Collection of short stories all in a chain going from picture to story to picture from MLPG
Collection of short stories all in a chain going from picture to story to picture from MLPG over the course of around a month or so.
Each participant only ever saw the last entry to base their story/picture on, so have no knowledge on the context of what they received. This was the result.
"Parchment. Check. Extra quills. Check. Equestrian Astrological Compendium. Check..."
Twilight Sparkle ran through her checklist for the fourth time, making sure that she was completely prepared for the upcoming event. A total solar eclipse was something that did not occur frequently in Equestria, and she was not going to miss this opportunity to make her own observations and notes. Her tools were arranged before her in her typically hyper-organized fashion. The purple mare took a moment and closed her eyes and breathed a contented sigh, before deciding that she should go through her checklist just one more time before things got underway.
"Ok. Parchment. Chec-"
Suddenly a burst of pink filled her vision, startling her and knocking her back against the wall behind her, her carefully aranged papers and books sent airborne in a flurry.
"OHMIGOSH Twilight! I'm SO excited that you invited me to come with you. I mean I don't understand all that sciency-spacey-smarty-smart-pants stuff, but WOW this is going to be like night time, except it's daytime and-"
"PINKIE!" Twilight cried as she frantically used her magic to grab the stray items that had been thrown asunder when she was assaulted by her hyperactive companion ", Please. I know you're excited, but this is a very important astronomical phenomenon that's going to occur and I have to be ready!"
"Sorry Twi, I'm just so excited!" Pinkie apologized as she stepped back to give the lavender pony some breathing space, making sure to put on her best puppy dog eyes. "I'll be good, I Pinkie Pie promise!"
Twilight shook her head and got up slowly. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to invite Pinkie to join her, but all her other friends had prior engagements and couldn't come. It just so happened that Pinkie had some time off from Sugarcube Corner after almost causing a fire when she put the confetti into the oven (again), instead of the cake mix. However, it was nice to have some company, even if Pinkie Pie was being, well, Pinkie Pie.
The two friends were perched high atop an observation tower, which was located at the edge of the city. Twilight chose this location to get the best unobstructed view of the eclipse, and to avoid the crowds which would be gathered throughout Canterlot. From their vantage point, you could look out across the mountain ranges which seemed to go on as far as the eye could see. The view was breathtaking, especially from the height they were at, a fact which was not lost to either of the mares.
Neither of them noticed the fog.
"Oh-oh-oh! Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed while poking her friend in the side with a hoof.
"What is it now Pinkie?" Twilight sighed, not looking up from the book she was studying.
"It's STARTING! Look!"
Twilight quickly looked up to see that the moon was just beginning to pass in front of the sun. She checked her telescope and fiddled with several knobs to adjust the focus. With a burst of magic, she quickly prepared a blank parchment and dipped her quill into an ink pot. She was prepared, but most of all she was filled with a sense of wonder and excitement. She quickly opened her saddlebags and levitated two pairs of glasses over to herself and her companion.
"Here Pinkie, these glasses will protect your eyes during the eclipse. Don't look at the sun without them."
"Okie dokie lokie!"
The two of them watched as the moon slowly slid into place in front of the sun, the world around them falling further and further into what could be described as an unnatural darkness. After several minutes has passed, the moon finally overtook the sun in the sky. Faint cheers of the crowds gathered in Canterlot could be heard in the distance when the eclipse hit it's peak.
Twilight was completely engrossed in her note taking and observations, writing down notes at a fevered pitch, occasionally pausing to look through her telescope or to cross-reference something in one of the books she had arranged around her. Pinkie, who was making good on her promise not to interrupt her companion, was simply entranced by the sight before her, her mouth slightly open in awe of the beauty of the eclipse. Occasionally she would gasp softly, or let out a quiet "Ooooooh."
Below them, and across the mountain range, the fog thickened.
Below them, the fog began to swallow everything in it's wake.
Both mares were shaken from their concentration and reverie, as the tower began to shake.
"W-what was that?" Pinkie asked, as her attention was drawn away from the sky.
"It was probably just a slight tremor. N-nothing to be worried about." Twilight said, trying to keep confidence in her voice. She couldn't help but to feel that something was not right here. The air around them had an almost electrical feeling, and the silence was deafining.
The tower they were perched upon began to shake more violently, throwing both of them off balance. Twilight lurched forward and fell against her telescope, which in turn fell forward against the ledge which ran around the circumference of the top of the tower. It teetered there for a moment, before succumbing to gravity and falling over the edge. She looked down in horror to watch her favorite astronomical instrument get swallowed by the thick fog which seemed to cover everything in sight. In the fog below she saw pools of light which seemed to mimic the brightness of the corona that burned in the sky above. They looked almost like... eyes.
Everything around them began to shake and shift. The tower now beginning to physically shift on its foundation. Pinkie frantically tried to make her way over to Twilight. She finally managed to reach her friend and when she did, she grabbed on to her and heald on as if her life depended on it.
"T-twilight!? What's happening?" Pinkie cried.
Before Twilight could answer, a high-pitched scream filled the air around them. The fog had gathered and thickened and was now towered over them, bearing down upon the rapidly disintegrating tower. A soulless, evil visage glared down at the two ponies before it, mouth agape in a scream and empty eyes burning brightly. It seemed to desire to swallow that which appeared before it. Twilight and Pinkie clung to each other in terror as the tower they were on began to crumble and fall away.
"I-I can't giggle away these ghosties!" Pinkie managed to say through tears. "I'm scared!"
"Me too Pinkie, " Twilight replied, desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation.
The fog, or whatever it was around them continued to glare down upon them as the observation tower finally gave out and began to freely fall and crumble away.
An armored hoof scratched the dusty ground. She was becoming impatient.
They were wavering and weak. The siege of the Keep of Harmony had been a fiasco. The captain of the Night Guards had dared to offer her sister terms of surrender; when she crushed him for his impudence, they had not merely deserted – they had defected to the other side.
No matter. The well of dark power that had enabled her to challenge her sister in the first place was deep. She had other means to keep the pressure on her sister's fortification. She pulled down the stars, cast them into monstrous ursine form, and surrounded the crumbling castle with living siege engines.
She had sent her beloved Moon away, sent it to blot out her sister's sun. Now it was balanced precisely between the world and the sun, casting its shadow over the entire world.
The solar disc was replaced with a ring of flame occluded by a dark disk, rather like a single burning eye.
This had not been what she wanted, but too many things had been done, and too much had been said. Intoxicated by the dark flame inside her head, she mustered her monstrous forces for the final push.
It wouldn't be long now. One thousand years ago, Nightmare Moon prepared for her triumph, the night that would last forever.
The event had been announced well in advance.
This served two purposes. Firstly, it gave sky-watchers and star-gazers time to prepare.
Twilight Sparkle received the news with joy, and immediately tried to share her enthusiasm with her friends. Eclipses were rare in Equestria – the last one had been several hundred years ago.
The second purpose was to forestall panic. The last eclipse visible from Equestria several hundred years ago had sparked rumors of Nightmare Moon's return, and that had led to riots and stampedes in the streets.
Breaking into blind panic was a solid candidate for Equestria’s national pastime. There was nothing quite like breaking into a fearful gallop while screaming one’s head off. It seemed to be a basic part of pony psychology.
Twilight triple-checked her checklist – smoked glass plates, a low-power and expendable telescope that would project the ring of fire onto the library’s portable screen. She knew she must have forgotten something, as the list was entirely too short.
Refreshments, of course there needed to be food. Perhaps she should ask Zecora if she could liven up the eclipse party with a few rhymes of distant lands and times. There was nothing like stories to bring ponies together. She looked at the clock with trepidation. Time was running short.
Not far away, in the secluded mountaintop city of Canterlot, a dark Princess nervously prepared for one of her rare daytime appearances. The past lay heavy on her mind. She remembered all too well being drunk with rage and power, trying to blot the sun out of the sky.
A Night Guard came to her, his breastplate bearing the stylized eye symbol that recalled that time so long ago.
“Her Highness awaits you in the vestry.”
Luna smiled, and let herself be escorted to the hallowed grounds where her sister greets the sun.
They gathered on a hilltop outside of Ponyville. Pinkie was kind enough to bring a basket of cupcakes to the eclipse party. Rarity spread blankets and pillows in front of the projection screen. There hadn't been time to get in touch with Zecora. It was only Twilight and her friends up on top of the hill. She was happy they had come, and that they were willing to share this moment with her.
The moon slid in front of the sun. Within moments, the humid air cooled a few degrees, and wisps of fog condensed from the humid air. Twilight's ears flicked – had she heard something?
The crescent of the sun became a ring, almost but not quite obscured by the moon. There it was again – she had definitely heard something.
Pinkie Pie was sobbing and shaking in terror. Not even that long ago, Twilight would have thought her hyperactive pink friend was just being silly, but now she realized that explaining to her the motion of planets and showing her that there was no rational reason to be afraid was the last thing she needed to do. She didn't need a lecture – she needed a hug.
She hurried over to her friend and held her. The sun slid further – the eclipse would be over soon.
Luna stood before the assembled gentry of Canterlot. She couldn't hide that their fear thrilled her as the moon moved over the sun. Now, as the moon continued on its way, and the solar disk slowly returned to normal, their relief brought a sly smile to her serious face.
Her sister watched. This was an important moment, another chance for Luna to demonstrate her power and good will, her right to rule alongside Celestia.
As quickly as it began, the world slowly returned to normal.
The eclipse had come and gone, and all was well. The ring of fire was no longer a symbol of terror.
Pinkie Pie smiled at her friend, slightly embarrassed.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry! You got to see this!” Pinkie Pie is pushing a blindfold Applejack to the kitchen in the Sugarcube Corner one faithful day.
“Golly, what could be so important to blindfold me from the farm and take me your place, and my, what is that lovely smell?” Applejack sniffs into the air to breathe in the sweet aura, but being push by Pinkie kind of ruining the moment. “Alright, alright, I wil…. Eh why do I suddenly smell smoke?”
Pinkie ignores Applejack as she rambles aimlessly and pushing her at the same. “I can’t wait to show you! It took me ALL day to make is GIANT, wonderful cake! I want to surprise Twilight for her birthday with it! It got candles, sparklers, more candles, birthday cards, EVERYTHING! I want it to be surprise, but I sooooooooooo wanted to show this to someone, and what better pony to show this cake to than the great baker herself? I even light it up just for the preview!” Pinkie trot backward to the kitchen door. Right at the doorstep, she boop Applejack’s nose to stop.
“I don’t like the sound of this. Can I remove these blinds now?”
“Oh sure, Applejack, give me second, and TADA!”
“Umm, is that cake supposed to be on fire like that?”
“Oh, silly Applejack, what are you talking about?” Pinkie Pie turns around to see her giant masterpieces in blazes. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Pinkie rushes to the cake and tries to blow it out the fire as hard as she could, but to no anvil. All it does is spread the fire across the cake. “Oh NO! This is…. This is TERRIBLE!” Pinkie tears up as she watches her cake cover in flames.
“Don’t just stand there, grab a bucket! Don’t let no cake burn your kitchen down!” Applejack grabs a bucket and races outside to fill the bucket with water from a nearby well. Pinkie dash upstairs and tries desperately to fill her bucket from the bathroom shower. Both ponies race back to the blazing cake and toss the waters into the fire. With the combine force, the flame has no chance and the force of the splash splatter the burnt cake and frosting all over the kitchen. Pinkie became even more sadden now that the kitchen is a huge mess.
“I am sorry about this, Pinkie,” as Applejack tries to sympathize for Pinkie.
Pinkie shifts her expression and smile. “Its alright, Applejack! It’s just a cake, after all! At least the Sugarcube Corner isn’t burnt down. Boy I would be in SO much trouble if it did!” Pinkie looks around for some cake ingredients. “It’s going to take me all day and maybe the whole night to fix another cake. If maybe, a great baker could help me…….” Pinkie said as she eyeballs Applejack.
“Ah, alrighty than. If we start now, we can finish this in a jiffy!” Applejack answers. Pinkie’s eyes brighten and leap towards Applejack for a hug.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I knew I can count on you, Applejack!” Pinkie cheerfully says as she wraps her hooves around the orange pony.
“No problem at all, Pinkie. Lets not use a whole lot of candles this time around,” Applejack said while she patting her hooves on Pinkie back, viewing a big blob that was once a cake. “Not a whole lot.”
“Sure thing Applejack, suuuuuuure thing,” as Pinkie smiles and check off “destroy decoy cake” and “get AJ to help bake the cake” from her hidden “making the perfect cake” list.
“Happy birthday!” cried six voices in unison as a burst of colourful sparks danced in the air. From those sparks materialised a birthday cake as big as the dinner table it sat on, and a bead of drool pooled at the corner of the bemused birthday mare’s mouth as candles began to sprout from the icing, magically shaping themselves into her name.
“Pinkie, darling, do control yourself,” said Rarity from the other side of the table, hooves delicately arranging the ribbons hanging from the sides of the cake. “It’s wonderful that you’re so pleased, but we don’t want to eat a cake covered in saliva, now, do we?”
The other five laughed at that, Spike especially so (in his usual ditzy, lovestruck sort of way) and the pink mare shook her head fiercely, scattering droplets of saliva all over the walls around her. No one seemed to mind, of course; the Cakes, currently preoccupied with their two teething foals, had promised to handle clean-up duty. They knew full-well how Pinkie tended to behave around cakes, and were accustomed to handling the catastrophic aftermath.
The candles on the cake roared to life, brightly-burning flames flickering madly in the relative darkness of the room.
“That’s so cool,” Dash chimed in, watching them writhe. “Hey, look what I can do, guys!”
As the rest of the group turned to look at Dash, she grinned and, summoning her courage, did the old party trick, swinging one hoof through the fire. She recoiled as the flame bit at her hands, hotter than she had thought it would be, and then, in what felt like slow motion, watched as the gust of air knocked the candles over and incensed the flames.
“Oops,” was all she said. Then the cake burst into flames. Fluttershy yelped, jumping high into the air, as the fire swiftly consumed the entire confectionery treat. “I didn’t know that was going to happen, honest!”
“Whose bright idea was it to make a cake with flammable icing?” Twilight shouted, hooves clutching at her face in abject terror. Next to her, Spike was running back and forth, trying to blow out the flames. “Spike, stop! You’re only making things worse!”
That was certainly true enough. In his fear, the young dragon seemed to have forgotten his breath was fire too, and it certainly wasn’t helping. Fluttershy had gone into hiding, cowering under the table, the only place from which she couldn’t see the flaming cake; the flames licking at her body were enough to make her cry. Behind her, Rarity was desperately trying to pull her out by the hind legs, no to avail. Amidst it all sat Pinkie, entranced by the flaming cake as she munched on a slice that still burned.
“Woohoo! AJ to the rescue!”
The entire group turned to face the source of the noise as Applejack, that oh-so-heroic pony, rushed into the room, bucket of water on hoof.
“Yippie!” cheered the birthday mare, still chewing her burnt cake. A resounding splash of water, followed by a long silence punctuated only by the sound of Fluttershy’s noisy sobs, heralded the saving of the day.
Slowly, the Cakes backed out of the doorway and away from the chaos.
Considering everything she knew about Pinkie, Twilight shouldn't have been surprised. "Okay, one more time Pinkie," Twilight said rubbing her forehead "And without a song please." Pinkie let out the breath she took with a dejected sigh "Well if you want to do it the boring way." Picking herself up, she walked into the pantry gathering various cake ingredients "Like I was saying before, it's really easy, I was eating some leftover cake batter thinking, Gee Pinkie it sure too bad you can't eat the batter and the cake too." "And then it hit me, What if I can," Pinkie said as she began mixing the flour with her usual enthusiasm. "See I figured my stomach and the oven aren't that different." "They're completely different things," Twilight protested. "Soooo after a few delicious failures," Pinkie continued "I finally realized what I was missing." With one final stir, she downed the whole bowl of batter. "What's that?" Twilight asked apprehensively. "The baking part silly" Pinkie smiled pulling out a dozen lit matches. "Pinkie, please don't tell me" she cut herself off as Pinkie swallowed all the matches in one fiery gulp. "And TA-DA, one delicious cake." She said rolling her tongue out, presenting the cake to Twilight. "Woops, I might have used too many matches." "Maybe just a bit"
The Adventures of Mega Pinkie Pie Just as the first rays of sunshine broke through the horizon, the citizens of Ponyville awoke to a chilling sound: A low, repeated rumble shook the sleepy town’s buildings, jostling their inhabitants, breaking flower vases, and shattering the peace and quiet. Scared ponies darted out of their beds and homes and into the town square. “W-what’s going on, Twilight?” Spike asked. The adolescent dragon, usually groggily begging for just a few more minutes of sleep at this hour, was now wide awake. He shuddered and shivered in fright. The herd of ponies quieted down and turned to their resident egghead and representative of the Princess Herself – surely Twilight Sparkle knew what was going on. Twilight instinctively stood behind the town square’s podium before addressing the crowd. “I don’t know, Spike, bu-“ The town’s ponies screamed in terror and began shouting their own theories over the rumbling shocks. “It’s a monster!” “It’s an earthquake!” “It’s the end of the world!” “QUIET!” Twilight shouted. Surprisingly, the ponies calmed down and paid attention. “It’s not an earthquake: Ponyville doesn’t lie near any major fault-lines. And it’s not the end of the world: I’m sure Celestia would have written.” She chuckled at her own small joke, but none of the other ponies seemed to think it was funny. “But what about the m-monster?” Fluttershy squeaked out from under a bush. “The only monster big enough to cause this amount of noise would be a dragon-“ This did little to calm the town’s fears. The townsponies went hysterical, madly running around, bumping into one another, trying to hide from the impending dragon attack. Twilight rapped madly at the podium, screaming for some kind of order. “Hey, quiet down now, ya silly varmints!” Applejack shouted as she ran into the town square. The ponies stopped mid-conniption, and turned to the most-sensible pony in the town. Yes, if anyone knew how to handle a crisis, it was Applejack. “I heard all this ruckus at the farm and came runnin’,” Applejack said, “Now, I didn’t come all this way just to watch y’all hoot and holler and cry. What’s goin’ on?” Sensing that Applejack wouldn’t like to hear their pet theories concerning their approaching doom, the townsponies turned once again to Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, shocked that the ponies had stopped their freak-out for a moment, took a second to gather her thoughts. “I was just saying that we don’t know what’s causing this, but it might be a dragon,” Twilight said as calmly as she could. She waited for the inevitable screams, but only a few “eeps” came from the crowd, which were easily overshadowed by the ominous rumble still shaking the town. “But, as I was going to say,” she eyed a few shameful faces in the crowd as she spoke, “even if it is a dragon, it’s probably a flightless one.” “I’m right there with you, Twilight: If it can’t fly, it doesn’t stand a chance against us!” Rainbow Dash boasted as she performed a few demonstratory somersaults. The town began to laugh and cheer, their hopes for survival having substantially increased. Twilight rolled her eyes and waived her hoof dismissively. “No, that’s not the point. Flightless dragons tend to be friendly, like Spike here. That’s why they send some of their children to live with us, after all. They’ve had a treaty of friendship with Equestria for over five-hundred years now, and no flightless dragons have attacked a pony settlement since well before that.” A single white hoof rose up from the crowd. “Yes, question,” Twilight said firmly. “What about that time Spike kidnapped me and wrecked part of the town?” Rarity asked. A low murmur swept through the crowd. “That doesn’t count because Spike is one of us. We all agreed on that.” “Well, then it’s settled,” said the Mayor as she shoved Twilight to the side and off of the podium. “In the interests of Equestrian diplomacy, we need to welcome this friendly dragon to our humble town.” The townsponies cheered and returned to their still-jostling homes. “Wait, so what are we going to do?” Spike asked Twilight. “We’re going to give the dragon a gift. Offering large piles of gifts to visiting friendly-but-dangerous monsters is an Equestrian tradition, Spike. It ensures that friendly monsters stay friendly.” Twilight tossed Spike onto her back and trotted back into the library. Spike smiled. He was going to finally meet a dragon that was just like him. --- In the space of about ten minutes, what was once a low rumble shaking the town had turned into a loud, intermittent crash every few seconds. Evidently, whatever was making the noise was getting much closer. But the town was quick in its preparations, and all the ponies gathered near the edge of the Everfree Forest . All present had brought a small gift for the dragon, though a few had something special. The Cakes had, naturally, brought a large assortment of baked goods, while Mr. Breezy brought an especially large fan. Twilight and the Mayor surveyed the pile of gifts. “Well, I think that should do it. This should be more than enough to make the dragon feel welcome,” Twilight said. Spike went down his checklist, counting off the ponies present. “Wait,” he said, “where’s Pinkie?” The Mayor, Twilight, and Spike scanned the crowd for the pink pony. Normally she’d be the first pony to welcome anyone or anything into the town, so how could they miss her? “Maybe she’s just late. She’s not a very practical pony.” Twilight’s words vanished in an even louder crashing thunder coming from the forest – a booming rumble powerful enough to send the purple mare and sever other ponies tumbling to the ground. As the townsponies tried to get back up again, they spotted a hooded figure galloping out of the forest, stumbling as it tried to stay upright amidst the quake. It was Zecora, clearly frightened and winded from a long sprint through the forest. “Ponies, beware!” Zecora yelled to the gathered town. She tried to gather her breath and shout over the rumbling after-tremors, but she could hardly be heard. The ponies began to panic as the ground beneath them rose and shook like a cheap motel vibrating mattress. Twilight tried to make her way to the zebra shaman, but stumbled again under yet another rumble. “It’s-” Zecora tried to shout her warning one more time. She met with little success. Another tremor sent her to the ground. Twilight heard a deafening roar and looked up at the sky. It was Pinkie – eighty stories high, towering over the landscape, weighing as much as a small mountain, but it was Pinkie Pie nonetheless. Her legs were as big as the palace towers in Canterlot, and as she rose above the horizon, her enormous head blotted out the sun. It was a terrifying sight. Several ponies present began to contemplate the incongruence of their looming deaths coming at the hooves of a giant, friendly, pink mare. “Raaaaaa,” Pinkie roared, shaking every bit of matter around her, before cracking up in a giggle. Her voice, normally high-pitched and excited, was a low, distorted howl, like a walrus being force-fed a bassoon. As Pinkie giggled in throaty reverie, she stamped her hooves, sending another series of quakes through the forest and countryside. “Haaaaaa haaaaaaa haaaaaa heeeee heeeee heeeee,” she giggled. “Zecora, what in the name of Celestia is going on?” Twilight asked, shouting over the roar. Spike trembled on her back and held on for his life as they bounced on the quaking earth. “Pinkie must have wandered through, the patch of poison joke so blue,” Zecora answered, struggling to stay upright, “I came upon her as she grew in size, and now she’s so big! It terrifies.” Pinkie’s lowered her head – a cranium that easily dwarfed the town hall in size – to the pile of gifts arrayed in front of the woods. She opened her maw and extended her mammoth tongue, searching the pile for sweets. Ponies scattered, running away as best they could from the moist, rubbery monolith. Unable to effectively search the pile with her colossal lingua, Pinkie scooped up the entire pile and swallowed – cakes, fans, books, limited-edition lithographed plates and all. She groaned out what seemed to be a satisfied sound before beginning to move towards the town. “Coooooommmme oooonnnn yoouuuuu guuuyyyssss,” she roared, “Paaaaaarrrtyyyyy aaaaaaattttttt mmmmyyyyyyyy pllaaaaacce!” “Oh, dear Celestia, no!” The Cakes yelped in unison. “Forget about your store,” the Mayor said, “She’s going to crush the whole town! We’ve got to do something.” “I’ve got an idea,” Twilight said. “Mayor Mare, get the town to safety. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, take all the pegasi to the lake. Rarity and Applejack, get a few strong ponies and meet Zecora and me at her cabin. We’re going to mix up the largest potion ever.” --- Pinkie’s shadow cast all of Ponyville in darkness as she approached the town, her eyes dead-set on Sugarcube Corner and its tasty contents. With every step Pinkie took towards her target, the ground quaked and shook. Earth Pony architecture was always renowned for its sturdiness, and so surprisingly few buildings had fallen down. Despite the very severe jostling, the town remained pretty much intact. That all changed as Pinkie reached the town itself, however. Her immense front-left hoof brushed the town hall’s spire, knocking it to the ground. “Ooooooooppsssieeeessss,” Pinkie said, giggling a little as she spoke. She carefully placed her hoof down in the town square before returning her attention to Sugarcube Corner. She lowered her head to the building, carefully ripping off its roof with her hoof before sticking her giant tongue into the shop, once again searching for treats. In the shadow of her enormous belly, the members of the Ponyville Volunteer Fire Department huddled behind the Town Hall. “Hold you positions, fireponies.” Big Mac’s voice was soft but stern. He and the other ponies of the PVFD were the only ponies left in the town, charged with protecting it from the rampage of the colossal pink party pony. As Twilight explained, Pinkie could easily accidentally spark a fire, and so they were needed to keep any blazes from engulfing whatever parts of the town survived Pinkie’s party. And, right then, the part of the town most in danger was the Cakes’ bakery. “We’ve got to protect Sugarcube Corner,” Big Mac said. His fellow fireponies nodded in agreement. The ponies of the PVFD moved out. Peering through a set of binoculars, Twilight, Zecora, and the Mayor watched the scene from a nearby hill. The ponies had completed their preparations – while Pinkie was enormous, she was rather slow-moving; this gave the town ample time to finish their work. Applejack, Rarity, and their crew had gathered the necessary herbs in the forest and mixed them into the town’s reservoir, which Twilight had super-heated, allowing its contents to boil and cook. Now it was all up to the pegasi. Twilight nodded at Spike, who began waving a set of semaphore flags at the sky. Rainbow Dash, flying in formation above the town, saw Spike’s flags. “That’s our signal, guys,” Rainbow Dash called out to her cohort of pegasi. Carrying buckets full of hot sauce in their jaws, Rainbow Dash’s mission was to drive Pinkie out of the town’s limits. Once outside, it would be safe for the other pegasi to hit Pinkie with a vortex of herbal bath potion, which would, they all hoped, shrink her back to a normal size. “Follow me,” Rainbow Dash ordered. The flight of pegasi – Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, Raindrops, and Cloud Kicker – swooped down and made their approach. Pinkie hardly noticed what were, to her, ponies the size of gnats buzzing around her rear, but as she began to feast on Sugarcube Corner’s contents, she also began to wag her tail in excitement. “Watch out, Raindrops!” Rainbow Dash’s warning was too late for the pony bringing up the rear. Raindrops’ eyes grew wide in horror as a huge, curly mass of hair bounced into view. She tried with all her might to pull up and avoid the tail, but it served too well as a trap for the young pegasus, and she collided with its nest of fibers, spilling the bucket of hot sauce all over her own body. She screamed in pain as the sauce reached her eyes, and she began to fall from the entangling web. Raindrops tried to flap her wings, hoping to gain some traction once more and save herself from plummeting to her doom. But, blind and flailing in pain, she could only kick wildly against the air as she fell. Was this how she was going to meet her end – failing in a mission to stop that dumb pink pony from destroying the town? She pondered the question bitterly as she fell, almost accepting the inevitability of her demise when, suddenly, she felt something slam into her side and lift her up into the air. “Gotcha! Another spectacular victory for Rainbow Dash.” The blue pegasus congratulated herself as she carried Raindrops away. Raindrops thanked her savior profusely as they flew away from the scene. Over the town, Thunderlane and Cloud Kicker continued their flight, darting only a few feet over Pinkie’s back and neck as the approached her head, which was still intently searching Sugarcube Corner for sweet morsels of food. “Get ready,” said Thunderlane. The two ponies prepared to release their buckets of hot sauce into each of Pinkie’s eyes. Twilight, watching from the hill outside of town, worried slightly as she watched the two tiny black dots race across Pinkie’s figure. Would Pinkie forgive her for hurting her? She didn’t want to hurt her friend, but these were obviously extraordinary circumstances (circumstances, Twilight admitted, Pinkie didn’t seem to understand). Her anxiety disappeared as she saw the two dots fly right up to Pinkie’s eyes and then fly away again. Pinkie blinked a few times, and then reared up on her hind legs. “Heeeeeyyyyyyy! Nooooootttt cooooooollllll, guuuuuuuyyysssssss!” she roared. She stamped her feet a few times and began to shake her head violently. Big Mac and the rest of the PVFD scrambled to avoid Pinkie’s hooves. “Run!” Big Mac ordered, and the volunteers scattered in all directions. A hoof came crashing down not far from Big Mac’s position, sending everyone to the ground. Conscious that staying on the ground would only invite stomping, the fireponies quickly rose to their hooves and ran, abandoning their equipment. Pinkie rose up on her back legs again and tried to rub her eyes with her front hooves. She stumbled backwards a few steps, taking out much of the south side of town, but she eventually cleared the town’s limits. “Now, Spike,” Twilight commanded her assistant, and Spike once again set to work with his flags. The pegasi at the town reservoir, now being led by Rainbow Dash once more, immediately understood and began to fly in a large circle around the lake. Within moments, a small vortex began to suck the lake’s herbal bath contents out. “Charge!” Rainbow Dash shouted, and the pegasi began guiding their vortex towards their giant pink target. The swirling cyclone of herbal potion arced across the Ponyville sky before landing on Pinkie’s face. The giant pony immediately began to shrink. A great cheer went up amongst the ponies of Ponyville – the pink menace was defeated. --- Pinkie and Twilight sat in the Ponyville hospital, waiting for the doctor to finish his evaluation of Pinkie. All things considered, the clean-up effort was going better than expected. It wasn’t really any worse than the Parasprite incident, and everyone agreed that since Pinkie saved the town that one time, they probably owed her a do-over. That didn’t really settle the issue in Twilight’s mind, however. “So why did you do it, Pinkie? What in Equestria got into you?” “I dunno, Twilight. I went out for a nice little midnight stroll in the forest, and then all of a sudden I was huge. And you know what they say: ‘The bigger they are, the harder they party.’ So I thought everyone would want to celebrate me being the biggest party pony in Equestria.” “Pinkie, you almost destroyed the town. And I’ve never heard anyone use that expression ever.” Pinkie just smiled at Twilight. Well, at least no one got hurt (except for Raindrops, and no one really knew her, anyways), Twilight thought. It could have gone much, much worse. The doctor entered the examination room and held up a black film. “Well, Miss Pie, I’ve found out why your stomach is upset.” He attached the x-ray photo to a viewer. Twilight gasped, but Pinkie began to giggle once again. The image showed Pinkie’s stomach, and inside was a tiny stove, as well as several fans, books, and plates – consumed, apparently, when Pinkie scarfed down her “presents” and the contents of Sugarcube corner, and fortunately shrunk down when the herbal bath cured Pinkie of her affliction. “At least it didn’t burst her stomach,” Twilight sighed. But Pinkie could only giggle. What a fun party she had!
Pone or Die: I swear I wasn't on acid when I wrote this edition "Just what the hay are those two doing over there?" Pinkie asked herself quietly from inside her lush hiding place. In the distance she was able to see Twilight and Zecora standing in the middle of the field. The sun hovered high above the town in the distance, baking the ground to make this one of the hottest days ever on record. Surrounding the two was a litany of various coloured crates and packages. All of these were stacked around the base of Ponyville's wind turbine, silently turning in the breeze. From the distance she was unable to make out what was being said by either of them, but from their body language she could tell that neither was too happy with the situation. She decided to try and get a better position.
Looking around, she saw an easily climbable tree. She hoped that from the top of it she would be able to catch a few of their words carried on the breeze. She bounded from branch to branch, settling in near the top, her head comically peeking through the top of the foliage. At the top of the tree she felt the breeze in her mane and was finally able to hear what was being said. She strained to make out each word, but was able to make out Twilight. "Zecora! Just what are we going to do about this! If you don't fix it soon the whole town will be changed!"
"I just do not understand. This wasn't at all what I had planned." Zecora said looking sheepishly at the ground.
"That doesn't matter right now! We need to fix this before anyone else gets hurt!" She motioned to the purple crate, "First Spike," she pointed to the purple one, "then Cheerilee", she pointed to the final red box, "and then Big Mac!"
"I assure you Twilight Sparkle. I do not find this worth a chuckle."
"No kidding! Thanks to your weird potions any pony who comes within twenty feet of me gets turned into a box!"
At this, Pinkie let her helpfulness get ahead of her comprehension of exactly what her friend had said. In her usual gravity-defying way, she jumped up through the top of the tree. She landed weightlessly on top of the leaves with her big goofy smile plastered across her face. "I think I can help Twilight!" she said as she bounded off the tree and towards the other two. Zecora and Twilight both turned and looked in horror at the approaching pinkness.
"Pinkie no! Stop!" Twilight screamed, but it was too late. Mid-bounce, she was surrounded by the purple aura of Twilight's magic. Before she realized what was wrong, she transformed into a pink cardboard box. She fell to the ground with a great flop. Zecora and Twilight stared in horror at their transformed friend.
"To the Library! Quickly!" Exclaimed Zecora. The two took off towards town, Twilight hoped that the heat of midday and the still lingering apprehension over Zecora would keep most ponies off the street.
In the middle of town, Rumble was sitting on the stoop of Cloudchaser and Flitter's house, waiting for his brother to finish up whatever he was doing inside. He was sitting in the blistering heat with his lucky red cap on trying to shield his face from the harsh rays. He watched as the sweat dripped off his face and pooled on the concrete. Looking to his left there was nothing but heat waves radiating off the paving stones. To his left he saw two figures shimmering through the heat. They both seemed to be running, obviously in a hurry to get somewhere. Rumble was so tiny his grey coat blended right into the steps, neither of the incoming figures seemed to notice him. As the two passed right in front of him, he saw a purple aura surround him. Before he knew what had happened, he had been transformed into a box. His lucky red hat perched on top of it.
Thunderlane finally opened the door, wiping his brow as he waved goodbye to Cloudchaser and Flitter. Both of them giggled when he promised to see them again soon. From the stoop, he said, "Hey sport, you hanging in there?" He looked down, seeing only a cardboard box with a red cap sitting on top. He took a step back in shock, "Oh Celestia! That's his lucky red hat He's a box!" Falling to his knees he cried out, "My boy's a box!" He cursed the heavens, "Damn you! A box!"
Twilight and Zecora raced into to the Library. "Thank Celestia we didn't come across anyone." Zecora nodded in agreement. Twilight began searching her shelves for a spell book that might have an answer. She was lucky enough, on the second shelf she saw exactly what she was looking for. She read the title aloud to Zecora, "Spells to Fix Ponies Turning Into Boxes in Your Presence," she turned to look at Zecora, "That was simple enough." Zecora rolled her eyes. Twilight carried the book with her magic to the reading lectern and opened it. It opened to a blank page, Twilight pulled her head back in shock. She flipped through the pages, all of them were blank except for the very middle page.
She read it to herself, "In order to reverse the curse and turn everypony back to themselves, one must close their eyes and recite the square root of five-hundred-forty-six." Twilight's eyes light up, she looked at Zecora and stated in a flat tone, "Don't ask how I know this." She moved to the middle of the room and closed her eyes, "Let's do this. Twenty-three point three-six-six-six-four-two-eight-nine-one-zero-nine." A bright ball of purple energy gathered at the tip of her horn, filling the Library with light. The light grew and grew until it was too bright to see anything. When it finally died away, seemingly nothing had changed. Twilight was worried and exhausted, she hoped that the spell had worked. She looked out the window to see Thunderlane frantically carrying his brother over his head screaming something about boxes. Twilight collapsed happy that everything was back to normal. From the floor she way Zecora close the door behind herself. With her last ounce of strength she mumbled under her breath, "Got to remember not to trust Zebras." She fell asleep quickly.
"Twilight, what the heck is going on here?" Pinkie's voice was muffled and vaguely cardboard-y, similarly to the other boxes. With a sigh, the Element of Magic spoke up, repeating a similar paragraph for the fourth time today. "My magic's acting up. I'd assume Discord has something to do with it-it's never given me trouble before, and it requires an immense amount of magic to override another unicorn's, plus-boxes, of all things. It doesn't affect Zebras, since Zecora's right here. My magic only seems to work in the realm of "cardboard boxes" right now, so I can't reverse it, and Zecora can hardly mix a potion when none of you can drink it. Anything she'd mix to annul my magic might leave you locked, so I'll wait until sunset. This hill's a good distance away from Ponyville, so we should be fine. Sunset usually breaks non-entrenched enchantments, so now all we need to do is wait." With that said, Twilight settled back on her haunches, looking at the boxes. "We've got a good six or seven hours until sunset. Big Mac, Cherrilee, Spike, Pinkie, why don't we trade stories?" There was a muffled chorus of agreement, and Big Mac's slow drawl began to dictate the story of how he'd gotten his Cutie Mark.
“BOXING!” she shouted enthusiastically. “Ah’m sorry, what now?” The rainbow-colored mare gave a look of pure condescension. “It’s a new sport, straight from Canterlot. Do you not follow the latest in professional athleticism at all?” Giving at least an equal look of consternation, Applejack replied, “No, I don’t. Some of us WORK fer a living. I don’t have time fer that!” With a dismissive wave of her hand, Raindow Dash commented, “That’s fine. I wanted Big Macintosh, anyway. He’s in a heavier weight class. More of a challenge!” The fire in her eyes was undeniable. With a sigh, Applejack took the cyan pony back to the house to find Big Mac. She didn’t expect him to accept, of course, but if it would get the girl out of her hair, she’d acquiesce to just about anything at this point. The Apple family house was looking somewhat more stately than usual as they made their way inside, so it elicited a groan from Applejack when a careless Rainbow Dash zoomed through the hallways, knocking down pictures, ornaments, and antiques, all carefully placed around the estate in a silent vigil for the ancient Apple clan’s now-passed members. Pinkie Pie, who had accompanied Dash to be the referee, bounced along obliviously in the rear, not bothering to apologize for their common friend’s behavior. When the red stallion was found scraping the mud off his hooves for the day, Applejack was confident that he’d be too beat to help Rainbow Dash with her frivolous affairs. Much to her surprise, however, it turned out that she was wrong. With some animated theatrics and only a minimal amount of pleading, Big Mac was roused into following Rainbow Dash out into the yard to “box” her. Equestrian boxing consisted of rearing up onto one’s hind legs and going at the other pony, blow for blow, until one pony had fallen to the ground. In a regulation ring, this could take some time, because the elastic bars would give fighters something to fall back on. Similarly, the gloves utilized by professionals would soften blows, so that they would knock down other ponies, but not cripple them with force. Needless to say, lacking any proper equipment whatsoever, the match went fast. No sooner than an enthusiastic Pinkie Pie had rung the dinner bell, signaling the start of the match, did Rainbow release a volley of blows. Unfortunately, she didn’t account for the difference in weight class at all. Her blows didn’t make Big Mac falter even slightly, and with the seeming slightest tap of the stallion’s hoof, her sleek, thin racing frame was sent teetering, ultimately to collapse into the mud. Of course, ever the frustrated loser, Rainbow Dash immediately challenged him to a rematch. Then another. And another. And yet another. Before long, it was obvious that she stood no chance, and quickly defended her losses by appealing to a lack of fairness. “We just need the right equipment,” she quipped, and led the group back into town, “If we find Twilight, I bet she can even things out for us!” Their search didn’t take long. Twilight Sparkle was in her library tree in the middle of town, as was to be expected. When Pinkie and Dash barged in, she was unsurprised, because this was practically a ritual for the duo, but she was caught off-guard by the appearance of Big Mac. While Mac and Pinkie were generally clean, Dash had to be quarantined right away to keep the mud from being slung all over the room. That didn’t stop her protests, though: “TWILIGHT! We need you to use your magic to make our boxing fair!” Twilight, unaccustomed to the sport, needed an explanation, which she shortly received. With doubt, she told the cyan mare that she did not expect this small library to have any spells relevant to such a new sport, given its age, and she began to apologize and send them on their way when Spike popped out of the adjacent room, exclaiming that he had found the spell book in question. The cover, bearing a number of symbols and the words, “Miscellaneous Magic”, seemed old and dusty, but Spike assured her that it contained a spell about boxing. To the purple unicorn’s surprise, upon flipping to the proper page, she did find a spell relevant to boxing, and it was exactly the one they needed. She read off the page, “Boxing preparation spell: use this spell before boxing to get all things evened out. Make available to all parties for best results.” This was, of course, all Dash needed to hear. “See that? It’ll probably set us up with equipment, get Pinkie Pie a referee uniform, and based on that description, it might even bring our weight classes a little closer together!” Stifling a laugh, and admitting mentally that she would be more than a little amused to see a beefy Rainbow Dash or a girly little Big Macintosh, she agreed to perform the spell and brought all of the ponies outside, just in case the spell summoned a massive fighting ring in the middle of wherever it was cast. A short incantation later and there was a flash. The effects were immediate. Where Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Big Macintosh were previously standing, there was now a stack of three colored boxes with large cutie marks on each side. Panicking, Twilight tore back inside and consulted the book. At first, nothing was obvious, but then she realized two pages were stuck together. In her haste, she tore the pages apart, not caring about damage to the obviously ancient paper. In the intervening pages, diagrams and lengthy descriptions illustrated the use of this spell: packaging. Any object could be reduced to a simple 2’ x 2’ x 2’ cube for easy mass transportation and “boxing”. Worse yet, there was an “unboxing” spell at the end of the page, but it had been damaged beyond legibility in either the process of getting stuck or getting torn apart. Remembering that Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Big Macintosh were still outside suddenly, Twilight bolted back outside to make sure no one had stolen her boxes – er, friends. She then noticed something she hadn’t before: on the side of the Rainbow Dash box, there were cartoonish eyes giving her an annoyed glare. The box vibrated slightly and a sound appeared to emanate roughly from its position, “Hey egghead, this doesn’t look like much of a boxing spell. Want to get me back to normal?” From somewhere else, she could hear a, “Eeeeyup”, and a “I dunno, Rainbow Dash! This seems kind of fun! I’ve never been a box before! What if someone gives me as a present?! I’d love to see the grin I’d give someone if I was a present!” Twilight sighed in relief. Clearly, though her friends had been transformed, they were still their normal selves, at least on the inside. After a quick categorization of her books to determine if she had any cures to the obscure spell, she realized she didn’t, and turned to her usual fallback in the case of magical mishaps, the apparent witch-doctor Zecora. Loading up her friends into a cart, she had Spike harness it to her and she set off toward the woods, telling Spike to watch the library while she was gone. Twilight made her way into the woods, taking a long, careful route (not wanting to lose any of her cargo), but fortuitously, she didn’t have to make it all the way through the swamp to find the zebra. Once she reached a grassy knoll in the forest, a raised hill that had a good view of the forest, around half the way to Zecora’s shack, she ran into her target, picking flowers, probably as some alchemical component. There was a brief, if awkward conversation describing the situation, detailing just how three ponies had ended up in compact form. At first, the black-and-white mare gave a disbelieving look at the boxes, until the cyan one piped up, “Hey, so are you gonna help us, or what?” Then, with a laugh, she beckoned them to return to her hut, where she would cook up a brew to cure transformative effects. In less than an hour, all of the ponies were back to normal. Well, mostly normal, anyway. Rainbow Dash just gave a look of disgust and said, “I think from now on, I’m sticking to racing.” The rest of the ponies just laughed.
"That's the last of them. Are you sure you're only borrowing these?" Spike panted, resting against the latest box he'd hauled inside the library. There were several dozen of them altogether, all neatly wrapped and tied, and each had been far heavier than he felt was strictly fair. "Of course, Spike; they'll have the renovations finished in a few months," answered Twilight Sparkle. She already had one of the boxes open and was excitedly poring through the various scrolls and tomes it contained. "You can't expect us to keep an entire wing of the Royal Library indefinitely." "I didn't think we'd be keeping any of it at all," he grumbled. "Why'd they have to send it all here? Don't they have places in Canterlot to store books? Royal books at that?" "This is just from the public collection, and Princess Celestia agreed to loan them to us as long as we help reorganize them for the new catalog." Spike watched glumly as Twilight unwrapped another box, continuing to move literature around into numerous stacks, and asked her, "Doesn't she already have ponies to do that for her?" The unicorn went on as if he hadn't said anything. "And anyway, it'll be fun to go back through and see how many of these I can remember." She stopped abruptly, and whirled on him. "Do you think my missing test notes might be in here somewhere?" He blinked at her. "Never mind. Help me start inventorying these, will you?" Spike rolled his eyes, and went to fetch a fresh quill. It was going to be a long day.
Late that night, after she'd noticed her assistant asleep in his chair and taken the time to tuck him soundly into bed, Twilight Sparkle was quietly rummaging through the latest open box by candlelight when a page fell out from the book she'd been moving to examine. She chastised herself mentally for her clumsiness and gingerly levitated the paper to her desk. "That's strange," she murmured. The writing was clearly an older language, possibly as old as Akkribbean, and the document itself didn't seem much younger. She wondered how it could have ended up in the public stacks; surely it must belong in one of the private wings for study and record. "Uses of Thyme," she read, looking at the cookbook from which the page had fallen. Flipping through its contents, she quickly concluded that it hadn't fit in there. Perhaps it had been misplaced, she mused, or maybe it contained an ancient recipe. That seemed unlikely to her, but Twilight thought she would write the Princess in the morning and ask her what to do about it. In the meantime, she decided she might be more tired than she realized and began to carefully tuck the parchment away, when a thought occured to her. She looked around, then picked up her candle to search for her dictionaries.
Hours later, Twilight had a rough translation of her mystery text. "Amazing," she breathed. It was a spell! Not only that, but a spell as nuanced as any Starswirl the Bearded had conceptualized. Its exact effects still eluded her, as the writing was somewhat difficult and did not conform perfectly to known translations, but the general idea seemed to be a kind of inversion or change of pony features. Body reversal? She wondered at that. "Pegasi as unicorns? Boys as girls?" She giggled as she imagined a mixed up Ponyville, wondering how Applejack would like a big sister, or how Rainbow Dash would look as a stallion. Would Rarity still focus on dresses? Twilight supposed she would; she couldn't imagine her friend would abandon her specialties. She sighed. She knew she couldn't cast such a spell in the first place, not without permission and not without knowing precisely what it did. Yawning, she slipped the scroll into a bag and set off for bed. She could finish deciphering it in the morning.
"Twilight!" She became dimly aware of her name being called. "Twilight! You've got to come quick!" Someone was yelling awfully loudly. "Twilight! Are you in here?" She shifted in her covers. "Twilight!" Suddenly she was on the floor, looking up into the eyes of a small dragon and aware of a sharp pain in her back. "Twilight! You need to help! Rarity, she-" There was a crash from below, following by a voice that Twilight Sparkle could not quite place. "Did you find her, Spike?" "Come on, Twilight!" Spike began tugging on her side, and she groaned and rolled over. "What? What is it, Spike, what happened?" "It's Rarity, she read the-" "Rarity got small and we don't know how to fix her!" Twilight peered down at the unicorn in the library. "Who...?" Her voiced trailed away as comprehension began to dawn on her. "Sweetie Belle?" "You've got to help change her back, Twilight," cried Rarity's younger sister. She appeared to be taller than Twilight herself now and was dancing nervously near an overturned stack of books. "What...what happened?" asked Twilight as she came down the stairs. "I don't know! I was just coloring when Spike gave her that message you sent her and all of a sudden everything got smaller!" "What message?" Spike gave her a desperate look and replied, "The one you put in the bag with those emeralds we got for her!" Twilight's heart sank, and she turned and began searching for the spell she'd found the previous night. It wasn't in any of her bags. "What are you looking for?" asked Sweetie Belle. "I just-here it is!" She found the page tucked neatly in the dictionary she'd been using. But her own translation was nowhere to be found. "Where is she?" Twilight asked nervously. "She's still at home, but-" "Isn't anybody watching her?" Spike and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, then back at Twilight. "No, but-" "Come on, there's no time to lose!" she cried, running out the door.
Arriving at the Carousel Boutique, Twilight dashed inside the shop and frantically looked around. "Rarity?" She checked the back. "Rarity?" The bedroom door opened slowly, and a small filly walked out slowly. "That was a cruel trick you played, Twilight. It was in very poor taste." Rarity was now roughly the size her sister had been yesterday, but did not otherwise appear to have changed much. Relieved, Twilight said, "I'm sorry, Rarity, it was a mistake-" "And you are going to fix it. Right now." "Look, Rarity, that scroll wasn't supposed-" "Do you realize that I do not have a thing to wear? Not one thing!" Twilight tried not to let her growing annoyance show. "Rarity, where did you put that spell?" Rarity peered coolly at Twilight, turned slightly to acknowledge the late arrivals of Spike and Sweetie Belle behind her, and turned to usher the three into her room. She lifted the scroll from her bed over to Twilight. "Here. Now change us back, and do be quick about it." Twilight accepted it and gave her notes a quick once-over. "Did you try casting it again?" she asked. "What do you mean?" "The spell. It's supposed to be some kind of switch. Did you try it again when it first changed you?" "Twilight, all I did was read that once when everything went wrong. I have been reading it over and over since then and nothing has happened since!" Twilight frowned in puzzlement. "That's strange, it shouldn't work like that." "Are you saying you don't know how to undo it?" Rarity sounded worried, now. "No! No, I just- nevermind." Twilight set the paper down and, hoping for luck, began to cast the spell.
"Well?" Sweetie Belle was the one asking this time. Twilight opened her eyes, and saw everything as it had just been. "That's strange," she said. She looked at her notes again. "Hey, Twilight, did you do something different with your hair?" Spike asked. "No, why-" Twilight stopped, and looked for a mirror. She noticed what had happened immediately. Her mane was styled the opposite manner. "I don't understand," she said. "What's going on?" Rarity demanded. Twilight just stared into the mirror, then began to cast the spell again. Now she was looking back at the rest of the room. Rarity looked impatient. "I don't have all day, Twilight!" Sweetie Belle asked, "Are you reading it right?" Twilight just stood there, unsure of herself. Sweetie Belle crossed over and moved to take a look at the paper. "Let me see!" "Hold on, I don't know-" Something was definitely wrong, now. Twilight knew it from the moment she saw herself standing on the other side of the room.
"Twilight? What's going on?" Spike asked. She didn't know how to answer, but she knew that her assistant hadn't been a unicorn a minute ago, and the spell was definitely at fault. "I think we're going to need some help with this one. Spike, send a letter-" She stopped abruptly, already realizing their predicament. Rarity and Sweetie Belle then noticed what had happened. "Twilight, why are there two of you?" Spike, confused, turned around. "What are you guys talking about?" he asked, and turned back. Then his eyes widened, and he looked down. "Twilight! Why do I have hooves?" he yelled. Twilight's mind was racing. She knew something had to be done, but she didn't know enough about the spell to do it. She didn't know enough about the spell! "I don't know enough about the spell!" she yelled, and ran past Spike to go back to the library. "Twilight? Wait up! You can't leave us like this!"
She tore open the door and, trailing three unicorns behind, rushed in and threw open the dictionary. "Are you certain this is going to work?" Rarity demanded. "Rarity, I really need to concentrate on this right now," she replied, scribbling furiously on a new sheet of paper. A sullen silence took over the room. Rarity pouted in a huff. Sweetie Belle sat glancing awkwardly between her sister and Spike, who seemed to be standing rigidly still and staring at Twilight Sparkle. At last she set down her quill. The other three started expectantly. "Okay, I'm not positive, but if I'm reading this right, we can undo this if we all read this at the same time." "You're not positive?" Rarity asked sourly. "It's either this now or we wait until we reach Canterlot and hope the Princess can fix this." Exasperated, she merely crowded around the paper. "Let's get this over with, then." Sweetie Belle and Spike moved in as well. "Here goes nothing."
"Did it work?" asked Sweetie Belle. Twilight glanced at her. She was back to her normal self, her eyes closed. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, I think that did it. Spike, you can stand up now." He peeked an eye open, and sheepishly stood erect. "Well, I'm glad that's over with. I've wasted a prefectly good afternoon on this nonsense," Rarity huffed. "Come along, Sweetie Belle. Oh, and Twilight?" She glanced back from the door. "Thank you for the emeralds, they're simply perfect for my design." Twilight smiled. "You're welcome. Sorry about today." When they were alone again, Twilight told Spike, "It's been a strange day, hasn't it? I need to tell the Princess about this. Take a letter, will you?" Flexing his hands, Spike replied, "With pleasure! 'Dear Princess Luna,'" Twilight looked at him. "Why are you writing to her?" "Didn't you say you needed to tell the Princess about this?" Twilight Sparkle stared.
-''Come on, Twilight! It can't be that hard to figure!''-Exclaimed Spike, shuffling his front hooves with anxiety. Even his voice had changed, sounding a bit deeper. Tiny green sparkles briefly appeared around his horn from time to time, making Twilight feel a bit uneasy.
-''I don't know, Spike, this isn't just a regular spell you can undo''-Muttered the purple unicorn, her eyes quickly scanning the old parchment in search of a solution-''I am not even sure of what I did for you three to end up looking like...uh...''
-''Like my sister???''-Exclaimed the two white unicorns at unison. Twilight looked at them, biting her lip. Rarity seemed to be the angriest of the three, which, considering her new childish appearance, ended up looking more adorable than threatening: She stomped her tiny little hooves and waved her short mane, trying to appear dignified and mature, with little success.
-''Yeah, like that...''-Sighed the element of Magic, feeling a bit unworthy of her title. Her telekinetic grip rolled up the scroll and placed it in her saddlebag, as she lowered her head-''I don't know, guys, I don't think I'll be able to fix this...at least for today. I need to do further research to know exactly what I messed up. Until then, I'm afraid you'll have to...''
-''Ohhh no no no no!''-Squeaked the purple maned unicorn as she shook her head, her voice breaking at the last ''no'', her ears flapping down-''That will just not do, Twilight! I have so many things to do, and this tiny horn is just unable to do the most basic of spells...''-As a demonstration, she closed her eyes and shoot off a few sparks out of her horn.-''See? Honestly, Sweetie, I thought that at this rate you'd already have learned how to at least move objects with your magic''
-''Hey, what do you mean by that?''-Asked the filly-turned-mare before suddenly closing her mouth, blushing and looking down. Her voice had changed too, along with the rest of her body, which was of a rather beautiful adult mare, but it was her voice that stuck out the most: A melodious, perfectly modulated tune that soothed the hearts of whoever listened to it. Poor Sweetie Belle seemed to be immensely ashamed of that, which puzzled Twilight to no end. In fact, the green eyed pony looked rather sad overall, much unlike her livid sister. ''I guess the fact that even Spike's new form has a cutie mark must have gotten to her''-Thought Twilight as she briefly looked at the mare's still blank flank.
-''Well, as a matter of fact...it really doesn't look like a body-switch spell, rather just an age-switch, so the magic problems must come from...well...''-She stared at Rarity, trying not to smile to avoid getting her more riled up. The filly gasped, scrunched her lips and looked away, frowning and pouting, as the other two laughed a bit, the tension of the moment broken for a few moments.
-''I'm sorry, everyone, but you'll all have to adjust to live like this until I find a way to fix it.''
Twilight Sparkle coughed savagely, trying to wave away all the smoke with her hoof. The spell had gone awry. Again.
“Rarity!” She called out between bouts of coughing. Through watery eyes and the dissipating smoke, she couldn’t see her friend anywhere, just the loaded bookcases of her home in Ponyville. “Are you ok? Where are you?”
“I’m ok!” Rarity answered, coughing herself and coming into site. Her perfectly style mane was slightly askew and she was frantically trying to put it back in order with her hoof. “I swear Twilight, at this rate you’re going to burn down your house before you.....you.....are you alright? Are you still choking on all this smoke?”
Twilight’s face was hot in red as she was doing everything she could to stifle her rising urge to laugh at her friend. Somehow, in the backlash of the failed spell, she must have gotten hit by some radical and unstable energy. Rarity had shrunk. Considerably. It was too much for Twilight, despite the situation.
“Oh Rarity, I’m so sorry!” She said, little snorts escaping despite herself.
“What are you....” Slowly it began to dawn on Rarity as she noticed how much taller Twilight seemed to suddenly be. Her voice took a venomous edge. “Twilight!”
“Ok ok, I’m good. Hehe. Let me just check the book. I’m sure there’s a solution to this.” Twilight began pouring over the hefty old tome again, turning the pages quickly with magic while Rarity fretted over how tiny her little hooves are. Both started at the sound of the front door opening and closing.
“Twilight, we’re home!”
The two ponies watch in confusion as a orange maned unicorn lets herself in. A little ragged haired unicorn colt hustles around her lets, running past and hugging around Twilight’s legs affectionately. “Mommy!”
“What?!” Twilight and Rarity exclaim in unison. The little colt looks up confused and shrugs and tackles Rarity laughing. The white mini unicorn shrieks, but colt is just play fighting. None the less, her hair is getting ruined by little ruffian. “Twilight, help!”
“What’s going on here?” Twilight demands an explanation from the orange mare. “Who are you? What are you doing in my house?”
“You feeling alright?” The other pony says, looking at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. She smiles and gives the purple pony a gentle pat on the mane. “Had a bad day with the little one, honey?”
“Honey?!” She slaps the other pony’s hoof out of her face.
“Ugh, fine! If you’re going to act like this you can make your own dinner tonight!” The other pony turns and stomps out of the room with a huff. Twilight quickly returns to her book, flipping through it in a panic.
“Oh no, Rarity. I think I screwed up bad this time. REAL bad!”
“You don’t say.” Rarity grumbles, nursing a bruise forming on her head as the little colt giggles, prancing around her.
There it was. Again. And again. And again. Nothing could block it out. Not pillows, not earmuffs, nothing. That shrill cry would bring even the mightiest of stallions to their knees, cursing the heavens above and asking them what wrong doings they did in life that led to them being punished like this, and begging for forgiveness, begging for it to stop.
“Changemebackchangemebackchangemeback!” said Rarity, who at the current moment resembled a small filly throwing a tantrum than the normally elegant and refined mare she is. The reason for this, was that she was a small filly throwing a temper tantrum, thrashing about on the ground and flailing her arms every which way, shouting and shouting and shouting
-
“So you're fine with being my test subject for the day?” asked Twilight, looking on Rarity with eager anticipation, waiting on her word.
“Anything for a friend darling,” responded Rarity, “though, you never exactly told me WHAT it is I'm volunteering for, besides an experiment of yours.”
“Oh! Of course, how could I have forgotten?” said Twilight, grabbing a beaker containing what appeared to be an incredibly dangerous liquid, bubbling and spewing out nasty looking fumes at the slightest movement. “This is a regression spell! I found it in one of my spellbooks a while ago and I've been itching to try it out! According to the book, it only works on ponies, so I was never able to find a suitable test subject,” said Twilight, pausing for a moment, before adding “until today that is!” and bouncing back and forth between her hooves like an excited school filly.
“A... regression spell?” asked Rarity, skepticism and uncertainty thick on her voice. “Are you sure this is really... safe?” she added.
“I don't! But that's the fun of it!” exclaimed Twilight. “This is an entire unexplored sea of knowledge we're on the verge of discovering here! Imagine the potential possibilities! Instead of waiting for an injury to heal, a doctor could just simply cast a regression spell and revert that injury back to a point in time when it wasn't injured! Or a historian can cast it on some ancient artifact they found and discover what it really looked like before time took its toll on it! Or librarians! Or- Or-”
“I think I get the idea, Twilight,” Rarity interrupted, her desire to make a beeline for the front door and away from the crazy purple librarian increasing dramatically with every second, “B- But why not modify it already and see if it'll work on something that isn't me?!”
“Oh Rarity...” Twilight said, shaking her head and giggling, “That's not how magic works and you know it! You can't modify a spell without knowing what it does first! And the only way to see how it works is to test test test!”
“There surely must be some way...” Rarity replied, slowly backing herself towards the front door, and more importantly, freedom.
“Pleeeease Rarity?” Twilight begged, “I'm only gonna regress you back to five minutes ago. No more.”
“But what will that prove? You don't have anything to show that I somehow regressed back to five minutes ago.” Rarity said.
“You see, that's the other thing...” Twilight said, trailing off slightly, before reaching for a nearby pair of scissors with her magic, “I was thinking that I snip off a small piece of your tail, and then see if it regrows! Just a little piece!”
“Cut my tail?! Are you mad?!” Rarity shouted back.
“Pleeeease! Pleasepleasepleasepleeeeeease?!” Twilight begged, falling to her hooves and knees and looking at Rarity with the most adorable pleading look she could muster.
And it worked, too.
“Fiiine.” Rarity said with a sigh.
“Great! Now let's get started...” Twilight said, approaching Rarity.
-
“Changemebackchangemebackchangemeback!” whined Rarity, kicking her hooves out all over.
“Rarity, please, I can't work on the reversal spell if you're going to be whining every five minutes!” exclaimed Twilight, becoming increasingly frustrated at Rarity's constant whining. Several instruments and book surrounded her, all of which she was using to try and reverse the spell and bring Rarity back to her normal self.
“I don't have my cutie mark! I'm just a little blank flanked filly! Change me baaaack!” Rarity continued whining, oblivious to Twilight's pain.
“Oh for the love of- will you please shut up!” Twilight shouted, summoning forth a spell that zippered Rarity's mouth shut, finally freeing Twilight of that incessant whining that had been terrorizing her all day. “Finally, peace and quiet...” she said with a sigh of relief, slinking back into her chair for a much needed break.
“Wait a minute...” she said, immediately righting herself and grabbing her quill with her magic. “If I just...” she trailed off, writing furiously on the piece of parchment in front of her, words appearing on the page at lightning speed. Books were levitated towards her, pages flipped, and passages read, before eventually, “I've got it! I've got it!” the purple mare jumped out of her seat, triumphantly staring at the piece of parchment levitating in front of her, containing the cure to her friend's magical malady.
Twilight quickly unzipped Rarity's mouth before shoving the parchment in front of her face, “I did it! I've reversed the spell! It was actually quite easy, why I didn't think of it before I don't know, but all I had to do was...” she trailed off, talking about things nobody short of someone who had spent their entire lives studying magic in a scholarly setting would have a hope of understanding.
“So you can change me back?!” Rarity squeaked, her voice cracking with her obvious excitement. “Change me back!” she once again repeated.
“Alright alright, I'll change you back.” Twilight reassured, trying to not once again bring the wrath of a whining filly Rarity back on her. Her horn lit up in a pink glow, and Rarity was surrounded by a similarly colored aura, feeling the powerful magic coursing around her. She felt it increasing in intensity before finally finishing in a brilliant bright flash, filling the room with a pure white light.
“Did it work?” asked Rarity, though instead of her usual voice, a distinctly masculine one vocalized her thought. She turned and saw Twilight's expression, before scrambling for a mirror and finding out herself just how bad it was, and promptly passing out. Instead of the delicate and feminine curves of her normal self, she saw the sharp, chiseled lines of a stallion staring back at her. Or him, to be more accurate.
Youth is beauty, and unfortunately, Rarity saw herself running out of both. When she looked in the mirror, she could only see the flaws that age had slowly worn onto her: a few wrinkles beginning to appear, a lack of former luster in her coat, her hair starting to loose its support. Cosmetics could obviously hide these flaws, but she could still feel them. Their persistence made her feel dirty and inferior. It was starting to affect her business; opportunities she missed out because she felt her confidence had slipped away with her age. That was something she refused to accept, it was time to take a more aggressive approach.
Knocking upon the wooden door to the arboreal library, she took several deep breaths as she waited for a response, drawing up the courage to ask her friend for help with such a personal problem. Opening the door with a welcoming expression was Twilight Sparkle, with her knowledge of the arcane arts, surely she would have a solution.
“Twilight, my darling, I'm not getting any younger. Every day I can feel my precious youth slipping away like sands in a cruel hourglass!” Rarity enunciated with wide gestures and bold stances.
“But Rarity, we're the same age...”
“Shush shush dear! It can't be easy for you to understand being so young. You must know that it's difficult to be so old but so well immersed in the world of fashion such as I am. This industry is not a job for the elderly.”
“But aren't most of the high fashion designers almost twice your...”
“You're right, Twilight!” Rarity interrupted again. “When they look at me, soon they'll see nothing but an old hag, past her prime, washed up, done for! Oh please Twilight, you must help me, you must!”
Twilight answered with much hesitation “It sounds like you're asking for an age spell. Those are really difficult and don’t always turn out right.”
“Oh please Twilight, I'm begging you. I have an important client coming in from Trottingham this afternoon, and if he sees me like this, he'll just walk all over me!”
“Maybe that's because you're crying right now.” Rarity didn't respond, but just stared back with wide, pleading eyes. The kind of eyes that in the wrong head could topple empires. “Oh all right. Help me get down some books. This is going to take some work.”
After pulling down numerous references, precautions and procedures, Twilight had collected enough notes to begin the spell. With books scattered across the floor, Rarity stood right in front of her friend. She squinted as Twilight's horn began to glow, the mystic energy concentrating at a point. Bright streams of indigo and cyan filled the room. Rarity found it difficult to concentrate on the changes that were happening to her, as if she was loosing awareness of her body.
When the atmosphere of the room returned to normal, and Rarity regained sense of her surroundings, she noticed everything was a little bigger. She even needed to crane her neck up to look at Twilight, who had the most alarming look of dissatisfaction on her face. “Well, it worked” Twilight managed to squeak out. Feeling panic rush through her body, Rarity galloped over to the neared mirror. Looking back at her through the mirror was a young filly who hadn't even earned her cutie mark yet.
“Change me back!” She finally exploded “Change me back!” Rarity rushed over and leaped upon a pile of books, trying to regain some stature. “Change me back! Change me back! Change me back!” It was all she could get out. As frantic as ever, Twilight began flipping through her books and notes trying to find an answer.
“I can fix this!” Twilight responded, with just as much panic as Rarity was screaming at her with.
A few minutes after both of them had calmed, Twilight found a worrying solution. “I...I think the best solution will be to just wait it out.”
“You mean I'll have to grow up all over again?”
“No, no. But the spell isn't permanent. It will wear out in a few hours.”
“Can't you just find a counterspell?” Rarity pleaded.
“There is none. And if I tried anything, it could risk making you even younger!”
“A few hours, what am I supposed to do until then? I can't let anyone see me like this!”
“Well, if you stay here, Spike, or some library patron might see you.”
Unwilling to accept that happening, Rarity thought for a second before standing up straight and commanded “Twilight, get your saddlebag, you are taking me home!”
It wasn't too difficult to smuggle one tiny filly in a saddlebag across town. And now, alone in her house, all Rarity wanted to do was just lay down and die, at least until the spell wore off. Dying would have to wait as Rarity heard a knocking at her door. Dread washed over her as she realized it must have been the client she was expecting. If she sent him away, she could lose his business. Then again, if she showed up to him, her reputation could be ruined. She had to think quickly. Resolved with a plan in mind, she opened the door. She looked up to the stallion who spoke plainly. “I'm looking for Miss Rarity.”
“Oh yes of course. Do come in. My sister has been expecting you.” She lead him into the boutique where her dresses were ready and on display. “Unfortunately, she's feeling under the weather and has entrusted me to deal with our business.”
“This is absurd!” He protested. “Young lady, this business is matters for adults. Now, if I can't speak with Miss Rarity, I'm afraid I'll have to leave.”
“No please wait!” She squeaked out. “I assure you, my sister trusts me completely! She fully trusts me to carry out her business in her absence.”
The stallion gave a skeptical eyebrow. “You mean to say she will honor any deal I make with you?”
Reluctantly, she agrees and this seemed to satisfy the business pony. The two sat down at a table and began negotiations. Rarity thought it would be just a simple matter of establishing prices, but she soon found that she held a severely weakened position. All he saw was an inexperienced child and tried to play on the naivete he thought would come with, wanting more dresses for less money. Rarity found it hard to argue with as idea of a little child arguing with an adult might be embarrassing enough to convince him to leave.
“I should also like to purchase twenty sets of evening wear. I believe thirty bits a piece will do.”
“Thirty is far too low! I, I mean my sister, would barely break even on these. I must insist on seventy at least.” She countered
“Now child, we would all love to be paid grand amounts of money for our work, but that's not the way the world works. These dresses would never sell on the discount rack at those prices. I would be willing to give you thirty five a piece for these.”
Rarity was now fed up with being pushed around like this. She employed her final tactic, one she reserves for these stingy customers, and for dates who didn't want to pay the bill. She narrowed her eyes, gave a devilish grin and spoke slowly and deliberately. “Now, I think you will find seventy is a fair price for these dresses.” She continued her stare. No one she's meet has been able to resist her demands under the weight of such a crushing gaze.
That is what she thought until he started laughing. Simply the sight of this tiny filly speaking with such authority was positively delightful. “Little girl, you are just so precious.” He chuckled. “I think our business is done here. Tell your sister that the next time she picks a proxy, she should find someone with more years under their saddle.”
The next morning, the spell had worn off and the wrinkles had returned. Every defect was once again visible on her face. All the years showing on her face. It was then that she decided to see these flaws not as years fleeted by, but as years of experience and respect commanded.
“But Rarity!” bawled Sweetie Belle as she levitated along. “I have things to do with Scootaloo and Applebloom!”
“Now, now, dear, we’ll only be borrowing you for a minute,” said Rarity, opening the door to Carousel Boutique.
“Yes, what she said,” said Twilight.
“Why are you acting so WEIRD? Let me go!”
“Not just yet, darling. Twilight, be a dear and take Sweetie Belle to the back room and astcay the ellspay, okay?”
“Sure thing, Rarity. It might take a few minutes.”
Sweetie Belle began thrashing her little marshmallow legs as Twilight brought her through a door to a back room.
“Ellspay? What’s an ellspay? How do you astcay someone? It sounds painful! Help! Help! He-“
The door swung shut. Rarity fiddled with her mane, trying to put it back in its original, fabulous, place. Hopefully the pony IRS wouldn’t show up for a good few hours and they’d be able to prepare Sweetie Belle for her very important role.
Somepony knocked on the door.
“Pony IRS! I'm here to inspect your books!”
“Oh for pe- Yes, just a second,” Rarity called. Twilight stuck her head out of the door.
“You have to stall him, Rarity… we’re not done yet! I’ll make a noise when it’s done.”
Rarity nodded and trotted towards the door, swinging it open with her magic. A light brown Earth pony looked back at her.
“Yes, hello. Um, this is Carousel Boutique, yes? My name is Moneybags, and I’m going to investigate your books today. Can I come in?”
Rarity grinned.
“You want to come in? Well, that’s a reasonable thing to ask. After all, this is a door, and what are doors for if not for allowing perfectly respectable ponies to enter through them?”
“Yes, well I-“
“And after all, a handsome stallion like yourself shouldn’t settle for anything less than entering through the door. You’re not some rogue-ish burglar pony to clamber through the windows, and…”
“Can I, uh, come in now? You’re blocking the way and holding me back, and I, you know, really need to get this over with.”
“Oh goodness, yes, of course,” said Rarity, moving back a few paces and allowing Moneybags to enter the door. Rarity looked around frantically, trying to find anything that could hold him off any further.
“So, um, are you the owner?” Moneybags asked.
“Oh goodness no, I- Mane!” said Rarity.
“Th- excuse me?”
“Your mane is just dreadful, darling! I know I said you were handsome outside but now I look at you in a different light… it’s such an unfashionable mess! It’s almost like you cut it yourself. And what happened to your tail? It’s… like it fell victim to the mad-axe pony of Trottingham! And don’t even get me started on your cutie mark. It must be very embarrassing for a taxpony to only have ONE bag of money. Why, I know a businessman in this very town with three, and he’s surely not as good with figures as you claim to be. Why, I need to give you a makeover right. This. Second.”
A honking noise emanated from the back room.
“Makeover? I don’t have time for a makeover! I-I need to inspect finances, not get haircuts. Fetch the owner, young lady. I have business to discuss.”
“Oh, I shall,” Rarity said, turning towards the back room. “Sweetie!” she called. “Oh, you’d better be ready. Blasted spell…”, she muttered afterwards.
She opened the door to find Sweetie, but… not Sweetie. This looked almost exactly like Rarity, even down to the passable imitation of her own hairstyle. Rarity nodded and muttered to Sweetie Belle.
“This will do fine. Has Twilight told you what you need to do?”
Sweetie nodded hard, and gave Rarity a wide grin. Rarity smiled back.
They went back into the main room, where Moneybags was looking at his cutie mark with some concern. “Well, here’s the owner, Mr Moneybags. If you’d like to go to that room through there, you’ll find everything set up for you.”
“Finally. Thank you for your assistance…” He gave a shrewd look at Sweetie Belle, who was staring vacantly into space. “I can already see you’re, um, the reason this business is so successful. Anyway, do come along with me, Ms Rarity.”
“Go on dear,” said Rarity to Sweetie Belle. “That’s you.” She turned to look at Moneybags. “I’ll just be out here doing work if you need to speak to me.”
Ten minutes later, Moneybags burst out of the room he’d been speaking to “Rarity” in. He trotted over to Rarity, visibly flustered.
“Yes, well, I can see where the problems came about. Goodness. I think that if you promise to do the revenues in future, and you just pay the outstanding money – that’s, uh, 56 bits currently – we should be all right. Just please, don’t let that mare near the books ever again.”
“I’m sure I can manage that. Would you like to stay for tea? Rarity is going to cook her specia-“
“NO! Uh, no. Thank you. I’m very busy, being part of the pony IRS, you understand, so I need to go, right now. Um, bye.”
Moneybags almost fled out the front door, swinging it shut behind him.
Twilight trotted out of her hiding place towards Rarity.
“Wow, Rarity. That worked great! I knew the Little-No-More spell would combine with the Dumb-You-Down spell, but not that effectively. This opens up a whole new host of possibilities in the future.”
“Well I’m just glad your plan worked, darling. Heavens knows I thought that a plan you based on something from fiction would have just crashed and burned straight away.”
Twilight laughed.
“Well, it could have been better but I had no time to plan! Next time make sure you give me more than a day to work out a story. Anyway, I’m happy it all worked out for you. Although, you might have a bit of cleaning up to do now. I’m afraid Sweetie Belle made a big mess of your room.”
Rarity scowled.
“Urgh. Well, I suppose it’s only a small price to pay for not going to pony jail. I’ll just have to get clearing up right away. After all, it’s no easy task to clear the ground, plant our tiny seeds. With proper care and sunshine, everyone it feeds. Apples, carrots, celery stalks, colourful flowers too, we must work so very hard it’s just so much to do. Winter wrap-up, winter wrap-up, let’s finish our holiday cheer, winter wrap-up, winter wrap-up, ‘cause tomorrow spring is here.”
I’m just a face on a wall. It’s no modesty, it’s brutal honesty- right now, even as I strain to speak to you I’m resting against the wall of an AWOL fashionista, in a dark and dusty boutique. It’s been months since I heard another voice, and strained to make mine heard to them. Don’t turn around and walk away- this place can be lovely again. A nice coat of paint, some peaceful music, and you’ll forget that half of Ponyville’s population disappeared into it. Don’t around turn and walk away. Just sit for a moment and imagine the possibilities. Leave the door open. Let the sun in. Let the air in. Let me pretend for a moment more that I can breathe it as I beg you silently for your company. Just stay. Yes, that’s it. Sit down, even if it’s just in the doorway. Let out that sigh you’ve been holding in. Hold it if you must. Stay a little longer, and I’ll tell you a bit about the last pony who lived here. Not all of the bits mind you, just the important ones. All of the bits could take all the time in all the world, and we don’t quite have that. I don’t have all the bits to begin with, nor do I think that anypony does. They’re scattered bits, and you’re the first to hear any of them. So I can only tell you the bits I know, starting with the ones I first saw.
You should know there were once six celebrities in ponyville, and you’re lucky enough to be in the home of one of them. Everypony knew Miss Rarity. Lovely, well groomed, intelligent, refined, and certainly on the rise among Canterlot’s elite. Hard working too, though fewer ponies know it from the way that she carried herself. To run an entire business is quite the task- and that’s where my story begins. Now I know I promised you a proper story, with real characters. She’s the main character, and I beg you not to make the mistake of thinking otherwise. Such a mistake would be terribly regrettable, for both of us. So don’t make it, just know the reality: She and her friends are the main characters in this little story. I was just a shophand, and I quickly fade into the background. I began as a volunteer, though Miss Rarity insisted that I be paid. I shelved things, organized outfits, and made sure that clothes and saddles shipped on time. Hardly anypony commented on me, and they hardly ever needed to. The buzzing of sewing machines and threading of needles was the work of a true professional, and I made my work just watching and listening while doing the simple things. Gradually I was trusted with greater and more important tasks, and eventually I was allowed to model while outfits were put together around me. It was quite the honor to be told by a passing gentlecolt that I had the figure of true Canterlot elite. I’d always suspected mine was a dumpy, flabby body. I was happy to hear Miss Rarity’s “Hmm” at the time, a sound she only made when cautiously agreeing with an idea. Over the next many weeks she began to weave a series of stitches and saddles around me the likes of which nopony had seen before. I held perfectly still, a testament to her trust. Gradually ponies stopping by would watch us and comment on the spectacle, as she laid in each gem, stitched each seam, and transmuted each outfit. Now we come to the crux of the story of course. The cross section where I fade into the background once more, and you get your main character back. You may release that sigh you’ve been holding since you walked in, if you wish. You see, the ability to transmute matter is not native to a unicorn, and it made miss Rarity quite special. It wasn’t a talent she always possessed, but once I began modeling for her it was one she developed. All the while I focused on remaining perfectly still, and all the while she did her work. Over time, ponies visiting forgot my name, they stopped seeing me as a mare and started seeing just another wooden figure. I believe that was around the time that I started to forget things too. I had a name, and we all do, but it wasn’t relevant then, and it certainly isn’t relevant now. Staying still until she was done doing what she was doing, that was important.
Of course, when Miss Rarity discovered the truth, she was quite as astonished as I. She’s a good mare at heart, and she wasn’t about to allow me to remain suspended, forever a background object. Oh she made her efforts, and that’s where Twilight Sparkle enters the tale. Her inspection was quite the feat of magic, a sight I was happy to witness while I still had the sense, and she concluded it by announcing that I was most certainly no longer “animate”, but most certainly not “inanimate” either. I was a mannequin in the falsest sense, and I was still quite good for modeling and magic using. At best I was a set piece, and at worst I was a wellspring of untapped transmutation magic. It was a tragedy in the beginning, but after awhile it became a minor inconvenience. Miss Rarity would begin her work with a mumbled apology to me, and when she’d close up shop that evening she’d thank me for my time. I’d silently give her the “ok”, and at night I would try to recall if I’d ever had a dream of something this wonderful. Gradually, even the thanks began to stop coming. I became a proper and useful setpiece in the truest sense, and she became renowned for her incredibly quick construction and transmutation of clothing. So we continued each day and night, until she began to take my silence for granted, and I began to long for speech once more. The work continued, and I decayed into stiffness and silence until I knew there might be no return. Miss Twilight’s gestures at repairing the damage had stopped coming over the seasons, and their talks about what a feat of magic it was began in their place. This was the beginning of the end of ponyville’s nameless mare population. The two ladies who began the experiment were once upstanding exemplars of generosity and humility, but today’s Equestria knows them differently. The years are unkind to anypony’s ego who is troubled by the degree of fame that Miss Twilight and Miss Rarity were, and even now the grim truth is this: We’re just background pieces to them. We’re just inanimate objects to begin with, barely deserving of a name in their world of fame and madness. It’s no wonder they get away with the sorts of things that they do, and our exploits go untold and our names forgotten. We’ve always been this, and even their words to us are token at best. When they’re forced to decide between our visionless lives, or an element of excitement in theirs, you can know which choice they take. To them, the world only moves as they walk past it, and once we’re out of their sight, we cease to be once more. This is, of course, the story of how our names were forgotten. One by one, we volunteered, and one by one we were steadily lead into a collective fold of silent and sentient mannequins. Miss Rarity has seen to it that we’re in every shop in Equestria now, a feat that she is famous for. To round us up would take a century- I hear we’re spread as far and as wide as the floors of Canterlot Tower. Some of us freeze in the last pose we could make as we tried to flee the streamlined spell that captured us- a spell that Miss Twilight Sparkle herself found while researching the opposite. The process became suspicious over time. Rumors of nameless missing mares circulated the courts of Canterlot. Those ponies popular enough to have true lives and true names doted on our lifelike appearance, but those ponies without began to fear for their safety. Whispers of dark magic and lifelessness began to reach the ears of the right ponies, and the result was a visit to Ponyville from Canterlot’s Inanimate Regulation Committee. From my silent post against her wall, I watched as the fear made her sloppy. I watched the concentration spread throughout the room as she and her partner in crime conducted yet another transformation. The knocking only grew louder, and the magic only grew brighter. Their latest subject lifted into the air, legs kicking, and the transmutations began in a race against time. A pony’s last sound shouldn’t be the slamming of doors, her last sight shouldn’t be the grim determination to make her vanish that those wondrous and awful mares wore on their faces that night. I bid a silent farewell to yet another nameless mare, and our story ended with a splintering of doors and a shattering of windows. This boutique hasn’t seen a unicorn in years since. Over time, the dust collected over us all. We try, and sometimes when nopony is looking, a twitch of life comes into us. The corners of your eyes sometimes have it, and that’s just the trick- we’re all struggling. We’re always struggling. We want you to know our story, and we want you to know that there is a cure. It burns in our hearts and our minds, and stays locked behind our closed mouths. My mouth is closed, dear visitor. It remains closed, and I can only continue to think my tale to you. I can only wish you to do what the unicorns never tried, and give me a name. Give me life once more, that I might move in the sight of ponies and know myself. Create for me a world with just a name. Just one name, and I can step down off this pedestal and walk once more. One single name, and my story can be yours to write.
In the later days of the Equestrian Empire, while the town of Ponyville suffered from decay, Lyra took a walk. Despite the season being the dead of winter the weather felt like the Dog Days of summer. There wasn’t enough Pegasi on the weather patrol to make the season changes so there was one long eternal summer throughout the fall and winter. The only thing the weather team did was occasionally make a small drizzle to prevent the plants from dying out completely and provide relief to the sun baked ponies below. There was a rain the day before but there was no trace of it as Lyra emerged from her house for the first time in a week. The dirt streets were cracked and hot to the point where a mirage made it look like a great lake surrounded her house and had engulfed the entire town. She took a moment to water her wilting flowers. Bon Bon always was the one who tended to their flowers being an earth pony and all. Lyra never did so unless Bonbon forced her to. Since her disappearance two weeks ago Lyra tried to take care of the garden by herself with predictable results. She had to keep buying more from the Flower sisters (until they disappeared as well, then she just stole them from their shop) since the ones Bonbon planted died off. That was until a week ago when she gave up taking care of anything. She went to sleep that day and hadn’t gotten out of bed until now when she decided to take a walk. All of her friends and companions were gone. She was convinced they just left the town in the middle of the night to head towards Canterlot to ride out the last days of Equestria’s Golden Age. Bonbon talked about leaving but Lyra tried to convince her that they should stay. They went to bed mad at each other and Lyra figured that her spouse got fed up with her stubbornness and left.
It was hard to believe that just a month ago the town was still somewhat populated. As she wandered the streets of Ponyville she didn’t see a single soul outside. Occasionally she would see a pony looking out from their window who wouldn’t notice her despite waving at them. Their eyes were glazed over or maybe she was swallowed whole by the mirage from their perspective and appeared as a green blur lurking in the depths. The one time she actually had a conversation with another pony was when she saw Rainbow Dash sleeping on some lofty cloud and woke her up.
“Dash, can we talk?” The Pegasus stirred and groaned, obviously not pleased that she was woken to speak with a stranger. Lyra never really talked to the Element Bearers before. Everyone in town knew of them and spoke to them once or twice but Lyra wouldn’t be considered a friend of theirs. She thought that all six of them were somehow directly connected to the Princess and that she could’ve told her exactly if the rumors about some great army that would soon march through from the south and decimate the country side were true. But she held her tongue and kept it simple.
“What is the weather schedule for this week? My flowers are dying again and I almost used up all my own water keeping them alive. I need to know if it’s going to rain again soon.” Rainbow Dash yawned and stared off into space for a bit before answering.
“I dunno. The Cloudsdayle weather factory hasn’t sent any clouds to the town and we can’t steal any from some other town. Ponyville isn’t the only town that’s dying obviously. We sent a representative today but I’m sure they are going to come up with some excuse; probably because we have too small a population to qualify as an actual settlement or some horse apples like that. ” Lyra couldn’t think of anything to say. She thanked her and turned around to continue her walk but was interrupted by Dash. “Wait. Could you do me a favor? I need you to find something from Rarity’s house.” Lyra knew of the Carousel Boutique. She went occasionally but she bought anything excluding once where she picked up Bonbon’s wedding gown. There were some extra fees she had to pay but it was worth it, the dress looked fantastic. Despite that the prices were too high to buy anything regularly. “Okay. What do you need in her house?” Rainbow Dash put a hoof up to her chin and seemed lost in thought again. She eventually answered though. “I…need some flight goggles I left there a few months ago. Before Rarity and her family left for Canterlot we held a party at her house and spent the night there. I left early for Weather duty. I keep forgetting to do it myself; can you do it for me?” Lyra had nothing better to do right now so she accepted. Dash simply smiled. She started to thank her but she stopped and just lay back down on the cloud seemingly asleep. It became apparent that the ghost town was becoming harder and harder to navigate. Lyra looped around Ponyville multiple times, always seeming to be drawn back to the foundation of City Hall. Last month the last bits of the structure toppled over finally finished off by a cool breeze that blew through the town. This was a surprise to no one Lyra least of all. The roof already caved in 2 months before hand from a sky carriage collapsing into it. They couldn’t find the Pegasi who were flying it but the carriage appeared to be one that would carry passengers; they were absent from the crash as well. A few months before that event a lightning bolt ignited part of it on fire during a scheduled rain. No pony was injured in the fire or in the effort to put it out and save the building but the ordeal scared the Mayor into deserting Ponyville. Lyra could still see the flames burning the pieces of rubble on the foundation now. Only it was ignited by the sun and not by the weather. She also imagined that the passengers of the carriage burnt up gloriously into ash before impact and that’s why there wasn’t a trace of survivors. Perhaps she would find their ash strewn about in some lofty serpentine out in the Everfree or perhaps the rain washed it away denying them of a burial. Whatever the reason was Lyra felt like the City Hall was akin to a graveyard as she kept wandering back to it. Lyra eventually waded her way through the heat waves and mirages and found the Carousel Boutique. Like most buildings that were abandoned signs of decay were evident. But the Boutique seemed to be wearing down at an alarming rate. The usually bright paintjob was fading and bits of it were peeling off. The soft blues and pinks were getting lighter and lighter and the sun beating down made this effect even more apparent. The windows were boarded up with wood that was rotting already. The store’s sign was taken off and blocking the entrance. The eeriness of the Carousel Boutique froze her where she stood but like she forced herself out of bed in the morning she forced her body forward towards the door. The sign wasn’t nailed on so Lyra was able to levitate it out of the way with ease. As she entered she was greeted to an overwhelming darkness. Even the light from the door only allowed her to see a few feet ahead of her. It was as if the darkness was artificial. When she looked back outside she saw that the heat haze had swallowed all of Ponyville now, making it seem like there was no turning back. She made her horn light up to provide enough light and closed the front door. Even with the light spell the Boutique was still dark enough that she couldn’t see much of the room in front of her. This would make looking for the Goggles much more complicated. Lyra thought about tearing the boards off to provide more light but decided that it would be rude to mess with one of the Element of Harmony’s old homes. Dash didn’t give her permission to touch anything and she didn’t want to upset her. Lyra wouldn’t want anyone touching Bonbon’s things even if she invited them inside, so she could see how it could offend Dash. All around the room there were manikins strewn about in various poses. Despite having lack of mouths someone drew eyes onto them to display emotion. One manikin was looking at their hooves with dilated pupils to show its apparent shock. Another one seemed to be stuck in a snapshot of it wringing around while crying. There were drawn on tears to perfect the image. As Lyra looked around the Boutique, having completely forgotten her purpose for coming here in the first place, she found three mirrors lined next to another that was used so the customer could see every angle of their garment before purchasing it. There, lay another manikin on its side with a horn strangely, which was unconventional. She noticed a half opened door near this scene which seemed to tempt her to open it. Lyra opened the door slowly anticipating what lied beyond but flung it open in fear. The closet was filled to the brim with manikins of varying sizes and colors all strung up on stands. There was something awry about them though despite being identical to the other ones she saw around the Boutique. Before she could put her Hoof on it a voice called out. “Is this all Rainbow could get today? I guess we are getting closer and closer to our goal.” Lyra jumped from this noise and tripped into the closet. The darkness disoriented her and she staggered around knocking over a few Manikins until her eyes rested on a light spell that was being casted. She instantly recognized the Unicorn. “Twilight? What are you doing here?” The Element of Magic left town long ago as did most of the Element of Harmony. Only Rainbow Dash and Applejack bothered to stay, one was too stubborn to leave and the other had nothing really to chase after when the Wonderbolts were disbanded and turned into a solely military service. It was quite the surprise to see her here but she felt safer around the one unicorn she could trust. She then noticed a figure standing next to her though who had a lit horn as well. “Oh please dear don’t knock over those…manikins. They are quite fragile.” Once Lyra saw Rarity she knew something was horribly wrong. She still couldn’t piece together what any of this meant but still she screamed out in terror. They were blocking her only exit so she headed deeper into the closet. Her legs gave away under her though and she was lifted up in the air. “Don’t worry. There’s no reason to resist everything is going to be fine. The worst is going to be over soon enough.” Twilight’s attempt at calming Lyra just made her scream louder. She thought that the only way she could get out of this was by getting some pony to hear her and come bargaining in to her rescue. But she realized that there were no ponies left that would do such a thing, and the only ones that would were currently dragging her out of the closet and back into the main room. She flailed helplessly trying to get out of Twilight’s grasp with predictable results. Rarity began casting a spell as well, but it wasn’t levitation. Lyra began losing feeling in her legs and she looked down in horror to see that she was being transformed into a Manikin herself. Lyra in her panic began trying to lift a manikin near Twilight and Rarity with her telekinesis. She failed to get a grip on it the first few times and when she finally was able to she was almost done with her metamorphosis. She sent the Manakin flying at both of them catching them off guard and sending them tumbling downwards. Lyra fell out of Twilights grasp but everything from her neck downward was immobile. She ripped the cloth out of her mouth and spoke. “What is going on!? Why are you turning ponies into manikins? I thought you were going to work on saving Equestria in Canterlot?” Twilight and Rarity forced themselves up; they looked to each other and sighed. “Twilight. She deserves to know.” The purple unicorn nodded and spoke. “Alright. This is the way we are saving Equestria. At least it’s culture and history. We already know that Equestria is going to fall, this is inevitable. Sure, ponies will live on undoubtedly, but all the records and memory of this time period will be lost.” “What does this have to do what’s going on here?” Lyra replied. “Celestia told us we needed to preserve some citizens from this time period. That years into the future these living fossil be able to lead Equestria back onto a righteous path. The Elements of Harmony alone keep this golden age going on forever. So this is our solution. Immortalize ponies and keep them lock away for when the time is right.” Twilight lifted the darkness which turned out to be artificial after all. Lyra was able to look at the Manikin near the mirror and noticed from its texture that it wasn’t a Manikin at all. The material however seemed different from normal stone that would be used in statues. So the ponies weren’t turned by simple petrification. Rarity noticed her examining the statue. “We developed a spell that turns pony into pure adamantine. They can never be broken. But unlike being turned into stone the victim still is conscious the entirety of the time he or she is under its influence. A very useful side effect is that after a millennia or so it wears off.” Lyra shivered with her head. “That’s horrible! Being stuck like that for a thousand years sounds like a fate worse than death…” “Well I certainly don’t sleep well at night knowing that they are suffering like that. But it’s the only way Lyra. And I can give you a good reason to let us do this to you willingly.”
“What. What could possibly make anyone willingly paralyze themselves to the outside world for that long?”
Twilight levitated a few manikins out of the closet and set them down in front of her. She began sketching various cutie marks on them; including a very familiar set of wrapped candies.
“We’ll let you go if you want. But we can’t let your friends go. We actually approached them and asked them to join the project. And Bonbon asked me personally as her last request to get you on-board with her so she could see you again. If you leave you’ll be long dead by the time they wake up.”
Lyra hung her head and tried to think of her choices. She could either suffer a fate similar Luna suffered and be imprisoned for 1000 years. Or leave her friends and stay and die along with her everything she held dear. Both choices weren’t exactly ideal. But she had a feeling regardless of what she said it didn’t matter to them. At least in due time she could see Bonbon again, and she couldn’t bear to think what Bonbon would feel if she endured for a millennia only to find her spouse long gone.
“This is who I am, isn’t it? This is why I exist…Alright let’s do it.”
As the last light she would see flashed before her it seemed to be flowing outwards into parts unknown- into an immense heart of darkness.
It was strange, watching the world pass by. Daily would the customers enter, walking right by me, but never notice me. I got used to noticing their habits, their stances, the way they held themselves, how their expressions and motions changed when they thought no one was looking. It was slightly unnerving when the shopkeep used me to model dresses on my form while the customers stared. Of course they weren't staring at me. I was just a setpiece. A model. Background.
It didn't matter what I thought or felt about it. I was stuck here forever anyway. Nearly every day the shop would light up in the morning, the ponies would come in, waste their time worrying about what other ponies thought about how they looked, spent all their hard-earned bits on useless strips of cloth, then go about their 'lives'. They don't realize how good they have it. Being able to go wherever they please, and just squandering it. I first grew envy, but then hate. Hate towards those that fretted their lives away, not using the gift of mobility and flesh. But even the hate eventually melted into apathy. It was hard staying angry at anything for years. Especially when I see them do the most ridiculous things when they're 'alone'.
Every once in a while, somepony would look at me. Not the clothes that were on me, not the space behind me, but me. I always liked it when someone actually looked at me. Paid attention to me. Sometimes it was just for a fleeting moment. Other times, it was for what seemed like a minute or two. But occasionally, there's one mare that just seems to stare at me for a while. Like she knows me. Or at least wants to know me. I can't help but to stare back. Well, at least as much as I can without being able to move my eyes. It saddens me when she leaves, but I understand. It's boring just standing there starting, without anypony to talk to. But I enjoy her company anyway. Maybe someday, I'll be able to stare back at her.
