> The Mountain Dew Experiment
>  by arglefumph
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Collecting Energy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: Please use Mountain Dew responsibly.

Inside the Ponyville library, Twilight Sparkle was going through the cabinets, trying to collect all the ingredients she needed for a complicated potion. Her search was not going well, because she kept being distracted by her talkative dragon assistant.

"How much longer do you think it'll be?" Spike asked.

"I don't know, Spike," Twilight Sparkle responded.

Spike twisted his head around so he could double-check his back. "But all of the other dragons have wings. Why haven't my wings started growing yet?"

"For the last time, I'm not an expert on dragon anatomy," Twilight said, using her magic to move some unnecessary things aside.

"But I wanna fly!" Spike said. "Rainbow Dash is always bragging about how cool flying is, and dragons are supposed to be the best flyers ever!"

Twilight stopped rummaging through the cabinet and turned around, with a slightly annoyed look on her face. "Do you really want to fly?" she asked.

"Sure!" Spike said. "I mean—"

Twilight used her magic to levitate Spike into the air.

"Woah, wait!" Spike said. "That's not—"

Twilight began to move Spike in a large circle, around the library. When she started moving him faster and faster, his stubby arms and legs began to flail about.

"STOP! STOOOOP! I think I'm going to be sick!" Spike screamed.

Twilight chuckled to herself, then let Spike down gently.

"That's what flying is like!" Twilight said happily.

Spike's eyes were rolling in all directions, until Spike shook his head and reoriented himself. "Hey, why'd you stop?" he asked. "That was kind of fun! Think we could try it outside next time?"

Twilight Sparkle sighed. So much for getting Spike to forget about flying.

"Spike," Twilight said. "I'm trying to make a potion here, but you keep distracting me!"

"Oh," Spike said. "Sorry about that. Why are you making a potion?"

"It's for the princess," Twilight said. "She wants me to make a new type of Mountain Dew."

"Mountain Who?" Spike asked.

"Mountain Dew, Spike," Twilight said exasperatedly.  "It's an energy drink for unicorns."

"Oh," Spike said.  The only energy drink he knew about was Red Bull, which pegasi use to help their wings.

"Mountain Dew increases a unicorn's magical abilities, but only for about ten minutes," Twilight lectured.  "The Princess is hoping I can create a variation that lasts longer."

Spike thought about this for a moment. "Hey, that'd be great!" he said. "If you could invent a better magic potion, everypony would want it! You'd become the world's most famous unicorn!"

"Students taking final exams at the magic academy would love it, that's for sure," Twilight said. "But I'm not sure I can succeed.  I've never tried Mountain Dew before, and I'm not very good with potions."

"Ah, you can do it!" Spike said. "You're Celestia's star pupil!  You can do anything!"

"Thanks, Spike," Twilight Sparkle said, nuzzling her little assistant lovingly. "But this is a tough assignment.  If I'm going to make a potion that's super-charged with magic, I need to get my hooves on the most powerful force in all of Equestria."

"The Elements of Harmony?" Spike guessed.

"Nope," Twilight said. "Something even stronger than that."

"The magic of friendship?" Spike asked.

"Guess again," Twilight said. "What's the one thing you know that absolutely cannot be stopped under any circumstances?"

"Pinkie Pie on a mission," Spike said.

"Exactly," Twilight said. "If we could harness some of Pinkie Pie's natural energy, we could make the greatest Mountain Dew ever."

Thirty minutes later, Pinkie joined Twilight and Spike in the library.

"I love baking!" Pinkie Pie said, jumping up and down. "Are we going to make cupcakes? They're delicious!"

"We're not baking food," Twilight Sparkle explained. "We're making potions. It's a completely different—"

Pinkie Pie started singing the cupcakes song, much to Twilight Sparkle's irritation.

"Pinkie! Hold still for a moment!" Twilight ordered.

After some doing, Twilight managed to levitate a metallic helmet on top of Pinkie Pie's head. Wires went from the helmet to a small handheld machine that Spike was holding. The machine looked sort of like a battery.

Pinkie stopped jumping around and stood still. "What's this machine do?" she asked.

"It's designed to collect your excess energy," Twilight said. "Now, whenever you do something, the helmet will transfer it into my machine."

"Oh," Pinkie said simply. She kept standing in place for a moment, then scratched one of her legs with her hoof.

"...So?" Twilight said.

"So what?" Pinkie asked.

"So, aren't you going to jump around and be loud?" Twilight asked. "I can't harvest your energy if you're not expending any!"

"Hmmm...nope," Pinkie said, shaking her head slightly.

"But the machine doesn't work unless you're giving off a lot of energy!" Twilight said. "Come on, where's the high-energy party pony we all know and love?"

Pinkie shrugged. "I'm kind of tired today," she admitted.

Twilight sighed. "Look, if you help me out here, I'll buy you some candy, okay?" she asked.

"CANDY?" Pinkie gasped loudly. "CANDY CANDY CANDY! IT'S DELICIOUS AND DANDY!" she half-shouted, half-sang as she danced around the room.

"Twi—Twilight?" Spike asked. He struggled to keep his grip on the energy collecting device. "What's wrong with this thing?"

Twilight looked over his shoulder and gasped.  Pinkie Pie's power level was over 9,000!  "It's overloading!" Twilight said. "Quick! Disconnect it before—"

KABLAM!

The device exploded into twenty pieces, and Spike was sent flying across the room where he slammed into a bookshelf.

"Uh oh," Twilight said.

"Oh no!" Pinkie said, stopping her song. "Spike, are you okay?"

"I'm...fine..." Spike moaned.

Twilight sighed.  "Thanks for the help, Pinkie, but I think that was a bit too much energy," she said.

"I still get my candy, right?" Pinkie asked. "Right? Rightrightrightrightright?"

"Ugh..." Spike groaned in pain.



The brave and resourceful Twilight Sparkle did not let one failure get her down. No, she decided to go back out there and try again!

Seven failures later, though, Twilight was beginning to think she should call it quits.

Rainbow Dash accidentally dropped the energy-collecting device in a lake when she was flying around. Applejack's powerful tree-kicking legs smashed the device in half. And Fluttershy's loudest screams weren't even enough to register on the energy-collecting device.

"I've asked everypony I know!" Twilight complained, pacing back and forth in the library. "What else can I do?"

"I dunno," Spike said. "Maybe you should experiment with something else."

"I can't!" Twilight said. "Princess Celestia herself asked me to perform this experiment! I can't let her down!"

"Twilight..."

"But I can't make Mountain Dew, until I get a large source of energy! What am I supposed to do, hijack a train?"

"Twi..."

"Princess Celestia is going to have a fit when she hears I've failed! I'll be fired! I'll be sent back to magical kindergarten!"

"TWILIGHT!" Spike shouted.

"What?" Twilight asked.

Spike pointed at the energy collection machine, which was now at 94%.

"I think your ranting gave off enough energy to fill your machine thingy," Spike said.

"I'm not ranting; I'm simply stating the facts," Twilight said. "Anyone with an ounce of sense would—wait, it's full now?"

"Yep!" Spike said. "We've got all the energy we need for your potion experiment thing!"

"Yay!" Twilight cheered.

The next day, Twilight Sparkle set about making her fabulous, magic-enhancing Mountain Dew. Don't ask me how she did it. I know even less about magic than Applejack does. All I know is that Twilight somehow managed to use her unicorn energy to power the magic-based potion.

"Unicorn hair...herbs from Zecora...a bucket of turnips..." Twilight said, checking off all the items on her list. "I think that's almost everything."

Spike stood on a footstool, so he could peer into the cauldron. It was filled with a sticky, dull, red liquid.

"It looks like melted candles," Spike commented.

"And...there," Twilight said, putting a thermometer into the mixture. "That's the last thing I need."

"Uh...why is there a thermometer?" Spike asked.

"To regulate the temperate, of course," Twilight said. "The potion has to simmer at around 90 degrees, for two hours. Otherwise, it'll be too thick for ponies to drink it."

"Huh," Spike said. "How are you going to heat it up? Put it in the oven?"

"I thought you could do it," Twilight said.

"What? Me?" Spike asked, surprised.

Twilight tried not to roll her eyes; she had thought this part of the potion-making was obvious. "Well, of course! You're the only one I know who can breathe flames!" she said.

"Yeah, but...two hours?" Spike asked.

"It's a tough job, but that's why you're my #1 assistant," Twilight said, ruffling the spikes on top of Spike's head in a loving way.

"Hmmph," Spike said, crossing his arms.

Monitoring the temperature of the potion was simple. Boring, but simple.

It all would have gone perfectly, if it wasn't for Pinkie Pie. The innocent little disaster had come into the library, in order to renew her copy of Non-Stop Fun: The Party Pony's Guide to Celebrating Just About Anything. As luck would have it, Pinkie Pie managed to appear during the twenty minutes when Twilight Sparkle was absent.

"Heyyyy!" the pink pony said. "Whatcha doin', Spike?"

"I'm keeping this potion warm for Twilight," Spike said, bored.

"Oooo, cool!" Pinkie Pie said, looking at the cauldron. "What's it do?"

"Supposedly, it makes your magic stronger or something like that," Spike said. He sighed deeply. "I think it'll be ready in an hour or so."

Aw, he sounds bored! Pinkie thought. I know! A joke will cheer him up!

"Hey, Spike!" Pinkie said. "What's big and hairy and has fourteen legs?"

"I dunno," Spike said. "What?"

"I don't know either, but it's standing right behind you!"

"AUGH!" Spike shouted. He literally jumped off of the footstool, then his leg caught on the cauldron rim. With a small splash, he fell face-first into the cauldron.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Pinkie laughed. "I'm just kidding! There's nothing behind you—Spike? Are you okay?"

"Blffffhfhf!" Spike said.

Pinkie grabbed Spike by the tail and pulled him out of the cauldron. He landed on the floor a short distance away. He stood up to glare at Pinkie Pie, as he wiped the potion off his face. "What's the big idea?" he asked. "What's wrong with you?"

Pinkie's lowered her head in shame. "It was just a joke..." she said sadly. As a general rule, Pinkie didn't like seeing her friends get mad. She also didn't like it when nopony laughed at her jokes. She lifted up her head to apologize to Spike, then stopped.

"Spi...Spi...SPIKE?" she asked, her pupils shrinking in fear.

"What?" Spike asked.

"You...you..." Pinkie said, lifting a shaking hoof at him.

"Huh? Ah!" Spike cried.

Changes were happening to the baby dragon. His stomach and tail shrank to nothing, while his neck stretched out. A shift in his gravity caused him to fall forward, on his...hooves? Spike looked at his claws in amazement, as the fingers slowly disappeared.

"What...what happened to me?" Spike cried. He tried to take two steps towards Pinkie Pie, but he slipped and fell flat on his face.

"Oh, wow!" Pinkie said. "I know what that potion does! It turns you into a unicorn! Cool!"

"Unicorn?" Spike asked. He raised a hoof to his forehead, and it bumped into something that wasn't there a minute ago.

"Mirror! Mirror! Mirror!" Spike shouted.  He ran to the closest mirror, but he wasn't used to moving in his new body yet, so he tripped over himself twice.  When Spike saw his reflection, he screamed. The purple unicorn inside the mirror screamed back at him.

"How exciting!" Pinkie Pie said. "I've got to try it!" She hopped to the cauldron and dunked her head inside.

"Pinkie, no!" Spike cried, but it was too late. When Pinkie brought her head back up, she had a brand new horn, sticking out of her head.

Spike slapped his face as hard as he could. This had to be a dream. It had to!

"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie said. She focused her energy on her horn, and it started glowing pink. "Say hello to Pinkie Pie, Equestria's newest unicorn!"

"This is a disaster," Spike moaned, slumping down on the floor.
> Walking Through Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: Once again, I feel compelled to remind my readers to please use Mountain Dew responsibly.  Don't be like Twilight Sparkle and attempt to make a homebrew batch of Dew.  Also, don't be like Pinkie Pie and dunk your head in a cauldron full of Dew.  It'd probably take forever to get all the Dew out of your hair.

It was not unusual to see a purple unicorn pacing back and forth through the Ponyville library. Twilight Sparkle did this at least twice a day; she said that it helped her concentrate when she was going up against tough problems.

However, the purple unicorn who was currently pacing through the library was not Twilight Sparkle. It was Spike, the former baby dragon. And that was unusual.

"Oh, man! Oh, man! Oh, man!" Spike moaned. "How did this happen?  I knew making Mountain Dew was a bad idea!"

Unlike Spike, Pinkie Pie was rather enthusiastic about becoming a unicorn. "Whee!" she said, as she levitated a book across the room. "Magic is fun!"

Spike examined himself in the mirror again. As a unicorn, he was about a foot taller than he had been as a dragon. He didn't see anything wrong with his coat, which was close to the same shade of purple as his normal scales. However, his green mane was completely out of control. It looked like somebody tried to make it spiky and rounded at the same time, resulting in a mess that even the ponies at the spa would be hard-pressed to fix.

"What if I'm stuck like this forever?" Spike asked.

"Magic really does make it all complete!" Pinkie Pie said, as she levitated herself, upside-down.

"We have to find Twilight!" Spike decided, slamming his hoof on the ground.

"Oooo, good idea!" the bouncing pink unicorn said. "I'll be she knows where we can get books on magic for beginners!"

Spike shook his head. "No, we need to find her so she can get us back to normal!" he said.

"Already?" Pinkie Pie asked, disappointed. "We haven't even been unicorns for five minutes! Let's have some fun!"

"What kind of fun?" Spike asked.

"Duh, magic unicorn fun!" Pinkie Pie said. "Like this!"

Pinkie focused her magical abilities in her horn, as best as she could. An explosion of pink flew out from her horn and smashed against the wall, turning everything bright pink.

"Oops," she said. "That's not right."

Spike facehoofed. "That's it," he said. "I'm going to go find Twilight. You can stay here."

"Let me come with you!" said Pinkie Pie. "We can be Unicorn Buddies!"

"No way," Spike said. "Everypony in town knows you! If they see that you're now a unicorn, they'll ask questions, and—"

"No problemo, Spike!" Pinkie Pie said. She used her hooves to fluff up her already fluffy mane. The hair at the top of her head, when tilted at the right angle, managed to obscure her new unicorn horn. It didn't cover up her horn completely, but as long as nopony looked closely at her forehead, they could be fooled.

"Well...I guess that'll work..." Spike said reluctantly.

Spike's plan to find Twilight without being noticed lasted a grand total of twenty seconds. He and Pinkie Pie had barely managed to walk past the block, when a familiar voice called out to them.

"Hello! Pinkie! Twilight! Yoo hoo!"

It was Rarity, out for a walk with her little sister Sweetie Belle.

Spike couldn't help but turn and look at Rarity. Now that he was taller, she looked...different. That wasn't saying much, because everything looked different now that Spike was taller. Spike hesitated as he looked around for an exit, which gave the fashionista time to trot up to him.

"Oh," Rarity said, stopping shortly. "You're not Twilight Sparkle."

"Uh...no, I'm not," Spike said.

What do I do? Do I talk to her? Pretend I don't know her? Use magic to teleport me as far away as possible?

"Hi, Rarity!" Pinkie said. "Ooo, I've got big news for you! I just came from the library, where I—"

"Met me!" Spike interrupted, worried that Pinkie Pie might reveal the secrets of the unicorn potion (otherwise known as Mountain Dew: Code Red). "I was there, looking for Twilight. Have you seen her?"

"I think she was headed towards Fluttershy's," Rarity said. Her voice halted a bit, as she was taken aback by Spike's behavior. A true gentlecolt never interrupts a lady, after all.

Rarity shook her head slightly. "You...you must be one of Twilight's relatives, am I right?" Rarity asked.

"Huh?" Spike asked.

"Well, purple isn't a very common color for unicorns, you know," Rarity said. "In fact, you sort of look like..."

Rarity turned a critical eye on the strange unicorn standing in front of her. Spike broke out in a cold sweat, as he could practically feel her keen attention to detail pass over him.

Rarity shook her head again. "Never mind," she said. "That's not possible."

Sweetie Belle cocked her heard in Spike's direction. "Now that you mention it, he looks kind of familiar," she said.

"Uh...Twilight is my...cousin," Spike said, trying to make his voice sound deeper. "My name is Mike. Mike...Diamond. That's my name."

"No, it's not," Pinkie Pie said. "It's Spi—"

Spike shoved his hoof into Pinkie's mouth.

"And we really have to go now," Spike said quickly. "You said she was at Fluttershy's, right? Thanks for the help, Rarity!"

Spike turned around, when a loud scream erupted behind him. He tried turning around again, but fell over by accident.

"Sweetie, what's the matter?" Rarity asked.

Sweetie Belle pointed a hoof towards Spike's hindquarters, which were sticking in the air. "He...he doesn't have a cutie mark!"

Rarity was surprised to see that her sister was correct. "How odd," she said. "He..."

"Does this mean I can be as old as him and still not get a cutie mark?" Sweetie Belle asked, horrified.

"Uh..." Spike said. He wasn't sure how to respond. He really had no idea what his age was, now that he was a new species. What does "baby dragon" equal when you translate dragon years to pony years?

Sweetie Belle ran away crying.

"Oh no!" Rarity said, galloping after her sister, but casting a backwards glance at Spike's blank flank. "Sweetie Belle! Wait! Maybe he's just...covering it up with magic?"

"Augh!" Spike cried, hitting himself on the forehead. He then cried out in pain, as his hoof smashed against his horn. "This is too much!"

Pinkie Pie giggled. "You're getting upset, just like Rarity and Twilight do!" she said. "I always knew that was some kind of unicorn power!"

Spike doubted that being overly dramatic was a unicorn power, but he didn't feel like correcting Pinkie.

The two new unicorns made their way to Fluttershy's in relative silence. Pinkie Pie wasn't bouncing around like she normally did, because that would have messed up her mane and revealed her horn. She had to settle for humming quietly to herself.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie," Spike said at last.

"Yes?" Pinkie asked.

Spike looked to make sure no one was within earshot. He whispered, "You know I kind of have a crush on Rarity, right?"

"Uh huh!" Pinkie Pie said. "You told me!"

"Well, now that I'm a unicorn...do you think I have a chance with her?" Spike asked.

"Hmmm..." Pinkie Pie said, thinking about it. "Nope!"

"What?" Spike asked.

"You made her little sister cry!" Pinkie Pie said, in a voice that was overly happy, considering the situation. "If somepony did that to my sister, I'd be pretty mad at them."

"Oh..." Spike said, looking downcast. "You're right..."

"Hey, cheer up!" Pinkie Pie said. "You need to start smiling! Ever since you became a unicorn, you haven't been any fun at all!"

"I'm sorry..." Spike said. "It's just...this whole thing is weird for me, okay? I wish Twilight were here..."

Spike tried to imagine what his closest friend and kind-of big sister, Twilight Sparkle, would say about the situation. She always seemed to know the right thing to say to him, no matter what horrible things happened.

Spike, I'm ashamed of you, the Imaginary Twilight Sparkle said.

Ouch, Spike thought. Maybe thinking about Twilight was a bad idea...

Have you forgotten all of our friendship lessons together? Twilight admonished. You've broken at least five friendship rules. What happened to Lesson #3, you should never lie to your friends?

I...but I had to lie to Rarity! Spike protested. She can't know the truth!

Twilight seemed to grow larger, in Spike's imagination. Why not? Lesson #6: You shouldn't try to hide something from your friends, because you're afraid they won't like it. True friends will accept you for who you are, no matter what.

But...But...

Lesson #22: You should learn to accept who you are, rather than run away from yourself. Lesson #23: No one—

"ARGH!" Spike shouted. "I get it already! You're right! No more lies!"

"Huh?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Spike shook his head, snapping back to reality. "You're right," he repeated. "I've been going about this the wrong way!"

"Of course I'm right!" Pinkie Pie said happily. "Life is for enjoying, not for frowning!"

"There are probably lots of good things about being a unicorn!" Spike said, trying to be upbeat. "Like...I can give myself a mustache!"

"I've always wanted to grow a mustache!" Pinkie said. "One time, I made one out of cake frosting, and—"

"I can make things float!" Spike said. "No more climbing up ladders to put books back on the top shelf!"

"And I heard that unicorns can make special magic music!" Pinkie Pie said. "Think of all the new songs I can sing! Sometimes, I feel like I don't sing enough, you know?"

"And I'll never lose anything again, thanks to locator spells!" Spike said.

"Oooo, yeah!" Pinkie Pie said. "I can use that to find decorations for my parties, or food for Gummy, or the perfect stallion, or—"

"Wait, that's it!" Spike said. "We can use the locator spell to find Twilight, instead of running around town, looking for her!"

"Brilliant!" Pinkie Pie said. "How do you cast that spell?"

"...I have no idea," Spike said.

Pinkie Pie pulled out a trombone and played some disappointing notes. Then she put it away again. Spike thought it was best not to comment.

Twilight Sparkle was returning to her home, after visiting Fluttershy's. She did not take the same route as Pinkie Pie and Spike. She actually took the longer route home, the one that took her past Carousel Boutique. Twilight was hoping to talk to Rarity about fashion and—

Okay, fine. Twilight just wanted to brag about her new potion experiment. Being a unicorn herself, Rarity was probably the pony who would best appreciate Twilight's new and improved magic-boosting Mountain Dew.

Twilight knocked on the door to the Carousel Boutique. "Rarity, are you there?" Twilight asked.

A moment later, Rarity opened the doors with a flourish of magic. "Twilight!" Rarity said. "How nice to see you! Come inside!"

"Thanks," Twilight said, entering the shop. "You know, it's a lucky thing you're here today. I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, me too, darling," Rarity said. "I ran into your cousin a few minutes ago, you know, and I'm afraid he upset poor Sweetie Belle. I don't think it was on purpose, but still, his behavior was very odd. Is he all right?"

"You met my...what?" Twilight asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Your cousin, Mike Diamond," Rarity said. "He was with Pinkie Pie earlier."

Twilight shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you mean," she said. "I don't have any cousin with that name."

Rarity was surprised. "But...the pony I met said he was your cousin," she said. Her initial confusion was quickly replaced with suspicion. "Are you saying he lied to me?"

"There's a pony who says that he's my cousin?" Twilight asked. "What did he say? What did he look like?"

"He looked a bit like you," Rarity said. "He was a unicorn with a purple coat and a disastrous green mane that reminded me of Spike. I'd say he's a few years older than Sweetie Belle, but he doesn't have a cutie mark yet."

Twilight bit her lip. "That's unusual," she said. "I don't know anypony who matches that description. You said he was with Pinkie Pie?"

Rarity nodded. "He ran away before we could talk much. He said he was looking for you."

"Well, now I'm looking for him," Twilight Sparkle said. "If there's a mysterious pony going around, saying he's related to me, I want to meet him."

"I'll go with you," Rarity offered. "I'm free this afternoon. Dropping off Sweetie Belle at Mom and Dad's house after school let out was the last thing I had to do today."

Not far away, Pinkie Pie knocked on the door of Fluttershy's cottage. The yellow pegasus answered the door within seven seconds.

"Hello, Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy said amicably. She was always happy to see her friends.

"Hey, Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie said. "Is Twilight here?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, you just missed her," Fluttershy said. "She came by to—Aaaa!"

Fluttershy caught sight of the strange unicorn standing behind Pinkie Pie. Avoiding the urge to dive into the bushes, Fluttershy tried her best to hide behind her mane.

"Y-you didn't tell me you were bringing anypony new here," Fluttershy said, looking at the ground.

"Fluttershy, I'm not somepony new," Spike said. "It's me, Spike! Twilight Sparkle's assistant!"

Fluttershy almost fell over in surprise. "SPIKE?" she said in a loud voice—loud for her, anyway.

"Yep!" Pinkie Pie said.

"One of Twilight's experiments went wrong, and now I'm a unicorn," Spike said. "We have to find her and fix it, quick!"

"Oh, oh my!" Fluttershy said. She got closer to Spike, then walked around him to see what he looked like from different angles. "Is it really you, Spike?"

"Of course it's me!" Spike said. "I can prove it, too! Remember the last letter you sent? 'Dear Princess Celestia, giving a speech in front of a crowd is something that can make anypony nervous, especially a shy pony like'—"

"Shhhh!" Fluttershy said. "Don't read my mail out loud! That's rude and embarrassing."

"Sorry," Spike said.

"So when did Twilight leave?" Pinkie Pie asked.  "Did she say where she was going?"

"Well..." Fluttershy said. She had the urge to pet Spike's mane, just like how she petted the fur of her animals, but she resisted. "I think she...hold on a moment. Let me look for her."

Fluttershy flew into the air about fifteen feet, then looked around. One the advantages of living on a hill was the fact that it let Fluttershy see for quite a distance. She looked out, then waved a hoof at somepony, and landed back on the ground.

"You're in luck!" Fluttershy said. "Twilight's galloping here at full speed, along with Rarity!"

"Wuh-Rarity?" Spike asked. "But she—that's not good."

"What's not good about it?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Rarity and Twilight are just the ponies we need to see! They can teach us how to use magic!"

"If they don't kill us first!" Spike said.

"There he is!" Rarity cried from a distance. "Fluttershy, don't let him get away!"
> A Code Red Emergency
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uaaaah," Spike said. Running away was starting to sound like a good idea, but he wasn't used to running with his new body yet. That, and the two older unicorns appeared too quickly for Spike to have time to escape. They looked even angrier than Spike expected.

"So is he—?" Rarity began to say.

"No," Twilight interrupted. "He's not one of my relatives."

"Heh heh, hi there, Twilight," Spike said. "I know this probably looks bad—"

"Hello, Twilight and Rarity," Fluttershy said. "It's a good thing you came here. Spike is looking for you."

"Spike is inside the library, watching one of my potions," Twilight said. "I'll get back to him once I've finished with this imposter."

Pinkie giggled. "No, Spike is right here!" she said. "Surprise!"

"What?" Rarity asked.

"She's right," Spike said, sighing a bit. "I'm Spike. I fell into your magic potion, and it turned me into a unicorn."

"WHAT?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"But—but you told me your name was Mike Diamond!" Rarity said, aghast.

"I'm sorry for lying," Spike said. "I thought you wouldn't believe it if I told the truth."

"I don't believe it," Twilight said. "This sounds like a Changeling trick."

Rarity let out an unladylike growl. "If you have hurt my precious Spike, I am going to make you suffer!"

"Waugh!" Spike said. He tried to hide behind Fluttershy, who squealed because a male pony was so close to her. "Help me, Fluttershy!"

"I, um, I think he's Spike," Fluttershy said. "He knew about my last letter to Princess Celestia."

"Perhaps he has committed mail fraud!" Rarity said. "It's clearly not the first time he's used fraud to achieve his ends!"

"Augh!" Spike said, now starting to fear for his life. "Don't do this! It's me, Spike! I'm not lying!"

Fortunately, Twilight's level head came through at this moment. "Wait, hold on, everypony," Twilight said. "I've got a solution. There's a simple spell which reveals a pony's true form. I made sure to look it up after the fiasco with Princess Cadance."

"Great!" Spike said.

It took about two seconds for Twilight to charge the spell. When the spell hit Spike, his normal body—a short, chubby dragon—appeared. After about two seconds, Spike reverted to his unicorn form.

"Oh..." Fluttershy said.

"Sp-Spike?" Rarity asked. "It's you? You're a—a unicorn?"

"Me too!" Pinkie Pie said, pulling her bouncy hair aside to reveal her horn. Rarity almost fainted at the sight of Unicorn Pinkie.

"I don't believe it!" Twilight said. "You—you changed species! HOW?"

"Like I said, I fell into your magic potion!" Spike said.

"Yeah, and then I drank some!" Pinkie Pie said. "I couldn't let Spike have all the turning into a unicorn fun, could I? That unicorn potion is loads of fun! It's...magic!"

Twilight's face lit up. "Of course! It all makes sense now!"

"It makes sense?" Rarity asked. "What makes sense? Please explain!"

"I want to know, too," Fluttershy said softly.

"I've been making a new, extra-powerful version of Mountain Dew," Twilight said.  "And I think we just found out why they don't sell Mountain Dew to non-unicorns. The high concentration of magic power clearly has unpredictable side effects."

"Clearly," Rarity said, in a dry voice.

"Um..." Fluttershy said. "I...I don't think it works like that..."

"Huh?" Twilight asked. "Fluttershy, do you know something about this?"

"No!" Fluttershy said. "I mean...maybe? I...no."

Twilight, Rarity and Spike all looked at Fluttershy, who was looking everywhere except at her friends. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, saw a kitty cat near the bottom of the hill, and she decided to chase it. No one saw her leave, which was a major mistake on their parts.

"Fluttershy, if you know something that can help, you should tell us," Twilight said in a commanding voice.

"Please?" Spike asked. "I don't wanna be a unicorn forever!"

Fluttershy pawed the ground. "Okay, this one time...back at flight camp...Rainbow Dash kinda...sorta...stole a bunch of Mountain Dew and gave it to everypony."

Rarity raised an eyebrow at this information. "Are you saying that you drank Mountain Dew, even though you're not supposed to?"

"NO!" Fluttershy said quickly. "I...I might have taken a mouthful, but I didn't swallow! Honest!"

"Relax, it's not illegal or anything," Twilight said. "So what happened next?"

"Nothing," Fluttershy said. "We felt funny for a while, but...that was it."

"Exactly what I was going to point out," Rarity said. "I've tried magical boosters in the past, and I can assure you that their effects wear off rather quickly. It's just like the spell you used to give me wings, Twilight; it only works for a short time."

"Yes, well, this wasn't your ordinary Mountain Dew," Twilight said. "Like I said, I was trying to make extra-strength Mountain Dew."

"Extra-strength?" Rarity asked. "How much extra strength?"

Twilight bit her lip. "I was aiming for...about ten times stronger than usual," she said. "Now that I think about it, that may have been a bit too much for my first experiment. Heh heh..."

Spike glowered at Twilight, as she chuckled, embarrassed.

"But Rarity's right," Twilight said quickly. "No matter what, this potion should wear off eventually, and you'll automatically turn back to normal. I'd guess that it'll last...two and a half hours, maximum."

"You really think so?" Spike asked, looking hopeful. "All I have to do is wait for two hours, and I'm back to normal?"

"Probably," Twilight Sparkle said. "Maybe I should send a letter to the Princess to see—oh."

"Oh, what?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight's eyes went wide. "I can't send letters without Spike!" she gasped. "This is a disaster!"

"Hey!" Spike said. "I'm more than just your personal mailpony, you know!"

"I know, I know, it's just—Princess Celestia, she expects me to write at least every week—" Twilight said, stammering as she pictured the horrible possibilities of a world where she could not contact the Sun Princess. "She—I—we have to fix this as soon as possible!"

"Uh oh," Spike said. "She's going crazy again."

"I'm not going crazy!" Twilight said. "I'm just—I'm worried! This is a magical disaster!"

"Mayoushosperimagimore," Fluttershy mumbled.

"What was that, dearie?" Rarity asked.

"Maybe you shouldn't experiment with magic anymore, Twilight," Fluttershy said, a little more loudly. "Whenever you do, things tend to...not work correctly."

"WHAT?" Twilight asked. "Are you saying I'm a klutz?!"

"She has a point, darling," Rarity said. "Remember when you accidentally summoned Rainbow Dash's male twin?"

Twilight looked ashamed. She tried her best not to remember that magical blunder.

Two months earlier...

"Woah ho ho!" Rainbow Blitz said, his eyes popping out as he saw Twilight. "I knew Dusk Shine had an older sister, but he didn't say he had a younger sister, too! What a hottie!"

"Ex-CUSE me?" Twilight asked.

"Hey Baby," Rainbow Blitz said, putting his leg over Twilight's neck. "What's say you and I go somewhere private?"

"Ew, NO!" Twilight said, trying to get out of the grip of the larger colt. "I don't—who are you?—let go!"

"When you're with me, you'll be seeing rainbooms," Rainbow Blitz said. "Come on, kiss me!"

"I admit that wasn't an ideal situation, but—" Twilight said.

"He tried to seduce everypony in town," Rarity said bluntly.

Fluttershy shuddered. "He said...horrible things to me," she said.

"Okay, so that was a bad situation," Twilight admitted. "But I got rid of him eventually, right? The point is that my magic works just fine."

"Except when it causes me and Pinkie to change species..." Spike muttered.

"Pinkie doesn't seem to—wait, where's Pinkie?" Twilight asked. "She was here a few minutes ago."

The four ponies looked around, but Pinkie Pie was nowhere in the vicinity. It didn't take them long to realize the horrible truth.

"Unicorn Pinkie Pie is on the loose!" Rarity exclaimed.

Unicorn Pinkie Pie was indeed on the loose. After chasing the kitty cat, who ended up being a mean kitty cat, Pinkie decided to go back to Ponyville.

Normally, Pinkie Pie would never leave her friends without saying anything—"Only meanie-weenies do things like that!" she always said—but she wasn't sure what they were talking about. Besides, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! How often do Earth ponies get to use magic?

I'll apologize to them later, Pinkie Pie thought. Right now, it's Magic Time! This'll be so much FUN!

Pinkie bounced through the town, saying hello to everyone she met. "Hi Daisy! Hi, Crystal! Hi, Lyra!"

"Hello, Pinkie," Lyra said. Lyra was doing some shopping, and her saddlebag was filled with food.

"I'm a unicorn now!" Pinkie said. "Let me help you with your groceries!"

Lyra stopped cold. "You're a—what?"

Pinkie shot a beam of magic at Lyra's bag. It turned into a guitar.

"My food!" Lyra cried. "It's all gone! How did you—?"

"Whoops!" Pinkie said. "Sorry! I don't know how to control this thing! But guitar, lyre, pretty close, right? Hee hee!"

Lyra sat down, hard. This is a nightmare, she thought. It has to be. There's no way Pinkie Pie just—a guitar? No. No. Pinkie cannot have magic powers, unless...

It took Lyra five minutes to get back up and return to her home, where she locked the doors and windows, before crawling into bed and pulling the blankets over her head.

Pinkie was completely ignorant of Lyra's existential crisis, however, so she continued through the town. As she went through the streets, she began to sing a little song to herself.

My name is Pinkie Pie,
And I'm a unicorn.
If you're ever mean to me,
I'll zap you with my horn! Tee hee!

"Yo, Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash said, landing on the ground. "What's up?"

"Not much!" Pinkie Pie said. "Spike and I are unicorns now! See?"

Rainbow Dash chuckled a bit, when she saw Pinkie Pie's horn. A week or so before, Rainbow Dash had looked through a mail-order magazine which specialized in pranks and gag items. One of things for sale was a fake unicorn horn. Rainbow Dash mistakenly assumed that Pinkie had purchased one.

"So, you bought one of those, huh?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It looks pretty realistic! Can it do anything?"

"Sure!" Pinkie Pie said. She concentrated her magic in her horn, which was something she didn't really know how to do yet. In her opinion, it was like squinting your eyes and trying to give yourself a headache.

Rainbow Dash was impressed, as Pinkie's horn began to glow pink. Wow, it even glows like a real unicorn horn! she thought. That's so cool! I have to get one of—

A humongous pink explosion flew out of Pinkie Pie's horn. Poor Rainbow Dash was standing two feet away from her at the time, so she didn't stand a chance of dodging it.

Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged fearful glances.  "This is a disaster waiting to happen!" Rarity said.

Twilight faked a laugh. "Look, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about," she said. "Pinkie can be a little overenthusiastic at times, but she'd never hurt anypony, right?"

"Well, not on purpose," Rarity said. "But there have been...accidents. Many, many accidents."

"Like the time she tried to make the world's largest cupcake," Fluttershy said.

"Only it exploded," Rarity said. "It took us months to clean all the gunk off of Ponyville."

"And there was the time she accidentally set the school on fire," Fluttershy said.

"Not to mention the fact that she's the reason the old librarian quit his job and moved to Manehatten," Rarity said. "Add the chaos of a first-time magic user into the mix, and I shudder to think what she's capable of."

Spike shook his head. "But this is Pinkie we're talking about," he said. "She's not a bad pony. There's no way she'd—"

"TWIIIIILIIIIIIGHT!" a voice shouted.

Fluttershy crouched onto the ground and covered her face with her hooves. "It's started already!" she moaned.

"Nothing's—" Twilight began to say, before a pegasus pony crash-landed into her.

"THERE you are!" the pegasus shouted. "You have to save me, pronto!"

"Who...what?" Twilight asked.

"I need to get back to normal!" she said. "You can fix me, right?"

Rarity recognized that voice. "Rainbow Dash?!" she asked.

It was indeed their friend Rainbow Dash, not that you could tell that at first glance. Dash's signature multi-colored mane was now pink. Rainbow's coat had become pink, as well. In fact, it sort of looked like her skin was made up of pink-flavored gumdrops.

"I've been Pinkiefied!" Rainbow Dash said.

It took less than two seconds before Spike burst into laughter. "Ha ha ha ha!" he laughed. "Looks like Rainbow Dash is now...Pinkie Dash!"

"Hey, no one asked your opinion, kid!" Rainbow Dash said hotly. "Who're you, anyway?"

"It's Spike," Twilight said.

"He's a unicorn, too?!" Rainbow Dash asked. "What the hay is going on here?"

"Pinkie Dash!" Spike said, rolling on the ground with laughter. "And here I thought Fluttershy was only the pink-maned pegasus!"

"Spike, be nice," Twilight ordered. "What happened, Rainbow? Did Pinkie Pie do this to you?"

"Uh huh," Rainbow Dash said. "I don't know how, but she's a unicorn now! She turned me and half the town into clones of herself!"

"Told you so," Rarity said in a singsong voice.

"Now I'm pink!" Rainbow Dash said. "Pink! That's a color which isn't even in the rainbow! This is horrible!"

The four friends all gathered around Rainbow and began talking at the same time.

"Have you experienced any side effects?" Twilight asked. "Have you started acting like Pinkie, perhaps?"

"Who else got Pinkiefied?" Fluttershy asked.

"Do you talk faster than normal?" Rarity asked. "Or more than normal?"

Spike reached a hoof out towards Rainbow Dash's poofy mane, and he was surprised to see that it came off at the lightest touch. "Wait, that's not hair!" he realized. "That's cotton candy!"

Rarity gasped. "Pinkie Dash, you could melt in the sun!"

"Everypony, calm down!" Twilight said. "So maybe Pinkie Pie accidentally cast a spell on Rainbow Dash and some other ponies. That doesn't mean she's evil! She's not planning on using her unicorn powers to take over Equestria or something like that!"

"Uh, yeah it does!" Rainbow Dash said. "She made me pink! And besides, look at that!"

Rainbow Dash used one of her forelegs—which Twilight now suspected was made out of real gumdrops—and she pointed at two dark clouds in the sky.

"Um...they're just clouds," Twilight said.

"It's not supposed to rain today," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm a pegasus pony. I know this stuff."

"So you messed up with the weather," Twilight said. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Ugh," Rainbow Dash said. "Be right back."

"Okay..." Twilight said. In her opinion, this was just another weird event, during a very weird day.

Rainbow Dash flew and retrieved one of the clouds. She kicked it, and it started raining chocolate milk.  The only other time that happened in Equestria was when Discord had taken over and nearly destroyed the entire world.

"Now do you believe that something bad is happening?" Rainbow Dash asked.
> The Resolution
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash made their way through Ponyville, moving rather slowly. As they walked, they looked at the destruction left behind by Unicorn Pinkie Pie.

Entire blocks full of houses had disappeared. In their places were giant cupcakes, muffins, gumdrops and other tasty treats. Everypony they met had been Pinkiefied, just like Rainbow Dash. And for some reason, there were laughing trees which sang songs.

"I don't believe it," Twilight said. "Pinkie would never be responsible for this—would she?"

"It's scary..." Fluttershy said, shivering slightly.

"Yeah, no kidding," Spike said. He tried to cuddle up to Rarity for warmth, but Rarity didn't notice. She trotted forward suddenly, and Spike fell over. He landed face-first in the dirt.

"Hey, look at this!" Rarity said, gesturing towards the sign that she had trotted towards. It used to read "Welcome to Ponyville, Population 300". It now read "Welcome to Pinkieville, Pinkulation 300."

"Hopefully that means nopony has died," Twilight said.

"Yet," Rainbow Dash said darkly.

Spike heart beat faster, as his devious little unicorn mind worked out a scheme to attract Rarity. He spit out a mouthful of dirt, and got back up. "Did you say, d-d-d-die?" he asked, trying his hardest to stutter.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Are you scared, Spike?"

"Uh...totally!" Spike said. "But...not because of the danger! I'm scared that I'm going to die, when I've never kissed anypony!"

He looked at Rarity hopefully. When she didn't respond, he cleared his throat.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, Rarity?" Spike asked. "I said I've never kissed a mare!"

Rarity made a rude noise. "Don't look at me!" she said, sounding very offended. "I've never kissed a mare, either! I'm astonished you would even think such a thing!"

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, a huge grin on her face.

"And don't you dare make any jokes, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity ordered. "Or I'll tell everypony what happened on your Hearts and Hooves Day date!"

Rainbow Dash closed her mouth and scowled. Fluttershy giggled politely.

"No, see, when I said I've never kissed a mare, I meant—" Spike said.

"Stop goofing around, Spike," Twilight interrupted. "I know for a fact that my mother kissed you goodnight the last time we were in Canterlot."

The other ponies laughed, while Spike blushed. "Yeah, well, moms don't count..." he muttered.

"Now, quiet, everypony," Twilight said. "We're almost there."

The ponies reached their destination: Sugarcube Corner. It had been transformed into a tall, pink-colored tower with marshmallow turrets. The doors were wide open, and everypony went inside.

Sugarcube Corner had been changed. The shop used to be cheery and cherry; now it was gloomy and grimy. The floor looked like a cracked peppermint, and in the center of the room was a big black cauldron, filled with a bubbling green liquid. A pink-colored unicorn was throwing things into the cauldron, causing minor explosions of magical dust.

"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked. "Is that you?"

The unicorn in the room looked up. It was indeed Pinkie Pie, and she looked frightened.

"No! Nooooo!" she said. "Stay away! Don't come any closer!"

Fluttershy took a step forward, onto the peppermint floor. "Why are—?" she began to say.

Suddenly, a pink thunderbolt the size of three Princess Celestias shot out of Pinkie Pie's forehead. It flew straight at Fluttershy, attacking the poor pegasus. For two horrifying seconds, Fluttershy's entire body was overrun with magical electricity, and she screamed before collapsing on the ground.

When the smoke cleared, Fluttershy was completely pink. She was completely unhurt, but she had been Pinkiefied, just like Rainbow Dash.

"It's the magic!" Pinkie Pie said. She sounded like she was close to crying. "At first, it was kind of fun, but now my horn is doing horrible things, and I don't know how to stop it! Help me!"

Unicorns don't normally suffer from fits of uncontrollable magic. That usually only happens to very young unicorns, who haven't learned how to properly control their magic. It can also happen during times of great emotion. Both of these situations applied to Pinkie Pie at the moment.

Twilight Sparkled paled. "What do we do?" she asked. "I can't hurt Pinkie Pie!"

"Maybe we could try a magic suppressing spell?" Rarity suggested. "The kind that parents use on their fillies?"

"Do those work on full-grown unicorns?" Twilight asked.

"I have no idea," Rarity said.

"Maybe some kind of magic-draining spell would be more appropriate here," Twilight said.

"Or we could transport her far away, until she's back to normal," Rarity suggested.

While the two unicorns debated, the other ponies tried talking to Pinkie Pie. "Turn me back to normal, right now!" Rainbow Dash ordered.

"I don't know how!" Pinkie Pie cried. "I hate magic! I don't want to be a unicorn anymore!"

Rainbow Dash tried flying at Pinkie Pie, but Pinkie's horn shot out another bolt of lightning. This one gave Rainbow Dash a mustache.

"Hey, can you teach me that spell?" Spike asked.

"Um...uh...I..." Fluttershy said, trying her hardest to sound forceful. "If you don't stop the magic, I...I...I don't know, but it won't...what are you doing, anyway?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, silly?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Spike scratched his head. It was a scene from a bad horror movie; all that was missing were plastic bats on the ceiling. Pinkie was haphazardly throwing things into her black cauldron of evil, which was spewing large amounts of nasty-looking smoke.

"It looks like you're making an evil enchantress potion," Spike said.

"She's gonna swallow us up in a big tasty brew!" Fluttershy cried.

"What? No!" Pinkie Pie said, putting out the fire under the cauldron. "I'm cooking something! I think this'll solve all my problems!"

By this time, Twilight and Rarity joined the conversation. "Cooking something?" Rarity asked. "Cooking what?"

"It looks sort of like my Mountain Dew experiment," Twilight commented.

"Exactly!" Pinkie Pie said. "The potion that turned me into a unicorn was just high-concentrated Mountain Dew, right? Well, I know all about making high concentrated things! They come up in baking all the time! I made high-concentrated sugar once, which is like putting sugar in sugar, then mixing it in sugar, so you get SUPER SUGAR, which is the same size as normal sugar but three times as sugary, and—"

"What's your point?!" Twilight Sparkle shouted, over the bubbling of Pinkie's liquid mess.

"I'm making a cauldron of high-concentrated Red Bull!" Pinkie said.  "If Mountain Dew turns you into a unicorn, Red Bull turns you into a pegasus!  And then everything will be perfect because pegasuses don't have magic!"

"That doesn't sound safe!" Twilight said. "Look, Rarity and I think that—"

"Only one way to find out if it works!" Pinkie Pie said. She dunked her head into the cauldron. There was a loud crashing sound, and for a second, it looked like Pinkie had cast another pink lightning bolt, this one at the cauldron.

Then, everything changed quickly, with a series of popping sounds.

*Pop!* Sugarcube Corners turned back to normal.

*Pop!* Rainbow Dash was unpinkiefied.

*Pop!* Pinkieshy returned to being Fluttershy.

Twilight was the first to realize what was going on. "All the magic spells she cast are being undone!"

Pinkie Pie looked up. "It worked?" she asked. "Did it work? Did it work? Did it work?"

"I think it—" Rarity said, then she stopped as she saw Pinkie Pie. "Aaaauuuuaaaa hunnnnnnn..."

"Allllliiiicooooooo nooooooo!" Rainbow Dash said.

Pinkie Pie's plan had worked, kind of. The pegasus potion had indeed given her a set of wings. But contrary to her expectations, this did not cancel out the effects of the Mountain Dew.  A pink unicorn horn remained firmly on Pinkie's head.

"She's an alicorn!" Spike gasped. "She's got wings and a horn, just like Princess Celestia!"

As everypony watched, Pinkie's body swelled in size. For a second, it looked like she was going to explode, but she simply grew four feet taller. She now towered over everypony else, and when she extended her wings to their full width, it was a fearful sight.

"Uh...Pinkie Pie?" Spike asked.

"That is not my name anymore!" Pinkie Pie announced, using the Royal Canterlot Voice that Princess Luna had used on Nightmare Night. "I am now an alicorn, which makes me Princess Pinkie Pie, the new ruler of Equestria!"

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Twilight screamed.

Pinkie Pie burst into a fit of giggles. "Gotcha!" she said in her normal voice. "Ha ha ha! I scared you!"

"WHAT?" everypony shouted.

"I was all, 'I'm a princess now,' and you were all, 'oh no, she's evil!' and it was hilarious!" Pinkie Pie said. "Best joke ever! Ha ha!"

"But...but...your uncontrollable magic!" Twilight said. "You attacked half the town!"

Pinkie Pie looked sad. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to! I guess my body's not used to Mountain Dew, so the magic went out of control.  But only unicorns have uncontrollable magic fits, and I'm an alicorn now, so everything'll be fine!"

"Er...right," Rarity said.  She didn't quite follow Pinkie's logic, but if it worked, it worked.

"Great, so what now?" Pinkie asked, bouncing up and down. "Oooo! I know! Let's go to Canterlot and play a prank on the princesses!"

"Uh...no," Twilight said. "What we're going to do now is keep a close eye on you and Spike, until the potion wears off in a couple hours."

"You mean it doesn't last forever?" Pinkie Pie asked. "That's too bad. Oh, but it's also kind of good! I can't wait to be back to normal Pinkie Pie again!"

"You and me both," Rainbow Dash muttered.

Things were relatively calm, after that. Alicorn Pinkie Pie stayed put, and she didn't try doing any magic. She did try to fly a few times, with the help of Rainbow Dash, but Twilight refused to let them do anything else.  Spike spent most of the time trying to learn how to give himself a magical mustache, but that ended up being too difficult of a spell for a beginner like him.

After two hours exactly, Spike and Pinkie Pie returned to their normal bodies.

"Woo hoo!" Spike cheered. "I have fingers again!"

"I'm back to normal!" Pinkie Pie said. "Ohmygosh, I should throw myself a Welcome Back Party!"

Twilight felt a surge of pride in her accomplishment. "It worked after all!" she said happily. "HA! I knew I didn't mess up the potion experiment! I'm a magical genius!"

"Yeah, great," Rainbow Dash said. "Now do us a favor and never mess with Mountain Dew again."

"I can still drink Mountain Dew, right?" Rarity asked.

Everypony glared at her.

"What?  It's tasty!" Rarity said.

So what happened to all our heroes after that?

Under the guidance of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie continued the Mountain Dew experiment. They eventually developed a recipe which was strong enough to turn somepony into a unicorn, but not strong enough to cause any magical disasters.

They released it as Princess Pinkie Pie's Unicorn Potion: One Bottle Turns You Into a Unicorn for Twenty Minutes! There were pegsasus and Earth pony versions as well, and it made enough bits that Pinkie Pie could afford to move out of the Cakes' and rent her own apartment. She didn't move out, but she could afford to.

With her share of the profits, Twilight was able to afford an addition to the library, which she quickly filled with more books.

Spike never got to kiss Rarity as a unicorn, but the next time he visited Carousel Boutique, he ran into Sweetie Belle. He apologized for making her cry, and he made a bad joke about how Sweetie Belle was "such a sweetheart." Sweetie Belle slapped him for that remark, and believe it or not, she got her cutie mark in dragon taming that day.

Unfortunately for our scaly hero, Sweetie Belle thought her cutie mark was in Spike Slapping. She spent the next few weeks, slapping Spike silly. Eventually, she realized her cutie mark really meant, and when she grew up, she became a professional dragon fighter. Rarity made her an incredibly cute outfit to go with her new life skill.

Fluttershy returned to taking care of her animals. Thanks to her brief time as Pinkieshy, she decided to try feeding candy to her various animal friends. After they went wild and attacked Ponyville, she decided to put them back on their normal diet.

Princess Celestia was pleased when she heard about the Mountain Dew experiment. Afterwards, she asked Pinkie Pie to visit her in Canterlot. Together, they played the best joke on Princess Cadence. Whenever Cadence looked in her mirror, the reflection showed Alicorn Pinkie Pie. It took Cadence a half hour before she figured out what was going on.

As for everyone's favorite rancher pony, Applejack, she never appeared in this story. She was probably at Sweet Apple Acres, kicking trees or something equally exciting. We love you, Applejack!

And of course, Rainbow Dash went back to being awesome and cool. That's just the way she is.


The End