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(Well it’s me again, Roboshi and after the good reception I got on Equestria Daily, I thought I’d try something with the Main Cast)

(Event’s take place a few weeks after the Gala)

Silly Species Swapping

Chapter 1

The skies above Ponyville were usually the picture of tranquillity, but right now they were host to one very un-tranquil Rainbow Dash. She’d promised to help out Twilight with a new bit of magic she was working on, and Twilight had asked her to give her wings a good exercise beforehand.

As if Dash needed asking; there wasn’t a day when she didn’t spend her free time practising for the next time she’d get a chance to show off her moves to the Wonderbolts, and within a few short minutes she’d given her wings more than a decent workout.

Meanwhile at the library; a lone unicorn could be seen taking down some notes on the latest of many scrolls. She was Twilight Sparkle, and she was convinced that this day would be one for the history books, the first time her name would appear in the pages of a spell book.

It was normal for a student in the magical arts to work on projects of their own; they would serve as tests to see if a student’s skills went beyond simply following instructions from a book. A normal project would involve the study of the magical properties of one of Equestria’s many creatures or a practical application for a lesser used spell. Twilight, however, was determined to impress the Princess with her work, and she had been working on a spell that could very well change the face of Equestrian life.

She had got the idea after going over some of the more difficult spells she had been using in the last few months- advanced telekinesis to subdue the Ursa Minor, mind alteration to change the diets of the Parasprites, and even her growing skill with teleportation were all worthwhile subjects for study. But there was one spell she knew she could improve on; a spell that was not only difficult but dangerous (a sure-fire way to score big points with the school board) and that was the gift of flight to wingless ponies.

The last attempt at giving wings to a pony was met with mixed results to say the least. While the wings themselves worked well and even proved to be some of the nicest looking anypony had seen, they were far from durable and that was their downfall, or rather, Rarity’s downfall. They were made from gossamer and morning dew, not the best materials for flight above the clouds, and as Rarity was performing in the best young flier’s competition, they evaporated.

The spell was difficult, overly complicated, draining, and dangerous to the subject.

It was perfect.

A spell like this was rarely touched but had so much potential, and after weeks of preparations Twilight believed that she had found the perfect way around it. All she needed was a willing Pegasus with a good set of wings.

“Hey Twilight!” Rainbow Dash stood in Twilights window.

“Ah! Great timing, I just finished noting down my progress.” Twilight placed her Quill back in the inkpot. “I’ve got to keep a full record of what I’m doing.”

“So you’re gonna work your magic on my wings? Well I’ve gotta say you’ll be working with the best.” Rainbow stretched out her wings once more and fluttered to the floor.

Twilight giggled a little. “I’m sure I am, but hopefully I’ll get to try them for myself.”

“How’re you gonna do that? I thought the spell to make wings was too difficult.”

Twilight opened up a nearby book on her stand. “Magic isn't just about reciting spells from a book, it's also about making new spells, or improving on the old.” Another scroll opened up for Twilight as her quill danced along the paper. “There’s a spell that can take your wings and put them on me.”

“Whoa! Wait a second there Twilight!” said Rainbow Dash, backing up a little. “You mean you’re just gonna take my wings?”

Twilight shook her head “Oh no, no, no! You see I’m going to combine that spell with a copy spell, so instead of taking your wings I’ll take a set of copies, and the spell will reverse in 3 days anyway, just in case anything goes wrong.”

Even for somepony as brave as Rainbow Dash, the prospect was a little unnerving, but she was a loyal pony and she trusted Twilight’s magical abilities. “Ok Twilight let’s do this!”

“Alright, let me just get my notes on the previous page...” Twilight placed the current scroll to one side and replaced the previous scroll. It was clear she hadn’t been making much of an effort to keep things in order. There was someone missing from this situation, “Hey wait a minute!” Rainbow suddenly realised “Where’s Spike? Doesn’t he usually help you with this stuff?”

“I’m not coming out!” A faint, yet angry voice could be heard from upstairs.

“Oh he’s just angry because I had to test the first half of the spell on him.” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“And you made me look ridiculous!”

Rainbow Dash leaned in close to Twilight, “What did you do to him?”

“I gave him a...” a swift reaction from Twilight made her silence herself with a hoof.

“Pinkie swear?” Rainbow had been told about the problems Twilight had with keeping secrets. “Urgh! Whatever.” Rainbow let the issue slide. “...let’s just get this magic stuff going. If it works I might have enough time to show you some moves.”

“Ok here I go. I’ll need you to stand still while I work.” Twilight’s horn began to glow, its aura growing with power ready to unleash on the two friends.

Fate, however, rarely allowed things to go to plan in Equestria, as could be found by the small party congregating outside the very library Twilight and Rainbow were in.

“Okie dokie lokie! Everypony’s here!” said Pinkie Pie, (her volume a little lower than usual) “Are you all ready for Twilight’s surprise party?”

“We got your invites Pinkie, but what type of party is this?” The unicorn Rarity took out the invitation, “You didn’t give many details.”

“You silly! Don’t you remember? It’s been exactly half a year since Twilight came to Ponyville. This is her ‘Pinkie-special-half-year-in-Ponyville-surprise-party!’”

“Uh...” AppleJack avoided Pinkie’s gaze, “Catchy?”

“Um Pinkie?” A faint sound could be heard from the shy pegasus, Fluttershy, “Where is Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh don’t you worry Fluttershy,” Pinkie hopped up and down, “I knew Rainbow would be at Twilight’s place today so I thought we’d surprise them both. Everypony loves a surprise. And I know Twilight will just love this surprise. So will Rainbow Dash, and how could they not, I mean, what are they gonna be doing in there? Magic that requires complete silence? That’d be just silly, and I’ve got lots of party poppers and streamers in the bag so why would the party be quiet?” Pinkie Pie had gone fun-on party mode and was pushing the others towards Twilight’s front door.

Twilight’s spell was almost ready. The aura around her horn had grown to a tremendous size, generating a variety of sparks that were slowly focusing on Rainbow’s wings and Twilight’s bare back.  Rainbow felt the ground leave her feet. Not an unusual sensation for her, except this time it was not through her own means. Rainbow and Twilight had begun to float above the ground as the sparks connecting the two grew into strikes of lightning.

“SURPRISE!” Pinkie Pie’s party exploded into the room along with Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy all in tow.

The result was definitely not what any of them had hoped. The aura around Twilight’s horn became erratic as her concentration was shattered. Lighting scattered around the room, hitting each of the six ponies, setting off streamers and party poppers as their charges were ignited. The scene created was a bigger mess than Pinkie’s last party when she had the ‘brilliant’ idea to combine fireworks and cake.

Twilight quickly tried to regain her composure and bring her spell to a close, but the amount of energy she had put in over the time she was charging it had to go somewhere, and the library was shaken with a violent explosion that shook the walls and brought the contents of the shelves down on top of Twilight and her Friends.

“Uuuurgh!” Twilight got up from underneath a large pile of scrolls she had fallen into. She looked around the room as 5 other mounds began to form in the sea of books.

“Is everypony all alright?” Applejack asked as she popped her head out from beneath The Big Book of Potions and Lotions.

“My Hair!” Rarity screeched as she too emerged, her mane now sticking in all directions as a result of the lightning.

“Whoho! That was fun!” Pinkie Pie was also sporting a similar look (although she was used to the more ‘erratic’ style, as Rarity called it).

“Um I’m fine.” Fluttershy’s voice came from another pile, “Is…is it ok if I stay under here for a while?”

“What happened?” Rainbow asked as she got to her feet, however the question was quickly replaced by an even greater one as she attempted to lift off the ground to help her friends.

Rainbow remained grounded, the feeling was totally alien to her, she would just flap her wings and up she’d go. Her wings…HER WINGS.

“WAHHH!” Rainbow turned her head around and was greeted with a completely bare back, not even a single sign that there had ever been a pair of strong flying wings ready to go. “Where’d my wings go?”

Twilight turned to Rainbow and inspected her wingless state, “Well it looks like the spell half worked,” she awkwardly grinned. “The part where I borrowed your wings must have worked while the copy spell must have failed.”

Twilight inspected her own back to confirm her theory and was indeed met with the sight of a fully functioning pair of wings. A fully functioning pair of yellow wings.

Yellow wings?

“My Horn!” Rarity was quickly searching her forehead beneath her mane for her missing Horn.

“Well lookie here!” Applejack had cleared her pile of books and come up with her own pair of Blue wings.

“Oh No!” Twilight surveyed her friends. “The copy spell did work, only I didn’t copy the wings, I copied the swapping spell.”

“Who has my beautiful horn?” Rarity was getting frantic, scanning each of the other ponies looking for her beloved horn. “Who has it?”

“Eeep!” a squeak could be heard from the pile Fluttershy was hiding under.

“Yer in trouble Fluttershy, I’ma comin’ for ya.” Applejack leaped to Fluttershy’s aid. However, she soon found her leap to be a little too strong as her new wings took it upon themselves to instinctively add to her take-off, sending her crashing into Fluttershy rather than next to her.

“Whoa! I’m real sorry Fluttershy, I didn’t mean to…” Applejack got up and looked over her newly uncovered friend. “Well lookie there Fluttershy, you got Rarity’s horn”

Rarity rushed over to Fluttershy, her frantic searching bringing her close to genuine anger. This quickly evaporated when confronted with the sight of Fluttershy’s face on the verge of tears, “I’m so sorry Rarity. I didn’t mean to take your horn.”

“Oh darling!” Rarity’s demeanour did a complete reversal. “Don’t you worry in the slightest, I’m just glad it went to a pony with the grace to pull it off.”

“But Rarity, I don’t want to take away your horn.”

“Nonsense!” Rarity did her best to calm Fluttershy down. “It’s not your fault, it was an accident.”

“And I intend to fix it!” Twilight announced confidently. “I’m sorry everypony, but it shouldn’t take long to reverse the spell.”

Twilight turned towards the pile of scrolls she had just crawled out of and attempted to take out the last page of her notes. The scrolls however remained stationary; it seemed there was one last element of the spell to be discovered. “My horn?!” Twilight scanned her own forehead, she too was missing a horn, the very focusing point of her magic.

“But…But who’s got MY horn?” Twilight was genuinely worried, without magic she had no idea how to reverse the spell.

“Ooooo, lookie what I found!” Pinkie bounced up to the rest of the ponies and parted her mane, revealing a distinctly purple horn, much to Twilight’s dismay.

“Oh dear!” Twilight exclaimed.

(To be continued)

 Silly Species Swapping

Chapter 2

Two minutes had passed since Twilight had discovered the loss of her horn, and two minutes wasn’t even close to the amount of time needed to come to terms with the state Twilight and her friends had found themselves in. Twilight was hurriedly going through her notes, looking for a way to reverse the spell without her horn. Her progress was slowed by the fact that the earlier explosion had scattered many of her scrolls around the room.

Of the six ponies, Rainbow was taking things the worst, her normally loud personality muted while the others talked amongst each other, trying to understand what was going on. Rainbow just stood in silence. She was getting a nagging itch, though not the sort that could be dealt with using a hoof. It was the urge to fly, to be airborne. Even when she was indoors she would often hover, and staying still was droving her crazy.

“Ugh! Twilight! There’s gotta be something you can do!” Rainbow’s frustration was reaching new heights.

“I don’t know why you’re worried.” Pinkie bounced past Rainbow and towards Twilight. “The spell’s gonna wear off in 3 days anyway.”

Twilight continued reading, “I know that Pinkie, but I want to...wait!” She dropped her notes, “How did you know that?”

“Oh that’s easy-peasy-lemon-squeezie!” Pinkie shot across the room and back with a scroll. “It was in the pile I fell in.”

Twilight opened the scroll and studied its contents; they were indeed the failsafe measures in the event of a mistake. However none of them took into account the possibility of her losing her horn, leaving her with only one option.

“I’m sorry everypony.” Twilight set her work down. “I’m afraid we’re going to be stuck like this for at least 3 days.”

“No Twilight.” Rarity stepped up. “You don’t need to apologise.”

“She’s right Twi, this was an accident.” Applejack flexed her new wings confidently. “And anyway, it might be fun to try out what being a pegasus is like.”

“Well, I suppose I could do an essay on the effects of this spell instead,” Twilight pondered to herself, slowly coming around the idea.

“So we’ve just gotta wait it out?” Rainbow exclaimed. “What about my weather work?”

“Well shucks Rainbow, I’ll help you out.” Applejack fluttered above the rather annoyed Rainbow. “You just point me to a cloud and I’ll be bucking it like the last tree in the orchard.”

“But...” Rainbow heaved a defeated sigh. “Fine.”

“So I can have some fun with unicorn magic?” Pinkie said as she began to prod her new horn.

“Um,” Twilight stammered a little, “I guess so, but you’ve got to be care-” Twilight didn’t have time to finish her sentence before a book quickly shot past her face. This was quickly joined by another, then another.

More and more books began to join the first few in the air, spinning and circling the room. “Don’t you worry Twilight, I’ll get this cleaned away.” Pinkie giggled as she concentrated more, allowing a distinctly pink glow to form around her horn. The floor was soon cleared of debris as it danced above the ponies’ heads, each piece acting independently like a flowing river, circling round, circling round, circling round. Twilight was actually rather impressed; Pinkie had managed a good control over the magic she had found herself in control of, although there was one small problem.

“Pinkie you’re doing great!” Twilight reassured her friend. “You just have to get yourself unstuck from this magic loop you’ve got yourself in. You need to visualise the books on the shelves.”

“Don’t you worry your head over it one little bit, I’ll have this party on track again and we’ll have cake and balloons and streamers and play pin the tail on the pony and-” Pinkie’s mind turned once again to parties, and unfortunately turned away from the spell she was casting.

It started with a slight popping noise followed by a stray balloon falling to the ground. Fluttershy was the first to notice it as it landed on her head on its way to the floor. This was not the first either, as more and more balloons floated down, all the while there were less and less books circling around. The books were turning into balloons, each one popping into their new state of being in the blink of an eye.

“Pinkie! You’re losing control!” Twilight called out. “Try to focus on something simple, it’ll stop a magic build up.”

“Don’t be silly Twilight,” Pinkie giggled. “I’ve got this under control.” She could not be more wrong. Twilight had spent years honing her control over her magic, and with good reason. On the day she discovered her talent, she experienced a phenomenon only experienced by unicorns with the greatest level of magical abilities: a magic surge. It was rare for a unicorn to get to see even one in their life.

Twilight was about to witness her second.

This time however, she was viewing it from the outside, as Pinkie was enveloped in the aura previously isolated to her horn. Pinkie’s body convulsed and twisted with magical energy.

The others looked on in horror. “What the hay is going on?” Applejack turned to Twilight who was quickly trying to remember what had happened the last time this happened to her. The realisation shot through her like the very thing she was expecting to happen. “Get down everypony!” Twilight screamed as she leaped towards the others, pushing them beneath the new ocean of balloons.

This turned out to be a good move, as beams of magical energy shot around the room. Stallion busts turned to cakes, book stands turned to piles of gifts, and telescopes turned to record players. A magic surge draws from a pony’s subconscious- when it happened to Twilight, her desire to change and grow into a fully-fledged mistress of the magical arts caused her to use morphing and growth spells.

It seemed Pinkie’s subconscious REALLY wanted a party. However, five ponies was only a small party, she could bring so many more smiles to the faces of ponies. Ponyville would become the party centre for all Equestria.

A bright flash flooded the library for the briefest of moments, followed by a distinct lack of Pinkie Pie and a scene not unlike the very mess Pinkie had set to clean up (although with much more of a party atmosphere).

“Twilight?” Rarity inquired as she dusted herself off. “What just happened?”

“Oooh! This is a disaster!” Twilight got up and scanned the room. Every book was gone, and along with them any information on how to counteract what was happening.

“Twilight? What just happened to Pinkie Pie?” Rarity asked again. “I’ve never seen a horn do that before.”

Twilight sighed as her eyes fell to the ground. “It’s called a magic surge. Pinkie is currently stuck in a state of pure magic overload while her subconscious is casting spells at anything in the area.”

“And what does that mean?” Applejack was struggling to keep up with Twilight’s magical terms.

“It means Pinkie hasn’t got any control over what she’s doing, and I should know.” Twilight’s thoughts turned back to the day it happened to her. “It was my magic surge that nearly made my parents need watering for the rest of their lives.” The five friends stood there amongst the balloons for a few moments, trying to soak up yet another revelation.

“Will someone quit yankin’ on my tail!” Rainbow Dash was the one to break the silence, only for her outburst to receive blank faces in return.

“We ain’t yankin’ your tail sugarcube.” Applejack said in confusion.

Rainbow looked back at her tail. Applejack was right; nopony was pulling on her tail and yet there was definitely something up with it. It was wobbling around shaking uncontrollably, almost as if it was… twitching!

The realisation Rainbow felt suddenly became vocal “Pinkie Sense!”

“What? How is that possible?” Twilight moved behind Rainbow and examined the twitching tail in question. It was indeed shaking about in the same way Pinkie’s had done many a time before.

“Hmm...” Twilight mulled this new information over a little. “If this is Pinkie sense, it has to have been swapped with the spell.”

“But doesn’t that mean something will fall?” Fluttershy spoke up. She was all too familiar with Pinkie’s predictions.

“She’s right, and there doesn’t seem to be much left TO fall,” Rarity said as she looked at the empty bookshelves.

“Why are we doing worrying about stuff fallin’ when Pinkie could be in trouble with this magic thing?” Applejack cried out as she rushed to the door and burst outside in search of her friend.

Rainbow’s newly found ‘Pinkie Sense’ was right; something was falling, although it was not inside the library, as Applejack discovered. She stopped almost as soon as she had started running out into the open, her mind unable to process the sight she was witnessing. She was followed by the others as they too looked on in shock at what was falling to the ground.

Streamers! Not just falling, but raining. The sky was filled with the sight of raining streamers, tumbling to the ground and piling up in the streets. And the raining streamers were not the only new addition to the weather. After all these streamers had to have come from somewhere, and the clouds that were producing them were about as strange as anypony would expect. They were bright pink, and judging by the sight of one slacking Ditzy Doo eating one of them, they were probably made of cotton candy.

The wind was carrying with it a multitude of balloons of various shapes and sizes, dancing with the breeze and settling outside each home in small bunches. Balloons were not the only thing carried on the wind; the air was filled with the light sounds of music seemingly coming from everywhere.

Twilight and the rest were not the only ones to notice this; many of Ponyville’s residents poured out into the streets to witness this phenomenon, their expressions not one of worry but of fascination. Then again, brightly coloured rain and balloons weren’t exactly on the top ten list of things likely to scare a pony.

The fillies were the first to make use of this fun. They began to run around and play with the new additions to the town. Their antics soon calmed even the traces of worry anypony might have about this event, and soon the streets were full of ponies young and old enjoying a day that would certainly not be remembered for being anything close to normal.

Ponyville was set to become the party centre for all of Equestria.

(To be continued)

Silly Species Swapping

Chapter 3

Pinkie was terrified.

In her life she had always laughed away anything that scared her, but what could she do when she was afraid of herself? She could feel the magic surging through every fibre of her body like a constant electric shock. Every hair in her coat stood on end, and her eyes were blinded by the constant light. Her body was feeling more power than any normal pony could ever imagine, and yet she felt so helpless.

“Don’t you want to party?”

Pinkie couldn’t tell where the voice came from, it sounded so familiar but there were no names she could link to it.

“Everypony loves to party!”

Pinkie looked around in search of the voice. Her eyes were only met with more white. She liked light and sunshine, but colour was so much more fun.

“You’re right! This party does need more colour!”

“How did you know what I was thinking?” Pinkie tried talking back, but found she could only think her words.

“Don’t be a silly filly! Anypony could tell you a party needs colour.”

Back outside the library, the rain of streamers continued, this time though in new and more varied colours. These new colours flowed like a river over ponies below, mixing with the previous downpour into larger piles of multi-coloured paper.

“We’re in over our heads here,” Twilight muttered to herself as she observed the changes around her. She turned around and dashed back towards the library, doing her best not to trip on the piles of streamers cluttering the ground. Twilight had no idea how to fix this, and she couldn’t risk Pinkie hurting herself or anyone else if this got out of hand. In a case like this she would have to go to Plan-E, sending for help from the only one she knew could stop a magic surge.

Twilight rushed to open the door to the library as fast as she could. However, this proved an unusually tricky task as Twilight collided with the closed door in a rather clumsy manner. Some things in her life had become second nature, and opening doors with her magic was one of them. However, with magic removed from the equation, it wouldn’t take an intellectual pony to realise the result. The fact that Twilight was an intelligent pony only added insult to injury.

“Are you alright Twilight?” Twilight heard Applejack’s voice getting closer as she got back to her hooves.

“Ugh!” Twilight shook her head clear. “I’m okay, I just need to get used to using my hooves instead of magic for everything.“

“Um Twilight?” Fluttershy spoke softly from behind Rarity. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

Twilight looked at her friends, and their concern was plain to see. Even more plain to see was their desire to help Pinkie. Twilight had to come up with a plan to keep things under control until they could send for help. It was her duty to the princess to keep the peace and to protect those around her, and she never took this responsibility lightly.

Twilight stood up straight and steadied herself. “Okay this is the plan.” She pointed down the main street towards the centre of Ponyville. “Applejack, I want you to take Rarity and Fluttershy, and see if you can find where Pinkie got to.”

“You can count on us Twi,” Applejack responded.

“Remember, she hasn’t got full control of herself, so be careful. Try to calm her down if you can, but don’t let her hit you with any magic.”

“Oh don’t worry, after feeling the effect of the last spell I certainly won’t let myself get hit,” Rarity said as she gave her forehead another brief glance.

“Good! Rainbow Dash, I’ll need you to stay with me.” Twilight turned to Rainbow who was now almost completely shaking from the force of her twitching tail.

“What? Why do I have to stay behind?” Rainbow was visibly annoyed by this request.

“Because I’ve learned that when Pinkie sense is involved, it always seems to go for me, and I want to know what’s coming and when.”

“Y’all heard the lady, let’s go save Pinkie from…well, herself.” Applejack launched herself into the air and flew over the mounting piles of streamers, leading the way for Rarity and Fluttershy to follow.

“This Party sure is going into full swing.”

“I don’t think I want this party.”

“You’re right! This party is nowhere near good enough yet, we’ve got to do better”

The voice wouldn’t listen. Pinkie felt more and more helpless with each passing moment. Just like back on the rock farm, her fate wasn’t decided by what she chose to do but by what she was expected to do.

“I know what this party needs. More Friends! Let’s make some!”

“But I already know everypony in Ponyville.”

“Then let’s make some new friends!”

The ocean of balloons parted as Twilight and Rainbow burst back into the library. The ocean flowed around the room as the two ponies made their way to the second floor.

“Spike?” Twilight called out. “Are you still in here?”

“I don’t care how much noise you make, I’m staying put!” Spike’s voice could be heard coming from the foot of Twilight’s bed. The purple tail poking out of Spike’s basket really gave his hiding place away.

“Please Spike, this is important!” Twilight ran up to Spike’s basket and started to shake it, only causing him to tighten his hold on the blanket covering him. “Please Spike, there was an accident with one of the experiments and I need to send a letter for help!”

Spike sat bolt upright in his basket. “An accident? Is everypony ok?” The look of concern on his face was offset by one strange addition to his normal features.

Spike was sporting a very fine owl’s beak.

“Bahaha!” Rainbow Dash fell to the floor with laughter. “You were right Spike. You DO look ridiculous!”

Spike’s face flushed red with anger. “Oh yeah? Well...” He faltered for a second before noticing something strange about the two ponies in front of him. “Wait a minute... Rainbow, where are your wings? And what happened to your horn, Twilight?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. The spell swapped all our wings and horns around and now Pinkie’s got herself stuck in a magic surge!” Twilight was trying her best to stay as calm as possible. “I need you to send a letter to the princess so we can fix this.”

Spike’s face sank. “I’m sorry Twilight, I can’t.” He inhaled deeply, as he had often done before, and blew into thin air.

“Whoooooooooo!”

Rather than the thin green flame of his normal dragon breath, there was instead the call of Twilight’s pet owl.

Twilight stood frozen, she was running out of ideas fast, and thoughts of what might be happening at that very moment were quickly flooding her mind like the balloons in the library.

Applejack, however, was about to meet some of these ‘happenings’, and a rather angry group of ‘happenings’ they were. Three objects, each as alive as the three ponies heading towards them, were waiting for any trouble makers at Pinkie’s party, and each of them in a not too friendly mood.

“So what are we s’posed to be doing hanging ‘round these parts again?” The object producing the voice wobbled in place.

“Oh Rocky, you impatient fellow you. We are ‘ere to ‘elp miss Pinkie with ‘er party.” The weighty bag of flour shifted its weight as it spoke up.

“It looks like we’ve got some troublemakers coming this way,” a third, deeper voice said from a shaking bucket of root vegetables. “It’s those rude ponies!”

The bag of flour shifted once more, standing upright on its side. “Well zen, ve will ‘ave a chance to teach zees ponies a lesson!”

Silly Species Swapping

Chapter 4

        “Come on Rainbow, think! Think! Think!” Rainbow sat on her haunches, tapping her hoof on her forehead in frustration. Rainbow was not used to situations like this; she was usually one to react to what was happening than plan out what she had to do. It was what made her good at her job. Lightning fast reflexes kept storms out of Ponyville. She left the planning to the weather coordinators.

        She was doing a whole lot better than Twilight though, who was now mirroring Spike by hiding under the covers of her own bed. Twilight WAS the sort of pony to plan ahead for every eventuality; to have a back-up plan and a BACK-UP back-up plan just in case the first back-up didn't work. But now there was no back-ups left, and anything she could think up was cut short by her sudden horn loss.

        Twilight had never considered how much she used her magic for everything. It was a part of who she was, and she had spent nearly her whole life with her horn as an extra limb ready to help her out. Had she really taken it for granted all this time, or was it that she’d let the rest of her body become wasted?

“Wait a second!” Spike’s voice came up from out of his bed, followed shortly by his body as he climbed up and stood next to Twilight. “Why don’t you just deliver the letter in person?”

“Running there would take hours, we can’t leave Pinkie like she is for that long.” Twilight’s voice had taken on a distinctly defeated tone.

“I mean I could fly there in, like, 10 minutes flat if I had my wings,” Rainbow said as she still continued to try and tap out an idea from her head.

“Well what about these?” Spike pulled open one of Twilight’s new wings,

“That won’t…” Twilight was halfway through the sentence before the realisation dawned on her. “Spike, you’re a genius! Of course I can use Fluttershy’s wings to take me there!” Twilight’s mood took a complete turn back to joyous optimism as she leaped from the bed and over to Rainbow. “And you can teach me!”

“Well,  you won’t exactly be working with the best. Applejack got those.” Rainbow strutted around Twilight. “But with a little time, and a bit of luck, I think I can get you in the air.”

-----

Meanwhile, in the streets of Ponyville, Applejack was leading Rarity and Fluttershy in search of Pinkie Pie. Flying just ahead to guide them through the rapidly building piles of streamers that had filled the roads.

“Umm… Applejack? Where are we going?” Fluttershy spoke up as she followed behind her friend who was now flying just above the ground in front of them.

“Well, magic or no magic she’s still the same old Pinkie Pie. I figure she’s bound to be at Sugarcube corner,” Applejack said. She was doing her best not to out fly the following ponies, but her new wings seemed to be urging her faster, as though they that a mind of their own (most likely Rainbow’s).

“I just hope we can fix this quickly, all these streamers are so garish in this quantity.” Rarity, it seemed, was now over the shock of this recent turn of events, and was back to her usual self.

The attack came from nowhere, or at least it seemed to come from nowhere. There were no ponies around, and yet that turnip had found its way in a flight path directed straight at the flying Applejack.

“What in the hay?” Applejack swerved wildly in the air, avoiding the rapidly moving vegetable.

“You meesed ‘er!” the strange voice came from the well.

“Don’t worry! I’ve got plenty more where that came from.” Another turnip flew, seemingly from nowhere, and glanced across Applejack’s side.

“Whoa nelly!” Applejack called out as she lost control and dive-bombed into one of the many piles of streamers. It seemed she had been gifted the ability, but not the practice, of a junior speedster.

“Applejack!” Rarity called out as another stray turnip whipped passed her face and narrowly missed Fluttershy. “Who keeps doing that? I demand you show yourself this instant!”

“Well eet was eenevitable that we would meet.” The large sack of flour slumped into view. Held in one of its corners was yet another turnip, and behind her was the supplier of said vegetables.

Rarity reeled back her head in shock, her mind unable to comprehend the sight before her eyes. This…ugly sack had been attacking them? “What in Equestria are you?” she managed to force the question out of her mind and vocalise it.

“We’re Pinkie’s REAL friends!” Another item bobbed into view, the collection of stones, known as Rocky. “And we’re here to make sure none of her CHUMP pony friends try and stop the party!”

“Well! I don’t know how you came to that conclusion, but if you ‘things’ really are friends of Pinkie, you’ll tell us where she is.” Rarity stood fast in the presence of such rude creations.

“Don’t tell ‘em Madame! You know these ponies don’t know no reason. We gotta teach ‘em a lesson in the only language they know!” Rocky shuffled his rocks in place in time with his words.

Rarity had little time to wonder what the object meant by this before yet another turnip was thrown in her direction.

The action occurred as though in slow motion. Rarity knew it was heading for her, and she also knew that she was the only thing preventing it from colliding with the cowering Fluttershy behind her, and she would not allow either one of them to be harmed.

Her front hooves dug into the soft ground, crumpling the swirling mess of streamers below, her weight shifted as she spun her body round in a manner that she would normally consider very unlady-like, and delivered a swift but powerful kick to the offending vegetable. A very, VERY powerful kick, a kick that could buck the apples off any tree, a kick that could contend in the Iron Pony competition, and a kick that sent the turnip straight back at its owner with an incredible force.

“Sacre Bleu!” Madame Le Flour flopped backwards to avoid the offending vegetable, allowing it a direct part to its thrower, the not quite as mobile Mr. Turnip. The momentum it had received from the kick was so great that when it reached its target it smashed into Mr. Turnip, tipping him over and spilling his contents onto the streamer-laden ground.

“Monsieur Navet!” The sack stood up once more on its side and inspected the remains of her cohort.

“Dey killed Mr. Toynip!”

------

“Now! What are the three main rules of flight?” Rainbow paced back and forth in front of Twilight. They had been going over the basics of flight for the last few minutes, both of them impatient to get Twilight airborne and the situation around them constantly reminding them of the urgency of their task.

“One: wind check!” Twilight was reading off the notes she had taken down (discovering in the process that she had become very rusty in the art of writing with her mouth.) “Two: maintain lift at all times. And finally, three: keep yourself steady!”

Rainbow inspected Twilights notes. “I think ‘steady’ needs about three more exclamation marks there.”

“It’s enough.” Twilight looked up from her notes as she prepped her wings for flight, feeling the lift of the wind going across them for the first time.

The wind picked up, suddenly flowing across the underside of the feathered appendages and created a sudden updraft, pulling on the joints that held them to Twilights back and forcing them into an upwards position.

“Don’t let the wind control your wings, use your wings to work WITH the wind!” Rainbow corrected her. “Now, on the count of three, I want you to force your wings downwards and lift off the ground. Got it?” Twilight nodded in agreement, trying to keep herself steady as her fully extended wings acted as sails trying to push her over. “One!” Rainbow started.

Twilight got her stance straight again.

“Two!” She continued.

Flight muscles tensed.

“THREE!”

The sound of Rainbow’s end to her countdown drowned out the fluttering of wings as they worked hard against gravity. These wings did not belong to a natural flyer, and they were uneasy in their situation. But they were working hard under Twilight’s command, and soon found themselves lifting up the purple pony a good five feet or so in the air.

“It’s working, it’s working!” Twilight was giddy with accomplishment. “This is amazing! I’m actually flying! Whoa! Wow!” She wobbled in the air a little.

“And that’s why ‘steady’ needed more exclamation marks,” Rainbow reminded her. “Now are you ready for your first flight?”

“For Pinkie’s safety and the fate of Ponyville, I am,” Twilight gulped, not as convinced by her own words as she had hoped to be.

“I can’t hear you!” Dash stood firm and roared at her friend. “I said... ARE YOU READY?”

“Yes I am!”

“LOUDER!”

“YES I AM!”

Twilight put force into the beating of her wings as the determination and cries from Rainbow filled her with the confidence she could not provide herself. Fluttershy’s wings were most commonly used for floating softly, it was the action they were used to, but with the new fire in Twilight’s belly, their engines were roaring and sending the purple pony with her new yellow wings into the sky and towards Canterlot. Her mind focused on the singular task of finding help and saving her friend.

Rarity had been in many situations she would find uncouth or unflattering to her standing as a lady of refinement. However her current situation would definitely have to be placed in her top three of situations she would rather not repeat. The talking burlap sack of flour had managed to get onto her back after somehow leaping through the air onto her. This had taken Rarity by surprise despite the fact that, really, she shouldn’t have been surprised at what those things could do.

“Uff! Get OFF me this instant! Uff!” Rarity ordered the enraged Madame, her hoofs unable to gain purchase in the mess of streamers surrounding her.

“Dat’s right, you get ‘er Madame!” The Ringleader of this attacking force simply sat and wobbled his rocks with each sentence he called in support. Rarity’s hooves slipped on the multicoloured mess of streamers surrounding her as any attempts to secure her hooves into the ground were hampered by the repeated force of the large sack that had taken to treating her like some common trampoline.

“Hey you! Don’t think about doin’ nothing neither ya hear me?” Rarity heard those gruff words come from out of her line of sight, but the trembling squeak from Fluttershy made her realise that the pile of rocks had now turned his attentions to her dear friend.

“You leave -uff- her alone -uff- this instant!” Rarity called out to the best of her ability before she felt a sudden, painful yank on her mane.

“How dare you despicable mule tell us what to do!” Madame le Four unleashed her anger upon both Rarity’s looks and her ego. Her scalp was doing all it could to keep hold of her precious locks, but the force of the pulling brought tears to her eyes (or, at least, she would later tell the others it was that that caused the welling in her eyes.)

How strong was this bag of flour? How strong should a bag of flour be? Was this normal for her? What sort of ridiculous question was that? These questions ran through Rarity’s mind in some attempt to find an answer for her predicament, a predicament that was causing her a whole lot of grief.

A predicament that…Suddenly stopped.

She opened her eyes, her vision blurry with pained tears that were quickly dispatched with by surprised blinks. The mess of streamers met her gaze once more; however they had somehow become muted in colour, so too was the grass and the soil. They were all lighter. Rarity blinked once more, clearing her eyes fully and heaving a sigh of relief at the weight missing from her back.

“AH! ACHOOOO!” She sneezed as her nostrils filled with the flour surrounding her.

Madame Le Flour was no more.

“Rarity? Are you okay?” Fluttershy’s soft voice now right by her ear.

“Fluttershy?” Rarity looked up to meet her friends gaze. “What happened?”

“I... um...” Fluttershy looked even further down towards her hooves as she shifted them awkwardly, “Do you remember how I can sew?”

Rarity swiftly turned her head to look at where the sack of flour had once been. Its seams were split open, the thread carefully removed and placed in a neat pile amongst the rest of the unusual items littering Ponyville’s streets. “I’m…I mean I didn’t mean to hurt it. Your horn did it. Not that I’m saying your horn would do something bad. I mean. I just wanted to help.” Fluttershy tried her best to explain.

“Darling.” Rarity got up and lifted up her friends chin with her hoof. “You saved me from that brutish thing just now, you don’t have to explain a thing.” She shot a menacing glare at the sole remaining animated object. “Now let s just see what this ugly pile of rocks has to say for himself.”

(To be continued)