After Rainbow Dash makes a desperate, angry wish on a star, she finds herself in an extremely tough position. Can she help her friends return to normal before time runs out?
"Well it's not my fault that Twilight couldn't just fix it with her freaky magic!" she shouted.
"Well it is yer fault fer breakin' it in the first place!" Applejack retorted. Fluttershy sobbed wildly beside Pinkie Pie, who was also sobbing. Rarity was patting them on the back while Twilight was carefully carving a stone.
"Fluttershy darling, Eloise is in a better place now." Rarity cooed, lifting the broken shards of fishbowl with her magic and placing them in the trash. Twilight let her stone fall gently. It was shaped like a goldfish, with words inscribed onto it.
Eloise Fluttershy's beloved fish Rest In Peace
Fluttershy hugged the stone tightly before placing it back onto the ground in front of the grave of her poor fish. She had never been more angry at Rainbow Dash in her life. It kept coming back to her in little scenes, the way Rainbow had killed her fish.
"Um, Rainbow Dash, maybe you shouldn't do this indoors..." she cautioned. Rainbow Dash flipped, and then began to fly around the room, getting faster and faster.
"Rainbow Dash! Stop!" Fluttershy called. Rainbow ignored her. "STOP!" she screamed, diving to protect the few animals she had reached. Then, a horrible crack broke out, Rainbow had kicked the fishbowl. She stopped in her tracks and turned around, Twilight racing out of the kitchen with a gasp. Her and Fluttershy desperately dove to catch the bowl, but neither of them reached it in time, and it hit the ground. Rainbow, not noticing what she had done, continued her indoor tornado, sweeping up the glass and causing it to fly around the room, also drying out Eloise instantly.
A scream pierced the room, it was Pinkie Pie. She collapsed to the ground with most of the glass sticking out of the side of her body. Applejack and Rarity instantly rushed out of the kitchen, and gasped when they saw Pinkie Pie. Applejack's eyes watered slightly as she spoke.
"Pinkie Pie, stay still, I'll take out the glass." she choked. Pinkie nodded and sniffled as she bled. Rarity yanked out bandages from Fluttershy's Emergency Emergency Kit, for when the Emergency kit was out of reach, and pulled out several bandage rolls.
Pinkie sat, goz heavily coating half of her body, crying over her pain and Fluttershy's fish. Rainbow Dash sighed as she laid a hoof on Fluttershy's shaky shoulders. Fluttershy froze and whipped around.
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU MURDERER!" she screamed. Rainbow staggered back and fell onto her bottom, rolling over.Everybody was taken aback by Fluttershy's volume as she panted in frustration. Twilight locked up her mind in the same mood as Fluttershy.
"I can't BELIEVE you just killed Eloise! Rainbow, you cared more about your stupid trick than Fluttershy's LIVING ANIMALS!" she stamped her hoof hard against the ground to emphasize her final words. Rainbow shrunk down slightly. Her friends gave her looks that could kill if they wanted to, like a deadly laser that could fire at any moment
As soon as she felt a tear in her eye, she knew she was done. She threw up her wings and burst off like a firework, plowing through Twilight's bookcase and wall. Twilight stood in shock at her demolished wall, then fainted.
Rainbow stared out from the balcony, looking across the starlit sky. She always loved the stars, the way they simply exploded with light in the sky, but never, ever had she seen a star like this one she saw tonight. It had four points, each sparkling a different color. She had heard tales from her mother and father about this amazing star. If you wished on it, your wish would surely come true. The one night they saw one, they had wished for Rainbow Dash, and now here she was. It had to work, it had to!
She closed her eyes and muttered one tiny little phrase that only the wind could hear before it was carried away.
"I wish my friends were different."
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes and flopped back onto her bed, which suddenly caused a horrible pain to hit her stomach. She was going to throw up. She raced to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.
Fluttershy's wings burst open and crumpled up as she threw up, she had never been this sick in her life. A tiny little knock was heard on her door. "Not now angel bunny!" she sobbed, brushing her pink mane aside and hurling again.
Rarity cried in pain as her stomach contorted, grabbing the bucket beside her bed and filling it. "Sweetie Belle! I need a new ice pack!" she cried, filling up the bucket some more and crying.
Twilight had a very strong stomach. She always had one, from the very moment that she was born. All this meant is that she was put in horrible pain, late that night, unable to throw up. An empty bucket was beside her bed, and Spike was holding an ice pack to her head.
"Need anything else?" he asked sympathetically. Twilight sobbed and shook her head.
Applejack was pretty much in the same position, wrapped up in her blanket sobbing in pain.
Pinkie sobbed as she vomited into her toilet, wondering if the glass had been infected some how.
When Rainbow finally awoke, she stretched out her arms, feeling as healthy as can be. Her wings even felt weightless! Completely weightless! As if they weren't even there! Rainbow squeaked as she whipped around to look at her back, which certainly did not sport wings, just as her flank didn't sport a cutie mark, and just as her head sported a horn. How on earth was she going to explain this?!
Rainbow cautiously looked around her surroundings, tears forming in her eyes as she saw where she was. She was on the ground, directly under her precious cloud layer. gasping, she jumped into a bush to hide. She had to conceal herself, she had to find a way to make sure she couldn't be seen like this. She poked at her horn.
"Hey you! Start making some magic, ok? I need to get back up there!" she demanded, focusing all her energy into her horn. She gasped as she was lifted off the ground and started going higher and higher until she was in the clouds, specifically in her cloud house. Then, there was a blast of magenta magic, and she landed on the puffy clouds, without falling through. She dashed over to her closet and grabbed a nice, casual hat and placing it over her horn. Biting her lip, she looked for something to cover up her lack on wings.
Then, it hit her. She raced to her cabinet and pulled out her emergency bandaging kit, adding some padding to the sides before wrapping her torso in it, to give the look of broken wings. Wings. It made her eyes tear up just to think of the word. She would never fly again, and she certainly would NEVER become a Wonderbolt.
Rarity rubbed her groggy eyes and yawned, using her magic to toss the blanket off of her. But she still felt the weight of something over her body, what was it? Her eyes fluttered open at the questionable scene. The blanket still sat nicely flattened over her body, having not moved an inch.
"What's wrong, horn?" she asked aloud, grimacing as she manually moved the blanket, hopping out of the bed and casually approaching the mirror. When she stepped in front of it, she released a deadly scream that shook Ponyville. Sweetie Belle came racing into the room her eye mask pushed up to her forehead. When she saw Rarity, she fainted.
Pinkie Pie flew out of bed like she did every morning, bouncing off the wall and firing into her shower, flicking on the hot water and spinning around, flying out of the showing again after flicking off the water, and quickly brushing her teeth while vibrating like a motor. She then flung herself into her cabinet where she pumped up her puffy hair, then backflipped down the stairs and into her seat at the breakfast table. She sighed happily as she leaned back and relaxed.
"Speedy, deedy, and ready to eaty!" she yipped. The Cakes all stared at her in shock, Mr. cake dropped the soapy plate in his mouth, letting it break on the floor. Pumpkin Cake gasped and smiled at Pinkie, staring at her forehead.
"Pinkie Pie! You're...you're...you're..." Mr. Cake stammered. Pound Cake huffed and turned away from Pinkie.
"You're a UNICORN!" Mrs. Cake gasped. Pinkie looked up at her head and gasped excitedly.
"Omigosh! I can do super duper fun tricks now! I can make things! And fix things! And all sorts of other fun stuff! I can't wait to tell Twilight! This is amazing!" she screeched. Then, her gaze drifted to her flank. It was surely blank. Pinkie shrugged and grabbed some icing off the shelf, using it to paint a beautiful balloon cutie mark on her flank before firing out the door, going so fast that the icing instantly flew off again, messing the floor.
Mrs. Cake signed, and left to get a mop.
Fluttershy woke up to being repeatedly slapped in the face by little paws. "Angel Bunny what's wrong?" she asked her fluffy friend. Angel rolled her eyes and pointed to her back, obviously telling her that she had no wings. Fluttershy almost broke out in tears before realizing that she barely ever used her wings anyway, and they were pretty much just taking up body space. Then, Angel slapped her flank. Hard. Fluttershy gasped and covered it with her tail.
"Angel Bunny! That really isn't appropria-"
Then, she realized what Angel was saying. Her cutie mark was gone. She gasped, and fell back onto her pillow, passed out.
Rainbow flicked her tail over her flank, walking down the streets of Ponyville, extremely paranoid. She was looking all around her, making sure nobody was eyeing her. In her trance, she didn't notice Twilight in front of her, and they collided, knocking each other over, and causing Twilight's baseball cap to fly off, but before Rainbow could see Twilight's lack of horn, Spike had caught the hat and jammed it back onto Twilight's head, helping her up. Rainbow Dash screamed and burst up into the air, her horn shooting a bolt of magic, burning up her hat. Twilight gasped as Rainbow Dash's horn was revealed.
Rainbow sighed, and removed her fake bandages with her magic, and moving her tail. Twilight sighed too, removing her hat and earning a wince from Spike, who didn't know quite how to react.
"Do you have any idea what happened?" Twilight asked. Rainbow gulped and began to sweat. How was she going to lie to Twilight? What could she say?
"No." she choked out. Twilight and Spike both gave her a quizzical look, detecting something was wrong, but before they could speak, a giant pink ball of energy crashed into Twilight, pinning her to the ground.
"Well, we don't know what happened, but Rainbow is a unicorn, you're a unicorn and I'm an EARTH PONY!" Twilight fumed. Spike racked his head for some kind of explanation before shrugging, and picking Twilight's hat up off the ground.
"So why don't we just research it back at the library, Twilight?" he asked.
"Race you there!" Pinkie squealed, vanishing.
"Oh, you're on!" Rainbow bragged, vanishing along with her. Twilight groaned and began to gallop home. When she returned, the two new unicorns were ripping books from the shelves, making Spike frown.
"Spike, see if you can find a book on random breed changing." she instructed. Spike nodded and ran off to the back of the library, returning several minutes later with the perfect book. He flopped it down on the table and flung it open, letting Twilight read aloud.
"Some ponies may experience mythical changes such as gaining or losing wings or horns. These changes commonly occur when a pony wishes on a Rainbow Star, (see A Guide to Rainbow Stars) specifically for something to change. Pinkie, did you wish for anything on a Rainbow Star?"
Pinkie shook her head and shrugged. Twilight wished desperately that she could perform a lie detector spell, but she couldn't.
"Rainbow?"
"No way! What's a Rainbow Star?" she lied. Pinkie frowned and powered up her horn, performing the spell that Twilight had been desperate to use.
"She's lying!" Pinkie gasped, and Twilight grimaced.
"RAINBOW DASH! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" she screamed.
Rainbow's face heated up instantly, and she began to stammer out the first things she could think of. "Well, you guys were just being so mean to me...I...I just...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she cried. Twilight sighed.
"I guess what's important is getting us back to normal. I'll try and find a spell that can fix this, then I'll just cast it and we can go -" Twilight stopped in her tracks, realizing quickly that she definitely couldn't perform magic, and none of her new unicorn friends were advanced enough to perform such a spell. Tears formed in her eyes as she realized that she was never getting her horn back. And it was all Rainbow's fault. Twilight went silent for several moments before leaving the library without a word, and galloping away to cry.
Fluttershy smiled at her reflection and relaxed as the birds ran brushes through her long pink hair. When they finally finished, she trotted happily out of the house, only to immediately come face to face with Rarity.
"Do you want these?!" she screamed, pointing at her wings. Fluttershy was slightly taken aback by the statement, and since Rarity obviously didn't want them at all, Fluttershy slowly nodded, confused.
"Oh, Fluttershy, thank you, thank you! I just woke up like this and I don't have a horn or cutie mark, but I do have these..." she gagged. "wings.". This horribly offended Fluttershy, who quickly changed her mind.
"Sorry Rarity, but I don't think I actually DO want them." she huffed, slamming the door. Rarity was astounded by her friend's sudden reaction.
"Oh Fluttershy, whatever I said, I really am sorry!" she called through the door, but received no answer.
Pinkie trotted happily down the streets of Ponyville. Something about being a unicorn just felt so right to her, like she had done it before, even though she knew she hadn't. She smiled brighter than ever on this beautiful day, flashing up her magic whenever she could. She decided that now, she had to embrace her beautiful horn with every drop of magic she could, turned on her heels, and went racing back to the library.
Rainbow Dash stared up at the sky, wishing she could be up there. Where was she going to sleep tonight? How was she ever going to fly again. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted. The ground quaked and the sky lit up with bright light.
"Impossible!" Rainbow gawked. "Nobody's ever done the Sonic Rainboom other than me before! It's not possible!". But her eyes didn't lie, that was definitely a Sonic Rainboom, and Applejack was definitely leading it.
The wind raced through Applejack's hair as she followed through on the sonic rainboom, boy, would Rainbow be mad. She couldn't wait to see the look on her face.
Twilight pressed her closed eyes against her hooves as silent tears streamed onto the ground and made tiny puddles by her sitting area. She listened to the sound of silence around her, until it was finally broken by the pitter patter of dragon feet running her way.
"Twilight, I need you to calm down and listen to me. We're in a pretty bad situation here. We talked to Rainbow some more, and it turns out that she specifically wished for her friends to be different. See, Rainbow Dash didn't realize how many friends she has, and, well...she has more than just the elements of harmony." Spike sighed.
"I look ridiculous!" sounded a familiar, raspy, high voice.
"Hey! Don't be so rude! That's my horn on your head, Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle scowled at her friend. Applebloom frowned deeply as she gave her new wings a tender flap. Twilight sniffled, and looked up at Spike, who seemed pretty worried about her and the whole situation.
"We can still fix this Spike, I'll just ask Princess Celestia to cast the spell! Spike, take a letter." she instructed as he zipped out a scroll and quill.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
One of my friends, Rainbow Dash, has recently made a wish that has switch the breeds of all of her friends, and this
could be more ponies than we even know of at the moment. Your assistance is required immediately. I can not do any
spells myself, for currently, I'm an earth pony. Your student,
~Twilight Sparkle"
Spike smiled as he rolled up the scroll, held it to his mouth and inhaled deeply. Then, he blew the letter hard, but surprisingly, it didn't burst into flames and fly away. It just stayed there. He tried several more times until her ran out of breath and collapsed beside Twilight.
"Oh no, Rainbow Dash's wish must have affected ME too! How are we going to get this to Princess Celestia?!" tears were forming in Spike's eyes as he realized he served no real purpose anymore.
"Twilight, you'll still keep me around, right?" he asked hurriedly. Twilight chuckled and nodded, and Spike sighed in relief.
Sweetie Belle coughed politely and added, "I think I can help."
Everybody looked over to her and stared expectantly, waiting for some sort of further explanation.
"I'm pretty sure that Spike's skill was passed on to..." Sweetie Belle blushed. "me."
Twilight leaped with excitement and Spike hopefully passed her the letter. She sighed as she took a deep inhale, then blew the letter into smoke that drifted off to Celestia. Within five minutes, a figure was flying down from Canterlot. She didn't look angry, happy, hopeful, just depressed. Twilight soon realized why, as Celestia arrived without a horn.
Pinkie Pie had become an incredible pony, with amazing magical skills for a new unicorn. She was teleporting all over the place, performing size spells, age spells, gender spells, you name it, she could probably do it. Rainbow, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth while Pinkie studied.
"I mean, I can't believe she would do something like that! It's crazy! That's my signature move! And she pulled it off like she was nothing! If I want to show her off, I need to do a Double Rainboom! No, triple! No, quadruple! No, quintuple! No, sextuple! No, septuple! No! Octuple! Ninetuple!" she ranted. Pinkie politely cleared her throat.
"Nonuple." she corrected. Rainbow gave her a quizzical look. "You said Ninetuple. It's actually Nonuple.".
Rainbow moaned and fell to the ground. "My brain hurts." she scowled. Pinkie giggled, then lifted Dash back onto her feet with her magic.
Fluttershy went about her everyday business, until finally, it was feeding time for her critter friends. She timidly stared up at the cupboard. How was she supposed to get that high up without wings? She knew she couldn't keep this up without wings at that very moment.
Rarity sobbed into her pillow, which was already soaked all the way through and leaking into the bed. She desperately wanted her horn back, and to relieve herself of the wings on her back. Suddenly, there was a timid, polite little knock on the door.
Rarity stopped sobbing and trotted down to the door, swinging open with her...ugh...hoof. A distressed Fluttershy stood there.
"Oh. Rarity. Hello. I just, um, I really need my wings back, my animals are hungry, so if it's not too much trouble..." she pleaded.
Applebloom snuggled up into her bed, her apple pajamas wrapped comfortably around her body. She let herself relax, and enjoyed her night's rest. It seemed like it took ages, but it was finally night. To Applebloom, nothing was more comfortable than drifting off to sleep in a comfortable, plush, warm, wet bed...wait, wet? Applebloom gasped and yanked back the covers to reveal her soaked PJ's and mattress. She had never wet the bed in her life! It must have been Rainbow's crazy wish, now she was stuck as a bed wetter!
She frowned, wondering how she was to hide this. Then, she had a plan. She stripped off her PJ's and tossed them in th trash, flipping the mattress and putting new PJ's on. With that, she sighed, and crawled into bed.
Scootaloo's eyes stayed wide open as she listened close.
"Scootaloo, why are you still awake?" called a voice that Scootaloo knew quite well, but couldn't quite remember either. "You're supposed to be asleep. Well, if you insist on staying awake, I'll tell you a story." it spoke again. The voice obviously wasn't in reality, it was in Scootaloo's mind.
Applejack's face heated up as she approached Applebloom that morning. "Applebloom, sugar, is there something you wanna tell me?" she asked delicately. Applebloom shook her head tiredly, then froze as she realized the wetness in her bed. Applejack knew it was there, that's what this was all about. Applebloom struggled for words.
Applejack's face reddened as she folded her new wings into her sides.
"Now Applebloom, every young filly has an accident at some point, really, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" she assured, but this just made Applebloom more embarrassed.
Rainbow Dash concentrated hard, sweat beading down from her forehead, panting wildly as she tried to get even the littlest spark of magic to come from her horn. Pinkie Pie wiped her brow and urged her on.
"C'mon Rainbow Dash, you can do it! Keep trying!" she cheered. Rainbow collapsed, panting, still not being able to perform the spell that she wanted to do.
Scootaloo tip-toed down the stairs as silently as she could, listening to the story as closely as she could.
"The pony put very few things in her bag. She put a matchbox, a lighter, and lots of cooking oil."
Scootaloo nodded as she packed her bags with the three things. "Wait, hold on a second." she muttered.
"Yes, Scootaloo?"
"What is your name?" she asked.
"My name? My name is Diabo."
"I like that name." Scootaloo smiled before strapping on her bag and listening to the story once again.
"The pony walked and walked through the deepest midnight darkness until she reached the River of Life, far away from her little home town."
Scootaloo sighed as she inhaled the midnight breeze, then, began to walk forward. It seemed like only seconds before she was at the edge of Ponyville, which she had only left once before on a train with Spike and the other Crusaders, but never alone. She took a deep breath, and continued on. Hours later, she arrived at the River of Life.
"The pony carefully removed the oil from her bag and unscrewed all of the caps. She dipped her hoof in the river, and let small drops of the water enter the oil, which began to glow orange."
Scootaloo nervously followed the instructions exactly, making sure to check the oil twice for the glow. Listening to more of the story, the then knocked over the oil bottles into the river, which was filled with oil in only a matter of seconds. Next, she pulled out a match box and her lighter. She carefully opened the lighter up, and poured out the lighter fluid into the river.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Scootaloo nervously asked aloud.
"Oh yes, Scootaloo, you will be very happy when it's finished, you will be very pleased with your work." Diabo replied proudly.
Scootaloo bit her lip and used her magic to swipe a match along the box, then, dropped it into the river. What happened next was the start of Scootaloo's new life. A wild flash appeared, and the lake burst into flames. Scootaloo felt the boiling heat against her orange coat. Her eyes grew much wider as she watched the flames fill the river for as far as she could see, her smile growing more and more openly wide.
"Diabo, it's amazing!" she shouted aloud. She stood, amazed as the fire leaped to a nearby tree, which began to burn to the ground. It was the most amazing thing she had even seen, and she never wanted to stop watching it. The smoke around her was like magic, the most amazing smell, look, feel, it was all so perfect.
As the morning came, Scootaloo rubbed her eyes, her dreams had been very persistent all night, saying strange things. She got up out of bed and sat down at her breakfast table, picking up the newspaper and smiling brightly at the headline.
RIVER ON FIRE, FOREST BURNS TO GROUND!
"Wait, Rarity, how on earth am I going to get those wings back on my body anyway?" Fluttershy asked.
Rarity was dumbstruck. Fluttershy was right. She raised a hoof to speak, but nothing came out, so she lowered it slowly again.
Pinkie Pie smiled at the little mark on her flank. Where once nothing had been, there was now a cutie mark. It was a good one too, she had worked hard for it.
"Princess Celestia, how are we ever going to fix this, it's a disaster!" Twilight moaned.
Princess thought for a moment, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, getting ready to say the one phrase she had never said before. "I have no idea how to fix this!"
Suddenly, a scream was heard from out the boutique window, then several more, then loud crackling. Both ponies leaped to their feet and raced to the window, shocked at what they saw next. Sugar Cube Corner was burning to the ground. Rarity stared in horror, and Fluttershy shrieked.
"Fluttershy! What if the Cakes were in there!? What about the twins?!" she rushed. Fluttershy began to sob as the sound of fire engines came through the window, it was extremely loud. Fluttershy sobbing, sirens roaring, ponies screaming, fire crackling, but what had caused the fire?
"Was that you, Scootaloo?" asked Diabola.
Scootaloo didn't answer, she couldn't, she was with the crusaders at the moment, watching the flames. Sweetie Belle was sobbing, Applebloom was pacing the floor of the clubhouse, but Scootaloo just stared on, then, when nobody else was watching, she nodded.
Suddenly, the sound of liquid on the clubhouse floor echoed into everybody's ears, then Applebloom went deathly pale.
"I...um...I...I..." she stammered, the broke down in tears and Scootaloo gawked at what Applebloom had just done. She had peed on the floor! Sweetie Belle's face turned bright red as she uttered some words. "Mop's in the corner." she choked out, turning back to the flames. Applebloom grabbed the mop and sobbed as she mopped up her puddle.
Sweetie Belle exhaled strongly, forgetting her powers for a second. She gasped and quickly swallowed the fire again.
Rainbow Dash moaned with displeasure as she looked for some other way to spend her time on the stupid ground. Suddenly, smoke reached her nostrils and she gasped, racing faster down the street to see where it was coming from. Sugar Cube Corner was almost completely gone. The Cakes stood watching, devastated as their lives were completely ruined, spark by spark.
"Mrs. Cake! Where's Pinkie Pie?! Is she alright?!" Rainbow screamed over the noise. Mr. Cake shook his head with tears in his eyes as he extended a hoof towards the ambulance. Dash screamed and raced towards it at full speed, only to find Pinkie Pie laying on a stretcher, completely black, and with extremely serious burns all over her body.
"Hello?" Pinkie called into the darkness. "Who's there?". She began to walk forward, not hearing a single sound, not even the sound of her hooves on the nothingness below. Eventually, she walked into a hospital, where she immediately became invisible. Her mother was laying on a hospital bed, looking worried. Pinkie looked to her left, only to see her newborn self being washed off by the doctors.
"Mrs. Pie, she has a horn." informed the doctor that had just cleaned her. Mrs. Pie instantly broke down in tears. "Is there any way you could...you know...remove it?" she sniffled. The doctor's expression turned grim as she nodded, and carried Pinkie to the surgery room.
Then, the scene faded back to nothingness. Pinkie Pie stood there, more angry that she had ever been in her life. She WAS born a unicorn, she was!
"Pinkie Pie! Wake up, oh PLEASE wake up!" echoed a raspy voice.
Pinkie Pie's eyes snapped open and she tried to move, but couldn't.
"They have you on this pill that temporarily paralyzes you, to stop you from freaking out when you wake up. You can't talk, so you can't really communicate ye - " Rainbow was cut off by the sound of magic. Pinkie Pie had spotted a fridge in the corner with little magnet letters on it. She had spelled out, "I know something."
Rainbow Dash gasped. "What do you know?" she asked desperately.
"I was born a unicorn."
"Talk to me Scootaloo, do you like what you did?"
Scootaloo stayed silent, she didn't want her friends to know about the voice.
"Answer me."
...
"ANSWER ME SCOOTALOO!"
...
"SCOOTALOO!"
That one scream of her name made her shiver, the word echoed through her, creating endless noise that didn't stop. She couldn't hear anything else over the screaming of her name, and finally, she screamed back.
"YES! I DID! I LOVED IT!" she screamed.
The other crusaders stared at her, shocked. She blushed, and finally decided to explain.
"Look, we've all developed some new problem in our lives now, Sweetie Belle breathes fire, Applebloom is...incontinent...and I hear voices...Her name is Diabo, and she speaks to me, she tells me stories, and she helped me learn something amazing..." Scootaloo sighed, and the other crusaders gasped and pointed to her flank. It was glowing.
Scootaloo stared in amazement as a flame appeared on her flank, and the other crusaders turned pale.
"You didn't....you wouldn't have....burned down Sugar Cube Corner...?" Sweetie Belle asked in a shaky voice.
Spike carefully placed the last book on the shelf, sighing from the heavy workload. Books had been scattered all over the room from Pinkie's studying, and who else was going to clean them up? Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Come in." Spike called as she began to sweep the floor. Rarity and Fluttershy nervously trotted in, and when Spike saw Rarity, he screamed and dove into the bookshelf, then carefully peeked out again to see a pegasus Rarity rolling her eyes at him.
"Where's Twilight? We need her help." Rarity said flatly.
"Who knows? Anyway, she can't help you, she lost her horn just like you did, so now she's an earth pony. If there was any unicorn that I would ask for help, it would be Pinkie Pie, but she's in the hospital with terrible burns from Sugar Cube Corner. Rainbow Dash is a unicorn too, but she can't really use magic...at all...I guess her wings are either on you, or Applejack, oh, and by the way Rarity, your sister lost her horn, Applebloom is a pegasus and Scootaloo has a horn. Princess Celestia is a pegasus, also, and I can't breathe fire." Spike rambled abruptly.
Rarity and Fluttershy were silent for a moment, and Spike took this time to stare at Rarity, taking in every beautiful feature of her, before quickly looking away when he came to the unfamiliar wings. Twilight and Princess Celestia smoothly trotted into the library, shocked to see Rarity and Fluttershy.
Spike took a closer look at Twilight, and suddenly felt shy around her. He was extremely confused, as he had never felt this way around Twilight, but now, he did, and it was a strong feeling. He kept staring, trying to look away, but always being pulled back somehow. Spike snapped out of the trance as a hoof was waved in front of his face.
"Spike? Hello?" cautioned Rarity. He jolted upright as he looked at Princess Celestia and his face turned bright red.
"Spike, go get the Extremely Advanced Unicorn's Book of Incredible Magic, I'll go get Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the Crusaders. Princess, do you think you could help me find them? Maybe fly over the town, or find Applejack?" Twilight asked. Princess Celestia nodded, and they both left.
Spike had left the book on the table downstairs and Rarity and Fluttershy had taken a seat and began to chat, as Spike went upstairs so he could think about what just happened in private. He had never felt so shy and frantic around Twilight before, but now when he saw her, he got butterflies in his stomach, his palms sweated, and his face heated up, he felt nervous and exited all at once, and it was like nothing he had ever felt before.
It couldn't possibly be that he had...feelings for Twilight...could it? He began to wonder when she would be returning, then, a thought came to him. How was he going to face her, now that he understood his feelings? Just then, the library door opened, and in came Princess Celestia, Applejack, and Applebloom. Spike came racing downstairs to welcome them back, when Celestia spoke up.
"Spike, has Twilight returned yet?" she asked. Spike's face heated up and turned red as he shook his head no. And exactly when he had stopped, the door swung open and in trotted Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.
"Pinkie Pie? I thought you were in the hospital!" gasped Fluttershy.
"I was until I remembered I had magic!" Pinkie tapped her horn.
"Ok Pinkie Pie, we need you to cast this spell. It will change all of us back to our normal states, and we can all live like normal again. Applejack gasped.
"No! I can't give up my wings!" she stammered. Applebloom nodded, but all too late remembered her...problem. Pinkie was also against the idea, stating that she wanted to keep her horn forever. And if Pinkie didn't want to do the spell, it wasn't going to happen. Pinkie and both Apples trotted out the door, leaving their stunned friends behind.
Spike sighed as he finished cleaning up the library, and decided that Twilight had probably already gone to bed, and that he should probably do the same, so he began walking to the bathroom to brush his teeth before bed. He turned the knob, opened the door, and after exchanging screams with Twilight, slammed it again. He had walked in on her going to the bathroom! His face felt like it was 200 degrees hot, and he began to run up the stairs, jump into bed and throw the covers over himself.
He missed the days when him and Twilight could just be good friends, but now he couldn't even speak around her without getting a hot face and becoming shy as heck.
Applebloom climbed into bed huffily and pulled the covers up to her chin, smashing her eyes shut, and because of her exhausting day, instantly falling asleep.
Scootaloo's horn glowed a smokey purple as she flicked on her lighter, approaching the building that Diabo had been reminding her of all day.
"Scootaloo, just think about the smell of smoke...think of all the beautiful dresses in there, and how much prettier they'll look and smell when they're burning down...fire..."
Scootaloo's eyes lit up with an amazing excitement as she thought a bit harder.
"Go inside, Scootaloo, you'll get a better view."
It didn't even occur to Scootaloo that she was breaking into her best friend's home. She bucked the door open and raced over to the first dress rack she saw, starting up her lighter and instantly igniting it. She expected a wave of comfort and relief to fill her, but was disappointed to realize it wasn't good enough. The fire was spreading quickly, trapping Scootaloo in the heat, and making it's way to the upper layer of the house. Scootaloo listened carefully, past the crackling and heard a familiar voice trying to scream, but choking instead. It was Rarity.
Then, a high pitched scream of terror and pain, obviously coming from Sweetie Belle, followed by coughing. Scootaloo suddenly felt a crisp tingling on her hoof, and looking down, realized it was on fire. This was the satisfaction she had needed. The relief came instantly.
She heard the thumping sound of hooves racing down the stairs, and suddenly decided she had to hide, and there was only one place she could see, and that was the flames. She dove in, just as Rarity flung herself out the door, carrying a passed out Sweetie Belle on her back.
Spike groaned as he rolled out of bed, fearing Twilight may still be awake. He picked up the newspaper, and began to read the headlines.
Carousel Boutique Burns to the Ground 3 ponies inside,two filly and one mare. They fillies have been recognised as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and the mare is Rarity.
Spike's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He had to see if they were ok! He raced downstairs not paying any attention to his surroundings, until - CRASH! - he smashed into Twilight. He had no idea what to say, they both just stood there in shock for a second, then Twilight blushed hot red
"I-if you're going t-to Carousel Boutique, there's no need. Everybody's fine, although they found a lighter nearly melted on the floor." she explained. Spike nodded and then, a thought struck him. He had no idea why it hadn't struck him before, but now it did.
"Twilight, we have to get Applejack, Applebloom, and Pinkie Pie to agree! I know how to satisfy Pinkie Pie, there's another spell in here that makes a pony's breed the one they were born with, but what about Applejack? I can't think of anything!" he moaned.
"Well we have to think of SOMETHING, Spike! Let's go talk to Applejack and Applebloom, maybe they could reconsider." Twilight assured, opening the door.
Spike nodded and hopped onto her back as she trotted out the door.
"No."
"But Appleja-"
"No."
"Applejack, just look at all the apple trees! Your wings take up bucking strength and velocity, plus force! In other words, the apples will die before you even have time to buck 20 trees!" Twilight explained.]
Applejack froze in the thought of losing Sweet Apple Acres because of something as silly as wings.
"Ok, I'll give, but what about Applebloom?"
"Of course I will! Now let's go!" Applebloom smiles. She couldn't wait to stop wetting the bed like she had this morning, and the morning before that, and the morning before that, and, well, you get the picture.
Everybody stood worriedly in the library as Pinkie Pie approached the spell with a nervous look on her face. Then, she began. She strained her horn pressing harder and harder, sparks flying everywhere, her horn a blinding light, sweat dripping from her face, knees shaking as her horn became brighter and brighter, moaning, and then, it exploded.
The light was blinding. Everypony was sent tumbling to the ground, and snapping their eyes shut, suddenly feeling tingling sensations in their whole body, like their whole body was asleep. Then, they passed out.
Twilight was the first to wake up, but she immediately felt like she was going to throw up, so she grabbed a bucket, and, thinking of her friends, grabbed several more and put them by the front of the room, then began to vomit.
Now, it was time to see what her spell had done. Pinkie Pie's eyes climbed her forehead until she could see her horn. She turned to the pony beside her, Rainbow Dash, who certainly didn't have a horn, but she did have one thing. Wings. Pinkie was extremely happy to see her spell had worked, then, quietly emptying the bucket into a bush not far from the house, she examined the other ponies. Scootaloo had her wings, but she was wearing a full body cast, so they were the only things sticking out.
Sweetie Belle was a unicorn, Applebloom was an earth pony, Twilight was a unicorn, Applejack as an earth pony, Rarity was a unicorn, Fluttershy was a pegasus, and Princess Celestia had a horn again. She sighed, and fell back asleep happily.
That night, Scootaloo whispered something that she had been wondering ever since she turned back into a pegasus.
"Diabo?"
There was no answer. Diabo had gone back to their original pony. Scootaloo sighed and began to fall asleep, dreaming of Rainbow Dash.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Sweetie Belle."
Sweetie Belle had missed Diabo's voice, teaching her how to sing, and telling her whether her singing was good or bad.
That morning, Scootaloo woke up to find that, to her immediate displeasure, her bedwetting had come back, too. Applebloom, however, was extremely relieved that she didn't have it anymore.
Pinkie Pie enjoyed doing tricks and cool magic, now that she was an extremely advanced unicorn, about the same level as Twilight. She didn't quite know who to thank, it seemed a bit wrong to thank Rainbow Dash, and if the had thanked whoever burned down Sugar Cube Corner, that wouldn't be right either.
Spike no longer had mad feelings for Twilight, although, he had to admit, he really missed them. This resulted in him missing them so much that they returned.
Thanks for reading! Hope to see you again in a later story!
