Unwelcome Changes

by Blinky

Chapter 1

Twilight yawned from behind a pile of books. She'd been busy studying for the
last few days. Her concentration was fading, so she decided to take a
break. She could use some fresh air after being in the dusty library for
so long. Twilight pushed through the books and went outside. The cool
evening breeze blew past her as she walked around aimlessly. She was at
the road leading to the farm as she saw two familiar ponies above her.
She looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie sitting at a tall tree.

“Hi girls, what are you doing up there?” Twilight asked as she stood near the tree.

“Oh, it's Twilight. Haven't seen you in a while.” Dash said as she looked
down. Dash flew to the ground followed by Pinkie. Twilight felt like
there was something wrong, but she wasn't sure what.

“We were just taking it easy. Haven't had much to do today.” Dash said.

“Yeah, we were looking around Ponyville. There's a great view up there!” Pinkie said and folded her wings. Wait a minute...

“Wings? Pinkie, you've got wings!” Twilight said, unable to believe what she
saw. Her mouth was stuck open as she looked at the pink wings on
Pinkie's side. Pinkie just shrugged.

“I sure do!” She answered.

“Bu-but you're an earth pony! They don't have wings!” Twilight said, shocked.

“Huh? I was born as a pegasus” Pinkie said.

“That can't be true...” Twilight said. She was sure her friend had been an
earth pony. She hadn't shut herself in the library long enough for her
to forget something that important. She tried to think of an
explanation.

“Ah, I get it. You got me, girls.” Twilight said and pulled Pinkie's wings.
She expected them to feel fake, but the feathers on them felt very real.
They were firmly connected to her sides. There's no way you could make
wings that accurate with magic.

“You okay, Twilight? Did you hit the books so hard you got amnesia? “ Pinkie
asked, confused as to why Twilight was groping her wings.

“You're acting weird. You really should get out more.” Dash agreed.

“W-what's going on? I know you didn't have wings the last time I saw you!” Twilight said.

“She's always had them. We even went to flight school together. Remember that
time we rigged the teacher's stopwatch?” Dash asked Pinkie.

“Yeah, he didn't even realize something was wrong until everypony had the same time! His face was priceless!” Pinkie said.

“I, uh... Gotta go.” Twilight said and sped off towards Ponyville. She
couldn't stand seeing their worried faces anymore. They didn't look like
they were pulling a prank at all. What in Celestia's name was going on?
Twilight thought she might have fallen asleep while studying. She
stopped to gently poke herself in the cheek. Ow! The pain felt very
realistic. How is she supposed to explain this if it isn't a dream?
Maybe she was hallucinating. She looked around for someone she could
talk to. She saw a pink pony with a blonde mane walking ahead of her.
Perfect!

“Hey, Lily!” Twilight called out to her. She liked gossip, so she should know if anything weird was going on.

“Hi Twi!” She replied in her high voice as she looks at her.

“I know this is a dumb question, but I have to ask it. What race is Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked.

“A pegasus. That's, like, really obvious.” Lily said without hesitating.

“Y-yeah, it sure is. I've been away for a few days, did anything happen?
Fluttershy didn't turn into a tree or anything, right?” Twilight made a
poor joke to hide her nervousness.

“Nah, it's been so boring. Let me know if you hear anything interesting, okay?” She answered.

“Sure thing, bye!” Twilight said and left. Even though another pony just
confirmed it, Twilight still couldn't believe what she'd seen. She had
to ask somepony else. Spike seemed like a good choice. Twilight returned
to the library. It was dark and quiet inside. The only sound inside was
quiet snoring coming from upstairs. Spike must have fallen asleep while
she was away. He hated being woken up, so she decided not to ask him
after all. Maybe her friends were right. She hadn't slept much recently.
She couldn't think straight while she was half-asleep like this. This
might all seem ridiculous in the morning. She'll realize that Pinkie had
been a pegasus all along and she had just been going crazy tonight.
Hoping that would be the case, Twilight crawled into bed. She covered
herself with the comfy sheet and fell asleep almost immediately.

Twilight woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside. She opened her eyes to
find that it was already bright outside. She must have slept late. She
got up from the bed and stretched. She felt much better than yesterday. A
good night's sleep can do wonders. Yesterday's events felt like a
nightmare now. She walked downstairs to find Spike eating breakfast at
the table. She greeted him as she sat down and joined him. She started a
conversation as she put butter on her bread.

“I think I've been studying a bit too much recently. I need to take a break before I go crazy from overwork.” Twilight said.

“That's what I've been trying to tell you. Don't be like the old Twilight,
Celestia was worried about you for a reason.” Spike said.

“Yeah, I guess you're right. There's just so much I want to learn. Whenever I
see a book I haven't read, I just want to know what's inside. It's kinda
like Fluttershy is with the wounded animals, only I can't resist taking
books with me.” Twilight said.

“Who's Fluttershy?” Spike asked. Twilight felt her heart sink as she heard
Spike ask it as if he had no idea. Looks like this nightmare wasn't over
yet.

“You know, the shy pegasus who took such an interest in you.” Twilight told him.

“I don't remember anypony like that.” Spike said. Twilight had a really bad feeling about this.

“R-really. Oh! I just remembered I have an important meeting with, uh, Celestia!
Gotta run!” Twilight said and quickly got up. She hit her hoof at the
table as she rushed away. She didn't have time to worry about the pain,
as she had to get rid of her bad premonition. There's just no way it
could've happened. She ran towards Fluttershy's hut. She cringed when
she saw Pinkie floating near Sugarcube Corner on the way.

“Good morning Twilight! What's the rush? I'm glad you got out of that dusty
old library, though. I missed you!” Pinkie said as she flew behind
Twilight. She'd usually be happy to hear that, but seeing her flying
just made her feel more disturbed right now.

“Morning. I really need to see Fluttershy. I have the feeling something happened to her.” Twilight said.

“Why would you think that? She's the same as ever, she doesn't do much.”
Pinkie answered. Twilight felt relieved to her Pinkie still remembered
her. She ran outside of Ponyville onto the path leading to Fluttershy's
home. From far away, she thought the house was still there. However, it
didn't look the same as she got close. Instead of her brown house made
of wood, there was now an oddly colored tree. It was yellow with pink
leaves. Twilight's worst fear had come true. She felt her hooves give
away and lied down. Pinkie landed on the ground and looked down at her
with a worried expression.

“You okay? You sure don't look like it.” Pinkie said.

“Just tell me this. Does that tree have a name?” Twilight asked.

“It's called Fluttershy!” Pinkie said.

“You're kidding, right? This is a very elaborate prank directed at me from everypony in Ponyville, isn't it?” Twilight asked.

“It's not. What's there to prank about? That tree's been there as long as I
can remember. I don't get what about it makes you look so sad. Tell me
if there's something I can help with, I can't stand seeing you like
that.” Pinkie said, sounding unusually serious.

“I know Fluttershy was a pony. We all got together and formed the elements
of harmony. Don't you remember?” Twilight said. Tears were forming in
her eyes.

“The elements of what now?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh no. You can't be serious.” Twilight said in disbelief.

“I'm afraid I am. Come on, you really need a hug.” Pinkie walked up to her
and offered her hoof at Twilight. She grabbed it and got up. Pinkie put
her hooves around Twilight's neck. Twilight broke down in tears.

“There, there. Just let it all out. We'll talk after you've calmed down.”
Pinkie said gently. Her hooves felt warm and comforting. Wings or not,
she was still the same person Twilight knew. The race of her friends
didn't matter to Twilight. It was shocking to see it wasn't what she
remembered it to be, but it wasn't that important. Fluttershy's change
felt much worse for her. She had so many good memories of them together.
Now she's suddenly a tree? Twilight couldn't accept that. There had to
be a reason for why all of this was happening. Twilight was determined
to find the cause and return everything back to normal.