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)