The Switchy-Witchy Stone

Chapter 3

"I knew there was something weird about that stone!" exclaimed Twilight, in horror, "We both said we felt like we were being drained of something! That light that switched over must have been our magic!"

As she began to get agitated, sparks of chaos magic fizzed around her mane. There was a flash of light, and a nearby patch of daisies turned into blood-sucking flytraps.

"Come on!" she exclaimed, whipping round and galloping back down the road they had come down, "We have to go back and—"

There was suddenly a flash of light from her horn and the eight of them were suddenly back in the cavern. Twilight smacked face first into the stone wall, then winced. She looked round. They were back in the cavern, and the gem was still sitting on the pedestal, looking exactly the way they had left it.

"Wow," mused Twilight, "That was handy."

Not wasting a second, she galloped over to the pedestal and touched the stone. She waited for her hoof to stick and the stone to light up and zap her with the white light again, but nothing happened. Her eyes widened and she tapped the stone a few times. Nothing happened. Starting to get worried, Twilight grabbed it off the pedestal and examined it for any way to activate it. But nothing happened.

"Discord," said Twilight, "Maybe you need to touch it too."

The draconequus sprinted over and touched the stone too. But nothing happened. They exchanged worried glances.

"It's not working!" exclaimed Twilight, "What do we do!?"

"If the stone switched your magic, then surely it can switch it back," said Fluttershy.

"How exactly did it work?" pressed Rarity.

"I—I don't know!" exclaimed Twilight, turning round, "All I did was touch it! I don't know what activated it or how it works!"

"If only I had my magic, I could switch us back," Discord sighed, "Although if I had my magic, I wouldn't need to, of course."

"You can switch magic?" repeated Pinkie Pie, in surprise.

"Equestria to Pinkie Pie, I'm Discord," answered Discord, giving Pinkie Pie's nose a flick, "I can do anything."

Then his smile disappeared. "Or at least I could," he said, worriedly.

"What do we do, Twilight?" asked Rainbow Dash, worriedly, "Isn't there anything you know about power switching?"

"I've never even heard of power switching before!" exclaimed Twilight, hysterically, "Or anything about this weird stone! I don't know what I did, or how it works, or how to reverse it! Maybe you've gotta cast some kind of—spell—or something—I don't know! Maybe it's not possible to reverse it!"

"A spell!" exclaimed Rarity, "That's it! Twilight, surely you know of a spell that can switch magical abilities?"

Twilight shook her head. "I know a spell that can switch Cutie Marks," she said, "And a spell that alicorns can use to transfer their powers to other alicorns. But I've never heard of a spell that can switch magical abilities."

"That doesn't mean there ain't one," pointed out Applejack, "There are tons o' spellbooks in your library. Maybe we'll find somethin' in there."

"Good idea," said Twilight, shivering and accidentally turning some nearby rocks into gumball machines.

She tried to activate the same teleportation magic she had previously used, and they instantly all vanished. But instead of Ponyville, they all reappeared at the top of a waterfall.