"I'd Like to be a Tree"
"Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!" a pink frog leaped from table to table; hoping to catch the attention of anyone in the crowded room. Unfortunately for Pinkie Pie; the crowd had their eyes glued onto the Planeswalker. As the pink party pony polymorphed into a poisonous puny kept hopping in front of ponies present in the party, a certain blue unicorn was yet to make sense of the situation.
"I...I turned Pinkie Pie into a frog...huh..." Jace mumbled; unaware of the multitude of eyes on him. "Should I turn her back and prepare for the worst...?" He asked himself "Or should I wait it out and prepare for the apprehension of turning one of the Element Bearers into an amphibian...?"
As the mage sat on his haunches just near the doorway, a certain purple unicorn turned her head at the pondering pony. "A transformation spell?!" Twilight Sparkle cried "But that's--"
Jace dismissed her by waving his hoof "Yes, yes, advanced spell." Jace paused "Nothing special."
The mare's mouth hung open in response "Nothing special?!" Twilight Sparkle almost screamed at Jace.
Unfortunately for the blue stallion, it might as well have been a scream. With his ears flattened back, Jace glared at the offending unicorn. "I'm right here you know?" the Planeswalker retorted.
Twilight Sparkle lowered her voice "I--... well its not just any old transformation spell!" The blue unicorn raised an eyebrow.
"Care to explain?" Jace asked; refraining himself from trying to pry open waht was currently on Twilight Sparkles mind.
The Element of Magic nodded, a grim look etched on her face. "Well, Jace, that spell is actually likened to that of Changeling's..."
The blue unicorn raised his other eyebrow; giving Jace a surprised look. "I'm not getting why I'm supposed to be concerned..." scoffed the Planeswalker.
"But--it--doesn't make sense! How could a regular unicorn; be able to perform such a magic bordering on taboo!" Twilight Sparkle cried.
'What fun is there in making sense?...' Jace thought; a grin making it's way to his face. Composing himself; Jace mentally prepared for his short rant. "How could a regular unicorn be able to wield an artifact allegedly only used before a sort of deity in conjunction with the others of it's kind to purify a corrupted Goddess whose powers are level with pre-mentioned being? How could a regular unicorn even vanquish the manifestation of Chaos itself? How could a regular unicorn, with help from her friends; be able to defeat a whole army of Changelings?" The blue mage's grin expanded to a wide-toothed smile. "The simple answer is it's because the regular unicorn might not be that regular after all...Wouldn't you agree?"
"I--but, I--..." The purple mare was at a loss of words.
"RIBBIT!" The eyes in the room were all redirected to the pink blur bouncing at impossible speeds inside said room.
"Oh dear!" Another blur, this time yellow with it's own shade of pink, was tailing the polymorphed Pinke Pie around the room. "Oh, could you please move out of the way? If that's alright with y--" Pinkie Pie leaped on Jace's head; causing the apologetic pony to crash into Jace.
"Oof!"
"Oh dear!"
"Ribbit!"
The blue stallion was sprawled on the oaken floor, a pink frog decorating his mane. "Well...that's one way to make an impression..." The Planeswalker mumbled. As Jace recollected himself from the incident; a certain yellow pegasus was fumbling on her hooves to stand up.
As the pony finally managed to stand upright on all of her hooves; she nervously cast a glance at the mage. "I-I-I'm sorry! Are you alright sir? If you aren't could I--..." the yellow pegasus took a step towards Jace.
The blue Planeswalker magicked Pinkie Pie away from his mane and set her aside. Saying nothing; Jace proceeded to conjure what appears to have been a dome of ice encasing the polymorphed Pinkie Pie. "That should hold..." Jace muttered under his breath "...Now onto more important matters!"
Jace walked over to the dumbfounded pegasus then extended a hoof. "Hello, my name is Jace. Jace Beleren to be exact. Nice to meet another one of the Element Bearers... Kind Fluttershy." As the stallion's hoof appeared in Fluttershy's vision; she let out a squeak.
"Eeeep!--...sorry..." the yellow pegasus hid her face from view with a lock of her pink hair.
Shaking his head, Jace kept a neutral expression "You're too apologetic."
"...sorry..."
Jace's eye twitched, but he knew better than to cast a spell that could reverse this timid pony's personality. And besides, a certain spirit of disharmony already beat him to it. "Fair enough." the Planeswalker declared; lowering his hoof. The time would come when he can talk freely with this one... Perhaps it would be easier to journey into her mind to see what really made her tick...
The unicorn suddenly shook his head furiously; beads of sweat forming around his ears. The thought of another mind peek was...tempting, to say the least. But it would be unnecessary. After all, he had already planned to try to get into their good sides the normal way. It would be refreshing, at least, to socialize; without fear of being stabbed in the back from the shadows. These ponies seemed to be very White in nature indeed.
As Jace tilted his head; thinking all of it through, the ponies around him shared uneasy glances as the ice dome shook with considerable power. Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat, an action that easily captured the attention of the uncomfortable ponies.
"Um...Jace..." the purple mare prodded the Planeswalker with a shaky hoof "I think you should pay a little bit more attention to your--"
*CRACK!*
Shards of ice flew of from the dome prison; showering the ponies with pointed fragments of frozen mana. As the broken pieces started their descent towards the unlucky ones to be caught in the way; a certain pony remained calm throughout the ordeal. With a quick burst of mana from his horn; Jace redirected the shards to fly out a window. With a loud crash; the pieces of ice dropped in an organized manner just outside the library amongst pieces of a broken window.
"...Hope I don't have to pay for that..." Jace mumbled; looking at the bare windowsill.
"WeEeEeEeH! I'm back to normal!" the Planeswalker's ears flattened from the sudden outburst of sound. Hoping it wasn't as it seemed, Jace slowly redirected his head to the source of the sound.
His eyes met the inevitable pink. "HI! I'm Pinkie Pie!--..."
"What did I ever do to deserve this..."
The party wasn't so bad. Unless of course, you count the fact that Jace's ears kept ringing after his one-sided conversation with Pinkie Pie. He just kept nodding and grunting at each of the pink mare's revelations on how funny it was to be transformed. Somehow though, the topic managed to get shifted from transformation to pastries. This is how their conversation went:
"...and then I was like: 'Boing! Boing! Boing!' It was a good thing I always bounced when I walked!-"
Jace nodded.
"-and then Fluttershy was like: 'Oh dear!'--"
Jace grunted.
"--and then I made a cake--"
Jace opened his mouth to retort to the crazed mare just how that was related to the current topic; when a pink hoof shoved a slice of cake in his mouth.
"--Do you like it?" Pinkie Pie's blue eyes looked at him with anticipation. Hesitantly, Jace began to chew as soon as the earth pony's hoof left his mouth. Jace swallowed. The following moment of silence was intense, for Pinkie Pie that is. After a few seconds of contemplation; Jace nodded his head in an energetic manner.
Pinkie Pie let out an excited squeak, then began to ramble about the amazing art of baking.
Needless to say; when Pinkie Pie actually finished talking, Jaces was worn out. He was so tired that he didn't notice a pair of turquoise eyes intently locked on him.
A cyan pegasus flew over to her yellow counterpart "Hey Flu--"
Fluttershy nearly had a heart attack. "Aaa--Rainbow Dash?"
Shaking her head; the cyan pegasus let out a chuckle. "N'ah, I'm a changeling! Rawr!" Rainbow Dash playfully waved her hoof at Fluttershy.
"EEP!" Fluttershy cried; pushing the hoof away.
"Ah--geez, I was just kidding! Pinks was right; you are too, 'skittish' or whatever, to be pranked." Rainbow Dash quickly withdrew her hoof.
Fluttershy looked down at the floor; feeling ashamed for being too...skittish.
"Um..." Rainbow Dash started "...so...why are you checking out the new-guy?"
The Element of Kindness lifted her eyes from the floor, and directed them to her long time friend's own eyes. "W-what? Ch-check out?..."
Rainbow Dash looked back at her fellow pegasus. "Er...yeah; I just noticed you um...seemed to, uh...what was that word again...uh, observe him. Do you...like whatshisface?"
As expected; Fluttershy's face was tinged with a crimson shade. She began to stutter "Oh, nononono, it's not like that!" the yellow mare took a step back. "It's just that um...I--I uh--...wanted a favor to ask him...but, um, I didn't want to seem rudea a-about it...nor too demanding..."
The Element of Loyalty shifted her eyes from her stammering friend to the mentioned pony. He looked like he pulled an all-nighter like Twilight Sparkle or Rarity.
'Huh...wonder what could have made him--oh...Pinkie...' Rainbow Dash spotted her overly-energetic friend bouncing circles around the defeated stallion. The blue unicorn seemed to notice the cyan pegasus staring at him. Jace opened his mouth and began to form a sentence.
"Help Me"
The aspiring Wonderbolt began to think it over. If she managed to rescue 'whatshisface' from Pinkie Pie; he'd owe her a favor. And then she could ask Fluttershy what she wanted from him. So, in a way that the yellow mare wouldn't even have to ask the stallion, Fluttershy would get her wish. Rainbow Dash let out a huff.
It would be done for Fluttershy. The cyan pegasus flared out her wings then flew over to the exhausted unicorn.
Jace noticed a blue pegasus fly over to him. He recognized the mare from Twilight Sparkle's memories; it was Rainbow Dash, the self proclaimed "fastest flier in Equestria!" The Planeswalker let out a sigh. What would she want from him?
Rainbow Dash looped around him for a bit before settling down in front of him. "Hey; newguy! The name's Ra-"
"Rainbow Dash, the allegedly, fastest flier in Equestria. Bearer of the Element of Loyalty."
"Wha--? How'd you--" Rainbow Dash seemed taken aback.
Jace thought for a second; before replying with: "Books."
"Pft...egghead...uh...I mean, yeah that's pretty cool! Looking up at how awesome I am in...books...yeah, hehe..." the cyan pegasus laughed weakly.
The blue unicorn smirked "You're pretty popular, y'know?"
Rainbow Dash stopped laughing. A twinkle appeared in her eyes; she then proceeded to stand upright then huffed out her chest. "I know I am!"
'I suppose feeding her ego is the easiest way to befriend her...' Jace thought.
"So...um..." the pegasus poked Pinkie Pie. "I'm just gonna borrow this guy, 'kay Pinks?"
"Okie Doki Lokie!" the exuberant mare grinned.
Jace gave Rainbow Dash a questioning look "Borrow?"
The pegasus motioned for Jace to come closer. The blue mage complied. "I'm just getting you away from her. You look like you need a break." Rainbow Dash whispered.
"...thanks..."
The Element of Loyalty slapped Jace's back "H'eh...what are friends for?"
'That was quicker than expected...' Jace thought; as he was followed Rainbow Dash to the corner of the room.
'That was easier than I thought...and now...for the Fluttershy part...' Rainbow Dash thought; directing the stallion to where she remembered Fluttershy was moments before. However, instead of a pony; Rainbow Dash was met with the sight of a yellow ball with a mop of pink on top.
The pegasus groaned "Um...hey, newguy?"
"Jace."
"Uh, yeah...can I get you to wait here for a moment?"
The Planeswalker shrugged, "I don't see why not."
Rainbow Dash nodded then proceeded to trot over to the yellow ball. After a few poking and coaxing; the yellow ball uncurled to reveal a blushing Fluttershy. The two pegasi had a quick conversation to which Rainbow Dash ended by shouting "What?!"
Fluttershy curled back into a little ball when the cyan pegasus began to walk over to Jace.
"So...um; this is kinda weird of a request but--..."
In a fit of temporary courage; Fluttershy spoke out, unnatural confidence brimming in her voice "I'd like to be a tree."