Lucky Horseshoes

by Foal Star

Chapter Six: The Experiment

A few days after the rodeo, Lucky looked rather nervous as she trotted alongside Applejack to Twilight's castle; she asked, "So…you think Twilight can figure out what happened to me?"

"Yeah, if anypony can help us, it'll be her."

They continued to the door, gave a few knocks, and waited until Twilight opened and squealed, "Applejack! Lucky I've been waiting for you!"

She hugged the two, then led the mares into her castle and said, "So what brings you two here!? Pinkie's coming home party isn't until tomorrow?"

"Oh, we need you to help us with something; we uh came to tell ya something.":

"Yes, what's that?"

The brown-coated mare shivered as she explained, "Well, the short story, I was once a stallion named Trouble Shoes, and I was turned into a mare with a magical Mirror Pool."

Twilight just blinked and then cried, "Uh…what!? Who!? How!?"

Applejack assisted Twilight to a chair. Lucky sat down and revealed everything to her, starting with her life as Trouble Shoes, finding the map, and discovering the Reversal Pool. After Lucky told her tale, Twilight couldn't help but check the brown-coated mare over, being astounded by what she saw: "Wow, you're actually a mare!? I've heard of magic that can swap the gender of ponies but never would I imagine seeing it myself."

Lucky cheeks were a burning red being exposed in such a manner; at this point, she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to stay a mare, but she was indeed no longer distraught about the gender change and explained, "It's not the gender that bothers me as Applejack explained. I like my new life, but there's some weird curse where my old bad luck is rubbing off on ponies, and I want that gone."

Twilight was writing down notes in a notebook and nodded as she reviewed everything Lucky had told her. "So you want to stay a mare with your new cutie mark but without the curse? That is quite a conundrum. So can you explain how this pool works again?"

Lucky sighed, seeming to be exhausted from telling her story, and continued, "Well, it's a magical pool that reverses everything about you, from your cutie mark and gender. I also think I sort of had a personality change. I'm not usually this talkative since turning into a mare."

Twilight jotted some things down in a notebook as she nodded, then said, "I see…well, it sounds a bit like the magical waters that made me and my friends went a bit nuts."

"Ya kiddin' me right!? A bit nuts!? We were downright evil!" Applejack exclaimed as she got somewhat scared and shouted, "Oh, Buck! You don't think Lucky is turning evil!?"

Twilight thought about the possibility for a second but then shook her head and said, "No, doesn't seem so… this bad luck, you say? Is it noticeable?"

Applejack and Lucky gave each other worried looks, and the brown-coated mare replied, "Throughout the rodeo, our other competitors constantly messed up to the point they looked like amateurs. It happened too often just to be mere coincidence."

"I see; well, there's only one way to prove this theory. We will need to do an experiment."

Applejack and Lucky both cried out in unison. "Experiment!?"

Twilight looked over her notes again, then replied again, "Yes, an experiment. If what you say is true, maybe it's like this old magical artifact I read about known as the monkey's paw.'

"What's that?"

Twilight took a chalkboard, drew a severed paw, and explained, "Well, legends say the monkey's paw will grant the user three wishes. The wishes will be granted, but there is always a catch. If you wished for more bits, you'd get them, but somepony you love could get hurt in exchange for those bits. You see what I mean?"

Lucky nodded along and said, "Ok? So what you're saying is the only way to remove this curse is to change back? Or am I just stuck giving bad luck to ponies?

"Well, not exactly sure if we can learn the properties of the pool, then maybe we can learn of a way to keep your new life without this curse." Twilight's cheeks flushed red, and continued, "I will have to conduct the experiment myself."

"What kind of experiment?" Applejack said, "You're not planning to take a dip into the mirror pool yourself, right?"

Twilight rolled her eyes, being a bit annoyed by Applejack's overprotective nature, then said, "Well, yes, of course, I need to see if I'll have a similar curse as Lucky here or end up with something else entirely." The violet-coated alicorn turned to face Lucky and said, "Now, you remember the way to the pool?"

"Yes, I still have the map."

She then pulled out the map from under her hat; it was crinkled and torn but overall still readable. Twilight took the map and held it close to her chest, and squealed. "this is wonderful! We should go right away. I'm curious about this mirror pool."

Applejack looked unsure, but Lucky gave her a reassuring smile and then turned to Twilight. "Well, if you insist, I'll lead you to it; follow me."

---

It didn't take long for the group of mares to end up at the pool again, looking like a pool of liquid metal. Twilight then came over with the other to the pool's edge, looking at her reflection. "This looks really familiar."

Applejack eyed her friend and asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Twilight shook her head and explained, Well, no, but I'm not going to let my friends or Spike do this seeing we don't know what can happen."

She then closed her eyes and cried, "Wish me luck!"

Lucky cheeks flushed pink, and exclaimed, "I grant you luck!"

This got a burst of laughter from the group when Twilight jumped into the silvery liquid. Applejack and Lucky watched in anticipation. The mare in question kicked and whined as she felt her body morphing, becoming bigger and feeling as if she was drowning at the same time. She then started to climb out of the pool heaving and feeling her massive body. Twilight came out of the pool but not as a mare. What stood before them was no longer a small bookish mare but a stocky muscle-bound stallion with her new cutie mark as a sword glowing radiance.

Twilight then trotted over to a nearby pond, bent her head over, looked at her reflection, saw her short cut mane and squared jaw, and replied in a deeper voice. "Woah!? I do look a lot like my brother."

The former mare lit her horn, lifted a rusty sword with her mouth, and swung it about, cutting down a few trees. Twilight lifted a rock with a hoof and threw it clear over a small pond seeing it skip a dozen times across the surface. She then picked up a rusty sword and used it to chop down a tree in half and let out a whistle." Dang, didn't expect that!"

Applejack scratched her head and commented, "So you're like Shining Armor 2.0?"

Twilight couldn't help but snicker, "Yeah, basically, but what's my curse?"

The mare then tried levitating her flask to drink and winced in pain as she rubbed her horn in pain. Twilight then used her hoof to gulp down water from her flask.

The orange-coated earth pony ran over and asked, "Twilight are you ok?"

Still feeling pain in her forehead nodded, then admitted, "Yeah, I'm fine; it just hurts to use magic."

The violet alicorn then blinked, realizing her curse, and exclaimed, "I think that's my curse. I'm super strong, but it hurts to use my magic!"

Applejack eyed her friend and asked, "But is that just you being the opposite of your old self?"

Twilight wasn't sure she would have to live in this body to see if Applejack's hypothesis was confirmed. "Maybe, I'll stay like this for a day or two. But I think we nailed it on the head."

The farm mare was still concerned and said, "Ok, but if you wana change back, let us know, ok?"

"I'll be fine, promise." Twilight then got up, and the two mares trotted out of the Everfree Forest together with their muscle-bound stallion in tow.

---

Two days go by as Lucky, and Applejack trotted back to Twilight's castle, both being nervous about what to expect, only to find the former mare outside using a shiny new sword cutting down ponies made of hay. The violet alicorn looked over and waved a hoof, "Hey, what's up!?"

Lucky was amazed at the athleticism Twilight was able to pull off and exclaimed, "Wow, you're really good!?"

"I think my brother is better at this stuff than me. I just had to get some energy out." The mare then sheathed the sword and took a swig of water with her magic, wincing as she put her water skin down.

Looking rather nervously, Lucky asked, "So what's your conclusion?"

The violet stallion looked over her notes and said, "I think you might be right. I've noticed my magical ability is no better than a foal's. I can barely levitate small objects, and even trying to use my magic hurts, which mostly causes it to fizzle."

"So the curse is different for everypony who uses the pool?"

Twilight closed her notebook as she proclaimed, "That's my theory as of now unless you think we could use a third variable?"

The orange-coated earth pony shook her head and said, "I think we seen eno-"

"Oh, let me try!"

Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie bounded over, looking rather excited. "I would love to see myself as a stallion! It sounds exciting!"

She bounced to Lucky and squealed, "Oh, and congratulations on winning the rodeo. I loooved hearing how you saved Applejack, so I'm going to throw a super awesome party for you again!"

Lucky looked somewhat nervous and stammered, "Why, thanks, Pinkie, but um…did you overhear everything?"

Pinkie blushed and said, "Um...I always knew you were a stallion. I get a weird twitch in my tail when I know somepony changed their gender. It doesn't happen often; I also assumed you were giving other ponies bad luck seeing what happened to Rainbow Dash. But seeing you're just trying to be yourself if I can help see if we can reverse your bad luck disease, then Pinkie's here to help!"

She then bounced over to Twilight and placed a hoof to herself, "I, Pinkie Pie, am willing to be your guinea pig for the day! Especially if you have any food pellets!"

Twilight saw how excited Pinkie was but wanted to temper her expectations. "But Pinkie, you won't just be a stallion; you'll be different. I can't even cast the simplest of spells. You might be unable to set up parties or be stuck up like Blueblood."

Pinkie stopped bouncing, plopped onto her rump, tapped a hoof to her chin, and pondered aloud, "Oh, right? If I'm the opposite of myself, I think I might be like my sister Lime Pie," The pink earth pony shivered at the thought and then said, "Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

Lucky shook her head and asked, "But Twilight still has her personality; she still loves to read, right?"

Twilight slowly nodded, seeing what Lucky was implying, then said, "Yeah, you're right. I love to read, and overall I don't feel different other than the fact I'm a stallion."

Lucky flashed a smile of agreement and said, "It's just the gender swap may change some things about you, but it doesn't change who you are on the inside."

"Ok! Well, I might as well try it! And I can always change back to normal, right!?"

Twilight turned to the brown-coated mare with a sheepish look seeing she didn't know how to answer Pinkie Pie's question. Lucky simply shrugged and said, "I…I assume you just jumped back into the pool to reverse the changes."

"Well, we can go and see what happens. Besides, I'm ready to turn back into a mare."

"Alright, enough talking let's get going!" Pinkie Pie squealed; she then led the mares into the Everfree Forest as they went to find the mysterious Mirror Pool.

---

The group of mares were now once again back at the Mirror Pool. Twilight closed her eyes, jumped into the silvery water, and cried as her body morphed back to a mare, and as she crawled out of the pool, Applejack and Lucky both sighed in relief, seeing that the pool turned their friend back to normal. Twilight was still nervous and slowly levitated a rock nearby, then let out a sigh of relief and said, "Thank Celestia, everything's back to normal."

"Ok, it's my turn!" Pinkie Pie jumped into the air and cannonballed into the pool. As the metallic liquid rippled, everypony waited patiently then they watched as a handsome-looking stallion trotted out of the pool. Pinkie Pie still had her pink coat and bubble gum pink colored mane, but it was now combed over, with her tail looking similar; she now had a gleam in her eye, and her cutie mark was changed to a bouquet of flowers.

Lucky came over and asked, "So…do you feel different?"

The former party pony shrugged and said, "Not really, but instead of parties, I'm thinking of many wedding ideas. I heard Matilda and Cranky are getting married soon. I should plan their wedding!"

Instead of bouncing, the stallion skipped about with an air of grace while sipping tea as she chimed, "I think we should go for a simple wedding. Cranky hates surprises and would prefer a small-scale wedding. Also, I think we should have them decide on a wedding cake stat!"

The rest of the ponies ran after her as Twilight asked, "That's good and all, but we don't need you to plan Cranky's wedding; we're here to see how the Mirror Pool is affecting you."

Pinkie Pie slammed a hoof to her face and scoffed, "Of course, how silly of me!" She tapped a hoof to her chin, then an idea popped into her head, and she then pulled out her party cannon, with the barrel of the cannon now a pristine white with wheels made of gold. "Let's see what this shoots out!?"

Before anypony could object, Pinkie lit the end of the wick, and it exploded, sending out bouquets of flowers and doves flapping across the trees.

Twilight was astounded as she went and wrote down some more notes and said, "ok, it seems you're more of a wedding planner now, but what's your curse?"

Pinkie Pie paused as she sipped her tea, "Not sure?"

Lucky tapped a hoof to her chin, "well, Pinkie seems to be more refined; could that be her curse?"

"Nah, she may be sipping tea and stuff, but she's still acting like Pinkie," Applejack commented. She looked up to see the sun setting and added, "We should get going; it's gonna get dark soon."

The mares then slowly trotted through the forest as Pinkie Pie pranced delicately, sipping her tea; they then came across some mud. Lucky and the others just trotted through it without care, but Pinkie Pie gracefully pranced over it; she blinked and gasped, "Huh?"

She tried to splash her body, but a napkin came out of nowhere to block the liquid from touching her. Pinkie then ran over to the nearby pond and tried to jump in, but then a Swan Boat appeared out of nowhere, catching her from getting wet. The pink party pony then returned to land with a frown on her face and plopped onto her rump onto the ground as a pillow somehow appeared under her flank; she cried, "I think I know my curse! I…I can't get dirty!"

The rest of the mares giggled, and Lucky added, "Well, what doesn't sound too bad?"

Pinkie then burst into tears as she wailed, "It's awful!? That means I can't get cake batter all over me when I'm baking or get my face messy when eating strawberry jam-filled donuts!" she then placed her hooves over her face and cried, "Or pour flour over myself to calm down the Cake Twins! My life is ruined!" Pinkie Pie then continued to wail, and Applejack was the one who trotted over and snapped, "Calm down, you can just change back like how Twilight did."

The downtrodden stallion dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief and stammered, "R…right…but if I can't get dirty, can I still use the pool!?"

Everypony gave each other nervous looks, unsure if Pinkie Pie's curse won't let her return to normal. They went back to the Mirror Pool, and Pinkie Pie didn't hesitate to jump in and came back out as the bubble mare they all knew. The pink party pony then jumped into a mud puddle and rubbed the muck over herself as she cried out with glee, "Yay! I can get dirty again! Thank Celestia!"

Everypony was somewhat stunned as Twilight was jotting down some notes as she was rather used to Pinkie's antics and said, "Ok…so based on our experiments, I can come to a firm conclusion that every individual receives a different curse when they become the opposite of themselves. But even with this knowledge, we are nowhere near our goal."

Lucky paused and said, "I actually learned of this place from a mysterious golden brown pegasus. She looked familiar. I think I saw her face in a book before?"

It didn't take long for Twilight to figure out what Lucky was talking about, and became surprised seeing that Lucky met a high-profile author/adventurer and exclaimed, "Wait, you met Da- I mean AK Yearling!?"

"Yeah, I think that's the author of those Daring Do books, right?"

The princess of friendship gave a few nods as Lucky seemed confused and asked, "So what about her?"

The violet alicorn paused and tapped a hoof to her chin, and said, "I know her, and you're right; if she's the one who gave you this map, she might be the one to help us learn about this pool."

"So that's our next stop; hopefully, she won't mind." Lucky sighed, seeming to be a bit worried about meeting the pegasus again.

The moon then was raised with the last of their daylight fading. Applejack added, "You think we can do all that tomorrow? We reeeally should be getting out of the Everfree Forest about now."

Some howls of some Timberwolves made everypony cry out in freight, and Twilight squeaked in freight then quickly said, "Right, let's convene on this tomorrow."

The mares then all ran off out of the Everfree Forest, heading back to Ponyville as fast as they could. Twilight was still happy with herself and somewhat intrigued by her opposite form and thought it would be fun to run a few more experiments with it. But she would taper her curiosity for now until they helped Lucky.

Comments

[Phetiamwantip]

So far, so good on this new chapter, Foal Star. I enjoyed it, can't wait to see Lucky participate in the Iron Pony Competition. Keep your dreams alive. Achieving anything requires faith, belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember, all things are possible for those who believe.

Here's a song that you will never give up. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/S2IAyahouk8

[Poparakelis]

Applejack and Lucky gave each other worried looks, and the brown-coated mare replied, "Throughout the rodeo, our other competitors constantly messed up to the point they looked like amateurs. It happened to often to just be mere coincidence."

Too*

[Phetiamwantip]

As much as I like your Lucky Horseshoes story. Trouble Shoes would enjoy being lucky, and he and Applejack do great at Canterlot Rodeo. I'm sure he'll always be lucky, making his life better and happier than ever imagined.

And you, Foal Star, are the most special person ever. Also, I'm a girl and purchased Grammerly already, so everything's cool now.