//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Switchy-Witchy Stone // by PurpleWonderPower //------------------------------// Chapter 2 "Are...you OK?" queried Discord, helping Twilight to her hooves. "I think so," said Twilight, shakily, "That was...really weird. I felt like something was...draining out of me. Then it kind of...came back." "I felt that too," said Discord, glancing over at the stone, suspiciously, "What do you suppose it did?" "Well, I don't feel any different," said Twilight, slowly, looking over at the stone, too, "I don't think anything bad happened." "Twilight?" called Applejack's voice from the top of the hole they had fallen through. "Discord?" called Fluttershy's. There was a loud "Whoah!" and then a thump! as Applejack landed on her hooves on the floor of the cavern. "Look out below!" another voice squealed, and Pinkie Pie landed right beside Applejack and bounced back onto her hooves. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy descended down, holding Spike and Rarity in their hooves. "Where are we?" wondered Applejack, looking around at the cavern, "Twilight! Discord! Are y'all OK?" "Yeah," said Twilight, slowly, still taking in what had just happened, "I think so." "Oh, my!" exclaimed Rarity, spotting the gem on the pedestal, "What in Equestria is that beautiful gemstone!?" She trotted towards the pedestal, with a wonderstruck expression in her eyes! "Rarity, wait!" exclaimed Twilight, throwing out a hoof, "Don't touch tha—" But before she could warn her friend, Rarity was already at the pedestal, and placed a hoof on the stone. Twilight leapt down and shielded herself from any impact. But nothing happened. Slowly, she opened her eyes and stood back up. Rarity had her hoof on the stone, but nothing was happening. There were no flashes of pink and blue light shooting out of it, and Rarity's hoof didn't seem to be stuck. "Rarity," she said, uneasily, "I really don't think you should touch that thing." "But why, darling?" breathed Rarity, taking in the gem's magnificent glow, "I don't think I've ever seen such fabulousness!" "Ooh, shiny!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, popping up beside it. "It looks kinda like that chest we got from the Tree of Harmony," said Rainbow Dash. "I really don't think anypony should touch that!" exclaimed Twilight, pulling her friends away from it. "Why not?" asked Fluttershy, "It's just an ordinary gem." "It's not, though," said Twilight, slowly, "Something really...weird happened when I touched it." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Nothing happened when we touched it." Twilight hesitated. "No," she agreed, uneasily, "It...didn't." Taking a deep breath, she reached out her hoof and touched the stone. As her hoof grazed its silvery surface, the purple alicorn braced herself for the impact she had previously experienced. But nothing happened. No stuck hoof. No mysterious glow. No pink and blue light. The rest of her friends watched her, curiously. Discord ran his finger down the stone's surface. "Odd," he said, eyeing the stone, thoughtfully, "Nothing happened." "It's—really nothing to worry about," said Twilight, nervously, as she withdrew her hoof from the stone, "We should all just head back to Ponyvi—" Suddenly, before she could finish her sentence, there was a flash of bright white light from her horn, and the six ponies, dragon and draconequus appeared on the road leading down to Ponyville. "Huh," said Twilight, looking up at her horn, "That was weird. I didn't mean to do that. Oh well. I guess it saved us a walk home." They all began to make their way into Ponyville, but the Princess of Friendship had the oddest feeling that something strange was going on. She just couldn't put her hoof on it. "There was something really weird about that gem, though," Twilight told the others, as they crossed the bridge that went over the river next to Ponyville, "You guys weren't there, but when me and Discord touched the stone, something really strange happened. We both got zapped with this weird pink and blue light from the stone. Nothing happened, but it was still pretty weird. I can't help but feel like something's going to happen." As they headed into Ponyville, a strong breeze whistled through the leaves, and a bunch of dandelion clocks were blown off their heads. Dozens of them blew past the Mane 6 and the two friends, and a couple brushed against Twilight's nose, giving her a tickle. Twilight's nose began to quiver and she started to sniff. "Ah-ah-ah-CHOO!" she sneezed! Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light from nearby and a mailbox suddenly grew wings and fluttered off into the sky. Twilight looked round, then scowled. "Discord," she said, tonelessly. "What?" asked Discord, looking around. Suddenly, Twilight shivered, and a few blue magic sparks fizzed around her mane. There was another flash of light from nearby, and the river they had just crossed turned into a pit of lava. "Stop it, Discord!" snapped Twilight! "I didn't do that!" exclaimed Discord, looking at the lava pit. Twilight twitched and the magical sparkles fizzed around her again. A bed of flowers leaped out of the ground and started tap dancing with their roots. Two nearby ponies turned into hedgehogs in clown costumes. Flashes of light occurred all over the place, and buildings began to spin in the air! "DISCORD!" shouted Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike! "I swear, I am not doing this!" exclaimed Discord, frantically, as the pears on a nearby pear tree grew legs and jumped down. "Just fix it already!" snapped Rainbow Dash. "Oh, alright!" exclaimed Discord. He snapped his fingers. The pears continued to waddle away, and none of the chaos ceased. That was odd. That should have restored things to normal. He snapped his fingers again. The ponies watched, impatiently! "What's going on?" exclaimed Discord. He began to snap his fingers more frantically, but nothing happened! "I said fix it!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "I'm trying!" exclaimed Discord, snapping his fingers, "It's not working!" "Stop messing around and fix it, Discord!" snapped Twilight! She suddenly gave a shiver, and a pair of bunnies by the road mutated into huge sabre-tooth rabbits! "DISCORD!" shouted the five ponies and dragon! "I didn't do that!" exclaimed Discord, frantically, "I swear!" "Come on!" "Stop playing dumb!" "Quit it!" "Who else could be doing it!?" "Stop it!" "HEY!" shouted Fluttershy! She flew protectively up in front of Discord and gave the other ponies her biggest Stare. "If he says he isn't doing this," she said, in a deadly whisper, as she advanced on her friends, "Then he isn't doing this! GOT IT!?" Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike gave a frightened nod, but Twilight would hear none of it. "Well who else here has chaos magic!?" exclaimed Twilight, throwing up her hooves. As she did so, Lyra Heartstrings suddenly turned into a pop-up jack-in-the-box with her head, which made squeaking sounds as it popped up. Twilight gasped! "Turn her back right now!" she shouted, jabbing her hoof at the box. As she jabbed her hoof at it, there was a flash of light and it suddenly turned into a bouquet of red roses. Twilight stopped. She turned round and realized that her hoof had been pointing at the bouquet when it had changed. Not quite sure what she was doing, she raised her hoof and jabbed it at the bouquet again. With a flash of light it turned back into Lyra Heartstrings, who instantly scarpered. Twilight gasped! "Did...did I do that?" she exclaimed, looking at her hoof. "Wasn't me," said Discord, shrugging. Twilight slowly turned round and jabbed her hoof at a nearby tree. With a flash of light, the leaves turned bright orange! Twilight gasped! Whipping round, she jabbed her hoof at a stop sign, which instantly grew legs and jogged off! She jabbed her hoof over and over again, and animals shape-shifted, buildings started to spin, objects came to life and chocolate milk rained down from the sky! The Princess of Friendship gasped out loud! "Jumpin' junebugs, Twilight!" exclaimed Applejack, "I didn't know you could do that!" "That's just the thing," exclaimed Twilight, turning round, "I can't! This isn't my alicorn magic! I don't know what's going on!" "And I can't seem to fix it!" exclaimed Discord, snapping his fingers frantically in one last attempt to fix everything. Suddenly an aura of pink magic lit up around them, lifting them up into the air! They all screamed! "Twilight, what are you doing!?" exclaimed Fluttershy. "It wasn't me!" exclaimed Twilight, frantically trying to stay upright, "I swear!" "Wheeeee!" squealed Pinkie Pie, doing breaststroke through the air, still levitated by the pink magic, "I'm like a little fishy! La la la la la!" "Twilight, get us down from here!" exclaimed Rarity! Twilight tried to levitate them down with her horn, but all she succeeded in doing was make chocolate milk rain down all over them. "Chocolate milk!?" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "I LOVE chocolate milk!" "Make it STOP!" bawled Spike! "I can't!" exclaimed Twilight, "Discord, do something!" With a panicked look on his face, Discord snapped his fingers, and suddenly, Twilight's pink magic vanished, and they all landed painfully on the ground. "Did I do that?" queried Discord, flexing his fingers, "Because that pink looked like your magic." "It was!" exclaimed Twilight, "I mean...I wasn't the one using it, but..." Then it hit her. "Wait a minute..." she said, slowly, "My magic made us all float when you tried to use your magic. And your magic made that cotton candy cloud appear when I tried to use my magic. That means..." Twilight and Discord suddenly gasped out loud! "You've got my magic!" they both exclaimed in unison, "And I've got yours!" "Jinx!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie!