkle let out a scream of pain and her eyes, closed previously with concentration, shoot open, glowing an eerie white.
There was a bang, filling the Golden Oaks Library with a carrot scented purple smoke.
"No, no, no no no NO! Spike!"
The purple dragon cowered behind Owlicous, green spikes and purple tail giving the innocent owl a reptilian appearance.
"Errr, yes Twilight?"
"Please, please tell me that wasn't chocolate frogurt."
The young dragon sensed the precipice he was dangling over.
" Ok, it wasn't lowfat chocolate Hen and Larry's frogurt?"
"SPIKE! Everypony, everypony, knows that any chocolate frogurt contains and bottles up a unicorns spells, that's in the most basic of spell books! Why would you even buy chocolate frogurt knowing that?!"
Twilight started pacing around in the deep groove around the table.
"Don't just stand there! Go get me a mirror! I don't know what this spell could have done!"
Spike glanced nervously at his elder before bolting up the stairs to the nearest bathroom for a hoof held mirror. He knew Twilight wasn't going to be pleased with results.
"Peeeweeeee!"
Startled by the scream the youthful dragon almost dropped the mirror in fright.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I looked back upon Twilight, I hadn't quite grasped why Twilight had come to me.
" Twilight, this sounds like a magic problem, why did you come to me?"
"Oh, the horn is not the problem, it was only low-fat frogurt after all, the effects will be temporary, I came here to ask about the effects of carrots on a baby Phoenix's digestive system."