“I saw something really strange earlier,” said Sassaflash in Sugarcuber Corner, between sips of her super whipped cream marshmallow caramel chocolate deluxe milkshake. (“It was Pinkie Pie’s idea,” Mrs. Cake had said.) “Like, really, really, really strange.”
“Let me guess: was it the marching band?” asked Sea Swirl, putting down her boring strawberry milkshake. Okay, so Sea Swirl complained about Sassaflash always ordering carrot juice at Clover Café, but that was completely different. She wanted to support the Carrot family’s business!
“No. I saw this fish-dog-fox-thing!” exclaimed Sassaflash, slamming her hooves on the table to emphasise her point. “But that’s not the strangest part. It could, like, breathe water or something! It bust a wall through a house! A house!”
“I heard about that!” exclaimed Sea Swirl. “Poor Golden Harvest...”
“Come on, Swirly, sound more enthusiastic!” Sassaflash leaned forwards. “Think about it - you’re an aquatic biologist! I just discovered a new aquatic species! We could make history!”
“But I’m not interested in being famous,” replied Sea Swirl.
Suddenly, Sassaflash felt a gust of wind blow through the building. Had somepony left the door open? ...No, they hadn’t.
She resumed sipping her drink... until she heard the Cake twins crying. As Mrs. Cake hurried upstairs to comfort them, Sassaflash’s whole body started to feel funny, like she had pins and needles, and a bright white light filled her vision. Her wings ached... then disappeared altogether. Her legs felt like they were sliding downwards. Her fur rapidly grew longer. After a few seconds, the light cleared, and she briefly felt numb from head to... toe?
The first thing she noticed was that she was now shorter than the table. The second thing she noticed was that she now had tiny, sensitive paws, the same pale shade of yellow as her mane. The third thing she noticed was that between her face and her paws, there was a spiky, white ruff of fur that looked as if somepony had gone overboard with hair gel. She was so freaked out that a rush of energy surged through her body, and her fur stood up on end... and sent sparks flying.
“Ouch!” a vaguely familiar-sounding voice yelped. Sassaflash looked up to see another fish-dog-fox-thing, slightly taller than she was, only instead of being blue like the one she saw earlier, this one was lilac... almost the same shade of lilac as Sea Swirl.
“Sea Swirl?” asked Sassaflash. “Is that you?”
“Sassaflash!” gasped Sea Swirl. She gritted her teeth in pain, and her ear-fin-things drooped. “Where do you think that static shock came from?”
“I think it was me,” replied Sassaflash sheepishly. “Sorry! It was an accident!”
“Then I won’t hold it against you,” Sea Swirl sighed. “But... what am I?”
“You’re a fish-dog-fox-thing,” replied Sassaflash. Sea Swirl looked unamused. “I’ll come up with a better name later! But what am I?”
“Some kind of... rabbit... dog... cat... hybrid?” replied Sea Swirl, tilting her head in confusion, and it was kind of adorable. Sassaflash felt disappointed. She’d wanted to finish her super whipped cream marshmallow caramel chocolate deluxe milkshake, but she’d probably die if she drank it now. “I honestly have no idea, sorry. Do you think this has anything to do with that pink and white fox?”
“What pink and white fox?” asked Sassaflash.
“It was leading the marching band.”
“Didn’t see it.”
“What?” exclaimed Sea Swirl, flabbergasted. “How did you miss the marching band?”
“I saw the marching band! I just didn’t see who was leading it! But that’s not important right now,” Sassaflash said, impatiently shifting her paws.
She looked around to see that it wasn’t just the two of them; all of the ponies in Sugarcube Corner had been transformed into some sort of long-eared fox-thing. Mr. Cake was fluffy and orange; Mrs. Cake hurried downstairs as a cyan and white fox with ribbons attached to her ears, carrying a pair of smaller and fluffier brown fox-things on her back, who were still crying; Cherry Berry was pale yellow with leaves for ears, and desperately trying to reach the top of her table with her brown paws; White Lightning was pale blue, and her drink had mysteriously frozen; a sleeping Star Hunter was black and covered with the glowing, yellow outlines of stars; and Amethyst Star was a pinkish-lilac cat who seemed very interested in her table’s legs.
Sea Swirl gasped softly. “Do you think this happened to the rest of Ponyville?”
“Let’s go take a look!” exclaimed Sassaflash. Carefully, she pushed the lower half of the door open... and without a second thought, bolted outside. She was filled with so much energy that she felt like she could run and run and run forever! She might even be fast than the Wonderbolts! She would have loved to fly with them, but she was too busy with the weather factory. Running felt so amazing that she forgot to look where she was going... and smacked face-first into a house.
Sassaflash sat down and looked around. Normally, Ponyville was bustling with ponies happily going about their day, but today it looked like a ghost town. There wasn’t a single pony in sight, just a few confused at best and panicking at worst fox/cat/dog-things.
“You could have... waited for me...” Sea Swirl panted once she caught up to her.
“Sorry. I got distracted,” replied Sassaflash. “Seriously, though, running is great! I thought that running on paws would really, really hurt, but it doesn’t! Do you have any cool powers now?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Anyway, I didn’t see any ponies on my way here. But it’s not just ponies - I saw another, blue... fish-dog-fox-thing,” Sea Swirl sighed after saying those words, “with some kind of hairy pig. I think they’re students at the school. Also, is it just me, or is it too dry today?”
“Probably just you,” replied Sassaflash. “How far do you think this spread?”
“I don’t know,” said Sea Swirl. “Where’s the easiest place to look?”
Sassaflash’s eyes widened in shock as a sudden realisation hit her. If she was a pegasus, and now she couldn’t fly, and neither could anypony else... What'd happened to the population of her hometown, Cloudsdale? Were they all...? No... she shouldn’t be pessimistic yet. She had to take a look as soon as possible.
“Cloudsdale,” Sassaflash said flatly. She sprinted north without a second word, not even caring if Sea Swirl was following her or not.
Sassaflash arrived in the open field that was currently below Cloudsdale, and what she saw there made her feel sick. Scattered across the ground were a few tiny, brown bodies - just like the Cake twins - laying broken and lifeless. They were just foals, and nopony could’ve expected this to happen... they didn’t deserve this! The way they were now, their grieving parents wouldn’t even recognise which foal was theirs... tears welled up in her eyes.
Sassaflash’s ears twitched as she heard the sound of paws brushing against the grass.
“Are you okay?” Sea Swirl asked.
“No...” Sassaflash sighed. She heard Sea Swirl gasp as she saw the utter carnage in front of them. “They... they at least... deserve a... proper burial...” she choked, now unable to contain her tears.
Sassaflash walked up to the nearest lifeless fox-foal, and was shocked by just how tiny it was. Still crying, she dug a grave with her front paws. She dug faster than she ever could have as a pony, as if it was an instinct. Once she was done, she carefully pushed the fox-foal into the hole and covered it, and Sea Swirl marked the grave with a stone she found.
Once she was done, though, she started to wonder: why weren’t there more broken, lifeless fox-things laying around? She looked up to see that Cloudsdale was still there, and her tears started to fade. She might never be able to go there again, and that was sad too... but life went on. She was sure of it!