//------------------------------// // Unexpected Boon // Story: A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake // by The Dimension Traveler //------------------------------// A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake “OK, please, start from the top. I just know I didn’t hear you right,” Tom was pretty sure he had heard just fine. He was just praying that wasn’t the case. “Alright, well, you see, it all started this mornin’,” Applejack began. Applejack was as excited as she’d ever been. It was almost time for the year’s largest harvest! She had gotten up before dawn, she’d been so excited. As the sun climbed into the sky and the rooster crowed, Applejack let out a holler. She marched through the orchard, looking for the perfect tree to start bucking. Then, she found it. Applejack wasted no time in turning around and landing the kick to free the apples. As they rained down around her, her heart soared. She reached out to catch one, only for it to splat against her hooves in a way no apple should splat. “What the heck is goin’ on?!” Applejack exclaimed. She looked up into the tree and spotted them. The vampire fruit bats had returned. Applejack wasted no time gathering anyone and everyone she thought could help. “So why didn’t you wake me?” Tom asked irritably. “Tom, we all agreed you needed your sleep. You and Twilight did spend all of last night experimenting,” Luna pointed out reasonably. “If you had woken me, we wouldn’t be dealing with this!” Tom barked crossly. “If you’ll let me continue?” Applejack asked. Everyone, except Tom and Twilight, was gathered around the barn. “Dame Applejack, what was so urgent as to require all of us?” Luna wondered as she stifled a yawn. “The very existence of Sweet Apple Acres is at stake! Vampire fruit bats are attacking!” Applejack yelled hysterically. “Vampire fruit bats? That’s what this is all about? They’re a minor pest at worse,” Moon Dancer said dismissively. Applejack turned on her. “Y’all weren’t around last time vampire fruit bats ravaged Sweet Apple Acres. It was back when my Granny was just a filly. There was an apple shortage for the whole winter! I still have nightmares from the stories she’s told me about that winter…” Applejack broke off with a shudder. “And we’ve come a long way since then. There are easy ways to deal with vampire fruit bats,” Moon Dancer deadpanned. “What part of this is an 'easy way to deal with vampire fruit bats’?!” Tom shouted accusingly. “Quit yer hissy fit Tom, I’m gettin’ there,” Applejack assured. “Oh yeah? What ways would this be?” Applejack asked grumpily. “We could section the vampire fruit bats away in their own area of the orchard until they’re ready to move on,” Fluttershy suggested, “You’d even get strong new trees out of it.” “No way! They’ve already eaten too many apples as it is! Besides, I can’t let them at my prize winnin’ apple!” Applejack unveiled a staggeringly huge apple, “This here is our entry into the Appleoosa State Fair’s produce competition. I can’t risk it.” “That is a heck of an apple, in all connotations,” Chrysalis chuckled and was bopped upside the head by Luna’s wing. “I might be able to talk them into leaving it alone?” Fluttershy offered. “Would ya?” Applejack asked hopefully. Fluttershy flew off to talk to the vampire fruit bats. She returned with less than great news. “I’m sorry; I’ve never spoken to a vampire fruit bat before. It’ll be a little while before I learn their language properly. I think they’ve agreed to leave your prize apple alone, but I’m not sure…” Fluttershy trailed off. “Not sure isn’t good enough, not when my baby is on the line!” Applejack said angrily. “Relax Applejack, I might be able to help Fluttershy with her linguistics problem,” Moon Dancer said in an attempt to placate her. “I have an idea too!” Chrysalis chimed in. Unicorn and Changeling put their heads together, talking over their ideas. “I think this is more likely to work if Chrysalis casts it. Fluttershy, if you’re willing?” Moon Dancer asked. “I’m willing to try if it means getting to understand more animals,” Fluttershy replied and Chrysalis wasted no time in casting the spell. “And the results are before us,” Tom remarked, giving stink eye to both Changeling Queen and Moon Dancer. “We didn’t mean to turn her into a vampire pony!” Chrysalis protested. “The spell was only supposed to give her more sympathetic tendencies with the vampire fruit bats!” Moon Dancer concurred. “Hard to get more ‘sympathetic’ than turning her into a pony/bat hybrid,” Twilight snarked. “I don’t know, I think it’s kinda neat,” Fluttershy opined from a branch she was hanging on before giving into temptation and snatching an apple with her new tongue and slurping it dry. “Yeah, I’m with Flutters, this is kinda cool!” Rainbow Dash agreed. “Those are mah apples yer slurpin’,” said Applejack testily. “I convinced the vampire fruit bats to stay in their area of the orchard and to leave your special apple alone. I think I deserve some sort of reward,” Fluttershy said before casually taking another apple. Applejack let out a growl, but didn’t contest the point. One Flutterbat wasn’t gonna be able to eat her whole orchard. “I’m gonna leave this whole thing to you magic types to figure out. I’m behind on the harvest as it is,” Applejack gave up and wandered off to help her family harvest. “So, does either of you two brainiacs have any idea how to reverse this?” Tom asked, despite already having a fair idea as to the answer. “Not as such…” Chrysalis replied demurely. “No,” Moon Dancer replied bluntly. “Twilight?” Tom asked hopefully. “We could probably force her back into a Pony body, but without knowing exactly what the spell did, we could do some pretty serious damage,” Twilight answered. “Her magic has mutated into something not dissimilar to my own Thestrals. I believe once her magic has settled from the transformation, I may be able to reverse it,” Luna took pity on the Changeling Queen and Unicorn and offered a solution. “How long will that take?” Rainbow asked. “Shouldn’t be more than an hour now,” Luna assured. “Oh, that’s a bit of a shame. I feel stronger, my senses are sharper, and I’m sure I can fly faster like this,” Fluttershy sighed in disappointment. “I am sorry, Fluttershy, but due to the accidental nature of this transformation, it is best to reverse it as quickly as possible in case there are any nasty side effects that have yet to manifest,” Luna sounded genuinely sorry. “Once this is all over, I’m going back to bed!” Tom declared. “First you’re grouchy about us not waking you up, and now you’re grouchy about being awake! Make up your mind!” Pinkie shouted. “I’m perfectly capable of being grouchy about multiple things at the same time,” Tom deadpanned. “I can attest to that!” Twilight chirped, earning an eye roll from Tom. The rest of the hour was spent with most of the group playing Old Maid. Fluttershy and Rainbow were getting in as much play time with Flutterbat as they could. “Fluttershy, the hour is up, please come here!” Luna called out. “Oh, alright,” Fluttershy said sadly. She landed before the moon goddess. “I will do this as gently as possible,” Luna promised as her horn ignited. Tendrils of Magic swirled around Fluttershy, completely obscuring her from view. It lasted for five seconds, but when it was over, Fluttershy was still Flutterbat. “Huh?” Was the general consensus. Then Fluttershy reverted to normal. Then back to Flutterbat. She went back and forth a few more times, to the growing shock of her audience. Finally she stopped at Fluttershy with a huge grin on her face. “I can feel it!” She cheered. “WHAT?!” The group collectively cried. Luna inspected Fluttershy a bit closer. “I don’t believe it. She’s completely internalized the transformation. I thought only Changelings could do that,” Luna said in awe. “Really?” Chrysalis was intrigued and she too inspected Fluttershy, “Well I’ll be a Sea Pony’s aunt.” “Nope,” Tom decided he had seen enough, “Wake me up no earlier than noon tomorrow. I don’t have the energy to deal with this madness right now.” With that, he marched off. “Poor Tom, all this stress can’t be good for him,” Fluttershy said as if she wasn’t a major contributor to that stress at that moment. “Maybe we can throw him a party to get him to unwind!” Pinkie suggested. “You can try, but if you don’t want him to conspire with Twilight in a plot to get rid of all your Pink, I wouldn’t wake him before he wakes up himself,” Moon Dancer warned. “Party postponed,” Pinkie took the warning seriously. She liked her Pink just where it was, thank you very much. “So, will it hurt Fluttershy if we leave her like this?” Rainbow asked. “Like I said, she’s internalized the transformation. It could no more hurt her than her ability to talk to animals. Pony magic is very particular about what sort of things it lets attach to itself in this manner,” Luna replied. Rainbow and Fluttershy were immediately dancing about with each other in celebration. “Well, if nothing else, I think I shall enjoy the challenge of creating dresses for this new form. Oh, and Fluttershy, congratulations. I can see how happy this makes you,” With that, Rarity headed back into town to open her boutique with Coco following close behind after her own words of congratulations. “Come on, Flutters, let’s show the rest of the team how awesome this is!” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew off the farm as well. That just left Luna, Chrysalis, and Moon Dancer. “Well, that was a thing that happened. I’m going to head back to the library now,” Moon Dancer made to trot off. “Not so fast, Moon Dancer. I’d like a word with you. Chrissy, I can see you trying to sneak off as well,” Both knew when they were licked and came to sit before the lunar diarch, “What you did today, while done with good intentions, was still irresponsible. We are all fortunate it turned out as well as it did, but it was still somewhat unwise to cast an untested spell variant.” “We got her permission first,” Moon Dancer muttered. “I know, which is the only reason neither of you will be punished and I didn't stop you in the first place. You're all fully capable of exercising good judgement. When I heard you discussing the spell, I didn't think anything could go particularly wrong, so I let it happen. I'm still not sure how a spell designed to affect only the mind wound up transforming Fluttershy so, but I digress. I just want you to bear it in mind for the future,” Luna said gently. “We will,” Both chorused and Luna rolled her eyes. “Go on, get out of here. I don’t think even the two of you can manage more than one major magical catastrophe in a day,” Luna teased. Deciding to take the opportunity presented, Unicorn and Changeling Queen teleported out of the orchard. “How Tia makes this look so easy, I’ll never know,” Luna sighed to herself, “I suppose the thousand extra years helps, the old nag.” Luna snickered and flew back into Ponyville proper to take care of her own business for the day