Indigo Glow

by Lost Deep

We Let Pinkie Pie Run Around

“Well,” Doctor Stable said, “We’ve done every test we can think of, and the bad news is that nothing can remove that energy from your horn. The good news is that the energy flatly refuses to budge from your horn, so we can say that you are not, in fact, contagious. That means that we can take down the triple-layered caution tape.”

Twilight sighed with relief. “Good! Now instead of worrying about spreading this to the whole town, I just have to worry about the idea of never being able to use unicorn magic ever again!”

Spike came over and patted Twilight on the shoulder. “There, there. Could be worse. You can still use your wings, right?”

Twilight smiled. “Yeah. And good friends, who I know will stand by me.”

Spike nodded. “And a pair of princesses in Canterlot who are willing to help, and another princess in the Crystal empire who wants to help, not to mention several offers from many prestigious scholars offering to study and help if they can.”

Suddenly, the glow around Twilight’s horn flared up and an arc of magical energy sailed to Spike, who was consumed in a flash of indigo light. When the energy cleared, Spike was unharmed… but not unchanged.

“What the-why am I a pony?” He stumbled backwards on his four legs. His coat was purple, like his scales were, and his tail and mane were green like his spines, and his cutie mark was a scroll. “For that matter, why am I a colt? Aren’t I old enough to be a full-grown pony?”

Twilight blinked at this. “Well… in theory, but it must have translated your being a baby dragon into being a colt.”

“I’m going to be over there now,” Doctor Stable said, backing away quickly. “You two figure it out.”

Spike wobbled on his legs. “I hope this isn’t perman-” with a poof of indigo smoke wafting off of his body, Spike was once again a dragon. “-nent. That was weird.”

Twilight sighed. “I can’t go out now, can I? If this effect does random powerful magic to people who get too close to me…”

The doctor shrugged. “As long as the effects are temporary, I can’t require you stay. Just… try to stay away from people?”

Twilight blinked. She didn’t expect that!

Doctor Stable rolled his eyes. “Look, we let Pinkie Pie run around. If you somehow cause more trouble than her, then I might consider it to be a good reason for Quarantine. If there isn’t anything more, I have some things to do today. Let me know if anything bad happens. To yourself or others.”

Twilight walked through the town. It was nice to be able to walk through the town again! She knew, of course, that she still probably wouldn’t do it much, but the permission to go out into the world and read in the park instead of the library was nice.

“Twilight!” She looked toward the voice. It was Fluttershy, fluttering over sheepishly. “It’s good to see you’re out of your house. I’m sorry I had to tape you in, I didn’t want to, but-”

“But I asked you to,” Twilight cut her off, “and now Doctor Stables has written me off as not contagious, and it’s good to be sure it won’t hurt my friends.”

Fluttershy smiled, and pulled Twilight into a hug. Zap! The sound made Fluttershy jump backwards. She quite suddenly had a mass of little flowers for hair! She looked at this, sputtering, very confused.

Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder to try and calm her. “Easy there. I think it’s just a side-effect; something similar happened to spike. Just give it a minute, and it should wear off on its own.”

Fluttershy took a few deep breaths, and in a few seconds her hair returned to normal. She couldn’t help but giggle a little. “You know,” She said, “I don’t think I would mind having flowers for hair. Anyway, everyone has gathered together at Sweet Apple Acres. They’re all really eager to see you.”

Ah, that news made Twilight all the happier. “I’m really eager to see them, too.”

It’s a good thing that happiness does not have mass, because if it did the sheer amount of joy would have crushed all six of them to death without question. Four ponies charged to give their friend a hug, despite the indigo glow on her horn, and the end result was a classic dogpile hug.

Up until an arc of energy touched AppleJack, making her ten feet tall. The others were thrown off quickly, and Applejack suddenly stood up to keep from squishing her friend. “What in tarnation?” She declared, stumbling backwards. “How-”

“Don’t panic!” Twilight said. “It will wear off, just give it a moment.” Everypony held their breaths, and applejack shrunk to normal size. “Okay. Everypony, I am more than grateful for this, and I am happy to see you all! However, I am not cured, and the condition causes random arcs of magical energy to appear at random, which cause odd but temporary effects. Nothing to worry about, as far as I can tell, but it may be a good idea to be careful with contact for a while.”

Everyone nodded, and Rainbow Dash rushed in for a quick hug. “Worth the risk! I bet it needs a bit to recharge between zaps, too!” Zap! As if to debunk Rainbow Dash’s theory, an arc of energy touched her and made her skin into some kind of metal. The oddest thing about this was that instead of being simply metallic, it reflected all the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow dash got just enough time to examine herself and declare this “Awesome!” before the effect wore off.

Rarity shook her head. “In any case, it’s good to see you again. Any plans right now? Any plan to get rid of the effect?”

Twilight shook her head. “I think I’ll just take the train to Canterlot tomorrow. See if the princesses have any idea what is going on. The truth of the matter is, I’m not sure that we can do this, just the six of us. The princesses are my friends too, and the most powerful mages in Equestria at that. No offense to anyone here, but the truth of the matter is I don’t think any of you can really help me.”

“None taken,” Rainbow dash said,

“Yeah, you’re the one that we would go to for things like this,” Fluttershy agreed.

“We understand perfectly,” Rarity said, “You can lose me just describing spells. I’m not going to claim to be a great mage.”

Suddenly, with no warning, an arc of energy went from Twilight’s horn to Rarity’s.