"Twilight," Applejack looked concerned. "You alright, girl? You just froze up fer a moment."
Twilight took a deep breath before pointing at the stallion who appeared to be doing little more than sleeping. "It's him," she said. "I think he's the one, but..."
"But what, Twi?" Said an anxious Applejack. "If he's the one who hurt mah brother then we should..."
"It's not just that," Twilight shook her head as she held a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. Twilight could feel how tense her friend was, like she might pounce at any moment. "I mean, I can see Big Mac's cutiemark inside him, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking at."
"So what's the plan then, Twi?" Applejack said through gritted teeth. "Cause Ah'd really like ta go kick his sorry flank if he's gone and hurt mah family like that."
"Let's try talking to him," she finally said after a moment of consideration. "I don't know what we're dealing with or what sort of magic could do that to another pony and I don't want to risk him doing it to somepony else as well. Let's see if we can't get him talking though. Maybe we can learn something."
"All right, Twi," said Applejack, relaxing a bit but not once taking her eyes off him. "We'll try it yer way, but Ah don't know how long Ah'm gonna be able to hold myself back from kickin' his teeth in."
Twilight looked to her other friends. Rainbow Dash hadn't yet gotten back from telling Granny Smith about her grandson. She had to hope she didn't try to start a fight when she showed up. Rarity and Fluttershy were both watching her closely, both of them nodding their silent agreement. Pinkie was... Where was Pinkie?
They all looked up the hill, shocked horror painting their faces as they saw Pinkie bouncing up the hill. Mostly likely going to say hello to the potential powder keg.
"Pinkie!!" Twilight shouted in a forced whisper. "What are you doing?!"
The rest of them rushed up the hill as quietly as they could, spreading out around the pony as they got closer. They had almost caught up to Pinkie when...
"Hi!" Said Pinkie in a not so quiet voice. "I haven't seen a pony like you in town before. Are you new? Oh silly me," she said with a chuckle. "If I don't know who you are, then of course you're new."
The rest of them skidded to a stop as the stallion opened his eyes. He slowly picked himself up off the ground and yawned as he sat up. They watched his rich brown eyes focus in on Pinkie as he scratched the back of his head. Twilight felt some momentary panic start to creep up on her, unsure of what he was about to do.
"Well aren't you a regular ray of sunshine," he said with a smile as he talked around his cigarette, small wisps floating off of it as he talked.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Pinkie Pie," Pinkie said cheerily. "And what's your name?"
"Well Pinkie, my name's Smokey Vines," said Smokey as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "But my friends call me Doctor Smokey." His eyes were half lidded as he peeked around Pinkie and looked right at Twilight. He seemed to consider something for a moment, but maybe he was just waking up. "Friends of yours?" He nodded in their direction.
"Yepperooni!" Pinkie cheered right before Rarity and Fluttershy had a chance to drag her away.
Smokey watched the pink bundle of energy as she was removed with a raised eyebrow. "That one's got a lot of energy," he said as turned to look at Twilight. "You're the new princess aren't you?" He asked while sounding mostly uninterested. "Princess Twilight, right? Something I can help you with?"
Twilight nodded, swallowing hard as she did so. "I have a question for you, Smokey."
"Ok, shoot," he said as he unfolded and resettled his white coat over his shoulders.
"Are you the one who brought Big Macintosh to the hospital?" Twilight asked.
Smokey paused for a moment as he settled his glasses on his face, "big guy? Roughly bout this tall? Wears a yoke?"
"Yeah," Applejack snorted grumpily. "That's him."
Smokey looked cross-eyed at Applejack and then back to Twilight, "did I do something to make her mad? Yes I found an earth pony and took him to the hospital this morning. I wasn't about to let him lay around in the streets."
Twilight exhaled slowly, she was sure this was going to provoke him. "Are you the one who hurt him?" She asked.
Smokey narrowed his eyes at her, "I don't appreciate the accusation. No, I did not."
"Why do I see his cutiemark floating around inside you then?" Twilight dropped the question.
Smokey looked down at his chest, confused, "you can see that, can you?" He looked back up and seemed to notice her glowing eyes for the first time. "Huh... Your eyes are glowing," he observed with a puzzled look. "When did you learn that trick?"
"Twi..." Applejack growled, "we better cut the small talk and Ah better get some answers Ah like soon." Her eyes never once left Smokey, "Ah wanna know two things before Ah kick yer face in. What did you do to mah brother and how do Ah fix it?"
Smokey's drifted his gaze over to her, "he's your brother, is he? I'm sorry to hear that. If it's some comfort, he'll wake up when I'm done using his magic."
"Ah don't like that answer." Applejack's eyes narrowed to pinpricks. "What if Ah just decided to beat it out of you."
Smokey scratched under his chin while he appeared to think it over. "I suppose that would do it, too," he said.
Twilight was too late to stop what happened next.
Applejack dove at Smokey, her anger finally winning out as she went in with her hooves swinging. Smokey just looked largely unconcerned as they heard him inhale a sharp breath through his nose. A moment before Applejack would have struck his face, he exhaled.
A thick blue smoke rolled out of his open mouth, causing everyone else to jump back in surprise. The apple farmer, wasn't so fortunate due to being so close to the pony at the time.
Twilight watched on in horror as the smoke fully enveloped her friend, obscuring her from view. A violent coughing fit could be heard from within the cloud, the cough slowly grew quieter until it was barely audible.
A few moments later, the smoke cleared. Leaving Smokey as the only pony still standing with no sign of Applejack.
The four remaining ponies stood there in shocked silence from what they just saw happen. Not even Pinkie looked like she was in the mood for jokes.
"What did you do to Applejack?!" Rarity was the first to say what they were all thinking.
Smokey didn't have an answer for them, he was looking around himself, seeming a bit confused. "I'm not really sure what I did?" He seemed to spot something on the ground. "Ah!" He exclaimed. "Here she is."
He reached down and scooped up a small figure off the ground. A very small Applejack rested on his hoof, looking very disoriented. "So I guess that's how she reacts to poison joke then," he said with a clinical interest.
"Poison joke?!" Twilight and her friends suddenly grew a bit more wary as they eyed him carefully. They all remembered the last time they had dealt with the troublesome plant before and weren't keen to repeat the experience..
"What did you think I was smoking? Tobacco? Nah, that stuff will kill you." He looked at the small pony in his hoof and carefully set her on the ground next to the tree he was resting besides. "I'm not really much of a fighter. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather this be the end of our little confrontation."
He started to walk away, but only made it a couple steps before a prismatic blur slammed into him from the sky. A cloud of dust was churned up from the impact as the pair slid several dozen feet away.
Twilight galloped after them with her friends right behind her. She hadn't been expecting Rainbow to make such a spectacular entrance and neither did Smokey from the looks of it.
They came to where the dust stopped moving and waited for it to settle. None of them were expecting what they saw when the dust finally cleared.
Rainbow Dash was there on top of Smokey. At first it seemed like she had him pinned down. However when they looked closer they realized it wasn't exactly what they thought it was. Smokey had his forelegs wrapped around the back of Rainbow Dash's head and had his lips very clearly locked with hers.
"Oh my," said Fluttershy as she proceeded to turn red.
Rarity looked like she was trying to bite back a laugh.
Pinkie immediately started to roll on the ground, giggling madly.
Twilight just sat there with her mouth agape at the absurd thing that just happened.
Rainbow struggled in his grip and eventually was able to wriggle free. She stumbled backwards and began spitting to the side every couple steps. "What was that all about?!" She shouted at him as she rubbed at her nose like she had just tasted something foul. "And did you have to use tongue?!"
Rarity finally broke as she collapsed to the ground with tears in her eyes, joining Pinkie in her hysterical laughing fit.
"Ewww, what's this stuff," Rainbow complained as a purple sludge began to dribble down from her mouth.
Smokey picked himself off the ground and walked over to Rainbow, "ok," he said with a scowl. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you've forced my hoof." He grabbed Rainbow by the foreleg and using his own weight, threw the confused and off-balance pegasus airborne in the direction of the rest of her friends.
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie saw Rainbow flying towards and quickly got out of the way. However, Rarity was too caught up in the giggles and didn't see Rainbow until right before she landed on top of her.
An explosion of purple smoke enveloped the two of them as their bodies collided. The smoke roiled and twisted as small tendrils formed within the smoke and began to weave in and out of the miasma they found themselves trapped in.
A couple screams could be heard coming from within the dense fog. They were short and distorted and continued to sound more warped as time went on. When the smoke finally cleared, only a single pony could be found left inside.
The pony had a pale blue coat and a rainbow mane done up in large curls. The only thing that shocked Twilight more than the fact that this new pony had both wings and a horn, was the cutiemark. It looked like someone had taken both Rarity's and Rainbow's cutiemarks and mashed them together into some sort of weird combination of the two.
"Rarity? Rainbow Dash?" Twilight approached with a sense of dread hanging over her. "Is that you?"
"What my goodness just happened?" the new pony said. The voice was very oddly distorted and the words that came out didn't make a whole lot of sense. She apparently noticed the strange distortion and began to look herself over.
"How is this possible?!" Twilight began hyperventilating.
"How should I no idea?" The pony said as it simultaneously tried to turn and take a step forward at the same time. This resulted in a trip and a faceplant that left her groaning on the ground.
"Twilight!" Came a diminutive voice.
Twilight looked to see a small orange form hopping through the grass.
"Applejack! Are you feeling ok?" Twilight asked.
"Ah didn't like it the first time this happened neither," said Appletiny. "Didn't anypony notice that Smokey ran away in all the commotion?"
Twilight whipped her head around, determined to find the pony that did this to her friends. However, they were the only ones left on the hill.
"Where did he go?" Twilight questioned no one in particular.
Back in town, Smokey had ducked into the alley between two buildings. He was tired from running and he knew his head start wouldn't last forever.
"Having trouble there?" Came a tiny voice floating next to him.
"Whisper," he sighed. "I should've known."
"Hmmm," the little fairy pondered. "Should've known what?"
"You showed Twilight how to see magic, didn't you?" He accused. "Why?"
"Don't fault me if I decide to teach somepony something just because I feel like it," she landed on the wall and casually danced across it. "Why? Is it causing you some trouble?"
"I was so careful about nopony seeing me and she wouldn't have found me without it," Smokey said in his agitation.
"Were you hoping to be able to carry out his plan without any real resistance? That's way too optimistic." She looked down the entrance to the alleyway. Smokey followed her view and found nothing there. "Looks like Pinkie found you. She really is the best at hide and seek," she kicked off the wall and disappeared. "Bye-bye now," her voice hung in the empty air.
"Wait!" Shouted Smokey too late, the fairy had already disappeared.
"Wait for what, silly?" Came another new voice from behind him.
Smokey snapped around, surprised to find Pinkie already beside him. "Where did you come from?!" He said in shock.
"Well... If you really want to know." Pinkie rubbed her chin. "When a mommy and daddy love each other very much..." Pinkie began only to find a hoof slap over her mouth.
"Stop.... Just stop," he cut her off before that train of thought could go any further. He reached into the pocket of his coat and fished out a brightly colored gumdrop. He held it out for a moment, waiting until the pink pony saw it before popping it in his mouth.
"What's that? Is it tasty?" Pinkie's asked, curiosity evident on her face.
Smokey reached into his pocket and pulled out another one. He waved it back and forth in front of the pink pony, her head following his movement like a snake being charmed.
She was about to jump at his hoof, when with a quick flick, he popped that one in his mouth as well.
"Hey?!" She complained, her face forming into a pout followed by raptured attention as he pulled out yet another one.
He turned as he heard heavy breathing coming from the entrance to the alley. Twilight and Fluttershy stood there panting, most likely from running there straight from the park.
"Stop... Right there," Twilight said as she tried to catch her breath.
"You girls aren't going to stop chasing me, are you?" He said as he popped another gumdrop in his mouth, just narrowly pulling it out of Pinkie's reach just before she would've grabbed it.
"Meanie," she complained as she scrunched her nose in annoyance.
Smokey suddenly found himself wrapped in a magenta aura as he was lifted into the air. He sighed dejectedly as he looked down to see the same magic radiating from Twilight's horn.
Twilight had a confident look on her face as she looked up at him. "Caught you," she said smugly. "Now, we're going to have a talk about what it is you're doing after you tell me how to change Rarity and Rainbow Dash back."
"I take it that's the names of those other two?" Smokey looked bored as he tossed one last gumdrop in Pinkie's direction
Pinkie deftly caught the flying treat and began to chew on it happily while humming to herself.
"Pinkie!" Exclaimed Twilight. "Don't eat that!" She looked back at Smokey just in time to see a white ball flying in her direction. She reflexively refocused her attention into throwing a shield around herself. The ball contacted the shield and exploded into a puff of smoke.
A white fog rolled over them and through the rest of the alley, obscuring everything from view. She heard a panicked cry from beside her in the direction of Fluttershy follow by the sound of a body hitting the ground.
"Fluttershy!" She cried as she dropped her shield. The smokescreen rapidly filling the gap left behind by her shield. Twilight began to cough as some of the smoke entered her lungs.
"I'm ok, Twilight," Fluttershy said through the smoke, her voice sounding a bit raspy through the smoke. "It feels like I got stung by something though."
Twilight cast another spell, this time blowing the smoke away from them and clearing the alley.
Once she was able to see again, she quickly searched for the troublesome earth pony. He was gone again, most likely slipped away when they couldn't see anything.
"Um... Twilight?" Fluttershy said in much deeper voice than she normally had. "Something's wrong."
Twilight looked to Fluttershy and her jaw dropped. Her friend's shoulders were thicker than they had been a moment ago and her jaw was a bit firmer as well. She currently had her wings unfurled and was doing her best to cover herself with them.
"Fluttershy? Are you... Are you a stallion?" Twilight asked with wide eyes.
"Mmm hmm," Fluttershy nodded as she turned more and more flush under her friend's gaze.
Twilight looked at how she was covering herself, turning a bit flush herself when she realized what Fluttershy was covering up.
"Eep," she crouched close to the ground as she saw where Twilight's eyes had wandered to. She peeked an eye up to look in the direction of their other friend. "Is... Is Pinkie ok?"
Twilight looked back to where Pinkie Pie was standing. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her friend was unchanged. "Oh thank Celestia, you're ok."
"I think I'm ok," Pinkie looked herself over. "I do feel kinda funny though." Pinkie happily trotted over to them, but then froze when she saw Flutterguy. "Fluttershy's a stallion?"
"Seems that way," Twilight turned to leave. "I think she'll be ok, though. Rarity and Rainbow Dash have it far worse right now."
"Fluttershy looks really good as a stallion," she heard Pinkie say in a sultry voice. Twilight looked back to find that Pinkie was slowly approaching Flutterguy, deliberately swaying her hips as she drew closer.
Flutterguy's eyes went wide as he jumped back to his hooves while his wings flared back. By that point, Pinkie was right next to him and rubbing up against him like a cat. Pinkie slowly made her way around Flutterguy, rubbing against him with every step. At one point, she even lifted her tail and ran it under Flutterguy's chin, a couple of the stray hairs tickling his nose.
"Oh my," said Flutterguy as his nostrils went wide for a moment, breathing in Pinkie's scent.
Pinkie made her way back to the front and looked deep into Flutterguy's eyes. Little hearts could be seen forming in her eyes. A deep blush was painting her features and she was exhaling small warm breaths that tickled Flutterguy's fur.
Flutterguy attempted to backpedal away from Pinkie, Pinkie matching him stride for stride as she kept advancing on the mare turned stallion. "Twilight..." Flutterguy whined. "I think we have a problem."
Twilight looked at them, dumbfounded. One of her eyes twitching as a chuckle escaped the side of her mouth.
The door to the library burst open for the second time that evening. Twilight rushed in, a manic look on her face as she levitated in a drooling and very aroused Pinkie Pie.
Flutterguy was panting hard as he quickly closed the door behind them. He was feeling a lot more self-conscious than normal and pretty sure that absolutely everyone was watching him as they ran across town.
"This is fine. Everything's fine," Twilight sounded a bit off as she dumped Pinkie on the floor.
Once Pinkie was free of Twilight's magic, she wasted no time making a beeline for Flutterguy.
Flutterguy, who had more than enough of the extra attention he had been getting, picked up Pinkie once she was in range. Using the added momentum, he proceeded to flip Pinkie over his head and pin her to the ground.
Pinkie didn't seem to mind the rough treatment she was getting. Instead, she just continued to carry a goofy expression like her birthday had come early.
"What's wrong with them?" Asked a worried Spike from across the room. He was currently sitting beside the Rarity-Rainbow combo and dabbing her forehead with a damp cloth as she lay on her side panting.
"Nothing you need to worry about, Spike. I'll tell you when you're older. Hehe." Giggled Twilight as she staggered over to the table and planted her face on it.
Spike looked over to Flutterguy, who had Pinkie thoroughly subdued at this point. "What's wrong with Twilight?" He asked with no small measure of concern.
The new stallion shared Spike's concern as he looked over to the alicorn sitting at the table. "I think she's more than a little stressed. She's been like that since Smokey got away." He did a quick survey of the rest of the room. "Where's Applejack?" He asked.
"She's in the bath, we had some of the poison joke remedy left over from the last time everypony stepped in it," Spike explained.
"That's great... Just great," Twilight had little pieces of her mane sticking out at odd angles as she picked herself back up from the table. "At least we can do something about Applejack... Haha." She sharply jabbed a hoof in the direction of each of her remaining friends. "But what about everypony else! Fluttershy's suddenly a stallion, Pinkie can't get within a few feet of one without turning into a love-drunk idiot, and them..." Twilight gestured to the remaining mare laying on the floor, "I don't even know where to start with that! GAH!" Twilight was holding her head and slumped back down at the table.
"I lost the Alicorn Amulet, even though I was wearing it. I've had to deal with Sombra today..." She was sobbing at this point. "We can't even use our elements right now if mine's missing. What's Princess Celestia going to think of me?" Some dread could be heard making its way through her voice. "Am I a disappointment? I must be. She hasn't returned any of my letters."
"Twilight... You're not a disappointment to anypony," Spike slowly approached the depressed alicorn. "We've dealt with some crazy things since coming to Ponyville and we'll figure this out too." He placed a comforting claw on her side, hoping to cheer her up.
His claw only rested there for a moment before he quickly pulled it back with a yelp of pain, sparks of pale blue magic jumped off Twilight's fur where his claw had rested. "Ow!" Spike held his now numb claw as he looked up at her, "Twi... Twilight?"
Silence reigned over the room as Twilight slowly looked back up from the table. She heaved lungfuls of air through gritted teeth, her purple eyes began to take on a pale hue to the point they were almost pink. She no longer seemed to notice the tears that were freely flowing from her eyes as stray bits of her mane laid over her face. "Nopony hurts my friends..." She practically growled as more of the unusual magic began to wrap around her body. "Anypony who hurts them is evil. I'll make anyone who hurts them pay!"
Upon her declaration, a cold chill swept through the room as Twilight's body was completely engulfed by the pale magic. The space around her began to crackle and pop as the heat that poured off her body forced her friends to move back a couple steps. The mass of magic that occupied the place Twilight was standing suddenly shot up into the air and tore out an open window. When everyone looked back to where Twilight had just been standing, all they found were scorch marks.