Of all the Worst Possible Things
Warm sunlight splashed across a plethora of colorful pillows and blankets and across a purple Pegasus's face. The birds outside her window chirped happily in melody, and just outside was a bright, new day of adventure awaiting Shadow Blast. She stretched and held it for a long moment as a loud yawn escaped her lips. On her own time, Shadow finally stood up, yawning once again. “Good morning,” she announced to nopony in particular as she slowly trotted to her bathroom.
Her eyes half closed and tired, she positioned herself in front of the mirror and gazed at the reflection before her. She was still the same mare she saw every day in the mirror, but for some odd reason Shadow couldn't quite put her hoof on what seemed different today. She needed to shower, and that is what was probably bugging her as she is accustomed to seeing her hair clean and brushed.
Hopping into the shower, her hooves were met with cold as she touched the tub floor. She used her teeth to adjust the water's heat and once the water was spraying with might down her coat, face and mane, she began to relax. She froze, just enjoying the hot water pour down her face, dripping down and splashing her hooves. She found her mind drifting as she thought over everything that came to mind.
Shadow can't help but feel a sense of amnesia as she went over her past few days.
What did Shadow Blast do yesterday? She rubbed her forehead in thought, unable to remember quite what happened. She recalls visiting the market and heading to her friend's house for...some reason that Shadow can't quite remember, then she draws a blank. She wasn't quite sure which friend she had visited either. Shadow was never the type to forget, so how come she can't recall the day before?
Shadow sighed a bit in defeat. “I'll figure it out later,” she said to herself as she began to lather herself.
She began to lather the spots of her back that she could reach, but she was suddenly hit with a sense of Déjà vu.
Something seemed very odd, but Shadow just couldn't quite figure it out. What's missing? Did Shadow forget to do something, did she leave her saddlebags at work again?
Did she even go to work yesterday?
The confusion was beginning to eat away at her psyche. Shadow grit her teeth and shook her head in a desperate attempt to rid of the terrible sense of repetition.
Perhaps finishing up my shower will help me get my mind off it, she thought and grabbed for her bar of soap.
She began to wash her face, feeling a sense of relief of a new, clean muzzle. As she was cleaning her face with a washcloth, her hoof bumped into something hard and unusual, when Shadow would normally touch hair in such a spot. What's this?
Shadow was surprised; and she suddenly found herself fearful as she continued to fondle it; the object seemed to be... attached to her head?
She felt a bit light-headed as the anxiety hit her. She scrambled to escape the tub, slipping on the hard, wet tile below her as she leaped out, falling onto her face. Ignoring the slight pain, she quickly raced back to the mirror and gazed at her blurred reflection. The foggy mirror told her she lacked any strange tumors on her head, when she used her hoof to wipe away the steam, she was absolutely shocked at what stared back at her.
It was a bright, happy day in Ponyville. Villagers went about their own business, continuing a ritual that they've done most of their lives. It was truly a beautiful day.
Almost no one noticed the bush that had sprouted eyes, legs, and a tail as it sneaked along.
Shadow tiptoed through as quietly as possible, hiding behind everything that could shield her. A brown paper bag adorned her head with eye holes as the stressed mare tried to blend in as much as possible. Although, it is sorta hard to blend in when you're a bush.
Finally reaching her place of destination, Shadow ditched her plant costume and knocked rapidly on the double doors in front of her. Forgetting it was a public building, she pushed into the room, followed by a loud, peaceful chime from above.
“One moment!” A familiar, feminine voice called from the back rooms.
Shadow planted her rump onto the floor, waiting for her friend. She glanced around, studying the building's fabulous and regal décor, along with several lines of dresses throughout the area.
“My apologies,” Rarity announced in a sing-song voice as she entered the room. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique! Where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifi--” Rarity paused to doubletake at the mare in front of her. It was her friend and regular customer Shadow Blast, whom she's had tea and lunch with on several occasions. She met the pegasus during a trip to the spa, Shadow was a new employee that day, and since then, Shadow was always happy to serve her during visits. The odd thing was that Shadow was wearing a brown paper bag over her head, with sloppily cut holes in them for her eyes.
“Um, no offense dear, but I don't think paper bags suit you,” she remarked, “A nice sun hat would be lovely on you, though.”
“It's not a fashion statement,” the dismayed pony said as she stood up. “It's...awful!”
“What's awful?” Rarity questioned, raising her eyebrow.
“It's a catastrophe,” Shadow cried as she put her hoof to her forehead dramatically. “It's probably the worst thing to happen in Equestria!”
“What in Celestia's name is so wrong, darling?!” Rarity exclaimed, growing concerned for her friend.
“Okay, don't scream,” Shadow whimpered as she slowly removed the bag. Rarity stared for a long moment with a blank expression, but suddenly it turned to shock and terror. “Oh my gosh,” she said, stepping back with wide eyes. “Of all the worst possible things--”
“I know! I have no clue how it happened!” Shadow sobbed as she rubbed the growth on her head.
Rarity raced passed the once-a-pegasus, holding a curtain that hung from her window gingerly. “Opal ruined my favorite curtains!” She cried, rubbing the tears and holes that were scratched into the fabrics.
Shadow whirled around and stared in disbelief at the unicorn. “You don't notice anything?” she objected. “Pardon?” Rarity said as she turned to look at her friend, instantly being hit with a wave of shock. “Oh my goodness, your wings are gone! And you have a horn?” she was completely baffled, trotting ahead to study the mare's new appendage. “How in Equestria did this happen to you?”
“I have no clue,” Shadow admitted, her head hanging in sadness. Rarity lifted a hoof and made contact with her horn, and it definitely felt real. It was a bit pointier than her own, and she traced the indented lines that spiraled up the steak. Shadow jumped in surprise, feeling a unexpected bout of sensitivity shoot through her body from the touch, as if she was being tickled. She reeled back a bit and Rarity smiled sheepishly at the mare, blushing slightly. “My apologies, darling,” she corrected herself. Shadow straightened again and looked up towards her horn, her eyes crossing in the process. She couldn't see the horn doing this, and mostly just made her head hurt. She rubbed her temples and looked at Rarity in dismay. “What should I do?” she wailed, when she was struck with an idea. “Oh! I'll go to the library! Great idea, Rarity!” Shadow said, hope returning as she grinned at the unicorn.
She headed for the door. “See you around,” she called as she exited the boutique. “You're welcome, I think,” Rarity called back, giving herself a mental pat on the back as she smiled.
Shadow had lost her brown paper bag, but she was no longer concerned about who sees her like this. The key to her questions was Twilight, because she somehow always knows how to fix it.
Although Shadow didn't know Twilight personally, they were casually acquainted through her friends Pinkie Pie and Rarity.
Mostly, she just saw her when she was getting or returning a book.
She knew Twilight as more of a celebrity than anything, seeing as Shadow moved to Ponyville after the Nightmare Moon thing happened.
Lost in her thoughts, Shadow found her snout pressed into the fur of a lavender unicorn mare.
Stepping back frantically, she nervously apologized while walking in place.
“Oh! Shadow Blast, I was looking for you!” the unicorn said with a smile.
“Twilight?” Shadow opened her eyes to see just the pony she was looking for.
“Twilight! I was looking for you too!”
Twilight grinned and pointed a horn towards the path leading to her library. “Could you come with me for a moment?”
“Twilight, I'm sort of having an emergency and I need your help,” said Shadow with a worried expression.
“I know, and this is pertaining exactly to your needs, I assure you,” Twilight said quickly while nudging Shadow in the direction of her home.
“Wh-whats going on? Do you know why I have this...horrible growth on my head?!” she wailed, and Twilight found herself offended at the statement. “Hey! That's racist.”
Shadow's pupils dilated briefly. “What? No, I didn't mean it like that...”
Twilight just rolled her eyes and sighed, gently nudging the once-pegasus again.
*************************************************************************
“Alright, so I'm sure some of you are wondering,” Twilight announced to the two ponies sitting on the main floor of the library, “about your newly acquainted... body parts, or the body parts have that disappeared from you.”
The two just nodded silently, both wearing different expressions that seemed to say the same.
The other pony in question, was an ashy gray coated stallion with pale, shaggy green hair. He looked like he was just working under a motorized vehicle, stained with oil on parts of his fur and hair.
While Shadow could recognize him as Charcoal Shift, the village's best mechanic, she noticed he was having a similar dilemma; instead of a horn on his forehead, his back was sporting two large, feathery black wings.
Shadow just gawked at his new appearance. At least she wasn't alone in this!
Twilight obviously knew something the two of them did not, and Shadow wondered what might have happened to cause this.
“So, then, how did this happen to us?” Charcoal spoke up, eying her suspiciously.
“Well, you might want to make yourselves comfortable,” Twilight announced as she lifted a book with her magic.
It was thicker than an average book, but it wasn't massive. The book itself was a smooth purple, with a strange sign on it under the title.
“This is 'The Complete Guide to Beginners Magic and Spirit'. It was actually one of my favorite books we used at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns,” Twilight proudly remarked, a smile on her face.
“And,” Charcoal drawled, looking at her expectantly.
“And,” Twilight responded with a glare, “It's the key to turning you each back into your respected forms.”
“Then tell us how, Twilight!” Shadow yelled, jumping to her feet. She still wasn't used to the new weight she had to support, given her wings helped ease her muscle use. When she called on her nerves to flap her wings, nothing came. It was a strange sensation.
“Just sit down!” Twilight ordered with an annoyed glance. Shadow quickly sat down like a trained puppy, looking at her with big, sickeningly curious eyes.
“It all started yesterday morning during one of mine and Charcoal's magic lessons,” Twilight began.
“Charcoal, I said get it inside the cup,” Twilight stated without even looking up from her clipboard.
“That tea is not inside the cup.”
“Well excuse me, Princess,” Charcoal remarked, “but I wasn't trained my whole life under the prestigious watch of Princess Celestia!” he mocked the princess's name with a ridiculous tone of voice as he said so.
Twilight gasped with two hooves clapping to her mouth. Her expression quickly turned from shocked to angered as she flared her magic, surging her clipboard at the offending unicorn.
He dodged it just by a hair as he ducked and the board soared behind him and clattered against the wall, falling to the floor where it remained still.
“What'd you do that for?!”
“How dare you dishonor the princess's name like that!” Twilight half-shouted, her nostrils flaring. She would not tolerate disrespect of the princess in her presence!
“I didn't even disrespect her,” Charcoal barked back as he got to his feet.
“Yes, you did,” Twilight growled as she tipped her nose up, turning her back on him.
“And besides, you could have been trained by her if you didn't drop out.”
Charcoal felt a pang of betrayal in his chest. How could Twilight say such a cruel thing?
She knew why he dropped out. She knew she was crossing the line.
When Twilight didn't hear a response, she turned her head slightly to the right to look behind her. What she saw was Charcoal with a blank expression as he avoided her eyes.
“You're right,” he stated flatly, his voice deepening in tone. “That's why I'm here. Can we just get back to the lesson?”
Twilight turned around, already feeling the atmosphere around them change and she instantly felt guilty.
She had grown up alone. For most of her life, she had a select two ponies who truly understood her; Shining Armor and Princess Celestia.
She wasn't good with other ponies. She wasn't used to so much social interaction.
She confusedly stared at Charcoal, who just quietly avoided her eyes.
Had she offended Charcoal?
Twilight mentally analyzed the conversation which had just occurred.
After a moment of thought, it registered in her head; Charcoal had dropped out of magic school as a colt because of a terrible accident he cast on his friend.
It was a bit dramatic for him to drop out, but now's not really the time for opinions, Twilight thought.
“Charcoal?” Twilight quietly called across the room.
She wasn't sure Charcoal had heard her at first, but a twitch of his ears assured her that he did.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you,” Twilight carefully continued, trying to mentally look through her list of words for use here.
Charcoal stared at his hooves for a moment. His pupils darted back and forth for a moment, as if searching, then suddenly, he looked up at Twilight. “It's okay,” he said with a reassuring smile, “You didn't mean it, right?”
Charcoal knew she didn't think about if that would offend him, nor did she mean to.
It still hurt his heart, though, and he can't help but remember the dark red stained on sugar brown fur as multiple sets of eyes just looked at him.
“Alright,” Twilight said quietly with a small smile.
She trotted forward, closer to Charcoal as she set a book down on the table next to them.
The book was large and purple in color, and written in large silver letters it said 'The Complete Guide to Beginners Magic and Spirit'. Under the logo was a sign Charcoal remembered learning in Elementary school that was an old symbol for magic.
She used her hooves to open the book, to which the other side toppled onto the table with a loud thud. It was obviously opened hundreds of times, and Charcoal guessed that it was from Twilight's personal library.
More specifically, the book was opened to a certain page that had a strange looking table of elements.
“With this, I will perform a spell I've been practicing and you can write down exactly what you felt.” Twilight said with a smile on her face.
“Wait, what?” Charcoal asked, dumbfounded.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Basically, when I do the spell, you gotta write down the different elements you experienced during the magical transition.”
“A-alright...” Charcoal stuttered, not entirely getting her.
Twilight, on the other hoof, did not notice his confusion and her horn sparked up, glowing a soft rosy red.
“When Princess Celestia passed Starswirl's last written spellbook to me, she gave me the responsibility to try and make something of his unheard spells. He died, and he never got to bring his spells to life, to the public. I've recently been testing one of the spells in his book with some animal subjects.
“It works, but now I want to try with a pony. If my calculations are correct, it will change your race! You could become a Pegasus, or even an Earth pony!”
Charcoal froze, entirely shocked. Twilight waited until the last moment to tell him so he couldn't chicken out.
“Brace yourself!” Twilight announced excitedly as her horn finished charging for what she was about to do.
“Wait!” Charcoal called desperately nervous.
“Twilight, you've got to be kidding, you're kidding, right?” He brought his hooves to his mouth, terror gripping him. What if her spell goes wrong?
“Look, Twilight, let's just discuss this like calm ponies...”
He begged and tried to talk her out of it, but she was ready.
They hadn't even noticed the pegasus who had trailed idly inside on the floor below.