To say that their very fun day turned a whole lot weird would be an understatement. What started as a simple game of dressing up, now resulted in facing the wrath of one angry Rarity. Oh, and the strange, blue-gold sparks flying around were weird too.
"Uh-oh," Sweetie Belle whimpered. "Rarity's really mad at us."
"No, really?" asked Scootaloo sarcastically.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes.
To their extreme bewilderment, the Canterlot Movie Club members saw Rainbow Dash's day wear transform into a princess dress that was beautiful, yet practical. And now, the same thing was happening to them too!
Scootaloo was the first to notice any substantial changes to her attire out of all of them. As she glanced over herself, the skirt of her dress began to sparkle and glow in the light. This pattern of light slowly spread over the entire garment, until her entire dress from top to bottom was sparkling with blue intensity. "Well, at least I'll never get lost in the dark again."
It looked as though her side of the changes wasn't done, however. She felt the rustling of fabric as her skirt grew slightly longer. Whereas it had previously been slightly off the ground, now it was in contact with the sidewalk below her. "OK, that'll make walking harder."
Apple Bloom was next. As she glanced down, she gasped as the entire dress suddenly became covered in golden fabric, the skirt being positively covered in the stuff. The patterning continued to weave its way across her dress, the bodice lighting up in a spectacular pattern of golden colours and lines. The sides of the skirt were also covered with more of the elaborate patterning.
Scootaloo then attracted her attention to the back. "I don't quite know how to describe this, Apple Bloom, but your skirt's changing."
"I can see that!" Apple Bloom replied, who then looked behind her. The frame underneath was moving, and her entire skirt was extending backwards. However, it only moved for a few inches before stopping. "Hopefully I can still walk in this."
Sweetie Belle was dreading what would happen to hers. Perhaps this would punish her for her actions by making her dress so big she couldn't move! As she looked down, small crystals suddenly erupted from the skirt and bodice, making the grey and pink sections seem to glow in the light. They seemed to sit there like diamonds, glowing intensely.
There was a groan and a creak from underneath her skirt. "Oh no."
She shivered nervously as her skirt started to grow bigger. Fabric rustled on the ground as the inner layers and the frame inflated like balloons, the outer fabric growing and stretching in size and mass.
"Sweetie Belle, your skirt's growin'!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.
"You think I don't know that?!" Sweetie Belle snapped, as the skirt continued to move outward. "This was such a bad idea!"
Luckily for her, fate was rather more merciful than she had feared. After the skirt had gained an extra foot, it suddenly and inexplicably stopped. "Phew. I thought it would get bigger than that."
"Any ideas what's causin' this?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Clothing can't just change like this!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "It's impossible!"
Apple Bloom facepalmed. "You live in a town which has a portal to a magical horse world and gets attacked by magic crazed supervillains at least one a week. And THIS is the weird bit for you?"
Sweetie Belle was very silent. "This is kinda my fault," she said sheepishly.
"Why?" the other two girls chorused.
"If I hadn't messed up the house or suggested we take these dresses, we wouldn't be in this mess, nor would the city!"
"Err, guys?" Rainbow Dash asked, attracting their attention. "Any idea what's going on here?"
Sweetie Belle spoke up. "Well, it sounds as though Rarity got a bit mad. Maybe a connection there?"
"Bit?" Apple Bloom asked skeptically. "Sweetie, Rarity is a whole lotta mad at us."
"How bout’ we talk to the Princess?" Scootaloo suggested.
"Yeah, we probably should," Rainbow Dash replied, collecting together her things. "I'll head to the portal and see if I can raise her, and you guys see if anybody else needs help!"
The teams all set off in different directions.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo broke off with Sweetie Belle as they all went their separate ways. Her to the farm, Scoots to the main city, and Sweetie to Rarity's.
Apple Bloom hurried as fast as she could to her farm. Upon reaching there, she was surprised to see both Pinkie Pie and Applejack, both in fancy dresses.
"Apple Bloom," Applejack said sternly. "I take it you and the others have something to do with this?"
AB nodded. "I'm really sorry Applejack, we didn't mean to cause such a mess. But now, Rarity's angry and there are weird golden blue sparks around the city which is changing everybody's clothes!"
Applejack sighed. "Don't fret sugar, I'm not mad at you. The important thing is that you learnt from your mistakes and that's what matters the most. Now, let's find out what is going on around the city."
"OKIE DOKIE LOKIE!!" Pinkie agreed, bouncing around.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo was on her way to the main city. She stopped, took a U-turn and went back towards Diamond Tiara's house. Somehow, she just had to check whether or not these two girls were also affected by Rarity's magic.
Back at Diamond Tiara's, she and Silver Spoon were chatting as they sipped orange juice. It was Silver Spoon who first noticed that something was amiss.
"Um, Diamond," Silver began shakily. "What is-AAAHHH!!"
Diamond's own words died at her throat.
Two glowing orbs were thundering their way, and there was no time to move. Diamond Tiara tried to move, but her heavy skirt meant she was slightly too slow. It slammed into her with the force of a thunderclap, causing her to step backwards to avoid falling over. She knew from experience that getting up after falling over in one of these things was not particularly easy. "You OK, Silver?" she asked, as she turned around.
Silver Spoon pushed her glasses back up her face. "I think so," she said, before looking down and nearly jumping in surprise.
"YOUR DRESS!" both girls said in unison. "IT'S CHANGING!"
And indeed they were. Diamond Tiara looked in shock as the edges of her dress suddenly lit up, golden fabric and lining sprouting from the edges of the panniers and the hem of the skirt, glowing intensely as they spread across and merged into glorious lines of color. Her bodice also glowed furiously as more of the golden fabric stitched its way through, producing light all by itself as it snaked across and around. It almost looked like a black version of Apple Bloom's dress.
Silver Spoon's gained similarly elaborate patterning, spreading all over the dress she was wearing. Golden fabric flowed along her bodice. Her expression changed from one of panic to one of wonder as the process ran along, running up and down her sleeves, across the bodice, and along the edges of her skirt as a series of curved panniers formed on the side, looking thoroughly deflated.
As golden lining ran through her hem, which now looked almost yellow in the light, her skirt suddenly popped outwards with a flash, happening so fast Silver Spoon could barely register it happening. As the skirt settled into its full size and shape, the panniers inflated to their correct positions, and a hoopskirt and several layers of petticoats formed underneath to support the skirt. Despite the sudden change in weight, Silver Spoon seemed happy. She did a twirl and grinned with glee as her skirts rustled and flew up. "Instant princess! Just add water! I just wonder why it happened so quickly?"
The same was not true of Diamond Tiara's transformation. The dress had no intention whatsoever of quickly transforming. With a groaning sound and a surge of light, her skirt slowly began to inflate. It bulged as it continued to push outwards. The outer hem rubbed across the ground, collecting small bits of dirt and rubbish as it expanded, slowly pushing any unwanted detritus aside as it expanded.
It soon pushed past an extra foot in width and kept growing.
"This is ridiculous!" Diamond snapped. "Stop growing, you stupid thing!"
The skirt ignored her request. In fact, it actually seemed to hear her frustration, as instead it sped up. With a blinding flash it suddenly blasted out to six feet, but then just as suddenly stopped.
Diamond Tiara looked down in confusion. "Firstly, how do I suddenly have such a massive dress, and second, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WALK IN THIS THING!"
Silver Spoon suddenly noticed Scootaloo there, who had been watching the whole thing. "Stop laughing, it's not funny! Mind you, it's not easy walking around in this one either. Oh well."
Scootaloo stepped out of the bushes, her own dress still glowing from earlier. "Calm down, guys! I think yours have stopped now."
"They better have," Diamond Tiara said. "I think this is quite big enough to be honest."
"Doesn't your mom sometimes wear one that big?" Silver Spoon asked innocently.
"Yes, but she's also a fair bit taller than me!" Diamond Tiara snapped. "Is there anything we can be doing?"
Scootaloo nodded. "Rarity's magic is causing all these changes. We think it might have affected everybody in Canterlot, so we need to gather everybody together and see they are alright. Can you guys form a search party?"
"We can do that!" Silver Spoon grinned. "Besides, we make equally good princesses to you, if not better! Fancy a battle of the ballgowns at some point?"
"Suit yourself," Scootaloo smiled. "And maybe. Though I suspect I have an edge."
Diamond smirked. "I can do this," she said... and immediately fell flat on her face, her skirts flying up as she landed. "Or, maybe not. RANDOLPH!"