“You woke up like this?” Celestia asked, circling Twilight and examining her human body.
Human. Not Kryptonian, not pony, but human. Her powers were completely and utterly gone. It was, to be blunt, a harsh shock to her system.
Said body was also naked except for a sheet she had grabbed to use as a makeshift toga/dress. It had brought back memories of Clark’s Kansas University college days, and she was half-grinning, half grimacing at the thoughts. She had sent Spike to Rarity’s with her new measurements to acquire some clothes, with a bag of Bits to pay for said clothes.
That had been three hours ago. Twilight was beginning to get worried, but could do nothing until her impromptu meeting with the Princess concluded. Speaking of which...
Twilight nodded. “I felt something was wrong when I woke up, but didn’t realize what until after I sat down and bumped my head on the table,” she explained, nursing the comparatively tiny cup of black coffee in her hands. She rubbed her head and winced. Yep, the bump was still there.
Celestia’s horn pulsed yellow with magic, and she shook her head. “I have absolutely no idea how this could have happened,” she admitted. “Based on everything I’ve ever learned about human anatomy from speaking to previous Hero Souls, you seem to be a perfectly normal, healthy human female. Just no useable magic.”
Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. “I have no magic?” she asked, dread rising in her heart.
Celestia shook her head. “No, you do. You have a soul. Therefore, you produce magic, just not enough to do more than sustain yourself in Equestria’s magical environment.” she sighed. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think this was Discord’s work… He was always good at toeing the line but not crossing it. Well… before he went mad at any rate...”
“Discord?” Twilight asked in confusion..
Celestia paused, a thought occurring to her, before again shaking her head turning and levitating a crystal into view. “A discussion for another day,” she said firmly, shelving her own thoughts for later review. “Hold still,” she instructed, funneling her magic through the crystal.
A beam of blue light shot from the tip, and began to run up and down Twilight’s body. After roughly four runs, it flickered out. “I’ll take this to Doctor Tender and see if he can make any sense out of these readings,” Celestia said, placing the crystal in a pouch on her saddlebags, which were leaning against a nearby wall. “In the meantime, it would probably be unwise to let the populace see you like this. Try and stay here until we find a solution.”
Twilight raised a finger. “And if there is no solution? Or, at least, one isn’t found easily? I can’t just confine myself to the library for the rest of my life.” She paused here, before giving a sheepish laugh. “Regardless of how much my younger self would have liked the opportunity,” she said.
Celestia smirked. “Yes, you did have a distressing habit of spending weeks at a time in your library,” she teased, enjoing how much Twilight blushed in embarrassment. “Still, you are right. I will let you know if we find anything tomorrow. If not, feel free go out, just….. Be careful.”
Celestia left at that, levitating her bag after her. Her ever present squad of Solar Guards fell into step on either side of her and slightly behind as she walked out.
Twilight sighed, looking at her hand. “Well… I always did want to know what it was like to be normal,” she muttered. Then she groaned. “Who am I kidding? I should just put the words Nos Non Facimus Normalis on the front door of the library. It would at least give fair warning to any visitors,”
---
Twilight managed to another hour before deciding she could wait no more. She gathered up some stationary and penned a quick message on a scroll, rolled it up, and tried to send it to Spike via the postal magic he had developed, trying to find out if he was okay.
She was forcefully reminded of her lack of both a horn and her own useable magic when absolutely nothing happened. Realizing she was stuck until Spike returned or someone visited the library, Twilight went about cleaning the bookshelves. She may as well be productive, at least.
---
Twilight heard to door of the library open and turned just in time to see Spike back into the room, carrying a large bundle of clothes tied together with twine. “Twilight! I’m back!” he called, kicking the door shut as he came in.
Twilight emerged from a row of shelves and eagerly took the clothes from him. Thank you Spike. Being half-naked is driving me nuts,” she said with a shake of her head.
Spike scratched his head. “Aren’t you normally naked anyways? You hardly ever wear a jacket, let alone a full set of clothes.”
Twilight paused. “Huh… That actually never occurred to me,” she realized. “I wonder if it’s because of my body? Is it causing subconscious behaviours to become more prevalent according to what kind of body I’m in?” Twilight began muttering to herself as theories played across her mind.
Spike’s claws snapping in front of her face got her attention. “Huh? Spike? Is something wrong?”
“First of all, you were getting lost in ideas again. Go get dressed first at least,” Spike reminded her. “Second… actually, go get dressed. This might take a minute,” he changed his mind at the last second.
“Okay?” Twilight half answered and half asked.
---
Now wearing a pair of simple denim pants and a red cotton shirt, Twilight came back downstairs to find Spike fidgeting with his claws at one of the reading tables. “Spike? What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I… don’t know?” he half asked. He seemed confused.
Twilight blinked. “Um… Okay? Is it Rarity?”
Spike nodded after a moment. “Yeah… That’s why it took so long for me to get back. I got Rarity’s place easily enough, but I ended up spending a half hour just trying to get her to open the door. She was yelling about her mane and coat being an absolute mess. When I finally convinced her to let me in, I saw what she meant.” He paused here, considering how to continue. “She was fluffy. Like… her fur and mane overgrown and untamed. And no matter what she did, comb it, cut it, even gelling it, she couldn’t get it to go down.” He shrugged. “I spent another ten minutes convincing her that you need clothes to specifications you wrote down. Ten more minutes trying, and failing, to get her to accept the Bits for it, and another five minutes talking to Sweetie Belle.”
“Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked, unfamiliar with the name.
“Rarity’s younger sister,” Spike explained. “She’s staying with Rarity for a while since their parents are currently on a vacation in Las Pegasus. Likes to ask questions.”
“Oh…” Twilight said, surprised Rarity had never brought her up in their conversations before.
“Anyways, Rarity asked me who needed clothes meant for bipedals, and I told her what happened to you.” Twilight winced, but said nothing. “After a moment, she asked me to check with the rest of your friends to see if they were going through anything strange as well. Hence why it took so long to get back.”
“And? Are they okay?” Twilight asked in concern.
Spike winced. “Are they hurt? Well, besides Rainbow and Applejack’s pride, no. Are they okay?... also a no.” He started ticking off claws. “Applejack got shrunk to the size of a hoof, which is apparently messing with her newly awakened memories. Something about gears. Rainbow Dash has her wings on backwards, which has her effectively grounded as even that odd mailmare was flying in a straighter line than her. Fluttershy refused to even open the door, but Angel shooed me away, so I’m assuming she’s at least not hurt. And finally, Pinkie Pie’s tongue was all swollen up, preventing her from talking. She could breathe easily though, so there’s that.” He looked at Twilight. “Is there some kind of spell that could do all that?” he asked curiously.
Twilight thought for a moment, before nodding her head slowly. “Transmogrification of that level really isn’t that hard. It would be more taxing to maintain than anything else.” She paused in thought. “Did Rarity mention feeling any kind of background spellwork?” she asked.
Spike shook his head. “Between the sobs of her coat and mane being ruined, I understood enough to know she has no idea how this happened. Sweetie didn’t say anything either.”
“That rules out the standard transmogrification spell. You can’t disguise the feel of the magic when using it, meaning she would have immediately known if someone was actively doing that to her,” Twilight said.
Twilight let her eyes wander as she thought. When they passed over Spike, a glimmer on his scales caught her attention. She paused. “Spike? What’s that?” she asked, pointing at his scales.
Spike looked at his shoulder, where she was pointing. He squinted, before running a claw over the spot. Twilight and Spike both looked at what was on his claw, then at each other in confusion.
“Blue powder?” they asked each other.