Twilight had no idea what to do.
She had been screaming near nonstop for the last few minutes. It was a bit like a cycle: she would discover some new part of her body, then let out a high pitched scream. Discover, scream, discover, scream. All the while, Spike was trying to calm her down.
Suddenly, the doors flew open and slammed against the walls. Between them was a creature similar to what Twilight had become. The main difference was that it had rainbow colored hair and it look ready to attack. “I heard screaming. What’s going on?” the creature said. Then it looked at Twilight and got an angry look in its eyes. “Alright you … thing. You’re going to tell me what you did to Twilight, or you’re gonna get it!”
Twilight gasped when she heard what it said. That confident and loyal attitude could only belong to one pony. “Rainbow?! Is that you?!”
“That’s right, now start talking!” she threatened, and started to make her way to the bed.
“No, wait. Rainbow, it’s me! It’s Twilight!”
When Rainbow heard this, she stopped her advance to take a closer look at the being in Twilight’s bed. Now she could see that the being had the same features as her friend. “Twilight?! What happened to you?”
“Same thing that happened to you, it seems.” Twilight answered. “In other words, I HAVE NO IDEA!”
Then a new figure entered the room at a fast pace. “Twilight! I’ve got a problem!” It then stopped at the bed and looked at both Twilight and Rainbow. “Looks like I’m not the only one.”
Twilight was startled at the induction of a new creature, but the Stetson she was wearing gave away who she was talking to. “Applejack?! What are you doing here?”
“Well, I woke up, saw that I had become this thing, then ran over here to see if you can fix it. I was in the main hall when the screaming started.” Applejack looked at her friends and sighed. “Looks like you have the same problem, though.”
Twilight was starting to worry. If this had affected the three of them, then who knows how many ponies were affected. This could be a nation-wide epidemic for all they knew!
The doors then opened to reveal Starlight Glimmer. She was rubbing her eyes and trying to wake herself up. “What’s with all the commoti-?” Before she could finish her question, she saw the strange creatures that were both in and had surrounded Twilight’s bed. Her eyes grew wide and she stared at them in silence. Suddenly, one of the creatures, the one in Twilight’s bed, started smiling. It attempted to get out of the bed, which means it got tangled in the covers and fell over. After spending a minute getting itself untangled, it rushed over to Starlight. It walked on all fours, which looked weird as its back legs appeared to be longer than its forelegs. Once it got to Starlight, it sat down and wrapped its forelegs around her in a hug-like manner.
“Oh, Starlight! Thank Celestia you’re still normal!” The creature said.
Starlight was confused. How did the creature know her name? But then she realized whose voice it had. “Twilight?”
“Oh I was so worried.” Twilight continued, as if she hadn’t heard her. “I was starting to think that everypony in Ponyville, no Equestria, had been transformed into, well, whatever we are. But now that I know that’s not the case! It’s the first bit of good news we’ve gotten since we woke up!”
“Uh, okay.” said Starlight, still trying to wrap her head around everything that was going on. “So, if you’re Twilight, I guess that means that those two are Applejack and Dash, right?”
“Yep.” answered Twilight, still hugging her student and smiling.
“And you have no idea how this happened nor what you’ve turned into?”
“Not a clue.”
“Okay, then. One final question: why is Applejack covering Spike’s eyes?”
Twilight stopped hugging Starlight and looked behind her to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, Applejack was covering Spike’s eyes with her forelegs. In addition, she was wearing an awkward smile and had a small blush on her face. Rainbow Dash had the same look on her face.
“Um, Applejack, why are you doing that to Spike? And what’s with the looks on your faces?”
“Oh, um, well” Applejack stuttered. “You see, Twi, uh, you know how we no longer have fur or tails?” Twilight nodded in response. “Well,” Applejack continued, “this means that uh certain … parts are more visible.”
Twilight just stared at her friend, wondering what she meant. “Applejack, if you are going to tell me something about this body, just say it.”
“We can see your privates.” Rainbow simply stated.
That statement sent Twilight back into the state she had been in for most of the morning: wide eyed and screaming. Only difference was that this time she had her forelegs crossed in front of her, as if she was covering herself up.
“Rainbow!” Applejack scolded. “I was trying to break it to her gently!”
“Oh, she was going to start screaming again no matter how we told her!” Rainbow defended.
“Oh, for Celestia’s sake!” Spike pushed Applejack’s legs off his head, walked over to Twilight, and grabbed her shoulders firmly. “Twilight! Calm down! Remember your breathing exercises!” Twilight, looking at him, stopped screaming and started breathing rapidly. “Slower.” She breathed less franticly. “Slower.” She breathed down to a normal pace. “Now deep breath, hold, and release.” They both sucked in a large amount of air, held it for a few seconds, then exhaled at the same time. “You feel better, now?” Spike asked, to which Twilight nodded.
“Okay, now that you’re calmer, the solution to this should be obvious.” Spike pointed out. Twilight tilted her head in confusion. Spike sighed, then explained, “We send a letter to Celestia. If anypony knows what happened and how to fix it, it’s her.”
Twilight bopped herself in the head. “Of course! One simple letter and this will all be cleared up. Spike, if you would please do the honors?”
Spike rushed over to the desk and grabbed a blank scroll and a quill. “Ok, ready when you are Twilight.” Twilight cleared her throat and began.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I apologize for the lack of formal introductions but we have an emergency. I, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack have somehow been transformed. We do not know how this happened, whether or not we are the only ones to have been affected, nor what we’ve been transformed into. All we know about the creature is that it has no fur or tail, nor does it appear to have any connection to magic. Our hope is that you can somehow assist us in solving this problem.
Your fellow princess and friend,
Twilight Sparkle
After Spike finished writing, he rolled up the scroll and breathed his enchanted fire on it, sending it on its way to Celestia.
“Okay, now we just need to wait until Celestia replies.” Twilight said. “We can hang out in the throne room until she does. Spike, can you go make some breakfast?”
“Sure thing!” Spike exclaimed, running out the door towards the kitchen.
“And Starlight? Can you go get us some towels from the bathroom to, uh, cover ourselves up?”
“No problem.” answered Starlight, making her way out the door. The three former ponies followed her, a bit calmer than earlier and filled with hope.
(About thirty minutes later, in the throne room)
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were sitting on their thrones. They each had towels with them, which were covering their hips in order to conceal themselves a bit, and ice packs on their knees. Starlight was sitting in her own chair. She had more towels next to her in case anypony else with this problem showed up. They were waiting for Spike to finish making breakfast and for Celestia to write back. Twilight was behind her throne, pacing back and forth in worry.
“Quit yer frettin’, Twi.” she said, “Celestia will write back to us as soon as she finds a solution.”
“But she never takes this long.” Twilight replied with panic in her voice. “She usually responds to my letters in a few minutes!”
“Yah, but this isn’t a usual situation.” Rainbow comforted. “She probably just wants to make sure she’s got everything right. Once she does, she’ll write to us, and then we’ll go back to our normal lives.”
Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “You’re right, girls. I’m just a little freaked. I’m sure that this will be sorted out soon.” She sat down in her throne. When she did, she gestured to the appendages on her back hooves. “You were right, Applejack. Walking on our knees instead of these things is more comfortable.” Then she grunted and started what the group had assumed to be knees. “Unfortunately, you were also right about them being sore after a while.”
“I’ll go get some more ice packs.” offered Starlight. Before she could get up, though, a new being entered the room.
“TWILIGHT!!!”
The figure in question was concealed by a cloak. Once it was inside, it shook off the hood to reveal that it had purple, curly hair and a shocked look on its face. Twilight, who had calmed down some, could now recognize the being easily. “Rarity, I see you’ve been transformed too.”
“I KNOW!” she exclaimed. “IT’S HORRIBLE! WE’VE ALL BEEN TURNED INTO SOMETHING HIDEOUS!”
“I don’t know. I think it’s pretty neat.”
The voice caused Rarity to jump. Looking behind her, everypony could see another creature like them with fluffy, pink hair and a large smile on her face. It didn’t take a genius to figure out this was Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be taking her transformation a lot better than the rest of them.
“Hmm,” Twilight pondered. “If the rest of you are here, then maybe…” Twilight looked down the hall to see if her shy friend had come as well. After a few seconds, she located something with pink hair shivering behind a column. “Fluttershy, I know you’re down there. Its okay, we’re all in the same boat so you don’t have to be afraid. No one will stare or treat you differently.”
The being, confirmed to be Fluttershy, came into view. She was still shaking a bit and had her head down, but she managed to be brave and make her way over to her friend. When they were close enough, Twilight wrapped her shy friend in a hug to comfort her.
“There, there, Fluttershy,” comforted Twilight, “everything’s going to be fine.”
“Fine? FINE?!” yelled Rarity. “This is the opposite of fine! We have been turned into who knows what and have no idea why!”
“Chill, Rares. You’re scaring Fluttershy.” Applejack said, trying to comfort her friend. “Listen, there’s no reason to panic. We’ve already sent a letter to the princess. When she responds, we’ll be able to fix all of this.” She walked Rarity over to her throne. “Till then, just sit down and relax.”
Starlight came over to Rarity with her towels in her magic and levitated one to her. “Here, you’ll want one of these.”
“Why would I want that?” Rarity asked.
“Cause your unmentionables aren’t covered up by anything.”
Rarity looked down at her body and confirmed what Starlight said. “Of course.” she groaned, taking a towel in her mouth and setting it down on her lap. While she got it positioned properly, Starlight went around to give towels to the others.
“Applejack’s right, everypony.” Twilight said. “This will all be solved soon. Let’s just wait here until she does. I’ll go check on Spike to see how breakfast is coming.”
At that moment, Spike burst through the door. He had pushing a cart that was covered by a cloth. Once he got to the map, he started his speech. “Fillies and … fillies. Allow me to present to you your breakfast:” he then yanked the cloth off the cart to reveal several muffins on top of it. “haymuffins!” The ponies in the room voiced how thankful they were. They would have clapped, but their current situation made that difficult. Spike walked over to Rarity with a small plate of muffins. “Here, Rarity. I made these without hay, because you told me you were on a diet.”
“Oh, Spikey-Wikey, what a gentledragon.” she said.
“Rarity, you’ve been turned into an unknown creature and you’re worried about your weight?” asked Rainbow.
“Hmff, A dilemma like this is no reason to forget my figure.” she responded.
Pinkie bounced over to the cart. “Thanks Spike, these look delicious!” she said, and stuck out her tongue. A few seconds past, as if she was waiting for something to happen. Pinkie was confused. “Phat’s veirb,” she said, putting her tongue back, “my tongue won’t stretch. It usually stretches so I can pick up a muffin without my hooves.” She then bent forward and put her mouth around as much of the muffin as possible, then took a bite out of a muffin. “And I can’t eat it in a single bite either.” She then took on a serious look, something not commonly seen on Pinkie. “You know, at first I thought this was going to be fun, but now I want Celestia to hurry up and write back.”
As if life agreed with what Pinkie was saying, Spike burped out green fire and a scroll. He unrolled it to read it. “It’s from Celestia!” Everypony in the room turned to give him their undivided attention. Spike cleared his throat and began to read.
Dear Twilight,
I apologize for the wait, but I wanted to confirm my news with my sister before writing back.
“Ha, I told you.” interrupted Rainbow Dash in a cocky tone. “Absolutely no reason to worry.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Spike said, before continuing in a less hopeful tone.
Unfortunately, neither I nor my sister have encountered any creature with the characteristics you’ve described. Until now, we had believed that all creatures had some connection to magic. To learn that one exists that doesn't is surprising. We will consult with the local experts in cryptozoology and continue to do research here in Canterlot, but I’m afraid that there is nothing we can do to help you at this moment.
My advice is this: find the source of this change. It may help to discover a counter spell or a cure. Until you can, learn as much as you can about these creatures. Not only will this give us more information to work with in our research, but it will also help you adjust to this change and continue your lives as normal.
Best of wishes to you,
Princess Celestia
Everypony around the room had a look of despair on their faces. They had all placed their faith in Celestia, and she was just as confused as they were. They all pondered this news in silence, until Pinkie spoke up.
“So, is it okay to panic now?”
Before anypony could start, Starlight spoke up. “No, you are not going to panic. Listen, you guys are the heroes of Equestria. You’ve saved ponies from dozen of threats, including me. If anypony can figure out how to fix this, it’s you!” She levitated the muffins and passed them out to her friends. “Now, we are going to eat these muffins, then figure out as much about these bodies and the spell that made this happened as possible. Together, we’ll be able to transform you back before you know it!"
Her speech inspired the once-ponies to perk up and gain some hope. Twilight looked at her student proudly, glad to see that her lessons have paid off. As she and the rest of her friends began to eat, Rainbow spoke up.
“Starlight’s right. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
(20 minutes later)
“Uhhhhhggg, my stomach.”
This was the collective feeling in the lounge area. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight were laying around the room, folding what had replace their front legs over what they thought was their stomachs. They all felt queasy and made no sudden movements else the feeling got worse.
“Geeze Spike, what did you put in those muffins?” asked Applejack.
“Same things I always do,” he answered defensively, “milk, flour, eggs. They’ve never caused any upset stomachs before.”
“Maybe, but our stomachs are different now.” said Twilight. “Maybe something in them doesn’t agree with these bodies. But what?”
“Well, Rarity isn’t sick.” Fluttershy pointed out.
“You put something different in her muffin, Spikey-Wikey?” Rainbow accused.
“What? No!” Spike defended. “Only difference between Rarity’s muffin and yours was that hers didn’t have hay in it.”
With that statement, Twilight’s eyes widened in realization and she shot up. “THAT’S IT!” she exclaimed. Then she held her stomach and groaned. “Uuuuhhgg.”
“What’s it, Twi?” asked Rarity.
“Hay.” answered Twilight. “We all ate muffins with hay in them, but you didn’t. These new bodies must not be able to digest hay.”
“Wait a minute.” said Rainbow, sitting up on the couch to look at Twilight, “you mean to tell me we can’t anything with hay in it?”
Pinkie’s eyes grew wide with panic. “No haymuffins? No hayfries? NO HAYBURGERS?!” she asked, with her voice rising with each question.
“I’m afraid not.” Twilight answered depressingly.
Each of Twilight’s friends stared at her. The look they all shared said that they had realized the same thing: that this was going to be a much more difficult experience than they first thought. Not just because they couldn’t eat hay, but because that was probably only the first of many changes they would have to endure. After several moments in silence, each one feeling like an eternity, Rainbow Dash plopped down on the couch and spoke. “I was wrong earlier.”
“’bout what, sugarcube?” asked Applejack.
“Several bad things are going to happen!”