Coming to Fluttershy with a strange animal problem made sense. It was exactly the sort of advice a responsible pony like Twilight would’ve given her. Unfortunately for her, Fluttershy herself was hardly the most objective when it came to animals.
Getting inside had been enough of a challenge in itself. But now Rainbow was here, staring at her friend with an expectant expression. “So, Fluttershy. What kind of… wolf-monsters are we, exactly?”
Fluttershy was on her hooves—paws, circling around Rainbow and inspecting her without any of her usual embarrassment. If anything she seemed less worried about personal space than usual, sliding along Rainbow’s increasingly dry-feeling scales.
“Not wolves,” she corrected. “See your muzzle there? Wolves have a wider jaw to score tearing wounds on large game. Yours is narrow, for hunting rodents and small game. You’re a fox, Rainbow. I am too. But just like me, you have adaptations that I can’t really… I’ve never seen in any other creature before.”
“Smell weird,” the bear added helpfully. “Wet.”
“Thank you, Harry.” Fluttershy grinned up at him. “She does.”
Rainbow’s tail smacked into the cabin with a meaty, dry sound. She was going to have to find a well or something soon, it felt like her whole body was drying out. “I’m glad you can tell me what I am. But do you think you could help me figure out why this happened? Or more important, how we make it stop?”
“Stop?” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think it’s amazing to finally understand the other creatures in the world? I really don’t know how the rest of you do it.”
“Just fine.” Rainbow glanced back at the open door, and nearly left for the bathroom. But then she saw the bear, and she resisted. Don’t want to get locked out again. “So you don’t know how to change us back?”
“Oh, no.” She looked away. “I haven’t thought about it. Isn’t that… more Twilight’s thing?”
“I thought this might be a curse or, mythical creature, or… something nearby might’ve caused it. But I guess not.”
Rainbow might’ve said more, but she was drying out. Finally she couldn’t stand still any longer. She surged forward, shoving the door open and darting into the bathroom.
“Uh, Rainbow?”
She ignored her, darting to the bathtub and turning both taps all the way. Rainbow didn’t climb delicately in so much as flop awkwardly over the edge of the tub. She closed her eyes, exhaling as the water covered her sides, her mouth. It was a little warmer than she would’ve liked, but otherwise…
Finally she could think straight again. Fluttershy doesn’t know how to change us back. Twilight will.
Some part of her had guessed they would need to get the unicorn involved sooner or later.
“Rainbow? Do you think you should be… under the water like that?” Fluttershy’s voice was muffled by the layer of water over her head.
Rainbow emerged with a splash, propping her paws up on the edge of the tub and grinning. “You should really be impressed I lasted that long. Walking here in the sun was awful, and your house is so dry!”
“Uh…” She looked away. “If you say so. I think it’s nice. I’d like to go out in the sun, but… somepony might see me.”
“They’re going to see you, because we’re going to talk to Twilight.”
“We are?” Fluttershy’s face fell, then she nodded. “Yeah, we are. Talk to Twilight. It’s not like we have to make her change us back right away. If I want a little more time to spend with my friends… she could wait. Couldn’t she?”
“Yeah.” Rainbow nodded, though she didn’t think Twilight would wait. It wasn’t like they would have a way to ask with Fluttershy unable to translate for them. “Do you think Ponyville would be scared of us? Should we wait until it gets dark?”
“Uh…” Fluttershy shook her head. “I think they might’ve been scared a few years ago. But I send my animals into town all the time. As long as they see a familiar face, they’ll be fine.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Harry, would you please come with us into Ponyville?”
The bear looked away from her, somehow embarrassed by her question. Finally he nodded. “Could we get more berries?”
“Yes, Harry. We’ll get a whole basket.”
He nodded eagerly. “Then I’ll go.”
Rainbow took another few seconds under the surface of the water, letting the moisture soak through her scales and into her body. Ponyville was dry, and she’d be going back there.
It wasn’t just the bear that made her a little uncomfortable, either. There was something about Fluttershy herself, something she didn’t quite understand. Was she… in danger? No, that didn’t make sense! Fluttershy was her friend, her oldest and best friend so far as Rainbow as concerned. She’d been nothing but kind since she arrived.
But then they were on the road. The path to Ponyville could take only a minute or two to fly, but neither of them could do that anymore.
At least she had somepony else with her this time, so she wasn’t as easily distracted. More than once Rainbow saw a butterfly or some other insect dart across the path, and her desire to chase it down briefly flared.
She wasn’t the only one. Fluttershy stopped beside her, her own eyes following the oversized butterfly as it flitted through the air.
“I was right,” Fluttershy muttered, her voice distant and unfocused. Out in the sun there was no mistaking her bright green—mane? Hair? No, they looked like leaves, just hanging from her head. “The sun does feel nice.”
Rainbow glared up at the sky, wishing very much a nice rain had been scheduled for today. But there wasn’t one… and even if there was, it might not happen without her up there supervising the weather team. It was just harsh sunlight, slowly withering her. “I’m glad you enjoy it,” Rainbow said. “Oh, the bridge is coming up! Could you please wait by the river a sec? I’m gonna go swimming again before we go into town.”
“Sure.” Fluttershy nodded. “You do look like your natural habitat is in in the water somewhere. Does your tail actually work?” She nudged at it, and Rainbow twisted around, blushing.
“It works fine! Just… I’ll be right back.”
She dropped under the surface, though this time she resisted the temptation to let herself lose focus and drift off. Swimming against the current was almost effortless, just an occasional twist of her body and an upward motion from her tail. It was just as natural as flying. I wish we had a nice big lake. I could take the whole thing for myself, and nopony could stop me.
Then she heard the music.
It wasn’t the first time she’d heard music from Ponyville before. Every few weeks there was somepony who felt strongly enough about something that they wanted to sing. Sometimes those songs were contagious, and sometimes they weren’t. Rainbow was still a bit sour about the time she’d sung her way out of an escape room record.
It wasn’t just singing—was that an entire marching band? The surface of the water started to shake, or at least Rainbow imagined it did. Finally she popped her head up, climbing around to the other side of the bridge. “Do you hear that?”
Fluttershy had already moved further into town, humming along to the sound.
Rainbow could tell easily enough why, one of those voices was familiar. It was Pinkie Pie.
Rainbow squeaked as a line of singing ponies crossed the street in front of her, so engrossed in the music that they nearly crushed her. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”
The music was too strong. They didn’t even look down.
Rainbow backed away, feeling her powerful frustration mixing with a rising… sick? Was she going to throw up?
She turned to the side, right as a blast of water as thick around as her whole body emerged from her mouth, blasting into the side of a house and throwing her back a few steps.
Rainbow coughed, wiping the water away from her face, then looked around to see if anypony had noticed. She hadn’t just got the wall wet, but blasted through the plaster with the force of a fire hose, soaking the dirt into mud all around it.
“Ooops. S-sorry. I don’t… I don’t know what made me do that.”
But there was no one to hear her nervous apology, no one even noticing that she had said something to begin with.
The line of marching ponies finally passed her by, letting her into the square. From the look of things, the crowd was most concentrated around Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie, did you have to do this today?
It was a bit of a strange song. Rainbow stopped to listen, waiting for an opening in the back of the crowd. Fluttershy was entirely gone, though her bear stood by the side of one building, humming along out of tune.
A nicer pony probably would’ve waited patiently for the song to end. But Rainbow wasn’t feeling nice. It didn’t matter if she wasn’t tall enough to see over anypony. She could still shove her way between them, grunting a little as she squeezed them to one side or the other. She could fit through almost anything it turned out, even if she squished a little with the effort, leaving a splash of water on anything she touched.
Finally she was through, right as the music swelled. She had just a moment to take in the insane scene in the center of town.
There was indeed a marching band, or rather, there were several brass and percussion members of an orchestra, wearing tuxedos and evening gowns and not seeming like they knew where they were. That wasn’t half as strange as what had happened right in front of the square, though.
Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Rainbow was transfixed by yet another weird fox-thing, though this one looked almost domesticated. She wore a set of bright pink ribbons, and her coat was perfectly groomed. She didn’t seem half as wild as Fluttershy or Rainbow herself.
She stood at the end of the line of ponies, apparently the one leading their song. And right behind her—three ponies Rainbow knew quite well. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been singing along, as energetically as anypony else in the square.
But then Pinkie stopped singing. “You’re ready!” she said, beaming at them. And just like that, they started glowing, bright enough that Rainbow couldn’t see what was going on. Ponies stopped what they were doing as the music’s magic faded. The orchestra in particular looked panicked, and began hauling their oversized instruments towards the train station. A few ponies squealed and backed away, running from the magic in the square.
But the crusaders weren’t fast enough. The light faded a few seconds later, and the three of them were gone.
In their place were a set of three… fluffy cats? Rainbow shoved past the last of the ponies, ignoring the squeal of panic as she reached Pinkie and the new… foxes? Smaller than herself, though quite a bit furrier around the collar. Their fur was mostly brown, though there were some slight differences in shade that she thought suggested which was which.
“Pinkie? What the buck are you doing?”
She was right about her guess, as though the voice hadn’t already been enough. She turned, grinning at Rainbow without a hint of embarrassment. “Oh, it worked! I knew I’d be able to keep my Pinkie Promise.” The ribbons around her neck moved, as though an unseen unicorn was levitating them. She helped each of the young foxes onto their paws. “You’re halfway to being as musical as me, you’ll see! Just like I promised!”