New Perspectives

by Alerhys

Part One

Part One

“I can’t thank you enough,” Fluttershy told Applejack as the two ponies walked out behind her cottage. “Are you sure this isn’t too much trouble?”.

“Shucks no,” Applejack replied, “Ah know you been talkin’ about expandin’ your garden for a while now, and what with the last rain an’ all it’s the best time to be pulling out that old tree stump that’s in your way.”

“Oh, that’s so nice of you,” replied Fluttershy. “You’re sure you don’t mind? I just haven’t been able to do a thing about it by myself. It’s so old and hard and tangled and no matter how much I tried I couldn’t budge it.”

“Now don’t you worry, sugarcube. Ah’ve hauled out a ton o’ stumps in my day, an’ this one’s no diff’rent. Just show me the problem an lemme take a look at it.”

Fluttershy led Applejack to the object in question, a misshapen lump that looked as if it could have been as much rock as wood. “Here it is. You can see that my animal friends and I tried to dig it out, but we had to give up. In the end none of them would even go near it.”

Applejack gave the stump an appraising look, then carried over tools and rope from her cart. “That’s a right ugly one for sure. Almost looks like we oughta get Pinkie to come by and laugh at it while we get to pullin’ it up.” She set to work, rigging a framework for a block and tackle and attaching a stout rope to the stump. “Now how it works is that you’ll steady the frame and keep an eye on the stump while Ah’m doing the heavy pullin’,” she explained to Fluttershy, helping her into a harness cabled to the frame’s top. “After it’s out Ah’ll load it on the cart and haul it away.” She positioned Fluttershy behind the stump and made sure the rope was taut, then climbed into the yoke attached to the block and tackle and took her place in front of the recalcitrant stump. “OK, sugarcube, you ready?”

“I... I guess so,” Fluttershy replied.

“All right then. One, two, three, and heave!” Applejack surged forward against her yoke, relaxed, then surged forward again, each tug loosening the stump slightly as Fluttershy flapped backwards against her own rope, keeping the frame braced. “An heave! An heave! It’s givin’ way, Ah kin feel it. One more time, an HEAVE!”

***

Over at Sugarcube Corner, The Cakes found themselves diving for cover as Pinkie Pie suddenly went into convulsions in the kitchen, bits of batter and utensils flying everywhere.

“Woah. I never felt one like that before!”

***

Applejack wasn’t sure what had happened. She felt the stump give way; then as she came to a stop from her final pull it felt as if something twisted her inside out and the world went grey as she struggled to stay on her hooves. As she fought off the dizziness that threatened to envelop her, something cut through the mental fog and brought her back to full attention; Fluttershy’s scream.

Opening and focusing her eyes, she found that she had somehow backed out of the yoke and was facing Fluttershy, who was looking at her own back in shock as Applejack felt a sense of deja vu.

Her wings were missing. There was no sign of injury, no blood; just a bare yellow back under the harness.

“Oh mah gosh, Fluttershy! What happened?”

Fluttershy looked up at Applejack. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened, but no sound came out.

“Fluttershy? Say somethin’!”

“Applejack. Look behind you,” the yellow pony managed to squeak.

Applejack’s whipped her head around, thinking that something was approaching them from the Everfree Forest. She found her line of sight partially blocked by feathers. Orange feathers. Sprouting from her back. “What the hay?” She looked them up and down. There was no doubt about it; she had pegasus wings growing from her back. She looked back toward Fluttershy and found the other pony looking at the hole where the stump had been, which had a few wisps of smoke or perhaps mist coming from it; of the stump itself there was no sign, just the dangling end of a rope from the block and tackle.

Fluttershy looked back up at Applejack. “I don’t understand,” she said quietly. “The stump came up and then I fell down and when I got back up it was all like this.”

“Lemme get you outta that harness, and then we better get Twilight,” Applejack replied.

***

Twilight Sparkle realized that it was going to be one of those days when Pinkie Pie burst into the library with a breathless story about something that was going to be even doozier than the dooziest doozy ever and could her science machine maybe help her figure out what the doozyness was? Her attempts to get Pinkie to explain further had only resulted in a litany of physical symptoms that taken in aggregate made Twilight wonder if Sugarcube Corner could possibly still be standing. Just about the time that she had finally begun to consider if perhaps hooking Pinkie Pie up to the brain scanner might not be productive after all, there came a pounding on the library door.

“Twilight? You at home? We got a real problem here!” came Applejack’s voice.

Twilight started to answer, but before she could reply Pinkie was at the door, throwing it open to reveal Applejack and Fluttershy. She was distracted from the entry of her two friends as Pinkie reared up, performed a back flip, and landed back on her hooves saying “So that’s what my Pinkie Sense was trying to tell me!”

“Pinkie, what in the world are you talking about?” Twilight turned to Applejack and Fluttershy. “Do you two have any idea what she’s talking...” she broke off as she finally took a good look at the pair.

“Yeah, Ah think Ah might have some idea what she’s talkin’ about. You got anything in those books of yours about this kinda thing?” Applejack replied.

“Oh wow Fluttershy did you lend Applejack your wings? Why didn’t you ask me first I would have totally wanted to try them out hey Twilight does that mean I can borrow your horn?” Pinkie interjected, bouncing enthusiastically up and down.

“PINKIE!” Applejack and Twilight shouted in unison. The pink pony stopped and flopped down on her haunches, mercifully silent for the moment.

“Ah cain’t rightly say what happened, Twilight,” Applejack began. “Fluttershy and Ah were just pullin’ out an old tree stump behind her cottage and when it came up everything went crazy and then we were like this.”

Twilight looked over at Fluttershy, who only nodded. Her brow wrinkled in thought. “Spontaneous magical transformations are highly unusual, and usually transitory.” She turned and called up the library stairs. “Spike! I need your help down here!” She paused. “Of course, this could also be something from the Everfree Forest that we’re dealing with. Pinkie, can I count on you for something?”

“You can always count on me, Twilight!” Pinkie responded, saluting. “What can I do you for?”

“Run and get Zecora. There’s no blue spots in evidence, but Poison Joke isn’t the only surprise the Everfree has. I could use her advice on this.”

“Okie Dokey Lokey! I’ll be back with her in a jiffy-wiffy!” and with that Pinkie was out the door.

Meanwhile, Spike had responded to Twilight’s call. “What is it, Twi? I wasn’t finished cleaning upstairs... Oh my gosh, what happened to Fluttershy? And Applejack? Is Discord back?”

“I doubt it, but you had better take a letter to the Princess anyway. But first, I need you to help me find some reference books.”

Fluttershy tried to give Applejack a reassuring smile as Twilight began directing Spike around the library’s shelves. She’d had time to get over her initial shock, and standing in the familiar surroundings of the library tree she found herself feeling more at ease. She didn’t understand what had happened to the two of them, but she was certain that if anypony could get to the bottom of it, it was Twilight.

Twilight looked up from where she had been consulting one of her books and trotted back over to the pair. “Just to be sure, before Pinkie comes back with Zecora I should make sure that this isn’t just a conventional spell effect.” She lowered her head and concentrated, her horn growing brighter and brighter until she released a shining wave of purple and white magic over Applejack and Fluttershy.

Applejack closed her eyes as Twilight’s spell washed over her. Blinking away the afterimage, she looked at her back, then Fluttershy’s, but saw no change. “Ah take it that means what you said.”

Twilight nodded. “I didn’t think it was likely, but I wanted to be sure before I started looking at alternative explanations. Now I can continue my research while we wait for Pinkie to get back with Zecora.” She turned back toward the table where Spike had been dutifully stacking tomes when the library door flew open, revealing not Pinkie or Zecora but a confused Rainbow Dash.

“What the hay is going on, Twilight? I saw Pinkie heading into the Everfree, and when I asked her what was up she gave me this crazy story about Applejack having Fluttershy’s wings...” She broke off, finally registering the sight of the two ponies in question off to the side of Twilight and Spike’s work area. “Wait, it’s true?”

Twilight sighed. “Applejack and Fluttershy encountered some unexplained phenomenon that appears to have transposed their pony types.”

“Unexplained pheno-what? No, never mind. You’re gonna fix Fluttershy, right?”

Applejack’s feathers literally ruffled. “Yer concern is downright touchin’, Rainbow.”

Fluttershy began to say something, but Rainbow Dash cut her off. “What? It’s Fluttershy that has the problem here.”

“Hold on there, it’s not like Ah wasn’t affected too!”

“Yeah, now you’ve got Fluttershy’s wings!”

Twilight attempted to interject. “Actually, Rainbow, that’s not strictly true.”

“What’s not true about it?” Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof at Fluttershy. “No wings.” She pointed at Applejack. “Wings. Seems pretty simple to me.”

Applejack glared at Dash as her new appendages flared. “Dangnabbit, Dash, I didn’t take anything from Fluttershy!”

Rainbow glared back, her own wings flared in return. “So what are those on your back, then?”

Applejack paused, her pinions folding back to her sides. “Uh, well, it was an accident. We just pulled up an old stump and this happened.”

“That’s right,” Fluttershy managed to get in.

“Rainbow, you’re not helping here,” Twilight added. “Zecora and I will figure out what happened, and if we can’t the Princess will. Oh, right! Spike, take a letter.”

Rainbow Dash looked from Fluttershy to Twilight and back again. “Fine. Fluttershy, you let me know if you need anything.” and with that she sped back out the library door and into the sky.

Applejack watched Rainbow Dash take off, her wings starting to open as if she intended to follow, then settling back again. “If that don’t just beat all.”

“Don’t feel bad, Applejack,” comforted Fluttershy. “She doesn’t really mean anything by it.”

Applejack sighed. “Ah reckon not. Ah am sorry about yer wings.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I live in the clouds, after all. I can get by on the ground for a while.”

“Now send that off to the Princess, Spike,” Twilight ordered, having shut the door behind Rainbow Dash with her magic and finished her dictation. “I’ll read up on persistent transformations while we’re waiting for Zecora.”

“Sure thing, Twilight,” replied Spike. He walked over to where Applejack and Fluttershy were standing. “Can I get you anything? Tea, maybe?”

“No thanks, Spike,” Applejack responded, echoed by Fluttershy.

“OK, then. Want me to get things cleaned up in the basement, Twilight?”

“Mm? Oh, yes, that would be a good idea,” she acknowledged, nose already deep in her books.

Fluttershy settled down to wait, finding a cushion and lying down on her side, watching Applejack with a concerned expression as the orange pony shuffled in place, looking from Twilight to the door and back again while avoiding looking back at Fluttershy.

Finally, the scene was interrupted by another knock at the library door. Twilight trotted over and answered it. “Zecora, I’m so glad you were able to make it!” welcomed Twilight. Zecora, clad in her traveling cloak and carrying full saddlebags, entered the library accompanied by Pinkie Pie.

“The pink one’s tale took much explaining, of wings one losing and one gaining; such things are not unknown to me, unusual as they might be.”

“That’s a relief,” said Applejack as she tried to keep Pinkie from poking her and Fluttershy.

“I can tell you that it’s not any sort of conventional magical effect,” put in Twilight. “Any light you can shed on the situation is welcome.”

Zecora walked over to the end of the table that Spike and Twilight had not already covered in tomes and began to unpack her saddlebags. “There grows within the Everfree fungi and herbs of mystery; some have been known to induce change, from harmless pranks to ones most strange.”

Twilight blushed. “We all remember the Poison Joke. Do you think that this is related?”

Zecora finished laying out her bottles and packages. “I must perform some simple tests to indicate the course that’s best.” She indicated that Applejack and Fluttershy should come over, and began to examine them carefully, checking their bodies and looking in their eyes, mouths, and ears while making thoughtful noises. Twilight followed the process with interest, though she was also occupied with preventing the equally intrigued Pinkie Pie from ‘helping’.

Zecora finally concluded her examination and shook her head. “No obvious signs can I perceive, no traces that the change did leave. But this is not cause for despair; I still have treatments to prepare.”

“Now hold on there Zecora. If ya cain’t see any signs of what did this, how can ya treat it?”

Zecora smiled. “The lack is in itself a clue; such subtle causes are but few. If they indeed have caused your plight, I shall attempt to make it right.” and with that she began to select ingredients.

“Not to dispute your expertise, Zecora, but are you sure this approach will work?” asked Twilight.

“You’re right; assumptions traps can be, these ponies safety should be key. My dosages cannot cause harm; there is no need for an alarm.” The zebra expertly mixed her potion, dividing it into two portions and giving it to Applejack and Fluttershy, who drank it down.

“So, that’s it, then?” asked Spike.

Applejack and Fluttershy looked at each other. Nothing seemed to be happening. “Um, how long before it takes effect?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“For caution’s sake I did prepare your dosage with the utmost care; a few hours, a day, no more, should see you as you were before.”

“A day?” exclaimed Applejack.

Zecora nodded. “If to the cause I am correct, that is the time you can expect.”

“That’s fine,” put in Fluttershy. “Thank you very much, Zecora. If you’d like, I’ll walk back to the forest with you.”

Zecora smiled as she put away her ingredients. “I tell you with sincerity, I would enjoy the company.”

“Um, Fluttershy, you mind if Ah stay with you tonight? Just in case an’ all.”

“Not at all, Applejack, if that’s what you want.”

“Thanks. Twi, could you please go out to the farm and let Big Mac know that Ahm, well, kinda indisposed until tomorrow?”

“Sure, AJ, no problem. And I’ll keep up my research, too, just in case.”

“Thanks t’you, too. An Pinkie, Ah’d appreciate it if this whole thing didn’t get talked up all over town. Ah don’t need to be gawked at any more that Ah already have been.”

Pinkie Pie cocked her head, staring at Applejack for a long moment, the nodded, holding one hoof up and the other over her heart. “Pinkie Promise, AJ.”

“Thanks as well, Pinkie.” Applejack walked over to where Zecora had joined Fluttershy by the door, and the three headed out for Fluttershy’s house.